Một số hình ảnh vụ án LS Nhân & LS Đài
Reuters

 

Reuters - Fri May 11, 3:08 AM ET

Le Thi Cong Nhan (R), 28, speaks as Nguyen Van Dai (L), 39, sits in a court in Hanoi May 11, 2007 in this photo of a television screen showing proceedings. A Vietnam court on Friday sentenced the two activist lawyers, Dai and Nhan, to five years and four years imprisonment on charges of anti-government activities in a trial closely watched by Western diplomats, who called for their release. REUTERS/Kham (VIETNAM)

Nguyen Van Dai, right, testifies at a court as his fellow human rights activist Le Thi Cong Nhan, left in second row, looks on during their trial in Hanoi, Vietnam on Friday May 11, 2007 in this image taken from TV. Dai was sentenced to five years while Nhan received four years in prison for advocating a multiparty state in Vietnam, where the ruling communist party does not tolerate challenges to its rule. Their sentences brought to five the number of activists convicted this week in Vietnam’s latest crackdown on dissent. (AP Photo)

Reuters - Fri May 11, 3:07 AM ET
Nguyen Van Dai (2nd R), 39, and Le Thi Cong Nhan (L, rear), 28, appear at court in Hanoi May 11, 2007 in this photo of a television screen showing proceedings. A Vietnam court on Friday sentenced the two activist lawyers, Dai and Nhan, to five years and four years imprisonment on charges of anti-government activities in a trial closely watched by Western diplomats, who called for their release. REUTERS/Kham (VIETNAM)

The winner is: repression
The pro-democracy movement in Vietnam is struggling to establish itself and this week two of its proponents were jailed.
Graham Holliday - guardian.co.uk/commentisfree - May 11, 2007 8:30 PM

In the late 1980s in the town of Rugby, a friend of mine took umbrage with the borough council. Taking matters into his own hands, he cobbled together 10 or 20 supporters, registered a political party - the John Fitzgerald Memorial Smegma party if I recall correctly - and put himself up as candidate for mayor. He produced a raggletaggle manifesto including a change in colour for the mayor’s limousine - from shiny black to fluorescent pink - and a clown nose, to be worn while on public duty. Alas, he wasn’t elected. Most people probably never even noticed his name on the ballot sheet. The authorities may have sniggered, but there was no need to call the cops, bang him up for a long stretch, ban the Smegma party or section him.

The pro-democracy movement Bloc 8406 is a coalition of political parties, including dissidents imprisoned by the Vietnamese government. It lobbies for greater freedom and democracy in the one-party communist state that is Vietnam. This week, two human rights lawyers, Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, and three other activists, were jailed for between three and five years each. The jailings are the latest in what appears to be a crackdown on anyone who publishes or states an opinion contrary to that of the ruling Communist party, including foreign reporters.

Vietnam has one of the highest GDP growth rates in Asia, between 8.1-8.7%. On January 11, the nation joined the WTO. Unlikely as it sounds, land prices in parts of downtown Saigon outstrip London, Tokyo and New York. There’s plenty of cash about, although much like everywhere else in the world, it is unevenly distributed and corruption is the rampant norm.

Like China, it is disturbing to see that increased wealth brings decreased openness and a lesser, or at best static, respect for human rights. Grassroots democracy does exist, but what is unusual in comparison to northerly neighbour China is that the internet has yet to become a place for grassroots political debate, dissemination of opinion and activism. Anonymous blogs and heated forums tackling the economic, social and political welfare of the country simply do not exist, although the free tools are available. A recent commenter on my Vietnam-focused blog said:

“Simply, the majority of Vietnamese do not care much about politics. What we care the most [about] at this moment is making as much money as possible. Who cares who is the president, as long as money keeps flowing in.“

This is certainly the feeling you get after pounding the streets of Saigon and Hanoi for a decade or more. However, as Richard Lloyd Parry notes, the power wielded by the authorities, while not always apparent to Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese alike, is supremely effective:

“The Vietnamese government is one of those regimes whose repression is so narrowly concentrated that casual visitors - and even its own citizens, for some of the time at least - are quite unaware of it … Leave people alone as long as they are making money, creating silk paintings, winning Olympic medals and the like. But as soon as they assert themselves politically, as soon as they question the authority of the party - then crush them.“

Back in Rugby, starting a political party, running for mayor, calling for a pink limo or joining the Monster Raving Loony party was, and as far as I know still is, open to all. But in a country where the most vocal and non-violent proponents of democracy do little more than call for “the freedom to assemble, form associations, political parties, vote and stand for elected offices” only to find themselves banged up for three to five years for doing so, the clown nose and pink limo seems one hell of a long way off.