She defied Henry Kissinger
Nguyen Thi Binh, vice president of the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam, met with a group of U.S. activists in New York on May
9. Many remembered her as the incomparable Madame Binh who had
headed the delegation of the National Liberation Front of South
Vietnam at the Paris peace talks in the 1970s. She had faced
down former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who threatened
the Vietnamese with nuclear bombs several times during the
negotiations. Her skill and grace under pressure gave
inspiration to women everywhere to take their place in the
leadership of progressive causes.
Madame Binh thanked the movement here for its work to stop
the war. She also explained that Vietnam today, although
reunited and at peace, continues to suffer serious health
problems from the heavy use of toxic chemicals--like Agent
Orange--that the U.S. dropped all over the countryside. Its
economy is still one of the poorest in Asia, and has never
received the reparations promised for the terrible damage done
by the U.S. war.
Reprinted from the May 23, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page