February 10, 2024
Statement on the 56th Anniversary of The Tet Offensive
On this Lunar New Year, we are called to remember one of the most significant events in the Vietnam War, “The Tet Offensive,” which not only reshaped the course of the conflict but also proved that American imperialism could be defeated. The military campaign, launched by Northern Vietnamese forces in 1968 during the Tet holiday, was a coordinated assault on multiple targets in South Vietnam. A bold and unexpected move, the offensive caught the United States and its allies off guard, weakening their grip on Vietnam and southeast Asia more broadly.
In the years leading up to the Tet Offensive, the United States had militarily occupied Vietnam and spearheaded a war that exacted a heavy toll on the Vietnamese people. The administration of Lyndon B. Johnson, buoyed by a propaganda campaign of false optimism, sought to convince the American public that victory was within reach. However, the Tet Offensive shattered this illusion of the US empire’s invincibility. The offensive demonstrated that Vietnamese revolutionaries were not only highly organized and capable of engaging in advanced forms of guerrilla warfare, but also that they were capable of shaping and controlling their own political narrative and destiny.
Although the offensive fell short of fully liberating the South from foreign occupation, it resulted in a number of major US military losses, including takedowns of military command centers and the US embassy in Vietnam. Many cite the Tet Offensive as having played an important role in weakening the American public’s support for the US’ policy in Vietnam, and marking the beginning of the end of the war. Just a year later, after Nixon assumed the presidency, the US began to withdraw its troops steadily for 7 years until the end of the US occupation of Vietnam in 1975.
The Tet Offensive serves as a powerful reminder of how organized resistance can propel an oppressed nation forward to liberation. Just as the Vietnamese fought bravely for their independence, Palestinians today are organizing and fighting back against Western imperialism and Zionist aggression. From Vietnam to Palestine, the struggle for freedom and national self-determination