In 1946, at the First National Cultural Conference, President Ho Chi Minh stated: "Culture illuminates the path for the nation." And 75 years later, at the 2021 National Cultural Conference, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong affirmed: "As long as culture exists, the nation exists." These profound declarations on culture by President Ho Chi Minh and later General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong affirm that culture is vital to a nation's survival. Without culture, or without valuing it, a nation will live in darkness and be unable to find its way to the great values of humanity, no matter how materially wealthy it may be.
Human history proves that culture is the path, and everything else— politics , economics, education, etc.—must follow that path. Before the formation of any state, culture creates a living space with humanistic values for people and guides their steps. The highest form of politics is one that embodies cultural beauty and humanism. It is a politics that brings freedom, democracy, love, justice, progress, and dedication to each individual.
I once gave an example that might seem humorous, but it has the potential to demonstrate the miraculous power of culture as a sacred force. A chicken living in a silver cage, eating diamond-studded millet, with gold-plated claws and spurs, will never become a human being with noble human qualities because it lacks the capacity to absorb cultural values. Meanwhile, a person, even living in the darkness of slavery, amidst the death and destruction of war and poverty, still carries the thoughts and dreams of a future filled with light. This is because that person contains within them the beauty of culture, and from that, they know how to dream and act for that beautiful dream. Culture instills in people self-respect, sharing, the ability to distinguish good from evil, and the capacity to sacrifice themselves and dedicate themselves to the community.
In his speeches and writings on the fight against corruption and on the character of Vietnamese people today, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has always directly or indirectly placed culture as the ultimate foundation for all thoughts and actions of individuals towards the people and the nation. Party officials who have succumbed to greed and indifference towards their fellow human beings are those who have strayed from the essence of culture. An economic collapse can be recovered in a generation, but the collapse of the cultural foundations of a nation's life may take several generations to recover. It only takes 10 seconds to throw a bag of trash from a car onto a public place, but it may take 100 years or more for someone to voluntarily pick it up and put it in a trash can. The formation of cultural behavior is a long process, and humanity has no shortcuts.
On the opening day of the 21st Vietnam Poetry Day, held in Ho Chi Minh City after several years of devastation caused by COVID-19, I stated that: The government and people of Ho Chi Minh City have been filling the empty streets, scarred by loss and suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the revival of life and economic recovery. But the emptiness in people's souls can only be filled by the beauty of culture. If the emptiness in people's hearts cannot be filled, nothing can help them reach true happiness.
From the 1960s to the present day, at every presidential inauguration, the White House has invited an American poet to read a poem. American intellectuals call these poems the second manifesto of America. The first manifesto is the declaration of America's constitution and legislation. The second manifesto, represented by the poets, is the manifesto of "American conscience." Only when a nation possesses conscience can it be a happy nation. And culture is the only thing that creates conscience. Nothing material can create the conscience of humanity.
Hundreds of years ago, the farmers of my village, Chua, inscribed on the village temple wall: "Poetry doesn't produce golden rice or white grain, but it creates dreams for the sower." Poetry here refers to culture. Only culture can give people beautiful dreams about their future. Without dreams, people have no action for good. Without dreams, people and their wealth will sink deep into darkness, unable to reach the light.
My fellow villagers in Chua village also say, "Without food, one cannot walk; without literacy, one cannot see the way." Literacy here refers to culture. Without culture, every nation in the world is nothing but blind people.
This year, we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the promulgation of the Cultural Outline. This commemoration is not to remember or glorify an event, but to affirm the truth of that event, to affirm the survival of the nation through its chosen path. The promulgation of the Cultural Outline was not an ordinary event; it was a choice of path for the entire nation during the years of enslavement, up to today, and forever into the future. The Cultural Outline has been vividly realized over the past 80 years and continues to create immense value for the nation.
And with each stage of the nation's history, the ideas of the Party's 1943 Outline on Culture have expanded, contributing to the enhancement of new cultural values for the Vietnamese people. The path of the Vietnamese nation to true happiness, like that of all other nations in the world, is the path of culture. And everything that walks that path will create the beauty and values of human life. Abandoning culture means abandoning the path of humanity. At that point, no matter how rich the world is in money, it will only be a "forest of wild beasts."
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