Next Year in Saigon

Reading Time: 7 Minutes

| By Emeritus | April 30, 2025 |

A lot of folks talk to me about an inspirational phrase that the Jewish people have greeted each other with for thousands of years. It’s the phrase “Next Year in Jerusalem.”

It’s not just a random phrase about how they like to meet in Jerusalem each year, like some fun family trip. This phrase is a constant reminder and encouragement so that the Jewish people will never forget their single most important goal: to restore Israel as a nation and return to their home as a free people.

The phrase has been carried on for generations of Israelites, for thousands of years, as they dispersed across the world in search of a true home.

Then, in 1948, the Jewish people achieved what they had constantly reminded each other to do for thousands of years — they won back their homeland, renamed The State of Israel.

When I have these conversations, I cannot help but relate to the Israelites who waited and fought so long before they reclaimed their homeland.

As Vietnamese people who value freedom, independence, honor, and justice, we lost our homeland on April 30, 1975.

Since then, like the Israelites, the Free Vietnamese people have dispersed across the world in search of a home.

And we found new homes.

Most of us settled in America, while many others found Canada, Australia, and Western Europe. We love our new homes, and we are proud of our new identities.

However, at the same time, even the proudest and oldest generations of Americans and other free nations have roots somewhere else. Whether it be England, Ireland, Africa, Italy, or Vietnam, many proud Americans, Canadians, and Australians have some roots in a distant land.

For our community, it is the Republic of Vietnam — also known as South Vietnam — which is why honoring its legacy is so important.

And it is also why restoring freedom to the homeland of Vietnam is so important today.

For those who are too young to understand why the current state of Communist Vietnam does not represent the Vietnamese people, I will tell you why.

Communist Vietnam is not Vietnam. It is a Chinese vassal, controlled by cowards in the Vietnamese Communist Party who have given all but the very last bits of their sovereignty to the Chinese Communist Party.

Today, Communist Vietnam has no identity, no pride, and no will to stand up strong and proud as a nation of Vietnamese people, by the Vietnamese people, for the Vietnamese people.

China has slowly been impeding on the sovereignty of the Vietnamese homeland since even before April 30, 1975. And for fifty years, China has succeeded.

Instead of pushing back against the Communist Chinese who chip away at the sovereignty of the Vietnamese people several large chunks at a time, the little bastards of the Vietnamese Communist Party try to “fight” against us — the Free Vietnamese people across the world.

Us Free Vietnamese people would be more than happy to assist those who govern Vietnam right now, with the simple condition that they let the people of Vietnam live freely and peacefully in a fair and just Vietnamese homeland.

But that one simple condition is simply too much for the little bastards in the Vietnamese Communist Party — today, and for the last 50 years.

Siding with Red China, the little bastards in the Vietnamese Communist Party live in constant fear of the mere memory of the lost Republic of Vietnam.

They are more afraid of the ghost of the Free South Vietnam than they are of the very real Chinese invaders who have already attained full control of the government in Vietnam today.

For this reason, Communist Vietnam today is not the legitimate government of the Vietnamese people. Today, Vietnam is an occupied territory, stolen by communist invaders who happen to speak Vietnamese (barely), but in their minds, they are already Chinese.

In this way, the Free Vietnamese people across the world are like the Jewish peoples of millenniums before.

We deeply love freedom. We lost our homeland. But one day, like the Israelites, we will bring freedom home.

For centuries, the phrase “Next Year in Jerusalem” kept the Jewish spirit alive through exile, persecution, and displacement. It was more than a prayer — it was a shared dream that helped the Jewish people endure unimaginable hardships without losing their identity.

Across continents and generations, the simple words sustained hope, unity, and a sense of belonging to a homeland they had not seen in thousands of years.

By the 19th century, this ancient longing evolved into action through the Zionist movement, as Jews around the world organized to reclaim their ancestral home.

“Next year in Jerusalem” had prepared hearts and minds for the real possibility of return. It gave moral strength to the pioneers who built settlements, inspired leaders like Theodor Herzl, and fueled the courage to fight for independence.

In 1948, with the founding of the State of Israel, the dream of generations was at last fulfilled.

The phrase “Next Year in Jerusalem” made sure that every Israelite always remembered the mission.

And so too, the phrase “Next Year in Saigon” must be uttered and spoken from one Vietnamese to another, for as long as it takes, until we finally bring freedom back to the homeland of the Vietnamese people.

The communist bastards keep waging “war” on us because they fear us. They fear our power, and they always will.

Yes, it may be funny to think that the Vietnamese Communist Party dedicates exorbitant amounts of money and manpower to fight against Free Vietnamese people all over the world.

However, it should also be empowering and motivating to know that the mere thought of us — and the mere memory of South Vietnam, a nation that no longer exists — is enough to incite fear, panic, and shame in the hearts and minds of little communist bastards everywhere.

A simple flag. Golden yellow. Three red stripes across the center.

That is all it takes to be arrested in Communist Vietnam and possibly disappear forever.

Because that is all it takes to remind communists of their cowardice, corruption, and inherent inferiority — then, now, always, and forever.

And it is also all we need to remember that, in the end, we will succeed.

Today, we may be sad at the loss of our homeland 50 years ago, but it should also be a reminder that one day, we will bring freedom home to Vietnam.

We honor the heroes, such as President Ngo Dinh Diem, General Le Van Hung, and the countless others who sacrificed their lives so that to this day, we Free Vietnamese people across the world have roots that we are truly proud of — and that we will always be proud of.

While we also honor our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents for their roles in bringing us to freedom today, we also take it upon ourselves to carry on the legacy, to pass it on to future generations forevermore until we bring freedom home to Vietnam.

By telling each other, “Next Year in Saigon,” slowly but surely, we will change our collective mentality from those who wished for freedom in Vietnam to those who bring freedom to Vietnam.

This loss is temporary. The pain is temporary.

Freedom will be forever.

So, on this somber day, April 30, 2025, I humbly say to you:

Next year in Saigon.

Năm sau ở Sài Gòn.