Politics

Vietnam’s US friend Merle Ratner dies in traffic accident aged 67

Merle Ratner, a renowned left-wing and anti-war activist in the US and a close friend of Vietnam, passed away February 5 evening in New York in a traffic accident.
Vietnam’s US friend Merle Ratner dies in traffic accident aged 67 ảnh 1Merle Ratner, a renowned left-wing and anti-war activist in the US and a close friend of Vietnam (Photo: VNA)
 

New York (VNA) – Merle Ratner, arenowned left-wing and anti-war activist in the US and a close friend of Vietnam, passed away February 5 evening in New York in a trafficaccident.

Her husband Ngo Thanh Nhan, who is a professorat New York University, said that she was killed by a tow truck in the EastVillage while crossing the street near her house in Brooklyn.

Merle Evelyn Ratner, born in 1956 in New YorkCity, has a special love for Vietnam. She took to the streets to protestagainst the Vietnam War when she was 13 years old and became famous for hanginganti-war slogans on the Statue of Liberty. She is a co-founder and coordinatorof the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC) inthe New York area.

Ratner actively participated inprotests against the US war in Vietnam since the late 1960s, theanti-imperialist movement in the 1970s and 1980s, and anti-racism campaigns in Americatoday.

After 1975, with a deep love for Vietnam,Ratner campaigned for the normalisation of Vietnam-US relations, and supported Vietnam’s international activities.She visited Vietnam many times, and engaged in joint work with mass organisations, the Vietnam Fatherland Front,and the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.

Ratner was awarded the "For the Development of Vietnamese Women" insignia in 2010 and the “For VietnamAgent Orange Victims” insignia in 2013.

In an interview with Vietnam News Agency onFebruary 1 in New York on the occasion of the 94th founding anniversary of theCommunist Party of Vietnam (CPV), Ratner once again emphasised theleadership role of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) as a decisivefactor behind every achievement and success of Vietnam. She affirmed that theCPV is steadfast on the path to socialism, fighting for the values of socialismworldwide and that Vietnam will certainly succeed on its chosen path./.

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