Many people have some knowledge of Vietnam's history or more particularly its war with the US but even among socialists in Australia there is little knowledge or understanding of Vietnam today. This workshop will examine Vietnam's post 1975 history with a focus on two main topics:
*Agent Orange / Dioxin poisoning
Despite the Vietnam War ending 35 years ago the US chemical bombardment of Vietnam is still claiming victims. The Vietnamese Red Cross estimates up to 3 million Vietnamese children and adults have suffered health problems related to Agent Orange exposure, and that there are a million victims in Vietnam today, many of them children born with serious deformities, as a result of their parents’ exposure to the chemical.
* Socialist Vietnam, Doi Moi, Lenin and economic planning
Many socialists today, in order to justify their own dogmas and schemas, say that because Vietnam has some foreign investment, it is no longer or never has been socialist. This is a serious mistake. Socialist Vietnam has shown consistent application of Marxist-Leninism in a world dominated economically by capitalism. A Vietnamese socialism for Vietnamese conditions that helps further our understanding that the struggle for socialism does not end with a revolution's military defeat of the old order.
Hamish was an infantry soldier in the Australian army for 12 years and is a veteran of the East Timor campaign in 1999-2000. In 2007, he helped found Stand Fast - an organisation of veterans and service people that oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hamish is an active campaigner in solidarity with the Palestinian people and with the Cuban and Vietnamese revolutions. He also actively supports the struggle for Aboriginal rights, the campaign for abortion rights, solidarity with the Venezuelan revolution and many other social justice struggles. Hamish is a bus driver and a member of the Rail Tram Bus Union in Brisbane.
for workshop times: click here to download agenda
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