From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Jul 10 2005 - 16:21:16 BST
MSH wrote:
> You need some new material You posted this same speech a year ago,
> as "evidence" of NC's Marxist support for brutal totalitarian
> regimes.
Since a year ago there have no doubt been some newcomers to the MD who
didn't know Chomsky was an avid supporter of Ho Chi Min's communist
regime. Now they know.
> As for the "Boat People" propaganda, the number is half what you say, from
> three different war-ravaged countries, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. During
> any war, refugees go in both directions, some fleeing the conquering army,
> some flooding in behind it, back to their original cities, villages, farms
> and homes, as in this case where hundreds of thousands of people returned
> from self-imposed exile in the north.
>
> The fact that you are unaware of this, that you know only of the
> "Boat People," a story blasted wall-to-wall by the American
> commercial media, is evidence of just how deeply indoctrinated you
> are.
From Wikipedia: "Persecution and poverty prompted an additional 2 million
people to flee Vietnam as boat people over the 20 years following
unification."
Platt
>> On 7 Jul 2005 at 7:05, Platt Holden wrote:
>
> Hi All:
>
> Speech by Noam Chomsky, originally delivered on April 13, 1970 in Hanoi
> while he was visiting North Vietnam with a group of anti-war activists.
> Broadcast by Radio Hanoi on April 14, and published in the "Asia-Pacific
> Daily Report" of the U.S. government's Foreign Broadcast Information
> Service, April 16, 1970, pages K2-K3.
>
> "Yesterday and today, my friends and I visited Tanh Hoa province. There we
> were able to see at first hand the constructive work of the social
> revolution of the Vietnamese people. We saw luxurious fields and lovely
> countryside. We saw brave men and women who know how to defend their
> country from brutal aggression, but also to work with pride and with
> dignity to build a society of material prosperity, social justice, and
> cultural progress. I would like to express the great joy that we feel in
> your accomplishments.
>
> "We also saw the ruins of dwellings and hospitals, villages mutilated by
> savage bombardments, craters disfiguring the peaceful countryside. In the
> midst of the creative achievements of the Vietnamese people, we came face
> to face with the savagery of a technological monster controlled by a social
> class, the rulers of the American empire, that has no place in the 20th
> century, that has only the capacity to repress and murder and destroy.
>
> "We also saw the (Ham Ranh) Bridge, standing proud and defiant, and carved
> on the bills above we read the words, 'determined to win.' The people of
> Vietnam will win, they must win, because your cause is the cause of
> humanity as it moves forward toward liberty and justice, toward the
> socialist society in which free, creative men control their own destiny.
>
> "This is my first visit to Vietnam. Nevertheless, since the moment when we
> arrived at the airport at Hanoi, I've had a remarkable and very satisfying
> feeling of being entirely at home. It is as if we are renewing old
> friendships rather than meeting new friends. It is as if we are returning
> to places that have a deep and personal meaning.
>
> "In part, this is because of the warmth and the kindness with which we have
> been received, wherever we have gone. In part, it is because for many years
> we have wished all our strength and will to stand beside you in your
> struggle. We are deeply grateful to you that you permit us to be part of
> your brave and historical struggle. We hope that there will continue to be
> strong bonds of comradeship between the people of Vietnam and the many
> Americans who wish you success and who detest with all of their being the
> hateful activities of the American government.
>
> "Those bonds of friendship are woven of many strands. From our point of
> view there is first of all the deep sympathy that we felt for the suffering
> of the Vietnamese people, which persists and increases in the southern part
> of your country, where the American aggression continues in full force.
>
> "There is, furthermore, a feeling of regret and shame that we must feel
> because we have not been able to stop the American war machine. More
> important still is our admiration for the people of Vietnam who have been
> able to defend themselves against the ferocious attack, and at the same
> time take great strides forward toward the socialist society.
>
> "But, above all, I think, is the feeling of pride. Your heroism reveals the
> capabilities of the human spirit and human will. Decent people throughout
> the world see in your struggle a model for themselves. They are in your
> debt, everlastingly, because you were in the forefront of the struggle to
> create a world in which the chains of oppression have been broken and
> replaced by social bonds among free men working in true solidarity and
> cooperation.
>
> "Your courage and your achievements teach us that we too must be
> determined to win--not only to win the battle against American aggression
> in Southeast Asia, but also the battle against exploitation and racism in
> our own country.
>
> "I believe that in the United States there will be some day a social
> revolution that will be of great significance to us and to all of mankind,
> and if this hope is to be proven correct, it will be in large part because
> the people of Vietnam have shown us the way.
>
> "While in Hanoi I have had the opportunity to read the recent and very
> important book by Le Duan on the problems and tasks of the Vietnamese
> revolution. In it, he says that the fundamental interests of the
> proletariat of the people of all the world consists in at the same time in
> safeguarding world peace and moving the revolution forward in all
> countries. This is our common goal. We only hope that we can build upon
> your historic achievements. Thank you."
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