Press Freedom or Death: The Struggle for Transparency and Freedom of the Press in South Vietnam, 1972-1975

• In Event: 58. Transcending the Seventeenth Parallel: Exploring Common Features, Patterns and Interactions in North and South Vietnamese State-Civil Society Relations, 1955-1975. Sponsored by the Vietnam Studies Group

Abstract

As South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu began clamping down on freedom of the press and of association in 1972, a movement for more transparency and rights emerged. Led by both the left-wing, anti-war opposition and the anti-communist intelligentsia, this movement first called for the repeal of Thiệu’s restrictive new laws, particularly the exacting Press Law 007. By 1974, however, this protest effort had exploded into a larger movement that demanded not only press freedom, but also an end to government corruption. Unique to this collective protest action was the prominent leadership of anti-communist Roman Catholic priests, such as Father Trần Hữu Thanh, erstwhile supporters of the regime. Father Thanh’s irreproachable anti-communist credentials created an awkward dilemma for Thiệu, who could not dismiss the priest as a communist sympathizer. Ironically, Hà Nội also found Father Thanh’s anti-government activities objectionable because his highly popular movement could undermine communist covert political work in South Vietnam. Labeled as reactionary by communist propaganda, Father Thanh’s movement reveals that, despite ideological differences, the two governments shared an intolerance for civil society.

By examining this protest struggle as it unfolded in the print media and later recounted in participants’ memoirs and interviews, my paper provides insight into the social and political dynamics of South Vietnam at a time when the United States was negotiating its way out of the war. Furthermore, the paper explores state-society relations and assesses the vitality of civil society and its ability to respond to both dictatorial state policies and wartime exigencies.

Author

• Van Nguyen-Marshall, Trent University