PoliticalChic
Diamond Member
8. In 1979, Humanitas, the organization of anti-war activist Joan Baez, purchased a newspaper ad that ran in five large circulation dailies, called “An Open Letter to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” which ran in part: “Thousands of innocent Vietnamese, many of whose only “crimes” are those of conscience, are being arrested, detained and tortured in prison and re-education camps… The jails are overflowing with thousands upon thousands of “detainees”… People disappear and never return… People are used as human mine detectors, clearing live mine fields with their hands and feet. For many, life is hell and death is prayed for. With tragic irony, the cruelty, violence and oppression practiced by foreign powers in your country for more than a century continue today under the present regime.
It was an abiding commitment to fundamental principles of human dignity, freedom and self-determination that motivated so many Americans to oppose the government of South Vietnam and our country's participation in the war. It is that same commitment that compels us to speak out against your brutal disregard of human rights. As in the 60s, we raise our voices now so that your people may live. http://www.american-buddha.com/lit.voicesingwith6.1.htm
9. Baez mailed the letter to 350 anti-war activists. Among those who refused to sign was Jane Fonda. “Your name would mean much more than any other,” she told Fonda, in a long letter. Fonda wrote that the add would lend credence to those who believe “that Communism is worse than death…” Washington Post, Lynn Darling, “Joan Baez at 38,” June 29, 1979
