PEACE HISTORY This Day
December 20, 1946
The morning after Viet Minh forces under Ho Chi Minh launched a night revolt in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, French colonial troops cracked down on the communist rebels. Ho and his soldiers immediately fled the city to regroup in the countryside. That evening, the communist leader issued a proclamation that read: “All the Vietnamese must stand up to fight the French colonials to save the fatherland. Those who have rifles will use their rifles; those who have swords will use their swords; those who have no swords will use spades, hoes, or sticks. Everyone must endeavor to oppose the colonialists and save his country. Even if we have to endure hardship in the resistance war, with the determination to make sacrifices, victory will surely be ours.” The first Indochina War thus began.
December 20, 1960
North Vietnam announced the formation of the National Front for the Liberation of the South (usually known as the National Liberation Front, NLF), designed to replicate the success of the Viet Minh, the umbrella nationalist organization that successfully liberated Vietnam from French colonial rule.
December 20, 1990
Kansas reservist Dr. Yolanda Huet-Vaughn refused orders to serve in the first Gulf War (Desert Storm) and was later sentenced to prison. The Kansas medical board withdrew her hospital privileges. “The issue was not whether I belonged in the military but whether the military belonged in the Middle East waging war. I did not want to focus on the personal decision. I was trying to focus on the decision for which each and every American would have to be responsible.” What if they gave a war and nobody came?
December 20, 1994
Hundreds of thousands of Chechnyans linked hands in a human chain to protest the Russian invasion.
December 20, 1999
The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples are entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples of the opposite sex.
Note: This Day in Peace History material is adapted by Top Pun from This Week in Peace History, a publication of www.peacebuttons.info, and This Week in Peace & Justice History from the San Antonio Peace Center.