Words from Bach
Read letters from Bach, sent from prison during his wrongful detainment.
Read Bach’s most recent letter, where he reflects on the fourth anniversary of his wrongful imprisonment:
Prison No. 6, Nghe An province,
“June 24, 2025 is the fourth anniversary of my arrest. Basically, I am in Nghe An Prison because injustice is in my country Vietnam. I do not mean the unjust trial and sentencing done to me and to my family, I mean the unjust done to the air, the land and the rivers of Viet Nam, to the communities affected by environmental damage — whether due to dams, coal projects, mining or toxic chemicals, to the communities who lost their livelihoods to make way to destructive business projects.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And we are bound in a network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
While confined here, in Nghe An prison, I cannot go after my work for a sustainable development and a just energy transition for Vietnam, but I know and want to thank my friends and colleagues, for not only standing by me but also actively pushing hard for a green, just transition in Vietnam. Your engagement is not rhetorical but woven into policy advocacy, climate campaigns, and international agreements....
The current global instability—marked by regional wars, civil unrest, refugee crises, and political extremism—does reflect, in part, the long-term consequences of how international aid and power have been wielded.
While I am very thankful to hear that the EU fundings for JETP are actively flowing into Vietnam, I put my trust in the EU and you, my friends and colleagues, to ensure that the EU aid be firmly conditioned on Transparency, Anti-corruption enforcement, and Human rights benchmarks, including civic space protections. These aren’t just moral concerns—they are practical safeguards to ensure that public money achieves meaningful, long-term outcomes. Without these, climate and development aid risks being undermined or even co-opted.
The people of Vietnam must be at the heart of aid decisions. Local voices, local leaders, and civil society know their challenges better than anyone. Their participation in setting priorities, designing programs, and monitoring results must be ensured. This is the only way to build sustainable, resilient communities. And finally political stability cannot come at the cost of justice.
Even behind prison walls, my heart beats in rhythm with the climate movement. I hope I can soon rejoin my friends and colleagues in building the just and livable future we all believe in.”
Đặng đình Bách
More words from Bach:
On April 25th, Bach wrote from prison (read the full letter here) :
“In the present moment, I am still listening to the drying rivers, the desperate deltas, the earth gradually becoming red hot with so many extreme phenomena that result in droughts, floods, and forest fires, sea level rise... but humanity still seems to be sleeping with unending ambitions, pushing fellow human beings to a miserable situation due to robbery, war, poverty and injustice…
I am here and still listening, I listen attentively enough so that anger does not arise and am aware that my friends and everyone else, we belong to the mother earth with good qualities. I am also aware that, throughout history, people have constantly established boundaries, divided each person, divided humanity with gulfs of separation and fear, increasing suffering within ourselves, along with all kinds of conflicts between humans and humans, between humans and mother nature. The earth is crumbling on the brink of destruction, human life is increasingly corrupted in a crisis of values of faith, love, and morality. Is there an effective way for us to heal and restore good things to this planet?…
My dear friends, I am truly grateful to you for always accompanying me and giving me so much energy, even though there are many people I have not had the opportunity to meet, know their faces, and their names, but surely we are always be together. I am here, firmly in your hearts.”
"The challenges that humanity is facing, such as epidemics, wars, environmental disasters, and climate change, will only stop when humanity opens the stream of consciousness for the light of righteousness, wisdom, and charity to dispel the veil of darkness — the dark night of greed, envy, discrimination, violence, and power. The practical work of each individual is to awaken that upward stream of consciousness in himself, in his family and in his community, beyond preoccupations and narrowisms, and into harmony with the flow of human unity. Man with the natural world in its entirety with universal dignity.”
“I have witnessed so many painful stories of poverty and terrible diseases that weigh on abused communities in Vietnam. They are deprived of their land and livelihoods and do not have opportunities to speak out for justice and the right to be human in the face of environmental pollution, especially in places with coal-fired power plants across the country. In order to conceal the truth and threaten the voices of people, the Vietnamese authorities have arrested, convicted and unjustly detained environmental and human rights activists in defiance of national and international law.”
Bach wishes for June 24th to become an annual day of commemoration and recognition of the sacrifices environmental defenders have made and to criticize all institutions that do not respect human rights.