Communism
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I'm a southern Vietnamese. I genuinely support the Communist Party and the government. But I have to say, they just let liberalism and western propaganda run rampant over here. People getting more and more liberal, most don't even know what communism even is, they think it's something taboo. As an average person, I barely see any effort to educate and inform the mass. That's my one strong criticism for the government.
Yes I agree, more effort should be put into educating the masses. We can’t afford to let liberalism run its course.
What about party members? When people join the party, are they taught Marxism-Leninism?
Wikipedia says 5.3 million people are party members, which is about 5.3% of the population, so if that's true you'd think it would spread the ideology a bit.
Another question: when you say liberalism what do you mean? Is there political correctness and that weird American identity-politics stuff in Vietnam?
I'm also a Southern Vietnamese here to answer your questions. Party members are still required to study Marxism-Leninism. You are actually tested in how well you know ML ideologies before your application to the party is approved. But deal to history, most of the core members of the politburo is from the North and the Northerner are typically more hard line ML while many Southern party members flirt with socdems and liberal ideology.
When he mentioned liberalism I think he mean the ideology and not the culture war in the West. Most people living in those socialist countries still have to struggle mostly with consequences of colonialism and capitalist imperialism and is less embroiled in identity politics like in the West. Vietnam and Cuba is still better than most of the US regarding LGBTQ issues and gender equality though.
o7
I don't know for real but I think maybe most of party members are in the northern part. The south used to be heavily colonized by the west before it got liberated by northern folks. The situation here might be similar to Shanghai in China.
To elaborate on this, after the French Indochina war in 1954 due to the treaty with France, most of the party members in the South had to move into the North, many of them didn't get to come back South until 1975. The Southern fascist regime also hunted down and killed a lot of our Southern comrades during the war. The lead to a big lost in the Southern branch of the party capability of organization and leadership.
In urban area where the control of the puppet regime is the strongest, they also had a lot of propaganda to brainwash the mass into anti communism. After the war, many of those same suburbanite also saw the biggest lost of quality of life due to the drop in free money from US aid and new sanctions which reinforced those past propaganda. That's why you see a tendency for Southern suburbanite to be skeptical to hostile toward leftist ideology and have a rosier picture for capitalism.
Are you not taught marxism-leninism in school? The books Luna Hoi is translating are some sort of school textbooks, right?
From what I remembered from my highschool. You are not to taught ML fundamentals untill you are in university. However, you are taught some socialist world views and some historical materialism in both civic and history classes. Most kids wouldn't pay attention to it since they have to focus on STEMS subjects for the university exam though 😞
In university you have to take classes in ML which will have affect on your grade so people do pay more attention to it. But unless you are major in it, most people would just forget about it after their classes to spend time doing what university students do. It's pretty much the equivalent to mandatory civic classes in the West.
At the end of the day, while the education system in Vietnam have a more nuance view on socialism and have actual communist content (instead of the usual anti communism trash in US textbook). Majority of the time, people are simply too occupied with other things to learn it in depth.
Definitely not in school. You only learn ML in public universities, and even then it's no way in-depth enough.
Interesting. So when wanting to meet liked minded people, you basically have to attended political functions and not just a random guy on the street or classmate?
Also, have you seen some of the game shows in Vietnam? I watch it with my mom sometimes and it’s so depressing lol. “Educational” Corporations sponsoring “child prodigy” game shows, general corporations and celebrities handing out food and money and materials to everyday citizens (who are required to participate in some dumb games), and I even saw The Apprentice/Shark Tank knock off where Vietnamese people basically showcase their resume on TV and western/Vietnamese CEOs judge whether they’ll hire them. However, the funny thing is the musical shows. Most of the music is historical, either about ancient times or about the war. Even the rap shows with young people, they’ll rap about Vietnam defending themselves from invaders which is just odd for the genre.
Despite being a Vietnamese living in Vietnam, I've never met anyone that consider themself a communist IRL. People my age think money is everything. No one's even bothered to educate themself ideologically. Older people are always skeptical of the government after being traumatized by poverty and war, combined with western propaganda.
The game shows are dumb, all of them.
Damn. I’m guessing like pretty much every country, people are just supportive of the government out of nationalism?
Nationalism does contribute to the support to the government. But The big factor for trust in any government is just material conditions that lead people to have hope that things will get better and don't have to live in constant fear. One thing I have learned from living in the West is nothing make you trust your own government more than having to live in a malicious and dysfunctional one. That's why I support the current government of Vietnam.
Damn. Where are you living currently? How is it going over there?