- Medea Benjamin
-
Medea Benjamin 
Born Susan Benjamin
September 10, 1952
Freeport, New YorkResidence San Francisco, California Nationality United States Education Tufts University
Columbia University
New School for Social ResearchOccupation Political activist, author Spouse Kevin Danaher Children 2 daughters Website Global Exchange
Code PinkMedea Benjamin (born Susan Benjamin on September 10, 1952) is an American political activist, best known for co-founding Code Pink and, along with her husband, activist and author Kevin Danaher, fair trade advocacy group Global Exchange. Benjamin also was a Green Party candidate in 2000 for the United States Senate.
The Los Angeles Times has described her as "one of the high profile leaders" of the peace movement and in 1999, San Francisco Magazine included her on its "power list" of the "60 Players Who Rule the Bay Area."
Contents
Early life
Benjamin grew up in Long Island, New York, a self-described "nice Jewish girl."[1] During her freshman year at Tufts University, she renamed herself after the Greek mythological character Medea. She received master's degrees in public health from Columbia University and in economics from The New School.
Benjamin worked for 10 years as an economist and nutritionist in Latin America and Africa for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, the Swedish International Development Agency, and the Institute for Food and Development Policy. She spent four years in Cuba, and has authored three books on the country.
Organizations
In 1988 with Kevin Danaher, her husband, and Kirsten Moller, Benjamin co-founded the San Francisco-based Global Exchange, which advocates fair trade alternatives to corporate globalization. She is a co-founder of the left-wing 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.
Politics
In 2000, Benjamin ran for the United States Senate on the Green Party ticket from California, basing her campaign on such issues as a living wage, education, and universal healthcare; she garnered 3 percent of the vote.[2] Since then she has remained active in the Green Party and has also supported efforts by the Progressive Democrats of America.[3] [4] She is a member of the Liberty Tree Board of Advisers.
In an October 8, 2009, radio interview, Benjamin argued that the United States needs to help establish what amounts to a new civil society in Iraq, i.e., one in which social equity prevails, before leaving.[5]
Protest actions
From 2002 to 2009, Benjamin engaged in numerous protest actions in which she shouted slogans, displayed banners, or both during events involving U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; U.S. President George W. Bush; U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, among others. Benjamin engaged in similar protest actions at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and the 2004 Republican National Convention.[6] On December 4, 2007, she was arrested by plainclothes police in Lahore, Pakistan, detained by the ISI for eight hours, and deported after protesting the house arrest of lawyers (including Aitzaz Ahsan).[7][8] In 2009, Benjamin joined the steering committee for the Gaza Freedom March.[9]
Controversy
Benjamin has been criticized from both the left and the right.
Support for Cuba
For example, Benjamin has drawn conservative criticism for her support of Hugo Chavez and her attacks on the U.S. embargo of Fidel Castro's Cuba. David Horowitz's FrontPageMag attacked her as "a long-time Castro acolyte," and wrote:
“ 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.[10][11] ” WTO protest violence
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 says that this is not the correct interpretation:
“ "...the quote was distorted, taken out of context, and not reflective of 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." [12] ” Anybody But Bush
Benjamin has been criticized by some Greens for her support for "Anybody But Bush" in 2004. Explaining why she supported this movement, she said:
“ ...maybe it's time for the people who voted for Bush in 2000, the people who didn't vote at all in 2000, and yes, people like myself who voted for Ralph Nader in 2000, to admit our mistakes. I'll say mine -- I had no idea that George Bush would be such a disastrous president. Had I known then what I know now, and had I lived in a swing state, I would have voted for Gore instead of Ralph Nader."[13] ” Todd Chretien, a leading member of the International Socialist Organization, responded:
“ Medea Benjamin... and many other liberal and progressive leaders tell us that a Kerry regime "would be less dangerous" than Bush... 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.... any movement that ever aims to win, must learn to stand up for itself precisely when it is darkest.[14] ” Marla Ruzicka
Benjamin had a falling out with her former close friend, San Francisco Bay Area activist Marla Ruzicka, later killed in Iraq in a widely-publicized suicide bombing, over Ruzicka's decision to work with the U.S. military to secure compensation for the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan. Benjamin said:
“ "It was very painful for me because of the way she...rejected the things we stood for...[and] chose to go with [a] Band-Aid [approach]... We never quite reconciled over it." [15] ” Views on US involvement in Middle East
Benjamin writes in the Huffington Post that the United States never had any "justification for invading Iraq", that there is no "justification for continuing the war in Afghanistan", and that in Pakistan, the US "drone attacks are only fueling the violence and creating more Osama Bin Ladens." Regarding the killing of bin Laden, she says "Let us not sink into a false sense of triumphalism in the wake of Bin Laden's passing."[16]
Books
- Benedita Da Silva: An Afro-Brazilian Woman's Story of Politics and Love (1997). With Benedita da Silva and Maisa Mendonca. Institute for Food and Development Policy. ISBN 0935028706
- Bridging the Global Gap: A Handbook to Linking Citizens of the First and Third Worlds (1989). With Andrea Freedman. Global Exchange Seven Locks Press. ISBN 0932020739
- Cuba: Talking About Revolution: Conversations with Juan Antonio Blanco (1996). With Juan Antonio Blanco. Inner Ocean Publishing. ISBN 1875284974
- Don't Be Afraid, Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks From The Heart: The Story of Elvia Alvarado (1989). Harper Perennial. ISBN 006097205X
- Greening of the Revolution: Cuba's Experiment with Organic Agriculture (1995). With Peter Rossett. Ocean Press. ISBN 187528480X
- How to Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism (2005). As editor, with Jodie Evans. Inner Ocean Publishing. ISBN 1930722494
- I, senator: How, together, we transformed the state of California and the United States (2000). Green Press.
- No Free Lunch: Food and Revolution in Cuba Today (1989). With Joseph Collins and Michael Scott. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0935028528
- The Peace Corps and More: 175 Ways to Work, Study and Travel at Home & Abroad (1997). With Miya Rodolfo-Sioson. Global Exchange Seven Locks Press. ISBN 0929765044
See also
References
- ^ Garofoli, Joe. "S.F. Woman's Relentless March for Peace." San Francisco Chronicle. October 26, 2002
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Medea Benjamin, Peter Coyote, John Eder, Daniel Ellsberg et al. (July 23, 2004). "An Open Letter to Progressives: Vote Kerry and Cobb". CommonDreams. http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0723-09.htm.
- ^ "Medea Benjamin to Speak at Summit 2005". Progressive Democrats of America. http://www.progressivevote.org/articles/events/summit-2005-benjamin.php. Retrieved September 1, 2006.[dead link]
- ^ "Is Medea Benjamin Naive or Just Confused". http://original.antiwar.com/scott/2009/10/07/is-medea-benjamin-confused/.
- ^ "VIDEO: Maliki Speech Interrupted By War Protester". Think Progress Blog. July 26, 2006. http://thinkprogress.org/2006/07/26/maliki-protest/.
- ^ "Update: US peace activists released". Common Dreams.org. December 4, 2007. http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/1204-08.htm.
- ^ "Pakistani police arrest activists". Khabrein.info. December 5, 2007. http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9683&Itemid=88.
- ^ Gaza protest planned on Cast Lead anniversary 05-12-2009, Andrew Bossone, Al-Masry Al-Youm.[dead link]
- ^ Ben Johnson (July 28, 2003). "America's Fifth Column Goes to Iraq". FrontPage Magazine. http://www.frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=9079.
- ^ John Perazzo (November 15, 2002). "The Anti-American: Medea Benjamin". FrontPage Magazine. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=4631.
- ^ Medea Benjamin. "Window-Smashing Hurt Our Cause". Zmag. Archived from the original on May 3, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060503121914/http://zmag.org/benjamin.htm. Retrieved September 1, 2006.
- ^ Medea Benjamin (October 11, 2004). "Bush Can't Admit Mistakes, But We Can". CommonDreams. http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1011-29.htm.
- ^ Todd Chretien (July 26, 2004). "Believing in a Green Resistance: A Reply to Norman Solomon & Medea Benjamin". Counterpunch. http://www.counterpunch.org/chretien07262004.html.
- ^ Traci Hukill (September 2005). "House Divided, House United: Five Bay Area activists talk about kids, work, and the tricky business of parenting while saving the world". Common Ground. http://commongroundmag.com/2005/cg3209/activeparents3209.html.
- ^ "Osama Bin Laden Is Dead; Let the Peace Begin". Huffingtonpost.com. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/medea-benjamin/osama-bin-laden-is-dead-l_b_856408.html. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
External links
Categories:- American anti-war activists
- American democracy activists
- American human rights activists
- Anti-corporate activists
- Anti-globalization activists
- Nonviolence advocates
- Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area
- Community organizers
- California Greens
- Living people
- 1952 births
- American anti–Iraq War activists
- American anti–nuclear power activists
- American environmentalists
- Consumer rights activists
- American activists
- People from Long Island
- American Jews
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