Vietnam 1984
Written by Viv
In early June this year, protests[1] occurred throughout Vietnam, including the capital Hanoi and the economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City.
A local coffee shop owner tells me that a policeman in her area asked her to keep an eye on her neighborhood and inform him if she saw any sign of protest or dissatisfaction. It would be absurd to believe the police only talked to one local business owner.
Most of the demonstrations are aimed at the government’s plans for new special economic zones where foreign investors would be able to rent land for up to 99 years and at the government’s new stringent cybersecurity laws. The protesters are fearful of having local markets invaded and of the effects of the legal foreign (especially Chinese) occupation of Vietnamese land. “This is not far from selling our land to the Chinese,” one local said. Some of the most worrisome stipulations of the cybersecurity laws include requiring companies like Google and Facebook to place their offices and store data in Vietnam. Why? It is so that whenever the police show up with an “official document,” all the personal data of a Vietnamese citizen suspected of violating the law or spreading ideas that do not fit the Communist Party of Vietnam’s vision must be handed over (Article 26, Paragraph 2).[2] These laws have already been passed and will be effective from January 1, 2019, while the duration of the special economic zone leases is currently being reevaluated.
I have never seen protests on such a scale in Vietnam before. The government is not a big fan of any critics – anyone who speaks against it in any manner may be severely punished by law. Just ask Mother Mushroom,[3] a blogger sentenced to ten years in prison for her blog posts about land confiscation, police brutality, and freedom of expression. Or you can ask Tran Huynh Duy Thuc,[4] an engineer and political activist jailed for 16 years for numerous online comment entries about government policies and leadership. Simply observing and reporting government activities has also landed many in jail. Some have even been stripped of their Vietnamese nationality.
Even if I stop myself writing right now, the police may still be banging on my door in a moment, making this endeavor increasingly unnerving with every word I write.
I see an interesting analogy to Korea. In Vietnam, we get text messages from the authorities warning citizens not to listen to the “bad guys” and protests on the street. (Yes, the government identifies protesters as “bad guys” – the literal translation of kẻ xấu). In Korea, we get messages warning people about polluted air, high humidity, or a fire drill so that we can be well prepared. In Vietnam early last month, the police blocked major streets so citizens could not organize any protests near municipal offices. In Korea during the candlelight vigils last year, the police suspended traffic in downtown areas so citizens could sing in unison against the government of the time. The contrast is astounding. My worldview and disposition have been formed by the combination of these two cultures. I was trained to be both a conformist and a nonconformist.
Reporting about the turbulence in Vietnam and in my own mentality is daunting. About a dozen people in my Korean social circle supported the idea of publishing it, but with great caution. In contrast, my ties in Vietnam recommended otherwise. “The government is highly alert at the moment. I don’t think you should,” a colleague advised me. A Korean executive working in Vietnam, who is a dear friend of mine, reminded me of Kim Dae-jung, a political activist who went to prison for his fight against an authoritarian regime and eventually became President of South Korea in addition to becoming the first Nobel Prize winner in the nation: “His story was admirable. But he was the rare lucky one who made it. There were thousands of activists like him during that time in Korea and not many survived.”
It is not my goal to provoke anyone, but to have the ability and right to speak my mind, to be critical of the world I am in, and to show others the value of this practice.
Indifference has become the norm in Vietnam, as if seeing injustice clearly is not our business. We are taught to accept the given authority and that we must not criticize, examine, or judge it for ourselves. We leave it to the “superior” class. The culture of apathy is also endemic in classrooms, where students are rarely encouraged to question the rules or challenge the norm. Unchallenging education results in unchallenging individuals – we have bred a flock of silent lambs, or more accurately, gentle Vietnamese water buffalo.
The public’s silence suggests a collective mass of political non-criticism, either by choice or because of coercion. If a buffalo bays to you, know that the farmer has heard it too and that the animal is going to be taken to the slaughterhouse – the slaughterhouse of ideas.
I can see, from where I am sitting, light cages hanging from the roof – a home décor statement that is admittedly mediocre but charming. Is it the universe giving me a visual metaphor for the entrapment of ideas? I do not know. But the light from the bulbs leaks outside anyway, casting its brightness over the entire room.
In Vietnam, we have something called “frog markets.” They are made up of street vendors who run unauthorized stalls at street markets where you can buy just about anything. Whenever they see police, they jump and run. Hence the description “frog.” The small world of Vietnamese political critics is just like this, at least for the time being.
References
[1] Reuters. (2018, June 10). Vietnam police halt protests against new economic zones. Retrieved from the Reuters World News website: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vietnam-protests/vietnam-police-halt-protests-against-new-economic-zones-idUSKCN1J605X
[2] Thu Vien Phap Luat. (2018, June 12). Luat: An Ninh Mang [The Law: Network Security]. Retrieved from the Thu Vien Phap Luat website: https://thuvienphapluat.vn/van-ban/cong-nghe-thong-tin/Luat-an-ninh-mang-2018-351416.aspx
[3] Human Rights Watch. (2017, November 30). Vietnam: Drop charges against “Mother Mushroom” – Hold security forces behind assaults on family, friends to account. Retrieved from the Human Rights Watch website: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/11/30/vietnam-drop-charges-against-mother-mushroom
[4] Người lao động. (2010, January 20). Trần Huỳnh Duy Thức lãnh án 16 năm tù, Lê Công Định 5 năm tù [Tran Huynh Duy Thuc sentenced to 16 years in prison, Le Cong Dinh sentenced to 5 years in prison]. Retrieved from the Người lao động [Laborers Online] website: https://nld.com.vn/phap-luat/tran-huynh-duy-thuc-lanh-an-16-nam-tu–le-cong-dinh-5-nam-tu-20100120091945943.htm
Disclaimer: As is always the case with our Opinion pieces, the views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Gwangju News, the GIC, or the Gwangju city government.