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VVAW Works for Legislation with VAORRC

By Marty Webster

So far to date, the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC) has:

• organized a US veterans delegation to visit Vietnam;
• organized a national speaking tour together with the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA);
• helped to bring about the first ever hearing in the House of Representatives which included testimony from representatives of VAVA and from a Vietnamese Agent Orange victim;
• worked on drafting a bill to be introduced by Congressman John Conyers;
• been featured in national and international media;
• and participated in educational events across the US grassroots organizing and Congressional Education.

We are in the final stages of working with Congress to draft comprehensive legislation to achieve compensation of Agent Orange (AO) survivors. This legislation will provide for cleaning up the toxic hot spots in Vietnam, health care for Vietnam's AO victims, as well as medical assistance for children and grandchildren of US veterans and Vietnamese Americans suffering from affects of AO. This legislation is the focal point for our organizing and mobilization work from now on.

On July 15th, Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, Vice President of VAVA and Tran Thi Hoan, a young woman Agent Orange victim who participated in our women's speaking tour in 2008, were the first VAVA representatives, and Hoan the first Agent Orange victim from Vietnam, to testify before a hearing in Congress. (Dr. Phuong previously testified in another capacity.) The hearing was organized by Congressman Eni Faleomavaega, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment. Their testimony was very well received by the Congress members in attendance and by the media. During their time in Washington DC, Phuong and Hoan, along with VAORRC leadership, met with members of the House and Senate and with Congressional staff. Members of VVAW and other groups have lobbied their Congress people. The overall positive responses from Congress indicated that there is building momentum for resolving the AO issue, with some representatives agreeing to sign on to the bill we are working to have introduced. The AO issue is highlighted by a report initiated by the Ford Foundation calling for money for victim assistance in Vietnam. Both former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have addressed the issue in recent statements.

Agent Orange Justice Tours

In April-May, 2010 Nguyen Thi Hien, President of the Danang Chapter of VAVA headed a delegation to the US which also included AO victim Pham The Minh and an interpreter. The delegation visited eight cities and met with a wide range of community activists. In Los Angeles, the delegation took part in a protest at the Dow Chemical Live Earth Run to focus attention on the responsibility of Dow and the other chemical manufacturers to compensate their victims. Also in LA, Pham The Minh spoke to about 1,000 people at a memorial service for Howard Zinn and spoke at the Ventura veterans Summit organized by VVAW and other veterans organizations. In New York, Minh spoke at a 20,000 person rally for nuclear disarmament and we met with the head of the National Council of Churches who promised support for legislation and educational work. In our first visit to Atlanta, we met with civil rights leadership and received print and broadcast coverage.

As part of our grass roots organizing, we got signatures on orange postcards to be delivered to members of Congress and now have several thousand signed.

Veterans Delegations to Vietnam

In March of this year, we sent a six person delegation, including members from Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Veterans For Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War and from our Campaign on a working visit to Vietnam at the invitation of VAVA. The delegation, which received much press coverage in Vietnam, visited AO victims and programs across Vietnam and met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who underlined the importance of achieving justice for AO victims.

Future Plans

On August 10, we commemorated Agent Orange Day with a statement and email blitz.

This fall, we are planning for the introduction of our legislation. At that time, we will host a high level leadership delegation from VAVA and intensify our media work. We are planning a National Congressional Outreach Day as well as organizing meetings with members of Congress in their districts. We will also be rolling out new educational materials for this stage of our work and revamping our website.

We will send a VAORRC Board delegation to Vietnam in late 2010 or early 2011. The growth of our work has meant organizational expansion, with our Board at more than 50 members and our Core group now at 9 people. In the next period, we will be further activating our organization through in-person Core and/or Board meetings and through recruitment of more Core members and local leaders.

Financing the Campaign

We have been able to fund our work to date thanks to the generous contributions of VVAW and other major donors.

This stage of our work requires more financial resources for both national grass roots mobilization and activities directed at Congress. We anticipate needing to hire a Washington DC staff person in addition to a part time worker in New York. Media outreach to bring this issue into the living rooms of the American people will also be crucial to gaining significant popular support.

VVAW National Coordinators Barry Romo and Marty Webster are board members of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign. Marty is also a VAORRC core member and serves on the organizational committee.

Marty Webster is a VVAW national coordinator who lives in Ohio.