Cover image of the book "Writers & the Times" by author Nguyen Khac Phe

Fourteen years after the first issue of the "Youth" newspaper was published, I was born, and it took another 20 years before I wrote my first article. That was in 1959. At that time, like many young journalists, I knew nothing about the weekly newspaper "Youth," but the main ideology of this first revolutionary newspaper was continuously carried on through subsequent newspapers such as: Cuu Quoc, Co Giai Phong, Nhan Dan..., and from there, it spread to all levels of the population.

My first article passionately expressed the fighting spirit for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland that the "Youth" movement had initiated. It was a record titled "Pioneering Fighters," published in the "Literature" newspaper (the predecessor of the current "Arts and Literature" newspaper). Among those people was Nguyen Cong Thanh, a classmate. Thanh had worked in the road-opening army during the anti-French resistance, so he was granted early graduation and assigned to Vo Bam's army, "breaking through the lines" to cross the upstream of the Ben Hai River into the South...

Sixty-six years have passed! I can't remember or count how many articles I've written over the past half-century. Due to my "destiny" being closely associated with the roads where history "crossed paths" for 15 years (1959-1974), many articles from that period, and even today, I've written about the typical stories, heroic examples, and countless sacrifices of a large army that played a crucial role in the struggle for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland. These articles were published in publications of the former Binh Tri Thien province and present-day Hue , as well as many other local and national newspapers.

After the country achieved peace and reunification, with the same revolutionary spirit that the "Youth" weekly newspaper had ignited, the national press system steadfastly continued and developed to meet the diverse demands of the new era. I had the opportunity to expand my "battlefield," especially since being transferred to work as a professional editor for literary magazines. That was 42 years ago! After 24 years (1959-1983) of amateur journalism, in June 1983, when I was appointed as "Deputy" to poet Nguyen Khoa Diem in establishing the Song Huong magazine, I became a "official" journalist.

It was thanks to the articles continuing the revolutionary tradition of the "Youth" Weekly in 1925 that a writer from a remote province caught the attention of the Central Committee of the Youth Union. I mention this "amateur" journalism to "acknowledge" the contributions of the collaborators, who were a reliable support and a factor in enhancing the prestige of the newspapers... This is also a "lesson" I "learned" while working at the Song Huong Magazine. During this period, the war had ended, but the "battlefield" against the new "enemy" in peacetime, whether openly or disguised, was often more complex and difficult than before. That enemy was corruption, waste, and bureaucracy, which President Ho Chi Minh specifically named in an article from 1952. He emphasized: "It is a rather dangerous enemy. Because it does not carry swords or guns, but it lies within our organizations, to sabotage our work..."

On this new "battlefield," I, like many other journalists, enthusiastically participated. Here are the titles of some articles I wrote on this front, published in the anthology of political essays "Writers & Current Events" (Vietnam Writers Association Publishing House, 2013): Land encroachment cannot be considered a form of ordinary corruption; When moral and lifestyle degradation manifests itself in numbers; Corruption and cultural decay; Resignation or trial: Not enough; For the "Total Offensive" against corrupt elements to succeed...

In this series of articles, the piece "What to do to stop barbaric capitalism?" was published in the Literature and Arts Newspaper on November 1, 2008 (in the "Writer's Voice" section) and broadcast on the Voice of Vietnam radio station as an editorial, which is how General Dong Si Nguyen heard it. He called me and said, in essence: "I welcome your article... If any force exerts pressure, we will speak out in support of you..." It was surprising and touching, because to me, he was a "distant superior" from my time in Truong Son, and I rarely had the opportunity to meet him.

I'm sharing some memories to further emphasize the necessity and importance of journalists' voices in the fight against "parasites." The new "battleground" where I and many other journalists are fighting is the struggle to protect the nation's cultural heritage and traditions, and to prevent acts of environmental destruction… My essay “The Guardians of the Bac Hai Van Forest” was awarded the A Prize by the Thua Thien Hue Journalists Association in 2001, and my political commentary “When the Balance of Nature is Violated” won the Hai Trieu Journalism Prize in 2021. I submitted this article when I was over eighty to see if my pen had become dull, and whether the topic of the ecological environment would receive attention.

We are familiar with the proverb "A knife must be sharpened to be sharp," and we can also say "A pen must be written to avoid rust." Hopefully, our journalists will produce more journalistic works like this, proving themselves worthy successors to the fine traditions of the "Youth" Weekly...

Nguyen Khac Phe

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-polit-xa-hoi/dao-phai-mai-but-phai-viet-154735.html