The Reminder
Times In Life That We’re Reminded How Lucky We Truly Are
Yesterday I visited the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. It was a stark reminder of the awful things that humans are capable of doing to other humans. Whether they felt justified or morally correct in their actions, the time has made it clear that there is nothing justifiable or moral about the horrendous effects still suffered by many Vietnamese people today.
Without showing images, which you can find if you so wish, or can visit the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City yourself, I’ll explain what the after-effects of this brutal, unjust war are, and why these cycles continue to repeat themselves even today.
The Aftereffects of War
The Vietnam War itself spanned over a period of 20 years (1955-1975). Vietnam was split in two after the end of French rule in 1954 via the Geneva Conference after the First Indochina War. The North was ruled by Ho Chi Minh, and the South by Ngo Dinh Diem with financial and military support from the United States. The North was supported by the Soviet Union and China, and thus Vietnam suffered at the hands of the world’s major powers in a Cold War proxy war. An escalation occurred with direct U.S. military involvement in 1965, which lasted until their withdrawal in 1973.
The strategies of warfare used during the war enacted tremendous suffering and continue to today. Agent Orange, and other chemical agents featuring dioxin, one of the most toxic environmental pollutants in the world, were frequently used by U.S. forces. Entire forests that I travelled through on my train routes down Vietnam were chemically destroyed just a few short decades ago. War crimes were also frequently occurring, with even more coming out in the decades since the end of the war. I’d recommend you go and explore the after-effects yourself because they are despicable. It’s tough to see, and it should be because aggression at the hands of those nations with the most power in our world continues today.
Why War Persists
Any person explaining why violence occurs would turn immediately to psychology and human nature.
People form groups, and anybody outside of their group can be seen as an adversary. But our world today is so hyper-connected, that this doesn’t have to be the way. I’ve met people from all over the world on my travels, and we all share beautiful similarities. We’re all just trying to get by and make it through the day, preferably being as happy as possible while we do that. It’s unfortunate that some people around the world, who aren’t too different from you and I, don’t have the opportunity to live such a life.
Violence can also unfold as a consequence of fear and historical cycles. They can fuel retaliation, especially when the relationships of power between actors are realigned. If a less powerful actor becomes more powerful than an adversary who was previously stronger than them, they would look at history and wish to regain their previous position of strength. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan was a prime example of this.
If we dive further into the concept of power, it’s known that weaker actors resist domination, and stronger powers seek to maintain their strong position. Part of the Cycle of Empires and Power Transition Theory is that eventually, all geopolitical powers and their day in the sun cease to exist. This inevitability isn’t accepted by a strong ruling power, which will defend its position, often going as far as war in this pursuit.
There are many other reasons why violence persists in our world. War is profitable for the elites who possess power. The collective memory of the past can fuel future conflicts. Ideology can contribute to fighting and our weak global institutions don’t possess the power to stop it because the most powerful nations involved in these institutions essentially control them. Also in nations with weak domestic institutions, the fight for survival is more prevalent. Finally, irrational decisions can be made in miscalculating a decision to wage war, and a lack of effective deterrence against war ensures they continue to exist.
With so many reasons contributing to violence in our world, how can we ever escape such an awful cycle?
Modern Parallels
A modern-day example today is unfolding in the Middle East. The Gaza conflict has been restarted by Israel after the hostages have been released. The hostage releases are great news, of course, but now Israel, as the stronger nation, has been given an infinite rope by the United States and Donald Trump. Israel also has a permanent presence in Lebanon and has been launching attacks and taking territory in Syria since the fall of Assad. The fact that this isn’t discussed as much as it needs to be is a major injustice, and the system is flawed. Any nation incentivised to pursue war without repercussion is taking advantage of such a flawed system. We need systemic change, or we risk repeating this cycle forever. We possess the tools to do it, but with such power imbalances in the world, those who sit at the top of the tree are too selfish to see it.
Concluding Remarks
It was a haunting experience to see that humanity is capable of doing such awful things to each other. Please check out more of this for yourselves, and always keep it in the back of your mind as you go about your day, others aren’t so lucky. This is an incredible injustice when there is enough to go around in the world, but we continue to operate under multiple flawed systems. It’s time to pursue such systemic change and those of us in lucky positions need to recognise how lucky we truly are and contribute to such change in any way we can.