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From The Militant, Vol. X No. 23, 8 June 2021, p. 3.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
Siam has appealed to the United Nations for assistance in the face of aggression from French imperialism. On May 24 France threw troops into Siamese territory while pursuing 20.000 Annamese guerrilla soldiers who have been fighting for the independence of IndoChina. Supported by planes, tanks and artillery, French troops invaded Siam and looted the Mekong River village of Noug Kai.
Last March 6 the French signed an agreement with the Indo-Chinese which offered them some limited and unspecified form of self-government while conceding to French occupation and exploitation. The guerrilla fighters of the Viet Nam Republic rejected this pact and took to the hills to prepare last ditch struggles for full independence. It is against these heroic fighters that the French have been continuing their undeclared war for the past three months.
Viet Nam headquarters have charged, according to the May 27 Christian Science Monitor, that the French are conducting a reign of terror, massacring and machine-gunning civilians from the air, pillaging and burning defenseless villages.
The territory now in question originally belonged to Siam. It was seized by the French imperialists, but during the war Siam regained it from the Vichy government.
Siamese hospitality to retreating Viet Nam troops is based upon the recognition that the
two colonial peoples have a common stake in the struggle against imperialism. Siamese Prime Minister Pridi Phanomojong, according to the May 28 Christian Science Monitor, declared early this month:
“France today is trying to return to her colonial glory. She is convinced she can do it, and she is certainly trying hard enough. She wants the immediate return of four provinces we got back in 1941. We are still talking about the whole thing in Saigon, through a preparatory peace mission which we sent to Indo-China early in April. Apparently the French prefer bullets to words. They talk louder.”
The French capitalists have received a green light from Wall Street in their drive to re-establish their empire. Early this year the U.S. State Department announced that it would refuse to recognize Siamese sovereignty over territory recovered during the war.
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Last updated on 22 June 2021