In Vietnam, telling the truth is criminal ‘propaganda’
Policemen block the road to a High People’s Court before the appeal trial of a prominent Vietnamese blogger. (Nguyen Tien Thinh/Reuters)
By Editorial Board
October 21
THIS MAY, in a visit to Vietnam, President Obama announced he was lifting the embargo on selling lethal arms to
Hanoi as part of an effort to normalize relations long after the Vietnam War.
While celebrating Vietnam’s deepening economic and security ties to the
United States, Mr. Obama cautioned that to really get ahead, it should respect
freedom of expression, assembly and religion. “There are still folks who find
it very difficult to assemble and organize peacefully around issues that they
care deeply about,” he said.
It seems clear from Vietnam’s recent actions that the
rulers in Hanoi did not believe they had to pay attention to Mr. Obama’s
advice. On Oct 7, they declared that the California-based pro-democracy group Viet Tan, or the Vietnam Reform Party, is a terrorist organization and warned of severe penalties for anyone who
contacted it.
The group, which describes itself as a “pro-democracy organization working to promote
social justice and human rights through nonviolent means,” said this was the
first time it has been formally designated as terrorist under Vietnam’s laws.
Three of the group’s members are serving long prison terms for their blogging
and community organizing.
On Oct. 10, police in the south-central province of
Khanh Hoa arrested a popular blogger, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, 37, who
writes under the pen name Mother Mushroom.
She is co-founder of a network of
independent bloggers who often find themselves in the crosshairs of a regime that strictly controls the news media and
does not tolerate dissent.
Radio Free Asia quoted
the network as protesting
that Ms. Quynh is an “activist who has advocated for human rights, improved
living conditions for people, and sovereignty for many years.”
Most recently, Ms. Quynh had been blogging extensively
about a chemical spill in April that devastated marine life and left fishermen and
tourism industry workers jobless in four provinces. In June, a Taiwanese-owned
company acknowledged it was responsible for the pollution and pledged to clean
it up, but the spill has provoked protests by
Vietnamese who criticize
the government for remaining silent about the cause of the spill at the outset
and then failing to provide information about health and environmental dangers.
Many of the protests were mobilized on Facebook.
When taken into custody, Ms. Quynh was accused of publishing “propaganda” against the state. A
police statement said she had posted a report compiling 31 cases in which
civilians died in police custody, which showed “hostility towards the police
force.”
When Mr. Obama visited in May, it was clear that
security cooperation and normalization of relations were on the front burner as
the United States and Vietnam face an increasingly aggressive China. It is
notable that Vietnam also agreed to economic and labor reforms required by the
Trans-Pacific Partnership. But these are not sufficient. Vietnam also must free
its people to blog, protest and speak out without fear.
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