Ms. Que Banh<p><a href="https://beige.party/tags/Transcription" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Transcription</span></a> of my <a href="https://beige.party/tags/speech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>speech</span></a> for <a href="https://beige.party/tags/deaf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>deaf</span></a> folks - as it wasn't provided on vid.</p><p>Hi, everyone. Thank you for showing up with <a href="https://beige.party/tags/community" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>community</span></a> <a href="https://beige.party/tags/solidarity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>solidarity</span></a>, to call for a <a href="https://beige.party/tags/PermanentCeasefire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PermanentCeasefire</span></a> in support of <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Palestinians" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Palestinians</span></a> who are suffering <a href="https://beige.party/tags/famine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>famine</span></a> & <a href="https://beige.party/tags/genocidal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>genocidal</span></a> violence under <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Israeli" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Israeli</span></a> occupational forces.</p><p>My name is Que & I'm a survivor of the <a href="https://beige.party/tags/USinvasion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>USinvasion</span></a> <a href="https://beige.party/tags/WarOnVietnam" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WarOnVietnam</span></a>. I was a <a href="https://beige.party/tags/WarChild" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WarChild</span></a> conceived & born under active shelling & had <a href="https://beige.party/tags/IntergenerationalTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IntergenerationalTrauma</span></a> pre & post birth.</p><p>We were <a href="https://beige.party/tags/displaced" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>displaced</span></a> from our homes & survived in a <a href="https://beige.party/tags/RefugeeCamp" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RefugeeCamp</span></a> in Indonesia for a year. We were sponsored to come to Canada in late 1979 as <a href="https://beige.party/tags/WarRefugees" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WarRefugees</span></a>, seeking <a href="https://beige.party/tags/asylum" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>asylum</span></a>.</p><p>My patriarch family lived in <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Cholon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Cholon</span></a> the <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Chinese" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Chinese</span></a> District in <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Saigon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Saigon</span></a> & my matriarch family lived in a tiny village near Canto near the Hau River in <a href="https://beige.party/tags/SouthVietnam" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SouthVietnam</span></a>. Both sides of my family had already lived through multiple foreign invasions & foreign militarized imperialism & colonialism by the time the US invaded & occupied our lands.</p><p>Many of us living Vietnam war civilian survivors can relate so well to the many struggles, the suffering, the violent foreign occupation & also the passionate resilience & resistance of the Palestinian peoples.</p><p>Throughout the 1960s into the 1970s both areas that my family lived in were carpet bombed. My Matriarch family village was bombed out of existence by 1970. The rebuilding took 18 years. Cholon was <a href="https://beige.party/tags/CarpetBombed" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CarpetBombed</span></a> twice & the scenes from those aftermaths are eerily similar to the scenes from <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Gaza" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Gaza</span></a> after <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Israel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Israel</span></a> carpet bombed the area. </p><p>The <a href="https://beige.party/tags/USmilitary" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>USmilitary</span></a> used <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Vietnamese" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Vietnamese</span></a> <a href="https://beige.party/tags/civilians" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>civilians</span></a> as involuntary guinea pigs. They tested out never used before <a href="https://beige.party/tags/WarMunitions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WarMunitions</span></a> including <a href="https://beige.party/tags/biochemical" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>biochemical</span></a> warfare like <a href="https://beige.party/tags/AgentOrange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AgentOrange</span></a> & <a href="https://beige.party/tags/NerveGasBombs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NerveGasBombs</span></a> on our peoples.</p><p>Our peoples, our lands, our waters - still suffer the toxic & deadly effects from the illegal - illegal <a href="https://beige.party/tags/biowarfare" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>biowarfare</span></a> chemical uses by the <a href="https://beige.party/tags/USA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>USA</span></a> to this day & our peoples & especially our children are still suffering from the many leftover war munitions, exploding, maiming & killing innocent civilians.</p><p>Israel is treating the Palestinian peoples very much like the USA had treated our Vietnamese peoples. Like we are not human. We do not deserve to live. The dehumanization of Palestinians is too similar to how the USA dehumanized our Vietnamese peoples. We're savages. We are vermin. We're stupid tunnel rats. We're gooks & we deserve to die.</p><p>The USA bombed our <a href="https://beige.party/tags/schools" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>schools</span></a>, our <a href="https://beige.party/tags/hospitals" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>hospitals</span></a>, our <a href="https://beige.party/tags/temples" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>temples</span></a>, our <a href="https://beige.party/tags/ResidentialAreas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ResidentialAreas</span></a> - just like Israel has bombed schools, hospitals, temples & residential areas in Palestine. The USA has more powerful weapons of mass destruction while fighting resistance forces with much less firepower. The Vietnamese <a href="https://beige.party/tags/ResistanceForces" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ResistanceForces</span></a> also used <a href="https://beige.party/tags/TunnelSystems" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TunnelSystems</span></a> & some of them are now part of an <a href="https://beige.party/tags/educational" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>educational</span></a> <a href="https://beige.party/tags/LivingMuseum" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LivingMuseum</span></a>.</p><p>Vietnam is now <a href="https://beige.party/tags/SovereignNation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SovereignNation</span></a> because the occupational militarized US forces left which opened up our path to <a href="https://beige.party/tags/DiplomaticNegotiations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DiplomaticNegotiations</span></a>. Palestinians deserve their true path to diplomatic Solutions too. They deserve a sovereign state. That can not happen without a permanent - not a temporary - a permanent ceasefire - an end to <a href="https://beige.party/tags/IllegalOccupation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IllegalOccupation</span></a> by Israel.</p><p>You cannot occupy & oppress a people & claim you are a <a href="https://beige.party/tags/democracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>democracy</span></a>. True <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Democratic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Democratic</span></a> states do not occupy & oppress people for decades. True Democratic states do not jail, murder & deny <a href="https://beige.party/tags/PressFreedom" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PressFreedom</span></a> to <a href="https://beige.party/tags/journalists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>journalists</span></a>. True democratic states do not arrest, vilify, nor illegally detain their own citizens with dissenting voices. True democratic states don't continue to violate multiple <a href="https://beige.party/tags/InternationalLaws" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>InternationalLaws</span></a> so openly & so disrespectfully.</p><p>Israel has become too <a href="https://beige.party/tags/arrogant" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>arrogant</span></a> that's mainly due to the Western powers like the USA & <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Canada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Canada</span></a> continuing to put their <a href="https://beige.party/tags/WarProfiteer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WarProfiteer</span></a> interests over <a href="https://beige.party/tags/humanitarian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>humanitarian</span></a> & global <a href="https://beige.party/tags/PublicInterests" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PublicInterests</span></a>.</p><p>At a time when we need an arms embargo on Israel, the US & Canada sent billions more in war munitions & funding to Israel. It is shameful.</p><p>Our politicians tell us there's not enough money to fund more essential health & medical service needs. There's not enough money to increase the pay scale of essential medical staff. There's not enough money to fund environmental protection & cleanups. There's not enough to help our seniors & disabled not live in poverty anxiety. There's not enough to fund safer, more inclusive, accessible education. There's not enough to provide more low income & some more support of housing for our most marginalized citizens. These are all citizen needs that our governments have told they cannot afford to fully fund but they can find billions to fund ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. That is not okay & that is not in our public interest.</p><p>I urge everyone here to please keep contacting all of your local provincial & federal representatives in every way possible & ask them to please push Trudeau to call for both a permanent ceasefire & to initiate an arms embargo on Israel - NOW.</p><p>Please keep having the conversations with people you know & people you don't know about Palestine. The conversations are important. Please keep standing in solidarity with Gaza & all Palestinians.</p><p>The antidote to despair is action. This here is humanity in action & I thank all of you for showing your humanity & your ongoing support of Palestinians because remember, no democracy can exist without the freedom of citizens dissenting voices and I appreciate all of your voices dissenting, against our government who is still supporting genocide.</p><p>Free Palestine!</p>