This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
Right after I arrived, what shocked me the most was that while the Vietnamese people seemed to 'forgive' the USA, they had never forgiven the French colonialists.
"Why?" I asked my friends. "How is it possible? Wasn't the US bombing and killing campaign during the 'American War' (which is known in the West as 'Vietnam War') terribly brutal, with millions of Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians losing their lives?"
"Of course, it was", I was readily explained. "But we fought and, despite the terrible losses and hardship, we defeated Americans in relatively short time. And anyway, it was not only them; members of the coalition also consisted of countries like South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Thailand, and of course, France."
And the story continued:
"The French were occupying and tormenting us for much longer. They also had been humiliating our people, continuously. They enslaved up, tortured us, took our women, they raped them, and they had stolen all that we had."
Near where I used to live, was a notorious "Central Jail", equipped with guillotines, torture chambers, solitary confinement cells. Now, on exhibit there, are monstrous instruments used by the French colonizers, to torture and rape captured Vietnamese patriot women: beer bottles, electric wires, walking canes.
Whatever the colonized Indochina had, was stolen: taken to France, in order to finance construction of grandiose theatres, railroads, metro, parks, and universities. And yes, to subsidize formation of that famous French social system which, as the Yellow Vests are now correctly saying, is being dismantled by the French 'elites' and by the political system which they are fully controlling.
Vietnamese people fought bravely against the French, finally defeating them during an iconic battle at Dien Bien Phu. But the victorious Vietnamese Communist forces inherited ransacked, divided land, stripped of its resources and even of its art work (several French intellectuals, including famous writer and later Minister of Culture in de Gaulle's government, Andre Malraux, confessed to stealing art objects from 'Indochina', when he lived there as a young man).
Needless to say, that until now, French companies are brutally pillaging many parts of Southeast Asia, through mining and other neo-colonialist projects, as they do in various areas of Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
Now ask in Hanoi, ask in Phnom Penh or Vientiane, whether people of 'Indochina' (what an insulting and bizarre name was given to this part of the world by the French, during the colonial era!) are supporting Yellow Vests in Paris? Ask whether they think that if they win concessions in Paris, it would improve life in Asia.
Are you guessing what the answer would be?
*
I don't say that demands of the people who are fighting in the streets of Paris are wrong. They are not. They are absolutely legitimate.
French elites are brutal, selfish, even perverse. Present French government is simply serving them, as the US presidents are all serving huge corporations, including those deadly military conglomerates. 'They should go', they should disappear, give way to what is logical human evolutionary pattern: a socialist, egalitarian society.
But they are not ready to go. On the contrary. They are robbing, for centuries, entire planet, and now they went so far as to plundering their own people (who were used to sharing the booty).
French citizens are not used to being plundered. For centuries they lived well, and for several last decades, they were living 'extremely well'. They were enjoying some of the most generous benefits anywhere in the world.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
1
1
