US embassy cable - 03HOCHIMINHCITY153

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000153 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV, IO/UNP, R, PA/OA 
 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PINS, PINR, PHUM, PREL, OPRC, MOPS, VM, IZ 
SUBJECT: FATHERLAND FRONT HOLDS PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION AGAINST 
IRAQ WAR 
 
1.  Summary.  On February 19 the Fatherland Front of Vietnam (FFV)- 
-the umbrella organization for Communist Party mass organizations 
in Vietnam--coordinated a peaceful and orderly demonstration 
inside the Friendship Association House across the street from 
ConGen to show opposition to a war with Iraq.  The meeting lasted 
exactly two hours, was attended by mostly middle-aged party 
members, and was orderly and quiet.  The event, which was reported 
in the press, was a carefully controlled expression designed to 
show public support for the current position of the Communist 
Party of Vietnam.  End summary. 
 
2. Approximately 500 Vietnamese were assembled in GVN official 
vehicles and brought to the Friendship Association House on Le 
Duan street, across from ConGen, at 7:00 am.  Both uniformed and 
plain clothes police were present.  The rally began with a series 
of brief speeches and concluded with the last speaker leading the 
audience in repeating the phrases: "Oppose the war in Iraq," 
"Support a stable peace in the Middle East," and "Solidarity and 
friendship between the Vietnamese and Iraqi people."  The room 
contained several banners with the same messages, as well as "The 
U.S.-British coalition should not cause war against the Iraqi 
people." 
 
3.  The rally was organized under the FFV by the Youth 
Association, but participants came from across the spectrum of 
mass organizations in Ho Chi Minh City, including labor and 
religious organizations.  The Youth Association reportedly held 
its own rally in HCMC the evening of February 18, where they 
collected over 1000 signatures on a banner they plan to send to 
the U.S. Ambassador in Hanoi.  The February 19 event was filmed by 
the national television station and reported in the press.  There 
were also press reports about the February 18 Youth Association 
rally. 
 
4.  Poloff and RSO spoke with some of the protesters after the 
meeting had adjourned promptly at 9:00 am.  All said that they had 
been invited by the FFV on February 18.  The presidents of two of 
the mosques in Ho Chi Minh City added that they had no ill 
feelings towards American citizens, the USG, or the ConGen, but 
that they had sympathy with the Iraqi people as victims of a war 
led by the USG, and that they believed the USG and the U.K. should 
use their power to create peace, not war.  The Buddhist monk 
speaking at the rally also said that the USG should not act on its 
own but work with the Security Council to ensure that Iraq 
satisfies the conditions in UNSC Resolution 1441.  (Note:  None of 
them raised economic concerns, although under the oil for food 
program  Iraq was the biggest importer of Vietnamese rice in 2002, 
buying 871,800 metric tons, or about 27 percent of Vietnam's total 
rice exports.  End Note.) 
 
5.  Comment.  The Fatherland Front periodically orchestrates 
meetings of this kind to publicly reflect the views of the 
Communist Party. It is therefore interesting to note that the 
whole event was done on a small scale and in a quiet and orderly 
fashion.  There was also a relatively large representation from Ho 
Chi Minh City's normally apolitical Muslim community: there are 
only 5,000 Muslims in Ho Chi Minh City's population of roughly 7 
million, the 25 Muslims in attendance represented 5 percent of the 
crowd at the rally.  End Comment. 
YAMAUCHI