Happy Viet Nam
By Frank Joyce
Maybe it’s one of those, “you have to be there” things. But there is a palpable difference between a society in which people are proud and cheerful and one in which joy is a form of resistance. It’s a contrast I see between the U.S. and Viet Nam.
For the most part our Movement—however we define it—reflects the isolationism of the larger society. For some reason I’m a deviant insofar as I realized long ago that we have a lot to learn from how others do things. In my case that has included the Vietnamese. As an antiwar activist back in the day, I had the good fortune to interact with the Vietnamese on many occasions. I first visited northern Vietnam during the war in the Spring of 1970. I have returned four times since.
With every encounter I learn things that I think are valuable. We often speak of decolonizing. Which is exactly what Viet Nam has been doing since 1975. What a remarkable process it continues to be. Viet Nam is focused on a better future for its people and for the world. What is very different from the obsession of US Americans with the past and the well-being of only some members of the population.
Recently I attended what’s become an annual meeting in New York with Vietnamese leaders and U.S. friends around the meeting of the U.N General Assembly. This year the delegation was headed by H.E, Mr. To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party and the President of Viet Nam. I was honored to receive an award for my friendship with the Vietnamese.
There was also a concert that evening. It featured the debut of a new film commemorating the history of Vietnamese Cinema and the Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra performing both traditional Vietnamese and western music. And a major policy speech by Mr. To Lam.
His remarks covered a lot of territory, including updates on major political reforms underway in Viet Nam and their ambitious goals for improving the quality of life for Vietnamese people. Some targets are set for 2030 and others for 2045. What was also striking was the emphasis in his remarks on the wellbeing of the large Vietnamese diaspora in the U.S.
Without him explicitly saying so, it was a passionate pledge to continue, among other things, to protect them from ICE. Which so far has been successful.
~~~~
Following is the text of remarks I was asked to deliver at the meeting.
Thank you and what an honor to be asked to speak today.
Not far from here is the iconic Riverside Church. Next year will be the 60th Anniversary of the speech titled Beyond Vietnam delivered there by Rev. Martin Luther King on April 4, 1967. Drafted in collaboration with Rev. Vincent Harding, it was received by an overflow crowd.
The speech was a breakthrough in mobilizing ordinary people to oppose the war then being waged on Viet Nam. Many of us believe that the intense hostility expressed by the establishment to that speech contributed greatly to Rev. King’s assassination one year later to the day.
My suggestion is that during 2027 the anniversary of that speech become a focus of commemorating the bond between the Vietnamese people and U.S. Americans. Since my very first visit to Viet Nam in the Spring of 1970, my conviction that we have much to learn from Viet Nam has grown. My message again is that those of us who are older should work harder to connect younger US Americans to Viet Nam.
This is not so easy to achieve. For one thing, that’s because US culture trains people to think that the US already knows everything and nobody else knows anything. There is also lingering confusion about why the US ever attacked Viet Nam in the first place.
Further, peace itself is an unfamiliar idea in the US. Ours has always been a nation of war and at war. It’s not just the violence we visit on others. It’s the violence we have always inflicted on ourselves too.
What makes it worse is the stories we tell ourselves to justify the violence.
Brian Stevenson, the extraordinary people’s advocate and the founder of the
Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, recently made a profound point in the context of this 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. I am quoting him now, “And that’s why I believe the great evil of slavery wasn’t the bondage, the forced labor, the violence, all of those things. I think the true evil of American slavery was the narrative we created to justify enslavement.”
Unfortunately, that narrative holds great power, even today. Which is exactly why our young people need to know that there is another story, another reality that is available. I have seen that truth in Viet Nam.
Thanks to John McAulliff, Chuck Searcy, many Viet Nam veterans and others, a degree of normalization and reconciliation has been achieved. All of which, of course has been facilitated by VUFO.
We can build on that foundation. We can learn more about the value of People-to-People diplomacy.
It is realistic to acknowledge that the current situation is discouraging for young and old alike. Nevertheless, most of us are familiar with Arundhati Roy’s celebrated statement that “another world is possible.”
Viet Nam is making another world. It is showing what healthy decolonization can be. Viet Nam is nurturing peace and harmony among people and governments.
Let us commit to ensuring that as many U.S young people as possible gain direct knowledge of that world.
Thank you.