[Vnbiz] Doing politics in the Vietnamese spirit

[Craig Stevenson]

I, although born on one patch of land, have always felt myself to be a
citizen of the world. That, everywhere was a home for me, and family, and
fraternity with all I've met.

I wonder how long humans have roamed this earth. How long they have
organized in groupings. How those groupings became other groupings and so
forth unto recent history, let's say the last ten thousand years or so.  How
and when and why humans separated became distinct from each other.  Groupings
pitted against groupings. Groupings taking groupings in, taking a new form
involving, identifying, defining, refining, designing, and all for
separation, uniqueness, distinctness, separation, and so on.



I can't help from thinking how far we have moved from ourselves, how far we
are distant, and how much we have lost.  It reminds me of Emerson, reminds
me of Thoreau, how much of "distinctly" American writings can find their
roots in the Buddhist writings that had been transmitted to the West before
the mid 19th century.



I think of Marx.  I think of the ability that each of us, when pure in heart
and spirit, have to transmit from ourselves to each other.  How each has the
ability to transmit something back.  It seems that Marx had seen the
futility of the separateness that had descended from time immemorial to ten
thousand years ago, and well unfortunately, to the very present.  From Each
to Another, From Another to Each.  We are classified by scientists as
homo-sapiens.  Marx spoke of something different.  That Men could move
beyond their baseness, beyond their dividing secularity, beyond these
constructs of difference that have evolved hand in hand with language as
language has moved hand in hand with perceptions, images, perspectives,
beliefs, and so on.  Marx was speaking of a fundamental change in species.  An
evolution of the species, perhaps from a sapien to a spiritus.  That
essentially man would move beyond his petty separations and differences.  That
man would evolve. Hmmm….unfortunately….I still wait.



Good night.


Craig

Marx said that RELIGION was the opiate of the people, not that no truth
could be found within the boundary of such philosophies.






On 6/8/07, Tran Dinh Hoanh <tdhoanh at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
> Dear CACC,
>
> I have just had a long talk with a younger professional who asks me
> for advice on Vietnam politics.  I though I should share with you, the
> younger intellectuals, what I have just shared with my friend.  So
> here it is.
>
> 1.  Today, too many people still have the slave mentality of
> worshiping their great white fathers.  This mentality goes back to the
> time of the French, the Vatican, the American.  Today, such mentality
> is still prevalent.  For people with such mentality, Washington DC or
> Paris or Rome some western capitals are where the power of Vietnam
> reside.
>
> 2.  In the same vein, there are idiots in foreign countries (such as
> in Washington DC) who will always want to mess around with our
> country, just because they can do that and get away with it.
>
> 3.  There are people who continue to fight the old war that was
> supposed to be over in 1975 and they will do the fight under any kind
> of pretext, from human rights to democracy to religious freedom.
>
> Avoid these people and avoid becoming one of them.  If you are not
> vigilant, you can be bought much easier than you think.
>
> We have to do politics within this fundamental principle:  All
> Vietnamese are brothers and sisters.  We do not do politics as
> enemies.  If we compete, that is friendly competition between
> brothers/sisters.
>
> No political systems, no political theories, no political principles
> are as important as the idea that all Vietnamese are brothers and
> sisters.
>
> And the Vietnamese have to act as honorable Vietnamese.  Don't kiss
> foreign ass while trying to beat upon your brothers and sisters.
>
> Have as many friends around the world as possible.  But treat them as
> equal friends, not as the great white fathers, especially when you
> attempt to beat upon your bothers and sisters.  That is simply he`n
> ha.
>
> That would be my advice.  If we stay faithful to these principle, we
> will bring our country to greatness.  And we will bring our country to
> greatness. Trust me.
>
> Have a great day!
>
> Hoanh
>
> --
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
> Washington DC
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