i’ve made a point to stay updated with internet developments in vietnam my family is originally from there. back in 2004 the vietnamese government approved a open source software program initiative, which was originally slated to finish in 2008 but has since been extended to 2010. i do think think it’s coincidental that during this time there has been increasing awareness of the problem of jailing of cyberdissidents. studies from amnesty international
and opennet document problems of internet filtering and censorship that i find rather upsetting. this kind of clampdown on political speech and expression predates the internet, obviously. however, with the computer technologies, mobile phones, and internet service become more available, growing VC (that’s venture capital, not viet cong) interest for web 2.0 start-ups in the region, i can’t help but wonder if the government’s attempts to reap the benefits of economic productivity while divorcing it from a foundation of political openness runs contrary to a lot of the political-economic architecture of western society today.
in the united states and in western society more broadly, i would argue, there was an intrinsic relationship between economic prosperity and political free. as based on the the notion of a rational man, acting in his own self interest, individuals were guaranteed the right act freely as a political and economic agent. now i don’t want to get into a discussion about how that promise hasn’t been entirely fulfilled or criticize it fully here (which i completely do on my own), however the point i’m trying to make regardless is that this separation between economic prosperity and political openness is a very distinct case for vietnam. china certainly is in a similar situation and given the predicted continual growth for these countries it seems like these two represent rather distinct cases that might pose some real problems for the exportation of web 2.0.
through my own internet travels, it’s been really funny and interesting to see the vietnamese music sharing sites, or their equivalent of youtube (interestingly enough, the sites byline says “sharing happy moments”). it’s endearing to me to be able to peek into this world that was always such a mystery for me, having grown up in california. seeing clips of kids lip synching and crooning into their webcam makes me giggle. seeing clips of vietnam idol leaves me intrigued and horrified at the same time. while at the surface it looks like the good ol’ hypodermic needle theories of cultural transmission, videos like this of ho chi minh, featured at the top of very page, puts everything back in context.
i won’t make any attempts to try and predict what will happen exactly, but as social networking sites, media sharing sites, tagging, and become pushed more heavily and as individuals become more accustomed to engaging with their media in a meaningful fashion, i can only hope that the kind of political climate we see in vietnam today will evolve somehow. as web 2.0 carves out spaces for leisure, fun, and play, i can only hope that this translates into some kind of aesthetics of subversion at a more deep rooted level. i don’t know though…a total shot in the dark?
