[Vnbiz] Building the Vietnamese Intelligentsia--Intellectuals and Entrepreneurs [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear Brother Quang Anh & CACC,

Thanks for the interesting issue you have just laid out on the table.  We
need to cover it a little before going further into this "building an
intelligentsia" issue.

The elements and characteristics of "class" are different from society to
society, and also from each classifier (i.e., scholar) to classifier, but
generally the term "class" implies a hierarchy in the society.  The group of
people in the top layer of the hierarchy is called "high class" and the
group at the bottom is "low class."  What makes a class high or low is the
power and/or money and/or prestige that the people in the class hold.
Power,  money and prestige in turn may come from profession/vocation, family
heritage, racial heritage and other cultural factors (ex: Brahmin was the
highest class and the "untouchable" was the lowest class in India).

A hierarchy of classes can be very rigid or less rigid.  A hierarchy
that doesn't allow people to change class and move into a higher class
easily is a rigid hierarchy. If upward movements are allowed, then the
hierarchy is less rigid.

When we use the characteristics of Medieval Europe's aristocracy or
intelligentsia as standards, we may say that Vietnam didn't have aristocracy
or intelligentsia.  But if we just look at Vietnam itself and figure out who
had the most power, money and prestige, then Si nong cong thuong were very
much the four layers in the hierarchy:  Si was obviously the class with most
power and prestige.  Some si phu didn't have much money if they didn't get
to be government officials and worked as ong do gia in the village, but they
still held the highest prestige in the village.  Thuong was obviously the
class that looked down upon, even if you had money.  These classes were not
very rigid in Vietnam as in Europe or India.  So it depends on what we mean
when we say "class."   Yes, Vietnam didn't have the European-style classes,
but Vietnam had the Vietnamese-style classes.

The idea of class is still important today in sociology and other studies of
human behavior.  My observation is that marketing people are the true
masters of social classes today.  They group people into all kinds of
grouping, by age, profession, gender, hobbies, shopping habit, etc. and they
don't use the term "class" at all; instead they use "category," "group" and
the like.  But that is really the study of class to the extreme degree.  My
point is that the idea of class (or group) is still very useful in today
sociology and social engineering.

Given the socialist revolution in the recent pass, which was premised on all
kinds of bloody class conflict, many people today don't want to use the term
"class" and don't want to say that we have any class.  That is very
understandable.  I would avoid using the term "class" or  "giai cap" in all
of  my writings if I can.

Now back to the intelligentsia, the word "intelligentsia" was coined by the
Russians writers during the Russian Revolution, to indicate the
class of intellectuals, which is between the exploiting class and the
proletariat at the bottom.  The intelligentsia, according to the Marxist
Leninist tradition, were paid by and served the exploiting class
(Obviously, the proletariat didn't have money to pay the intellectuals).

OK, we are not talking about the "intelligentsia" in that way.  Let's
clarify the term "intelligentsia" as we understand here (or at least, as I
intend to use it here).  First, I define intellectual loosely as a person
who works mostly by brainpower, especially creative brainpower,  more than
physical power or repetitive tasks without much thinking.  This would
include writers, journalists, teachers, lawyers, doctors, government
managers, engineers, social workers, etc.., and college students as young
intellectuals.

By intelligentsia, I mean the connections among, and the network of, these
intellectuals so that they are close to each other, they stimulate each
other's thinking, they share their thinking wide to the public at large, and
their thinking provide insight or at least intellectual input for many parts
of the nation, especially the government and the policy-making bodies.

To have a vigorous such a vigorous intelligentsia, first and foremost,
intellectuals have to be free to talk and publish their thinking.  This is
90 percent of the issue.  If intellectuals are free to talk, we have gone 90
percent of the way.  The rest 10% is for technical management issues.  You
simply can't have an intelligentsia if intellectuals have to talk the Party
line.  That is no intellectual.  Why should we need any brainpower to repeat
the Party line?  All we need is a cheap tape recorder  (Don't even need an
expensive one).
And let us be clear that "the Party line" here doesn't just mean the VCP
line (although I do mean the VCP), but it also covers other party lines.
Ex: Can an intellectual talk freely against the anti-communist line in a
Vietnamese language newspaper here in the US or Australia?  You can do it
for a couple of days, and no one can guarantee how you would be after that,
right?

I have talked with enough high ranking friends in the VCP to know that
everyone of you understand the issue as much as I do.  No need for me to
keep talking about it.  I just want to have a message to the
brothers/sisters in the VCP, especially you guys in the top leadership role:
 I know there are practical concerns for development stability.  But we all,
both you and me, also know that the nation needs to unleash its brainpower.
I know everything needs to be within certain limits, but the limits you guys
have now are ridiculous; they simply choke the intellectual bloodlines,
suffocate our intellectuals, and make the nation so uncreative. This issue
involves the brainpower, i.e., the current and the future, of the nation.
Please work on it seriously.

Have a great day!

Hoanh
__________________________


On Sun, Jul 13, 2008 at 11:53 PM, <QuangAnh.Nguyen at dfat.gov.au> wrote:

> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
>
> Dear brother Hoanh,
>
> This is an interesting topic. Actually, in a similar view, there was
> another comprehensive research some years ago on "dân tộc tính" (people
> characteristics) in Vietnam. I read a part of the book and really impressed
> by a conclusion made by one professor (sorry I forgot his name). His view
> was:
> 1. Vietnam has no class of aristocrat;
> 2. Vietnam has no class of intellectuals (or ideologist)
> 3. Vietnam has no class of business people.
>
> I heard that this a little bit shocking view was appreciated by a large
> number of intellectuals. In short, the rational of those conclusion was:
>
> 1. Vietnam has no class of aristocrat: in history, it was rarely found an
> aristocrat family, continuously existed from dynasty to dynasty. The system
> of "cong - hau - ba - tu - nam" was a "learning" replication from Chinese
> system. Not many of those family continue to be aristocrat when the kings
> were changed. It was said that even in some contemporary "royal" family, the
> role of the later generation are not quite important as their ancestors.
>
> 2. Vietnam has no class of intellectuals (or ideologist): in a view that
> those people could impress or imprint their idea to the society or
> especially the emperors to rule the country. There is no man like Confusius
> (Khong tu) or Han Phi Tu, or Machivielli appeared during our history. Great
> politician like Nguyen Trai, or Nguyen Binh Khiem, did a perfect job from
> time to time, but more in a role of a senior official, not an ideaologist
> that provide strategic influences to their kings and making the policy for
> ruling the country. And it appeared that they were more successful in the
> role of a culturalist, or artist not ideologist.
>
> 3. Vietnam has no class of business people: In feudal time, business
> (thuong nhan) was not respected (the usual order of society classes was: si
> - nong - cong - thuong or intelectual -  farmer - mechanic - business
> people) and therefore, there was no name of businessmen were mentioned in
> history. They  found that there were a few businessmen successful in the
> period from end of 19th and early 20th century (before the liberation 1945).
> However, it appears that those people did not become a true force that could
> lead the whole economy at that time. It was understandable because most of
> the economic power was controlled by the colonial administration.
>
> Currently, this class become more and more remarkable since the "doi moi".
> However, it is only in this starting point. A large number of business
> people are actually leaders of state corporations, which are leading the
> economy with resources provided by the State.
>
> Have a nice week
> *----------------------------------------------*
> *Nguyen Quang ANH*
>
>
>
>
>   *"Tran Dinh Hoanh" <tdhoanh at gmail.com>*
> Sent by: vnbiz-bounces at mail.saigon.com
>
> 13/07/2008 10:48 PM   Please respond to
> vnbiz at vietlinks.net
>
>    To
> vnbiz at vietlinks.net  cc
>   Subject
> Re: [Vnbiz] Building the Vietnamese Intelligentsia--Intellectuals and
> Entrepreneurs [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
>
>
>
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
> Dear CACC,
>
> The late historian Tran Khac Vien (I love him) said in his now famous
> quote: "Vietnam has intellectuals but no intelligentsia."  How do you think
> about that comment?
>
> Have a great day!
>
> Hoanh
>
> On Sun, Jul 13, 2008 at 3:18 AM, <*Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov*<Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov>>
> wrote:
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
>
> Dear anh Hoanh,
> This is not the same as the call to build an intelligentsia as the old
> writings you read about that was produced in the first half of the 20th
> century in Vietnam.  More accurate, this is a call to build up a
> technocratic class with specific technical expertise in business.  This is
> simply a call to train more MBAs.
> Vietnam has always had intellectuals, with great historical ones such as
> Nguyen Truong To, Phan Chu Trinh, Ba Huyen Thanh Quan, Bui thi Xuan, Nguyen
> Trai, Nguyen Du, Doan thi Diem (not in any order).  But, not counting the
> "intelligentsia" in the feudal courts,  Vietnam only had a nascent such
> group that came together in the latter part of colonial French rule, but was
> pretty much wiped out by the time of Nhan Van - Giai Pham in the late
> 50's.  South Vietnam's two decades plus of existence hosted the renmants of
> the northern refugee intelligentsia along with its own home grown for a few
> short years of feverish, war-distorted development before being stunted
> domestically or scattered to the four corners of the globe in 1975.  Until
> "intelligentsia" no longer required the qualifier "patriotic" in Vietnam's
> political lingo, calls for the development of a local intelligentsia is
> either superfluous or insincer e.
>
> While the first steps toward building a private economy is to just let it
> grow, sustained market economy is no piece of cake.  An entire appropriated
> legal framework has to be developed and implementing regulations have to be
> put in place to handle not just the economic, but as attendant social and
> political changes.  Unbriddled capitalism inevitably leads to negative
> things like the "com tu" problem you've observed.  But, just to put things
> into perspective, if such a restaurant existed 20 years ago, even with the
> food and service quality of a state-owned establishment, passengers would
> have considered it a blessing.
>
> Building an intelligentsia is not the business of the government, unless
> you want a state-owned intelligensia.  If intellectuals need government's
> encouragement to think, speak and write freely, the nation is in deeper
> trouble than we can imagine.  The government should encourage/support
> education, protect the people's rights to think, speak and write, and not
> persecute intellectuals who do not agree.
>
> It is wrong to attribute lack of public discourse to culture, unless you
> chose to ignore traditional culture and focus only on contemporary culture
> which is heavily and directly influence by the regime.  There is little
> space for public discourse and only one voice addressing all major issues,
> that of the regime.
>
> Depending on where you are and what you say, speaking out in public may
> mean that your spouse will spend all her time and energy supporting
> you while you're on an extended involuntary vacation, and your friends will
> get numerous requests to meet with the local public secutity office.
> Cheers,
> HPP
>
>
> --
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
> Washington DC
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-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
Washington DC
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