VINCE EIRENE'S SPEECH AT CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY OCTOBER 4, 1996 In Vietnam, the Americans murdered over 3.4 million Vietnamese. 58,000 Americans died, almost all of them men. 58,000 Americans died, most of them nineteen. By 1979, more Veterans of the Vietnam war had committed suicide than had died in the war. A lot of your parents, a lot of your fathers were in the Vietnam war.  In this area of the country, over 400 people in 1968 were being taken out of this area of the country a month. It was only revealed at the 20th anniversary of the end of the war. More people died in the 150 mile radius around Pittsburgh, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania - more people died in this area than in any other area. The reason is, because they were working class, they were minorities, and because they were Catholic. These people back then were submissive towards authority. More people who were my age, at nineteen died in this area of the country than any other area. If you wanted to pick up your brother or your son or your father, you didn't go to the train station where they brought back your loved one in a pine box, but to confuse everyone here in Pittsburgh you would have to go to Des Moines, Iowa. You'd take the family station wagon and you would go out to Des Moines, Iowa and strap up on the family station wagon your dead loved one. And if someone died in Des Moines, Iowa they would come to a train station down here. The government felt that plywood was too expensive, so they started shipping them back in bags. Ironically, this happened over the Internet, this is my first speaking engagement, going all the way across the country talking about Vietnam. So why talk about Vietnam? We have Iraq threatening to explode the Middle East, we have what is now happening in Bosnia, we have the violence that is being done to people that are gay, have long hair, and there is a very real war against women. So why talk about Vietnam? My generation, your parents, after the war was over, hitch hiked home, got a job with dad. 22 years of sanctions, 22 years of bleeding Vietnam to death. A person in Vietnam working ten to twelve hours a day, six days a week makes twenty dollars a month. And people still, after the fall of the communist regime, will go out and spend forty to sixty dollars for a pair of Nikes. The reason that we're in Vietnam, and we sent someone there: Tetsu Ikeda, over to Vietnam when the sanctions were lifted, was for oil. An untapped resource for oil is in southeast Asia. So as soon as the sanctions were lifted, the signs came on: Exxon, Gulf, Sunoco, all these different signs came on, and now we're starting to have them. When the regime fell was all the money that was given to hospitals and social services was withdrawn. Now Exxon money is supposed to trickle down to those who are very poor. So I'm not only going across the country talking about Vietnam to people who are your age, because people who are my age and your parents age are very dead. You cannot kill 3.4 million people and not be dead. My generation tried as hard as they could to amass as much  wealth as possible, and now in their late 40s, and their mid-40s, they're finding out that someday they might die. The campus here at C.M.U., two years ago we couldn't of have this. Two years ago people really had a "CMU additude." You people know what a CMU additude is? All the financial aid that went to working class people and to poor people was gone. This is the most expensive school in the country. This is the sixth largest military contracter in the United States of America. This college beats out all of the corporations and is number six in its military contracts, and yet nobody talks about it. Everyone goes here and here to protest, but right here is hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of military contracts. Even in the psychology department, the majority of money for research comes from the military. When somebody wants to know how I think, and they're being paid by the Navy, I get really scared. But it's all not death and gloom, because I have a lot of hope. I took two years off from this campus, I don't know even one of you. I've been here for twelve years now, this is the first time I've been asked to speak to the students. I've been here for twelve years, I've been arrested over six times, protesting against the military contracts here on campus and the Software Engineering Institute. This is sort of a nice welcome home. As I make my way across the country, I'm really excited to meet people. Everybody looks like an MTV commercial. Two years ago nobody had long hair, nobody had anything pierced... it's really exciting to see all this. Now, a lot of people say that this is poseing, and this  is just rich kids getting their angst out, and they're just going to go on to work in corporations, but it's not true. There aren't any jobs, and there isn't anywhere to go. People your age are very nomadic and travel from place to place: the Rainbow tribe, Food Not Bombs, the Earth First! -ers. I was with Earth First!, and I never felt so much comradery, they're very much a real movement. I attribute a lot of this information network to the Internet. Most of you don't have pencils with you, and if you do you're a little weird (ed’s note: this is taking place at a hardcore show!), but I'm going to give you my e-mail number, and then you'll e-mail me, and as I make my way across the country from now until the spring we'll keep in touch by e-mail. I promise that I'll send good posts, and no junk mail. So, if you have a pencil, it's:       notowar@lm.com    In fact, the carrier was started by some CMU students who tweaked together some old parts they stole from -- they borrowed from -- purchased, liberated from the university. And Nathan has it, and I'll be in touch with him. And we'll have a lot of fun with it. I've met so many people, in the last week organizing this speaking tour...    Again, my name is Vincent Eirene, and I'm a director for a shelter for the homeless here on the North Side... thank you for your time. Vincent Scotti Eirene (notowar@telerama.com) last updated 9 - 12 - 2001