Cuban artist Rene Mederos’ 1971 silkscreen tribute to Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese struggle against United States imperialism. Published in the US in 1972 by The Glad Day Press, a Wobbly (IWW) shop in Ithaca NY, as a fundraiser for Medical Aid for Indochina. The Vietnamese struggle for independence lasted over 1,000 years and was fought against China, France, Japan, and the US. In 1954 Viet Nam defeated France, and the Geneva Accords temporarily divided the country until elections could be held in 1956. The US refused to hold the elections because, in the words of President Eisenhower, “Ho Chi Minh would have won.” By 1967 the US had 500,000 troops in southern Viet Nam, was regularly bombing the north and indiscriminately spraying toxic Agent Orange over vast areas. Vietnamese resistance and the anti-war movement (military and civilian) forced withdrawal of all troops and the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in January, 1973. The war’s horrific toll: Viet Nam – 2,000,000 dead, 3,000,000 wounded, 13,000,000 refugees, 200,000 MIA’s; USA – 58,000 dead, 304,000 wounded, 1,900 MIA’s. At least 150,000 Viet Nam veterans have committed suicide since returning home. Frequently the war is described as a “tragic mistake,” an aberration in US foreign policy. Ther Pentagon papers, released by early whistleblowers Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo, showed otherwise. Rather, it was a calculated attempt to suppress a popular movement that was unfriendly to capitalism and western domination. Similar actions against Chile, Nicaragua, Guatemala, the Zapatistas in Mexico, Iraq and Afghanistan show US foreign policy is not guided by democratic ideals but by transnational corporations, greed, military power, and economic domination. As citizens, we must change it. -Dik Cool, draft and war resister, US prisoner 1967-68
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