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i just got back from a speech given by Medea Benjamin, a prominent force in the anti-war movement ... i've come to see Medea as the anti-war movement's very own "energizer bunny" ... she spoke tonight on the campus of Boston College ... somewhat short in stature, you could easily pick her out by her now legendary "Code Pink" vibrant pink t-shirt ... Medea is also the Founding Director of Global Exchange (www.globalExchange.org) ...
tonight's crowd, unlike the last political speech i attended at Clark University in Worcester, Ma by progressive Congressman Jim McGovern, seemed to be mostly comprised of BC students ... prior to the speech, i had the opportunity to speak to a reporter for the BC campus newspaper ... i asked him whether there was much anti-war activity on the campus and whether he noticed the level of activity increasing of late ... his answer: "it's present but not that palpable" ... how disturbing is that??
for those who haven't seen Medea speak, she is seemingly an endless source of energy and enthusiasm ... she's a believer that if we work hard to change the direction of our country, we really can succeed ... and she believes we've already made huge progress towards ending the war ...
Benjamin began her speech looking back at the role the MSM played in the lead-up to the war ... she accused them of "beating the drums" for war ... she said once the war started, the embedded reporters only told the military's side of the story ... after her 5 trips to Iraq, Benjamin said she saw a media out of touch with what was really happening there ...
Although Benjamin opposed the war prior to its inception, she acknowledged that once it began, she had hoped that Saddam would be toppled and that that would lead to a lifting of the UN sanctions ... instead, she saw an Iraq that had its infrastructure dessimated by the Americans ... she said the rate of severe malnutrition has doubled since the US invaded ... she said raw sewage now pollutes the streets creating severe health hazards ... and she said that utilities were in very short supply ...
and who, Benjamin asked, came to rescue the Iraqi people from this destroyed infrastructure? she had the audience answer her semi-rhetorical question ... no one was stumped ... we all said the names we've come to know far too well: Halliburton and Bechtel and other friends of bush and cheney ...
Medea spent some additional time on these corporate abuses ... she again chastised the press for failing to adequately disclose the role these mega-corporations were playing in Iraq ... she said the MSM rarely if ever points out that cheney is still receiving benefits and other compensation from Halliburton ... she noted that Kellogg, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, just received huge NO BID, NO COMPETITION contracts to help rebuild New Orleans ... she sarcastically observed how republicans love to talk about the virtues of "free market capitalism" but then display their hypocrisy by condoning "overt corporate welfare" ...
Benjamin then returned her focus to the current situation in Iraq ... Many young Iraqis join the security forces because they are desperate for jobs ... she said that because the US is providing training for Iraqi forces, the trained Iraqis are seen by their own countrymen as occupiers and they become targets of attacks ... Benjamin said that Iraqis will never respect the security forces trained by the US because they are seen as "part of the occupation" ...
Medea elaborated on the recent history of women in Iraq ... she said that even before Saddam came to power, woman had made great strides there ... Iraq had many women judges and lawyers, students and various types of professional workers ... all that has ended since the US invasion and occupation ... the US occupation has significantly strengthened the hand of religious fundamentalists who have been far more repressive to women's rights ... women who had previously been politically active and able to publically petition for their rights are no longer safe doing so ... the new constitution is "ambiguous" as to the role of Islamic law ... Benjamin pointed out that the result of this is that women's rights will clearly NOT be protected under the new government ...
Benjamin noted that the Iraqi people wanted to see an end to the ethnic violence but that the "US has been sowing the seeds of civil war" ... NOTE: i wanted to ask her whether she thought this was being done intentionally to prolong the war and if so, for what purpose ... unfortunately, i never got to ask my question ...
Commenting on last January's elections in Iraq, Benjamin agreed with those who believe Iraqis risked their lives to come out and vote ... but she was then quick to highlight that the Shia majority who did vote supported a platform that called for the withdrawal from Iraq of American troops ... she pointed out that, of course, the US press really didn't cover that little detail ...
Turning her focus to the politics of the war in this country, Benjamin cited a veritable parade of polls that emphasized the fact that we, i.e. we who call for withdrawal, are NOW IN THE MAJORITY !! she talked about the Downing Street minutes and how the lies of the bush administration should lead to charges of high crimes and misdemeanors ... that probably got the loudest applause of the night ...
She then spoke of Cindy Sheehan ... Medea had spent some time at "Camp Sheehan" in Crawford ... it was clear she was a fan of what Cindy was doing ... she said Cindy had started a movement that finally gave "mothers of soldiers" an opportunity to "find their voices" to speak out against the war ... Benjamin then read a section from her recent book that quoted Sheehan ... it was incredibly moving ... Sheehan was making reference to bush's line that he had repeated ad nauseum during last year's debates: "being president is hard work" ... Sheehan said "I'll tell you what's 'hard work' mr. bush ... hard work is having 3 military officers come to your house to tell you your son is dead ..."
Benjamin wrapped up her speech with a few ad hoc topics ... she said the whole issue of funding the war has been thrown into chaos by the hurricane ... she sees this as a strong opportunity to rally the American people against the war ... she said that the wasteful spending in Iraq is creating a two-tier society back home ... she said the war is killing funding for education and that college should be free to anyone who can't afford it ... Benjamin also stated that it's time to kick the military recruiters out of our high schools and off of our campuses ...
She noted that there is a movement to get National Guard troops recalled from Iraq to focus on the needs back home ... she indicated that there is a petition in Massachusetts to get this issue on the ballot in the next election ...
Benjamin encouraged as many people as possible to attend the huge anti-war demonstration planned for next weekend in Washington ...
She also said a few words on Hurricane Katrina and how it highlighted the blatant racism of the bush administration ...
She said that Bolton's appointment to the UN was worse than releasing a bull in a china shop and that he has already tried to de-legitimize the UN ... he has already been a very negative force by opposing UN treaties designed to address such issues as poverty, global warming and nuclear proliferation ...
Benjamin closed with a bang by saying that Saddam, bin Laden and george w. bush should all be put on trial for crimes against humanity ...
it is always a great night when you get to listen to high energy speakers like Meda Benjamin ... and it's more than just her energy that's contagious ... it is incredibly uplifting to be among those who understand ... it would be great to see more of you DU'ers showing up to support those who speak on our behalf ... i look forward to seeing more of you there the next time ...
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