[Draft Page in preparation. Please click your browser Reload each time you visit this page.]

CANLF- is short for the U.S. Committee to Aid the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam.

Started in 1965 and later changed to ISC or Indochina Solidarity Committee in 1973 and closed in 1975 after the end of the war.

This section will include primarily the work of CANLF that I and others started in 1965.

I will also put some of the documents from the early days of the anti-war movement; against the US war against Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia.

These collections are still in preparation. Please attribute accurately if you use in any fashion.

* I have also started a Flickr Group of more photos of the CANLF and ask people who were active back then to add their comments and invite people who may have additional information:

www.flickr.com/photos/wdt3/collections/72157635362932449/

  Walter in 1965 in Washington DC with NLF flag.

U.S. Committee to Aid the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (USCANLFSVN or CANLF).

Introduction to formation of USCANLFSVN which later changed its name to Indochina Solidarity Committee (ISC).

 

This support group was formed April 1965 for two reasons; one public and one strategic.

  • The public reason was to make sure there was at least one group that called for understanding and even political support for the Vietnamese resistance. To do this, we participated in national and local demonstrations and distributed information on the liberation struggle in the South of Viet Nam and the historical defense of Vietnam for its national sovereignty and independence in the face of the U.S. war.
  • The second, specifically strategic purpose was to make it easier for Americans to turn against the war. Remember, at the beginning of this war, average Americans had been led to fear and hate the Vietnamese communists as a threat to "our boys." As long as Americans felt threatened, they were unlikely to be persuaded by the moral or other objections of the traditional peace forces.

See Introduction for a more detailed explanation of why the committee was formed.

Index to the CANLF Docs at right:

The documents and other materials below are from the USCANLFSVN and ISC are provided by Walter Teague.

From time to time, additional information, documents and photographs of the group during these years will be added.

Photo Collection of CANLF 1965-75

Videos of CANLF and other anti-war activities.

Vietnamese Films

The committee obtained a number of films made in Vietnam during the war years. We distributed them across the US and showed them in film showings with other progressive anti-war films. Unfortunately at the termination of CANLF, the films were taken and ultimately deposited with the NYU Library in New York City. They have not yet been found. Here are two catalogs and there are many leaflets from our showings in the listings below:

Vietnamese Film Catalog 1969 - Vietnamese Film Catalog 1971

  1. CANLF Docs 1965.pdf
  2. CANLF Docs 1966.pdf
  3. CANLF Docs 1967.pdf
  4. CANLF Docs 1968.pdf
  5. CANLF Docs 1969.pdf
  6. CANLF Docs 1970.pdf
  7. CANLF Docs 1971.pdf
  8. CANLF Docs 1972.pdf
  9. CANLF Docs 1973.pdf
  10. CANLF Docs 1974.pdf
  11. CANLF Docs 1975.pdf
  12. CANLF Docs 1976.pdf

Photo Collection of CANLF 1965-75

CANLF in Montreal

Confronting the Warmakers - From the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon! - October 21, 1967Revolutionary Contingent starts march to the Pentagon, Oct. 21, 1967.

[This page will be updated shortly and more information on Nguyen Van Luy and the 1967 Pentagon demonstration added.]

This major demonstration led by Mobilization drew many different groups. CANLF sponsored the presence of the first Vietnamese-American speaker at national U.S. demonstration against the war. Photos.

Mr. Nguyen Van Luy was at that time the leader of the Union of Vietnamese in the US and later became President of the Association of Patriotic Vietnamese in the US. Later still he was elected a member of the 5th Term Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front in the unified Vietnam. When CANLF proposed he speak, the Mobilization organizers wanted to check his credentials and see a copy of his speech. Having a long history of fighting for peace in Vietnam, first with the US OSS in World War II and later as an American citizen, he and his speech of two pages was accepted. Sadly, the organizers seem to have gotten scared and saying there wasn't enough time, cut off his mike before he could read page 2. An insult to a fine man and the Vietnamese-American peace movement, for which they not apologized as of 2015.

We will add more about him and his great work. But here is a copy of that speech and later information. Speech by Mr. Nguyen Van Luy, Oct. 21, 1967, Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC.

In 1975, as the war was coming to an end, an outside group tried to take over the committee and the split resulted in an unpleasant conflict for the New York City peace movement. Some of the people involved have apologized years later.  

1975 End of the committee following a split caused by the RU

Contact Walter Teague if you wish to see the documents on the RU split.. Email wteague @ Verizon.net

Back to other pages:    
Vietnam History Page   A page with some of Walter Teague's links to materials on the U.S. war on Viet Nam and the US anti-war movement.
Anti-war Demonstrations, Some stories and photos from earlier anti-war demonstrations.   The subject is vast and this is just an initial page with some events. More will be added in coming months.
CANLF   CANLF is sort for US Committee to Aid the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam.
Home Page - Home page of RedandGreen.org
 

VAVA
Healing the Wounds of the U.S. War on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia
Agent Orange Tour in the US 2005

Updated: February 5, 2019