On March 14th, 2024, the Reiff Center for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution hosted Mai Khôi on “Bad Activist: Reflections on Music and Activism”. The event featured Mai Khôi, a well-known singer and activist who was once an idol in Vietnam, eventually earning the title “Lady Gaga of Vietnam” through her protests in songs and duties performed as an activist against the Vietnamese government’s reign. In her talk, she provided her own account of her upbringing in Vietnam and the war that devastated the country, her progression and acclamation of the title of “pop star”, and her eventual protest against the politics in Vietnam. In her presentation, she sang various songs that had resulted in her banning from singing in Vietnam, reflecting on…show more content… Towards the end of her talk, she also mentioned the persecution of environmental scientists who have attempted to raise the alarm about global warming and the impact of their country’s decisions on local wildlife, resulting in many of their arrests and imprisonments. Khôi began the event by singing an old Vietnamese song she sang while she was a child, explaining that her father had taught her it while he still spoke out against the government. Soon after, she stated, her father was taken and brought to a re-educational facility, where he was released after one year back home where he was never the same. She spoke of how, after eventually achieving her dream of being an idol that could sing freely, everything was controlled, restricted and censored that could potentially harm the Vietnamese government. After a while, she began to speak out against the government’s actions, and made contacts with multiple activists within the country. After being involved with them, her own closest friends began to push her away and shun her, and she was forced away from her dream of being an
