Download PDF of this full issue: v19n1.pdf (9.7 MB)

Tour Report

By John Zutz

"It's time to recognize that... Vietnam's problems are caused by us."

The recent "Friendship Tour" made by four VVAW members must be judged a success. In fact, if asked to describe the trip in one word, "friendly" would have to be the word. The people were very friendly until they found out we were Americans—then, they were in love with us.

Though only in Vietnam a little over a week, we saw and met a wide variety of people and encountered many new aspects of the country. We learned more about the country in a week than we had in a year on our first trip. Of course, we were discouraged from associating with the natives on our first trip.

We spent five days in Hanoi and three in Ho Chi Minh City. They are like two different worlds. The people of Hanoi still seem very naïve, unspoiled and spontaneous with very high morale. The city is very colonial both in architecture and in attitude. Almost all foreigners work in embassies.

Ho Chi Minh City is much more cosmopolitan in attitude and architecture. But, the population was less joyful exhibiting a defeated outlook. Everything was measured by the watershed of 1975; there were many homeless and jobless.

Wherever we went we were curiosities. In the North, people would spontaneously break out laughing as they passed us on the street. In the South, if we stood still for three minutes there would be a crowd gathered around us five deep. They would all be gazing up at us with their mouths hanging open. Hundreds would gather to stare if we stopped in a café for a cold drink.

While there, we met government representatives, Amerasian children and their mothers, recent releases from re-education camps, and hundreds of ordinary people. We also met a number of other Americans and Europeans, particularly in Hanoi. The Russians and East Germans were numerous in Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam is changing. Our initial reactions were confirmed by Mr. Dang Nghiem Bai, head of the North American Desk of the Foreign Ministry (equivalent to a Deputy Secretary of State). They are changing from the strictly controlled socialist economy to what he called a "market economy." The government will no longer attempt to control prices. This allows merchants to set their own prices according to the market; effectively, it eliminates the black market, a long-standing problem for Vietnam. And it sounds much more like capitalism. Local goods seemed to be readily available in one or the other of thousands of stands in hundreds of marketplaces, if you had the cash. Imported goods were harder to find but were available: we bought Marlboros in Ho Chi Minh City.

Services are also a matter of having the cash. Cyclos, three-wheel cycles which act as taxis, staked out the hotels and embassies hoping for a foreign faire. Restaurants and cafes were frequent and by U.S. standards, very inexpensive; some had women available. Every corner had someone who would fix your flat bicycle tire.

The Vietnamese have made strides technologically. They have determined why dioxin is toxic. They are doing gene-splicing experiments. They are building damns and irrigation projects. A nuclear reactor left by the U.S. is being brought on line.

At the same time there is great need for health facilities and medicines. Much of the technological work is done with primitive equipment and methods due to lack of foreign exchange.

There is no doubt that Vietnam is one of the poorest countries in the world. Mr. Xuan Oahn of the Vietnam-U.S. Friendship Society told us that living conditions are crowded, sanitation is primitive at best, unemployment is increasing, transportation is unreliable, the population is growing, and the government is stagnant and unable to address those problems. He told us that through the government has changed recently, it must become more responsive to the needs of the people.

Our government also has contributed to their problems. The massive destruction caused by the war has been largely repaired, but the cost must have been enormous. Our current shunning of the Vietnamese government includes actively discouraging other countries from trading with them. Though they recently changed their investment laws so that a foreign investor retains 100% ownership of his company, our lobbying keeps many possible investors away.

The Vietnamese have come a long way in an attempt to get closer to us, to meet many of the conditions set forth by the U.S. government for improved relations. The Vietnamese are withdrawing their troops from Kampuchea—troops will be out completely this year whether there is a political settlement or not.

The Vietnamese are cooperating with our request for the return of MIA's. We talked to the search team in Hanoi. Shortly after we returned home, over 300 bodies were returned with the search team. One of the most obvious signs of change is the fact that the Vietnamese are teaching their children English; we were told that the Russian language teachers were switching to English since there is no demand for Russian: everyone wants to learn English.

It is time to recognize that many of Vietnam's problems are caused by us. It is time to begin at least limited humanitarian aid. It is time to normalize relations.

—By John Zutz, VVAW Milwaukee