Science for Vietnam: Grassroots Activism in East-West Relations in the 1970s

During the Vietnam War, dissident researchers in several Western cities formed collectives to directly support scientists and physicians in the war zones of Indochina. These collectives, which called themselves Science for Vietnam (SfV), sent laboratory equipment and materials to Hanoi, but also conducted research on medical treatments, reforestation, and chemical weapons to share their knowledge. In return for their practical help and solidarity work, the North Vietnamese taught these activists communist values. SfV thus illustrates a certain erosion of the ideological orientation of the Cold War with its communism/capitalism bipolarity between East and West. This chapter presents SfV as a self-organized and decentral non-state actor that aided the socialist Democratic Republic of Vietnam by researching and exposing the extent of harm done to the Vietnamese people. It thereby offers insights into the role of protagonists of science diplomacy operating beyond state regulation and outside official diplomatic arenas.