iPhone app iPad app Android phone app Android tablet app

Medea Benjamin
GET UPDATES FROM Medea Benjamin
 
Medea Benjamin is cofounder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace and the human rights group Global Exchange.

Blog Entries by Medea Benjamin

Julian Assange on George Bush's Library and Bradley Manning's Trial

(122) Comments | Posted April 25, 2013 | 1:32 PM

I had an opportunity to interview WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has been granted political asylum since June 2012. Assange is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sex allegations, although he has never been charged. Assange believes that if sent to Sweden, he...

Read Post

Finally, the Backlash Against Drones Takes Flight

(6) Comments | Posted March 25, 2013 | 7:31 PM

Co-written by Noor Mir

Rand Paul's marathon 13-hour filibuster was not the end of the conversation on drones. Suddenly, drones are everywhere, and so is the backlash. Efforts to counter drones at home and abroad are growing in the courts, at places of worship, outside air force bases, inside the...

Read Post

Rand Paul's Message to Obama: Don't Drone Me Bro

(14) Comments | Posted March 7, 2013 | 11:27 AM

The most positive outcome of Rand Paul's 13-hour filibuster -- which ended when Paul was forced to take a bathroom break -- was giving the American public a sense of the treacherous path that President Obama's drone program could take, i.e. the targeted killing of Americans here at home. It...

Read Post

10 Questions to Ask John Brennan at His CIA Confirmation Hearing

(11) Comments | Posted February 5, 2013 | 2:01 PM

John Brennan's confirmation hearing to become head of the CIA will take place at the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, February 7. There is suddenly a flurry of attention around a white paper that lays out the administration's legal justification for killing Americans with drones overseas, and some...

Read Post

John Brennan vs. a Sixteen-Year-Old

(92) Comments | Posted January 8, 2013 | 5:46 PM

In October 2011, 16-year-old Tariq Aziz attended a gathering in Islamabad where he was taught how to use a video camera so he could document the drones that were constantly circling over his Pakistani village, terrorizing and killing his family and neighbors. Two days later, when Aziz was driving with...

Read Post

Ten of My Favorite Things About 2012

(6) Comments | Posted December 31, 2012 | 12:28 PM

There are many things to be thankful for in 2012, starting with the fact that the world didn't end on December 21 and that we don't have to witness the inauguration of Mr. One-Percent Mitt Romney. The global economic crisis continued to hit hard, but people have been taking to...

Read Post

Senator Harry Reid and Guns: Time to Take a Stand

(4) Comments | Posted December 20, 2012 | 11:29 AM

When CODEPINK, MoveOn and representatives of other organizations marched into Senator Harry Reid's D.C. office on Tuesday, December 18, they wanted a simple answer to a simple question: Does the senator support a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity clips, such as the legislation proposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein and...

Read Post

Egyptians Stand Up to President's Power Grab

(5) Comments | Posted November 28, 2012 | 12:18 PM

Ramah Casers is an Egyptian mother and graphic designer who lives in Cairo. On Tuesday, November 27 she was standing at the entrance to Tahrir Square holding a simple, hand-written sign that read, "I am an Egyptian citizen and I will not let my country become a dictatorship once again."...

Read Post

Pushing Obama's Arc Toward Peace

(7) Comments | Posted November 12, 2012 | 7:00 PM

Foreign policy played a minor role in a presidential election that focused on jobs, jobs, jobs. But like it or not, the United States is part of a global community in turmoil, and U.S. policies often help fuel that turmoil. The peace movement, decimated during the first Obama term because...

Read Post

Citizen Diplomacy in Pakistan's Tribal Areas: "You Are Welcome!"

(13) Comments | Posted October 9, 2012 | 5:35 PM

Islamabad, Pakistan -- Many Americans have an image of Pakistan and its people as "teeming with anti-Americanism."Americans see images on TV of angry Pakistani demonstrators burning American flags. Indeed, polls say three of four Pakistanis view the United States as an enemy.

But in the last week, we...

Read Post

Americans Take Anti-Drone Stance Directly to Pakistan

(84) Comments | Posted September 30, 2012 | 11:41 AM

"You're not really going to Pakistan, are you?" "You've seen the State Department travel warning?" "Don't they hate us over there?"

There are questions our friends and relatives are asking as we embark on a delegation to Pakistan to protest the drone attacks that have killed so many innocent Pakistanis...

Read Post

'Stability' Trumps Democracy in Egypt

(9) Comments | Posted March 23, 2012 | 6:00 PM

By Charles Davis and Medea Benjamin

Confronted with popular protest, the country's unelected rulers have doubled down on repression, jailing peaceful activists and killing dozens of civilians who have the gall to exercise their rights. Those who state security forces haven't killed for demanding democracy have been...

Read Post

Obama's Pentagon Strategy: A Leaner, More Efficient Empire

(157) Comments | Posted January 6, 2012 | 2:18 PM

By Charles Davis and Medea Benjamin

In an age when U.S. power can be projected through private mercenary armies and unmanned Predator drones, the U.S. military need no longer rely on massive, conventional ground forces to pursue its imperial agenda, a fact President Barack Obama is now acknowledging. But make...

Read Post

Jailed for Sailing to Gaza, Challenging the Blockade

(204) Comments | Posted November 5, 2011 | 12:31 PM

Two boats full of courageous passengers were on their way to Gaza when they were intercepted on Friday, November 4, by the Israeli military in international waters. We call the passengers courageous because they sailed from Turkey on November 2 with the knowledge that at any moment they...

Read Post

Only 'Success' in Iraq Is That US Troops are Leaving

(71) Comments | Posted October 24, 2011 | 5:21 PM

By Medea Benjamin and Charles Davis

The U.S. occupation of Iraq is reportedly set to come to an end, with most of the roughly 40,000 soldiers currently stationed there set to be removed by year's end. But let's make no mistake: contrary to what you're likely to hear from the...

Read Post

Iraq: 100 Days of Solidarity

(42) Comments | Posted September 28, 2011 | 11:48 AM

This week marks the beginning of what is supposed to be the final 100 days of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. But if U.S. troops are to leave Iraq at the end of this year as promised -- repeatedly -- it will take grassroots pressure to counter the growing "occupy-Iraq-forever"...

Read Post

Iraq Withdrawal? Don't Take it to the Bank

(53) Comments | Posted August 23, 2011 | 3:06 PM

By Medea Benjamin and Charles Davis

Since coming to Washington, Barack Obama has won a Nobel Prize for Peace, but he hasn't been much of a peacemaker. Instead, he has doubled down on his predecessor's wars while launching blatantly illegal ones of his own. But, as his supporters would be...

Read Post

Stop Sacrificing US Soldiers for Afghan Debacle

(61) Comments | Posted August 7, 2011 | 2:14 PM

The 38 deaths in Saturday's helicopter crash in Afghanistan include 31 Americans, making it the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the war began. The tragic loss of American lives might be worth the sacrifice if it was making America safer, or if our presence was significantly improving...

Read Post

Enormous Cuts In Military Spending? Read The Fine Print

(13) Comments | Posted August 2, 2011 | 5:15 PM

Co-authored by Charles Davis

In this age of austerity, all the politicians are talking about the need for spending cuts. But when it comes to shared burdens and slashed budgets, don't expect the Pentagon to start holding bake sales, despite what you may have heard about reductions...

Read Post

Advice Hillary Clinton Should, But Won't, Give to Economically-Strapped Greece

(20) Comments | Posted July 19, 2011 | 12:26 PM

When U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Greece, she praised the Greek government's austerity measures to reduce deficits and cut spending. The U.S. and Greece face a common challenge of dealing with soaring deficits, but they also face something else in common: a refusal to deal with out-of-control military...

Read Post