Vietnamese democracy movement
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The term "Vietnamese democracy movement" comprises any of various isolated efforts to seek democratic reforms in
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. There is not a major movement in Vietnam to reform the current political system. Opposition to governance has been characterised by sporadic calls for reform by minor groups and rare, small protests.


Background

Vietnam is a
single-party A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
socialist state A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country, sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic, is a Sovereign state, sovereign State (polity), state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. The ...
. However, internet censorship in Vietnam is poorly executed and virtually non-existent. Even websites blocked by the government are commonly circumvented with such ease; any "block" is rapidly overcome.


Bauxite crisis

In 2006, the Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam called for democratic reforms. The related
Bloc 8406 Bloc 8406 ( vi, Khối 8406) is a small unified coalition of political groups in Vietnam that advocates for democratic reforms in Vietnam. It is named after the date of the group's Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam 2006 ( vi, Tuyên N ...
is a small unified coalition of groups in Vietnam that advocate for democracy reforms in Vietnam. It was originally signed by 118 dissidents calling for a multiparty state. The support later grew into the thousands. New York City-based organisation
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
stated, "It’s extraordinary that hundreds of citizens across Vietnam have boldly shown their support for political change in a written petition. In Vietnam, the mere act of signing such documents routinely triggers a police investigation, detention and often imprisonment." A draft mining plan for bauxite was approved by the
Vietnamese government The Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (), also known as the Vietnamese Government or the Government of Vietnam (), is the executive branch and body of the State administration of Vietnam. The members of the Government are appoi ...
in 2007.
Vinacomin Vinacomin (Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group, vi, Tập đoàn công nghiệp Than và Khoáng sản Việt Nam (TKV), links=no) is a Vietnamese mining company. The industrial conglomerate focuses on coal and mineral mining and h ...
, a Vietnamese mining company, has laid out a plan for 6 bauxite mining projects covering over 1800 square kilometers in Vietnam's mountainous Central Highlands. The first two processing plants for the plan have been contracted to Chalco, a Chinese mining company. The Nhan Co project in Đắk Nông Province and the Tan Rai complex in
Lâm Đồng Province Lâm is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Lin in Chinese and Im in Korean. Lam is the anglicized variation of the surname Lâm. Lam is also a commonly held surname of Cantonese speakers of Chinese descent. Large populations in ...
are expected to produce 600,000 tons of alumina per year.Vietnam bauxite decision may affect Alcoa project.
''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...
.'' 29 April 2009.
Vietnam has indicated that it needs about $15.6 billion to invest in major bauxite and alumina refining projects by 2025. Prime Minister
Nguyễn Tấn Dũng Nguyễn Tấn Dũng (born 17 November 1949) is a Vietnamese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Vietnam from 2006 to 2016. He was confirmed by the National Assembly on 27 June 2006, having been nominated by his predecessor, Phan Văn ...
has approved several large mining projects for the Central Highlands, asserting that bauxite exploitation is "a major policy of the party and the state." The mining plans have met with strong criticism from scientists, environmentalists and Vietnam's general population. Forests and agricultural land used by coffee and tea farmers are threatened by the plans and opponents have raised concerns about the toxic waste
red mud Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...
generated through the refinement of bauxite. Vietnamese general
Võ Nguyên Giáp Võ Nguyên Giáp (; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general and communist politician who is regarded as having been one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th century. He served as interior minister in President H ...
has offered strong criticism of the plans, saying that a 1980s study led to experts advising against mining due to severe ecological damage. In March 2010,
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
indicated that malicious software targeting Vietnamese opponents of bauxite mining had infected potentially tens of thousands of users. The
malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...
was used in
denial-of-service attack In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host connect ...
s against dissenting political blogs and installed itself after users downloaded altered
Vietnamese language Vietnamese ( vi, tiếng Việt, links=no) is an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language originating from Vietnam where it is the national language, national and official language. Vietnamese is spoken natively by over 70 million people, ...
software. The malware was also used to spy on users. The cyber attacks appeared to be a politically motivated attack, according to George Kurtz of
McAfee McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...
. Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nguyen Phuong Nga claimed such comments were groundless. In November 2010,
Nguyen Tan Dung Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元)is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this ...
, the prime minister of Vietnam, announced that Vietnam's bauxite deposits might total 11,000 Mt; this would be the largest in the world.


No-U Movement

Following the
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
" Jasmine Revolution" in early 2011, Dr. Nguyen Dan Que posted an appeal on the
internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
for mass demonstrations in Vietnam. He was then detained by the authorities. Rare protests and a self-immolation were reported in
Ho Chi Minh City , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...
and
Danang Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is one ...
. Nguyen was arrested on 26 February 2011 because security services said he was caught "red-handed keeping and distributing documents" that called for an uprising similar to the
Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...
. The 2014 oil rig incident has unleashed a series of anti-China protests and demonstrations in Vietnam. The demonstrations were initially peaceful in nature and displayed popular support for the government's tough rhetoric towards China. These demonstrations were seen to embody pro-government nationalism. However, the pro-government nationalism has evolved into anti-government sentiment as peaceful protests escalated into violent riots. Analysts have suggested that the riots, which occurred predominantly in industrial parks and have targeted both Chinese and non-Chinese factories, were influenced by several factors. Beyond anti-China sentiment, the riots were also seen to reflect the growing discontent among Vietnam's rapidly growing industrial workforce, as well as the wider dissatisfaction towards the Vietnamese leadership.


See also

* 2017 Hanoi hostage crisis *
Chinese democracy movement Democracy movements of China are a series of organized political movements, inside and outside of China, addressing a variety of grievances, including objections to socialist bureaucratism and objections to the continuation of the one-party stat ...
*
Government of Free Vietnam The Government of Free Vietnam (GFCL; vi, Chính Phủ Lâm Thời Việt Nam Tự Do) was an anti-communist political organization that was established 30 April 1995 by Nguyen Hoang Dan. It was dissolved in 2013. It claimed an unrecognized gover ...
* Human rights in Vietnam * Internet censorship in Vietnam *
Montagnard Foundation, Inc. Montagnard Foundation, Inc. ( vi, Tổ chức Quỹ người Thượng) is an anti-communist organization whose mission statement is to protect the rights of the Montagnard people. It is a non-profit organization, founded in 1990 and based in Sout ...
*
People's Action Party of Vietnam The People's Action Party of Vietnam ( vi, Đảng Nhân Dân Hành Động Việt Nam) is a Vietnamese anti-communist organization exile, in-exile that is based in the United States. The organization's chairman is Nguyen Si Binh and its vice cha ...
* The Vietnamese Gulag


References

{{reflist


External links


Vietnamese Human Rights Newspaper



Censorship in Vietnam
IFEX * Human rights in Vietnam on websites of international NGOs
Human Rights Watch
an
FIDH



Vietnam: from "Vision" to Facts. Human Rights in Vietnam under its Chairmanship in ASEAN
FIDH The International Federation for Human Rights (french: Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme; FIDH) is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the third oldest international h ...
, 2010
UNPO – Vietnam Human Rights Report 2009

National report of Vietnam under the universal periodic review of UN human rights council

Indigenous People Face Deliberate Persecution in Vietnam

Highlighting Vietnamese Government Human Rights Violations In Advance of the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, 11 April 2013

Continuing Repression by the Vietnamese Government: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, 4 June 2013
Vietnamese dissidents Politics of Vietnam Political repression in Vietnam Democracy movements by country History of Vietnam (1945–present)