As preparations for the 11th National Congress of Vietnamese Communist Party are underway, more and more voices asking for the abandon of the communist ideology start to come out emphasizing particularly in the renunciation of the extreme Marxist-Leninist view on Religion.
The Vietnamese Communist Party holds a national congress once every five years to draw up a socio-political blueprint and make leadership changes. Since the collapse of the Communist bloc in Eastern Europe, the Communist Party has found itself struggling harder and harder to silence more and more voices from various sectors in society asking for the abandon of the outdated communist ideology.
Advance preparations for the 11th congress, due to take place in January 2011, are already in progress with state-run newspapers being flooded with articles calling for “the perservance in communism”; and court trial calendars being filled up with more names of dissidents in an orchestrating strategy of intimidation. On the other hand, there are more articles from intellectuals including numerous members of the Party being published on the Internet urging the government to break up its ties with the ideology.
Protest against “the perservance in communism”
The public protest against “the perservance in communism” could be observed in an unprecedented move in September when scholars of a development strategy institute decided to stop all activities and self disband in protest of recent Governmental Decree # 97 prohibiting all forms of public opposition and disagreement with the government policies.
Established in 2004 and composing of prominent economists, many of whom have served in the government and are Communist Party members, Vietnam Institute of Development Studies (IDS) is considered the think tank of Vietnam and has played a crucial role in advising the Vietnamese government to navigate the country into a more market-oriented economy during the last five years.
Scholars in IDS have constantly been challenging the communist-oriented policies of the government, urging the authorities for more political and economic reforms in order to reintegrate Vietnam into the international community after almost a century being isolated from it, and being plunged into the darkness of communism.
Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung immediately denounced the self disband of IDS, asking for probing into the scholars' political motives, while threatening legal actions against them.
Also, in early October, Vietnam jailed six people for advocating democracy after imposing similar sentences to three others earlier in the previous week in a choreographed move to deter dissents in the run up to the 11th congress.
On Oct. 8, another dissident, Mrs. Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, a novelist and journalist, was attacked by police agents and later arrested for her criticism against the government policies.
An ideology causing so much bloodshed and troubles
Despite all dangers awaiting them, more voices against the communist ideology are still being raised. In an article published on VietCatholic News, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Giang, living in Hanoi, an outspoken critic against the communist ideology, argues that economic reforms to move the country into a more market-oriented economy are not enough. Vietnam needs to break entirely its ties with the “evil communist ideology”, he reckons.
Citing history of the world and Vietnam, he boldly identifies communism as the responsible party for millions of deaths in Russia, China and other countries, also for hundred thousands of deaths of farmers during the course of major land reforms between 1955-1957 (of which Vietnam government admitted that 172,008 Vietnamese were killed but the real number still remains unknown). Furthermore, the communist ideology should be blamed for the deaths of 1.1 million North Vietnamese soldiers and 2 million civilians in the Vietnam War, during which 559,200 North Vietnamese soldiers were wounded, not to mention the missing of 300,000 others, and the huge human cost in terms of fatalities of people in South Vietnam.
When assessing the current situation, Dr. Nguyen argues that communism can even damage the country more when it moves to the market-oriented economy yet communist principles are still being applied.
In the light of recent conflicts with religious communities in Thai Ha, Tam Toa, Loan Ly and Bat Nha, the communist principle of land collective ownership can serve as a typical example. Vietnam follows the Communist system of land ownership. All land belongs to the people and is managed by the State on behalf of the people. Local officials, with so much power in their hands, have taken advantages of this principle to rob land from peasants and religious communities.
As land values increase at an impressive rate, corruption gets more and more pervasive, local authorities get bolder and bolder in seeking illegitimate, personal gain. They have come up with unfeasible projects just to have an excuse to confiscate farmland from peasants or buy it at a very low cost. Once the owners have been kicked off their land, state officials resell it at higher prices, or build hotels, restaurants, and night clubs as financial resources for government officials.
The letter of Bishop Michael Hoang Duc Oanh of Kontum sent to the government leaders of Vietnam in September last year confirms the situation. In his letter, the prelate warned the top leaders that “numerous of the weak and the poor have pleaded for years for the requisition of their properties but all in vain, as the authorities do not listen but persecute them instead!”
Stop promoting negative Marxist-Leninist view on Religion
Since the introduction of communist ideology into Vietnam, the Communist Party has continuously promoted its extremely negative and hostile Marxist-Leninist view on religion. Faithful of religions have now and then been considered undesirable, untrustworthy, hostile, or even dangerous for the regime. This makes religious communities vulnerable preys of local authorities.
In his pastoral letter dated Oct. 28, 2009 to the priests, religious, and lay people in his diocese Bishop Thomas Nguyen Van Tan of Vinh Long pointed out a cheap trick of local government to rob lots of land in this diocese. It began with the government 's accusation made against the sisters of the Congregation of St Paul of Chartres in Vinh Long who were running an orphan house, charging them of “training youth to be an anti-revolution force to oppose the liberation of the country” to justify the officials' plan to seize their properties. The officials then tried to sell the land for foreign investors for millions of U.S. dollars. When the congregation and the diocese protested, it demolished the monastery and built a public square. The same stories had happened exactly at the Hanoi nunciature, Thai Ha and other places.
Regarding recent conflicts between the government and religious communities, Dr. Nguyen warns that “keep being plunged in communism; we can only make innocent communities like those in Thai Ha, Tam Toa, Loan Ly, and Bat Nha the enemies of the regime.”
Glimmering signs of hope
Vietnam government promotes a very hostile view against religion, especially Catholicism. Text books at all levels of educations publicly attack Catholicism. However, extremely negative viewpoints against religion have seemed to fade away with the process of reintegration the country to the international community. Recently, right in the education environment, one can see encouraging signs of open and tolerant towards religions among intellectuals.
On Oct. 29, at the University of Social Studies and Human Science in Hanoi, there was a conference on the theme “Religious Culture in the context of Globalization” in which Catholic priests and scholars had chances to present Catholic viewpoints on many issues of the society in Vietnam.
From now to the 11th National Congress of Vietnamese Communist Party, one can expect to see more and more bold challenges to “the perservance in communism” and more and more crackdowns against the voices for democracy and freedom in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese Communist Party holds a national congress once every five years to draw up a socio-political blueprint and make leadership changes. Since the collapse of the Communist bloc in Eastern Europe, the Communist Party has found itself struggling harder and harder to silence more and more voices from various sectors in society asking for the abandon of the outdated communist ideology.
Advance preparations for the 11th congress, due to take place in January 2011, are already in progress with state-run newspapers being flooded with articles calling for “the perservance in communism”; and court trial calendars being filled up with more names of dissidents in an orchestrating strategy of intimidation. On the other hand, there are more articles from intellectuals including numerous members of the Party being published on the Internet urging the government to break up its ties with the ideology.
Protest against “the perservance in communism”
The public protest against “the perservance in communism” could be observed in an unprecedented move in September when scholars of a development strategy institute decided to stop all activities and self disband in protest of recent Governmental Decree # 97 prohibiting all forms of public opposition and disagreement with the government policies.
Established in 2004 and composing of prominent economists, many of whom have served in the government and are Communist Party members, Vietnam Institute of Development Studies (IDS) is considered the think tank of Vietnam and has played a crucial role in advising the Vietnamese government to navigate the country into a more market-oriented economy during the last five years.
Scholars in IDS have constantly been challenging the communist-oriented policies of the government, urging the authorities for more political and economic reforms in order to reintegrate Vietnam into the international community after almost a century being isolated from it, and being plunged into the darkness of communism.
Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung immediately denounced the self disband of IDS, asking for probing into the scholars' political motives, while threatening legal actions against them.
Also, in early October, Vietnam jailed six people for advocating democracy after imposing similar sentences to three others earlier in the previous week in a choreographed move to deter dissents in the run up to the 11th congress.
On Oct. 8, another dissident, Mrs. Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, a novelist and journalist, was attacked by police agents and later arrested for her criticism against the government policies.
An ideology causing so much bloodshed and troubles
Despite all dangers awaiting them, more voices against the communist ideology are still being raised. In an article published on VietCatholic News, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Giang, living in Hanoi, an outspoken critic against the communist ideology, argues that economic reforms to move the country into a more market-oriented economy are not enough. Vietnam needs to break entirely its ties with the “evil communist ideology”, he reckons.
Citing history of the world and Vietnam, he boldly identifies communism as the responsible party for millions of deaths in Russia, China and other countries, also for hundred thousands of deaths of farmers during the course of major land reforms between 1955-1957 (of which Vietnam government admitted that 172,008 Vietnamese were killed but the real number still remains unknown). Furthermore, the communist ideology should be blamed for the deaths of 1.1 million North Vietnamese soldiers and 2 million civilians in the Vietnam War, during which 559,200 North Vietnamese soldiers were wounded, not to mention the missing of 300,000 others, and the huge human cost in terms of fatalities of people in South Vietnam.
When assessing the current situation, Dr. Nguyen argues that communism can even damage the country more when it moves to the market-oriented economy yet communist principles are still being applied.
In the light of recent conflicts with religious communities in Thai Ha, Tam Toa, Loan Ly and Bat Nha, the communist principle of land collective ownership can serve as a typical example. Vietnam follows the Communist system of land ownership. All land belongs to the people and is managed by the State on behalf of the people. Local officials, with so much power in their hands, have taken advantages of this principle to rob land from peasants and religious communities.
As land values increase at an impressive rate, corruption gets more and more pervasive, local authorities get bolder and bolder in seeking illegitimate, personal gain. They have come up with unfeasible projects just to have an excuse to confiscate farmland from peasants or buy it at a very low cost. Once the owners have been kicked off their land, state officials resell it at higher prices, or build hotels, restaurants, and night clubs as financial resources for government officials.
The letter of Bishop Michael Hoang Duc Oanh of Kontum sent to the government leaders of Vietnam in September last year confirms the situation. In his letter, the prelate warned the top leaders that “numerous of the weak and the poor have pleaded for years for the requisition of their properties but all in vain, as the authorities do not listen but persecute them instead!”
Stop promoting negative Marxist-Leninist view on Religion
Since the introduction of communist ideology into Vietnam, the Communist Party has continuously promoted its extremely negative and hostile Marxist-Leninist view on religion. Faithful of religions have now and then been considered undesirable, untrustworthy, hostile, or even dangerous for the regime. This makes religious communities vulnerable preys of local authorities.
In his pastoral letter dated Oct. 28, 2009 to the priests, religious, and lay people in his diocese Bishop Thomas Nguyen Van Tan of Vinh Long pointed out a cheap trick of local government to rob lots of land in this diocese. It began with the government 's accusation made against the sisters of the Congregation of St Paul of Chartres in Vinh Long who were running an orphan house, charging them of “training youth to be an anti-revolution force to oppose the liberation of the country” to justify the officials' plan to seize their properties. The officials then tried to sell the land for foreign investors for millions of U.S. dollars. When the congregation and the diocese protested, it demolished the monastery and built a public square. The same stories had happened exactly at the Hanoi nunciature, Thai Ha and other places.
Regarding recent conflicts between the government and religious communities, Dr. Nguyen warns that “keep being plunged in communism; we can only make innocent communities like those in Thai Ha, Tam Toa, Loan Ly, and Bat Nha the enemies of the regime.”
Glimmering signs of hope
Vietnam government promotes a very hostile view against religion, especially Catholicism. Text books at all levels of educations publicly attack Catholicism. However, extremely negative viewpoints against religion have seemed to fade away with the process of reintegration the country to the international community. Recently, right in the education environment, one can see encouraging signs of open and tolerant towards religions among intellectuals.
On Oct. 29, at the University of Social Studies and Human Science in Hanoi, there was a conference on the theme “Religious Culture in the context of Globalization” in which Catholic priests and scholars had chances to present Catholic viewpoints on many issues of the society in Vietnam.
From now to the 11th National Congress of Vietnamese Communist Party, one can expect to see more and more bold challenges to “the perservance in communism” and more and more crackdowns against the voices for democracy and freedom in Vietnam.