Cooperative housing, Hanoi

This was the view from my balcony. It is fairly typical of the old cooperative housing blocks. Even before they were privatised, people built cages outside their windows to give a little extra space. Now these cages have often turned into half a room. Inside they can be quite pleasant, if somewhat cramped - at least nowadays there's usually only one family. But the cooperatively owned parts of the buildings are usually dank and run down. The stairwells, for example, rarely even have a light bulb. When I asked a colleague of mine who lives in one of these buildings why they don't even replace the light bulbs, she replied that the bulbs would just be stolen for people's own apartments. Nobody is willing to pay for a coat of paint, etc. However, I have seen people on the roofs keeping the gutters clear of debris. Apparently they do want to keep the water out!

I think this tells something about the individualism that has run rampant in the wake of communism. Cooperative organisations have lost the trust of the population to a massive extent and people won't pay to support them. I guess trust in such organisations will come back in time, when people start to become affluent enough that stealing a light bulb doesn't seem worth the effort, or when the buildings start falling down around their ears... But by that time they will come about by demand, not imposed from the top.