History of VPCC, Webinar List

 [Revised and updated September 26, 2024]

VPCC came into being in 2014 as a response to the Pentagon's effort to commemorate its version of the war.  A letter of protest drafted by Tom Hayden, David Cortright and John McAuliff attracted 1529 signers.  It was featured in the New York Times twice, initially as a page 1 story.

This led to a conference in Washington at the end of April 2015, the 40th anniversary of the end of the war.  Some 700 Vietnam activists spend an intense day and a half together at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church with a culminating march to the Martin Luther King memorial.

Virtually all aspects of the anti-war movement were reviewed in plenaries, mini-plenaries and workshops.  All of the proceedings were videotaped professionally or semi-professionally and posted on a VPCC youtube channel here where they continue to be viewed. 

  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjWWd2MxBTRq6XZTXqzXAeQ/videos

At the memorial for Tom Hayden, VPCC was reborn with an agenda of highlighting significant aspects and anniversaries of the anti-war movement.  It's goal was to follow-through on the charge sounded by Tom at the 2015 conference.

The 1965-75 peace movement reached a scale which threatened the foundations of the American social order, making it an inspirational model for future social movements and a nightmare which elites ever since have hoped to wipe from memory. It’s far simpler, after all, to incorporate into the American Story a chapter about a social movement overcoming discrimination than the saga of a failed war in which tens of thousands of Americans died while killing others.

VPCC organized a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on the Pentagon and of the first mass collections of draft cards in October 20-21, 2017.  A vigil at the Pentagon was held and a conference was organized in Washington that culminated with a walk to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  Part of the conference was shown on C-SPAN and the balance of the program can be seen on our youtube channel.   

VPCC was represented in My Lai on March 17, 2018 for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the massacre and organized a simultaneous vigil at the White House.

We also began our effort to elevate Martin Luther King's Riverside Church speech on April 4, 2018, as the visionary link between peace, racial justice and economic equity.

VPCC honored the 50th anniversary of the Moratorium and Mobilization with a November 13, 2019 panel at George Washington University and a vigil at the White House.

Plans to collaborate in observance of the killings at Jackson State were cancelled because of Covid. 

Because of Covid VPCC reoriented itself to the creation of zoom programs,  29 to date.  

The culminating successful stage of the anti-war movement from the fall of 1971 to the end of the war in 1975 may be the least known because its focus and means of work changed substantially.  

Left unspoken at the moment is how to address the twenty year period of post-war work for normalization, remove the UN seat from the Khmer Rouge and address war legacies.

-- John McAuliff  

Coordinator, VPCC     

     

VPCC Webinars "The Women: Our Impact on the Vietnam Antiwar Movement"  Presented on September 19, 2024   Leslie Cagan, Le Anh Tu Packard, Vivian Rothstein, Cora Weiss,  Linda Yarr  For speaker bios and registration link, click here    https://vnpeacecomm.blogspot.com/2024/09/women-and-antiwar-movement.html "The Indochina Mobile Education Project:  Education and Activism at the Grass Roots" Presented on July 23, 2024 Brewster Rhoads, Moderator, Massachusetts host for IMEP team; Willi Meyers, Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri; Sally Benson, national staff, IMEP; Jacqui Chagnon, traveling speaker, IMEP; Bob Chenoweth, former POW; traveling speaker, IMEP; Judy Danielson, Colorado host for IMEP team  Click here for speaker bios andyoutube video.  https://vnpeacecomm.blogspot.com/2024/07/grass-roots-education-by-imep.html "Humanitarian Volunteers Contribution to Ending the Vietnam War" Presented on June 24, 2024  Doug Hostetter Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Ann Wright-Parsons International Voluntary Services (IVS), Earl Martin Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Claudia Krich American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Bill Herod Church World Service / Viet Nam Christian Service (CWS/VNCS), John Balaban International Voluntary Services (IVS), Committee of Responsibility (COR)  For speaker bios and youtube video link, click here  https://vnpeacecomm.blogspot.com/2024/05/role-in-antiwar-movement-of.html  "Research and Education to End the Vietnam War" Presented on April 10, 2024   Linda Yarr, Committee of Concerned Asia Scholars; Beverley Gologorsky, Viet Report; David Marr, Indochina Resource Center; Bill Goodfellow, Indochina Resource Center; Martha Winnacker, Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars; Le Anh Tu Packard, National Action Research into the Military Industrial Complex  For the youtube video of the program, click here and share the URL  https://youtu.be/LrS2z3jFT1k  For speaker bios and resources, click here and share the URL  https://vnpeacecomm.blogspot.com/2024/03/research-and-education-to-end-war.html "Films of the GI Antiwar Resistance" Presented on November 29, 2024  Jane Fonda and Holly Near, FTA; David Zeiger, Sir, No Sir  For the video of the webinar, click here. Share the URL https://youtu.be/7DamRI2FZ9g For speaker bios, click here. Share the URL https://vnpeacecomm.blogspot.com/2023/10/civilian-support-for-gi-resistance.html  “Thank You for Your Service (for Peace)” Presented on November 9, 2024  Recalling the tens of thousands of service members who opposed war and militarism and the civilians who supported them. J.J. Johnson, Susan Schnall, John Kent, Kathy Gilberd, Paul Lauter For the youtube video of the webinar, click here Share the URL https://youtu.be/OsIGNbs0uZQ  For speaker bios, click here. Share the URL https://vnpeacecomm.blogspot.com/2023/10/civilian-support-for-gi-resistance.html  "50 Years Ago: The Actual End of US Combat"  The Forgotten US Exit from the Vietnam War, August 15, 1973, when the U.S. dropped its last bombs over Cambodia and ended active military engagement. Speakers: Elizabeth Becker; John H. (Jack) Sullivan; Larry Levin; Arnold R. Isaacs, moderator  Youtube video link here, speaker bios and resources here. "The Movement and the 'Madman':  Educators and Organizers Guide" Presented on March 5, 2023  Stephen Talbot; Dr. Michael Doyle; Dr. Carolyn (Rusti) Eisenberg; Robert Levering  Speaker bios and youtube link here  youtube video here  "Ending the 'American War': Promises, Realities and Impact of the U.S. Peace Movement"   Presented on December 11, 2022 Carolyn (Rusti) Eissenberg, Arnold (Skip) Isaacs  moderated by Paul Lauter, author of "Our Sixties" . See speaker bios and youtube link by clicking here . "They Who Sang to End the War 2  A Black Music Response"  Presented on December 5, 2022  Holly Near and Linda Tillery moderated by Crys Mathews  Click here for bios and resources and directly on youtube for the video recording. "Citizens’ Responsibility for Confronting and Remembering the Crimes of War" Presented on November 20, 2022. While the public, the press and government officials debate holding Russia responsible for its war crimes in Ukraine, it is appropriate to reflect on the history of US war crimes in Indochina that led to the Redress campaign of civil disobedience. Richard Falk, Robert Jay Lifton, Cora Weiss and Doug Hostetter. Moderated by Carolyn (Rusti) Eisenberg. See speaker bios, resources and youtube link by clicking here. "They Who Sang to End the War 1"   Presented on November 7. 2022  Peter Yarrow, Reggie Harris and Sonny Ochs moderated by Heather Booth  A moving recollection of how activists and singers strengthened each other to bring peace, with special attention to Phil Ochs and Peter, Paul & Mary. Click here for bios and here for youtube video

"Women and the Draft"  Presented on September 27, 2021   Edward Hasbrouck, Robert Levering, Rivera Sun, Kara Dixon Vuic, Lawrence Wilkerson For speaker bios, resources & youtube link, click here

"Afghanistan, Vietnam and Cambodia"   Presented on September 13, 2021  Bruce Franklin, Doug Hostetter, Arnold Isaacs, Laura Jedeed, Paul Lauter and Ben Kiernan For speaker bios, resources & youtube link, click here.

"The 50th anniversary of the Release of the Pentagon Papers"   Presented on June 13, 2021  Special attention to the contribution of Anthony Russo; Dan Ellsberg,  Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, Gar Alperovitz, Barbara Myers For the program, speaker bios, resources and youtube links, click here

"April 30, 1975: The Day the War Ended"   Presented on April 30, 2021  Eyewitness accounts with photos from Hanoi by John McAuliff, representing the American Friends Service Committee and the Indochina Peace Campaign, and from Saigon by Nayan Chanda, reporting for the Far Eastern Economic Review, and Claudia Krich, AFSC Resident Co-director Program information and speaker bios here Watch the Youtube video of the zoom by clicking here.

"Mayday Then and Now"  Presented on April 29, 2021A VPCC webinar with organizers and writers remembering and reflecting on the 50th anniversary of the historic Mayday civil disobedience demonstrations and mass arrests of 12,000. For program, speaker bios, resources and video link, click here Watch the video here.

"The Historic Vietnam Veterans Protest in Washington: Lessons for Today"  Presented on April 26, 2021 The 50th anniversary of Dewey Canyon III Program link here. Video link here.

"Peoples Peace Treaty 2: The Vietnam Dimension" Presented on April 19/20, 2021 Speakers who were part of meetings between Vietnamese and US students in Saigon and Hanoi; previously unknown history. Two country video on youtube here; program and speakers bios here

"Martin Luther King, Jr.: Beyond Vietnam / Breaking the Silence" Presented on April 4, 2021HD video link for international reading of the Riverside Church address and panel on current implications in English and Spanish, coalition updates, click here International reading only; on Vimeo, click here  Reading and panel, original zoom broadcast on VPCC youtube channel, click here  Bios of panel speakers, click here

"Religious Action for Peace and Justice"   Presented on March 22, 2021 On youtube here. Program and bios are here. Terry Provance, Doug Hostetter, Rev. Dick Fernandez, Rev. Carol Jensen, Rabbi David Saperstein,  Marie Dennis, Rev. Canon Petero A. N. Sabune

"The Whistleblower of My Lai"   Presented on March 16, 2021  John McAuliff, Howard Jones, Lawrence Wilkerson, Connie Field, Jonathan Berger, David Harrington, Van-Anh Vo  youtube here. Program, bios, resources and a link to watch the film are here.

"Peoples Peace Treaty 1: U.S. organization and implementation"   Presented on February 27, 2021 On youtube here. Program, bios, Treaty text and other resources are here.

"Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8"    Presented on November 20, 2020 with film maker Jeremy Kagan. For program, speaker bios, resources and youtube link, click here.

"The Trial of the Chicago 7"   Presented on October 23, 2020  Defendants and family members speak on the Democratic Convention protest, the trial and the movie by Aaron Sorkin. For program, speaker bios, resources and youtube link, click here.

"Non-violence and civil disobedience"    Presented on October 18, 2020 Civil Rights, May Day and anti war movement, Black Lives Matter, Women's issues, Labor, Environment, Post election democracy defense. Click here for program, resources and youtube link

"Normalization of relations between the US and Vietnam" Presented on July 6, 7 and 13, 2020 Reflections on the 25th Anniversary of Normalization from the Ground Up in Both Countries, The Contribution of NGOs and Peoples Organizations from 1975 to 1995 For program, speakers and youtube links, click here

"50th Anniversaries of the National Student Strike, Kent State, Jackson State and the Chicano Moratorium"   Presented on May 9 and 16, 2020 For the program, speaker bios, resources and youtube links, click here

"The War Comes Home: Moratorium and Mobilization, 1969" Presented on November 13, 2019 A panel at George Washington University on the 50th anniversary of the largest peace demonstration in US history For program, speaker bios, resources and youtube link, click here.

"Vietnam: The Power of Protest"

The 2015 VPCC conference in Washington is the only first person broad assessment of the antiwar movement undertaken to date. Videos can be seen here:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjWWd2MxBTRq6XZTXqzXAeQ

A 50 minute video based on interviews conducted at the 2015 conference was produced by Activist Video Archive. It and the complete interviews of 43 participants can be seen here

The site also includes videos from the October 2017 conference in Washington, "From Protest to Resistance" on the 50th anniversary of the March on the Pentagon except for the first half which is on C-SPAN for session one here and session two here.