The Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Before traveling to Vietnam, I had a general understanding of the history of the country, especially with regards to the Vietnam war, but I didn’t realise the country was still socialist today.

The First Indochina War, fought between December 1946 and August 1954, was a struggle between the Viet Minh and the French for control of the country. It eventually led to the expulsion of the French in 1954, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two states, North and South Vietnam. I thought Vietnam would have kept a French flavour but I didn’t feel that influence. I didn’t get the sense that Vietnamese wanted to have anything to do with their French heritage, which is understandable I suppose.

Photographed in HCMC

North Vietnam was supported by the Chinese, while South Vietnam was supported by Americans. Conflict between the two sides intensified, and heavy foreign intervention made for a dramatic conflict. North Vietnam was victorious in 1975 and the war finally ended. The country was then unified under a communist government, but was politically isolated and impoverished. In 1986, the government initiated a series of reforms, which helped Vietnam integrate the world economy. The government encouraged private ownership of farms and factories, and foreign investment. 

Photographed in HCMC

Despite pursuing economic reform and embracing capitalism, the ruling Communist Party shows little willingness to give up its monopoly on political power. Indeed, Vietnam is one of the four remaining communist country in the world today.

When visiting the country, you can feel the government control over the culture and media. Facebook, for instance, was blocked in most cities. There are easy ways to bypass this by downloading simple programs that block your IP address, but the idea is still that social media websites are not encouraged. Though the government of Vietnam claims to safeguard the country against obscene or sexually explicit content through its blocking efforts, many politically and religiously sensitive websites are also banned.

Furthermore, propaganda posters are scattered around town and Uncle Ho’s face dominates the cities, from South to North! Even in the little remote villages there were Ho Chi Minh posters around and red was omnipresent.

Propaganda posters in HCMC

   

Posters of Ho Chi Minh in the small, mountain town of Bac Ha, in northern Vietnam

* I do apologize to anyone reading this who might feel my writing is an inaccurate description of the events. I am no historian and I have not studied this in detail. It is my own simple account and attempt of a summary on a much more complicated history. *