Journey of justice - Or our mission

The petition filed to Formosa by the affected residence of Quynh Luu was hindered by the authorities, instead of successfully sending the petition, they received batons, punches, and brutal feuds from the communist regime. Blood, tears, drooling sweat poured down. It is hard to hold back the anger, the anger of yesterday's bloody event. Justice March has not been able to reach the end, and has become a bloody journey. The distance of 180km has stopped at 20.

The night before the lawsuit, I was sitting with a group of nearly 1,000 people who are ready to sue Formosa, lead by Priest Nguyen Dinh Thuc. When he heard that all the cars that were supposed to carry the lawsuit to the government stopped and could not carry out the petition, Father Thục thought of walking with the people should they pursued the petition. And I told Father Thuc about Gandhi's Salt March in 1930 against the Indian Salt Act, Martin Luther King's 1965 Selma Journey for Freedom of Choice for People American black, and the 2005 land acquisition of land lost in the Philippines. I thought that if the journey is peaceful and beautiful, even though there are still many difficulties, the communist regime has no reason to use violence against those who are exercising their rights. The minimum that the oldest regimes must recognize the people's right to sue for damages. But I was wrong.

During the journey, I sat with Father Thục's car behind the group led by another driver. Father Thuc went down with the crowd to take the case personally. Because of the fear of the public about this alleged illegal activity, and causing traffic jam, Father Thục had to hold the speaker. Sometimes walking, sometimes riding a motorbike to guide the delegation. Based on my observation, the delegation went very moderate, trying hard to avoid traffic congestion. It touched me as we went on for a few kilometers, I saw a group of people standing by the road carrying water, candies, and food to relay to the delegation. Those hearts made the group who walked in the cold, drizzly rain, feel very warm hearted and firmly believed in their actions.

Yet the journey became a journey full of blood and tears. In the afternoon after lunch break, I sat next to Father Nguyen Dinh Thuc on the side of Yen Ly church where the delegation halted. I gave Father Le Cong Dinh an article on the lawsuit that day. Dinh also talked about Gandhi's salt journey and compared Gandhi to the priest. Father Dinh laughed and said, "So, Father Thuc is going to be a celebrity!" I told Father Dinh, "Maybe that's Father Thuc's mission." He told me: "Make sure everyone is born with a mission."

And bigger than any nation is the fact that every ethnic group is born with a certain mission. And more importantly, they have to carry out their mission. History reveals that this small country is located beside a bigger nation, often wanting to take over it. Father Thuc's generation had completed their mission. Our mission now is to endure a cruel, unfair and abusive regime. A group of heads of state who always put the interests of certain individuals and of their parties over the interests of the country and its people. Because of their brotherhood, they were willing to give up the lives of fishermen clinging to their native islands. Because of the 16 golden words, they chewed off the textbook invasion of the enemy and killed six thousand lives of their compatriots. For the sake of their benefit, they have left hundreds of thousands of fishermen dead in a dead sea, and of the future of its generation.

So perhaps, this is our mission. To carry out that mission or not, is the choice of this nation; Or we could die like weeds.



- Trinh Anh Tuan
- Translation: Christopher