Catholics In South Vietnam
Werner, Jayne
CATHOLICS IN SOUTH VIETNAM IAYNE WERNER The growing religious opposition to Thieu Throughout recent months, angry demonstrators in the cities and towns of South Vietnam have denounced the...
...There have been reports that shipments of new A-37 jet fighters have been dismantled and sold by ARVN generals as scrap metal, presumably due to fuel and pilot shortages...
...Eleven years of more warfare and U.S...
...CASINOS AND DOMINOES WARREN SLOAT Another effort to turn America into Las Vegas Romantic old Atlantic City, home of saltwater taffy, kewpie dolls and bracing sea breezes, has fallen on hard times...
...Today the main issue is not just a change in rulers...
...He also scored the "indiscriminate arrests and torture...
...Who are we to finance the continued existence of a corrupt military dictator when his policies are bitterly disputed by his own citizens...
...For the past 18 months foUowing the Paris Accords, the fighting has continued in South Vietnam despite the P.R.G.'s much more faithful adherence to the Accords (U.S...
...A growing number of religious leaders, joined by others such as Mme...
...The opposition movement against Thieu may not be able to benefit as much from international reaction IJ i77777!.;/if .'i ,,//' f: /l...
...The P.R.G...
...I:f I' t ' "I t t' r r;' and pressure as the movement against Diem did in 1963...
...The third force must be allowed to operate legally and openly...
...on his arrival in Paris last month declared that the third force is a vigorous movement for peace, which is why Thieu is trying to suppress it...
...Organized crime and official corruption are perhaps the only arguments that might brake the apparent public eagerness to vote in casinos this month.They are really only emblematic, however, of deeper concerns about the state's lifestyle and the fear that an outbreak of casinos will not enhance that style...
...The wave of indictments of public officials for bid-rigging, extortion and bribery was one of the factors that led to Byrne's victory...
...Although the ballot question says nothing about this limitation to a single city, Gov...
...Thieu or anyone like him has little chance of lasting indefinitely in Vietnam, at any rate, despite whatever U.S...
...This time the Catholics, heretofore staunch supporters of Saigon, are spearheading an anti-Thieu movement to protest the pervasive corruption, fed by the continuation of the war, which is crippling the population...
...Forcible enrollment of priests in the two largest religious sects in South Vietnam, the Hoa Hoa and the Cao Dai, have also brought sharp reactions and demonstrations against this policy in the delta...
...Ngo Ba Thanh, journalists, newspaper editors, and even some deputies in Saigon's JAYNE WERNER is completing a Ph.D...
...It seems unlikely that Thieu will last for three years...
...The Buddhist Church has always had a strong propeace element in it, submerged in recent years because of repression...
...Yet the "desperation" of the people in the Thieu zones and the need for peace, he concluded, was from all accounts being ignored by the Church hierarchy which was even censoring the Pope's messages for peace in its press...
...This is probably why the World Bank, presumably under the urging of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, scheduled a secret meeting in Paris on October 17 to see if emergency measures can be taken to save Thieu...
...Finally, an agreement must be reached with the P.R.G...
...must be initiated, which means that the fighting now going on must stop and the ceasefire be respected...
...Opponents of a favorable vote, speaking through "Casinos--No Dice," have questioned the proposal by raising the specter of organized crime...
...Embassy is no longer as optimistic about the benefits of a last-ditch Presidential change to defuse a political crisis in Saigon...
...1 November 1974:106 strung in dealing with the priests: the only two forces supporting his regime have been the army and the Church...
...If Nixon, why not Thieu...
...But the opposition against Thieu has the potential of being a wider movement against the regime and also of expressing deeper discontent than in 1963...
...mass protests against Thieu in the cities have not occurred in over three years because of the swift repression...
...Two other ex-political prisoners with Nguyen Long (who plans to visit several countries to talk about the political prisoners and the police state in South Vietnam) described their arbitrary detentions and denial of their rights of due process...
...aid and the oil crisis have created grave problems for the bulky and overly-mechanized ARVN war machine...
...officials, C.I.A...
...The real obstacle to peace, as Vietnamese public opinion in the areas controlled by Saigon is saying, is Thieu, not the P.R.G...
...it is a matter of war or peace...
...Not coincidentally, the Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Congregation (An Quang) spoke on the anniversary of the 1963 repression against the Church (August 20) to condemn the increasing misery brought on by the useless continuation of the war, the incarceration Commonweal: 105 of political prisoners, the absence of civil rights, Thieu's refusal to let the third force operate openly, and the failure to form the National Council of National Reconciliation and Concord: in short, the refusal of Thieu to implement the provisions of the agreements...
...She recently returned from a six-week trip to Vietnam, where she visited in the North and South...
...Gheddo's perspective was strongly anti-Communist yet in his report, which appears to have had some effect on the Pope's subsequent attitude toward Vietnam, he described the continuation of the war as futile...
...U.S...
...Father Chan Tin, leader of an organization to reform the prison system, recently reaffirmed that now there are over 200,000 people in jail, including many illegally arrested since the Paris Accords...
...Also the P.R.G...
...For it is disingenuous to pretend that this referendum, which every poll shows should pass solidly, is only a proposal to place three or four antiseptic casinos in one location...
...Byrne, a racket-buster who was swept into office last year as "the man who couldn't be bought," finds himself supporting casinos against the advice of almost WARREN SLOAT iS a ]ree-lance writer whose work has appeared in The Nation, Ramparts and other journals...
...Significantly, this opposition--which up to the present has been pro-Thieumnow sees the main impediment to peace to be the Saigon regime, and not the Communists led by the P.R.G...
...Thieu sees the writing on the wall as plainly as everyone else: his October 1 speech spelled out his critical need for more U.S...
...Thirty thousand priests and laymen reportedly demonstrated in Hue in mid-September to protest the heavy repression of an earlier demonstration against corruption and to demand that Thieu respond to the specific charges brought against him and his entourage by Catholic priest Tran Huu Thanh...
...Atlantic City is the opening puff in another round of campaigns to extend gambling along the East Coast and possibly around the nation...
...Thieu has no legal right to arrest pro-peace and third force proponents since the third force was given full legal status of its own in the Paris Agreement...
...is still ready to undertake new contacts and negotiations with the Thieu regime (broken off two months ago) and the third force for the formation of a national council, according to the P.R.G...
...There seems to be a genuine desire among the majority of the people for peace and the type of political settlement called for in the Paris Agreement (the publication of which Thieu has made illegal) : a council composed of three parts which will supervise elections for a new regime...
...The growing isolation of the Thieu regime is now becoming evident from all sides...
...One of the three co-chairmen of "Casinos---No Dice" is William J. Brennan III, who as assistant state attorney general for a few seasons ago claimed that "some legislators are too comfortable with organized crime" and in the midst of protest, proceeded to document it...
...If it seems inevitable that Thieu will, despite continued U.S...
...Public Indictment Number One" accused Thieu and his relatives of huge rake-offs from rice distribution in central Vietnam and fertilizer sales, among other accusations...
...Thieu, by comparison, has proven to be more of a political chameleon, like his former mentor, Nixon...
...It should be noted that Fr...
...Moreover, the U.S...
...press accounts amply document this fact...
...Father Gheddo attacked the Thieu regime as "corrupt and oppressive," adding that the political prisoners situation was "grave...
...every law-enforcement spokesman in the state, including Jonathan Goldstein, the U.S...
...And Thieu is ham* Father Thi, a representative of the third force in Paris, who has been primarily responsible for publicizing information on the political prisoners situation in Thieu's jails...
...Thieu's response to the loose coalition confronting him, however, can be seen as a watershed in Saigon politics...
...Moreover, the last 18 months have shown that this policy has been a failure...
...Despite the growing public demand for peace and the indictment of the Thieu regime for corruption, however, the opposition movement is in a formative stage and as yet in no position to topple the government...
...This is also a new element...
...There is little evidence that the people of South Vietnam want to continue being someone else's mercenaries...
...This is true despite the fact it does not have an army nor an administration as do the other two political elements...
...dissertation on the Cao Dai religious movement in South Vietnam for Cornell University...
...The dissident priests who launched the protest appear to have been at least partially prompted by the leak of a secret Vatican report on South Vietnam criticizing the regime and the Church's support of it...
...The only hope was a fleeting dream that oil in the South China Sea could bolster a sinking economy, but that is now acknowledged to be unrealizable: it has not been proven that substantial reserves actually exist and it would take three years--too late for Thieu for such reserves to be profitable...
...There can be no military solution to this war," he wrote...
...has been able to resist ARVN attempts to capture its territory, and it has recently taken back practically all the territory lost after the Accords were signed, and perhaps more...
...The Catholic Church, in contrast, has rarely dissented from the pro-war policies of Saigon, but the current campaign against corruption, led by dissident priests and not disavowed by the Church hierarchy, has reached almost every parish (according to a Vietnamese Catholic spokesman in Paris)* and recognizes that the corruption is a result of the continuation of the war...
...The chief organization backing the referendum calls itself the Tourism Development Council of New Jersey and the furtherance of tourism is being presented as the chief value of the casino...
...subsidy, have to go, why do we continue pouring money down the drain...
...It has failed because it has not been able to provide a real solution to the actual problems that beset South Vietnam...
...or otherwise, might cook up to save him...
...Completely dependent on foreign aid, with little domestic economic base of its own, there is little chance the Thieu adminiistration can solve inflation at a 70 percent annual rate nor find economically viable jobs for the one million (according to Le Monde) unemployed...
...He traveled extensively during his trip, talking with Catholic priests and laymen and recording his impressions...
...The danger for Thieu is that fissures in one of the two pillars---the Catholic Church--may broaden into a deep crack...
...aid, with which "we a r e ready to furnish Vietnamese blood [to continue fighting the war]" (June 6 speech at a teacher's convention in Saigon...
...Even Thieu's response * One of the most scandalous charges of corruption, not linked to the Catholic Church, is that orphans are being "sold" to persons or agencies abroad...
...permitting a political solution, since a military one is impossible...
...Provisional Revolutionary Government...
...Thus, President Ford's recently stated concern that Thieu may need new funds to "defend South Vietnam" in case of a Communist general offensive is misplaced...
...The deteriorating economic situation in the Thieu-held zones is another factor working against this regime...
...and they still remain unanswered...
...An in-house Vatican report on the situation in Vietnam, attacking the Thieu regime as "corrupt and oppressive," has received wide attention among Catholic and other circles in Saigon, and can be seen as a factor stimulating the current movement...
...Attorney for New Jersey, and his own State Attorney General, William F. Hyland...
...Brendan T. Byrne and his administration have depicted the coming vote as approval for an experiment station to try decorous, suitand-tie casinos of the Puerto Rican variety...
...This is a new element in Catholic protest in South Vietnam and it remains to be seen what type of unity the emerging coalition with the Buddhists and other dissenters will achieve in its battle for peace...
...News of this meeting was reported in a short article in Commonweal: 107 Le Monde but has failed to draw much attention in the U.S...
...Peace cannot come until Thieu goes...
...Since then, the issue has widened...
...One prisoner said he personally saw American advisors in the National "Interrogation" Center in Saigon, after the signing of the Paris Agreement (a direct violation), and friends of his still in prison, he avowed, could testify to the presence of many more...
...The protest sparked, however, popular discontent with the regime's favoritism toward Catholics in general and crystallized other types of hostility toward Diem, including those arising from regional and military conflicts...
...policy to continue massive military assistance to Thieu, though cut back by recent legislation, is a violation of the letter and the spirit of the Paris Accords...
...to his critics in a major speech on October 1, reflecting his weakened position, did not address itself to the specific charges of corruption leveled against him (because it could not...
...Replacing him could be more of a risk than keeping him in power...
...against his wishes, since he disavows membership in the P.R.G...
...The generals are kept in line by lucrative deals (ARVN generals are among the richest people in South Vietnam), political organizations have been infiltrated and leaders bought off, and crises are dampened and opposition repressed before having a chance to escalate...
...The vitality and apparent mass support the opposition to Thieu is gaining, despite its nascent and unpredictable character at the moment, shows that the third force, recognized in the Agreement on an equal footing with the Saigon regime and the P.R.G., is a real and not an artificial political force...
...The cutback in U.S...
...The Catholic protest movement was launched on June 5 in Hue by a letter of 301 priests condemning corruption...
...press...
...It has found an able ally in Thieu...
...Although it is unlikely that Thieu will be forced out this year, opinion from many sides sees either 1975 or 1976 as the decisive year...
...intervention have brought the longing for peace to the doorsteps of even the regime's staunchest supporters, not to mention the unheeded voices in the fields and streets who have longed for peace longer than that...
...Though the Catholic leadership currently heading the anti-corruption drive appears to be mainly politically conservative, the support given to the opposition in the last three months has signs of being increasingly massbased...
...Father Chan Tin declared recently that the people of South Vietnam want peace, freedom, and independence, which cannot be achieved until "foreign domination and its present valets, corrupt and rotten" (i.e., the United States and Thieu) are eliminated...
...The leaders of the opposition were not satisfied by Thieu's response, and from all indications, demonstrations will continue...
...His report to the Pope, only published a few weeks ago, described South Vietnam as "an ocean of corruption" reaching up into the highest levels, including the Church, which appeared to have more of a stake in the continuation of the war than an end to it...
...Notably, one of the leaders of the third force, lawyer Nguyen Long, imprisoned by Thieu for five years and then released, under international pressure, to the P.R.G...
...Bonzes in the provinces have been forcibly enlisted as soldiers in the army, an unpopular move among the predominantly Buddhist Vietnamese...
...The state's concern about gangsterism and corruption is based on a long and checkered history of infiltration by mobsters, aided and abetted by county political bosses, and connected with a shabby record of public morality...
...The Buddhists, once again spurred into political action by the Saigon An Quang pagoda (as in 1963), have loosely joined forces with the Catholic opposition movement...
...Ngo Ba Thanh said: "For the survival of the people, we demand President's Thieu dismissal...
...This situation is not unlike prerevolution China in the 1940s when desperate conditions brought about similar despicable profiteering on the part of seemingly "respectable" organizations...
...On the other hand, the current protest goes much deeper than that in 1963...
...Although Thieu today is more isolated than Diem was in 1963, Diem's narrow and doctrinaire policies provoked a conflict with the Buddhists over a relatively minor issue flying the Buddhist flag at religious ceremonies...
...Certainly one element in clarifying this situation has been the resignation of President Nixon...
...It is clear now that continued warfare in South Vietnam serves no purpose whatsoever...
...In an attempt to reverse the blight, high crime rate and the other familiar urban woes that have descended upon it, a proposal has been placed on the New Jersey ballot in November that would lead to the establishment of state-operated casinos for the queen of the Jersey shore...
...Corruption and profiteering in the Church existed, he found out, and was not being suppressed.* The only solution, according to Father Gheddo, is that a dialogue with the P.R.G...
...A leading Saigon newspaper (Dien Tin or Telegraph) has also editorially urged that the accord be implemented, reflecting a growing popular groundswell for peace and a political solution to the war, even among conservative and right-wing circles...
...1 November 1974:108...
...Worse, the Catholic movement may even go beyond the original intentions of its promoters, if it continues to develop momentum...
...CATHOLICS IN SOUTH VIETNAM IAYNE WERNER The growing religious opposition to Thieu Throughout recent months, angry demonstrators in the cities and towns of South Vietnam have denounced the Saigon regime, recalling the days of the Buddhist marches before the fall of dictator Ngo Diem (October 1963...
...Deputy Ambassador to France, Phan Thanh Nam, in a recent interview in Paris...
...After helping two months ago to found a movement to fight famine in South Vietnam, Mme...
...The report was written by Father Piero Gheddo, a specialist on Vietnam, who went to South Vietnam for a month in December 1973...
...Consequently An Quang has founded a movement for peace and the implementation of the accords, a national reconciliation movement...
...The state, they say, is on probation, and should not be violating it openly by consorting with persons of questionable repute...
...National Assembly, are now saying that peace cannot come until Thieu goes...
...The report concludes that an alternative to the present regime "must be prepared" and that "it is inevitable that in the future Catholics will have to live with the Communists in a coalition government...
...The people are sick of war and weary of a regime which profits more from war than from peace...
Vol. 101 • November 1974 • No. 5
