Vietnam–Africa: Beyond ‘development’ and ‘modernisation’

It was in August 1945 that Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese people declared their independence from France. Between 19 August and 2 September 1945, the Vietnamese independence movement consolidated their political hold on the country. When the Japanese surrendered and the clarity of the new era of self-determination was clear to the peoples of Southeast Asia, the Vietnamese independence movement led by Ho Chi Minh read an appeal to the Vietnamese people to rise in revolution. On Sunday 2 September 1945, in front of tens of thousands of people in Ba Dinh square, President Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the declaration of independence: ‘We, the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, solemnly make this declaration to the world:

‘Vietnam has the right to enjoy freedom and independence and in fact has become a free and independent country. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilise all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their freedom and independence…’

That year, there was great optimism that the end of the war would lead to decolonisation in Africa and Asia. At that time, President Ho Chi Minh played a very important role when he became the first person after the war to announce the independence of a colonial country. The Vietnamese victory of the August 1945 revolution had a great influence on the struggles for independence in exploited territories across the world at that time, especially in African countries. Africans who had fought against fascism in all corners of the world were also of the view that Africa should become free and independent. In October 1945, the 5th Pan African Congress was held in Manchester, UK, and the African peoples also demanded self-rule.

Europeans who had fought each other for self-determination refused to accept the idea of the self-rule of oppressed Asians and Africans. The French colonialists who had been humiliated by German fascists refused to accept the declaration of independence by the people of Vietnam, so the people had to reorganise to continue fighting for their independence. They fought for the next 30 years, first defeating France decisively at Dien Bien Fhu in 1954. This battle placed General Vo Nguyen Giap in the history books of great military feats when he crushed the French. After negotiating the Geneva Accords for a peaceful process for the full unification of Vietnam, the US militarists intervened to undermine the independence of Vietnam. Using the anti-communist scare against its own people, the US militarists built up military forces in Vietnam between 1961–75 so that at the height of this militarisation of Vietnam there were over 560,000 US forces along with assorted ‘allies’ from Australia, Canada, Korea and New Zealand. The United States and its allies were decisively defeated in 1975.

WAR AND MODERNISATION

Robert McNamara epitomised the intellectual moderniser who supervised the Pentagon during the war against the Vietnamese people. McNamara went on from the military war against the Vietnamese to supervise the intellectual war when he became head of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) or World Bank. This institution had been created in 1944 as one of the sister arms of the international financial institutions to support US military and financial dominance. At the intellectual level, the ideas of development propagated by the World Bank emanated from political scientists such as Walt Rostow, who later graduated from the academy to become the national security adviser. Rostow was one of the advocates for war and ‘development’, and had written two anti-communist tracts on ‘development’, ‘The Process of Economic Growth’ (1952) and ‘The Stages of Economic Growth’ (1960). Rostow elaborated a vision of development rooted in American history and national interest. In fact, the subtitle of ‘The Stages of Economic Growth’ was a non-communist manifesto. The book was written to oppose the kind of socialist ideas that had inspired the Vietnamese to oppose French and US imperialism.

Rostow and a bevy of ‘modernisation’ theorists supplied the working concepts through which the United States understood its obligations to combat the self-determination project of the Vietnamese people. Clothed in the language of ‘development’, modernisation became the anti-communist doctrine to motivate the US troops. Described as both an ideology and a discourse, modernisation comprised a changeable set of ideas and strategies that legitimised imperial policies disguised as foreign aid and trade but revealing its core element in the doctrines of counterinsurgency in Asia. Among the core precepts was the idea that the state of economic and political relations enjoyed by the United States and the other former colonial powers in western Europe was normative, and that it was in the US national interest, as well as the general interest of all people, that steps be taken to bring the other two-thirds of humanity up to a comparable level. Social science theories explained the causes of Asian, Latin American and African ‘backwardness’ and suggested appropriate remedies. Technocrats and theoreticians such as Rostow and McNamara redefined the Cold War as a contest fought on the terrain of development with military, ideological and economic components.

Guided by the ideas of modernisation and development, the US military mobilised the Western forces to crush the independence of Vietnam. By 1975 the Vietnamese had successfully resisted modernisation and the US bombs that came with development theory.

Since the consolidation of independence and the attempt to build a new society, the Vietnamese nationalists have transformed the society from a poor, underdeveloped state to an integrated, self-reliant economy whose rapid transformation points to the positive possibilities from socialist planning. However, since 1986 when the leaders opened up to Western investors, the Vietnamese economy has been socialist in form but capitalist in content. Over the past two decades the Vietnamese leadership have steered a path similar to that of China, focusing on economic growth. In this period Vietnam recorded sustained GDP (gross domestic product) ’growth’ of 7–8 per cent, making it second in the region after China. Forecasters have observed the trajectory of the Vietnamese ‘socialist-oriented market economy’, and it is estimated that in the next 15 years Vietnam will be in the top tier of the twenty leading economies in the world.

China has been planning for the future when the Chinese ‘socialist oriented market economy’ will be a dominant player in the international system. Vietnamese planners are also aware of the changed international system with the decline of the hegemon and this provided the context for the calling of meetings with Africa. The first Vietnam–Africa International Forum was held in Hanoi in May 2003. At this forum the government of Vietnam set out its national action programme for promoting better relations with Africa. The second international forum was called under the banner of ‘Vietnam-Africa: Cooperation for sustainable development’. This second international forum was called in Hanoi over 17–19 August to discuss the ways in which Africa and Vietnam should interact to promote cooperation. The Vietnamese used the second forum to showcase the rapid transformation of their society, especially the changes in agricultural production and the integration between industrialisation, agriculture and aquaculture.

In the past five years all of the rising and emerging power-houses of the world have been courting Africa and have signed agreements with the African Union. China, India, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Japan, the European Union and the United States have all seen the importance of Africa in the next 10 years. Korea and Vietnam have not signed formal agreements but have been probing the establishment of new relations with African governments.

WITNESS TO POSSIBILITIES AT THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL FORUM

Unlike other conferences between Africa and other regions, this forum took place not only within the conference hall, but also with a very rewarding field trip to the Haidoung region to see practically what was being done in the rural areas. This visit to a cooperative and to the Field Crop Research Institute pointed to what is possible with a planned integrated agriculture and industrial sector that places the needs of humans at the centre of economic activities. The Haidoung province located in the north delta proved that a society can provide for a better standard of living for people in the rural areas, making available electricity, water, good quality housing, healthcare and food. It shows the success of a society that places human needs before and above the needs for profits. Centuries of experience in wet-rice agriculture and new developments in aquaculture have enabled the cooperatives in this province to achieve a high level of growth and a good standard of living for the people.

On the one-day trip for participants one could see that Angola, Mozambique and Rwanda had developed relations with the agricultural experts from Vietnam. I participated in the visit to the villages and visited the rural farms where the standard of living of the villagers has improved considerably. The Vietnamese hosts were very proud of one cooperative where the members enjoyed high productivity. It was while visiting the cooperative that there were small discussions of the property relations in the village. It was made clear that the peasants had access to the land for working but private property and a market in land had not become dominant in the rural areas. This could not be said of the urban areas as signs of real estate offices were to be seen in Hanoi and in Ho Chi Minh City.

I visited a number of farms, cooperatives and the National Broadstock Center for Fresh Water species in the Northern Province. One of the obvious questions from Africans in this visit to areas of successful aquaculture was how to ensure that there were no mosquitoes with malaria parasites. The Vietnamese proudly revealed that they have not only fought against malaria successfully but have also developed their own pharmaceutical base for the provision of anti-malaria medicines for the people.

At the Field Crop Research Institute one could not help but be impressed by the impressive advances made in the areas of biotechnology with the work being done on food crops. It was not entirely clear how genetically engineered foods in socialist Vietnam were different from the GM (genetically modified) products of the big agribusiness firms of the West. Although this question was posed more than once, the emphasis was on self-sufficiency in food and not on the questions of the long-term consequences of a particular form of genetic engineering. The work on genetic engineering made it easier to see the abundance of fresh fruits in the rural areas. Later one could distinguish between the taste of plantation-type pawpawas and pineapples in the urban areas and the natural fruits eaten in rural communities in the Mekong Delta. The exploitation of new genetic resources and new selection processes for producing fish products was demonstrated in the small farms where there were high levels of production. The Research Institute for Aquaculture as well as the Field Crops Research Institute pointed to not only past socialist planning but future production for the integration of education, science and technology, biotechnology research and increased quality of life for the rural people. Every African minister and diplomat who went on this extensive field trip commented on how much aquaculture planning in Africa could benefit from policies that are geared toward the needs of the poor.

Although since 1987 Vietnam has opened up its market to foreign investment, it is the political organisation for socialist transformation that was evident in the spectacular diversification.

ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION AND REVOLUTIONARY TRADITIONS

Vietnam is in the middle of the tussle between socialist planning and organisation and the heavy power of global capital. The socialist party of Vietnam has been able to show that revolutionary traditions must be made manifest in what is done for the ordinary people, and in the public spaces, the flag of the red star is flown to remind the people of the tradition of revolutionary struggles. Here is a society that still bolds a proud statue of Vladimir Lenin, and with an educational system that serves to inspire within young people the traditions of revolutionary struggles. The four philosophical traditions that are taught to young people – Leninism, Confucianism, Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts and the history of Vietnam – come up against the ideological onslaught from McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Google, the US banks and the military that backs them up. Younger Vietnamese who were born after 1975 are ensnared by the glitz and fashion of an Anglo-American lifestyle without understanding the deep sacrifices that were made by the Vietnamese people to maintain their independence. I spoke to students at the school of diplomacy and the students did not understand the relationships between militarism and ‘development’.

BETWEEN TRANSFORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT

From an African perspective, it was inspiring to see how much the Vietnamese took pride in their struggles for independence along with the determination and resilience that enabled these people to withstand French colonialism and US military aggression. Remembering the more than 3 million Vietnamese who perished at the hands of US bombing campaigns stimulates the drive for economic independence and self-sufficiency. And yet the rise of China as a global power is forcing current Vietnamese leaders to develop strange alliances at the international level. One could see this in not only the tripartite relations with some African states, evidenced in the Vietnam–Japan–Mozambique initiative. There are also efforts by Vietnam to develop good relations with the US in order to be in the good books of the so-called international community.

As a member of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) free trade area, Vietnam is integrated into a region that is the dynamic engine of the world economy at the present moment. The economic growth and changes in Vietnam are comparable to the rapid growth that one has seen in Korea, Taiwan, China, Singapore and countries that have broken from the ideological stranglehold of neoliberalism. Despite their impressive economic growth, all of these societies need to take another look at the long-term consequences of forms of industrialisation that do not consider the long-term consequences for human health and the health of the ecosystem.

INTO THE MEKONG DELTA

Ho Chi Minh City, which was formerly Saigon, reflects the tensions between the capitalist past and the socialist future of Vietnam. This is where there are numerous KFC outlets and where the capitalists of Cholon have taken a stand to build a firm base for the rejuvenation of capitalism in Vietnam. The explosive growth of this city benefits from the rich agriculture base of the Mekong delta. Travelling in the Mekong delta, in the streams and canals, brings out a long history of agricultural expertise of the Vietnamese people. It is in the boats and canoes in the Mekong estuaries that one could reflect on the failing and arrogance of US military planners when they thought they could subjugate the Vietnamese people. During the years of the US military occupation of the southern part of Vietnam, US modernisers undermined the independence of Vietnam and introduced various schemes that were meant to modernise Vietnam. These schemes failed and the brutal face of US imperial ambition was shown by the unrelenting bombing of the people of South Vietnam. The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City not only highlights the failure of the US campaign, but also the solidarity of the people of the world who supported the Vietnamese people to resist this aggression.

BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WARFARE AGAINST THE VIETNAMESE

In the War Remnants Museum there was a full display of the lessons of biological warfare against the people of Vietnam. There was one room of exhibition outlining the impact of the poisons dropped by US forces during the Vietnam War that have left a long-lasting legacy in the countryside. The exhibition at this museum exposed to visitors the impact of the chemical warfare now known as Agent Orange. Dioxin was found in Agent Orange, one of the herbicides sprayed from giant C-123 cargo planes to destroy the forests and fields that gave cover to the Vietnamese people who were defending their independence. The Vietnamese have clarified that Agent Orange – and the dioxin it contained – has seriously damaged the health of those living in the areas where it was used. Millions of gallons of dioxins were sprayed in the Vietnamese countryside and 35 years after the war the harmful effects of this chemical warfare are still evident and are still creating environmental chaos, poisoning the food chain and causing serious concerns over their effects on human health. There are numerous forms of cancer and other diseases that abound in Vietnam today as after effects of the war.

While denying the criminal effects in Vietnam inside of the USA, Vietnam veterans who handled Agent Orange can claim compensation for a whole range of other diseases recognised as being associated with dioxin. These diseases range from skin diseases such as Chloracne through to conditions that affect the nerves and lymphatic glands as well as a range of cancers of the lung, larynx and prostate. The War Remnants Museum exposed the need for a thorough rewriting of the history of the United States. Such a history will place the emphasis on reparative justice so that reparative health and reparative social relations can prevail. The case for reparations and ubuntu was even clearer when one visited the Cu Chi tunnels.

CU CHI

Millions of tons of bombs were dropped on the Vietnamese peoples in one of the most sustained bombing campaigns of any war. The new evidence of the bombings of Cambodia is only one indication of the need for truth and healing in the USA. But if the truth is hidden from the citizens of the USA, the evidence of the bombings is in plain sight in a place such as Cu Chi. Here one can see a community where the remnants of the B-52 bombers have left large craters as if this was a scene from the moon. It is in this region where the people had to be creative and develop skills to escape the rain of bombs, including anti-personnel bombs containing thousands of flesh-shredding darts, white phosphorus incendiary bombs, huge ‘daisy cutter’ bombs that turned jungle into flattened football fields and jellied gasoline bombs called napalm.

The Cu Chi tunnels are 150 square kilometres of underground tunnels showing the ingenuity, tenacity and fortitude of a people who resisted the unrelenting bombings from the US B52 bombers at a time when the US General Curtis Lemay declared that they were going to bomb the Vietnamese people back to the Stone Age.

The burial sites in Cu Chi showed the high price that the people of the south, especially the Cu Chi people, paid for their independence. One-third of the population of this village community was wiped out by the US bombings in an attempt to wipe out communism. Yet there is no hint of bitterness among the Vietnamese people.

In the War Remnants Museum, the Vietnamese not only celebrate their history, they also celebrate the solidarity from people all over the world. There was a prominent display of the six African countries that showed open solidarity with the people of Vietnam. These countries were Algeria, Egypt, Guinea, Congo-Brazzaville, Tanzania and Mali.

SOLIDARITY AND THE TRANSITION BEYOND MILITARISM AND DEVELOPMENT

2 September 2010 is the 65th anniversary of the declaration of independence by Ho Chi Minh. This author wants to use this medium in joining with the celebration of the peoples of Vietnam as they seek to develop a new healthy society. Whether it is the demonstration of the water puppets shows that are clearly linked to aquaculture or the rich religious traditions of the society, the Vietnamese are a proud and resilient people. The history of the struggle of the Vietnamese people is an inspiration for those who want another world beyond capitalism. The failure of the US militarists who believed they could subdue the Vietnamese people is everywhere evident. On the walls of the museum, the Vietnamese display the words of McNamara: ‘We were wrong, terribly wrong, and we owe it to a future generation to explain why.’

This explanation is very urgent because the mindset of the US militarism is being redeployed in Afghanistan with future military planning for the increased militarisation of Africa. This explanation is also urgent for the African and Vietnamese children who yearn for 'development’ and who associate McDonald’s, Hollywood and Microsoft with development, subtracting the links to McDonald Douglas, Boeing and the legacies of Agent Orange.

Africans have a lot to learn from Vietnam. And Africans have a lot to teach the Vietnamese. One of the things that Africans can teach Vietnamese is that Vietnam cannot go to the same ideas of Walt Rostow and Robert McNamara to provide the basis for ‘sustainable development’. Cooperation between Africans and the peoples of Vietnam in the areas of energy, education, health, environmental repair, aquaculture and agriculture hold great promise. However, this promise must confront the neoliberal ideas that are being packaged by those in Vietnam and those who believe that the future lay with the very same minds that sprayed Agent Orange in Vietnam and experimented with biological agents to aid apartheid.

The boom and expansion of the Vietnamese economy places that society in the tussle between socialist transformation and the re-composition and reconstitution of capitalism in Vietnam. The traditions of Ho Chi Minh run deep and at present it will require a major political upheaval to overthrow the ideas of Ho Chi Minh and capitulate to the ideas of Walt Rostow. I was not sure whether the Vietnamese hosts at the second Vietnam–Africa forum understood that most all of their documents were written in the language of McNamara and Rostow, in the discourse and language of ‘development’.

So just as Vietnamese teach their children about the sacrifice of Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese children need to know about Patrice Lumumba, Queen Nzinga, Mbuya Nehanda, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela and Samora Machel. The younger generation should be made to understand that Vietnamese–African cooperation for transformation in the 21st century is very different from Vietnam–Africa cooperation for sustainable development. There must be an increased quest for the former.

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* Horace Campbell is a teacher and writer. His latest book is 'Barack Obama and 21st Century Politics: A Revolutionary Moment in the USA', published by Pluto Press.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.