Dear Friends and Comrades of the Socialist Youth Movement and the WASP,
Greetings in the name of Socialist Internationalism and the struggles of the working class and its allies globally.
Recently, an important figure in the international workers´ movement passed away, namely General Vo Nguyen Giap from Vietnam.
I think it is important to study this military-political figure and also the past 30 years of Stalinist politics that country, with capitalist restoration and new dependency to international capital, and compare it to our own experience in South Africa since 1994.
Consider this as part of your "Socialist Education" Comrades.
a: "Vietnam's long history of struggle", by Nguyen The Phiet, @ http://links.org.au/node/15
The author is the Vietnamese consul general in Sydney. His talk discusses the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and eventually the USA signing the Paris Agreement on January 27, 1973
b) "Vietnam General Vo Nguyen Giap dies aged 102": by Heather Saul, SATURDAY 05 OCTOBER 2013 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/vietnam-general-vo-nguyen-giap-dies-aged-102-8860883.html?origin=internalSearch
quote: " He retired from the Government six years later, having been side-lined and removed from his post in the Politburo in 1982. Giap wrote extensively on the topic of military theory and strategy throughout his life.
c) General Vo Nguyen Giap obituary: "Military commander who led Vietnamese forces to victory over the US and French", by Robert Templer, The Guardian, Friday 4 October 2013
quote: "... For most of the 1980s, Giap was a political outcast, occasionally wheeled out on ceremonial occasions but stripped of all real power. He did, however, command loyalty in the military, particularly among those officers disaffected by the war in Cambodia and angered by the economic collapse in the 1980s.
d) "Vietnam: 30 Years After: “THERE IS A NEW CLASS THAT HAS NEEDS FOR CONSUMPTION, FOR DISPLAY, FOR CARS...”, Saturday 2 April 2005, by Tuan; @ http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article639
quote: " ... Tuan: I went back to Vietnam after a year’s absence and I saw the emergence of a “middle class”. Of course, this is only in the cities. There are now lots of new companies, industrial and commercial enterprises whose capital comes from party members who use front people because, according to the old statutes, they don’t have the right to engage in business. There are a lot of new buildings, 20- storey buildings, real skyscrapers....
e) "Vo Nguyen Giap (1911-2013) - Military leader of Vietnamese anti-colonial struggle", by Patrick Martin 15 October 2013, @ http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/10/15/giap-o15.html
quote: " ... Giap died October 4 at the age of 102, the last survivor among the revolutionary nationalists who spearheaded the most important anti-colonial struggle of the 20th century.
Postwar Vietnam has joined in the scramble to offer up its population as cheap labor for US, European and Asian transnational corporations. At the same time, the regime has made its peace with Washington, cooperating militarily and establishing a tacit alliance with American imperialism against China...
On the 50th anniversary of the French surrender of Dien Bien Phu, Giap told foreign journalists, “If a nation is determined to stand up, it is very strong. We are very proud that Vietnam was the first colony that could stand up and gain independence on its own.”
Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) now drives the Vietnamese economy; it is doubling the number of intercity motorways, digging a tunnel under its river and planning its first underground railway, as well as a new airport in Long Thanh, on the road to the seaside resort of Vung Tàu ... @ http://mondediplo.com/2007/04/14vietnam
I hope that these links and quite different viewpoint will give you food for thought and reflection.
Yours in solidarity,
Dr Selim Y. Gool Telemark, Norway contact email: goolselim@gmail.com
For the FULL TEXT of my letter (above) which was abbreviated go to: OBITUARY: VO NGUYEN GIAP - military and political leader of Vietnam dies @ 102, facebook notes @ https://www.facebook.com/notes/selim-gool/obituary-vo-nguen-giap-military-and-political-leader-of-vietnam-dies-102/10151599795456916?notif_t=like
Dear Friends and Comrades of the Socialist Youth Movement and the WASP,
ReplyDeleteGreetings in the name of Socialist Internationalism and the struggles of the working class and its allies globally.
Recently, an important figure in the international workers´ movement passed away, namely General Vo Nguyen Giap from Vietnam.
I think it is important to study this military-political figure and also the past 30 years of Stalinist politics that country, with capitalist restoration and new dependency to international capital, and compare it to our own experience in South Africa since 1994.
Consider this as part of your "Socialist Education" Comrades.
a: "Vietnam's long history of struggle", by Nguyen The Phiet, @ http://links.org.au/node/15
The author is the Vietnamese consul general in Sydney. His talk discusses the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and eventually the USA signing the Paris Agreement on January 27, 1973
b) "Vietnam General Vo Nguyen Giap dies aged 102": by Heather Saul, SATURDAY 05 OCTOBER 2013 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/vietnam-general-vo-nguyen-giap-dies-aged-102-8860883.html?origin=internalSearch
quote: " He retired from the Government six years later, having been side-lined and removed from his post in the Politburo in 1982. Giap wrote extensively on the topic of military theory and strategy throughout his life.
c) General Vo Nguyen Giap obituary: "Military commander who led Vietnamese forces to victory over the US and French", by Robert Templer, The Guardian, Friday 4 October 2013
quote: "... For most of the 1980s, Giap was a political outcast, occasionally wheeled out on ceremonial occasions but stripped of all real power. He did, however, command loyalty in the military, particularly among those officers disaffected by the war in Cambodia and angered by the economic collapse in the 1980s.
d) "Vietnam: 30 Years After: “THERE IS A NEW CLASS THAT HAS NEEDS FOR CONSUMPTION, FOR DISPLAY, FOR CARS...”, Saturday 2 April 2005, by Tuan; @ http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article639
quote: " ... Tuan: I went back to Vietnam after a year’s absence and I saw the emergence of a “middle class”. Of course, this is only in the cities. There are now lots of new companies, industrial and commercial enterprises whose capital comes from party members who use front people because, according to the old statutes, they don’t have the right to engage in business. There are a lot of new buildings, 20- storey buildings, real skyscrapers....
e) "Vo Nguyen Giap (1911-2013) - Military leader of Vietnamese anti-colonial struggle", by Patrick Martin
15 October 2013, @ http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/10/15/giap-o15.html
quote: " ... Giap died October 4 at the age of 102, the last survivor among the revolutionary nationalists who spearheaded the most important anti-colonial struggle of the 20th century.
Postwar Vietnam has joined in the scramble to offer up its population as cheap labor for US, European and Asian transnational corporations. At the same time, the regime has made its peace with Washington, cooperating militarily and establishing a tacit alliance with American imperialism against China...
On the 50th anniversary of the French surrender of Dien Bien Phu, Giap told foreign journalists, “If a nation is determined to stand up, it is very strong. We are very proud that Vietnam was the first colony that could stand up and gain independence on its own.”
Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) now drives the Vietnamese economy; it is doubling the number of intercity motorways, digging a tunnel under its river and planning its first underground railway, as well as a new airport in Long Thanh, on the road to the seaside resort of Vung Tàu ... @ http://mondediplo.com/2007/04/14vietnam
I hope that these links and quite different viewpoint will give you food for thought and reflection.
Yours in solidarity,
Dr Selim Y. Gool
Telemark, Norway
contact email: goolselim@gmail.com
For the FULL TEXT of my letter (above) which was abbreviated go to: OBITUARY: VO NGUYEN GIAP - military and political leader of Vietnam dies @ 102, facebook notes @ https://www.facebook.com/notes/selim-gool/obituary-vo-nguen-giap-military-and-political-leader-of-vietnam-dies-102/10151599795456916?notif_t=like
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