"Life Is Hell"

Second thoughts on Viet Nam

The full-page ad that appeared in five major dailies last week recalled the impassioned antiwar protests of the 1960s. Only this time the target of the former activists was not the U.S. but the North Vietnamese regime that many of the protesters used to defend. The ad accused the Communist state of arresting, imprisoning and torturing thousands of innocent Vietnamese: "For many, life is hell and death is prayed for."

Chief organizer of the protest was Folk Singer Joan Baez, who sent a letter to 350 onetime activists and celebrities asking them to sign the ad. Among the 84 who did: Daniel Berrigan, Cesar Chavez, Allen Ginsberg, I.F. Stone, William Styron. Others, however, turned down Baez on the grounds that they suspected the accuracy of the reporting out of Viet Nam or that they still could not forgive the U.S. for its role in the war. Jane Fonda would not sign even after a personal appeal from Baez. William Kunstler, perennial attorney for underdog litigants reportedly explained his refusal: "I do noi believe in public attacks on socialist countries, even where violations of human rights may occur."

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