The title of French author Alexis de Tocqueville’s seminal work, Democracy in America, was not well received by authorities in Vietnam, so it appeared under another name.
When Hanoi’s Knowledge Publishing House issued the work three years ago there was no reference to democracy in the title, which became Governance of the American people. Censorship in the one-party state is one of many challenges faced by the publisher, which aims to translate key works of Western philosophy, political thought and social science.
It also faces a shortage of translators able to handle the great works of Western thought, as well as a lack of readers.
PHOTO: AFP
“Because of war, and problems bequeathed by history, Vietnamese education happened with a near-total absence of universal values contained in the classics,” says Chu Hao, 70, editor and director of the publishing house.
“What one could learn was limited to what was contained in the manuals of Marxism-Leninism,” he says. “Even today, philosophy, especially the history of philosophy, is foreign to Vietnamese students.”
Hao says philosophy is essential for personal development and its neglect is “extremely harmful in both the short and long term to the development of the country.”
When it began about four years ago the publisher focussed on several well-known authors, says Pham Toan, who translated Tocqueville’s classic.
Other featured authors included British philosopher John Stuart Mill and, from the modern era, the American critic Noam Chomsky.
Later came works by French thinkers Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire, as well as others.
In all, more than 100 titles have been translated, selling about 2,000 copies each. They are read mainly by researchers and business people rather than students or bureaucrats, Hao says. Like other publishers in Vietnam, Knowledge is linked to an agency of the state. In this case, it is the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA).
Along with financial contributions from VUSTA, the staff get by on private donations or support from foreign embassies.
For translation from European languages, Hao relies on linguists in their sixties or older. Younger Vietnamese are less fluent in the former colonial tongue, French, preferring English or other foreign languages.
However, even their mastery of Vietnamese is often insufficient, Hao says. He deplores their “low level of general knowledge due to the weakness of national education for decades.”
Experts have said the country’s education system is afflicted by corruption and unsuited for providing a skilled workforce.
Works on liberalism or democracy face another challenge.
“There are unwritten rules, a ‘sensitive’ zone that publishers are not allowed to cross,” Hao says.
However, this sensitivity has diminished since Vietnam in 1986 began its “Doi Moi” policy of opening up to the world, he says.
When the censor still tries to intervene, Hao says he patiently explains the importance of accepting differences and argues that “everything that is not similar to the Communist Party’s point of view is not reactionary.”
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s