We promise one another .
/ Don Luce ... introduced ...
P o e m s f r o m P r i s o n
In temporary set bach , those who mend the sky
Do not let minor things get them down
( PHAN CHU TRINH )
Most of Việtnam 's greatest heroes have spent time in prison and there is an impressive tradition of prison poetry in Việtnam . Phan Chu Trinh , a leader of the anti-colonial struggles at the turn of the century , spent time on the prison island of Côn Sơn . Phan Bội Châu , another leader of the resistance to the French policy in Indochina , was imprisoned in Kwang tung , China . Both wrotes articles and poems while behind prison walls . Hồ Chí Minh was a prisoner of Chiang Kai-Shek's police in China in August , 1942 to September, 1943 , a and wrote poems while he was in captivity .
Today many of the 100,000 political prisonners in the jails of South Việtnam compose poems and songs to help pass the time and to keep themselves from going mad . Since they are afraid to write them down , many prisoners carefully memorize long poems , and then commit them to paper if they released .
The Thiệu regime uses many of the prisons built by the French colonialists to repress those who oppose its policies . From all reports officials of the Thiệu regime treat their prisoners as inhumanely as the French authorities treated theirs in colonial days . Prisoners are shackled for months , and many become paralyzed . They suffer from chronic dysentery and other stomach disorders . Beatings and torture are common . Former prisoners have described water torture , the use of electrodes on sensitives parts of the body , and other tortures , The laws of South Việtnam make it possible for a prisoner to be arrested and held for up to two years without trial , which is renewable , jail and never be tried .
One of the most feared of all South Vietnam's prisons is on Côn Sơn Island . It is located in the South China Sea , approximately 140 miles southeast of Saigon . The prison was established in 1862 by the French . Although Hồ Chí Minh was never imprisoned there , it was also called
' University of Hồ Chí Minh ' because so many of its ' graduates ' changed from a strong anti-communist position when they entered to joining the Việt Minh upon their release . Now it is the Government of the Republic of South Việtnam ' s largest civilian prison , having 9,916 prisoners as of June , 1970 , according to the U.S. Public Safety Director in Việtnam .
In June , 1970 , Don Luce escorted Congressman Augustus Hawkins of the Los Angeles Watts area , Congressman William Anderson of Tennessee and Thomas Harkin , a congressional aide , to the prison on Côn Sơn . Frank E. Walton , Director of the U.S. Public Safety program in Việtnam , and Colonel Nguyễn Văn Vệ , Chief Warden of Côn Sơn Prison , accompanied them and were responsible for showing them around . At the beginning of the trip Mr. Walton said , ' This ( place ) is like a Boy Scout Recreational Camp ' . Both he and Colonel Vệ wanted the visitors to spend a lot of their time in the prisoner souvenir shop . When Mr. Harkin showed Colonel Vệ a list of prisons they would like to see , he became angry and said that is was not possible to see indivual prisons , without special permission from the Ministry of Interior .
Finally , however , with the help of a map given to him by a former prisoner , Don Luce was able to locate the tiger cages . He saw a path between two walls which had some vegetables growing along it and remembered that this was where a former prisoner said there was a door leading into the tiger cages . Before Colonel Vệ could stop them , the Congressman . , Don Luce and Thomas Harkin , punded on the door which was opened by a confused guard . They went into the area of the tiger cages .
What they saw was later well published in newspaers around the world . The prisoners showed scars where they had been shackled to an iron bar at the base of their small cells . Many of them were paralized from the waist down and could not stand . Don Luce spoke to them in Vietnamese and they complained of being beaten , of not having enough to eat , and of having lime thrown on them when they talked . The lime stung their eyes and was causing blindness in some.
After the existence of the tiger cages was made public , the American Mission and the Thiệu Government announced that steps were being taken to improve the conditions at Côn Sơn . Later , because , it was disclosed that the American construction company of Raymond , Morisson , Knutson- Brown , Root and Jones was building new ' isolation cells ' under a contract with the U.S. Government . These new cells are costing the American taxpayers $ 400,000 .
[]
( Don Luce 's note )
B r e a k i n g R o c k s o n C ô n S ơ n
By P H A N C H U T R I N H
Phan Chu Trinh was a key figure in Vietnamese anti-colonial struggles at the
turn of the century . He attempted to liberate Vietnamese from the feudalism
of the Mandarin system and perpare the way for a new nationalism . Heavily
influenced by European Enlightenment thinking , he argued against a violent
confrontation with France and was hopeful that an acceptable agreement could be
worked out with France without bloodshed . Nevertheless , he was accused of
inciting rebellion and sent to the prison island of Côn Sơn in 1908 , where he
remained until 1911 . Although due to his notoriety he received some special
privileges while at Côn Sơn , he had to break rocks for building roads with
all the other prisoners . He also supposedly ruffled French authorities
by refusing to talk to the French prison director unless he was invited to sit down .*
[]
( DON LUCE ' s not e ) .
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* Information on Phan Chu Trinh was taken from ' Vietnamese Anti- Colonialism ' ,
by David C. Marr , University of California Press , Berkeley , Calif., 1971 .
As a man standing upright on Côn Sơn
I can being mountains crashing down in pieces .
With my hammer I shatter heap after heap ,
All my strength producing hundreds more stones ,
Day in , day out I make light of my exhausted body ,
In rain or shime my heart never fails .
In temporary setback , those who mend the sky
Do not let minor things get them down !
( poem by PHAN CHU TRINH )
P o em s b y H ồ C h í M i n h
TUNG CHUN PRISON
Tung Chin prison , Ping Ma prison : the same thing .
Rice thin in tiny bowls , the stomach shrinks ,
But at least there 's water and light
And twice a day they open the bars and let the air in .
ON THE WAY TO NANNING
The supple rope has now been replaced with iron fetters ,
At every step they jingle like jade rings .
Though a prisoner , accused of being a spy ,
I move with all the dignity of an ancient government official .
PASTORAL SCENE
When I came the rice was pale green .
Now it 's cut in the barns ..
Peasants laugh
I hear them , here , across the rice fields .
( poem by HỒ CHÍ MINH )
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( from WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER / poems
from an Asian war - Don Luce , John C. Schafer
& Jacquelyn Chagnon selected, translated -
Published by The Indochina Mobile Education
Project , Washington , D. C. 1971 -
p. 94 - 98 ).
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