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Front
Page > Issues > 2005>December
The U.S. war on Vietnam remains an immense tragedy that still
haunts many Americans. Thousand of veterans have made the journey
to Vietnam since the “American War,” as the Vietnamese call it,
ended 30 years ago, in search of some kind of healing and redemption.
Others have gone out of a sense of commitment to social justice
and hopes of reconstruction.
Natasha Beck, a Portland educator, activist and writer, made
the long trip to Vietnam last month. As a student in the ‘60s,
she was involved in the anti-war movement. In the ‘70s, she became
a member of the Women’s Union in Eugene, a socialist feminist
organization. As a teacher, she has taught ESL, or English as
Second Language, to Vietnamese students in high schools and colleges.
When she heard that Global Exchange was organizing a “Lessons
and Legacies of War” trip to Vietnam, headed by Linh, a member
of the Vietnam Women’s Union, she decided to go. She had felt
a deep shame for what the US had done to Vietnam, but also a hope
that Vietnam had been able to recover from the devastation of
war. She was not disappointed.
During her 15 days in Vietnam, she saw a country that had turned
around from the hell of war. “The country is moving forward and
rebuilding. The people were working tremendously hard,” she said.
There were new housing and factories built after the war. She
saw many women vendors in the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh
City, selling everything from TVs to vegetables and handicrafts.
She saw flowers and trees in bloom. Vietnam is once again a “beautiful
country.”
She was profoundly impressed by the social progress the Vietnam
Women’s Union has achieved. Founded in 1930 by the Communist Party,
its goals include increasing education for women, gender equality
and extending international relations and cooperation. It has
worked with GABRIELA, a group based in the Philippines, to end
prostitution and trafficking of women and children in the international
sex trade. The union provides sex workers with information on
HIV/AIDS prevention and loans to start small businesses. It helped
to implement the Safe Motherhood Project, which provides pre-
and post-natal care to women. It offers support and help with
finding jobs for mainly war widows through the “Single Women’s
Club.” Beck wrote in her journal, “What I’ll never forget is ...
the ovation I received when I told the Single Women’s Club, composed
mostly of war widows, that I was an anti-war widow: I knew what
it was like to lose a comrade and beloved spouse.”
The scars of the “American War” are still there. The U.S. had
bombed North Vietnam heavily, more than the South. Beck visited
a place called Friendship Village for victims of Agent Orange.
“Agent Orange gets into the DNA,” she said. She saw children,
who are the third- generation victims, with horrible deformities.
There were also older people suffering from neurological damage
caused by Agent Orange.
She met a U.S. veteran, Chuck Searcy, who visited Vietnam 10
years ago and ended up staying. He helped to start an anti-land
mine program funded by non-governmental organizations. Searcy
told her that many U.S. veterans have come to Vietnam with tremendous
feelings of guilt for what they did during the war. Many were
stunned by the forgiveness and compassion they encountered. When
they broke down crying, the Vietnamese tried to comfort them by
telling them that the war was not their fault; that they were
used as pawns by their imperialist government.
Beck thinks that the Vietnamese people have been able to move
forward because of deep convictions of forgiveness and compassion
based on their religion. Eighty percent of the people are Buddhist.
They expressed no hostility towards her or other Americans. “They
believe that if you remain angry, you will be bitter. Bitterness
leads to hatred, and hatred leads to war. They don’t want anymore
war,” she said.
Beck also believes that their socialist ideals have helped them
to express kindness and concern for each other, and to build a
positive vision for the future. Although the government is better
described as a state-run capitalist system, the goals are still
socialist. Beck toured a state-owned factory in Ho Chi Minh City,
where there have been no layoffs in 35 years. The workers, both
men and women, are provided with health insurance, free lunches
and living wages.
Her trip to Vietnam has convinced Beck that we can learn a lot
from the Vietnamese. “They are a very resilient people who understand
protracted struggle,” she said. They have survived “1,000 years
of Chinese feudalism, 100 years of French colonialism and 30 years
of American imperialism.” Yet they have endured. They remain fiercely
independent, and have succeeded to a great extent in overcoming
the bitterness and hardships of the past. Despite the millions
of people killed in the “American War,” and the ongoing scourge
of land mines, Agent Orange, and other horrors caused by the war,
they harbor no bitterness or despair.
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Volume 25 — Issue 12