One year after the failed Capitol riots, Vietnamese diaspora's right-wing sentiment has shown no sign of waning - it has grown only more with lesser democratic means

On January 6th, 2021, a shocking unrest broke out near the Capitol Hill. Encouraged by then-upcoming ousted President Donald Trump, who kept repeating the false claim about stolen elections, the crowd invaded the Capitol Hill, killing at least five people (including one policeman) with hope to u-turn the election. The insurrection failed, but this was a turning point - for many American lawmakers, it was a clear assault on the country's democratic system and thus, various groups like Proud Boys, QAnon and Oath Keepers have been listed as "domestic terrorists" - a really scornful term to describe people trying to remove democracy in the States.

The reactions was immediate - a complete shame for so many Vietnamese people abroad. A lot of Vietnamese scholars openly condemned the assault and accused the people of insulting Vietnamese freedom heritage flag and its culture. For some people, this assault was even more effective than any communist propaganda perpetuated - it ruined the life of so many Vietnamese forever and put the yellow flag as an symbol of racism and anti-democracy. The appearance of so many former South Vietnam veterans and its descendants of the Vietnam War had also mounted criticism.

Vietnamese Americans, as well as many Vietnamese diasporic people who retained loyalty to the fallen South Vietnam (residing mainly in North America, Western Europe and Oceania), differ greatly from the rest of other Asian communities - they are deeply pro-Trump and pro-Republican. This sentiment is  not rare - it traced back as far as the era of Ronald Reagan, who welcomed millions of Vietnamese to settle in the States after fleeing the communist repression. The Reaganist era eventually influenced the outcome - many Vietnamese remained in debt and their affiliation with the United States only grew stronger, regardless of which democratic Western European or Australian states they live.

The problem is, though, their affiliation to the United States has a dark condition - it must choose the Republican Party. The GOP, by far, is seen as deeply conservative and this suited the Vietnamese diaspora who fled Vietnam after the communist conquest of 1975. Such an undeclared affiliation to love America has haunted every Vietnamese people ever since and continued to play a role - ultimately dragged the Vietnamese diaspora to find itself in common with a wannabe President, Donald Trump. The 45th had done a lot to promote xenophobia, conspiracies, racism and enhancing suspicion, culminating into racial divisions. All of these nasty things did not deter these Vietnamese, including many renowned intellectuals, from abandoning support for Mr 45th. Hence the riots broke out.

Sadly, a year after the tragic assault, there has been no sign of improvement among the Vietnamese diaspora to acknowledge this issue and to solve the problem permanently. Instead, the flood of ultra-racism and right-wing sentiment has only accelerated among the Vietnamese population in this part of the world, including in the United States, where loyalty toward Trump has been sustained in many parts controlled by the Republicans. This leads to a final question: why does it continue to go that way, and how to combat it?

Lacking of public regret

The first thing to understand is the complete lack of comprehensive condemnation for the brutal assault into the American democratic symbol.

By the time the assault occurred, only 45 renowned Vietnamese American individuals had openly condemned the attack. No big Vietnamese American communities or advocate lobbies stood condemning the assault, justifying it as an act of rightful demonstration instead.

A group of former South Vietnam veterans from California calling for execution of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. They followed Trump's narratives of claiming these people as traitors.

This stupidity act has resulted in emboldening the violent nature and hateful sentiment coming from people that still believing in the hoax of the Trumpist regime and GOP supremacy, further escalated the tensions between conservative Vietnamese diaspora and the democratic activists. One of the most renowned pro-Trump propaganda mouthpiece of the Vietnamese Americans in Dallas even stated that the "Nancy Pelosi cult gang" as the enemy for trying to remove their hero Trump in power, as well as unleashing a massive anti-Democratic platforms. Henceforth, despite its clear and open involvement in the Trump coup, nothing has been achieved to concretely punish the perpetrators by the Vietnamese diaspora themselves.

This is why when we come to the Vietnamese diasporic narrative abroad, many of Trump's radical views are being copied and used by the Vietnamese people here to express its opinions.

Poor understanding of democracy

Despite waving the same yellow flags and frequently campaigned to be used by various Western nations as symbols of Vietnamese democratic struggle, ironically, only a few Vietnamese are actually able to understand what does democracy mean - and this proves to be a disaster.

The lack of understanding democracy is well explained by Duy Nhien Lam Binh, a Vietnamese journalist, as,

Vietnam cannot be called as having approached to democracy like that of Eastern Europe. South Vietnam was also short-lived and its democracy was too fragile during the war. Separation of powers and political enlightenment as well as universal human rights values of Vietnamese are still very limited when the communist regime is still brutally repressing dissents.

It is truly in line with what I told at first: their affiliation to the United States has a dark condition - it must choose the Republican Party. These diasporas do not have any other political affiliation left outside those who truly appear to serve their self-interests. The interests of the Vietnamese diasporas that allied with the fallen South Vietnam are, so far, mostly only for themselves and not for the popular ones, even if this stampedes the rights of the other people, be it Asians or Blacks. The Republican Party, by far, carries such a similar trait to these Vietnamese advocators - selfish and ignorant about overall changes. They continue to stress old claims, even incorporate lies as long as it could enforce their common goals. And they branded these lies as "democratic understanding". So by all mean, all of these stolen votes which are not founded, won't disappear as long as they are continuously propagated for generation.

Democracy requires a massive teamwork, not by just a single individual or an organisation only. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington did not build democracy for the States by themselves - they had to carefully consult everybody before making final decisions. Sadly, many Vietnamese appear to have no idea about it - in a quote: "Vietnamese Americans [and its brethren in Western Europe and Oceania] thought democracy is for granted, not by hardwork".

Hypocrisies about races

Vietnamese diasporas who live in the United States (as well as in Western Europe and Oceania) are also infamous for frequent display of racist words - and these issues are deeply embedded.

One of the darkest thing I learnt from Vietnamese Americans and even its fellows are the demonstration of skinness. The Vietnamese here did not regard themselves yellow race (a reference to Asian people), but rather they thought they belong to the white race, thus this helped understanding why Vietnamese diasporas in general have a grave anti-African sentiment. During the Trump coup d'état in January 2021, many Vietnamese waged the yellow flags alongside white supremacists and neo-Nazis. This had been widely condemned internationally, which had a humiliating effect on Vietnamese people.

South Vietnam flag was among flags being decoded for involving in Trump coup.

However, when anti-Asian sentiment rose under Joe Biden Administration, the Vietnamese were quick to realign itself with Trump, framing Biden for failure to condemn racism. At the same time, though, they did not share any voice of solidarity with the other Asian people, even though being victims themselves. In their board, races play a role - many Vietnamese diasporas there still think they are the white race, not Asians - and at the same time they want to advocate themselves a grandeur pan-Asian design.

It's note worth saying that Vietnamese Americans and many of its affiliate diasporas are frequent watchers of Fox News, which is renowned for being poor quality and allying with Trump. Fed with disinformation about their own prides, the Vietnamese immediately ignore their true values when living in countries that opened arms to them.

What does it mean for Vietnamese democratic campaigns?

In the end, these things really confine us to a shock - rather democracy, these Vietnamese people are actually looking to build a new Vietnamese autocracy that could carry the same amount of repression like the communist one. Again, I retake Duy Nguyen Lam Binh's takes,

Eventually, if the communist regime collapses, a Vietnam descended to violence can actually happen. If not, it will be just like Russia, a "Putinist democracy", in reality just a "dictatorship under democratic mask".

It will be harder to have the same peaceful democratic transition like Eastern Europe when the Berlin Wall collapsed.

And even harder when hatred and misinformation still rule the Vietnamese.

This coincided with what the renowned Pulitzer Prize winner, Vietnamese American write Viet Thanh Nguyen (author of The Sympathizer), addressed,

In America, white nationalists and Vietnamese nationalists share a common condition: a radicalized nostalgia for a lost country and a lost cause.

Unfortunately, the radicalized nostalgia of nationalists — mixed with resentment, the desire to avenge loss and the fantasy of attaining victory — has infected the entire body politic in the United States. The country has wavered between partially remembering the past and partially forgetting it, a half-measure that has made it vulnerable to its present schisms.

This represents a long-term harming trouble. By desiring revenge with placing the hatred, supremacy and fantasy at the first place, the Vietnamese Americans and its brothers, sisters abroad are now tasting the vengeful sentiment of those who can't stand the attack on democratic symbol. April 30th last year, which should be the day to commemorate the tragic fall of Saigon, no one wrote or reported about the story, and no commemoration was held. If it did, it was isolated and ignored, because of a flag that involved in a violent coup.

Or just in January 28th 2022, to be precise, in a soccer/football qualifying game to 2022 World Cup between Australia and Vietnam in Melbourne, Australian police had dispersed all Vietnamese supporters carrying the South Vietnam flags before the game started due to unknown reasons, although it was expected due to the involvement of the same flag in the Washington coup might have played a role. Australia is one of the United States' strong ally in Asia-Pacific.

Other Asian Americans have snubbed the Vietnamese since the failed Trump coup. Vietnamese Americans are frequently being isolated and contained in their own cages of disbelief. Their yellow flag has also been ignored internationally due to these reasons.

But instead of trying to repair the wrong things, the Vietnamese chose to even radicalise them more than beyond. With only a few exceptions of progressive fact-check Vietnamese media like PIVOT, more and more conservative voices emerged, with an even more call for similar attempts to takeover governments and to build autocratic states within the democratic banner. By understanding, to fight communism, these communities have decided to endorse fascism.

This has to be the deadliest mistake ever since the insurrection at the Capitol Hill. Doing so has only discouraged more and more people from cheering the victims who fled communist tyranny. The people of refugee descent must understand that communist regimes in Eastern Europe fell because they had no popularity and, moreover, these people were deeply educated with democratic values. These democratic and human rights values are still not taught among Vietnamese diasporic schools, even when it comes to some of the most democratic states - a damning problem that will continue to affect the society. Xenophobia, hypocrisies, supremacism and disregard of human rights values have remained intact by many Vietnamese people there despite their no better personal experiences since the Trump regime.

If you can't understand what does democracy represent you, then how can you even understand the values of your struggle? Unfortunately, after the Capitol unrest, nothing has changed, or may have changed... for the worst. And we have to condom ourselves a question: when will Vietnamese Americans (and its fellows in Western Europe and Oceania) ever appreciate the true meaning of democracy?