"The victory of Dien Bien Phu is the victory of all colonial peoples"

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory (1954-2024), French historian Alain Ruscio had a conversation with a VNA reporter in France, emphasizing the historical value of this event to this day.

Mr. Ruscio was a correspondent for the French newspaper L'Humanité (Humanity) in Vietnam and is the author of many research works on the French colonial period in Indochina and the Indochina War.

He has published many books about Dien Bien Phu such as "The French Indochina War", "Vo Nguyen Giap, a life", "Dien Bien Phu - Legend and reality...".

Historian Ruscio said that when President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945, he successfully combined the power of patriotism and the people's desire to escape from French colonialism, as well as the social aspiration in which socialism is the embodiment.

In the context of many conflicts happening in the world today, Mr. Ruscio affirmed that the lessons from the Dien Bien Phu campaign still have historical value. He said that behind every war are nations that always reject violent solutions, so if we only use force, or military power, we can never win.

He emphasized: "Dien Bien Phu still has historical significance when it says that a united nation, a nation that does not accept oppression, will always find a way, even though it may encounter many difficulties and obstacles."

According to Mr. Ruscio, during the colonial period, there were always French people who stood up against the colonial regime and against the oppressive acts against the Vietnamese people, as well as the Cambodian and Lao people.

Examples include Gabriel Péri, a member of the French Communist Party, who came to Vietnam in 1934 to protest the war in Vietnam, journalists Andree Viollis, Romain Rolland, Henri Barbusse, who founded the Committee to Protect Indochina Prisoners...

During Vietnam's resistance war against America, many French people expressed their opposition to the American invasion of Vietnam.

In 1966, General de Gaulle in Phnom Penh denounced American intervention in the region and said that the Americans would never succeed in bringing the people of Indochina to their knees. Historian Ruscio argues that all of this has created a very special relationship between France and Vietnam 70 years after the victory at Dien Bien Phu.

According to VNA/Vietnam+

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