Page 37 - Contrast1967November

The protest movement is not confined to the
campuses. An increasing number of senators,
congressmen, educators, clergymen, generals (Gavin,
Ridgeway) and informed citizens are joining the
voices of dissent. In the main, the protest has
a sound moral base, informed by our Judeo-
Christian tradition and democratic heritage. This
is an issue not enough Americans have faced.

Hanh has again observed,

"Officially the Americans are
there at the invitation of the
Vietnamese to save them from 'com-
munism'. If the Vietnamese people
were free to say what they really
want, this official reason would be
exposed as the falsity that it is in
the eyes of all the world. That is
why the American and South Vietnamese
governments both try constantly to
silence the voices of those who speak
out for an end to massacre and for
means of achieving peace."

To appreciate this protest is not to discredit
the character and bravery of American men in
Vietnam. One of the most difficult allegations
that one personally faces is the emotion laden
charge: "You are letting our boys down." This is
patently not so. It may be the one way "to lift
them up" and express gratitude for them as human
beings.

In their understandable frustration, the
hawks attempt to make scapegoats out of the
critics of the war--blaming them for the failure
of their policy. To this, Senator McGovern
replies,

"In trying to imply that it is
American dissent which is causing the
Vietnam opposition to continue the
war, the administration is only con-
fessing the weakness of its own case
by trying to silence its critics and
confuse the American people. It is
not the impact of the dissent on
Hanoi that worries the administration;
it is the fact that the dissenters
have exposed the contradictions, the
falsehoods, and the resulting
credibility gap which surrounds
administration policy."

The freedom for which we have historically
stood and for which we are allegedly fighting in
Vietnam will not be sabotaged by such shibboleths
as "unpatriotic" or "unAmerican". To protest is