-^-for posterity-^-

someone asked me to write about how it felt to be in vietnam while our country is preparing for another war.

what is it like when your country slides on the cowboy had and pulls out the six shooter? what’s it specifically like to be in vietnam? it’s frustrating.

the vast majority of vietnamese people think that the war’s a sham. they believe that america is going about this all wrong and that other alternatives are present. some vietnamese people are very vocal with their opinions. i was asked by one student in class what i thought of the whole situation. i’ve been approached by random people on the street wondering what i thought. i get a sinking feeling in my stomach every time someone asks me where i’m from.

“which country are you from?” stomach turns, head cocks to one side and shifts to the ground in anticipation of the reaction, “america.”

i’m not ashamed of where i come from. i’m not ashamed of the people that raised me or the community that i was brought up in. i’m ashamed of what our country has come to stand for internationally.

are other countries jealous? well, that argument could be made. is their hatred solely based on jealously? that’s absurd. their hatred is based on so much more (and it is obviously not a simple, blind hatred of “freedom” as our president claimed after 9/11).

the hatred is based on small, selfish actions taken by our nation. for example, there is a problem in vietnam with catfish. the united states, in the interest of a few, large catfish farmers, has recently ruled that the catfish that vietnam sells to america is being sold under cost. they are dumping their catfish on the american market and driving american competition into the ground. before the anti-dumping ruling, the us tried to change the name of vietnamese catfish claiming that it was something different entirely. it was called “basa fish” and the american variety was still called “catfish”. the name change didn’t hurt sales for “basa” fish. good fish is good fish.

so, america wants vietnam to join the wto (world trade organization) and vietnam is complying. they’re following all of the restrictions and freeing up their markets. they are being told that they should stop protecting their national industries from foreign investment. free trade is good. then the us goes and says that it is going to protect its catfish industry from vietnamese intrusion. this ruling hurts about 300,000 poor catfish farmers in and around long xuyen. this ruling helps a handful of large, catfish industries. it is blatantly selfish.

i live along the banks of the mekong river. i see poor fishermen every day. when someone asks me what country i’m from i squirm. catfish is just one example of a foreign policy that’s for the birds.

some people believe that we’re going to kill thousands of civilians, create more recruits for bin laden (where is he by the way?), and generally destabilize the region. but, even if you think we can go into iraq, install a democratic (and american friendly) government and liberate a nation you still have to understand that small foreign policy reaches further than you can imagine. the catfish controversy has not created any pro-american sentiment here. ironically, i’ve created the most pro-american sentiment around here since who knows when.

we don’t live on a north american island. catfish is just one example. if you want another, just go to google.com, type in “virginia vietnam flag” and see what’s been cooking there.