PORTRAIT OF A PATRIOT:PISSING IN OR PISSING OUT?
EL CHINO THE GREAT
PISSING OUT THAN LET HIM OUT OF THE TENT PISSING IN!
HANOI, Jan 7 (AFP) - In a move to quell growing dissent, the
Communist Party of Vietnam has expelled a veteran party member from
its ranks, sources said on Thursday.
General Tran Do, an outspoken critic of party policies, told AFP
he had been officially kicked out of the party on January 4.
Diplomatic sources said the decision to oust Do had been made by
the political bureau, the most senior body of the party, and was
seen as a major setback for Vietnam's reformers.
"It's a serious sign, things are going to be a bit stormy, it's
going to be a bitter time," one senior government advisor said in
reaction to the expulsion.
The news of Do's expulsion coincided with the release of a
report by Amnesty International on Thursday criticising Vietnam's
human rights record and a law that "criminalizes the right to
freedom of expression."
"Unless substantive changes are made to the law, all Vietnamese
people remain at risk of arrest simply for peacefully expressing
their political and religious beliefs," Amnesty said.
Do's expulsion also came just two weeks before the party's
central committee holds its plenary session. It is expected to
signal a triumph of conservatives over reformers and could portend a
personnel reshuffle, political analysts say.
Do, a veteran revolutionary, said a series of lengthy critiques
of the party he authored were circulated widely both in Vietnam and
abroad, and eventually led to his expulsion.
Speaking at his home in Hanoi, 75-year-old Do said life would be
no different for him outside the party ranks.
"I continue to live like a Vietnamese. I dwell on Vietnamese
soil," he said, adding he had no way of knowing whether he was under
surveillance.
Do is one of Vietnam's leading intellectuals and has broad
support among army veterans, many of whom agree with his views that
the party is riddled with corruption and has lost touch with the
people.
Beginning in late 1997, Do began writing lengthy communiques
addressed to the leaders of the party and government calling for "a
dialogue" with concerned party members over the party's direction.
He also called for free elections, a legal code protecting
freedom of speech and expression, and a "frank and constructive
exchanges in the press."
His call for soul searching among party leaders was in part
provoked by widespread rural unrest during 1997 in his natal
province Thai Binh, south of Hanoi.
Last March, with the backing of the party, the official press
reacted with a well-orchestrated campaign denouncing "certain
persons" aimed primarily at Do, leading many to speculate his
expulsion was imminent.
But despite the existence of a genuine debate among
intellectuals and some party veterans, the party in July flatly
rejected "petitions by certain people demanding organization of a
large political dialogue in the country."
In his latest communique, written late last year, Do described
Vietnam as "a society without liberty, always threatened by
reversals, without future or in the face of a very precarious
future."
Human rights activists have criticised Vietnam for its
Administrative Detention law which allows authorities to detain
people for up to two years without charge.
Do remains highly regarded by many party faithfuls, having risen
among the ranks to eventually become the head of ideology for the
commission of culture, literature and the arts, and his expulsion
could prompt supporters to renounce their membership, analysts say.
--
THE CONSCIENCE OF VIETNAM AND THE SCOURGE OF THE RABID ANTI COMMUNISTS
VIET...@hotmail.com
using the power of their guns to exploit, abuse and oppress the people of
Vietnam?
While you are at it, Gen Tran Do, please also p*ss on all their ancestors'
graves for having bred the half men, half pitbulls in the VCP top politburo
for all the crimes and the violations they committed against the people of
Vietnam! We do have tremenduous respect for the people like ex gen Tran Do,
who dare to speak out against the brutal murderers in the VCP top politburo
for the benefits of the people of Vietnam!
We urge Gen Tran Do to be extremely careful, lest he gets murdered in
surreptituous circumstances by the extremists within the VCP like other
reformers!
VIETTHIET
THE LIBERTY FLAME FOUNDATION, INC.
In article <772cl8$5...@dfw-ixnews6.ix.netcom.com>,
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