From: vinsight@netcom.com (Chan T. Vninsight)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Subject: VI: Democracy in communist Vietnam
Date: 28 Sep 92 17:43:40 GMT
Reply-To: vinsight@netcom.com
Organization: SCV Relay
Originator: daemon@media-lab.media.mit.edu


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DEMOCRACY IN COMMUNIST VIETNAM
Hanoi Reforms: Beware the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
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These past few years have seen massive upheavals in what used to be the
Communist Bloc.  In nation after nation, political and economic reforms
that a few years ago would have been unimaginable have become quite
normal as Communism disintegrates around the globe. Dramatic times
indeed!

Even in Vietnam, there is talk of change, talk of democratizing the
Communist party, and what on the surface seems to be an impressive set
of economic reforms.  But can Vietnam really be spoken of in the same
breath as Czechoslovakia and Russia, as Hanoi would have you believe?

On the political front, the regime has recently revised its Constitution
to be one "of the people, by the people, and for the people." It held a
general election -- the first of this kind during its entire rule -- to
elect members of the General Assembly. It even allowed a limited number
of independent candidates to enter the race but only two were qualified
according to its rule who were eventually eliminated prior to the
election. Optimistic observers from outside Vietnam hailed the move as a
good sign toward democratic reform. To the Vietnamese people, Hanoi's
changes -- economic or political alike -- are merely public-relations
ploys intended for foreign consumption.

The fact remains that in Vietnam, opposition of any kind is a crime.
Hanoi often counters that Vietnam has a "different type of democracy"
than in the Western countries.  We will readily concede that there are
many ways to implement a democratic government (participatory,
representative, parliamentary, ad infinitum), but all these different
procedures share the same basic principle: people have the right to
choose their own representatives through a fair election, and the right
to become electoral candidates.

There are elections in Vietnam, but all candidates must be members of
the Communist Party, or approved by the Party or one of its front
organizations. Under the party's electoral rules, no true independent
candidate can make it. No true opposition party is ever allowed to form,
much less run for office. Results of the election are often
predetermined as voters are told whom to choose. To make matters worse,
the positions which ARE put to a vote have little or no real authority;
the real power rests with the upper echelons of the Communist Party,
whose many members rarely face even a facade of a general election, and
when they do, one must remember that it is the Communist Party which
counts the votes and announces the winners.  Another fine example of the
fox guarding the henhouse!

Democracy thrives on opposition; without the free exchange of ideas, no
democracy can function.  For all its lip service to democracy, the Hanoi
regime is more oppressive now than it was a few years ago. (It was bad
enough then!)  As the regime's grasp on power continues to slip, it has
responded with more, and more, aggressive political crackdowns. Its
prisons -- which far outnumber the nation's schools and hospitals
combined -- are being filled daily with citizens who have committed no
crime other than speaking their minds and expressing desire for changes
in the interest of the people.

While no form of oppression is justified in our civilized world, Hanoi
often borrows the excuse of maintaining order to imprison dissidents and
resist democratic changes. Unfortunately, it is this oppression that
would bring chaos to the country. And the stronger the regime resists
the people's will, the more violent the change over would take place.

As long as Hanoi continues to persecute the opposition, any talk of
democracy or reform in Vietnam is meaningless.

-- 
Vietnam Insight (vinsight@netcom.com)
Chan Tran, editor
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese