Traveling to Hanoi during the U.S. war in Vietnam was a long and
dangerous undertaking. Even though a neutral commission operated
the flights, the possibility of being shot down by bombers in the
air and antiaircraft guns on the ground was very real. American
travelers recalled landing in blackout conditions, without lights
even for the runway, and upon their arrival seeking refuge
immediately in bomb shelters. Despite these dangers, they felt
compelled to journey to a land at war with their own country,
believing that these efforts could change the political imaginaries
of other members of the American citizenry and even alter U.S.
policies in Southeast Asia.
In Radicals on the Road, Judy Tzu-Chun Wu tells the story of
international journeys made by significant yet underrecognized
historical figures such as African American leaders Robert Browne,
Eldridge Cleaver, and Elaine Brown; Asian American radicals Alex
Hing and Pat Sumi; Chicana activist Betita Martinez; as well as
women's peace and liberation advocates Cora Weiss and Charlotte
Bunch. These men and women of varying ages, races, sexual
identities, class backgrounds, and religious faiths held diverse
political views. Nevertheless, they all believed that the U.S. war
in Vietnam was immoral and unjustified.
In times of military conflict, heightened nationalism is the
norm. Powerful institutions, like the government and the media,
work together to promote a culture of hyperpatriotism. Some
Americans, though, questioned their expected obligations and
instead imagined themselves as "internationalists," as members of
communities that transcended national boundaries. Their Asian
political collaborators, who included Buddhist monk Thich Nhat
Hanh, Foreign Minister of the Provisional Revolutionary Government
Nguyen Thi Binh and the Vietnam Women's Union, cultivated
relationships with U.S. travelers. These partners from the East and
the West worked together to foster what Wu describes as a
politically radical orientalist sensibility. By focusing on the
travels of individuals who saw themselves as part of an
international community of antiwar activists, Wu analyzes how
actual interactions among people from several nations inspired
transnational identities and multiracial coalitions and challenged
the political commitments and personal relationships of individual
activists.
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