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.

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.

Medea Benjamin
By Medea Benjamin
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.

Medea Benjamin
Ariel Gold
By Medea Benjamin
And Ariel Gold

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

Medea Benjamin
By Medea Benjamin
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.

Medea Benjamin
Leonardo Flores
By Medea Benjamin
And Leonardo Flores
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.

Medea Benjamin
By Medea Benjamin
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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The Squad & Co: Unite as a Block to Downsize Biden’s Military Budget

Now is the time for progressive congressional luminaries such as the Squad’s AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Presley to unite with Congressional Progressive Caucus to put their feet down and stand as a block against a bloated military budget.

Medea Benjamin
Marcy Winograd
By Medea Benjamin
And Marcy Winograd
Congress US miltiary Feature photo

Imagine this scenario: A month before the vote on the federal budget, progressives in Congress declared, “We’ve studied President Biden’s proposed $753 billion military budget, an increase of $13 billion from Trump’s already inflated budget, and we can’t, in good conscience, support this.” Now that would be a show stopper, particularly if they

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The Hawks Who Want War With Iran Are Working Overtime

Israeli leaders, Christian fundamentalists, and hawkish Washington neocons are doing everything in their power to block a peaceful US return to the JCPOA.

Ariel Gold
Medea Benjamin
By Ariel Gold
And Medea Benjamin
Iran Israel JCPOA

WASHINGTON (Jacobin) -- Just as talks between the United States and Iran were taking place last week in Vienna, a cyberattack was carried out on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Reports are that the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, was behind the attack that blacked out the facility just one day after Tehran launched new advanced uranium

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