Dennis Brasky goes over the top in accusing Nestor of "political cowardice" not agreeing with him and others who seem to argue that the emergence of golf courses in Vietnam (related to the emergence of a new rich layer and to the importance of tourism for the Vietnamese economy) represents the defeat of everything Ho Chi Minh fought for.
First, on the title of this thread. Ho Chi Minh did not "die for" anything. He died of "natural causes" -- illnesses associated with aging. He was not a martyr like Che Guevara, but a highly successful revolutionary policy. At his death, the main goal of his life, the independence and unification of Vietnam and the end of imperialist domination, was well on the way to being achieved. I see no sign that these accomplishments are now unraveling. What did Ho Chi Minh fight for -- not die for? He frequently described his goal as "an independent, united, strong, and prosperous Vietnam." This says nothing about golf courses one way or another. The golf course debate does reflect the development of social divisions and social conflicts in the wake of the revolutionary victory -- that is, that Vietnamese history did not come to an end with the defeat of the US occupation and the reunification of the country. When a country that has had a popular revolution opens itself up to capitalist investment and so forth -- and there are strong and sometimes quite legitimate motives for doing this -- there inevitably arise conflicts on how much wealth and resources the new rich who inevitably arise will be able to lay claim to. This was as true in the Soviet NEP as in the later variants, often, and in my opinion mistakenly, too casually identified with neoliberalism and the restoration of capitalism. The debate over golf courses is a relatively new issue to come to popular consciousness, as far as I know The first time I have seen that directly fought over has been in Venezuela where Chavez has threatened to nationalize the golf courses because of the land and water they take from the poor. I do not know to what degree this is being implemented. The fact that this is being hotly debated in Vietnam as well is likely to be a sign of health rather than a signal of a historic catastrophe. I have a sense that the Vietnamese people, who have an important and historic record of successes, will be able to advance on this and other issues without being subjected to the defeatist spirit, with the resulting hysterical edge in tone, of a largely impotent US far left. The suggestion that the golf course issue registers the defeat of what Ho Chi Minh fought for strikes me as obscene. Fred Feldman ________________________________________________ YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
