Asian Perspective, vol. 48, no. 1 2024
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/919884
I have, for personal use only, a pdf copy of this article, which appears in Asian Perspective, vol. 48, no. 1 (Winter 2024). Email me if you want to see – I am preparing a post with the typescript, but the original can be hooked by those with a MUSE account.
Here – https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/919884 – Project Muse access is free if your uni subscribes. I dunno how many do, but friends can email me.
We have extended the deadline for abstracts for ISSH2024 by ten days.
Though the deadline for text for the proceedings is still 1st May. Conference is 26-27 July. Please consider coming. Its hard to show what is great about a conference, but having organised many – in nine countries – it was not until doing this series of events in Vietnam that I learned what a real team effort can achieve – the pictures do NOT do it justice – https://hutnyk.wordpress.com/2019/10/08/innovations-in-the-social-sciences-and-humanities-issh2019/
The TV news piece perhaps gives more flavour:
https://www.htv.com.vn/hoi-thao-quoc-te-ve-de-tai-khoa-hoc-xa-hoi-va-nhan-van-1
(though I dunno why the news item stops half way – it went on a few more minutes).
call-for-papers-issh-2024Download
TARN suppport for ISSH2024 here: https://transit-asia.chss.nycu.edu.tw/tarn/event/the-3rd-international-conference-on-innovations-in-the-social-sciences-and-humanities-issh-2024
John: https://ssh.tdtu.edu.vn/CV/pgsts-john-hutnyk
https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/zer0-books/authors/john-hutnyk
Some video of the 1970 Moratorium in Melbourne
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This starts with JIm Cairns setting out some rules of engagement for when the crowd reaches the intersection opposite the state parliament. Jim used to sell his books outside the Prahran Market every Saturday morning when I knew him – circa 1978, a few years after his notoriety .
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The occasion of this post though is that I’ve just bought one of his books – one I had lent out long ago and not had returned – and wonder how it got to Vietnam. Obviously it makes sense that it did, bit who is this outfit the “Australian Troll Union Delegation” who visited in 1972. Among the names on the page listing the delegation members is George Crawford, Plumber and Gasfitters Union official, Australian Labor Party Victoria branch member, he appears as a speaker on disarmament in the University of Melbourne Archives in the 1960s, becomes State President of the ALP in 1969 and MP for Jika Jika in 1985 (Gayle Tierney, ‘Crawford, George Robert (1926–2012)’, Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://labouraustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/crawford-george-robert-33126/text41305).
Ron Arnold, Neville Hill and Sphi(?) Gillard are the other delegates.
Just a few of a growing collection to accompany the article here – these are the ones that did not fit in the article in Inter Asia Cultural Studies – OR, for which I did not manage/afford to get the permissions… (note: I increasingly see Marston Mats as the very fabric of perforated capitalism).
A still from the film footage of the victory at Điện Biên Phủ.
The Bridge – French soldiers surrender at Điện Biên Phủ
Mannequins at Điện Biên Phủ today:
French colonial army assembling an airstrip in Điện Biên Phủ:
Prison gate of the Tiger Cages, on Côn Đảo
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A 1965 photo shoot Ken Russell:
Watch madness
Discount Star Wars – From the Book of Bobba Fett
The border between Mexico and the United States – look into the shadows of this Nik Oza photograph.
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And – enough for today – three more film appearances of the ubiquitous mats – the first one here is that national treasure (soon 91), Michael Caine in a bunker in “The Quiet American”:
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Then a classic: 1971 Đường về quê mẹ directed by Bùi Đình Hạc:
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and I think this dialogue inspired Coppola, from John Wayne’s dodgy Green Berets 1968 – pah!
And then, in a field used by the organic agriculture department of the university, about 40 minutes walk from the centre of Bonn:
Too big and heavy to take home of course…
please see here for more – permission granted – mat images in my research article on the Mats in the new “Inter Asia Cultural Studies” special issue on Social Challenges for Vietnam. Email me for the pdfs:
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This is a postprint of the article – The Version of Record of this manuscript has been published and is available in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 2024, at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14649373.2024.2293553
To cite, if you must – please email me for a version with correct page numbers – John HUTNYK (2024) Elemental structures of memory: Marston Mats in Vietnam and beyond, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 25:1, 76-91, DOI: 10.1080/14649373.2024.2293553
Social challenges for Vietnam
Introduction
Introduction: challenging transformations for Vietnam
Pages: 1-3
Published online: 17 Jan 2024
First Page PreviewforIntroduction: challenging transformations for Vietnam|Full Text|PDF (466.7 KB)|EPUB
Article
Middle-class occupations in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: impact factors and policy implications
Pages: 4-18
Published online: 17 Jan 2024
AbstractforMiddle-class occupations in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: impact factors and policy implications|Full Text|References|PDF (1.1 MB)|EPUB
Article
Main challenges of Vietnamese families nowadays and in the coming years
Pages: 19-34
Published online: 17 Jan 2024
AbstractforMain challenges of Vietnamese families nowadays and in the coming years|Full Text|References|PDF (1.5 MB)|EPUB
Article
Pages: 35-45
Published online: 17 Jan 2024
AbstractforFactors that contribute to impoverished women gaining access to social work services in Ho Chi Minh City|Full Text|References|PDF (876 KB)|EPUB
Article
Pages: 46-61
Published online: 17 Jan 2024
AbstractforUsing mobile communication and implications for constructive and open dialogue in enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City|Full Text|References|PDF (1.8 MB)|EPUB
Article
Citizenship policies and precarity of stateless Vietnamese from Cambodia migrating to Vietnam
NGUYENNu Nguyet Anh & CAOThanh Tam
Pages: 62-75
Published online: 17 Jan 2024
AbstractforCitizenship policies and precarity of stateless Vietnamese from Cambodia migrating to Vietnam|Full Text|References|PDF (1.2 MB)|EPUB
Article
Elemental structures of memory: Marston Mats in Vietnam and beyond
Pages: 76-91
Published online: 17 Jan 2024
First Page PreviewforElemental structures of memory: Marston Mats in Vietnam and beyond|Full Text|References|PDF (4.7 MB)|EPUB
Article
Social impacts of zero-COVID policy on airline workers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
DANGThi Kim Phung & LUONGThuy Ngan
Pages: 92-110
Published online: 17 Jan 2024
AbstractforSocial impacts of zero-COVID policy on airline workers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam|Full Text|References|PDF (2.3 MB)|EPUB
Article
Developing social work education in Vietnam: the student field practicum during the pandemic
NGUYENThi Do Quyen & NGUYENThi Phuong Linh
Pages: 111-124
Published online: 17 Jan 2024
AbstractforDeveloping social work education in Vietnam: the student field practicum during the pandemic|Full Text|References|PDF (1.2 MB)|EPUB
Article
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work and health of university library staff
Pages: 125-138
Published online: 17 Jan 2024
AbstractforThe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work and health of university library staff|Full Text|References|PDF (1.1 MB)|EPUB
Article
Staycation tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic
HUNGNguyen Phuc & HUANMinh Nguyen
Pages: 139-155
Published online: 17 Jan 2024
AbstractforStaycation tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic|Full Text|References|PDF (1.4 MB)|EPUB
To get the pdf of the published version, email me.
Post review preprint version – here.
Dec 19, 2023 16:00 (Time Zone: UTC+7)
Professor Joyce C.H. Liu
Limit as Method
-Phương Thức Giới HạnLink cho zoom meeting của cả ba seminar:
https://us05web.zoom.us/j/ 89191284691?pwd= G8Vsvybn0dycwjVtpeIEliPPAZppgv .1Meeting ID: 891 9128 4691
Passcode: nTfap7
Tuesdays 4pm in Vietnam [8pm Melbourne/Sydney; 9am UK; 2.30pm Kolkata; 5pm Taiwan] Tune in on the same zoom link each time. [Bilingual event, please scroll down for English]
Dec 12, 2023 1- video here https://hutnyk.wordpress.com/2023/12/13/30-minute-methods-prof-brett-neilson-12-12-2023/
Professor Brett Neilson
Border as Method
-Lý Thuyết Giới Hạn –Dec 19, 2023 16:00 (Time Zone: UTC+7)
Professor Joyce C.H. Liu
Limit as Method
-Phương Thức Giới HạnJan 23, 2024 16:00 (Time Zone: UTC+7)
Professor Ned Rossiter
Reflections on Organized Networks and Collective Research Methods
– Những Phản Ánh về Mạng Lưới có Tổ Chức và Những Phương Pháp Nghiên Cứu Tổng HợpPHƯƠNG PHÁP TRONG 30 PHÚT
Trường Đại học Tôn Đức Thắng, Ban Công tác phía Nam Hội Xã hội học Việt Nam và Transit Asia Research Network, 2023-3024
Chuỗi seminar “Phương pháp trong 30 phút” mời các học giả nổi tiếng trình bày hiểu biết sâu của họ về những phương pháp xã hội học mới và cấp bách.
Năm học 2023-2024, chuỗi seminar là sự hợp tác giữa Khoa Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn Trường Đại học Tôn Đức Thắng, Ban Công tác phía Nam Hội Xã hội học Việt Nam, và Mạng lưới Nghiên cứu quá độ châu Á (TARN).
Diễn giả từ TARN bao gồm GS. Brett Neilson (Viện Văn hóa và xã hội, Đại học Tây Sydney) thuyết trình ngày 12/12/2023, GS. Joyce C. H. Liu (Trung tâm Nghiên cứu văn hóa quốc tế, Đại học Quốc gia Yang Ming Chiao Tung) thuyết trình ngày 19/12/2023, và GS. Ned Rossiter (Viện Văn hóa và xã hội, Đại học Tây Sydney), thuyết trình ngày 23/01/2024.
Chuỗi seminar có phiên dịch Anh-Việt.
Ngày 12/12/2023, 16.00-18.00, GS. Brett Neilson thuyết trình “Biên giới với tính cách là phương pháp”.
Ngày 19/12/2023, 16.00-18.00, GS. Joyce C. H. Liu thuyết trình “Giới hạn với tính cách là phương pháp”.
Ngày 23/1/2024, 16.00-18.00, GS. Ned Rossiter thuyết trình “Phản tư về những mạng lưới có tổ chức và các phương pháp nghiên cứu tập thể”.
Link cho zoom meeting của cả ba seminar:
https://us05web.zoom.us/j/ 89191284691?pwd= G8Vsvybn0dycwjVtpeIEliPPAZppgv .1Meeting ID: 891 9128 4691
Passcode: nTfap7
30 Minute Methods TDTU, VSA (Sth) and TARN 2023-3024
The 30-minute Methods seminar series invites noted scholars to present their insights on new and pressing sociological approaches.
In 2023-2024, the series is a collaboration between the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Ton Duc Thang University (TDTU), the Southern Department of the Vietnam Sociological Association (VSA – Sth) and the Transit Asia Research Network (TARN).
TARN provides the speakers: Professor Brett Neilson of the Institute for Culture and Society at the Western Sydney University (12/12/23), Professor Joyce C H Liu of The International Center for Cultural Studies of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (19/12/23) and Professor Ned Rossiter, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University (23/01/24). [Slides will be bilingual and spoken text will be translated]
Times:
Dec 12, 2023 16:00 Professor Brett Neilson
Border as Method – video here: https://hutnyk.wordpress.com/2023/12/13/30-minute-methods-prof-brett-neilson-12-12-2023/
-Lý Thuyết Giới Hạn
Dec 19, 2023 16:00 Professor Joyce C.H. Liu
Limit as Method
-Phương Thức Giới Hạn
Jan 23, 2024 16:00 Professor Ned Rossiter
Reflections on Organized Networks and Collective Research Methods
– Những Phản Ánh về Mạng Lưới có Tổ Chức và Những Phương Pháp Nghiên Cứu Tổng Hợp
Zoom Meeting link:
https://us05web.zoom.us/j/ 89191284691?pwd= G8Vsvybn0dycwjVtpeIEliPPAZppgv .1Meeting ID: 891 9128 4691
Passcode: nTfap7
FOR THE UPCOMING SESSIONS, ALSO SEE: HTTPS://HUTNYK.WORDPRESS.COM/2023/12/07/30-MINUTE-METHODS/
| 30 Minute Methods TDTU, VSA (Sth) and TARN 2023-3024 |
| The 30-minute Methods seminar series invites noted scholars to present their insights on new and pressing sociological approaches. In 2023-2024, the series is a collaboration between the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Ton Duc Thang University (TDTU), the Southern Department of the Vietnam Sociological Association (VSA – Sth) and the Transit Asia Research Network (TARN). TARN provides the speakers: Professor Brett Neilson of the Institute for Culture and Society at the Western Sydney University (12/12/23), Professor Joyce C. H. Liu of The International Center for Cultural Studies of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (19/12/23) and Professor Ned Rossiter, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University (23/01/24). [Slides will be bilingual and spoken text will be translated] Zoom Meeting link: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/89191284691?pwd=G8Vsvybn0dycwjVtpeIEliPPAZppgv.1Meeting ID: 891 9128 4691 Passcode: nTfap7 |
 |
| Dec 12, 2023 16:00 (Time Zone: UTC+7) Professor Brett Neilson Border as Method -Lý Thuyết Giới Hạn |
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| Dec 19, 2023 16:00 (Time Zone: UTC+7) Professor Joyce C.H. Liu Limit as Method -Phương Thức Giới Hạn |
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| Jan 23, 2024 16:00 (Time Zone: UTC+7) Professor Ned Rossiter Reflections on Organized Networks and Collective Research Methods – Những Phản Ánh về Mạng Lưới có Tổ Chức và Những Phương Pháp Nghiên Cứu Tổng Hợp |
Free to download in 2023. Click the TOC below and download each as a PDF or EPUB from T&R. #robinson #crusoe #JournalofPostcolonialWriting.
Now with the introduction by Claire Reddleman – articles featured by Claire, Nicole Pepperell, Wulf Hund and I: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjpw20/59/4?nav=tocList
1. https://youtu.be/9MGNaplm9Rc
2. https://youtu.be/gFDA6CzSRSc
3. https://youtu.be/LAnywT00GUk
4. https://youtu.be/rPptSyJjFjA
5. https://youtu.be/gFDA6CzSRSc
Do watch these, apparently number 6 is in the works. From the lovely people at https://atlv.she-kings.com/en/
“On Vietnam Veterans’ Day, 18 August 2023, a national commemorative service will be held in Canberra to recognise the 50th anniversary of the end of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War.”
So, (apart from the image above where no-one seems to be fighting at all) lets look at some of the official websites and the statements by piggy pollies about the “Australia’s participation in the war”.
For example, we can hear comments from Matt Keogh MP, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Minister for Defence Personnel, who says that the war:
“was formally declared at an end when the Governor-General issued a proclamation on 11 January 1973. The only combat troops remaining in Vietnam were a platoon guarding the Australian embassy in Saigon. These six soldiers were the last to leave on 30 June 1973, however over the course of Australia’s longest 20th century conflict, many soldiers were involved in safeguarding our Embassy.”
– that last phrasing about the Embassy makes it sound like protecting some old colonial pile in Saigon was all the Australian troops had been doing – of course it would be hard to tell that to the dead of Long Tan.
For another example, the statements below from the official Australian War Memorial, require only a little deconstruction to see through the myopia (no mention of Vietnamese casualties, or Viet Veterans, or victims of chemical warfare (A-O dioxin etc) nor that the Western alliance lost, and that some humanitarian missions afterwards were too little too late in terms of owed reparations…
“Australians are being encouraged to honour and remember the service of some 60,000 Australian men and women who served in the Vietnam War and their families – 523 Australians lost their lives in the war, and over 3,000 were wounded.
The arrival of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) in South Vietnam during July and August 1962 was the beginning of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
Australia’s participation in the war was formally declared at an end when the Governor-General issued a proclamation on 11 January 1973.
The only combat troops remaining in Vietnam were a platoon guarding the Australian embassy in Saigon, which was withdrawn in June 1973.
In early 1975 the communists launched a major offensive in South Vietnam, resulting in the fall of Saigon on 30 April.
During April 1975, a RAAF detachment of 7–8 Hercules transports flew humanitarian missions to aid civilian refugees displaced by the fighting and carried out the evacuation of Vietnamese orphans (Operation Babylift), before finally taking out embassy staff on 25 April.”
There is an ABC radio chat that at least, after some moderate jingoism, and some mad chat about dominoes as a two-player game, eventually features some more critical interventions from Meredith Bergman: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/nightlife/vietnam/102710212
It is something of a mixed bag, but worth listening to, though not really redeemed by all to brief comments on Agent Orange, it is generally better, towards the end, than any of the commemorative sites.
Raoul Coutard was camera-person on nearly all Godard’s major 1960s films, including Á bout de souffle, Bande à Part, Le Mépris, Alphaville, La Chinoise, and Weekend, and then some later films Passion, Prénom Carmen. After the second imperialist war, so in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Coutard was a member of the French far eastern Corps Expeditionnaire and director of photography for Indochina, a map-maker in the Geographical Division, and even a war correspondent for Life and Paris Match – he was at Dien Bien Phu before it fell [I would nevertheless be keen to see his photographs from there if they exist – there is a book of his other Vietnam images, somewhat exoticist, ‘Le Même soleil’, and apparently a huge collection of unsorted images, but its not yet clear just where all these are from – I am on the case, but I expect it takes much time to be reinvented as a picture researcher].
This below is the first of over 170 fascinating short anecdotes from him that amount to an incredible interview/autobiography – problematic jokes and deep insights jumbled together, each one is 2 to 4 minutes, so the entire thing is well worth the couple of hours needed.
Web of Stories – Life Stories of Remarkable People
Raoul Coutard – Family (1/179)
done in class 2, in 2022, Nottingham.
Great! Just great.
Director: Lam Son (AKA Bùi Sơn Duân, 1932-2001). Writers: Nguyen Huy Khanh and Vu Hanh, starring Thuy Lien as Tuyet Mai, Ha Van Buu as teacher Thanh, and Tran Quang as Major Cuong. This film made after 1975, but I’ve not seen exact date details yet – I suspect it was after 77 at least – but within a few years of that as Bùi Sơn Duân moved to the US in 1990.
A comment in David Biggs’s, generally very engaging, 2010 book Quagmire. One part early on seemed to clang like a cheap scooter hitting the railings of an old iron bridge… Biggs writes:
“Before Eiffel made millions of francs operating the Eiffel Tower, he had already made a fortune exporting hundreds of ironwork segments for colonial bridges and public buildings, including Sài Gòn’s General Post Office and market halls still standing today. The estimated cost for his spans in 1881 was eight million francs, approximately eight times the cost of building the Eiffel Tower in 1887”
and in a footnote immediately following Biggs refers us to a text called Les Travaux publics et les voices de communication en Cochinchine, by Cochinchine francaise (Saigon: Imprimerie nationale, 1880), p143.
So, I was thinking that does not sound quite clear, and had enjoyed the extensive background by Tim Doling debunking Eiffel’s involvement, at least as architect of the Post Office, and his documentation about two more likely candidates, Vildieu and Foulhoux. Nevertheless, Effel’s Cochinchina company did build some things, as Tim explains, there were:
“numerous structures in Cochinchina between 1872 and 1889. These included, amongst others, railway bridges (Bình Điền, Tân An and Bến Lức viaducts on the Saigon-Mỹ Tho railway line), road bridges (Pont des Messageries maritimes, Pont de Cholon/Pont des Malabars, Pont de Ông Núi, Pont de Rạch Lăng, Pont de Bình Tây, Pont de Rạch Gia, Pont de Long Xuyên), markets (Long Châu, Cao Lãnh, Ô Môn, Tân Quy Đông and Tân An), filter wells and canal/creek towpaths, as well as the imposing headquarters of the Halles des Messageries fluviales on the Saïgon riverfront – see https://gustaveeiffel.com/ses-oeuvres/asie/”
https://www.historicvietnam.com/debunking-the-eiffel-myth/
Yet, of course even if Eiffel was not the architect, I wondered just what Biggs’s 1880 reference that supported his statement might say. Could it show Eiffel supplied some bits for the post office? I suspect that would mean some spans were shipped by Eiffel years earlier as the PO was built in 1887 I think – so Biggs’ source cannot really support that part unless the spans were just lying about for 7 years! What was the pre-order time for huge chunks of metal to be sent from France…? Is this of any interest, or is Biggs using his hat for a megaphone here?
And where are the market halls? I have now tracked down this 1880 text and am crawling through its arcane phrasings and the documented expenditure on various items such as Police stations, gendarmerie Soc Trang, Prison Central (the notorious one in Saigon presumably), and much more… One Eiffel item does seem to be mentioned as the record list includes 4k (I assumed piastres, but it seems to be francs) in 1871 for pont sur l’arroyo chinoise a Cholon. p55, but this would have to be planning as the bridge did not open for ten more years. Yet more promising is that in 1877 some 14k fr were allocated for the Hotel des postes and the comments column mentions Foulhoux as architecte, chef de la section des bâtiments civil. No other references to the post office that I can see. I reckon Eiffel, on balance, was looking elsewhere. Nice bridge though, this by Eiffel.
Trying to read in the library but looking out the window at the reminder that this is no ordinary library experience.
A few parts from a recent text: Sophie Fuggle & John Hutnyk (2022) “Saigon’s penalscape: interpreting colonial prisons.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 23:3, 443-458, DOI: 10.1080/14649373.2022.2108208
At the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, there is a photo of the old French colonial prison, the Maison Centrale de Saigon, once located on the street known as Rue La Grandière, now Lý Tự Trọng. This prison was notorious for its brutal treatment of those who resisted the colonial occupation, with several early communists executed in its courtyard, among whom one is now honoured with a commemorative statue, standing defiantly in that same courtyard. The former prison site today houses the General Sciences Library, a building in a 1970s style that is quaintly and quietly modernist, yet still imposingly functional, as a library should be. Having Lý’s statue stand in front of the library acknowledges the French colonial past of Ho Chi Minh City even as its architectural heritage and urban infrastructure is renovated, replaced, or rebuilt (Kim 2015; Harms 2011, 2016; Doling 2019) This is part of the story of the infamous extensive prison system that operated as part of France’s hundred-year occupation that, across the city, is told in complex and variegated ways via purpose-built memorial museums.
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Maison Centrale was the departure point for many of those exiled to Côn Đảo. The journalist Jean-Claude Demariaux writing for La Dépêche d’Indochine in 1939,10 describes how he arranged to visit a prison guard for an “aperitif” in order to ensure a decent view of the prison courtyard on the morning of a transfer to the islands. Memoirs such as that of Bảo Lương (real name: Nguyễn Trung Nguyệt), related by marriage to Tôn Đức Thắng, tell of waiting to see what their fate would be, securing cigarette butts from the French prisoners held far more comfortably upstairs (Tai 2010, 150) and otherwise enduring torture and unsanitary conditions. The French admitted overcrowding in the prison as early as 1905 (Doling 2015b), though it was still in operation during WWII and not demolished until 1968.
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While the War Remnants Museum and Museum of Southern Vietnamese Women both lay emphasis on the extensive network of colonial prisons, the few sites that remain within the city are largely unknown and unexplored by international tourists and domestic visitors alike. The former French Police Station on Rue Catinat, renamed Đồng Khởi, now houses the offices of the Department of Culture, Information, Sport and Tourism. Formerly this building was the sinister Police headquarters in which Vietnamese revolutionaries were subject to interrogation and torture. It was used in the same way by the Japanese during WWII and then again by the French on their inglorious return and the RVN Government, as Interior Ministry, until 1975. The French called the headquarters their Direction de la Police et de la Sûreté and it was known in Vietnamese as the Bót Catinat (Doling 2014b).
…
Across from the “hideous pink cathedral” of Notre Dame, as mentioned in Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American, it is where Inspector Vigot had his office and past which the narrator takes daily walks, heading “back by the dreary wall of the Vietnamese Sûreté that seemed to smell of urine and injustice” (Greene 2002 [1955], 42). Apparently, the dungeons have been flooded, but they were significant enough to warrant a commemorative plaque and feature in the memoir of Nguyễn Thị Bình, known as Madame Binh, the National Liberation Front delegate to Paris and head of the Provisional Revolutionary Government. Madame Binh tells of being beaten and interrogated within the headquarters. Followed by several years in Chí Hòa, she was released only after the defeat of the French at Điện Biên Phủ (Nguyen 2015, 100–104). Her younger brother Nguyễn Đông Hà survived seven years in Côn Đảo’s tiger cages.
…
[B]uilt in 1968, opened 1971 and only after 1975 inherited and maintained by the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Doling 2015b). Nevertheless, the library does become a part of the story of resistance that shapes the penalscape in Ho Chi Minh City. A small plaque acknowledges the site of the former Maison Centrale de Saigon, pointing to the guillotine and brutal French colonial rule since its inauguration in 1865-66, and the long history of resistance within the prison, exemplified by young fighters and tragic martyrdom. We started this paper at Lý Tự Trọng Street renamed to remember the Vietnamese revolutionary who was held in the prison before being executed by the French at the age of 17. The prison was demolished in 1968 but had been slated for closure since the opening of Chí Hòa in 1953.
More here: Sophie Fuggle & John Hutnyk (2022) “Saigon’s penalscape: interpreting colonial prisons.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 23:3, 443-458, DOI: 10.1080/14649373.2022.2108208
“Page no.297: ‘Een Jonk van Palimban.’ (Junk from Palimban on present day Sumatra, Indonesia). A scene that took place near Pulo Condore / Con Son Island an Island off the South Vietnam coast. Men with swords on the junk loaded with spices chase others off the boat, into the sea or the small sloop moored beside it. A larger sailing vessel in the background, anchored just off a coastline. Etching on a verge type handlaid paper. Description: This print originates from the 1698 Dutch edition of William Sewel’s translation of William Dampier’s travelogue: ‘Nieuwe Reystogt rondom de Werreld’ (A New Voyage Round the World), published in the Hague by Abraham de Hondt. Artists and Engravers: Engraver Caspar Luyken (based on monogram C.L. in some of the plates in the originating work).”
The report on this 1965 anti-war protest is marginally better than most current press release churnalism, of course it favours the Police and the future PM McMahon (who eventually presides over troop withdrawal), but its easy enough to read between the lines and see this was the start. So, a welcome find. At this time a Gallop Survey showed more than 50% of Australians supported the Menzies Govt’s decision to send troops to Vietnam (in April 1965 – before that only military advisors [and probably special ops had been there – see ‘The Sullivans’]). The first anti-War teach-ins were held in July that year.
“60 arrested in Vietnam war protest (Canberra Times, 22 October 1965)
SYDNEY, Friday. — About 60 people were arrested tonight during a demonstration against the Vietnam war in which more than 400 people threw Sydney’s peak hour traffic into chaos with a sit-down across Pitt and King Streets.
At one stage, some people feared that the demonstration would develop into a riot. Scores of uniformed and special police were rushed to the area at the height of the demonstration. Police cordoned off one-way streets as 15 radio cars and five police vans surrounded the demonstrators. Earlier, police and demonstrators ex-changed blows in the streets while others were dragged to police vehicles. Some people, caught in the melee, rushed at demonstrators and wrenched their banners from them, tearing them to shreds. The New South Wales Police Commissioner, Mr Allan, called for an immediate report on the incident. It probably will be ready for him late tomorrow. Police said late tonight that most of those arrested had been released on bail. They would appear in Central Court on Monday.
Peak hour traffic. The few who had not been bailed out would spend the night in police cells at Central, Darlinghurst and Regent Street police stations and would appear in court tomorrow. The demonstration began about 5pm as hundreds of workers left their offices. Many had trouble getting through the placard-waving, chanting crowd, and some were still caught there as police reinforcements arrived. The Minister for Labour and National Service, Mr McMahon, was leaving the Commonwealth Bank Building on Martin Place, where parliamentary offices are located, as the demonstration began. The demonstration began peacefully, but soon home-going city traffic was banked up to Circular Quay in the north and the Central Railway Station in the southern end of the main city area. Demonstrators paraded along the footpaths. They carried posters, on which were written anti-American slogans, and photographs of Vietnamese civilian casualties. They marched into Pitt Street during the peak hour and were blocked by police. … Some demonstrators sat and lay across the roadways. They still held aloft their banners, and chanted slogans protesting the Vietnam war. Fights broke out, and extra police moved in. Many people were arrested by police and loaded into vans. They were taken to Central, Darlinghurst and Regent Street stations. Mr McMahon was reported to have spoken to a demonstrator who carried a banner which read: “How can the Vietnamese be aggressive in their own country?” There was a brief exchange and Mr McMahon appeared to offer to shake hands. The demonstrator walked away. Scores of leaflets were handed out by those taking part in the protest, but most were thrown away. After the area had been cleared the leaflets littered the ground. Demonstrators included members of the Waterside Workers’ Federation, the Communist Party, the ALP youth body, women’s organisations including the “Save Our Sons” Movement and university students. Militant members of trade unions, including some officials, were reported to be among those who chanted, “One, two, three, four, We don’t want war . . . Five, six, seven, eight, End the war, negotiate.” Some chanted, “American casualties, one in 20, Australian casualties, one in 10.”
Militant action. Most placards were directed against American policy in Vietnam, although some attacked the Australian Government’s policy on conscription. A spokesman for the demonstrators said tonight that the demonstration was the forerunner of more militant action by the group. Until now they had been prepared to hold peaceful demonstrations in the Sydney Domain and other areas, but in future similar demonstrations were likely, he said. While demonstrators paraded, about a dozen sup- porters of the Australian- Vietnamese policy waved American and Australian flags as a counter protest.”
Fighting the lurgie seemed the right time to read Tim Page’s book on train trips in Vietnam 20 years after his war photo stint – the Dennis Hopper character in the Coppola film “Apocalypse Now” was based on him – at the Directors Cut Premier I had a freebie ticket* and sat with Tim and his assistant, who woke him up for ‘his’ scenes. Page died in August this year. The book is a travelogue by someone who knew their way around and/or was really just out and about to have a look for himself. There’s a link to a Tiếng Việt article here and one to an article by Sarah McLean who, until it closed approx 2010, ran the Indochina memorial media foundation Page helped set up here.
* I’d got in late I think as a wait list ‘return’ ticket, which I now imagine might have been his ‘plus one’ that he was not bothered to fill as its, frankly, a shoddy film whose only redeeming feature is that it exposes the insanity of US revisionist film history, and he’d have known that before I had.
Because I was looking for it online and could not see the contents pages, here are some rough snaps.
And then follow up and stay in touch via these
A book written at the start in Germany after finding the letters of Elsie and Bronislaw Malinowski had been published – and able to mention how Malinowski’s copy to Elsie attributes ‘more than half’ the labour on the book to her. Rare occurance, not on the cover.
This was my third single author book (Bad Marxism) but the first one has sold better over time, based on hanging out in Calcutta in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I had given up on academic work, though was still devoted to the writings of Zawar Hanfi on Heidegger and of course Marx.
The middle book of the set is Critique of Exotica, the product of a reading group at the Charterhouse Hotel in Manchester with mates who also published Dis-Orienting Rhythms (perhaps the favourite title I’ve com up with – after Rumour, which I did not identify as a title at first, as a friend, Matt, saw it as a part of the draft first para and he said ‘is that gonna be the title’. Yes, as it turns out. Critique though is a great title too, inspired varipusly by Kant, the anthro journal Crit of Anth and Gayatri Spivak’s Critique of Postcolonial Reason – which had come out he year before.
Leftword published a translation of Ho Chi Minh I helped do recently, but they also promote my books n India
Diaspora and Hybridity is much cited, has become a core text on Diaspora studies
Lots of videos and other odds and ends from lectures and talks in an immense accumulation of stuff – ungeheure Warensammlung -like
Lecture on Jean-luc Godard’s film “Letter to Jane” – much to discuss at TDTU. Parts 1 and 2.
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A Opera-play Người Cầm Lái (April 2022) presented Ho Chi Minh as the helmsman. By ‘The People’s Public Security Theatre, it celebrates ‘the beloved President’s 132nd birthday (1890-2022) along with the theatre’s 40th founding anniversary (1982-2022)’ (Nhan Dan 2022).
But there is a longer record…
In 1927, in Duong Cach Menh (part of which is recently translated here), Bac Ho refers to to the Party as the necessarily firm hand on the tiller of the revolution (page 86 Selected Ho Chi Minh).
The trope has history of course can be sought out in many literatures – see Homer, Virgil – but this is also a venerable tradition in communist histories Lenin, Stalin, Mao. Perhaps worth documenting:
The year before Ho Chi Minh described the Party as giving the necessary steer, but while he had already been teaching the course for a year, in 1926 a poster by Mitrofanov described Lenin as the Helmsman (корmчии) of the Soviet state (Media Storehouse 2004):
But perhaps my favourite of Lenin is a 1932 lithograph picturing him at the helm of a red-sailed ship (must be a pirate ship as I see some renegades there too, so the date might be wrong as this implies pre- 1929 and Look and Learn, where I’ve nicked the image, was a British children’s mag from 1962 onwards – look and get things distorted is of course a staple of all English history curricula):
Let us not think this was not a wider party thing in the USSR though – Stalin, in 1933, was depicted on that same ship:
In China, Quan Gian for the Hong Kong based China media Project, tells us that Mao was already described as the “great helmsman,” or wěidà de duòshǒu (伟大的舵手) in 1949. Quite possibly earlier.
Quan Gian. (2020, November, 2) A Brief History of the Helmsman. China Media Project, Hong Kong online at https://chinamediaproject.org/2020/11/02/a-brief-history-of-the-helmsman/
‘on February 21, 1950, the People’s Daily published a verse by the poet Tian Jian (田间) that praised both Stalin and Mao. Written in a time of deep friendship between the CCP and the Soviet Union, the poem was called: “Two Good Helmsmen, in the Same Boat” (两位好舵手，同御一条船)’ (Quan 2020)
but earlier Lenin and Stalin were also called helmsmen in China, according to Quan, a search the archives of the People’s Daily, launched 1946, shows ‘that “helmsman” Lenin was referred to as well as Stalin. Lenin was the helmsman. Stalin was the helmsan. And Mao was of course the helmsman. In all instances they were referred to as the duoshou (舵手)’ (Quan 2020).
There was a 1940s Chinese Communist Party song – “You Are The Beacon” (你是灯塔) that refers to Mao as helmsman: The lyrics went: ‘You are the beacon, shining on the ocean before dawn. You are the helmsman, piloting us forward.’ (Quan 2020)
and a cultural revolution era revolutionary song, ‘“Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman” (大海航行靠舵手), written by Wang Shuangyin in 1964’ (Quan 2020). You can find that here:
All good. But…
I think it might also be possible that Ho Chi Minh was referring to a folk lyric he remembered when he referred to ‘Người Cầm Lái’ in Duong Cach Menh. Not my area of expertise at all but I imagine him critically reworking the (somewhat problematic) tradition here. The lyrics refer to the need for stability (we can keep the reference to chồng dated to the times, though today sometiems also…):
Chồng chành như nón không quai – Rocking like a conical hat without a chin strap
Như thuyên không lái, như ai không chồng – A boat without a rudder, she has no old man at home.
Much as I would like to provide, I do not have a reference for this – so, kindly please, I ask for help, anyone?
July 1st, Ho Chi Minh City – 76 Hai Ba Trung – After a fire that started in an picture framing shop*, a large part of the house of where former Indian National Congress leader and then Second Imperialist World War (WW2) Indian National Army leader Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose last stayed in Saigon was severely damaged. (There’s Vietnam.net news footage below, after my photos). All of the roof seems charred and some metal structural supports are in place and most of the right side part of the building – largely separate – is gutted. The left side of the building seems to have intact rooms, though the roof is clearly all fire affected. I don’t want to pry, but its possible to see from the street, despite a flimsy wire barrier, some important family materials were lost – you can see the charred remains of a framed picture of a deity among that wreckage.
There had been in the past calls for the Indian Government to do smething to preserve this important site of heritage significance, though no doubt controversial for some.
* no coincidence at all that my first trade was as a picture framer
Admittedly, my camera skills failed here today, as it was peak hour traffic on a busy road, so I did not have time to check or to climb over the barrier to get a better shot. Not even sure I should – there are personal effects here perhaps. Still, not identifiable at least in my dodgy images (Huawei, no filter)
The right side of the building is pretty much wrecked as we see here. The roof of the main part of the hours seems saveable, or at least a new metal support exo-skeleton has been fitted. No doubt many original fittings and fixtures have been tragically damaged beyond repair.
Happily the back of the building seems to have largely been spared, and today – 6 weeks after the fire, the driveway is still a thriving street food spot, with at least 6 different vendors and a dozen or so 4 seater tables providing alfresco, smokey aroma, dining.
For Subhas though, it is a major setback as he was promising to return to live here soon, or so ‘they’ say.
75 years of Indian independence suggests it is time for the India Govt to step in and fund a restoration.
See here for earlier Subhas in HCMC posts:
Have this in my hand, having helped translate a part of it, cannot recommend it more highly. The full Đường Cách Mệnh trans will follow next year, also with Leftword. Only the first third of that essay is here, but lots of other important pieces. See Leftword for copies.
I do not want to attract new madness, the old madness does well enough. Here, a summary of various items of fun fact* where *I use the term in the sense of fake news facts*:
Much respect to Netaji, I do of course wish (any of) this was true.
However, some years ago, on the trail of Subhas’s house here in HCMC, which we found, which still exists, though in a dilapidated state, someone was in touch and linked to a number of photographs of an Indian looking gentleman who is pictured at a Chinese pro Vietnam ceremony (can be discounted, read the ‘mobile phone photo story abdout ‘Evidence shows’ – link below) and a picture of the delegation to Paris a few years later allegedly as a member of the talks, with *confirmation* by the famous Madame Binh – head negotiator. Well, most likely not, even if the person does seem to have the correct features, but all other accounts suggest a plane crash. Though Taiwan airport logs no such crash – during a war, go figure – thus pouring aviation fuel on the rumour mill.
Me, personally, I am sure Subhas will return in the next few weeks and reveal that it is true he has been trading Cocaine in Vietnam, then living in China before walking across Tibet with Vikram Seth. Since then he has been living all this time as a sadhu in Varanasi and other parts of U.P., perhaps. Ha!
More likely is the French story that he died in Prison – the notorious Police Bot Catinat (lock up mentioned in Grahame Green’s Quiet American book) is not far from his house, and its the more likely tale really.
Here are the links:
Then, here are a few of the even more fun factoidifications of the endless rabbit hole that is Netaji studies:
Alive in Vietnam:
Dead in Vietnam:
https://www.getbengal.com/details/did-netaji-subhash-bose-die-in-a-vietnam-prison
Netaji in China
https://www.oneindia.com/feature/what-happened-to-netaji-was-he-in-red-china-1879577.html
The Taiwan aircrash never happened:
https://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080203/spectrum/main2.htm
and perhaps the best yet, also well documented : https://thewire.in/history/netaji-subhas-chandra-bose-gumnami-baba
Indeed, probably worth citing the entire post as, well, surely we can only wish this were all true, what a hero (somewhat unfortunately its only in The Wire, ah well):
“He lived incognito to perform some covert activities in Asian countries. He led an Asian Liberation Army which fought in the Korean War of 1952. The Chinese army that attacked India in 1962 was led by him. He wanted to emancipate India from the western influence but Indians could not recognise him, so he ordered the army to retreat. In Vietnam, he was guiding Ho-Chi-Minh in his fight against US imperialism. He went to Paris in 1969 to mediate for the Vietnamese in the ‘Paris Peace Talks’. Before that, he visited Tashkent to help draw up the Tashkent Pact between India and Pakistan on January 10, 1966. Lastly, he turned his attention to his native state and was in north Bengal in 1970-71 guiding the ‘Mukti-joddhas’ in their liberation war for Bangladesh.
https://thewire.in/history/netaji-subhas-chandra-bose-gumnami-baba
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Finally – never finally of course – the tributes continue in an effort to actually recognise the achievements of the man.
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Me, I most like the story of him beating the black hole monument plaque with his slipper, as mentioned in my article https://www.academia.edu/17780537/THE_BLACK_HOLE in *Strangely Beloved* by the wonderful Nilanjana Gupta.
Thanks to Sarunas for the latest diversion into this quick sand trinketry.
Juxtaposing decayed US v Soviet war crap or a flower that blooms in slime.
Bảo tàng An Giang. Here is Ganesa, 6th century, from Vong The commune, Thoai Song district, An Giang.
Trinketization 