Bà Ngô Bá Thành (áo đen) cùng các ni cô tịnh xá Ngọc Phương trong một cuộc biểu tình ngồi trước Hạ nghị viện Sài Gòn năm 1972 (nay là Nhà hát TP)
Bà Ngô Bá Thành (áo đen) cùng các ni cô tịnh xá Ngọc Phương trong một cuộc biểu tình ngồi trước Hạ nghị viện Sài Gòn năm 1972 (nay là Nhà hát TP)
The author describes how from the very beginning, Mme Thanh’s absolute priority was to the cause. Her studies and field trips in Europe, United States and the Soviet Union, led to the award of more than a dozen degrees and honours which gave her a unique insight into the law and its application across the world and in Vietnam. It also enabled her to build a network of internationally recognized and respected scholars, lawyers and academics who would later play such an important role in her life.
Lawyer Ngo Ba Thanh returned from France with her family to South Vietnam in the early ’60s and, faced with the reality of war, she soon became active in the peace movement. Mme Thanh gave up her comfortable life as the Dean of Saigon Comparative Law School to become a militant, joining in the people’s struggle in the city to end the war. Recognizing also the necessity of international support, Mme Thanh rallied support from various American groups and signed a treaty with the Women’s International League For Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
Patriotism, the right of self-determination of the Vietnamese people and justice were convictions shared by all different political factions in their fight for national liberation. By founding the Woman’s Movement For the Right To Live, she was able to gather women from all different strata including ordinary people from 36 district markets – calling upon them to protest in the streets together with the Buddhist nuns and students. Imprisonment, house arrest and loss of position convinced Mme Thanh that a woman can be a mother and a wife but only if she is first, a free citizen of an independent country. Thanks to the solidarity shown by supporters in Vietnam and across the world, Mme Thanh was freed and soon recognized as the leader of the Third Political Force.
The author explains how Mme Thanh progressed from being an academic, a lawyer, through peace activist, to become leader of a woman’s political force and how, after hostilities ended, she became for almost 30 years, a respected member of the National Assembly representing constituencies in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi and various constituents ; women, lawyers and intellectuals. Her determination, drive and commitment to the country never faded ; and from the early days of contributing to the new Constitution of a unified Vietnam in 1976 towards the end of the 90s, she was one of the architects of Vietnam’s new laws governing foreign investment.