http://www.fva.org/1197/story8.htm

In Defense of Thai Binh People

Vietnam's communist leaders are troubled and nervous. After a decade of economic renovation, peasants are still suffering and increasingly discontented, corruption is rampant, crime is clearly on the rise, inequality is widening faster than ever before, and foreign investors are bitterly disappointed. Now, the party leadership has been partly changed. But new faces still have to confront old and deep-rooted problems. In fact, new faces such as Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and President Tran Duc Luong, must face the worst problem of all for the Communist Party: civil unrest.

As we all know, the Thai Binh Uprising began in early May 1997 and continued for several months. And until now, an intensely hostile situation caused by people's unaddressed grievances and unmet demands is still covering the ready-to-explode villages, towns and cities in this province. Once again, the Vietnamese Communist regime has proved its unwillingness to address people's grievances promptly and to redress their losses fully. This has certainly been a common practice and a tactical weapon for the communists to avoid taking responsibility, to hold onto their power, and to firmly pursue their quiet policy of "silence and control". Unfortunately, today's social and economic environment is no longer allowing the communists to be fully in control and the time is ripe for them to loosen their grip on the people.

Yes, such a time has finally been reached when neither old practices, sophisticated weapons, nor secret policies seem to work in the Party's favor and when the people's suffering and injustices are no longer bearable or resolvable by the currently corrupt and unjust communist system. Yes, after months of silencing the media and of quiet consultations among local, provincial and state authorities, on September 8, 1997, the Communist Party's daily mouthpiece, the Nhan Dan (The People) broke its silence and published the first official account of the Thai Binh Uprising.

First of all, the newspaper declined to call the protests in Thai Binh province an "Uprising" but instead, it carried the title: "Complicated Issues In Thai Binh." It is understandable that the Party wanted to downplay the importance and seriousness of this uprising. By distorting information and therefore misleading the public, the Party clearly tried to distract the public's attention and to cover up its mistakes. For so long they have been using that technique and will continue to do so. According to the Nhan Dan newspaper, the protests in Thai Binh were caused by "bad elements and those with private disagreements taking advantage of the situation to create disorder and violate laws" and that by failing to respond promptly, local officials had aggravated the situation. Yes, it is obvious that for so long local officials have ignored people's concerns and grievances. It is true that they are too corrupt and arrogant to listen to and to address people's problems. But it is also an outrageous and totally unfounded accusation on part of the Nhan Dan to say that it was because of "bad elements and criminals in society" that created "complicated issues in Thai Binh." We should wonder what or who else that the newspaper can use as a more convenient scapegoat. Predictably, the Nhan Dan would say, "Neither the Vietnamese Communist Party nor communist authorities. They aren't responsible! "In other words, the Vietnamese peasants and workers have always been their victims, and will continue to be blamed for everything wrong.

Secondly, the Nhan Dan blamed Thai Binh province's fast economic development for leaving local and provincial officials unable to manage their financial affairs effectively, to timely pay back loans borrowed from the people and banks or to fully explain the tax contributions collected also from the people. It also claimed that competition and jealousy among villages, towns, and cities to build construction projects which had produced an unfavorable and unhealthy environment as well as a get-rich-quick mentality among local and provincial officials. As we can see, it is very clear that the Vietnamese communist authorities try to use their economic development and renovation as both an excuse and a trade-off for their corruption and inefficiency. They don't seem to understand how inefficiency feeds corruption and consequentially corruption creates economic failures and loss of public trust in the government. As far as "competition" is concerned, the Vietnamese communists still have not yet learned how the competition mechanism works in a capitalist and pluralist society. They can only see competition as much a threat to renovation and efficiency as a bad public policy for fear of being unable to control their economic affairs.

Thirdly, denying responsibility and blaming the little guy have usually been a good tactic for the communist authorities to trivialize the problem and to calm down public anger. For instance, the Nhan Dan newspaper had its own way of interpreting how things happened in Thai Binh and who was responsible. It claimed that "a worm had ruined the whole meal" and that "local People's Inspectional Teams mistakenly included people lacking education, working experience, and ethics." Conveniently, this official mouthpiece of the Party pointed its finger to the lowest level of village government--the People's Inspectional Teams (P.I.T). Understandably, this is because the P.I.T's job is to inspect the village government's expenses as well as local people's taxes and contributions. And shamefully, if village government authorities do not accept responsibility, failures or corruption cases found by the P.I.T, they have nothing wiser to do but to condemn and criminalize members of the P.I.T. That is also exactly what the Nhan Dan newspaper did to the P.I.T.

Finally and worst, high-handed officialdom has been an injustice and a strong cause for the people of Thai Binh to stand up. Since so many people's grievances and appeals were ignored or delayed, local officials had eventually pushed them to upper governmental levels. This obviously caused bitter frustration and distrust toward local officials and their ability to resolve people's long-delayed grievances. It is also a common practice for village government authorities to "respectfully send" local villagers' appeals to district or provincial leaders who, like the rest of them, are afraid to take responsibility or to follow governmental regulations and decrees. Just like this communist country's constitution, regulations and laws are just "on paper" and subject to arbitrary interpretation and intervention correspondingly by each level of authority. That is why most local village officials want to hand people's problems and grievances to the "upper and super man" for intervention and solution. Clearly, this shows more than what we might think, a deep-rooted problem burdening the people as well as challenging the regime's dictatorship. As a matter of fact, high-handed officialdom, lawlessness and injustice had helped push the' people of Thai Binh up against the wall, and therefore they had nothing to lose but to fight back proudly and vehemently.

In conclusion, many lessons have been there for the Vietnamese communists to learn. But their time is up. More than half a century of learning and experimenting communism has proven as much fruitless as destructive. Now, it is time for Vietnam's communist authorities to stop their "communism experiment" and start returning their power to the people. The regime knows exactly what to do to return human rights, freedom, and democracy to the people. Currently, the country is in trouble and peasants everywhere are ready to rise up. For the communists, delaying those demands not only worsens the country but also risks many longer and stronger uprisings all over Vietnam. For the people of Thai Binh in particular and all of Vietnam in general: this is the time when justice, human rights and democracy are within their reach. They need only to act more swiftly and concertedly.

Quoc Trong