by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster
The Paris Peace Accords, ending the War
in Vietnam, were signed on January 27, 1973. The four parties to
this conflict agreed to the unconditional withdrawal of U.S. troops
from Vietnam and to “support the healing of the wounds of war.”
Despite that Agreement, the war
continued until April 1975.
The promises efforts for healing would
not begin for decades. Third generation Vietnamese, born today,
enter the world with deformities because their grandfathers were
exposed to chemical agent orange. Children are losing life and limbs
because they live in a village where a buried unexploded ordinance is
unearthed during an ordinary play day.
When these buried bombs explode, a
lifetime of new suffering is created. For these victims, the war has
continued.
Rennie Davis, one of the Chicago Seven,
an organizer of the Anti-War Movement of the 60's and 70's, flew to
Vietnam this last January to celebrate the 40th
anniversary of the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. He landed in
a Vietnam which still faces the impact of a war two generations
ended. The 40th Anniversary commemoration of
the signing of the Paris Peace Accord in Vietnam was a national
ceremony that included past and present political and
military leadership. Their nation-wide moment for rememberance was
not covered in the United States.
But here in Ashtabula,
and across our country, we face many of the same problems which still
confront Vietnam and the solutions now being applied there to the
continuing presence of toxic waste can also solve problems here.
Vietnam's land and water was impacted
by toxic waste, Agent Orange among these. The dioxin-contaminated
soil persists, but ways have been identified for remediation which
leave the soil cleansed of contaminants, fertile, and renewed. This
gift for peace brings blessings which can change our lives, too.
The same process identified and now in
use in Vietnam provides the means for dealing with all the toxic
waste left here in Ashtabula from World War II and the War in
Vietnam. Our soil and water, once treated, can also be left clean
and fertile.
After Vietnam ended Rennie moved on to
very different work in corporate America. Understanding the problems
he had begun looking for answers. Today, the technologies he
identified are proven, tested and being used in Vietnam. These same
tools can serve us as well.
Ashtabula can recover and find new
prosperity from places none of us imagined.
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