Maybe it's time to revisit the real reasons for the disaster in Vietnam.
Hmmm.... so most of the Vietnames were atheistic communists??
That doesn't cut it Bilow... A large portion of S. Vietnamese were catholic refugees from the north from before and after partition took place.
The Communists DEFINITELY limited the religious practices of the Budhists in the North, just as they did every other religion other than communism, and continue to repress them to this day to an even greater degree in addition to repressing the same Buddhists Diem repressed in the South (from the frying into the fire for the Buddhist community).
vietquoc.com
December 26, 1999 local Public Security arrested Truong Van Thuc and eight other Hoa Hao Buddhists when they were organizing a religious ceremony to celebrate the 80th birthday of the religion's founder. During the two-days detention, many of them suffered injuries caused by police beatings.
Another series of links describing continuing oppression of Buddhists and other religions in Vietnam:
vietquoc.com
buddhanetz.org
christianitytoday.com
And a GREAT link that you should read:
asiaweek.com
After expelling the French from northern Vietnam in 1954, Do charges, the Communists did their best to exterminate religion, especially Buddhism. All practices were banned and pagodas were confiscated or destroyed. Younger monks were sent to work brigades. Even today, there are few monks -- or any palpable sense of spirituality -in the north.
So clearly Buddhists were repressed LESS in the South than they were in the North (or the unified Vietnam).
Doesn't make it right.. and there's no doubt that Catholic Diem was bent upon undermining Buddhism in the south, but it doesn't explain why Diem's government fell and Hanoi's did not...
What explains it is that Diem was not NEARLY as repressive as Hanoi was, and that Buddhists had less fear of voicing their opinions (and obtaining access to the media) than did northern buddhists (who died with few people in the west knowing, or caring, about their suffering).
So let's get the facts straight.. The only reason the world knows about Diem's repression is because of a free and active media. And Diem was OVERTHROWN (and killed) as the result of a US approved coup.
I have little doubt that the Vatican played a major role in attempting to repress Buddhist activism, just as I'm sure the Communists encouraged same. They were pawns in a "greater game", and obviously resented a concentration of Catholics gathering in the south, led by Diem (since Catholics were pratically synonymous with French imperialism).
The bottom line is that the Buddhists caught it from both sides, but only in the South were they able to have any chance of receiving sympathy.
And now today, despite the fact that repression continues, few in the western media care, nor is it likely that the Communist government will fall anytime soon.
Hawk |
