“Peoples’ Peace Treaty” – On This Day

November 24, 1970

14 American students met with Vietnamese in Hanoi to plan the “Peoples’ Peace Treaty” between the peoples of the United States, South Vietnam and North Vietnam.

It begins, “Be it known that the American people and the Vietnamese people are not enemies. The war is carried out in the names of the people of the United States and South Vietnam, but without our consent. It destroys the land and people of Vietnam. It drains America of its resources, its youth, and its honor.”

The treaty was ultimately endorsed by millions.

Joint Treaty of Peace

Between the People of The United States of America, South Vietnam and North Vietnam

Preamble

Be it known that the American people and the Vietnamese people are not enemies. The war is carried out in the names of the people of the United States and South Vietnam, but without our consent. It destroys the land and people of Vietnam. It drains America of its resources, its youth, and its honor.

We hereby agree to end the war on the following terms, so that both peoples can live under the joy of independence and can devote themselves to building a society based on human equality and respect for the earth. In rejecting the war we also reject all forms of racism and discrimination against people based on color, class, sex, national origin, and ethnic grouping which form the basis of the war policies, past and present, of the United States government.

Terms of Peace Treaty

      1. The Americans agree to immediate and total withdrawal from Vietnam, and publicly to set the date by which all U.S. military forces will be removed.

      2. The Vietnamese pledge that as soon as the U. S. government publicly sets a date for total withdrawal: they will enter discussions to secure the release of all American prisoners, including pilots captured while bombing North Vietnam.

      3. There will be an immediate cease-fire between U. S. forces and those led by the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam.

      4. They will enter discussions on the procedures to guarantee the safety of all withdrawing troops.

      5. The Americans pledge to end the imposition of Thieu-Ky-Khiem on the people of South Vietnam in order to insure their right to self-determination and so that all political prisoners can be released.

      6. The Vietnamese pledge to form a provisional coalition government to organize democratic elections. All parties agree to respect the results of elections in which all South Vietnamese can participate freely without the presence of any foreign troops.

      7. The South Vietnamese pledge to enter discussion of procedures to guarantee the safety and political freedom of those South Vietnamese who have collaborated with the U. S. or with U. S. -supported regimes.

      8. The Americans and Vietnamese agree to respect the independence, peace and neutrality of Laos and Cambodia in accord with the 1954 and 1962 Geneva Conventions and not to interfere in the internal affairs      

     9. Upon these points of agreement, we pledge to end the war and resolve all other questions in the spirit of self-determination and mutual respect for the independence and political freedom of the people of Vietnam and the United States.

of these two countries.

Pledge

By ratifying this agreement, we pledge to take whatever actions are appropriate to implement the terms of the People to People Treaty and to insure its acceptance by the government of the United States.

People’s Peace Treaty

Volume 16, Number 5 · March 25, 1971

By  National Student Association

To The Editor:

Following are a preamble to and text of the People’s Peace Treaty. We think they will be of interest to your readers:

   “I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of their way and let them have it.”

–Dwight D. Eisenhower

   “73% of the American people want the United States out of Vietnam by the end of 1971.”

–Gallup Poll, Jan. 31, 1971

President Nixon, like his predecessors, speaks the words of peace, but pursues the politics of war. The invasion of Cambodia has now been followed by the invasion of Laos, and there are threats of an invasion of North Vietnam and confrontation with China.

Peace is possible in 1971. But the people will have to make the peace. And that is what we are beginning to do.

The People’s Peace Treaty promised that “The Vietnamese pledge to form a provisional coalition government to organize democratic elections” in return for a complete American withdrawal from Vietnam.

Journal Article Excerpt

Journal article by Ccas National Coordinators; Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 3, 1971

CCAS National Coordinators

The beginning stages of the People’s

Peace Treaty Campaign hopefully indicate

a renewal of mass activity in the Amer­

ican anti-war movement. Many in the move­

ment have long been aware that anti-war

activities were too crisis-oriented.

They acted; we responded and created a

big fuss. This has put the movement in

the position of always asking that

something worse not be done, since we

lacked the power to force the govern­

ment to step backwards. The aim of the

People’s Peace Treaty Campaign is to

build before the next escalation, to

take the initiative in demanding a

complete end to the-war, to make the

American people realize that we can’t

wait to respond to the next crisis,

for the crisis is now. The peace treaty

evolved from the anti-war movement’s

understanding of two events: first, the

shift in American policy to Vietnam­

ization; and second, the growing anti­

war movement in South Vietnam. SNIP

VVAW – The Veteran

October 1971 {Volume 1, Number 2} page 6

Boycott the Bird

We veterans and our supporters, endorse and will actively support the announcd support the announced fall action offensive of the National Peace Action Coalition, and the Peoples Coalition for Peace and Justice, but we must do more.

First hand, we experienced the Nam, this administration still has in excess of 220,000 troops plus the thousands of its allies there,. We feel an urgent need to end the genocide of American youth and the Peoples of Indochina as soon as possible To further our goals of peace, we will complement the announced fall offensive with other actions, two of which are listed here, and the others to be announced at a later date.

OCTOBER 25 – VETERANS DAY

Veterans Day is a national holiday, a day when Americans stop working to celebrate war, to glorify militarism, and tell the rest of the world, that America is, and has always been, the “greatest military power the world has ever known”. It is 1971 and this government is still embroiled in the longest war in its history, a war against a “backward, ignorant, and barbaric people”.

WE ARE VETERANS, and as such we have the right to march in every parade on Veterans Day. There will be hundreds of parade There will be hundreds of parades acroo ades across the country on Oct. 25th. Because of the change in dates, (nov.11 used to be V.D., but now all national holidays are in conjunction with a weekend) and the recent, but much too late, concern by politicians and the press, over the plight of the veteran, this should prove to be the biggest, most publicized Veterans Day to date. We veterans must put this annual display off militarism in the proper context.

For too long, the military powers of the world have glorified war as the “manly thing to do”, but as Earnest Hemingway said, “Never think that war, no matter how justified, is not a crime, just ask the infantry and ask the dead.”

Cancelling the Veterans Day in 1972 must be a priority for all its members veterans. Therefore VVAW members across the country should organize and join these parades. By distributing leaflets, literature, getting our pwn speakers on the bandstand, and having Winter Soldier Investigations, we can show the militarists in this society, that there is now a new soldier, the Vietnam era veteran. As a final act on this day, we can show our determination and humanism by donating blood at the end of all the parades. Arrangements should be made with the Red Cross to have a bloodmobile somewhere close by, at the end of the march. Further, all blood should be donated to Military or V.A. Hospitals.

THANKSGIVING DAY

VVAW is sponsoring an activity that everyone (not just VVAW members) can participate in. We are calling for a Thanksgiving boycott of the traditional meal. Veterans and their supporters across the country should participate in a dawn to dusk fast at their respective state capitals.

VVAW – The Veteran

October 1971 {Volume 1, Number 2} page 10

7 POINT STATEMENT

By The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam made public by Minister Madame NGUYEN THI BIHN at the 119th session of the Paris Conference on Viet Nam (July 1st, 1971)

Responding to the Vietnamese people’s aspirations for peace and national independence, considering the American and the world peoples’ desire for peace, showing its goodwill to make the Paris Conference on Viet Nam progress, basing itself on the 10-point over-all solution, and following up the September 17, 1970 eight-point and the December 10, 1970 three-point statement, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam declares the following:

1- REGARDING THE TERMINAL DATE FOR THE TOTAL WITHDRAWL OF U.S. FORCES.

The U.S. Government must end its war of aggression in Viet Nam, stop the policy of a Vietnamization of the war, withdraw from South Viet Nam all troops, military personnel, weapons, and war materials of the United States and of foreign countries in the U.S. camp, and dismantle all U.S. bases in South Viet Nam, without posing any conditions whatsoever.

The U.S. Government must set a terminal date for the withdrawal from South Viet Nam of the totality of U.S. forces and those of the other foreign countries in the U.S. camp.

If the U.S. Government sets a terminal date for the withdrawal from South Viet Nam in 1971 of the totality of U.S. forces and those of the other foreign countries in the U.S. camp, the parties will at the same time agree on the modalities of a) the withdrawal in safety from South Viet Nam of the totality of U.S. forces and those of the other foreign countries in the U.S. camp; b) the release of the totality of militarymen of all parties and of the civilians captured during the war (including American pilots captured in North Viet Nam), so that they may all rapidly return to their homes. These two operations will begin on the same date and will end on the same date.

A cease-fire will be observed between the South Viet Nam People’s Liberation Armed Forces and the armed forces of the United States and of the other foreign countries in the U.S. camp as soon as the parties reach agreement on the withdrawal from South Viet Nam of the totality of U.S. forces and those of other foreign countries in the U.S. camp.

2 – REGARDING THE QUESTION OF POWER IN SOUTH VIET NAM.

The U.S. Government must really respect the South Viet Nam people’s right to self-determination, put an end to its interference in the internal affairs of South Viet Nam, cease to support the bellicose group headed by Nguyen Van Thieu now in office in Saigon, and stop all maneuvers, including tricks on elections, aimed at maintaining the puppet Nguyen Van Thieu.

By various means, the political, social, and religious forces in South Viet Nam aspiring to peace and national concord will form in Saigon a new administration favoring peace, independence, neutrality and democracy. The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam will immediately enter into talks with that administration in order to settle the following questions: a) to form a broad three-segment government of national concord that will assume its functions during the period between the restoration of peace and the holding of general elections and that will organize general elections in South Viet Nam.

b) to take concrete measures with the necessary guarantees to prohibit all acts of terror, reprisal and discrimination against persons having collaborated with one or the other party; to ensure every democratic liberty to the South Viet Nam people; to release all persons jailed for political reasons; to dissolve all concentration camps and to liquidate all forms of constraint and coercion so as to permit the people to return to their native places in complete freedom and to freely engage in their occupations.

c) To see that the people’s conditions of living are stabilized and gradually improved, to create conditions allowing everyone to contribute his talents and efforts to heal the war wound and rebuild the country.

d) to agree on measures to be taken to ensure the holding of genuinely free, democratic, and fair elections in South Vietnam.

3- REGARDING THE QUESTION OF VIETNAMESE ARMED FORCES IN SOUTH VIET NAM.

The Vietnamese parties will together settle the question of Vietnamese armed forces in South Viet Nam in a spirit of national concord, equality, and mutual respect, without foreign interference, in accordance with the post-war situation and with a view to lightening the people’s contributions

4- REGARDING THE PEACEFUL RE-UNIFICATION OF VIET NAM AND THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH ZONES.

a) The re-unification of Viet Nam will be achieved step by step, by peaceful means, on the basis of discussions and agreements between the two zones, without constraint and annexation from either party, and without foreign interference.

Pending the re-unification of the country, the North and the South zones with re-establish normal relations, guarantee free movement, free correspondence, free choice of residence, and establish economic and cultural relations on the principle of mutual interests and mutual assistance.

All questions concerning the two zones will be settled by qualified representatives of the Vietnamese people in the two zones on the basis of negotiations, without foreign interference.

b) In keeping with the provisions of the 1954 Geneva Agreements on Viet Nam, during the present temporary partition of the country into two zones the North and the South zones of Viet Nam will refrain from joining any military alliance with any foreign countries, from allowing any foreign country to maintain military bases, troops, and military personnel on their soil, and from recognizing the protection of any country or of any military alliance or bloc.

5 – REGARDING THE FOREIGN POLICY OF PEACE AND NEUTRALITY OF SOUTH VIET NAM

South Viet Nam will pursue a foreign policy of peace and neutrality, establish relations with all countries regardless of their political and social system, in accordance with the five principles of peaceful coexistence, maintain economic and cultural relations with all countries, accept the cooperation of foreign countries in the development of the resources of South Viet Nam, accept the economic and technical aid of any country without any political conditions attached, and participate in regional plans for economic cooperation. On the basis of these principles, after the end of the war South Viet Nam and the United States will establish relations in the political, economic, and cultural fields.

6 – REGARDING THE DAMAGES CAUSED BY THE UNITED STATES TO THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE IN THE TWO ZONES.

The U.S. Government must bear full responsibility for the losses and the destruction it has caused to the Vietnamese people in the two zones.

7 – REGARDING THE RESPECT AND THE INTERNATIONAL GUARANTEE OF THE ACCORDS TO BE CONCLUDED.

The parties will reach agreement on the forms of respect and international guarantee of the accords that will be concluded.

On Wednesday, November 26th, the Iraqi Parliment is set to vote on the already long delayed security agreement with the United States that will keep U.S. occupation forces in country till 2011 at least, Unofficial Translation of U.S.-Iraq Troop Agreement.

Will it pass with no problems and with the Iraqi peoples voices being heard, most want the occupiers out yesterday, as well as the people of america’s voices, or will it fail once again, deadline for UN agreement is Decenber 31, and if it fails will Maliki hold to the statement made on Sunday, November 23, in Iraq: Iraq PM says U.S. troops will leave if no pact

Iraq will not seek to extend the U.N. mandate of U.S. troops and they will pull out immediately if Iraqi parliament fails to approve a pact allowing them to stay until 2011, Iraq’s prime minister said on Sunday.

The World Awaits! We all know what happened back than!!