VZCZCXRO7291
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #0828 1271018
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071018Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5276
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH PRIORITY 2975
RUEHZS/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
UNCLAS HANOI 000828
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/AWH
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: HUMANR PREL PGOV PHUM VM
SUBJECT: "DISSIDENT WRITERS" RECEIVE STATE AWARDS
1. (SBU) Summary: Hoang Cam, Le Dat, Phung Quan and Tran Dan, four
writers who belonged to an anti-government intellectual circle in
the 1950's, and who were long censored and even jailed by the GVN,
recently received one of Vietnam's top artistic prizes for their
work. However, GVN officials have rejected the thought that the
awards serve as public apology from the government. Local observers
believe State President Nguyen Minh Triet himself was a strong
advocate of the prizes, and intellectuals are hopeful that this will
bode well for even greater "intellectual freedom." End Summary.
Awards Announced
----------------
2. (U) In 1954, North Vietnamese writers Hoang Cam, Le Dat, Phung
Quan and Tran Dan worked for the independent journal Nhan Van Giai
Pham ("Beautiful Flowers of Humanism"). The journal published
articles and poems that criticized government land reform efforts
and called for greater freedom in literature and the arts. In late
1956, the government shut down the journal and cracked down on its
writers; the four were long censored and, for a time, jailed by the
government. After the Doi Moi ("Renovation") period began in 1986,
these writers were allowed to resume their memberships in the
Vietnam Writers' Association, and many of their works were
re-published (although many remain banned). In February 2007, the
GVN formally awarded them "State Awards," one of Vietnam's top
artistic prizes.
3. (SBU) One example of the previously banned, and now rewarded,
works is Phung Quan's "Loi Me Dan" (Mother's Preaching), which was
just recently listed among Vietnam's most popular poems of the 20th
century by a project launched by the Ministry of Education and
Training. In this poem, first published in 1957, Quan called for
writers to be honest citizens who should only listen to their
conscience rather than orders given to them by the authorities.
Because of this poem, Quan was denounced as a counter-revolutionary
by Party ideologues, who stressed the primacy of the Party in
overseeing literature and arts.
4. (U) Of the four authors, only Hoang Cam and Le Dat are still
alive. Speaking to the press after the awards announcement, Cam and
Dat said the awards came too late, but "better late than never."
Dat quoted a member of the State Council in charge of vetting
nominees as having told him that the awards should serve as "an
apology to the writers from the State Council." For his part, Hoang
Cam, whose popularity recently increased after one of his most
famous plays was staged in Hanoi, said he would not reject the
awards. "It would be ridiculous if we rejected the awards. We
deserve the awards, for we've got works that have good values," he
said.
GVN Rejects Apology Claim
-------------------------
5. (SBU) Speaking to the press, Le Tien Tho, Vice Minister of
Culture and Information and Vice Chairman of the State Council,
asserted that the State Council member who reportedly said the
awards constitute an apology "must have been joking" at the time.
Tho said the awards were granted to the four writers for their
"specific outstanding works" and noted that the award citations
clearly reference these works.
6. (SBU) On the question of whether the awards represent an
"apology," a senior professor at a prominent local think-tank said
that, by definition, the decision to award these authors constitutes
a re-evaluation and reversal by the Party, if not an outright
apology. According to this contact, President Triet signed a
separate decision to grant the prizes to the group of four writers,
while issuing another decision to grant the same awards to 154 other
writers. Many intellectuals in Hanoi interpret this to mean that
Triet, a "supporter of greater national reconciliation and more
democracy within the Party," actually nominated the authors himself,
our contact surmised.
Comment
-------
7. (SBU) Although the Party and GVN have never withdrawn their
criticism of individual writers affiliated with the Nhan Van Giai
Pham journal, its post-Doi Moi removal of restrictions on them and
its recent high-profile efforts to grant them awards have raised
hope among some Vietnamese intellectuals for "improved intellectual
freedom and democracy in Vietnam." How this effort will square with
the current crackdown on political dissent remains to be seen.
MARINE