[Vacets-local-dc] Message from Hanoi: "It has all been 'A Bright Shining Lie.'"

[Hai Tran]

*Now, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) tells us, "It has all been 'A
Bright Shining Lie.'"*
It isn't easy being a Vietnamese communist these days!

As people, both inside Vietnam and overseas, are in convulsion about more
revelation of corruption at the Ministry of Transport where a general
director cum party chief of the Project Management Unit (PMU) 18 gambled
away in December 2005 and January 2006 around 7 million US dollars of
overseas development assistance (ODA) funds through betting on European
soccer matches, the CPV still has to go through the ritual of its
once-every-5-year party congress this month.

In preparation for the congregation, the CPV published the draft of its
political report on February 3 and told the people they had a
month to comment and opine.

In previous occasions, the people did not bother. But this time, with the
Internet and e-mail, many took the chance to voice vociferous objections to
the ossified and dreary content of the report, especially the sections where
the party vows to "resolutely adhere to Marxism-Leninism" and continue to
build a "market economy with socialist orientation." They also demanded
the voiding of Article 4 of the 1992 constitution which endows the CPV the
monopoly of leadership role in everything Vietnamese.

Seeing a flood of negative opinions against the draft report, the party
trotted out some big guns for the rescue. The first is Nguyen Trung, a
retired cadre who used to be ambassador to Thailand and Australia and
currently one of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's advisors; the second is
Nguyen Duc Binh, the dinosauric thought police chief of nearly 30 years,
since the first days of imposing communism onto the entire of country of
Vietnam on April 30, 1975.

Employing the diplomatic trade of cajoling and acknowledging some mistakes
while glorifiying the party for the 20 years, since 1986, of "doi moi -
renovation" but conveniently ignoring the 10 hellish years, 1975-1985, where
prison camps, forced relocations to jungle areas as new economic zones,
confiscations of properties ans small business, and the boat people
exodus, Nguyen Trung still defends the political monopoly of the communist
party, arguing that "inevitably, democracy will come after society improves
enough." And he accused those people calling for the Vietnamese version
of the rose, tulip, velvet revolution of Eastern Europe and Central Asia
as engaging in "salon politics"! After a few articles in the
state-controlled media, his writings became stale and were ignored.

Now comes the biggest gun. On February 27, Nguyen Duc Binh published in the
party daily, Nhan Dan, a long article, calling for "putting everything on
the table." But with one condition: any discussion of any topics cannot
touch Marxism-Leninism because they are absolute truths! A lot of
people questioned his seriousness and accused him of operating like "before
doi moi," i.e., oppressive and dogmatic.

Well, he has been one of the CPV's agit-prop experts of the highest rank.
After the fourth party congress in December 1976, he became head of the
party indoctrination school, member of the politburo, then chairman of the
central commission on ideology and culture, which is the CPV's thought
police department, the all-powerful organ of the party responsible
to ideological control in every aspect of society. In 1989, he even led a
delegation to the then Soviet Union to learn of their renovation process,
Mikhail Gorbachev's "perestroika" and "glasnost." Nguyen Duc Binh has been
the tireless torch bearer of ideology of the CPV during the last 30 years.

Yet, when questions arose about the party's governing slogan in "market
economy with socialist orientation", he admitted that the party is still not
really sure about the contents of socialism. But that Vietnam, under the
leadership of, and only of, the CPV will continue the path and "learn as we
go." In other words, more than 82 million Vietnamese will just have
to continue to be guinea pigs for the 2-million communist apparachiks.

Well, then, what should we do with the country's name? In December 1976, the
CPV ruling clique then changed the name of the country to "Socialist
Republic of Vietnam." Now that the party top ideologue does not even know
what socialism entails, should we take the word "socialist" out of the ? Or
should we just use the name Vietnam, as most Vietnamese prefer?

Nguyen Duc Binh, in a few sentences of his article, has revealed that since
the birth of the CPV in 1930, everything concerning the Vietnamese
communists has been lies. Millions of Vietnamese have died in wars and
purges, concentration camps and new economic zones, in jungles and at sea,
all becaused of the CPV's promised socialism, a paradise on earth. Now, it
has all been nothing but "A Bright Shining Lie," as Neil Sheehan may have
put it.


Hai Tran
Falls Church, Virginia
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