"Anti-war" activist who supports the War Againt Israel who dislikes “AIPAC Jews” but her heart aches for “children of Gaza”.
Pretty obvious this woman is no "true patriot".
Pretty obvious this woman is no "true patriot".
From A to Z:
Anti-war activist Medea Benjamin was born in 1952 (with the name Susie Benjamin) and was raised as a self-described "nice Jewish girl from Long Island," New York. During her freshman year at Tufts University, she renamed herself after the Greek mythological character Medea. After one year at Tufts, she dropped out of school and spent some time hitchhiking across Europe and Africa, supporting herself by teaching English, working in African refugee camps, and doing a variety of other odd jobs. She thereafter returned to New York, passed some undergraduate equivalency tests, and went on to receive master’s degrees in public health (from Columbia University) and economics (from the New School for Social Research).
Ms. Benjamin then lived for some time in Fidel Castro’s Communist Cuba with her first husband, who was the coach of that country's national basketball team. (Reflecting later on her years in Cuba, she said she had felt "like I died and went to heaven.") Cuban authorities deported Ms. Benjamin, however, after she wrote an anti-government article in the government-run newspaper for which she worked.
Benjamin moved to San Francisco in 1983 to work for Food First / The Institute for Food and Development Policy.
In 1988 she co-founded (with Kevin Danaher) the activist organization Global Exchange, which devotes its resources and manpower to a variety of leftist causes -- most notably an anti-war, anti-capitalist agenda.
Benjamin was one of the principal architects of the 1999 protests in Seattle where rampaging anti-globalization activists burned cars, smashed windows and generally sowed disorder in a failed bid to shut down a conference of the World Trade Organization. Benjamin hailed the riots, which caused millions of dollars in property damage, as “a battle cry.”
In 2000 Benjamin ran, unsuccessfully, as the Green Party's U.S. Senate candidate in California.
In Benjamin's view, America's declared war on terror is itself a form of terrorism. She asserts that President Bush "has responded to the violent attack of 9/11 with the notion of perpetual war ..."
Late in 2002, Benjamin led a group of Americans, each of whom had lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks, to Afghanistan to meet people whose relatives had perished in the U.S. bombing campaign there. "We must insist that governments stop taking innocent lives in the name of seeking justice for the loss of other innocent lives," she said.
In November 2002, Benjamin co-founded -- along with Jodie Evans, Diane Wilson, and a radical Wiccan activist calling herself Starhawk -- the anti-war group Code Pink for Peace.
Also in 2002, Ms. Benjamin exhorted Americans to examine "the root causes of resentment against the United States in the Arab world -- from our dependence on Middle Eastern oil to our biased policy towards Israel." "We [she and her fellow activists] are ... determined," shesaid, "to stop the U.S. government from unilaterally dictating to other people -- be they Palestinian, Iraqi or Venezuelan -- who their leaders should be. This is for the people themselves to decide."
In 2003 Benjamin was a signatory to the widely publicized Not in Our Name (NION) anti-war statement, which asserted that the U.S. war on terror posed "grave dangers to the people of the world" in the form of "[w]ar and repression" that "has been loosed on the world by the Bush Administration ... [in] a spirit of revenge."
In April 2003, Benjamin wrote that "military spending robs our schools, hospitals and housing programs," and she stressed the importance of "making common cause with immigrant and ethnic groups that have found themselves under attack in the wake of September 11 ... [and countering] the erosion of our civil liberties."
In 2004 Benjamin co-founded -- along with Leslie Cagan, the longtime pro-Castro communist who established United for Peace and Justice -- the organization Iraq Occupation Watch, whose express mission is to encourage widespread desertion by "conscientious objectors" in the U.S. military.
During the last week of December 2004, Benjamin announced that Global Exchange, Code Pink, and Families for Peace would be donating a combined $600,000 in medical supplies and cash to the families of the terrorist insurgents who were fighting American troops in Fallujah, Iraq. Said Benjamin, "I don't know of any other case in history in which the parents of fallen soldiers collected medicine ... for the families of the 'other side.' It is a reflection of a growing movement in the United States ... opposed to the unjust nature of this war."
In March 2006, Benjamin and other members of Code Pink brought a delegation of six Iraqi Muslim women to the United Nations in New York and to the Capitol in Washington, DC, where they lobbied senators and congressional representatives, met with the leaders of NGOs and think tanks, and delivered a petition (with more than 100,000 signatures from people around the world) calling for an end to the Iraq War.
In November 2006, Benjamin and Cindy Sheehan together traveled to South Korea on a mission designed to publicly condemn a U.S. government plan for expanding an American military base near Seoul. The Benjamin/Sheehan visit was strongly supported by pro-North Korean groups, hard-Left student movements and labor organizations, and Communist sympathizers.
In January 2007, Benjamin and Sheehan jointly traveled to Cuba to publicly call for the closing of America’s Guantanamo Bay detention center there.
According to Ms. Benjamin, the economic policies of Venezuela's communist President Hugo Chavez have placed his country at "the center of a new, progressive model of socioeconomic development that is shaping Latin America’s future." "There are few countries," she says, "where everyday people actually receive the benefits of cooperation with multinationals: a redistribution of oil profit, a guarantee for healthcare written into the constitution, and record-breaking achievements in education. ... Venezuela has embarked upon some of the most innovative regional programs that Latin America has ever seen."
- 9-11 truth: The statement, organized by 9/11Truth.org--billed as the online home of "The 9/11 Truth Movement"--lists 12 alleged 9/11 discrepancies and demands answers to them. ..signers include Ralph Nader, Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin, former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), and Howard Zinn.
- Afghanistan after fall of Taliban: In 2002, led a group of Americans to Afghanistan to meet people whose relatives had perished in the U.S. bombing campaign there.
- Cuba: “ living in Castro’s Cuba made her feel “like [she] died and went to heaven.”
- Hamas: In 2009 Benjamin and Code Pink headed a delegation to visit Gaza where they met with Hamas officials who handed Benjamin a letter – which she proceeded to deliver personally to the U.S. embassy in Cairo, on the occasion of President Barack Obama's visit to Egypt. Benjamin penned an article in the Huffington Post praising Hamas for what she called its commitment to "mutual respect and adherence to international law."
- Iran: Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin... are visiting Iran on visas personally granted them by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. who quickly provided the visas after receiving a personal request from CODEPINK
- Jews: self-described "nice Jewish girl from Long Island” who cries “Who Will Stop the AIPAC Jews Before it is Too Late?”
- North Korea: In 2006, Benjamin and Cindy Sheehan traveled to South Korea opposing expanding an American military base, visit was supported by pro-North Korean groups, and Communist sympathizers.
- Ron Paul: Code Pink activist Liz Hurican told Fox News:The Ron Paul people are closer and closer to our [Code Pink leftist] talking points with each election. Ron Paul Spokeswoman Rachel Mills says Code Pink is actually leaning more in the direction of Ron Paul’s beliefs and politics, saying the Congressman “is in favor of coalition-building” with anti-war groups.
- Seattle World Trade Riot: a principal architects of 1999 Seattle protests where anti-globalization activists burned cars, smashed windows to shut down a conference of the World Trade Organization. Benjamin hailed the riots as “a battle cry.”
- Venezuela: the economic policies of Venezuela's communist President Hugo Chavez have placed his country at "the center of a new, progressive model of socioeconomic development that is shaping Latin America’s future." "There are few countries," she says, "where everyday people actually receive the benefits of cooperation with multinationals: a redistribution of oil profit, a guarantee for healthcare written into the constitution, and record-breaking achievements in education. ... Venezuela has embarked upon some of the most innovative regional programs that Latin America has ever seen."
- War on Terror: The U.S. war on terror posed "grave dangers to the people of the world" in the form of "[w]ar and repression" that "has been loosed on the world by the Bush Administration ... [in] a spirit of revenge."
- Anti-war activist
- Founder of Global Exchange
- Has said that living in Castro’s Cuba made her feel “like [she] died and went to heaven.”
- Organizer of Iraq Occupation Watch
Anti-war activist Medea Benjamin was born in 1952 (with the name Susie Benjamin) and was raised as a self-described "nice Jewish girl from Long Island," New York. During her freshman year at Tufts University, she renamed herself after the Greek mythological character Medea. After one year at Tufts, she dropped out of school and spent some time hitchhiking across Europe and Africa, supporting herself by teaching English, working in African refugee camps, and doing a variety of other odd jobs. She thereafter returned to New York, passed some undergraduate equivalency tests, and went on to receive master’s degrees in public health (from Columbia University) and economics (from the New School for Social Research).
Ms. Benjamin then lived for some time in Fidel Castro’s Communist Cuba with her first husband, who was the coach of that country's national basketball team. (Reflecting later on her years in Cuba, she said she had felt "like I died and went to heaven.") Cuban authorities deported Ms. Benjamin, however, after she wrote an anti-government article in the government-run newspaper for which she worked.
Benjamin moved to San Francisco in 1983 to work for Food First / The Institute for Food and Development Policy.
In 1988 she co-founded (with Kevin Danaher) the activist organization Global Exchange, which devotes its resources and manpower to a variety of leftist causes -- most notably an anti-war, anti-capitalist agenda.
Benjamin was one of the principal architects of the 1999 protests in Seattle where rampaging anti-globalization activists burned cars, smashed windows and generally sowed disorder in a failed bid to shut down a conference of the World Trade Organization. Benjamin hailed the riots, which caused millions of dollars in property damage, as “a battle cry.”
In 2000 Benjamin ran, unsuccessfully, as the Green Party's U.S. Senate candidate in California.
In Benjamin's view, America's declared war on terror is itself a form of terrorism. She asserts that President Bush "has responded to the violent attack of 9/11 with the notion of perpetual war ..."
Late in 2002, Benjamin led a group of Americans, each of whom had lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks, to Afghanistan to meet people whose relatives had perished in the U.S. bombing campaign there. "We must insist that governments stop taking innocent lives in the name of seeking justice for the loss of other innocent lives," she said.
In November 2002, Benjamin co-founded -- along with Jodie Evans, Diane Wilson, and a radical Wiccan activist calling herself Starhawk -- the anti-war group Code Pink for Peace.
Also in 2002, Ms. Benjamin exhorted Americans to examine "the root causes of resentment against the United States in the Arab world -- from our dependence on Middle Eastern oil to our biased policy towards Israel." "We [she and her fellow activists] are ... determined," shesaid, "to stop the U.S. government from unilaterally dictating to other people -- be they Palestinian, Iraqi or Venezuelan -- who their leaders should be. This is for the people themselves to decide."
In 2003 Benjamin was a signatory to the widely publicized Not in Our Name (NION) anti-war statement, which asserted that the U.S. war on terror posed "grave dangers to the people of the world" in the form of "[w]ar and repression" that "has been loosed on the world by the Bush Administration ... [in] a spirit of revenge."
In April 2003, Benjamin wrote that "military spending robs our schools, hospitals and housing programs," and she stressed the importance of "making common cause with immigrant and ethnic groups that have found themselves under attack in the wake of September 11 ... [and countering] the erosion of our civil liberties."
In 2004 Benjamin co-founded -- along with Leslie Cagan, the longtime pro-Castro communist who established United for Peace and Justice -- the organization Iraq Occupation Watch, whose express mission is to encourage widespread desertion by "conscientious objectors" in the U.S. military.
During the last week of December 2004, Benjamin announced that Global Exchange, Code Pink, and Families for Peace would be donating a combined $600,000 in medical supplies and cash to the families of the terrorist insurgents who were fighting American troops in Fallujah, Iraq. Said Benjamin, "I don't know of any other case in history in which the parents of fallen soldiers collected medicine ... for the families of the 'other side.' It is a reflection of a growing movement in the United States ... opposed to the unjust nature of this war."
In March 2006, Benjamin and other members of Code Pink brought a delegation of six Iraqi Muslim women to the United Nations in New York and to the Capitol in Washington, DC, where they lobbied senators and congressional representatives, met with the leaders of NGOs and think tanks, and delivered a petition (with more than 100,000 signatures from people around the world) calling for an end to the Iraq War.
In November 2006, Benjamin and Cindy Sheehan together traveled to South Korea on a mission designed to publicly condemn a U.S. government plan for expanding an American military base near Seoul. The Benjamin/Sheehan visit was strongly supported by pro-North Korean groups, hard-Left student movements and labor organizations, and Communist sympathizers.
In January 2007, Benjamin and Sheehan jointly traveled to Cuba to publicly call for the closing of America’s Guantanamo Bay detention center there.
According to Ms. Benjamin, the economic policies of Venezuela's communist President Hugo Chavez have placed his country at "the center of a new, progressive model of socioeconomic development that is shaping Latin America’s future." "There are few countries," she says, "where everyday people actually receive the benefits of cooperation with multinationals: a redistribution of oil profit, a guarantee for healthcare written into the constitution, and record-breaking achievements in education. ... Venezuela has embarked upon some of the most innovative regional programs that Latin America has ever seen."
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