Comrades, In the 50's, 60s and 70s, Vo Ngyuen Giap was a hero to those of the Left opposed to imperialism and great power chauvinism, i.e. capitalism in its most blatant aggressive form.
Along w Ho Chi Mihn, Giap led a struggle against first French colonialism, beat them, and when the US invaded the Viet Cong eventually turned People's Liberation Armed Forces kicked their ass too. Of course, the truly sad thing is some 50,000 almost 100% working class youths came home to the United States in boxes after being drafted to fight in a war that should not have occurred in the first place. It is the truth: America only turns tail when she is given a bloody nose. Along with 100,000s of Vietnamese death it was a tragedy. And yet, to those of us engaged in an uprising against the state, it was an inspiration happening before our eyes. It must be remembered that in the decade before the American intervention and invasion that all across the 3rd world indigenous those in leadership positions were the face of the rank and file warriors who were throwing off the yoke of colonialism: Mao in China, Nkrumah in Ghana, Sekou Toure in Guinea, Sukarno in Indonesia, Ben Bella in Algeria, Nassser in Egypt, Castro in Cuba. Paralleling all of this was, of course, the great struggle for Civil Rights which eventually bore fruit with the rise of the Black Power movements. The fact that these heroic struggles against colonization all ended with native bourgeoisies merely replacing the white skin of the oppressor with oppressors of their own color--of course with the "hiddden hairy hand of the white man" operating like the Wizard of Oz behind closed curtains pulling on their marionettes' strings--all of this is notwithstanding as when the great spirit of mankind at that time in many places at many times rose up against those masters and declared ourselves "FREE"!!!I t was a wonderful time to be alive. A time when people believed in things. When we believed that things *will*get better...And when we fought for them. Comrade Giap, again, was an inspiration. Perhaps the last of those freedom fighters save Castro and Nelson Mandela. And, in spite of the failures of the struggles identified with these lasting relics and the ones before them, their names as synonymous with the struggles they figure-headed is assured. The last of the great men. The next wave of struggles will be led by, with, and for great peoples. -- JAI RAC-LA -- JAI RAC-LA
