Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Nguyen Van Hai known as Dieu Cay the Vietnamese blogger charged with producing anti-state propaganda against the one-party Vietnamese state under a “vague” section of the criminal code, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Nguyen has already been in detention since September 2008, when he was jailed for tax fraud. According to the Raw Story blog, “mobile phone signals had apparently been blocked inside the court compound as [Nguyen was] tried under Article 88 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail. …posting political articles on the banned Vietnamese website “Free Journalists Club” as well as writing on [blogs] denouncing corruption and injustice and criticising Hanoi’s foreign policy. Communist Vietnam bans private media — all newspapers and television channels are state-run. …Rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly called upon the government to drop the charges and release … immediately. Reporters Without Borders ranked Vietnam 172 out of 179 countries in its 2011-2012 press freedom index and identified the authoritarian state as an “Enemy of the Internet” because of systematic use of cyber-censorship.” Court President Nguyen Phi Long said, “crimes were especially serious with clear intention against the state … must be seriously punished. …abused the popularity of the Internet to post articles which undermined and blackened (Vietnam’s) leaders, criticising the (Communist) party (and) destroying people’s trust in the state” Nguyen in a speech that was cut off when the audio feed was terminated said that he had never been against the communist state.

Inspired by The Raw Story ow.ly/ebdmg image source Namviet Times ow.ly/ebd5i

No longer put much stock in Communism (June 22th 2012)

Steve Chapman the 58 year old American columnist on National affairs published an article on Reason Magazine titled ‘Chinese Communists No Longer Put Much Stock in Communism – China has gone from Mao to ‘money worship.’ In the article Chapman states “Mao was dedicated to class struggle and the elimination of property. He created a totalitarian society in which everyone wore the same clothes, chanted the same slogans and—as far as anyone knew—thought the same revolutionary thoughts. Mao’s “new man” was barely recognizable as human. Purported to be selfless, tireless, austere and indifferent to pleasure, he lived for the revolution alone. Skeptics mocked these subjects as “blue ants,” for their drab, uniform dress and unquestioning obedience. But that way of life is extinct and apparently un-mourned… Not that communism is entirely dead. The party remains in firm control of the government, and many enterprises are partly state-owned. Party committees operate in corporate workplaces, where they play the odd role of celebrating those who diligently serve the interests of shareholders. …Even Communists no longer put much stock in communism. Today, it’s the consumer who rules, and it’s buying and selling that dominates economic life. Mao’s visage still dominates Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, but his people seem to have more in common with Calvin Coolidge. …it’s clear that the business of China is business.”

Inspired by Reason ow.ly/bzGhP image source Washington Examiner ow.ly/bzFYH

Cu Huy Ha Vu the 53 year old Vietnamese legal scholar, prominent government critic and human rights campaigner having been arrested and held in custody on charges of plotting to overthrow the communist government of Vietnam through propaganda against the state, has now been imprisoned for 7 years for spreading anti-state propaganda. Vu had mobilized broad support from the public and online supporters after posting critical articles on the internet. Vu currently has a legal suit against the Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung for his signing of a decree prohibiting class action lawsuits, and had previous unsuccessfully sued the Prime Minister on issues of national security, cultural heritage and environment damage resulting from a controversial Chinese build bauxite mining project.

Inspired by Seth Mydans ow.ly/4ylF3 image source gstatic ow.ly/4ylCI