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Paper short abstract:

In my presentation I will discuss the case of Polish-Vietnamese diasporic activists focusing on: 1) Interplay between various contexts in which the crucial concepts of the pro-democratic narrative are embedded, 2) Centrality of the concept of rule of law in the pro-democratic narrative.

Paper long abstract:

Pro-democratic political activism constitutes a large share of global phenomenon of "diaspora politics" practiced by migrant communities originating from non-democratic regimes. While in the case of Vietnamese diaspora the notion "liberalism" (chủ nghĩa tự do) is rarely incorporated into the ideological vocabulary of the dissidents - which is parralled by its insignificant presence in the Vietnamese political thought - the cluster of terms dân chủ - tự do - nhà nước pháp quyền (democracy-freedom-rule of law), strictly connected with the liberal thought is routinely used. In my presentation, I will discuss the case of the Vietnamese diaspora, focusing on the Polish-Vietnamese activists who have played a noticeable role within the Vietnamese dissident movement (ie. Dan Chim Viet newspaper). The Vietnamese migrants from Poland have been labeled as closely linked to the institutions of the Vietnamese authoritarian communist state due to the state-sponsored genesis of the formation of migrant community. However, the pro-democratic movement drawing inspiration from activity of global Vietnamese diaspora (particularly American-Vietnamese), Polish anticommunist opposition (Solidarity movement) and Vietnam-based activism has been developing among the community since the early 1990s. In my analysis I intend to focus on two issues: 1) Interplay between various contexts (global, Vietnamese and Polish) in which the crucial concepts of the pro-democratic narrative, such as democracy, freedom and rule of law are embedded, 2) Centrality of the concept of rule of law in the pro-democratic narrative of the Vietnamese diaspora, associated with key role played by lawyer activists in the movement.