Article: Call For Counter Demonstration In Appreciation Of Jane Fonda

Stopped by the Eugene O'Neill Theater after 11 PM. Jane Fonda came out the stage door, signed autographs and chatted with her fans. When she came near, got to introduce myself as having been assistant conductor of the Vietnam National Symphony in the 90s. Fonda smiled and responded with an interested raised eyebrow, “Oh!” (her show, "33 Variations", has to do with an episode in Beethoven life and music). - explained we played all the Brahms symphonies, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovitch, Prokovieff etc., and that all the members of the orchestra lost family during the American war and that she was a hero to them, Fonda demurred, nodding her head as she continued down the line of autograph seekers. As she was ushered into her waiting limo, I was moved to softly call, “God bless you, Ms Fonda.”

Monday, March 9th is the official opening night for 33 Variations, which has had two weeks of preview performances.

On the evening of its first preview performance, February 23, Associated Press reported:

Vietnam Vets Protest Fonda During Her Return to Broadway

"About a dozen Vietnam veterans and other protesters picketed the theater where the 71-year-old actress is starring in the Broadway play "33 Variations," telling passersby that she had once visited their communist enemy in Hanoi." :

It seems most probably that the glamour of Fonda's opening night will attract a repeat of those pro-war veterans. Whether they think that it was fine that three million Vietnamese died, or that, like many, they regret that the U.S. gave up trying to conquer them, one hopes that members of Veterans For Peace and other anti-war veteran organizations will be drawn to be there in support of Jane Fonda's brave and inspiring opposition to that American merciless bombing and slaughter.

It seems that Veterans For Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Iraqi Vets Against the War and West Point Grad Against the War, besides working hard to halt the Iraqi and Afghan wars are faced with having to argue against a revival of pride in the American war in Vietnam heralded in media and proclaimed heroic even in President Obama's inaugural address.

For those to young to remember, Martin Luther King Jr. condemned the Vietnam War as an immoral imperialist war which reflected U.S. predatory capitalism. World Champion Boxer Muhammad Ali was willing to have his championship taken away and be threatened with jail rather than be drafted during the war.

Jane Fonda was fearless in her compassionate and moral stand, and an inspiration to millions of Americans and decent people all over the world. That war against the government in Hanoi, the same government that is still there today, was carried forward under the administrations of six American presidents to the suffering in genocidal proportion of the French colonial agrarian population of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Fonda and hundreds of other movie celebrities spoke out at a time when twice the tonnage of bombs used in all of World War II were were being dropped on tiny Vietnam.

Your writer and Veteran For Peace member will be there for Jane Fonda, heroine of real American and human values on her opening night to applaud from the street before curtain time and at the stage door area after the performance to show a support that will serve to more than counterbalance any picketing by her war promoting detractors. Hope to have considerable like-minded company.

This Monday, March 9th, Eugene O'Neill Theater, 230 West 49th Street, Manhattan, New York City, official opening night for Jane Fonda in "33 Variations."