Hanoi Journal: War isn’t over

NEITHER REDUCED to a footnote of history nor consigned to its dustbin, the Vietnam War still rages – in old propaganda posters, both original or reproduced in canvas, cardboards, even in refrigerator magnets sold in specialized shops and bookstores.  

Easily catching the eye – and capturing the mind – is “Nixon Phai Tra No Mau” picturing the Motherland striking with red bolts a bomb with the face of Tricky Dicky about to fall on ruins inscribed “benh vien.” The shopkeeper translating as “Nixon must pay for our blood with his blood," with the other term as “hospital.”

"Chiến thắng Điện Biên Phủ trên không" screams another with an illustration of a USAF B-52 bomber broken in two mid-air by a giant fist with the iconic star – “The victory of Dien Bien Phu in the air" – referencing the Vietnamese interception and downing of French aircraft in the climactic battle that ended the French colonization of Indochina. Therein the implication Imperialist America will suffer its own Dien Bien Phu.

Ever present in all shops selling propaganda posters is, needless to say, the portrait of Ho Chi Minh, the founding father of the Republic of Vietnam. One most poignant with the inscription “Trong Trái Tim Tôi" – “in my heart,” translated the shopkeeper, palms on her left breast.

As well, the words of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen: “All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory… Memory is haunted, not just by ghostly others but by the horrors we have done, seen, and condoned, or by the unspeakable things from which we have profited.” Punto Lifestyle Team/Photos: BZL