Please help stop secret genocide before it's all over!

[emcguffie]

Dear DU hearts -- because I know that's what you all are in here -- I have a horrible story to tell, that needs telling out there in the world. And that needs some DU attention paid to it.
30 years of genocide in Laos is almost complete.



And I'm afraid I cannot tell this story in just a few words. All of this is based on the work of a friend of mine – who does NGO human rights work. She's sending me something to edit here, which I needs must go do. But if you could read this, and maybe check her site out, I would appreciate it more deeply than I can possibly express.

Not to belittle Darfur, but there’s another genocide that’s been taking place for 30 years and is almost complete. My friend went and collected evidence that the people that are being eradicated are not armed rebels. That was the story that kept international eyes off of what was happening. Serious journalists have gone in as well and come out with the same story. But still there’s a media blackout.

Her site:
http//:www.rebeccasommer.org

Here’s an article: http://www.huntingtonnews.net/national/061209-staff-hmong.html

Dec. 9, 2006

HMONG UPDATE: Thai Authorities Prepared for Deportation of 152 Hmong Lao Refugees

By HNN Staff




Although UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) officials in Bangkok were confident that the deportation of 152 Hmong Lao refugees was suspended, Thai authorities nevertheless prepared yesterday night for their deportation.

The 152 Hmong Lao refugees were part of a group of 194 Hmong refugees, rounded up in Bangkok city, in Thailand, and held as illegal migrants at Suan Phlu Detention Center for the past three weeks.

http://www.huntingtonnews.net/national/061209-staff-hmong.html

These people are hiding in groups in the jungle. Have been for 30 years. Living on roots they dig out of the ground. Running away every day from the soldiers who are hunting them. The military uses all kinds of weapons on them, small and large, artillery – they even bomb them with chemical weapons. Most of them men are dead already, so these are mostly women and children.

The history is long and convoluted, and that is how it’s been kept secret. It’s in Laos. Back during the Vietnam conflict, Laos was neutral and the US could not station forces there. But the Communists did. So the US was operating at a disadvantage. Then the CIA recruited these ethnic minorities and indigenous groups to be fighters in the “Secret Army” – convincing them that by fighting the Communists they would be defending their homeland. You know the drill, I think.

Then basically we lost the war and left. They were okay for a year or two, but eventually the Pathet Lao took over their government, and it became the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and then they went after the Hmong with a vengeance, especially, of course, those they knew had worked for the CIA.

To make a long story short, while hundreds of thousands of Hmong and other peoples escaped, hundreds of thousands were imprisoned and killed, and I don’t know how many ran away into the mountain-top jungles. Inaccessible places. The Hmong had always lived in the highest places, so this was in a way home for them. And there were Hmong villages up there. But there were these bands of Hmong in hiding.

That was over 30 years ago. The Lao and the Vietnamese armies have gone after them and nearly completely wiped them out. Many of them have escaped into Thailand. Many over the years have been given refugee status and have been resettled – many to the USA, which is as it should be.

But in the last few years, the granting of refugee status stopped, and the resettling stop.

Bear in mind that all throughout this, Laos has maintained that these people hiding in the mountaintop jungles are armed rebels, so they do not deserve help, or refugee status, or the world’s concern. Once upon a time, that might have been true for some of them, perhaps. But over the years this whole thing has escalated so far, and the circumstances of those people have deteriorated so incredibly, that that no longer can be considered anywhere near the truth.

The military forces began over-running the Hmong villages that just happened to be there, chasing the inhabitants out into hiding. They were never rebels. The children and grandchildren of the CIA secret army weren’t rebels. Even if they wanted to be rebels, they don’t have the wherewithal, although people will say they do.

So this friend of mine went to Thailand and visited the camp there. The Xaisomboun camp in Petchabun, I think. She collected many, many statements for the UNHCR and also videotaped many, many statements. She also recorded and had transcribed and translated many satellite telephone calls from and to groups still in Thailand.

Her whole report essentially documents that these people are being wiped out in the most horrible way, while the rest of the world ignores it completely—because Laos says they are rebels. That’s it. They just say so, so that makes it so.

She has documentary footage of a little boy dying slowly in front of his horrified parents, with his belly slit open and his intestines and stomach hanging out – no blood, really, just a slow death. Just a slow horrible death for his parents to witness. Why? What was this little rebel doing? Trying to find a root to eat, probably.

So things have escalated and they have just erased many thousands, and are wrapping up the whole thing. There is and has been a media blackout. There aren’t very many Hmong left in Laos, and those that are there are completely surrounded by military.

Now there are 152 refugees in Thailand that they are about to send back to Laos – to their deaths.

A big enough outcry might stop Thailand from making them step across the border. Maybe.
She’ll have something to post later, which I will put up for her.

Rebecca also has a nice but horrifying documentary. There's a preview -- it's just the opening scene, it isn't really a trailer. She will put one together.



"Hunted Like Animals"


Ceci Fox Outlaw

[stellanoir]

1. 2nd rec

Thank you for enlightening us to this travesty.

It's timely too given ISG=FUBAR and onerous comparisons to our Vietnam debacle with which I take issue. That's a different matter though.

[I Have A Dream]

2. 4th recommendation - it is so very important!!! n/t

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. K&R

[Jeffersons Ghost]

4. it's always nice to give an OP like this a 5th rec but it needs about 40 more

[Jeffersons Ghost]

5. that makes 7 recs in as many minutes, not bad DU, not bad at all but we can do better

[I Have A Dream]

8. I agree. This is the very thing that DU does best; let's rate it high. n/t

[rumpel]

6. Indigenous Peoples are most often forgotten and have no voice

Until the UN had a major conference and now has a permanent commission.

But why is this not all over the News? * just signed a trade pact with Vietnam? Why was the other side of the story kept silent?

Perhaps a petition needs to be started?



:kick: & r

corrected to errors

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. i'd say you answer your own question, rumpel...

"just signed a trade pact with Vietnam"

[Igel]

18. Laos. n/t

[emcguffie]

9. The story gets incredibly complicated.

There are some forces which appear to be on the side of the Hmong, but which are not. I don't know if they are naive or wicked. Or are being used.

But in any case it's nothing but politics that has kept this story secret for so long, and the people who are dying aren't political.

I will get the names of the journalists who have tried to publicize this in the past, but after I help Rebecca with whatever she's doing right now.

[rumpel]

10. the video clips are a high recommend

indigenous peoples and the UNited nations

http://www.rebeccasommer.org/UNPFII/index.php

how I will miss Kofi Annan....

[seemslikeadream]

11. The Hmongs gave up literally everything for us

Jack Austin Smith, a Vietnam Veteran and a retired career soldier

Writing to an American who was confused about the Hmong people, Jack Austin Smith, a Vietnam Veteran and a retired career soldier, wrote the following in 1996 (quoted from his e-mail to me, with permission):

The war in Vietnam was fought on several fronts and I served in two them. The main American battle ground was in the Southern end of South Vietnam. In order for the North Vietnamese forces to fight us there, it was necessary for their supplies and troops to go through Laos and Cambodia on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and Laos was controlled by a Pro-Communist Government at that time. Therefore America was not allowed to have any forces on the ground, although we were allowed to bomb and attack North Vietnamese troops with our aerial forces. About 99% of the combat forces on the ground were Hmong irregulars who were persuaded by Americans to forget about being neutral, and to fight the N. Vietnamese regulars (not relatively poorly trained Viet Cong guerrilla forces). We supplied air cover, but every combat trooper knows aircraft can't take and hold ground. We depended on the Hmongs to do this. Without modern arms, without medical help.
After the fall of Saigon we pulled out of Southeast Asia and left the Hmongs to continue the fight without air support. When we left, the Hmong had to fight both the Laotians and the N. Vietnamese. They could not fight tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft with rifles. A great many Hmongs were slaughtered in their villages. Many were slaughtered at airfields where they waited for evacuation planes that never came. A few were able to fight every foot of the way across Laos and cross the Mekong River into refugee camps in Thailand where they were further mistreated by rather corrupt UN and Thai officials. Out of a estimated 3,000,000 prewar Hmong population less than 200,000 made it to safety. One other ill informed or stupid writer said "they were all gone" meaning, I guess, that the combat Hmongs were all dead, they are wrong. Most of the survivors are in Australia, France and here among us.

Now I don't know about those heroes who have never heard a shot fired in anger, but I am embarrassed that my country so mislead these people. The Hmongs gave up literally everything for us: their country, their homes, their peaceful way of life, most of their families, everything that we would cherish. We promised them our continued support and then we bugged out.

You mentioned having relatives who fought in Vietnam and I hope they all survived. However their chances would have been much less if the Hmongs hadn't intercepted over 50% of the N. Vietnamese troops and supplies. If you truly loved your relatives, you should be grateful for the Hmongs' sacrifices.
http://www.jefflindsay.com/hmong.shtml

500,000 people in Laos fled and became international political refugees
2001 Hmong Population and Education in
the United States and the World
August 24, 2001
Researched and Collected by Dr. Vang Pobzeb

From 1975 to 1991, more than 500,000 people in Laos fled and became international political refugees in the world because of the legacy of the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia.


The Communist Lao and Vietnamese governments have been exterminating Hmong people in Laos since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and are still doing so today, because of Hmong people cooperated with the U.S. government during the Vietnam War. In 2001, witnesses in Laos have reported that many thousands of Communist Vietnamese soldiers are cooperating with the Communist Lao government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) to conduct an ethnic cleansing war, genocide and human rights violations against Hmong people in Laos. Therefore, we appeal to and call upon Hmong American intellectuals, educators and the general public to unify our leadership strategies and efforts in order to save the lives of Hmong people in Laos. We call upon all Hmong people to unify and work together to save the lives of Hmong people. Power politics in the world and global actors are remaining silent on the genocide against Hmong people in Laos because they are concerned with economics and commercial goods for themselves. They do not really care about human rights violations and genocide in Laos and in other parts of the world.

There are about 300,000 Hmong American people in the United States in 2001.


In 2001, there are approximately 80,000 Hmong American people in Minnesota; and 80,000 Hmong Americans in Wisconsin.


About 40,000 Hmong Americans moved from California to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other states between 1996 and 2001.


About 70,000 Hmong Americans still live in California in 2001.


Many Hmong Americans moved from California to Minnesota and Wisconsin and other states because of the problems of welfare reforms and unemployment problems

http://www.laohumrights.org/2001data.html

[rumpel]

13. sad, I think the movement you refer to is no longer....

the link says:

Gone

The requested resource
/
is no longer available on this server and there is no forwarding address. Please remove all references to this resource.

[Karenina]

15. Just another American betrayal...

[LuckyLib]

31. Even more moved to the midwest because they could do vegetable

farming, buy property, and reunite with extended family and friends. MN and WI have always been more hopsitable to refugees than many other states, and have a history of resettling refugees since the early 70's.

[rumpel]

12. Some additional info

for those unfamiliar with the indigenous peoples struggles

U.N. Declaration: No time to bemoan delay
Posted: December 08, 2006
by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today

snip
From the movement's very beginning, the 1977 Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples of the Americas in Geneva, Switzerland, indigenous assertion of full rights under the rules of international law has met with resistance. The principled acknowledgment of indigenous rights runs counter to the tools of colonization - governmental discrimination against, neglect of and injustice towards people, their lands and natural resources. To be certain, the very infrastructures of those nations opposed to the draft were built upon the backs of indigenous people and resources.

This point has not gone unnoticed. Valerie Taliman, director of communications for the ILRC, noted in Indian Country Today that ''the United States, Canada, Australia, Russia and New Zealand - countries with large populations of indigenous peoples who own significant land and resources, including 562 federally recognized tribes in the United States'' - opposed the declaration. Canada's 630 First Nations currently face threats to their nationhood. There are half a million self-identified indigenous people in New Zealand, with Maoris comprising 15 percent of the population. Australia's aborigines exist under the thumb of a government condemned as racist by the United Nations. Deadly conflicts, as well as extreme poverty and AIDS, ravage Africa's indigenous population. Nonetheless, it was the New Zealand representative, speaking on behalf of these countries, who ''called the declaration 'confusing, unworkable, contradictory and deeply flawed.''' Whether the objection was made in good faith is highly questionable.

snip

It's important to view the process itself as a victory. Forming and carrying this major message forth has put us on the world sociopolitical map. Indigenous people have come out from remote areas of the Earth to make contact and form networks in order to educate the wider realm of their struggles. Generations of Native people consider themselves part of a world community, with a sense of responsibility to protect our basic rights as distinct peoples. This 30-year path has wrought many wins and losses, and the delay serves as a notice: We have 10 months until the end of the General Assembly's next session to fashion an adoptable draft for the victory.

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414131

herein lies this country's reluctance to address the issues of the Hmong -

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

14. K&R

May we never forget.

My best friend (Hmong) nearly died of starvation in a refugee camp when she was three years old. Her family was trying to get to the US. The story of their integration (or non-integration) into the US is compelling as well. Many thanks for posting this.

[rumpel]

17. simply awful n/t

[I Have A Dream]

16. Kick

:kick:

[emcguffie]

19. Might I request a DU action?

Such as calling/contacting media and human rights organizations and national officials?

The more noise there is, the more of them might actually survive.

There are about 152 of them right now, who, if they are still alive, are soon to be forced back into laos where they will almost surely be killed.

It has been reported that UNHCR is trying to prevent it, but a bit of a public outcry might help.

It's been kept so low key all these years, that public outcry hasn't ever really happened, although there's been a constant effort going on, pretty much unnoticed.

Every time people think they are making progress, someone somewhere seems to step forward to refute their evidence. People trying to help them are blind-sided by forces not yet clearly identified, but that seem to have plenty of resources at their command.

Posted for RS

[emcguffie]

27. Rebecca says she will extract some clips from her documentary.

There are so many. They are so absolutely astonishing.

I've never seen anything like the footage she has.

Right now, the video is quite long.

She plans to extract some bits that people can view without watching the whole thing, which isn't posted as it is.

This has taken up an awful big chunk of her life for the last year. Well, I guess all of it.

Not that that means anything, when one compares that to what those other folks are living, or not living, through. 30 years. Ever since the Vietnam war. It's a distant memory to those of us that lived through it. Ever since then, none of these people have lived anything approaching a normal life.

Out of sight, out of mind. One more invisible nightmare, inescapable for generations of Hmong because once upon a time they helped us out.

Phew. I just wish someone would finally say, Enough! Stop! You can't do that anymore!

No more dead babies! No more raped 10-year-old little girls! No more moms executed by being cut into pieces! No more children with their intestines hanging out! No more children shot to death while they forage for food!

I feel like I should say I'm sorry about inflicting this on you, all of you. I am truly sorry to shove this in your face. Nobody should have to think about this. But live through it? Can it be real?

[file83]

34. I'm going to buy 3 copies of the DVD and send one to my Congressman and

Senators here in Oregon. I emailed Rebecca to ask how I could purchase some and am awaiting her reply.

I feel so badly for those people - it's one thing to be poor and hungry, but to add being hunted down by your government for extermination raises this to a crime against humanity.

[Jcrowley]

20. K & R n/t

[Jeffersons Ghost]

21. way to go DU, we're half-way there at 25 recs... only 25 more to hit the goal...

[joe_sixpack]

22. This is tragic

It just seems incomprehensible that this goes on in our day and age. Somehow, making mouseclicks on a message board just doesn't seem enough for such a vast tragedy and injustice.

[I Have A Dream]

23. I agree. That's why emcguffie posted post 19 requesting DU action.

What specifically can we do? Does anyone have telephone numbers that can be called or E-mail addresses to which messages that can be sent?

Rating this post up helps because many people come here to get their news. However, once we have people's attention in a way that makes them want to take action, it would be nice if we had the information in this thread that would allow them to take the best action to affect change in policy.

[Christa]

24. K & R

:cry:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

25. kick

:kick:

[stellanoir]

26. kickin' for that little lovely girl behind bars eyes

Kickin' it to the insensitive, unconcious, short sighted bastards who create conflicts for no reason aside from their own selfish agendas and who pay no mind to the long term repercussions.

I said this upthread. . .that the comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam are onerous. Bottom line is Vietnam didn't piss off 1/3 if not more of the world. Also Buddhists generally tend to be more forgiving than Muslims but you can't tell that to the Hmong who've been suffering for all these years.

Yikes, this has to stop.

[I Have A Dream]

28. Kick

:kick:

[GardeningGal]

29. I don't have time to read it all right now, but bookmarking for later

[Marie26]

30. K&R nt

[lildreamer316]

32. K&R!!

Sorry late to the party.

[byronius]

33. I'm giving this to my Hmong employees. We talk about this a lot. n/t