Vietnamese Buddhist Dissident Calls for Religious Pluralism, Democracy

February 11, 2005

Source: Yahoo! News

Wire Service: AFP

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1529&ncid=1529&e=3&u=/afp/20050211/wl_asia_afp/vietnamreligionrights_050211063601

On February 11, 2005 Agence France-Presse reported, "A prominent religious dissident has called on Vietnamese authorities and intellectuals to build up democracy and pluralism in the communist country, an exiled group said. The Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB), the communication arm of the main dissident buddhist church in Vietnam, said the church's deputy head, Thich Quang Do, had launched an 'appeal to Vietnamese from all different political and religious currents.' Do, 76, number two of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), called on people 'to rally together in a common effort for democracy in Vietnam' in an open letter to 'Vietnamese personalities, intellectuals, writers, artists and all compatriots at home and abroad.'"