From: Tom Parsons:
Re: Linda Evans MA Research-Vietnam
Dear Michael,
Linda Evans is considered to be a
political prisoner. I have worked with
her on academic matters for a
considerable period and was able to
facilitate her BA completion process
through the Weekend College division
of New College. Linda is known for being
a member of the first American
delegation that went to North Vietnam
early in that conflict. She was
involved in the initial formation of the
SDS and was involved in some ways
with the underground movement attempting
to alter US foreign policy as it
pertained to Vietnam in the sixties as
well as efforts to address injustice
based on racism and homophobia. She
entered a plea where she took the
punishment for a bombing in Washington
DC
that she was not actually a part of so
that a man who was part of that
incident was able to avoid long term
incarceration. He was afflicted by
cancer and Linda decided to extend for
his benefit. That extension was not
based on romantic interludes as she is
homosexual.
The case is complicated. She lived
underground for years. At one point
she managed to be accepted within the
Texas division of the Klu Klux Clan.
She was successful in determining Klan
plans to attack a lesbian center in
Texas. Eventually she was discovered and
was then underground to avoid Klan
retribution as well as incarceration for
her politically illegal acts in
the view of the US government. It was in
this context she was caught
illegally purchasing three hand-guns
leading to conviction of 30 years by
a Louisiana judge. That same judge,
years later, wrote a letter to the
Parole Commission stating his punishment
was excessive and recommended she
be released on parole. That letter of
support was based, at least in part,
on my letter detailing her BA completion
process. The Parole Board
representative actually did not consider
any of the letters in her support
including one from the former Secretary
of State, Ramsey Clark, and a large
number of congress and senate
representatives who signed a letter in
her
support a few years back. Currently her
case is being considered by Clinton
along with others that are considered on
the somewhat far left to be
political prisoners like the AIM leader,
Leonard Pelliter. Clinton somewhat
recently released a number of Puerto
Rico Independence advocates several of
whom were close friends of Linda and at
the same correctional facility in
Dublin. She does have access to
exceptionally effective legal counsel.
Nonetheless it is difficult to gain
parole.
In any case, she is now engaged in
completing a MA thesis through CSU
Northridge which is the same college
that has been facilitating the MA
program for Amia Abu Jamal. I have read
most all of the work she has
submitted and think her research and
logic is strong. I also think she
could learn to write in a less passioned
manner, at times, in order to
maintain the focus of the reader on the
logic being presented rather than
the political position of the author.
She is very well informed about
contemporary history of Mexico
particularly since the US/IMF
intervention
in the early nineties, work done as part
of her approved directed studies.
Also accomplished is an extended
examination of recent developments
involving structural adjustment
(IMF/World Bank) and the World Trade
Organization. She has a pretty extensive
support group, but I also know she
has not been able to obtain good
information about the questions, I will
get to below, she is attempting to
address. She has read Kolko's work on
Vietnam and also has obtained a lot of
World Band and IMF publications
concerning the period when the IMF begin
interactions with Vietnam after
1986. In general I think she is pretty
well informed about recent
political-economic history of Vietnam
although there is so much to know.
Do you or any of your colleagues have
sources in the form of books,
periodicals, or web sites that might be
informative concerning the
following questions:
1. The general economic history of
Vietnam from 1975 through 1986. What,
in particular, accounts for the level of
international debt accumulated
over that period.
* Is there a source that
clarifies the causes and extent of
international debt cumulated over that
period.
* Linda has Kolko's Vietnam: An
Anatomy of Peace as well as Kenneth
Post's Revolution, Socialism and
Nationalism in Vietnam Post, Ken.
Winning
the War and Losing the Peace and Wolff,
Peter. Vietnam-The Incomplete
Transformation and several other such
sources. She is also attempting to
determine the value and availability of
the following:
* Gough, Kathleen.
Political Economy in Vietnam. Berkeley:
Folklore Institute, 1990.
* Marr, David and
Christine White. Postwar Vietnam:
Dilemmas in Socialist Development.
* Seibel, Hans Dieter.
The Making of a Market Economy:
Monetary Reform, Economic Transformation
and Rural Finance in Vietnam
* Socialist Republic of
Vietnam. Hanoi, 1993. Vietnam: A
Developmental Perspective (Main document
prepared for the Paris Donor
Conference, 1993.
* Tri, Vo Nhan.
Socialist Vietnam's Economy 1975-1985:
An
Assessment. VRF Series No. 139. Taylor
Institute of Developing Economies,
1987. (Does this refer to Frederick
Taylor?)
In general, are there other books,
sources that Evans should attempt to
obtain through her network or that might
even be provided for her that
could provide deeper insights concerning
the transition to market reforms
and subsequent collapse or retrenchment
of collective-based social
services. Additional Areas of Concern
include the following:
2. What was the official and
un-official rationale for US opposition
to
the entry of Vietnam within Cambodia.
3. Where and what was the results of an
IMF meeting concerning Vietnam that
took place sometime in 1976.
4. Since IMF/World Bank intervention in
1993 what has been the impact on
Vietnam's international debt burden and
the current repayment burden.
Any assistance concerning sources would
be deeply appreciated.
Respectfully,
Tom Parsons
New College of California
(415) 437-3419 (w) (415) 584-6458(h)
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
