4-07. Political Work: Vietnam and Other Topics
Title
4-07. Political Work: Vietnam and Other Topics
Subject
Description
In this recording, part of a larger video memoir project, lifetime activist and educator Suzanne Ross speaks more her involvement in organizing against the U.S. war in Vietnam and other topics related to international solidarity.
From Suzanne: "Chronology of my Vietnam work, starting in 1965, when the US aggression was very intense, through 1986, after the Vietnamese victory in 1975, when I went to Vietnam hosted by the Vietnam Friendship with the Peoples of the World Committee for a two week visit with Tony Russo, who had released the Pentagon Papers with Daniel Ellsberg in the 70’s. I learned so much from the Vietnamese, about strategy, about the power of the people’s struggle, convinced that they were going to win, when we in the US were worried that they were losing. And perhaps most importantly about international solidarity.
The kind of solidarity Cuba offered to Vietnam (and Congo, Bolivia, and Angola) was very inspiring. What Vietnam meant to activists in this country, setting an example of revolutionary morality when there was none of that in this country. The history of internationalism had some of its roots decades back in the International Bandung Conference for African and Asian nations. Though I knew about the Conference back when it occurred I came back to it with the publication of Mumia’s and Stephen Vittoria’s trilogy Murder Incorporated, a book about anti-imperialism just written in this last decade."
From Suzanne: "Chronology of my Vietnam work, starting in 1965, when the US aggression was very intense, through 1986, after the Vietnamese victory in 1975, when I went to Vietnam hosted by the Vietnam Friendship with the Peoples of the World Committee for a two week visit with Tony Russo, who had released the Pentagon Papers with Daniel Ellsberg in the 70’s. I learned so much from the Vietnamese, about strategy, about the power of the people’s struggle, convinced that they were going to win, when we in the US were worried that they were losing. And perhaps most importantly about international solidarity.
The kind of solidarity Cuba offered to Vietnam (and Congo, Bolivia, and Angola) was very inspiring. What Vietnam meant to activists in this country, setting an example of revolutionary morality when there was none of that in this country. The history of internationalism had some of its roots decades back in the International Bandung Conference for African and Asian nations. Though I knew about the Conference back when it occurred I came back to it with the publication of Mumia’s and Stephen Vittoria’s trilogy Murder Incorporated, a book about anti-imperialism just written in this last decade."
Creator
Date
2022
Contributor
Rights
You can, without permission, copy, modify, distribute, display, or perform the Item, for non-commercial uses. For any other permissible uses, please review the terms and conditions with the organization that has made the Item available.
Format
MP4
Language
English
Type
Video memoir
Identifier
AV-ROSS.037
Original Format
MP4
Duration
01:49:00
Media
Collection
Citation
Ross, Suzanne, “4-07. Political Work: Vietnam and Other Topics,” Bronx History Online, accessed August 22, 2025, https://digital.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/AV-ROSS/AV-ROSS.037.
Position: 202 (2 views)