Verbatim Post
That’s what Doan Van Vuon, a fish farmer in the Vietnamese city of Hai Phong, did. He fought the police who came to seize his farm. The farm was on government land leased to the Vuon family for a specific period. The family developed the land from swamp to a farm. Then the government declared that the land is needed for other purposes and tried to evict the Vuons before the lease was over.
The Vuons met the police with home-made land mines and improvised shotguns. They repelled the 100 police officers, wounding 6 of them in the battle. Later, though, the police came prepared and three of the men in the family were arrested, including Doan Van.
But instead of condemnation in the country controlled by Communists, Vuon is turning into something of a national hero. And his popularity is so high now that even the central government in Hanoi is reluctant to support the local authorities. Vuon’s heroic resistance against the government’s change of rules and violation of contracts has gained sympathy among the Vietnamese.
Liberty and justice are popular. Even in a Communist country. Especially in a Communist country.
Meanwhile, in the US, the “eminent domain” as a means of confiscation of private property is increasingly used and abused by both local authorities and the Federal government. As I am writing this, private farms are closed or confiscated by the Federal government for selling raw milk – to favor big corporations using practices that are dubious, morally and legally. And not a single shot is fired. Where have the all the patriots gone? The Founding Fathers must be turning in their graves.
At least the rest of the world is learning to resist. They do it in Vietnam. Hopefully, we’ll start doing it here, again.
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