Five-Year-old Viet Protest Still Reverberates
Five-Year-old Viet Protest Still Reverberates
The Formosa Steel Protests and the Persecution of Political Activists
By: Stewart Rees
April 6 marks the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Formosa Steel environmental disaster, which was, and continues to be, a taboo subject in Vietnam. The disaster caused outrage, bringing protestors onto the streets across the country. Many influential activists involved in the protests would later be jailed as the government clamped down.
Recent years have seen an increase in repression against activists and critics of the regime. The disaster is unlikely to be commemorated in state media, while social media content is increasingly monitored and restricted. Formosa-related content may well be considered beyond the pale by online censors. The controversy exposed Vietnam’s struggle to balance the interests of economic growth with the health and well-being of its people and environment. It also exposed the way in which foreign investment, on which Vietnam’s recent economic boom relies, can often be exploitative.
The story began in early April 2016 when unusual amounts of dead fish began washing up on the beaches of north central Vietnam -- over a hundred tonnes, reported the central government in early May. For an area that relies on fishing, this was devastating. Locals suspected Formosa, a Taiwanese owned-steel plant based in Ky Anh, was to blame.
In one public relations nightmare at the end of April, a spokesman for Formosa told locals to either choose steel or choose fish “but we cannot have both.” Unsurprisingly, this did little to soothe public opinion…