About Vietnam Rise: Our Mission, Our Moment

Vietnam Rise was founded and is led by three female activists drawing from decades-long experience with movement building in Vietnam and human rights work around the world. In our past and current work, we have had rich collaboration and deep partnership with many civil society, human rights defenders, and advocacy organizations. However, we have also experienced government-sponsored smear campaigns that distort the nature of our work and attempts at silencing our activism.

Angelina Huynh, Trinh Nguyen, and Trinity Pham are all former members of the pro-democracy organization Viet Tan. All three ceased their work and association with Viet Tan years ago, prior to founding Vietnam Rise. This work and public affiliation was and remains a legitimate expression of civic participation and represents deep commitment to movement building, community organizing, and advancement of social justice. To portray this as anything else is disinformation and a gross attempt at isolating civil society actors in the region.

The mission of Vietnam Rise is to incubate social movements by fostering movement mindset, empowering leaders and organizations, and connecting local communities. Since 2019, we have been promoting social movements across Vietnam, advocating for justice and change. We have partnered with community leaders and civil society organizations throughout the region to empower grassroots initiatives and create lasting impact for communities in Vietnam.

We call on our peers, allies, and fellow organizers to stand together: confront the orchestrated vilification of social justice and civil society work. Through transnational solidarity, partnership, and collaboration, we can build resilience against the tides of authoritarianism worldwide.