Signs with crossed out “bô xít” went up along Bolsa Avenue. Viets all over Facebook on Earthy Day today posted “Save Tay Nguyen – Stop Bauxite Mining” logos as their profile pictures.
What’s this bauxite (or “bô xít” in Vietnamese pronunciation) and what is the issue? Who’s the “Tay Nguyen” that needs saving anyway?
First of all, Tay Nguyen is not a who, it’s a what. It’s not a person whose last name is Nguyen — it is the Vietnamese name for the central highlands of Vietnam (through which the notorious Ho Chi Minh Trail once ran).
Bauxite, in a one-word summary, is aluminum. It is the ore from which all aluminum is made.
The issue is the Vietnamese government’s decision to allow China to strip mine bauxite right in the Vietnamese central highlands, a strategically important location and an ecologically fragile tropical rain forest.
The potentially destructive effect of bauxite mining is so devastating that a wide range of Vietnamese across the political spectrum have spoken out loudly in opposition. Read here.
This includes Vietnamese in the U.S. and throughout the diaspora. It also includes numerous well known and well respected people in Vietnam. The U.S.-based Viet Tan opposition party calls on people to run the “Save Tay Nguyen” logo on their Facebook page (pictured right), in what appears to be the first time Viets use the social networking site for political purposes.
The writer Nguyen Ngoc, whose writings about the lives of communist soldiers along the Ho Chi Minh Trail served as government propaganda for years, has raised the alert that allowing bauxite mining in the area would result in the destruction of the health and livelihood of ethnic minorities living in Tay Nguyen, as well as hundreds of species unique to Vietnam’s highlands.
Most prominent among the opponents, however, is retired General Vo Nguyen Giap, the architect (or co-architect) of practically all of the communists’ military victories. Read here.
Gen. Giap also raised environment issue, but the word is that he was concerned more about the presence of tens of thousands of Chinese workers who will be allowed to move to the Vietnamese Central Highlands to man the mines. (See here.)
People are reminded that Gen. Giap himself had used the Central Highlands as the pathway to invade and eventually conquer South Vietnam.
The leading Buddhist dissident in Vietnam, Ven. Thich Quang Do, voiced his opposition and concern over the welfare of indigenous people. Read here.
The map to the right shows the area where bauxite mining has been allowed to begin. (To the left of the map are Laos and Cambodia; to the right is the Pacific Ocean.)
The area is home to 5 million people, many of whom are ethnic minorities. The destruction of the environment in that area would also directly affect two of Vietnam’s top exports: Coffee (grown in the highlands) and rubber (grown immediately downhill from it).
Raw bauxite has been in great demand since the world’s top producers have been outmining their reserves.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (here), Vietnam currently ranks practically bottom of the world in terms of bauxite production.
However, because other countries have been producing so much, their reserves are running low, pushing Vietnam’s reserve base to near the top of the world.
In a situation reminiscent of 19th century colonialism, it is only a matter of time before the greatest colonialist of the 21st century – China – goes into Vietnam to extract this untapped resource.
BTW, the term “bauxite” is not equivalent to other chemical terms such as sulfite or nitrite. A sulfite compound is related to sulfous acid; a nitrite compound, nitrous acid. There is, however, no such thing as bauxous or such acid. “Bauxite” is so named simply because the ore was first discovered in Les Baux, France.
Lessons of History :
Let us remember history, not to extract revenge for the sins of our fathers, but for understanding the sacrifices of our forefathers to protect :
* Every inch of motherland, from Lang Son to Tay Nguyen,
* Every grain of sand on the shores of Hoang Sa, and Phu Quoc
Let us remember history, not to glorify the thunders of war, but to reclaim the freedom promised, the dream of liberty, and justice for all.
The sacrifices of our forefather are being forgotten, overwhelmed by the our thirst for vengeance and anguish of war,
The cherished treasures of our montherland is being traded away by our greed of fortune.
Destiny has been etched on the wall.
A Vietnam divided can not stand,
A fallen angel with neither hearts nor souls.
Revised :
The sacrifices of our forefather are being forgotten, overwhelmed by the our thirst for vengeance and anguish of war,
The cherished treasures of our montherland is being traded away by our greed of fortune.
Destiny has been etched on the wall.
A Vietnam divided can not last,
A fallen angel with neither hearts nor souls.
Revised again :
The sacrifices of our forefather are being forgotten, overwhelmed by the our thirst for vengeance.
The cherished treasures of our motherland are being traded away by our greed of fortune.
Destiny has been etched on the wall.
A Vietnam divided can not last,
A fallen angel with neither heart nor soul.
A different version :
The sacrifices of our forefather are being forgotten by our anguish of war,
drained empty by thirst for vengeance.
The sacred treasures of our motherland being traded away by incessant greed of fortune.
Destiny has been etched on the wall,
We, so many broken bricks on the wall.
A Vietnam divided can not last,
A falling angel without heart nor soul.
The color of your skin.
What is the color of your skin ?
not that yellow, not yellow enough !
not soiled enough with battle stains.
What is the color of your blood ?
dare not say red, not that red !
Not the blood splatered on the walls of Hue Citadels,
not the pure blood of Au Co.
Are you a descendent of Kingdom Lac Viet ?
or just another desolate soul of the lost tribe of Truong son.
Have you ever seen a dead body, a dead Viet ?
Yellow turned black, Red turned brown !
The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
Hummer sold to Chinese :
General Motors said Tuesday it has reached a tentative deal to sell Hummer to a Chinese, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Ltd.
Hummer is a brand that started as the military’s Humvee and commercialized into a civilian muscle machine.
Chinese company will have ownership of US military most advanced technology. In a few years, Chinese massive army will be equipped with Humvees as main vehicle of troop transports.
The selling out of America.
I have a dream !
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the Vietnamese tradition.
I have a dream that one day the people of Vietnam will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “that all Vietnamese are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red mountains of Truong Son , the sons of former solders SVN and the sons of former solders of NVN will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the towns of Tay Nguyen, a town sweltering with the heat of controversy, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that future generation of Vietnamese will one day live in a Vietnam where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, yellow or red, but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
Hà Sĩ Phu, Đà Lạt ngày 6-6-2009 :
Hỡi bạn, là người Việt Nam, nghe lời máu thịt này mà không có cảm ứng gì thì tôi cam đoan con người trong bạn đã chết! Khỏi cần nói, nếu bạn lại còn là một đại biểu của dân trong Quốc hội, và đang cận kề trước nguy cơ trở thành kẻ tòng phạm của một tội ác lịch sử.
Trong việc này chúng tôi đúng, Đảng và Nhà nước sai !
Còn diện mạo phía chủ trương khai thác bauxite thì sao?
* hứa hẹn suông sẽ “chịu trách nhiệm”
* hạn chế thông tin
* làm ăn “kín đáo
* xé lẻ đàn áp
* chỉ muốn “làm tới” bất chấp luật pháp
Tóm lại đó chỉ là một thứ “lý trí” phản lý trí mà thôi.
Country First’s dream will come true when all the immoral Viets die out! (No one is certain when that happens!)
I think there are very few hobbies that can match the fun and cost effectiveness of folding paper airplanes. I mean all you need is paper and a little patience and you’ll have a toy that’s can as fun as any toy.
You know I’ve trying folding all the paper airplanes found at http://www.paperairplaneshq.com and trust me, you’ll spend more than one weekend before you fold all 50!
I say immediate stop to all bauxite or other resource mining in Vietnam by racist chinese thugs. Just look at how these careless rats have polluted and destroyed their own country! And now, they want to do the same to Vietnam? I say NO to all chinese activities in Vietnam. If the chinese are mistreating their own country that way, they will have even less regards to Vietnam and our people.
Immediately kick out all chinese invaders and their VC traitorous supporters. Shame on the godless VC government!!! Overthrow them now!!! Amen.
Informative post, thanks for sharing
You people have no clue of what I have been through searching for talk about this.
I certainly am glad now that I found this place.