Sinister Cultural Marxist
2nd February 2011, 19:53
As a college grad with a BA out of work, I was looking to do TEFL for a while (though its improbable in the short term, esp if i go to grad school). Apparently the Lao PDR is on the list of countries you can go to. While remote and poor, it's somewhat stable, and thinly populated in much of the country. And its culture from what i have heard sounds welcoming; a friend who went to Laos, Cambodia and to Vietnam told me that the people in Laos were the friendliest and outgoing he met in South Asia.
I am interested in South Asian culture in general including the philosophies of the buddhist religion. I am also interested in how its government views "Socialism" within its borders, and wanted to see how a country which had implemented a Leninist model works (and how it is keeping up with the "modern world"). So a country which seems to have tried to combine Marxism with Buddhist ideas seems like an interesting place to go.
However, I also know that the government isn't perfect either-the Lao and the American-backed Hmong fought a brutal jungle war that has left many Hmong (basically just tribal farmers in the mountains) embittered. Obviously, there were atrocities on both sides, but it seems the Hmong are still angry at how they were treated. And I don't know really how democratic it is either, or how unbiased and uncorrupted its law enforcement is. I have read some worrying articles, like about large casinos for Chinese "new rich" going up near the border with China that are cash cows for the local government but naturally encourage various social ills in their general vicinity.
I also know that the government is betting on big state-owned hydropower projects to boost the economy and provide foreign currency. On one hand, providing foreign currency to speed up development, health care and education without pumping much co2 into the atmosphere sounds appealing, but if Laos is like its neighbors then building dams might be a negative process for many citizens or the environment (considering the Chinese and Vietnamese bureaucracy's nasty ability to pilfer the money meant to rehouse the environmental refugees and overlook serious ecological concerns). One friend also mentioned religious oppression, I am guessing to buddhists/christians who don't "fit in" with the government sangha/church.
It sounds like an interesting place, and a beautiful culture. But I know it also has some skeletons in its closet.
Who knows more about it, specifically its
(1) economy and potential for economic, esp its expansion into hydropower
(2) education and health care
(3) status of social discrimination, esp towards GLBT, religious minorities, ethnic minorities etc
(4) where it is heading, ie is it getting less repressive, is it "state capitalist" or "market socialist", is it finding its own path like Cuba?
(5) Would this actually be a nice place to stay/teach for a little while? Keep in mind, I lived in India for a while, so I know something about dealing with that kind of environment.
I am interested in South Asian culture in general including the philosophies of the buddhist religion. I am also interested in how its government views "Socialism" within its borders, and wanted to see how a country which had implemented a Leninist model works (and how it is keeping up with the "modern world"). So a country which seems to have tried to combine Marxism with Buddhist ideas seems like an interesting place to go.
However, I also know that the government isn't perfect either-the Lao and the American-backed Hmong fought a brutal jungle war that has left many Hmong (basically just tribal farmers in the mountains) embittered. Obviously, there were atrocities on both sides, but it seems the Hmong are still angry at how they were treated. And I don't know really how democratic it is either, or how unbiased and uncorrupted its law enforcement is. I have read some worrying articles, like about large casinos for Chinese "new rich" going up near the border with China that are cash cows for the local government but naturally encourage various social ills in their general vicinity.
I also know that the government is betting on big state-owned hydropower projects to boost the economy and provide foreign currency. On one hand, providing foreign currency to speed up development, health care and education without pumping much co2 into the atmosphere sounds appealing, but if Laos is like its neighbors then building dams might be a negative process for many citizens or the environment (considering the Chinese and Vietnamese bureaucracy's nasty ability to pilfer the money meant to rehouse the environmental refugees and overlook serious ecological concerns). One friend also mentioned religious oppression, I am guessing to buddhists/christians who don't "fit in" with the government sangha/church.
It sounds like an interesting place, and a beautiful culture. But I know it also has some skeletons in its closet.
Who knows more about it, specifically its
(1) economy and potential for economic, esp its expansion into hydropower
(2) education and health care
(3) status of social discrimination, esp towards GLBT, religious minorities, ethnic minorities etc
(4) where it is heading, ie is it getting less repressive, is it "state capitalist" or "market socialist", is it finding its own path like Cuba?
(5) Would this actually be a nice place to stay/teach for a little while? Keep in mind, I lived in India for a while, so I know something about dealing with that kind of environment.