Brisbane Vietnamese Restaurant Changes Name After Protests

“521 soldiers from Australia and New Zealand died fighting against Ho Chi Minh and the communist army. Why would you bring the name Uncle Ho?”

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The owner of New Farm Vietnamese restaurant Uncle Ho’s has been forced to change the name of her business, after a protest over the weekend. 

Over 100 protestors marched to Uncle Ho’s, claiming the name of the restaurant was insensitive. Speaking to Queensland newspaper the Courier Mail, Dr Bui Cuong, President of the Queensland Chapter of the Vietnamese Community in Australia explained the issue.

“The communist people called him Uncle Ho. That is Ho Chi Minh. He is a mass murderer, a dictator,” Dr Bui told The Sunday Mail.

“People can support the communists, but the Vietnamese people here are the people who ran away from them. We don’t want anything to do with the communists.”

While you might think ‘Uncle Ho could be a fairly common name, maybe this is all a misunderstanding,’ a look at the the above “Gather your squadron and mobilise the troops” advertisement leaves little doubt as to who exactly Uncle Ho is.

 

Elaborating further, Dr Bui said he was not making this a personal issue with restaurant owner Anna Demirbek, but the pain of the past meant the restauranteur should have taken more care with her branding.

“I have nothing against her, but I am very against the name Uncle Ho because that brings back the bad memories, the nightmares for people who lost their families. Every time they think about it, they cry,” he said.

If they still don’t change the name after the protest, we will protest again and again until the name is changed.

“521 soldiers from Australia and New Zealand died fighting against Ho Chi Minh and the communist army. Why would you bring the name Uncle Ho?”

The restaurant acknowledged the name change in a lengthy Instagram post, which started with the following; “We are, and have always been, fully conscious that the brand Uncle Ho would be sensitive,” which begs the question ‘why did you name it Uncle Ho’s anyway?”

The incident follows a similar story in Melbourne, when fried chicken restaurant F.A.T (Fat And Tasty) were found to have coated their walls with slavery-era African American iconography, including Aunt Jemima, alongside portraits of white families holding guns.

Uncle Ho’s will now trade as Uncle Bia Hoi, after the Vietnamese beer.

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