sự phát triển--development, or lack thereof

“Social responsibilities and obligations are very necessary because people must obey what society puts forth in order to benefit its residents; everyone must follow the laws for society to prosper”
- Undergraduate Student at University of Social Sciences and Humanities HCMC, 2007.

A woman from Thanh Hoá and her four year old son sell chewing gum and tissue paper to Western tourists in the backpacker area of Hồ Chí Minh City outside a well-known drinking establishment. Occasionally the boy dances on the tables, and tugs on sleeves to draw a smiling eye in hopes of making a sale. Western tourists, in all their worldliness, frequently take this opportunity to photograph the entertaining little yellow monkey. How great it must be to visit such a large zoo. With tears forming around the edges of her eyes, she explains how her son is a quick learner. Coming from a poor sea-side community of subsistence farmers in the north often devastated by natural disaster, she and her young son migrated to this urban center over two years ago after the government did not distribute an adequate level of disaster relief aid to help them rebuild their lives. She has left behind a husband and two high-school aged children in order to seek opportunities for additional income to support her family. Each month she sends her earnings back home. Her only ambition in life is to see all of her children complete their schooling and use their hard-earned educations to open doors which she has never had access to. Dance little boy, these tourists love the real Việt Nam.

A group of elderly and middle-aged women from Long An position themselves on scraps of cardboard under the shade of trees and buildings on the street named after a national heroine, Võ Thị Sáu, who once said while under French imprisonment: “I am a patriotic person without offences—your military, which steals from my country and kills my people, are the ones who have committed offences.” These women are holding hand-written messages of protest on pieces of cardboard and tattered rice bags—their livelihoods are now virtually non-existent, their land has been taken from them in a system that feeds itself through corrupt means that in effect pushes the poor further out into the socioeconomic periphery. Upon approaching them, two of the women stand up with their signs to show their plight. A man dressed in light blue colored clothing, holding a walkie-talkie and likely a plain-clothes police officer or local gangster, tells the woman to put away the sign. They’re not taking any photographs, she protests. Let them read this, they say, and understand what is being done to us. A bulky man with closely shaved hair and a frown on his face crosses the street—it looks like it is time to leave. A steady stream of cars and motorbikes pass by. No one else stops. How ironic, what would the national heroine, who the street is named after, say?

On a street corner, five hours before the next sunrise, a group of fifteen or so police officers encircle a street vendor’s cart which has been securely chained to a commercial building. All the uniforms’ eyes are on the street vendor’s cart with their hands crossed behind their backs in a similar manner. The street vendor, who has sold coffee, tea, and other beverages in this very spot for the past fourteen years, has gone home for the night. From these earnings, she has been able to afford her children’s education—asleep now her children must be with their dreams, before waking for school the next morning. There is an air of excitement among the uniforms as the chain linked to the building’s iron barred windows is frantically and tragically being sawed away. With success, the uniforms gleefully push the street vendor’s cart and plastic chairs back to the local station. They walk as if they have achieved greatness. Perhaps if she can afford it, she can pay them to get her cart back. All this glorious development which enables society to achieve further socioeconomic gains—who is included in this model and what happens to those who don’t fit quite so well in the grand scheme? The night-time cigarette vendor, who has been told by the uniforms to move his cart down the street or face similar consequences, later asks how the poor working peoples such as him, would be able to afford to open businesses such as the twenty-four hour convenience store located down the street. He feels that were he to move his cart down the street, he would be infringing on other peoples’ livelihoods who are already working in that space. Without knowledge of the laws which dictate such action, he reluctantly obeys these uniforms who state that he is but a simple laborer who should not question their authority. The xe ôm drivers who work together on this street corner lament that something very similar is happening to them—they too are being told to move. What are the cigarette vendor and others like him to do when they do not possess the taxable capital in line with the development strategies of the socialist republic?

i'm vk, give me a job

within frames

A point of reference frames the world. Life according to a social structure not fully analyzed is common in these parts as is elsewhere, and carries on into the political and economic spheres. The hierarchical society and often times Confucian mindset of the population which unquestioningly bows before authority, coupled with the education system wherein a scholar is often nothing more than a puppet which legitimizes the system brings forth a certain degree of stagnation.

Take for example, the case of the tuk tuk driver and the special 20 baht government tour. Anan is his name, he's a simple sort of fellow with a wife and kids. When asked, he seems concerned about the current state education policy wherein he must pay for his child's future secondary schooling. There's a catch though, there always is. The point being that this tour as advertised by a stranger on the street, likely a commission seeking employee of the local tourist authority, is indeed too good to be true. Sure, the standing Buddha and neighborhood wat are sites to see, but the later induced tourist consumer-based visits is a ploy to get much needed foreign dollars into the hands of those awarded government contracts. The way this system works is that the tuk tuk driver gets a five liter gas card from each of these would-be tailor and souvenir shops advertising the utmost quality in fabrics and likely sweat-shop speed quickness. However, being intent on buying nothing and having the status as an unemployed recent graduate does not work in their favor. The issue here is three-fold, that being: the tuk tuk driver will likely never rise out of the lower economic bracket while his attempts at such legitimizes a government that would prefer to see him stay where he is, and the present model of globalization brokers a sense of continued Western dominance over a peoples who serve as producers of exported commercial goods and pleasure outlets for tourists with stronger currencies and heavier pockets.



In this light, the words of some of those aligned with the PAD within the intellectual class whom we spoke to today inside of the Prime Minister's Office Compound have just cause--their aim is to see a change within their political system wherein the next leader will have to work towards the social welfare of the common people enabling them to achieve upward economic mobility rather than the present corrupt model dominating many political systems in this region in which public officials are in it for personal economic gain while seemingly perpetuating a government based upon nepotism. How this will all play out is still uncertain.

work

The boy is crying. He might be dyslexic, and is unmotivated to do his homework. The school's staff has labeled him as 'special'.

The girl is crying. She hangs on the monkey bars, and says her father beats her without end whenever she breaks something while her mother is at work.

The little girl asks to be read to. Her cousin asks for more snacks because it is unlikely she will get dinner, and says that the little girl will be beaten at home if she does not correctly read the book.

The little boy is crying. his mother, a fellow employee, jabs him with a safety pin to 'teach' him that he should not be playing with safety pins.

The fellow employee repeatedly yells 'don't let him beat you' to the girls during a gym class relay race.

The boy points a balloon gun to the heads of others, and goes 'bam, bam'. The invited clown has made these 'laser guns', yet no one seems to care.

The little boy sings a lyric from a song. He is in love with a stripper.

The two fellow employees sit at a table reading the classifieds. Clearly, this is more important than aiding the children with their homework.

The fellow employee is upset that her authority has been challenged. The eager boy is not to participate in gymnastics.

The fellow employee is excited that her boyfriend will not be going to prison. Apparently, they could not locate enough evidence to convict him.

The school's staff is anxious to have the children pass the state standardized tests. Grammatically incorrect messages line the hallway boards.

The children cringe. The teachers have signed consent from the parents to use paddles and rulers, thus educating through intimidation.

The little boys are excited about writing a play. The characters are a lion and his two cheetah friends who go looking for the lion's pet cat.

The boy smiles. He has made a bead necklace for his older half brother.

The boy mistakenly goes into the girl's restroom. He is embarrassed, but that's alright.

The girl has written her own song. Her mom has told that her she's a good singer though the lyrics are somewhat sad.

The children are excited to see seashells of various shapes and sizes. They put them to their ears to hear the ocean.

The children gather around the child-size guitar. They each ask for a turn.

The boy answers the homework question as to why Jane got wet when it rained. His response: 'She didn't watch the news.'

'Peace Village' at Tu Du Hospital in Sai Gon

Children afflicted with Agent Orange at Benh Vien Tu Du, located on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street in Quan 1 of Sai Gon, Viet Nam.

If you are in the city, stop by to volunteer.

lines, dots, and words

The cold drifts in, I can feel it in my breath. Sprawled across the floor in this box is an idea--withering away quickly like weathered sand. It has some form, but not to where I can grasp it to keep it from de-materializing. I've got it now! I'll give this abstraction a name--but what? Something unusual, memorable, yet comprehensible. Drats! Where did it go? It was here a second ago.

agency over structure or vice versa

structure - theoretical concept, certain properties of society as having causal power

agency - theoretical concept, certain properties of the individual as having causal power

Does the individual have the capacity to change and create society anew through his/her causal action, or does society determine the individual's behavior through its normative causal action? The first view is associated with the Symbolic Interactionist school of thought wherein individuals have the capacity to develop their own creative capital through social interaction in order to attach meaning to objects, ideas, organizations, and other tangible and intangible systems. Meanwhile, the latter view is associated with Structural Functionalist school of thought which bears some resemblance to evolutionary theory wherein societal practices come into being for the benefit of larger society--here, the individual actor does not matter as much as the achievement of an ends.

The second view could be considered as being subjective and ethnocentric in terms of supposed benefit of larger society--e.g., this lens of viewing the world's social structures supposes that globalization in terms of forced modernization and urbanization is bound to happen sooner or later, perhaps leading to capitalistic consumer societies, but not necessarily the development of civil societies. In this instance, the mediation process of social interactions between individuals is the byproduct of broad systemic and even commercialized norms. Furthermore, it generalizes human behavior as lacking in free will and disregards the concept of human intention.

On the other hand, the first view supposes that an individual has the potential to change/influence/create society anew. In this sense, the individual has the potential to develop new meanings through social interaction and creative expression. Similarly, individual human inquiry can have an impact on broader social norms leading to multiple concurrent realities, none of which are necessarily more correct than the others. Moreover, the individual has the capacity to influence/manipulate others in order to achieve an ends, self-interested or collective. As such, this view allows for a broader range of variability, if not conflict, among humanity and does not necessitate one end result.

Are the strings of influence unavoidable in terms of seeking to create individual sovereignty and identity?

terms for consideration

perspective.
manipulation.
influence.
oppression.
freedom.

no right or wrong here, just consider these terms and apply them to a few situations to the next degree beyond the previous and keep at it. perhaps have a conversation analyzing their constructs and correlations, if there are any. also, i am very condescending it seems. sorry, habit.

anew

A vinyl on repeat plays on a phonograph in the back of the mind. Spinning, spinning, the needle scratches upon the dust, though oh so clear.

It's now 2008, how quickly time catches up like the wind does on a long walk. Somewhere within, there's an idea brewing, like the dripping mechanism of a coffee maker, slowly filling the basin but not yet ready. One might boldly inquire if the substance is stale and unfit for large-scale consumption--to this I reply that even one is better than none, and an attempt is better than simply being a passive product of a generation instead of an active participator. Here is an inkling of the idea--the creation of an education program contributing to furthered socioeconomic development by way of confidence building measures in under-privileged youth and increased community involvement both within and outside the classroom. Though it probably sounds quite broad and overplayed at the moment, perhaps the end result will produce something different and worthwhile.

Tết's coming up soon, it's too warm outside. Chức mừng năm mới to all!