Lost History In Laos
elsa. d | 04.12.2007 08:32 | Globalisation | History
Just four decades ago it was the world’s most bombed country per capita. Yet today Laos is Asia’s latest little tiger, a nation chasing the greenback with the thirst of the long parched and anxious to forget its past.
For nine years during the Vietnam War U.S. warplanes rained an average two million dollars worth of bombs on this landlocked country, accumulating a startling total drop volume of 2,093,100 tons of bombs worth 7.2 billion dollars to the American taxpayer.
For nine years during the Vietnam War U.S. warplanes rained an average two million dollars worth of bombs on this landlocked country, accumulating a startling total drop volume of 2,093,100 tons of bombs worth 7.2 billion dollars to the American taxpayer.
LOST HISTORY IN LAOS
By Uli Schmetzer
www.uli-schmetzer.com
LUANG PRABANG, LAOS, December, 2007 – Just four decades ago it was the world’s most bombed country per capita. Yet today Laos is Asia’s latest little tiger, a nation chasing the greenback with the thirst of the long parched and anxious to forget its past.
For nine years during the Vietnam War U.S. warplanes rained an average two million dollars worth of bombs on this landlocked country, accumulating a startling total drop volume of 2,093,100 tons of bombs worth 7.2 billion dollars to the American taxpayer.
One of every three Laotians became an internal refugee during that nine-year bombing spree. Even now one of these unexploded devices still blows up killing or maiming someone.
But no one talks about those dark days in a country where history seems to have begun with the communist takeover after the Vietnam War.
The bombing atrocity is ancient news. In fact news does not exist here unless it is issued by the official news broadcasts or printed in the official media by the all-controlling one-party regime of the Marxist-Leninist Pathet Lao. As for the bombing the only apparent sign of rancor against the U.S. is the fact Amex cards are not accepted in Laos though the American dollar is welcomed with open hands.
The Pathet Lao (like Pol Pot’s Maoist Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the Vietcong in Vietnam) came to power in 1975 thanks to America’s botched Vietnam War venture.
Today one could draw a parallel to Iraq where Muslim fundamentalists are likely to take over once the U.S. is forced to withdraw from another of its misguided military adventures.
History does repeat itself, one reason why it should be remembered and not erased from school text books or rewritten by ideology.
The official Pathet Lao newspapers do not reach this ancient royal city, so young people here point out with appropriately raised eyebrows. The news comes off the state television, one reason why the vast majority of the public ignores it in favor of the live satellite transmissions of European football matches.
Football – part of the ‘bread and games’ strategy practiced already by ancient Rome - obviously does not stimulate political thinking or foster rebellion.
The ‘bread’ part of this strategy is the acceptance by Lao communism of ‘People’s Capitalism’ i.e. free enterprise and private profiteering. This recipe was copied from the Chinese communists next door where it is called ‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics’ when it really means Socialism with Capitalist characteristics.
No one in Indochina denies these days China has been rapidly ‘colonizing’ the region through economic investments and exports. Last year alone Beijing invested 1.1 billion dollars in Laotian mining projects and hydroelectric dams. Thousands of Laotians had to be ‘transplanted’ to make space for the hydroelectric catchments. In the official press the transferees are quoted as praising the party for generously transferring them to modern accommodations.
Time flies fast in Asia. Just over ten years ago China was still a grateful recipient of global investments. Today the Middle Kingdom is Asia’s largest investor and money-lender.
With a seven per cent annual growth rate, solid credit from China and good prospects of additional tourism to come, Laotians are not about to rebel against inferior education, lack of democracy, censorship and no freedom of expression.
Nor are the Buddhist monks in Laos ready to protest as the monks did in neighboring Burma this summer. After initially banning the traditional begging for food by monks in the morning, the Laotian regime changed the ban thanks to popular indignation. Today the government even supplies a daily ration to those monks who may not have benefited from public generosity and makes no objection to youngsters spending a spell as novice monks in Buddhist temples, the wats.
But taboos there are.
“One does not talk about the dead king or the monarchy, if you know what’s good for you,” said the manager of a guest house.
The last king, successor to a monarchy that dated back 650 years, was starved and worked to death in a labor camp together with his queen and the crown prince. The trio died mysteriously in 1977, two years after the Pathet Lao came to power.
Mention of the king may be taboo but not his royal palace in central Luang Prabang, now the major attraction for foreign tourists. For a mere four dollar entrance fee one can still admire the royal household and the portraits of the royal trio painted by a Soviet artist in 1967. Most Laotians don’t go anywhere near the palace after dark because popular belief has it the old king’s ghost still haunts the place.
Education is limited here to the basics of reading, writing and adding up two and two. It seems despite the urging of international organizations to improve the standards of national education the eight-member politburo feels the more ignorant people are the more easily they can be controlled and told what to believe and what not.
On the other hand there seems to be no law yet to prevent young Laotians with a smattering of English to browse the Internet for news and information at a plethora of Internet Cafes in urban parts of the country.
Pragmatic Laotian communism has been successful in other ways.
The politburo managed to split the militant Hmong hill tribe, once trained by the CIA as insurgents against the communists, into hostile Hmongs (who eventually fled the country) and friendly Hmongs (who are now represented in the communist hierarchy).
And it adopted the Great Credo borrowed from China, Burma and Vietnam next door: Let people make money by capitalist methods and let the party make money by trading off to foreign investors the country’s natural resources, a trade that has resulted in accusations of widespread corruption by party members in all three of these countries.
The economy runs on supply and demand. Right now the demand is good: One million tourists pour into this little country every year. Forty per cent of them visit this quaint French colonial city (the ancient royal capital here was burned down by Black Flag Haw rebels in 1887). The tourist boom has doubled some prices in just a year and created a new brand of up-market entrepreneurs flogging street market products as luxury products in their ‘exclusive’ boutiques. It has also created the motor scooter craze.
Until recently a Japanese scooter imported from next door Thailand cost 1,500 dollars. Then China exported to Laos its own brand of scooters for just 400 dollars. Now every toddler seems to be wobbling through town on a Chinese motor scooter. Yet the hire of scooters to foreign tourists is prohibited because ‘foreigners get drunk and injure people’ (while children driving motor scooters obviously do not).
And western NGOs and charity organizations are rapidly being replaced and phased out by Chinese investment companies.
Lao communism also has also imposed limits on carousing: Bars, restaurants and nightspots must close by 10.30 at night.
After that hour Laotians have three choices: Go to bed, watch European football or help increase the population of 5.2 million in Asia’s most sparsely-populated nation.
As in China communist control has not been successful - despite its boasts - in preventing come-backs by old evils. Drugs, including opium, can still be bought relatively easy in Laos and if caught the police levy a profitable fine of $500 US, so the story goes.
In a region where prostitution became rampant during the Vietnam War, the Laotian communist regime prided itself on having all but eliminated the scourge.
Yet strolling down Luang Prabang’s main Sisavangvong avenue one night this month (before the 10.30 closing time) a tuk-tuk driver sidled up and whispered:
“Want boom-boom Lao Lady?”
Ends….
By Uli Schmetzer
www.uli-schmetzer.com
LUANG PRABANG, LAOS, December, 2007 – Just four decades ago it was the world’s most bombed country per capita. Yet today Laos is Asia’s latest little tiger, a nation chasing the greenback with the thirst of the long parched and anxious to forget its past.
For nine years during the Vietnam War U.S. warplanes rained an average two million dollars worth of bombs on this landlocked country, accumulating a startling total drop volume of 2,093,100 tons of bombs worth 7.2 billion dollars to the American taxpayer.
One of every three Laotians became an internal refugee during that nine-year bombing spree. Even now one of these unexploded devices still blows up killing or maiming someone.
But no one talks about those dark days in a country where history seems to have begun with the communist takeover after the Vietnam War.
The bombing atrocity is ancient news. In fact news does not exist here unless it is issued by the official news broadcasts or printed in the official media by the all-controlling one-party regime of the Marxist-Leninist Pathet Lao. As for the bombing the only apparent sign of rancor against the U.S. is the fact Amex cards are not accepted in Laos though the American dollar is welcomed with open hands.
The Pathet Lao (like Pol Pot’s Maoist Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the Vietcong in Vietnam) came to power in 1975 thanks to America’s botched Vietnam War venture.
Today one could draw a parallel to Iraq where Muslim fundamentalists are likely to take over once the U.S. is forced to withdraw from another of its misguided military adventures.
History does repeat itself, one reason why it should be remembered and not erased from school text books or rewritten by ideology.
The official Pathet Lao newspapers do not reach this ancient royal city, so young people here point out with appropriately raised eyebrows. The news comes off the state television, one reason why the vast majority of the public ignores it in favor of the live satellite transmissions of European football matches.
Football – part of the ‘bread and games’ strategy practiced already by ancient Rome - obviously does not stimulate political thinking or foster rebellion.
The ‘bread’ part of this strategy is the acceptance by Lao communism of ‘People’s Capitalism’ i.e. free enterprise and private profiteering. This recipe was copied from the Chinese communists next door where it is called ‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics’ when it really means Socialism with Capitalist characteristics.
No one in Indochina denies these days China has been rapidly ‘colonizing’ the region through economic investments and exports. Last year alone Beijing invested 1.1 billion dollars in Laotian mining projects and hydroelectric dams. Thousands of Laotians had to be ‘transplanted’ to make space for the hydroelectric catchments. In the official press the transferees are quoted as praising the party for generously transferring them to modern accommodations.
Time flies fast in Asia. Just over ten years ago China was still a grateful recipient of global investments. Today the Middle Kingdom is Asia’s largest investor and money-lender.
With a seven per cent annual growth rate, solid credit from China and good prospects of additional tourism to come, Laotians are not about to rebel against inferior education, lack of democracy, censorship and no freedom of expression.
Nor are the Buddhist monks in Laos ready to protest as the monks did in neighboring Burma this summer. After initially banning the traditional begging for food by monks in the morning, the Laotian regime changed the ban thanks to popular indignation. Today the government even supplies a daily ration to those monks who may not have benefited from public generosity and makes no objection to youngsters spending a spell as novice monks in Buddhist temples, the wats.
But taboos there are.
“One does not talk about the dead king or the monarchy, if you know what’s good for you,” said the manager of a guest house.
The last king, successor to a monarchy that dated back 650 years, was starved and worked to death in a labor camp together with his queen and the crown prince. The trio died mysteriously in 1977, two years after the Pathet Lao came to power.
Mention of the king may be taboo but not his royal palace in central Luang Prabang, now the major attraction for foreign tourists. For a mere four dollar entrance fee one can still admire the royal household and the portraits of the royal trio painted by a Soviet artist in 1967. Most Laotians don’t go anywhere near the palace after dark because popular belief has it the old king’s ghost still haunts the place.
Education is limited here to the basics of reading, writing and adding up two and two. It seems despite the urging of international organizations to improve the standards of national education the eight-member politburo feels the more ignorant people are the more easily they can be controlled and told what to believe and what not.
On the other hand there seems to be no law yet to prevent young Laotians with a smattering of English to browse the Internet for news and information at a plethora of Internet Cafes in urban parts of the country.
Pragmatic Laotian communism has been successful in other ways.
The politburo managed to split the militant Hmong hill tribe, once trained by the CIA as insurgents against the communists, into hostile Hmongs (who eventually fled the country) and friendly Hmongs (who are now represented in the communist hierarchy).
And it adopted the Great Credo borrowed from China, Burma and Vietnam next door: Let people make money by capitalist methods and let the party make money by trading off to foreign investors the country’s natural resources, a trade that has resulted in accusations of widespread corruption by party members in all three of these countries.
The economy runs on supply and demand. Right now the demand is good: One million tourists pour into this little country every year. Forty per cent of them visit this quaint French colonial city (the ancient royal capital here was burned down by Black Flag Haw rebels in 1887). The tourist boom has doubled some prices in just a year and created a new brand of up-market entrepreneurs flogging street market products as luxury products in their ‘exclusive’ boutiques. It has also created the motor scooter craze.
Until recently a Japanese scooter imported from next door Thailand cost 1,500 dollars. Then China exported to Laos its own brand of scooters for just 400 dollars. Now every toddler seems to be wobbling through town on a Chinese motor scooter. Yet the hire of scooters to foreign tourists is prohibited because ‘foreigners get drunk and injure people’ (while children driving motor scooters obviously do not).
And western NGOs and charity organizations are rapidly being replaced and phased out by Chinese investment companies.
Lao communism also has also imposed limits on carousing: Bars, restaurants and nightspots must close by 10.30 at night.
After that hour Laotians have three choices: Go to bed, watch European football or help increase the population of 5.2 million in Asia’s most sparsely-populated nation.
As in China communist control has not been successful - despite its boasts - in preventing come-backs by old evils. Drugs, including opium, can still be bought relatively easy in Laos and if caught the police levy a profitable fine of $500 US, so the story goes.
In a region where prostitution became rampant during the Vietnam War, the Laotian communist regime prided itself on having all but eliminated the scourge.
Yet strolling down Luang Prabang’s main Sisavangvong avenue one night this month (before the 10.30 closing time) a tuk-tuk driver sidled up and whispered:
“Want boom-boom Lao Lady?”
Ends….
elsa. d
