Merle Ratner, who attained fame as an antiwar activist in the 1960s and who was a lifetime supporter of the Vietnamese people and friend of Monthly Review, died on February 5, 2024, aged 67. In her early teens, she gained widespread notoriety for hanging antiwar slogans on the Statue of Liberty. After 1975, she worked for the normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam. Ratner was cofounder of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign in the New York area. Among her many actions in support of the Vietnamese people, she helped coordinate the Workshop on Marxist Theory and Practice in the World Today, jointly held with the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Political Administration, in Hanoi in 2009. On that occasion, attendees consisted of a number of international friends and representatives of MR, including Samir Amin, Bill Fletcher, John Bellamy Foster, Jayati Ghosh, Marta Harnecker, Michael Lebowitz, John Mage, Biju Mathew, Ngo Thanh Nhan (Ratner’s husband), and Ratner herself. In 2016, Ratner was presented with the Vietnam Friendship Medal. She also received the insignia “For the Development of Vietnamese Women” in 2010, and the insignia “For Vietnam Agent Orange Victims” in 2013. Her death represents the loss of a towering figure in the struggle for world peace

2024, Volume 75, Number 11 (April 2024)

Hundreds of Bridge Points Worldwide Pay Tribute to Merle Ratner

At 6:30 am on February 29 (Vietnam time), a memorial service for Merle Ratner was held in person in New York (USA) and online at more than 100 bridge points worldwide. Nguyen Ngoc Hung, Vice President of the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organizations, and representatives of the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organizations attended the ceremony online from Hanoi.