Klimawandel und Ökologie
The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus,  Volume 15 | Issue 14 | Number 3 | Jul 15, 2017
Mit freundlicher Erlaubnis von Japan Focus

In the Jungles With The Viet Cong: The War on Nature Then and Today

George Burchett

"....Although the U.S. government can no longer dismiss the massive use of "toxic chemicals" in the war as "communist propaganda", it still denies its long-lasting effects on humans and nature. The manufacturers of dioxin, aka Agent Orange, refuse to admit any causal relation between their deadly product and its long-term effects on people and the environment.

The Vietnam war – or the American War as it is called in Viet Nam – was a war fought not just against people, but also against nature. Nature was the Viet Cong's strategic ally and therefore considered a fair target to be eradicated in order to deprive the enemy of cover and sustenance. The war against nature also had another purpose: herd the peasant population into "strategic hamlets", surrounded by barbed wire, where they would be isolated from the Viet Cong.

One of the first to alert world public opinion to this fact was my father, journalist Wilfred Burchett. ..."

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