2025 marked a significant milestone for Việt Nam, commemorating the 50th anniversary of national reunification and the 80th anniversary of Hồ Chí Minh’s Declaration of Independence. While these should have been moments of joyful celebration, they were instead marred by division, discrimination, and public shaming. Near the year’s end, the heated controversy surrounding the novel The Sorrow of War reignited a wave of denunciation.

These developments highlighted a year in which the propaganda apparatus operated at full strength. Revolutionary history was woven into divisive narratives of accusation and ideological hostility, ostensibly to polish the regime’s image.