Put things in perspective — weekend musings by the Bolsavik

These two photos remind the Bolsavik that what’s been happening in the last couple of months is trivial in comparison to what some of his friends from the blogosphere are going through.

This gentleman to the right is Nguyen Van Hai, a former North Vietnamese soldier during the war, who writes a blog under the handle Dieu Cay. (The one whose face is blurred out is just a nice blogger who’s not political or controversial.)

Nguyen Van Hai (sometimes referred to as Nguyen Hoang Hai) was arrested by the Vietnamese authorities on April 19 under trumped-up charges of tax evasion. A lawyer offered to defend him pro bono, and next thing you know cops brought the lawyer in for questioning! (Read here in Vietnamese.)

The real reason Nguyen Van Hai was arrested was because of his news blog, where he exposed stories of corruption, worker exploitation, and police brutality. He also criticized China’s policy encroaching on Vietnamese territory, which strangely enough is something the Vietnamese government frowns upon.

Reporters Without Borders wrote about him here. Amnesty International here. And the AFP here.

And then there’s also this online friend.

This young man writes a blog under the handle Uyen Vu (Vietnamese: Uyên V?). The Bolsavik never knew his real name. The police once came to his place of work to question him, and his employer freaked out and fired him.

Two days before the Beijing Olympic torch came to town, Uyen Vu disappeared. It’s believed that he’s been arrested. So far there has been no announcement of any charges against him. It’s been more than a week now.

Amnesty International mention of 3 people arrested in Hochiminh City ahead of the Olympic torch relay, here, may have been a reference to him. Or not.

So you see, with things like that happening to his friends, when you ask the Bolsavik how he’s doing and he says he’s fine, well, he actually means it. Yes, in comparison with his friends, he is actually doing fine indeed.