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VIETNAM-POLITICS-LITERATURE-CENSORSHIP
Academics slam communist party’s rebuke of Vietnam publisher
HANOI, Nov 14, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – More than 80 international scholars have
upbraided Vietnam’s Communist Party for condemning a prominent book publisher
whose titles criticised socialism, a no-go zone in the Marxist country.
Vietnam is one of the world’s few surviving one-party communist states, and
though it has embraced market reforms its politics on paper remain strictly
socialist.
The group of scholars issued a letter on Wednesday lending their support to
78-year-old publisher Chu Hao, who was denounced last month by the government
for printing books on economics and political science deemed out of line.
The government has called for Hao to be officially disciplined and
confiscated or destroyed several of the volumes he printed.
The rebuke prompted Hao to rescind his communist party membership of 45
years and sparked concern from the academic community abroad, who sent a
letter of protest signed by 81 scholars, academics and researchers in 10
countries to Vietnam’s top leaders.
“We reject any assertion that these works present a threat to the stable or
peaceful development of Vietnam,” said the letter.
“We find the accusations… to be unfounded and disturbing,” it said.
Hao was accused by the communist party’s central inspection commission of
publishing material that “runs counter to the viewpoints, policies and
guidelines of the party (and) state”.
The state inspection commission singled out Friedrich Hayek’s “The Road to
Serfdom” for its apparent focus on the weaknesses of socialism and references
to the former Soviet Union as a “fascist” state.
It also condemned the publication of “Marx: A Very Short Introduction” by
Peter Singer which the commission said disputes key Marxist ideologies.
Hao has long-been a thorn in the side of the communist party, which he
accuses of stifling academic freedoms.
The scholar, who runs the Hanoi-based Knowledge Publishing House, said the
party has engaged in “unjustifiable, dishonest and degrading activities” in
an open letter responding to the inspection commission last month.
Hao declined to be interviewed by AFP when contacted this week.
The ideological tussle prompted at least 10 other scholars and former
officials to revoke their party membership in support of Hao, who served as
vice science minister from 1996 to 2005.
Vietnam’s conservative communist party chief Nguyen Phu Trong has vowed to
clean up the communist party, which he said has lost its way after years of
mismanagement and high-level corruption.
Dozens of bankers, businessmen and former officials have been thrown in
jail under his tenure, though Hao is the most prominent academic to fall
afoul of the party under Trong.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1233 hrs