‘Let my people go’: diaspora mobilization for the human rights of political prisoners

Abstract

Diaspora mobilization to influence homeland conflicts has been explored extensively. What has been considered less is the role diasporas play as ‘long distance human rights advocates’ in mobilization for political prisoners. Adding to the increased attention on diasporas as human rights advocates, this inquiry conceptualizes and compares the mobilization of the American Jewish and Vietnamese diasporas during the Cold War to release political prisoners in the Soviet Union and in Vietnam. Jewish and Vietnamese diasporas created influential, special purpose human rights organizations, employed successful framing strategies and mobilized grassroots members through contentious action. The Jewish diaspora further utilized transnational advocacy coalitions and symbolic politics to great effect. This inquiry argues that diaspora human rights NGOs provide critical advantages to human rights advocacy, including through the provision of information about political prisoners, considerable resources for grassroots mobilization and by acting as legitimizing agents for external interventions.

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