On a November evening last year in Hanoi’s upscale Tay Ho district, the pop star turned dissident Mai Khoi was huddled in her modest apartment with her husband. No-one dared to go outside as plainclothes government agents had already tried to forcibly kick the couple out, hitting a visiting filmmaker in the process and breaking his microphone. They also knew well that Vietnamese political activists were prime targets for brutal, extrajudicial beatings by men everyone presumed worked for the security forces. Khoi discussed their options with her husband: should they flee the country? Make a stand and risk imprisonment on anti-state charges?
The provocation was petty: hours before, as US President Donald Trump’s motorcade passed near her house, Khoi had briefly unveiled a sign saying ‘peace on you, Trump’, with the first word crossed out and replaced with ‘piss’. It was over in a matter of minutes, and no-one in the crowd of spectators seemed to notice. But Vietnam’s secret police kicked into action soon after.
