[CREATE] Free as in Speech, and Vietnam?

[Jan Claeys]

Op woensdag 16-06-2010 om 01:42 uur [tijdzone +0300], schreef Tor
Lillqvist:
> But if one avoids vague generic terms like "Freedom" or loaded words
> like "Liberation", what about specific concepts like freedom of the
> press, freedom to criticize your government and advocating its
> *peaceful* change, freedom to form independent labour unions, freely
> elected parliaments; Are such freedoms also just cultural imperialism
> in your opinion?

Some people consider parliaments & elections as implemented in most
"Western" countries to be undemocratic too; think about how almost all
elections contain several filters to "weed out" small or unknown or
party-independent or financially-weak candidates before and/or after the
elections take place...


Now, it seems like the Vietnamese government doesn't like to hear from
people who disagree with them, and doesn't treat people who voice such
dissident opinions very well.  OTOH it also seems like that has somewhat
improved during recent years, at least partially because of economic
reasons and the related international political influences.

More international contact seems to help levelling differences between
countries (and that works both ways, to some degree), so maybe we can
indirectly help people in Vietnam (and other countries) by not isolating
them from the rest of the world, but by helping to open the world for
them?


-- 
Jan Claeys