Post-Colonial Moment: Vietnam War 30 Years Later
Today the international community is commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and, essentially, the end of the war in Vietnam.
1. Is Vietnam a better off country today - socially, politically and economically?
2. What legacy has the US left in Vietnam in the post Cold War era? What's France's legacy as a former colonial ruler?
3. Was Ho Chi Minh a humanitarian? According to many leftist activists, North Vietnam only wanted to established communism or some other for socialism to speed up the recently independent country's economy to those in the industrialized world, while still retaining indigenous roots. Congo's Patrice Lumumba, Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah and other "Non Aligned" contemporaries tried similar tactics in their own countries.
2 Comments:
It is interesting that during the parade yesterday in Ho Chi Minh City, some of the floats had ads for American credit card companies. Maybe the US really did achieve bring capitalism to Vietnam, though it is still a socialist country.
The legacy the US left is Agent Orange, which has been so disasterous to the economy in Vietnam.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4494347.stm
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