Anh-Susann Pham Thi. Twitter. Fair use.
Vietnamese scholars, activists and lawyers are increasingly charged with “subversion” or conducting “anti-state propaganda” or “aiming to overthrow the state” under the provisions of the Articles 79 and 88 of the penal code. In 2015, the Vietnamese National Assembly revised its penal code which now includes a penalty of up to 20 years and the death sentence for the aforementioned activities. According to the numbers provided by Amnesty International, almost 100 prisoners of conscience, bloggers, and activists alike face continuous harassment, physical attacks, interrogation and surveillance both inside and outside prisons. In order to find ways of expressing their discontent, activists are obliged to find alternative, or rather covert, forms of resistance. Some of these strategies and tactics are explained in the following.
Many Vietnamese dissident groups embrace ideologically charged strategies (i.e. anti-Communism, nationalism, religious motivations, reactionary Communism “red flags” etc.) which the Vietnamese state fears will become a threat, impinging on the current Communist Party’s authority over the population.
