Tentative Book Outline, June, 2002
ECOCIDE IN VIETNAM: Thirty Years Later
Barry Weisberg, J.D.*
In 1970 critics of the War in Vietnam began to describe the impact of the United States destruction of Vietnam as "ecocide." Barry Weisberg was the editor of Ecocide in Indochina: The Ecology of War, Canfield Press/Harper and Row, San Francisco. 1970, the first book to attempt an introduction to the subject of ecocide, defined as "the premeditated assault of a nation and its resources against the individuals, culture and biological fabric of another country and its environs."
The new book will be prepared for publication on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the U.S. exit from Vietnam, on April 25, 2005. It will:
1-Summarize the existing scientific understanding of the impact of the war in Vietnam on the Geosphere (air, land and water), the Biosphere (species) and the Humansphere (humanity-biological, psychological, social);*
2-Summarize the ability of the life support systems, species and people to recover and heal;
3-Assess the lessons to be learned about Vietnam, the United States, and the ecology of modern war.
The introduction will both address current uses of the term ecocide, and specific allegations in Afghanistan, Canada, Columbia, India, Kuwait, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Tibet, Venezuela and Yugoslavia/Serbia. New work alleges that the current pattern of the mass extinction of species constitutes ecocide. Often the reference to ecocide is used interchangeably with concerns about the environmental impact of war. The author will attend and build upon the foundation now being laid by the July, 2002, Stockholm International Conference on the Long-Term Environmental Consequences of the Vietnam War. The book will be written with the cooperation of Vietnamese scientists and experts worldwide, and, pending funding, include direct field observations in Vietnam in 2003 and 2004, comparing current conditions with thirty years ago. An advisory peer review group will be established. Many of the 1970 authors will be interviewed as background for the new book. Each chapter will include photography from the 1970's and now. The photography will be produced with commentary on a CD. A separate primary and secondary school level study guide will be produced. An extensive effort will be made to present data on Vietnam to a proportional representation of the United States. Efforts are now being pursued to find a film crew to produce a documentary based upon the book.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface (International Personality)
1. Introduction: The Ecology of War; On Guilt, Responsibility and International Law; The Impact on the Geosphere, Biosphere, Humansphere*
2. Geosphere: Air, Land, Water - Photography
3. Biosphere: Species - Photography
4. Humansphere: Human Development - Photography
5. Conclusions: The Ecology of Peace - The Capacity to Recover and Heal
Bibliography
BOOK PRODUCTION SCHEDULE:
2002
International Vietnam Conference, Stockholm
Establish working relationships with the government of Vietnam
Begin interviews with experts
Seek Publisher and Financial support
2003
Visit to Vietnam
Visits to Kuwait, Afghanistan
Drafting
2004
Visit to Vietnam
Complete drafting, editing
To publisher
Early 2005
Publication
*The author is the Executive Director of the Violence Prevention Peace Promotion Strategy (VPPPS), and adjunct Professor at Roosevelt University teaching a six unit course on Global Violence, and in the Criminal Justice Department of the University of Illinois at Chicago. The tripartite approach to violence (Geocide, Biocide, Humancide), is elaborated in a work in progress, Preventing Violence, Promoting Peace (2003). The author has traveled and lectured worldwide on violence, and has a broad background in the issues of war and environment, beginning with attendance at the first Stockholm UN Conference on the Environment in 1970.
Enclosure: Contents from Ecocide in Indochina, 1970
ECOCIDE IN INDOCHINA: The Ecology of War
Barry Weisberg, Editor
Canfield Press, Harper and Row, San Francisco, 1970
Contents
Part 1: Introduction
On Ecocide, Barry Weisberg
Part 2: Overview
Ecocide in Indochina, Orville Schell and Barry Weisberg
On Genocide, Jean Paul Sartre
"On Withdrawal," Peter Dale Scott
From "Ecological Effects of the Vietnam War, E. W. Pfeiffer (with maps)
Part 3: The Earth Below: Destruction of the Living Landscape
"Leaf Abscission?" Ngo Vinh Long
They Shall Inherit the Earth, Malcolm Somerville
From Poisoning Plants for Peace, Arthur W. Westing
The Chemically Poisonous Product's Effects on Particular Agricultural Products
Starvation as a Weapon, Jean Mayer
What Have We Done to Vietnam? Robert E. Cook, William Haseltine, Arthur W. Galston
Part 4: The Spirit Within: The Destruction of a Culture
The Children of Vietnam, William F. Pepper
Cage for the Innocents, Orville Schell
From After Pinkville, Noam Chomsky
The Tragedy of Saigan, Francis Fitzgerald
How Not to Keep Them Down on the Farm, Don Ronk
Health and Death in Vietnam , Thomas Bodenheimer, M.D., and George Roth, M.D.
The Circle of Deception - Notes on Vietnam, Robert J. Lifton, M.D.
Automated War, Derek Schearer Note from Hard Times
Part 5-From the Other Side
"Our People Are a Wonder," Franz Schurmann
The National Liberation Front and the Transformation of Vietnamese Society, Mark Selden
The Bombing of Vietnam, Jon M. Van Dyke
Bibliography