Medea Benjamin

Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of CODEPINK and author of Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the US-Saudi Connection. Her new book is Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic.

Biden’s $7 Billion Afghan Heist

The president’s order diverting frozen funds to American families of 9/11 victims will only make the humanitarian and economic crises in Afghanistan worse.

MINNEAPOLIS — (Responsible Statecraft) With his Executive Order redefining Afghanistan’s Fiscal Reserve as a slush fund to be disbursed on his whim and with the stroke of his pen, President Biden has taken what may well be the final step in an experiment gone amok. The U.S. first attempted to make Afghanistan into a Western democracy, instead

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Yes, There Were 10 Good Things About 2021

2021 was, indeed, a disastrous year, but we do have some reasons to cheer.

2021 recap feature photo

This year, 2021, began with a huge sense of relief as Trump left office. We hoped to emerge from the ravages of COVID, pass a hefty Build Back Better (BBB) bill, and make significant cuts to the Pentagon budget. But, alas, we faced a January 6 white nationalist insurrection, two new COVID mutations, a sliced-and-diced BBB bill that didn’t pass, and

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Cubans Say They Are More Excited About School Reopening Than Regime Change

Most Cubans seem more concerned with getting their economy fired up than toppling their leaders. Even if they blame their government for mismanagement, corruption and a system that stifles private enterprise, few fail to recognize the enormous impact of U.S. sanctions.

Cuba Feature photo

HAVANA -- “If you build it, they will come,” said Kevin Costner in the Field of Dreams. In Cuba, they didn’t come. Dissidents on the island, with their U.S. backers, had been working feverishly for months to turn the unprecedented July 11 protests into a crescendo of government opposition on November 15. They built a formidable structure, with

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How Feminists Can Support Afghan Women Living Under the Taliban

When the United States pulled out of Afghanistan, it froze billions of dollars in Afghan assets, grinding many of the country’s most essential operations to a halt and spreading misery. The US government must release those funds.

WASHINGTON (Jacobin) — Since the Taliban took control of Kabul and the central government on August 15, efforts to support Afghan women have become extremely challenging. According to some prominent U.S. feminists with strong ties to Afghan women, the Taliban “has no legitimacy beyond the brutal force it commands,” and governments, the United

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Carlos Lazo: The Cuban American Leading the Charge to Transform US-Cuba Policy

While right-wing Cubans in Miami call him “comunista,” Carlos Lazo has no time for ideology. He is neither for or against the Cuban government; he is for the Cuban people, the Cuban families. And he is disgusted by the cruelty of the U.S. blockade

Carlos Lazo Feature photo

Carlos Lazo and a small band of Cuban Americans are on a 1,300-mile pilgrimage from Miami to Washington, D.C., to end the U.S. blockade of Cuba. Despite the blistering summer heat and occasional death threats (including a trucker who tried to run them off the road), the marchers persist. Lazo’s group is called Puentes de Amor, Bridges of Love, and

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Rural Teacher Pedro Castillo Poised to Write a New Chapter in Peru’s History

In a cliffhanger of an election with a huge urban-rural and class divide, it appears that the rural teacher, farmer and union leader is about to make history by defeating–by less than one percent–powerful far-right candidate Keiko Fujimori.

Pedro Castillo Feature photo

With his wide-brimmed peasant hat and oversized teacher’s pencil held high, Peru’s Pedro Castillo has been traveling the country exhorting voters to get behind a call that has been particularly urgent during this devastating pandemic: “No más pobres en un país rico” - No more poor people in a rich country. In a cliffhanger of an election with a

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Rinse and Repeat: Will Biden Make Normalizing Relations With Cuba a Priority?

Despite talk that his administration’s Cuba policy will be guided by human rights concerns, Biden seems more concerned about catering to right-wing Cuban Americans in southern Florida than changing the decades of entrenched American policy.

Cuba Biden Feature photo

HAVANA -- Silvia from Miami, Eduardo from Hialeah, Abel from Lakeland. The names pour in on the donations page for “Syringes to Cuba” as Carlos Lazo promotes the campaign on his popular Facebook livestream. An energetic Cuban-American high school teacher in Seattle, Lazo created a group called Puentes de Amor, Bridges of Love, to unite Cuban

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