Medea Benjamin
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Medea Benjamin is a well-known U.S. political activist. The Los Angeles Times has described her as "one of the high profile leaders of the peace movement," and in 1999, San Francisco Magazine elevated her to their "power list" of the "60 Players Who Rule the Bay Area."
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Organizations
Benjamin is Founding Director of the San Francisco-based NGO Global Exchange, which advocates "fair trade" alternatives to corporate globalization. She is a cofounder of feminist anti-war group Code Pink: Women for Peace, which advocates an end to the Iraq War, the prevention of future wars, and social justice. Benjamin has also been involved with the anti-war organization United for Peace and Justice.
In 2000, Benjamin ran for the Senate on the Green Party ticket from California, basing her campaign on such issues as a living wage, education, and universal healthcare. In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, however, she advocated voting for Democrat John Kerry in swing states, and since then she has become involved with Progressive Democrats of America. [1] [2]
Benjamin has signed the "911 Truth Statement," calling for new investigations into the September 11, 2001 attacks. She has also signed the call of The World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime, which condemns the Iraq war, the loss of civil liberties and abortion rights, and "a culture of greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance." [3] [4]
Protest actions
- In 2002, Benjamin interrupted the testimony of Donald Rumsfeld in a Congressional committee room. She and another woman chanted "Inspections, not war" and were removed quickly by security officials. After the incident, Rumsfeld emphasized that Iraq had expelled the weapons inspectors and he hailed the concept of free speech, remarking that in Saddam's Iraq there was no free expression.
- At the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, Benjamin was removed from the convention floor and thrown out of the Fleet Center by police after unfurling a banner which read "End the Occupation! Bring the Troops Home Now!" She subsequently stood with other activists in the "free speech zone" set up at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, dressed as the Statue of Liberty with duct tape over her mouth to express her disapproval at the supression of protests at the convention.
- At the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, Benjamin was removed from the convention floor and escorted from Madison Square Garden by police after unfurling a banner which read "Pro-Life: Stop the killing in Iraq" during a speech by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- In 2005, Benjamin & other members of Code Pink managed to obtain VIP access to George W. Bush's second inauguration. During Bush's speech, they managed to unfurl banners that read "No War" and "Bush Mandate: Bring the Troops Home" before being arrested.
- On May 27, 2005, Medea Benjamin and three others interrupted a speech by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall that was hosted by the San Francisco Commonwealth Club. The four recreated an image of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, in which a hooded prisoner stood with his arms outstretched attached to electric wires. Rice initially continued her speech on American foreign policy under President Bush, but paused when the protesters shouted "Stop the torture. Stop the killing. U.S. out of Iraq," as police led them out of the auditorium.
Controversy
Benjamin has been criticized from both the left and the right.
Battle of Seattle
Benjamin is unpopular among some in the anti-globalization movement due to remarks during 1999's anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle which seemed to suggest that "anarchists" who engaged in property destruction should have been arrested by the police. Benjamin herself denies that this is the correct interpretation:
- "There has been some controversy about a quote from me that... implied that I was calling for the arrest of those people who destroyed property in downtown Seattle during the WTO protest. I want to make it clear that the quote was distorted, taken out of context, and not reflective my true feelings. I did not call for the arrest of anyone... Do I approve of the tactics that this particular group of self-described anarchists used in Seattle Nov. 30? Definitely not." [5]
Anybody But Bush
Benjamin has been criticized by some Greens for her support for "Anybody But Bush" in 2004. Todd Chretien wrote, in "A Reply to Norman Soloman and Medea Benjamin" on Counterpunch:
- "Medea Benjamin... and many other liberal and progressive leaders tell us that a Kerry regime "would be less dangerous" than Bush. This may or may not be true... But, even IF Kerry is "less dangerous," he will be MORE capable of wreaking havoc on Iraq, Palestine, Venezuela, abortion, gay rights, civil rights and unions IF we sacrifice our political movement to getting behind him.... Tragically, rather than building on the great start we made in 2000 when Ralph Nader won 2.7 million votes for peace and justice, many of the very same people who helped that effort are trying to wreck it this time around [by] condoning, if not actually leading, a campaign to villify [Ralph Nader and Peter Camejo] as "Republican dupes"... Like Paine, Douglass, Parks, Lewis, Malcolm, Mario, Gurley-Flynn and countless others understood, any movement that ever aims to win, must learn to stand up for itself precisely when it is darkest." [6]
Marla Ruzicka
Benjamin had a falling out with her former close friend, SF Bay Area activist Marla Ruzicka, later killed in Iraq in a widely-publiced suicide bombing, over Ruzicka's decision to work with the U.S. military to secure compensation for war victims in Iraq and Afghanistan. Benjamin has said:
- "It was very painful for me because of the way she sort of rejected the things we stood for... I resented the way she worked with the military. Kevin always talks about getting to the root of the problem, and Marla chose to go with the Band-Aid... We never quite reconciled over it." [7]
Fidel Castro
Benjamin is unpopular among right-wingers for her perceived anti-American views, especially her attacks on the U.S. embargo of Fidel Castro's Cuba. David Horowitz's FrontPageMag has attacked her as "a long-time Castro acolyte," and written:
- "There is scarcely a calamity, an injustice, or an act of outright barbarism occurring anywhere on earth, that Leftists cannot somehow trace to the doorstep of the United States. In their view, all attacks against our country are understandable, if not laudable, retaliatory strikes against an aggressive, arrogant nation that has too often tried to bully the rest of the world. Conversely, any American response – be it with military or law-enforcement measures – is seen as a form of aggression... A leading proponent of this view is the outspoken Medea Benjamin... Many of the causes that Ms. Benjamin espouses are Communist in nature. The Washington "peace" rally at which she spoke last month, for instance, was organized by the Workers World Party, a Communist organization... In years past, she staunchly opposed US military aid to those fighting against Communist forces in Central America... She favors the creation of a government-sponsored universal health care system funded by taxpayer dollars. She exhorts the US government to lift its trade embargo against Cuba – a nation she notably lauds as a place where people have managed to "thrive despite the odds" against them."[8][9]