Bolsavik.com

Last weekend was a slow day in the office, so the Bolsavik went around and took some pictures of the weekly protests outside of Nguoi Viet.

Here’s an update on what’s happening now. Every day, the protestors, usually about 4 or 5 of them, still come to Nguoi Viet and open the truck with the photos of former South Vietnam’s generals who died defending the country in the last days of the war. That’s the truck in the foreground.

On week-ends, though, they would come out more in force, each person would carry a flag and they would march up and down Moran Avenue. They would stop for a while at Bolsa, the main thoroughfare of Bolsavikland, and then march right back.

These protestors apparently are very adamant that people know there’s still a protest going on.

A few weeks ago, the L.A. Times ran a story by My-Thuan Tran, here, about the thriving Little Saigon media market. It contains a line about “ending the 18-month demonstrations.”

That little throwaway line turned out to tick off the protestors big time.

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One of the top Viet singers was almost subject to a protest over a star that appears on a poster for an August concert at Bally’s in Atlantic City. This poster, the one pictured above.

See that star? Yep, that’s what community groups upon community groups were threatening a boycott over.

The hapless victim, singing sensation Don Ho, hurriedly sent out a massive email and a profuse apology and thereby averted any additional problems.

Now, if that reminds you of the “Macy’s star” belt buckle conundrum (read here and here), you would be absolutely correct. Even Don Ho made an allusion to it.

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The success of a string of lawsuits naming red-baiters, such as here and here, has had a dampening effect on people bent on protesting any and everything perceived to be on the magenta side of the color palette.

Deprived of targets, some are turning against one another. The last few weeks have witnessed a string of infightings among the loud mouths of Little Saigon, starting with the loudest of them all, Ky Ngo. This time, he’s the victim.

Fresh from a civil settlement with Nguoi Viet that, on the one hand, deprives him of his favorite pastime, but on the other let him off scot-free, Ky Ngo has been spending his days relaxing, getting some more sleep, looking more refreshed. If you see him now, you may even notice that he’d shed some of that deep tan he’d been accumulating for sitting outdoors for too long.

And then he made a mistake. The mistake of telling a joke.

When asked on radio why he’s no longer protesting, he cracked, “Nguoi Viet paid me $80,000 to stop. Hahaha.” Apparently he thought it was funny.

His fellow protestors, however, all of whom have a clearly demonstrated track record of not getting it, jumped on Ky Ngo.

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An obscure item on the agenda at the City of Westminster’s Traffic Commission meeting on Tuesday may spell the end of Ky Ngo’s reign of the patch of grass across from Nguoi Viet.

On the agenda (here) for the Westminster Traffic Commission for tomorrow night is the following:

“Request for the Installation of 24-Minute Timed Parking Restrictions at 14801 And 14802 Moran Street”

Though innocuous, if passed the item will put a stop to Ky Ngo’s protesting.

Those addresses are the properties on the two sides of Nguoi Viet. Building 14801-14805 on the left belongs to Dong Loi Seafood, a wholesaler which has its own retail store that that location. Ky Ngo has been setting up his lawn chairs and other paraphernalia on Dong Loi’s sidewalk (picture above).

The other building, at 14802-14810 on the right, is the warehouse for Thuy Nga, the producer of the popular Vietnamese variety show Paris by Night. That’s where Ky Ngo usually parks his car and displays the rest of his stuff.

A 24-minute parking restriction would make it impossible for Ky Ngo to camp out at the site.

This item is so unusual for the zoning in the area that there can be no doubt that it’s on the agenda to specifically target Ky Ngo and Ky Ngo only.

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Some readers asked the question: Who were the people who used the South Vietanemse flag to disrupt the Hung Vuong ceremony two weeks ago on April 5 in Westminster?

Asking the question on Bolsavik.com (see here and here) is just the right place, because OC Vietnamese-language media would not give you the answer. They would rather pretend none of it ever happened.

And why is that?

Because not too long ago they were singing high praises of the people doing the disruption.

The woman who was interfering with the ceremony and trying to plant the yellow South Vietnamese flag on the altar while people were carrying out the respect ritual, is Bùi Kim Thành, a land protestor from Vietnam who was allowed to immigrate to the U.S. after negotiations between the two countries. Read here.

Until recently, Bùi Kim Thành had been hailed as a hero, and Nguoi Viet was her head cheerleader, worshipping the grounds she walked on even after it had become obvious to everyone else reading her interviews on Nguoi Viet that she’s, well, not all there.

The disruption of the Hung Vuong ceremony arose because (more…)

Things have not been going well for Ky Ngo lately.

First, the permanent fixture outside the offices of Nguoi Viet Daily News was told by the Wesminster PD to move his stuff. The Bolsavik is not sure on what grounds the police did it, but it may have something to do with his truck not having moved from the spot on public land for several weeks. Or maybe it’s unsightly. Or whatever.

Anyway so Ky Ngo was forced to get his stuffs out of there a couple weeks ago. That made him and his group very unhappy, so in consolation someone made him a sign that says (pictured) “Someone is still helping the Vietnamese traitors.”

A day or so later, a little sign was added on top saying “Today.”

Thus, apparently, “Today someone is still helping the Vietnamese traitors.”

But who? Who is still helping which Vietnamese traitors??

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So now at least we know where the slogan came from.

The gentleman in the video is Neil Nguyen, an attorney. His Vietnamese name is Nguyễn Xuân Nghĩa (not to be confused with the isonymous but better known columnist for Nguoi Viet and Viet Bao daily newspapers).

Just a couple of weeks ago he and his non-profit organization were marching in the Tet Parade without carrying the yellow flag, and immediately afterwards were accused of being commies. (If you can read Vietnamese, click here.)

Maybe this is his way to redeem himself or something….

The Register has this story about the protest against the Brian Doan photo exhibit at Cypress College. It has a video too, which the Bolsavik has embedded at the end of this entry. Watch to through and check out the videographer’s first name. How apropos!

Excerpts from the Reg’s story by Michael Mello:

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A huge crowd of dozens and dozens of people showed up at Cypress College yesterday to protest against what they consider communist propaganda: The photography exhibit by Brian Doan, an Associate Prof at Long Beach City College.

This follows a four-person protest of last week and numerous and mostly unsuccessful attempts by Lactan Nuygen, the president of a non-profit corporation called the Vietnamese Community of Souther (sic) California to garner support from other community groups.

No takers so far. Apparently unwilling to take on a non-Vietnamese-American entity, none of the usual protest groups showed up. Not the Coalition Against Resolution No. 36 (Vietnamese: Liên Ủy Ban Chống Nghị Quyết 36, named after a document of the Communist Party of Vietnam) - the organizer of the protests against Viet Weekly. Not the Yellow Flag Youth (Vietnamese: Thanh Niên Cờ Vàng) - the organizer of the protests against VAALA for this same photograph by Brian Doan. None of the Viet elected officials showed up either, not even Assemblyman Van Thai Tran, who has filed a statement of intent to run for the 35th state senate district, which includes Cypress College.

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Jiffy Lube-quick summary: A second protest against Cypress College has been called for tomorrow Wednesday.

Slightly longer version:

On Monday last week, Lac Tan Nuygen’s group came to see the college president to hand in his organization’s protest letter. The president was out of town. But Nuygen did get an appointment to speak to the Dean of the School of Arts, the Department Head of Photography, the Director of the gallery holding the exhibit, and Brian Doan.

So, on Tuesday, they met for a couple of hours. There’s an audio here posted by Do Thuan, one of the participants (the Bolsavik hasn’t been able to listen to it because he’s missing a plugin), and a report on Nguoi Viet here (in Vietnamese). The bottom line can be summarized by something Nuygen said, is: “We’re not interested in your arguments about freedom of expression because we’ve heard them several times already, we just want you to take down the photo.”

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