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17th National VVAW Meeting

By VVAW

The 17th National Meeting of VVAW was held in Milwaukee on the 5th and 6th of August with representatives from chapters as far apart as San Francisco and New York City. From the start, the meeting was action oriented. Everyone present participated in the discussions, comparing experience and hammering out our program. A good cross section of vets from around the country proved to be a real strength as we could figure out our program based on wide experience.

Barry Romo, a member of the National Office of VVAW opened the meeting with a speech on the international situation to set the context in which we would be working. He used the clear example of Africa as a key area of the contention between the two superpowers which is determining the world situation today. There was also a section dealing with the events going on in Cambodia and Vietnam which is of special concern to VVAW.

Another member of the National Office, Pete Zastrow, followed this with a presentation on the situation of veterans in the U.S. today. As a result of his speech and the discussion that followed, it became evident that the numbers and problems and frustrations of all veterans, and particularly Vietnam-era veterans, are growing.

Vets are dealing with that anger and frustration in one of three different ways. First, they can ignore it and hope it will go away; however, there's no way to escape being a vet. Second, the "correct" answer according to the people who run this country, is to "Go through channels." We've had a lot of experience with where that leads: right to the end of a blind alley. Third, there are the vets who say they just aren't going to take it anymore, who say "the hell with you" to the system in many different ways. Our main task as an organization is to break down the attitude of "there's nothing that can be done" and reach out to organize these vets into united action.

The meeting didn't have much trouble deciding on our two major campaigns for the next period: Agent Orange and Veterans Day. For a more detailed picture of the Agent Orange campaign, see the centerfold section of this issue of THE VETERAN. Our discussion of Vets Day was greatly aided by a written summation of the battles we fought last year around the country. Based on this, we were able to come up with some ways to strengthen our actions for this year. We have found that the response from vets around Veterans Day has been around the idea of kicking ass on the rich, not so much around any particular demands. Further, the demands we have put forward have been in two areas—fighting against war preparations and fighting for a decent life. So, this year, we decided to re-comment that chapters use only two demands: the slogan, "To Hell With Your National Honor, We Won't Be Used Again," and the demand for "Decent Healthcare—Treat Agent Orange."

These two demands, the meeting believed, cover most clearly the way that vets are used once and then thrown away. They help to focus the Vets Day campaign and draw lines clearly between VVAW and the American Legion and VFW. Last year, our participation in Vets Day became a real social question beyond the people we talked to ourselves. People at the meeting stressed the need for chapters to go both broad (media outreach, for instance) and deep (digging in at schools) when building for this campaign. Also stressed was the need to make the campaign (or any campaign) a series of real hammer-away actions directed towards a specific target with definite goals.

There was a discussion on the situation in Africa which began with a short description of the situation in Eritrea by a woman from that country who talked about the liberation forces and their struggle to free their land from the oppressive forces of Ethopia, supported, financed and using soldiers of the Cubans and the Soviet Union. The Fatigues for Freedom Fighters Campaign (during which VVAW collected over 50 full sets of military fatigues which were sent to members of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania for use in their fight against the racist government of South Africa) was summed up as excellent, particularly in Milwaukee. Generally the discussion resulted in seeing Africa as the focal point of the contention between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. VVAW must continue to work around the question of Africa, paying attention to its changing and explosive situation. Especially in the next period of time people should be aware of the phoney "elections" planned for Zimbabwe in late December which might well provide the basis for the U.S. government to drop all pretense of opposition to the present Ian Smith government in that country.

Several organizational questions were also dealt with. First there was the question of a new name for VVAW. Chapters where there are few Vietnam veterans (thought there are Vietnam-era vets) particularly brought out the question. After some discussion, the sense of the meeting was that we could not now change the name of the organization and, second, that we must keep ourselves open to changing the name in the future. At a time when we are taking up the campaign around Agent Orange, which the name fits with, and when there is a scab VVAW (see below) we are not about to surrender the name. Everyone agreed that, in the long run, people will judge us less by our name than by our actions.

The second organizational question dealt with attempts by a group calling itself the Revolutionary Communist Party to split VVAW and establish their people as a new "VVAW." These attempts included setting p a bogus VVAW Newsletter and even a newspaper in the name of VVAW. A brother from the Bay Area of California talked about the things he had gone through with the scab VVAW there—everything from threats to being forbidden to come to chapter meetings (even though he was an elected member of the chapter steering committee). As a result of the discussion, the meeting voted to censure and condemn the RCP for their attempts to split VVAW, and their blatant disregard for the democracy of a mass organization, and the throw out the leaders of the scabs from VVAW. A brother from New York City aptly pointed to a leaflet which the scab VVAW had written about Agent Orange as a perfect example of their activities—preaching from on high to the thousands of vets whom they believe to be "stupid." It exemplified, he said, the "difference between what we are doing and what they are saying."

This meeting gathered experience from actual practice of organizing vets in various parts of the country. We put that experience together into a workable, active program for the next several months. When we get out and implement these campaigns, we can lead increasing numbers of vets in some hard battles, win some important victories, and give the rich an ass-kicking they won't forget for a while!