Inner War: Battle for the Masses

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363-07276.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-07276

Title

Inner War: Battle for the Masses

Description

Second of a series of two articles on South Vietnam's attempts conflict with politically active Buddhist priests, for the New York Herald Tribune

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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.

Transcript

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Inner War: Battle for the Masses
Chief among the subversive elements in South Viet Nam is the movement led by Buddhist
priests. These militants oppose any government in Saigon that is anti-Communist and U. S
backed. This second of two articles examines the movement's organization and assesses its strength.
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
The Communist-oriented militant Buddhist movement
is in a warming-up phase of a campaign to overturn the
government of Premier Tran Van Huong. Its potential
power over the masses has yet to be tested.
A sudden ipflop in Buddhist tactles in December pro-
duced the illusion that the militant Buddhists had lost the
masses-the thing they wanted most.
Some politieal analysts in Saigon have been saying
that the Buddhist movement has not been able to capture
the popular support it mustered to spark the overthrow
of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime in November, 1963. Certainly
the street demonstration yesterday-which came after a
day of anti-government speeches by Buddhist monks-was
weak as anti-government protesta go.
A more realistic appraisal of the situation is that the
Buddhist leaders just haven't yet lasued an all-out appeal
for public backing.
According to this line of reasoning, the Buddhist move-
ment spearheaed the initial stages of the anti-Diem coup
through hunger strikes, demonstrations and spectacular
suleide burnings of Buddhist monks and one Buddhist nun,
The second stage was led by the students, politicians,
Intellectuals. In the final stage, the armed forces violently
overthrew and assaminated Diem.
In the year following, however, the opposition more-
ments against Gen. Nguyen Khanh in August and against
Tran Van Huong until mid-December-were spearheaded
by the students, schoolboys and politicians. The Buddhists
were supporting element in the rear.
On Dec. 12, however, the Buddhists reverted to the
"tactics used used sucessfully, under President Diem.
Launching a series of hunger strikes in protest against
the tuong government, the militant Buddhist leaders
again decided to apearhead the oppositionist attack. During
the past year, the Buddhists have offelally and loudly
denied any direct, immediate link with the oppositionist
movement-though they had been consistently implicated..
Now, as in the struggle against President Diem, the Bud-
dhist clergy have actively entered into the political arena.
In their faht for alleged religious freedom against
the Diem regime, the Buddhists paved the way for
sweeping political disident movement in the urban cen-
ters which included non-Buddhist elements, Intellectuals,
students, political party oppositionists-and even some
Catholics
It is argued that the Buddhist militants now have
Jost this, wide range of support. But from the Buddhist
point of view, many of these elements have been willingly
sacrificed to attract ether factions.
The Buddhist movement appears to have lost the sup
port of their strongly anu-Communist elements-such as
the refugee Buddhist laity who have escaped from North
Viet Nam and the Buddhist laity of the economically con-
servative class. While the Buddhist militants regularly
announce anti-Communies communiques for foreign con-
sumption they transmit pro-neutralist communiques for
internal Vietnamese consumption.
While losting some of the conservative anti-Communist
rank-and-fle, militant Buddhist leaders have continped to
atrengthen both their vertical organizations, reaching from
the national level to the villages and their horlaontal
organization, touching persons in all walks of life..
The Buddhist wives of even the strongest pro-Huong
generals continually nag their husbands to be more mod-
erate with the Buddhists, and to oppose the Premier. The
Buddhista claim to have at least 2,000 Armed Forces
omcers who are prepared to side with them instead of
with the government in a showdown
Similarly, Buddhist chaplains now serving with each
branch of the Armed Forces and three-man Buddhist com-
mittees de facto political cells-within each company of
the Army has drawn the military more and more into the
Buddhist's emotional dragnet.
A recent Buddhist communique to Vietnamese readers
boasted of having 70 per cent of the pollee force on their
side in the event of a showdown with the government.
The Buddhists have strengthened considerably their
vertical organization running from the Balgon headquarters
to the regional, provincial and yillage offices. In 1963, for
example, the Buddhist movement operated in its central
Viet Nam stronghold area much like a secret society. To-
day, however, it is conceded that the militant Buddhist
wing is strong enough in terms of organization and mas
support "to do anything it wishes up there."
The vertical organization of the Buddhist movement
appears to copy that of the Saigon government; the hori-
zontal organization appears to copy that of the Communist-
led National Front for the Liberation of South Viet Nam.
Much as thiet Cong political organization has
created Youth Leagues and Peasant Associations, the Bud-
dhist movement, with headquarters In Balgon, has estab-
lished a Buddhist Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, associations
for trade union workers, students-and even disabled war
veterans.
In addition, it has formed alliances with the political
parties, many of whom are attempting to hitch onto the
Buddhist support, and with other religious groups-in-
cluding factions of the Catholics, now badly disunited.
International, at Buddhist conferences, Viet Nam's Bod-
dhist movement has open relations with those neutrallst
and Communtat countries the anti-Communiit Saigon
government refuses to recognise.
To capture the support of the masses, the militant
Buddhists are paralleling the Viet Cong's fight for the same
masses. But while Balgon in recent days has seen some re-
sults of the Buddhists' campaign against the anti-Com-
munist government of Huong-there has not been a rumor,
a whisper, a shred of evidence that the Buddhists are at
odds with the Viet Cong in their struggle for mass support

Date

1965, Jan. 5

Subject

Vietnam (Republic), 1961-1975; Buddhism and politics; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Religious aspects--Buddhism; Vietnam (Republic)--Politics and government; Buddhist monks

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Container

B186

Format

newspaper clippings

Collection Number

MS 363

Collection Title

Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers

Creator

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Collector

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Copyright Information

These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.

Publisher

Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Language

English