Racism In Vietnam
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Racism in Vietnam () has been mainly directed by the majority and dominant ethnic Vietnamese Kinh against ethnic minorities such as Degars (Montagnards),
Chams The Chams ( Cham: , چام, ''cam''), or Champa people ( Cham: , اوراڠ چمڤا, ''Urang Campa''; or ; , ), are an Austronesian ethnic group in Southeast Asia and are the original inhabitants of central Vietnam and coastal Cambodia be ...
, and the Khmer Krom. It has also been directed against
black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...
from other countries around the world as well.


History


Race issues and Khmer–Vietnamese racial violence during the First Indochina War

Historian Shawn McHale notes that while race shaped French attitudes towards Vietnamese,almost nothing has been written on Vietnamese notions of race in the
First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...
. In reality, some Vietnamese writers and intellectuals were heavily influenced by
social Darwinism Charles Darwin, after whom social Darwinism is named Social Darwinism is a body of pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economi ...
before the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, shaping their discourse on race. During the First Indochina War, while antagonists generally avoided race-talk, some did not. They increasingly employed a discourse of race and ethnicity that, at times, demonized Black, Arab, Khmer, and (non-Vietnamese) indigenous Other. For instance, nationalist propaganda leaflet in the Mekong Delta in 1951 claiming how the "barbaric French" were using machines to "cook" Vietnamese soldiers and turn them into
black Africans Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical c ...
and
Moroccans Moroccans () are the Moroccan nationality law, citizens and nationals of the Morocco, Kingdom of Morocco. The country's population is predominantly composed of Arabs and Berbers (Amazigh). The term also applies more broadly to any people who ...
. War propaganda aside, some of this racial denigration could be found in mainstream Vietnamese media, a vicious anti-black and xenophobic hatred. Racially charged rhetorical expressions could be found in popular slogans, newspapers, and graphic imagery such as propaganda posters and cartoons. At the same time, Vietnamese across the political spectrum emphasized the need "to protect the Vietnamese race (''nòi giống'')". The Vietnamese construct of race at the time was the one who shared "biological bloodline" or having the common Vietnamese descent. The term ''đồng bào'' (compatriots) also accentuates the same meanings, were later extended to the Chinese in
Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...
who had often intermarried with the Vietnamese, but was never applied to peoples of Cham, Malay, and Khmer ethnicities. The high percentages of Black Africans and Arabs in the French Expeditionary Corp were likely reasons for Vietnamese deep animosity toward blackness. Such intense antagonisms received little condemnation from the Viet Minh leaders who at the same time also realized that those Black and Arab soldiers were also victims of the French colonial empire. Examples of this racial discourse across time are not hard to find. For example,
Đào Duy Anh Đào Duy Anh (25 April 1904 – 1 April 1988) was a Vietnamese historian and List of lexicographers, lexicographer. He was born in Thanh Oai, Hà Tây, now, Hanoi. He was one of the writers associated with the Nhân Văn-Giai Phẩm affair. ...
once stated in the 1940s: "the culture of the American and European peoples is high, while the culture of the savage peoples ''(dân tộc mọi rợ)'' of Africa and Australia, just like that of the '' Mường, Mán, Mọi'' in our country, is deficient." A ''Dân sinh'' newspaper published on January 14, 1946 triumphed "Now, no one would dare claim that the Vietnamese nation is a tribe of savages (''một bộ tộc mọi rợ''), since the Vietnamese people have exercised
self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...
and self-rule through elections!" Hanoi journalist Phùng Tri Lai in 1950 vigorously characterized African minorities in terms of their so-called "nudity, barbaric habits, and custom of eating human flesh." When Catholic members in the Viet Minh resistance appealed to fellow Catholic in the
Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...
in 1949, they invoked the fear of racial extinction: "You cannot fold your arms and watch the enemy wipe out the race." On the opposite view, Khmer Krom monk Trịnh Thới Cang in 1949 argued that, without education, Cambodian minority of Vietnam would be practically viewed no more than the Blacks of America in the perception of Vietnamese intellectuals. It was common, during the war, for ethnic minorities in Vietnam who were deemed "darker-skinned" to be considered culturally inferior to the Vietnamese. Racial discourse was linked, at times, to repression of ethnic minorities. Even before the beginning of the war, Vietnamese ethnic violence and repression conducted by various factions against the Khmer Krom of the
Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...
had already accelerated, all part of a dynamic of violence that shaped the Mekong delta.
Trần Văn Trà Nguyễn Chấn, known as Trần Văn Trà (15 September 1919 – 20 April 1996) was a colonel-general in the People's Army of Vietnam. He was Commander of B2 Front during 1963 – 1967, Deputy Commander of Liberation Army of South Vietnam dur ...
in early 1946 admitted that the Party "used force to repress, and arrested hundreds of Khmer." These resulted in an outbreak of ethnic tensions, mass murders, chaotic pillaging of towns, and race riots committed from both Khmer and Viet populaces erupted and spread throughout the Delta from August 1945 to March 1946. McHale concludes racial violence and race issues during the First Indochina War which often seen as marginal, outside the mainstream scholarship: "..., the First Indochina War was a race war. But it was not like World War II, in which Japanese propagandists spoke of a "
Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a Names of Japan, name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial ...
race" fighting whites in a bitter global struggle, or Nazis defined Germans as a pure
Aryan ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''), Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood ...
"race" fighting against racial others. Neither was it a Fanonian war pitting white colonialists against a darker foe. Rather, in the worst of times, Vietnamese sometimes perceived the war as a struggle for their own racial or ethnic survival against enemies, who ranged from French rapists and killers to Moroccan and
Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...
ese cannibals and on to Khmer Krom decapitators."


Highlanders

The Kinh Vietnamese dominated government media propagate negative stereotypes of the highlander ethnic minorities, labeling them as "ignorant", "illiterate", "backward" and claim that they are impoverished and underdeveloped because of their own lack of economic and agricultural skills. The ethnic Kinh settlers in the highlands have negative stereotypes and views of the highlanders with barely any intermarriage and little interaction since they deliberately choose to live in different villages with other ethnic Kinh. The Vietnamese government has promoted the ethnic Kinh migration to the highlands as bringing "development" to the highlanders.


Montagnards

Montagnards are made up of many different tribes that are indigenous to the Central Highlands of Vietnam. In the past, Montagnards were referred to as "mọi" (savages), by the Vietnamese. Vietnamese textbooks used to describe Montagnards as people with long tails and excessive body hair. Nowadays, the non-offensive term "người Thượng" (highlanders), is used instead. In 1956, President
Ngo Dinh Diem Ngô Đình Diệm ( , or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician who was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955) and later the first president of South Vietnam (Republic of V ...
launched programs to resettle ethnic Kinh Vietnamese and northern ethnic minorities into the central highlands. These programs also sought to assimilate the Montagnards into mainstream Vietnamese society. This was the beginning of the struggle between ethnic Kinh and Montagnards. After the
Vietnam war The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
, the government further encouraged the ethnic Kinh to resettle in the highlands to cultivate coffee after the demand for coffee in the world boomed. Approximately 1,000,000 ethnic Kinh were forcibly resettled to the central highlands. This resettlement caused conflict between the ethnic Kinh and Montagnards because the Montagnards believed the ethnic Kinh were encroaching on their land. This conflict lead to resentment from the Montagnards which lead to some deadly protests against the ethnic Kinh. Montagnards have faced religious persecution from the communist Vietnamese government since the end of the Vietnam war. The Vietnamese government has a list of government-approved religious organizations and requires that all religious groups register with the government. Any religious groups that are considered to be going against national interests are repressed and shut down. The Vietnamese government claim the independent Montagnard religious groups use religion to incite unrest. They use this to justify their capture, detainment, and interrogation of Montagnard political activists, leaders, and shut down of unregistered Montagnard churches. Followers of unregistered churches and religious activists have also been harassed, arrested, imprisoned, or placed under house arrest by authorities. In 2001 and 2004, there were major protests from thousands of Montagnards. They protested against the repression and religious persecution from the Vietnamese government and demanded their land back. In 2001, there was a Montagnard independence movement facilitated by MFI members. These protests lead to deaths and mass imprisonments.


Khmer Krom


See also

* Anti-Vietnamese sentiment *
Bụi đời The Vietnamese term bụi đời (,"life of dust" or "dusty life") refers to vagrancy (people), vagrants in the city or, ''trẻ bụi đời'' to street children or juvenile gangs. From 1989, following a song in the musical ''Miss Saigon'', "Bui- ...


References


Sources

* * {{Vietnam topics Human rights abuses in Vietnam Demographics of Vietnam
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
Culture of Vietnam Vietnam, Racism in Ethnic groups in Vietnam