As an offshoot of the concerted uprising movement, a new form of political struggle, called the dau tranh truc dien (face-to-face struggle) was devised in Ben Tre province. It was usually carried out by a large group of women marching into the district or province towns to present petitions to GVN authorities, protesting the atrocities committed by Sai Gon troops on an operation, the criminal activities of local officials, or demanding compensation for losses of lives and property inflicted by GVN soldiers and officials. These demonstrations and public denunciations of GVN activities were a great embarrassment to GVN provincial authorities, for they did not know how to deal with them, since the demands were legitimate. Moreover, the fact that the demonstrators were mostly women made officials hesitant to resort to force to suppress them, for they were afraid of looking cowardly and becoming the laughingstock of the people. These face-to-face struggles proved to be a valuable political tool for the National Liberation Front. And the women who carried them out came to be known as the doi quan toc dai (soldiers with long hair) and hailed for their contribution to the revolution.
No Other Road to Take, Memoir of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dinh, trans. Mai V. Elliott
Found it, finally.














