Preventing and combating illegal acts on firecrackers: Synchronicity and effectiveness in propaganda

– Over the past time, the fight against illegal acts on firecrackers has been drastically involved and implemented by all levels, sectors and forces, contributing to preventing trading, transporting and storing activities and use of firecrackers in the area. In which, it is impossible not to mention the effectiveness in propaganda work.

As an youth union that gathers youth union members, for many years, youth unions at all levels throughout the province have become a pioneering unit on propaganda about prevention and control of social evils in general, prevention and fight against illegal acts on firecrackers in particular among young people. Mrs. Dinh Thi Anh Thu, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Youth Union, said that youth union members are at high risk of violations, therefore, every year, the Provincial Youth Union distributes leaflets and posters with content on prevention and fight against firecrackers to 100% grassroots youth organizations; 100% of youth unions at all levels organized for youth union members to sign a commitment not to illegally trade, transport, store or use firecrackers of all kinds.

In order to promote the pioneering spirit among the youth of the whole province, up to now, all levels of youth unions in the province have established 226 pioneering youth  teams with 1,130 youth union members participating. The pioneering youth teams regularly coordinate with functional forces at the grassroots to participate in patrols and prevention, especially on peak occasions before, during and after the Lunar New Year, festivals and the Pure Brightness Festival.

Tan My Commune Police propagated firecracker prevention and control to students of Tan My Secondary School, Van Lang district (photo taken in December 2020)

Over the past time, despite being affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, departments, agencies, mass organizations and Steering Committees for firecracker prevention and fighting at all levels have focused on directing the renewal of forms, measures and contents to propagandize to cadres, workers, pupils and students, all classes of people to grasp and implement regulations on preventing and fighting against illegal acts on firecrackers, new methods and tricks of criminal activities.

Notably, in visual propaganda, in the first six months of 2021, Departments: Culture, Sports and Tourism; Education and Training have directed affiliated units and schools throughout the province to hang 700 banners with the content “It is strictly forbidden to illegally manufacture, buy, sell, transport, store and use firecrackers, in association with the management of weapons, explosives, support tools”; print, install over 50 m2 of panels, paste and distribute 22,600 posters and leaflets. Along with that, the education sector continues to maintain, exploit and promote the positivity of the “What I want to say” mailbox to report violations of firecrackers inside and outside the school at schools.

Mrs. Be Thi Thu Hien, Principal of Tan My Secondary School, Van Lang district said that as a border commune, the potential risk of students’ violations related to firecracker prevention and combat is very high. Therefore, in order to propagate and educate students about the law, in the 2020-2021 school year, the school coordinated with Tan Thanh Border Guard Post and Tan My Commune Police to propagate on preventing and fighting against firecrackers and explosions before the Lunar New Year 2021, propagating about the border line and landmarks and anti-trafficking in children and women. Thereby, it helps officials, teachers and students improve their awareness and understanding of the law. As a result, in the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year, the school did not have the phenomenon of officials, teachers and students violating the law.

In order to deeply and broadly propagate to all classes of people, the firecracker prevention and fighting committees of districts and the city have directed the authorities of communes, wards and townships and functional forces to promote propaganda. In the first six months of 2021, the People’s Committees of communes, wards and townships organized for 189,322 families, 53,058 turns of students, 53,178 officials and public employees, 1,067 business households and 39 industrial explosives business establishments to sign a commitment to abide by regulations on firecracker prevention and fighting, the management of weapons, explosives and support tools associated with fire prevention and fighting, and to ensure traffic safety and order and public order. Along with that, the police of communes, wards and townships have reviewed and made a list of subjects at high risk of burning firecrackers, conducting calls to ask, deter and specially educate  227 cases of teenagers, subjects with criminal record, required commitment not to violate and so on.

Mrs. Hoang Thi Hon, Cao Lau commune, Cao Loc district said that her family has two sons who are studying in secondary school and high school. Because of being propagated by commune officials, the family has understood and signed a commitment not to violate on firecrackers as well as other social evils. Her children also signed a commitment at school and strictly followed the rules, so there have been no unfortunate violations.

Efforts in the propaganda and struggle work of functional forces have contributed to curbing the violation of the law on firecrackers. In the first six months of 2021, the provincial functional forces detected and arrested 43 cases, 42 subjects, collected 2.8 tons of Chinese-made firecrackers, a decrease of 25 cases, a decrease of 673 kg of firecrackers compared to the same period of 2020. This result shows the province’s effectiveness of firecracker prevention and combat, determination not to let Lang Son become a complex key route and area for illegally trading and transporting firecrackers from the border to the inland.