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p Women’s democratic organisations have it hardest where, as a consequence of the country’s participation in imperialist blocs, it actually remains in a state of dependence from imperialism.

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p Grave trials fell to the lot of Southeast Asian countries which found themselves dependent on the USA and other imperialist powers both economically and politically.

p The people of Japan, Thailand and other Asian countries on whose territory the USA maintain their military bases live in a state of constant alarm and tension.

p Indeed, how can the mothers of Japan and other insular countries in Southeast Asia sleep in peace when more than 35 major military bases and installations, set up mainly during the escalation of the war in Indochina, are located on their territory?

p For many long years the women of South Vietnam, together with all the patriotic forces in the country, put up a heroic fight against the aggression of American imperialism. A great role in enlisting the broad masses of women for the struggle belonged to the Union of Women for the Liberation of South Vietnam which united all those dedicated to the cause of their country’s salvation, irrespective of their class affiliation, religion, nationality, party membership and political views.

p The chairman of the Union is Nguyen Thi Binh, deputy Commander-in-Chief of the South Vietnam Popular Liberation Army.

p The Union worked under the guidance of the National Front of Liberation of South Vietnam. Branches of the Union were opened not only on liberated territory but also in towns and villages which were controlled by American troops and puppet authorities.

p Members of the Union were involved in the national liberation struggle: they served in the people’s militia and the Popular Liberation 270 Army, they were active in the guerrilla movement, did political work among the soldiers of the puppet army behind the enemy lines. In regions controlled by the patriotic forces, the Union raised the women to take part in various democratic reforms.

p The First Congress of the Union (March 1965) in an appeal to the women belonging to all the sections of the population of South Vietnam called on them to help with the political and propaganda work among the puppet troops, to enlarge the membership by admitting the mothers of soldiers and guerrillas, and to endeavour to make theirs a model family so as to form the basis on which to build the future society in South Vietnam. Present at the Congress were about two hundred representatives of all the sections of the population. The delegates were all women—soldiers of the People’s Liberation Armed Forces, guerrillas, officers of the people’s militia, industrial workers, peasants, the fnstermothers of soldiers and guerrillas, and women from the occupied regions.

p Women who took an immediate part in the armed struggle against the aggressors wore taught at the regular military school for women which trained soldiers for the People’s Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam. These women commanded resistance groups, and performed the duties of messengers, scouts, and nurses. In the spring of 1968, when the all-out offensive was launched, a great number of women from different regions joined guerrilla units and detachments of the people’s militia in response to the appeal by the National Front of Liberation of South Vietnam. Scorning danger and undaunted by the bombs dropped by American planes, they kept 271 the guerrillas and the soldiers of the PLA provided with ammunition and food.

p There are known facts of unarmed women with babies in their arms stopping tank columns, covering the muzzles of guns with their bodies, and heroically obstructing punitive operations.

p South Vietnamese women marched in demonstrations in defence of their people’s fundamental rights, against oppression and exploitation, and demanded that the aggression be stopped and the puppet authorities overthrown in South Vietnam.

p The people of Vietnam highly acclaim the heroism of her women, many of whom have laid down their lives in the war against the American aggressors and their hirelings.

p The name of Le Thi-Rieng is known far beyond Vietnam. She was a member of the Central Committee of the National Front of Liberation of South Vietnam, and vice-chairman of the Union of Women for the Liberation of South Vietnam. Le Thi-Rieng had devoted her entire life to the struggle for the freedom and independence of her country, and for the emancipation of women. She was active in the Resistance movement against the French colonialists (1945). In the 1950s, together with other patriots, she carried on important work among the women in the south of the country, organising them for active protest against the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem, for peace, democracy and the unification of the country. In May 1967, Le Thi-Rieng was arrested during the performance of an important assignment. She was tortured and murdered together with other patriots on January 31, 1968, in Saigon. The brutality of the act evoked the indignation and protest not just of the 272 Vietnamese people, hul of world public opinion as well. The name of Le Thi-Rieng has become a symbol of fortitude and dedication to the great ideals of freedom and democracy.

p Today, the women of the Republic of South Vietnam are doing their share in rehabilitating the towns and villages ruined in the war, in building schools and medical centres, and seiflessly working in industry and agriculture. They also play a large role in governmental bodies—they comprise from 15 to 40 per cent of the deputies to the people’s councils and committees of liberation in the provinces and districts.

p There are women in the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. Nguyen Thi Binh is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who also headed the delegation of the Provisional Revolutionary Government at the quadripartite talks on the peaceful settlement of the Vietnamese problem. In recognition of Nguyen Thi Binh’s services in the struggle against the American aggression, she has been awarded the International Lenin Prize "For the Promotion of Peace Among Nations" in 1968. Under the leadership of Nguyen Thi Binh, the Union of Women for the Liberation of South Vietnam is doing valuable organisational and educational work among the female population of the south of the country.

p Women are speaking out more and more resolutely at massive meetings, demonstrations and manifestations in Japan and other countries of Asia against setting up military bases on foreign territories, knocking together aggressive military-political blocs and imposing puppet regimes on the peoples in several countries.

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p Korean women are waging a determined struggle for the withdrawal of American troops from the south of their country, thus helping to realise the desire of the en I ire Korean people for a peaceful reunification of their motherland. Women in Asia warmly approve of the initiative taken by the Government of the Korean People’s Democratic Republic in concluding an agreement between the North and the South. This action will help to ease the tension in the relations between the two parts of the artilicially divided country, to re-establish national contacts, and prevent armed conflicts.

p Together with all the world progressive forces, women’s democratic organisations welcomed the agreement concluded in Simla between India and Pakistan as an important step towards strengthening peace in Hindustan. Elimination of tension, establishment of a stable peace in Asian countries meets the vital interest of the peoples in that area and is the main condition for their social and economic development.

p That is why the idea of forming a system of collective security in Asia is finding more and more support. The governments and progressive public opinion of some Asian countries firmly declare that security in Asia must be achieved through the good-neighbourly cooperation between all countries that are interested in their peaceful development, rather than through the policy of military blocs and groupings and setting one state against the other.

p Many women’s organisations enthusiastically support the efforts of the Soviet Union and all socialist countries to assist and support the governments in achieving this noble aim and establishing a just and lasting peace in Asia.

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p Women arc beginning to realise more and more clearly the need lo light against the attempts of imperialism lo maintain the aggressive blocs and military bases in Ibis part, of I,he world, and to prevent the Indian Ocean from becoming a zone of peace. In India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries the movement of protest against the atteinpts of the Pentagon to turn the Diego Garcia Atoll into a mighty US naval base is assuming an increasingly wider scope.

p In this situation it is extremely important to further purposeful political education activities and organisational work among the broad sections of Asian women. The WIDF is playing a major role in this work.

p The World Congress of Women held in Helsinki in 1969 on the initiative of the WIDF demonstrated its profound understanding of the vital interests of Asia’s women. The Congress, attended by delegates from most of the Asian countries, announced its full solidarity with the struggle of Asian women against colonialism, and for their rights.

p In the autumn of 1971, jointly with UNESCO the WIDF arranged a seminar in Delhi for the women’s organisations in Asian countries on the elimination of illiteracy among the female population. This acute problem is of equal concern for all the women in this part of the world. In proposing this seminar the WIDF was motivated by the confidence that common aims and common tasks in defence of women’s rights would favourably influence the development of the international democratic women’s movement and further the consolidation of women’s democratic organisations in Asia’s young states.

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The WIDF and its national organisations are helping women’s democratic organisations in Asia to light resolutely against the forces of reaction which are in every way obstructing the consolidation of the movement’s unity and the enhancement of its role in the national liberation and anti-imperialist movement.