[Peace-discuss] Revolution and ecology

[C. G. Estabrook]

	May 28, 2009
	General Vo Nguyen Giap's last battle for the highlands of Vietnam
	By Tom Fawthrop

The general, a confidante of Ho Chi Minh, who oversaw the siege of Dien Bien Phu 
and helped repel the Americans is taking on the communist regime over the 
environment and Chinese influence

In 1954, General Vo Nguyen Giap masterminded a harrowing epic 57-day siege which 
brought about the crushing defeat of the French empire in Indochina. It was a 
victory which destroyed the assumption of Western invincibility and inspired 
anti-colonial struggles all over the world. During the US war Giap was again 
commander-in-chief, but this time he assumed extra responsibility as the defence 
minister in Ho Chi Minh's government of North Vietnam.

The amazing supply-line carved out of a 2,000 mile long trail through dense 
jungle and mountains dubbed the "Ho Chi Minh Trail" was Giap's Initiative. It 
was to become one of the most bombed roads in the history of warfare. The 
General also masterminded the final offensive in Spring 1975.

Giap is widely considered to be one of the greatest military leaders of the 20th 
century - all the more remarkable given that his background was entirely 
civilian - his early working years were spent as a teacher and a journalist. 
After the war hard-liners in control of the Vietnamese communist party were 
jealous of his international stature and intellectual abilities and the war hero 
was ejected from the politburo in 1982. In 1991 he retired as deputy prime minister.

The country's most famous soldier is still fighting. This time over the environment.

Now 97, physically frail but still mentally sharp, Giap lives with his wife in 
an old French colonial house in Hanoi, where he leads a modest existence. He 
rises at around 5am when he starts his day with breathing exercises before 
turning into RFI - Radio France International, before listening to the news on 
Vietnamese stations.

Domestic life is occasionally interrupted by the arrival of various visiting 
foreign and Vietnamese dignitaries who come to pay their respects. President 
Lula of Brazil, Hugo Chavez from Venezuela and the South Africa's Thabo Mbeki 
visited him last year. A number of US politicians have also been to see him, 
including Robert McNamara his counterpart in the Vietnam War in charge of US 
Defense Department.

Giap has largely retired from public office apart from holding several honorary 
roles in associations for Vietnam's war veterans and historians, but the 
country's most famous soldier is still fighting. This time the battle is over 
the environment.

The Vietnamese government, eager to keep up the impressive economic growth that 
was derailed by the global financial crisis, is committed to extracting an 
estimated 8 billion tonnes of bauxite, the ore which is essential to aluminum 
production.

Two-thirds of Vietnam's bauxite is to be found in the Central Highlands, a 
stunningly beautiful and fertile region of thickly forested mountains, coffee 
plantations and, some argue, an area of enormous eco-tourism potential. There 
are fears that open-cut mining will destroy vast areas of forest and crops 
leaving huge deposits of toxic sludge.

Despite Vietnam's long history of conflict with China which briefly invaded the 
country in 1979, the Chinese aluminum giant Chinalco has been granted a contract 
for one of the mines. But in January this year, General Giap sent an open letter 
calling on the government to halt the project.

Giap masterminded the siege of Dien Bien Phu, which crushed the French and 
destroyed the aura of Western invincibility

Giap's stature as a national hero, one-time confidante of late president Ho Chi 
Minh and one of Vietnam's few untainted politicians is undisputed and the 
Government realized that they couldn't dismiss him as a mere dissident. Moreover 
having actively helped Vietnam's ecologists back in the 1980s when he was deputy 
prime minister, Giap's green credentials are convincing.

According to the scientist, Nguyen Huu Ninh, who was part of a UN team awarded 
the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for work on climate change, Giap has a real 
understanding of ecology. Moreover, "He was our first leader after the war to 
focus on environmental problems". He has long been fascinated by the green 
movement. In 1986 a professor returned from a trip to UK with a copy of 
Schumacher's 'Small is beautiful', one of the Movement's great works and gave it 
to Giap on a Friday evening; by Monday the General had finished it and was 
asking for more books on ecology.

Giap is still honoured by visiting dignitaries, including Hugo Chavez, president 
of Venezuela

So the letter from the 'Green General', which detailed the consequences of the 
mining proposals in terms of environmental damage, harm to ethnic minorities and 
even a threat to national security, prompted an unprecedented protest, a rare 
event in what is still a one-party communist state. It is also rare in a 
one-party system for such a protest to be reported in the state-owned media. The 
general's intervention prompted 135 intellectuals to sign a petition to the 
Vietnamese National Assembly calling for a halt to the project.

In the face of the outcry, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who had described the 
exploitation of the bauxite as "a major policy of the party and the state", felt 
he had no choice but to backtrack. Last month, after a hastily convened seminar 
on the environment, he agreed to scale back the development until a full 
assessment of the possible environmental impact could be made.

Giap is a national hero, confidante of late president Ho Chi Minh and one of 
Vietnam's few untainted politicians

Now opponents have questioned the mines' economic feasibility, given that 
bauxite processing requires a lot of water and access to cheap electricity, and 
Vietnam is facing shortages of both. In addition to the environmental concerns, 
some critics have complained about the presence of hundreds of Chinese workers 
in the strategic Central Highlands.

Amid the flurry of criticism, which was even joined by his Environment Minister, 
Dung has now frozen work on one bauxite mine, though he has permitted Chinalco 
to proceed with another.

General Giap may not win this battle outright but, as always, he is putting up a 
ferocious fight.

FIRST POSTED MAY 27, 2009

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/47848,news,general-vo-nguyen-giaps-last-battle-against-bauxite-mining-vietnam-environment