Medea Benjamin

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Medea Benjamin bigraphy, stories - United States activist

Medea Benjamin : biography

10 September 1952 –

Medea Benjamin (born Susan Benjamin; 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, the fair trade advocacy group Global Exchange. Benjamin was also the Green Party candidate in California 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."

Early life

Benjamin grew up on Long Island, New York, a self-described "nice Jewish girl."Garofoli, Joe. [https://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1026-04.htm "S.F. Woman’s Relentless March for Peace."] San Francisco Chronicle. October 26, 2002 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.

Books

  • 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 0-932020-73-9
  • No Free Lunch: Food and Revolution in Cuba Today (1989). With Joseph Collins and Michael Scott. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-935028-52-8
  • Don’t Be Afraid, Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks From The Heart: The Story of Elvia Alvarado (1989). Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-06-097205-X
  • Greening of the Revolution: Cuba’s Experiment with Organic Agriculture (1995). With Peter Rossett. Ocean Press. ISBN 1-875284-80-X
  • Cuba: Talking About Revolution: Conversations with Juan Antonio Blanco (1996). With Juan Antonio Blanco. Inner Ocean Publishing. ISBN 1-875284-97-4
  • 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 0-935028-70-6
  • 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 0-929765-04-4
  • I, Senator: How, together, we transformed the state of California and the United States (2000). Green Press.
  • How to Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism (2005). As editor, with Jodie Evans. Inner Ocean Publishing. ISBN 1-930722-49-4
  • Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control (2012). OR Books. Retrieved August 19, 2012 ISBN 978-1-935928-81-2

Protest actions

Medea Benjamin speaks at a rally during the [[2007 State of the Union Address in Washington, D.C.]] From 2002 to 2009, Benjamin engaged in numerous protests 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. 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). In 2009, Benjamin joined the steering committee for the Gaza Freedom March. In February 2012 Benjamin was arrested and deported for illegal entry to Bahrain and participating in an illegal protest.

From 2005-2010, she worked against threats of going to war with Iran, including lobbying Congress, taking Peace Delegations to Iran, and bringing Iranian youth to Congress.