Traveling, protesting and getting arrested are all in a day's work for political activist Medea Benjamin.
Benjamin is a co-founder of the feminist anti-war group CodePink: Women for Peace. Along with the organization, Benjamin has sought to end the war in Iraq through acts of protest, organization and speeches.
Benjamin's acts of protests have put her in the national spotlight, including instances at the 2004 Democratic and Republican National Conventions, as well as President George W. Bush's second inauguration. The Post's Natalie Cammarata spoke with Benjamin, who will give a speech at Baker Center Ballroom tonight, about her organization and the importance of actively participating in politics.
The Post: You are a co-founder of the feminist anti-military/anti-war group CodePink. Can you tell me about CodePink's mission?
Medea Benjamin: It's a group that started before the war in Iraq with a goal of trying to stop the war. We weren't successful in doing that, but we've been building ever since to try and bring the troops home and stop us from getting into future wars that we consider unjustified and also to try to redirect some of the spending that we're doing on the war ' $2 billion every week ' into needed programs at home and abroad.
The Post: What are you currently working on?Benjamin: We're working on organizing to get people to vote for anti-war candidates during the elections, and then right after the elections to start with the new Congress to bring over Iraqi parliamentarians who have been coming up with their own ideas for a peace plan and trying to connect them with members of the U.S. Congress. And we will be also doing some work around Lebanon trying to help with the clean up of the cluster bomb that has been dropped and continue to kill and maim people.
The Post: You will be speaking to students at Ohio University (today). What do you plan to speak to them about?
Benjamin: I plan to talk to them about why it's so important to be politically active, how the decisions that are made by our government will affect their lives and the lives of their future families for many years to come. The bedrock of democracy is active participation by the citizens, and (I will) try to inspire them to become active citizens.
The Post: You were removed from the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in 2004, Pres. George W. Bush's second inauguration and a Congressional speech by Iraq's Prime Minister (Nouri al-Maliki) this past July, all for anti-war protesting. Why do you think protests are an important part of activism and are they effective?
Benjamin: When governments realize they don't have the backing of their people, they start to find a way out ... It's both the (continued violence) on the ground in Iraq coupled with loss of support for this war that is forcing even George Bush to start looking for alternatives. Many times, for activists, it feels like we're not effective. It feels like we're being ignored or ridiculed or marginalized, which we often are by the mainstream media, but in the end it's often times the protestors who end up convincing the general public of their opinions and changing history, and I think that's what we're saying now. When I started doing work against the war in Iraq, I was ridiculed for being un-American, unpatriotic and pro-Saddam Hussein, all of which were ridiculous. But now my voice represents the majority voice of the American people. The important thing is to have perseverance, patience and a more long-term understanding of how change gets made.
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