Archive for the ‘Mui Ne’ Category
việt nam & wto, a paradox
Strange how many in Việt Nam welcome its entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This will bring about further job and education abroad opportunities to the peoples of Việt Nam, but what are the costs exactly?
The whole idea of global integration may contradict the founding ideologies of Communism. Greater wealth and purchasing power, competition among individuals and businesses, production no longer just for internal use–this stage of communism may be shifting to an entirely new capitalistic model.
Likewise, the conflict of years prior to remove Western influence and occupation has seemingly been fruitless in this regard. Việt Nam may soon develop into something along the lines of what they have fought against becoming.
Then comes the question of whether or not this global integration is inevitable and has always been happening. I would contend that the exchange of foreign ideologies and cultural aspects has always been in play throughout the course of Việt Nam’s history. Many of Việt Nam’s leaders and intellectuals have lived, worked, studied, or traveled abroad–with these experiences bringing greater outside interaction and knowledge to this country. By definition, Hồ Chí Minh was a Việt Kiều of thirty years after all. Likewise, Phan Bội Châu’s writings suggests that the knowledge he gained from the outside would help him to ‘reclaim’ his country from the likes of the French.
It seems an entirely sovereign country self-sufficient on its own solidarity has never come to pass if that was the idealistic goal of the campaign. Just pointing out the obvious.
Destroying part of oneself only to rebuild it in the same likeness. Why do some people (patriots) forge new names/identities for themselves? This has been in occurrence through the course of Việt Nam’s history. To create the means to battle infractions that they deem harmful perhaps.
On another note, I have been informed that Việt Nam’s education curriculum is changing from a listen and reproduce to one where the student must think for himself in a more open-ended structure. What sort of society might this produce in the near future?
