7PM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1
Medea Benjamin: Drone Warfare |  | Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK and international human rights organization Global Exchange, visits with her new book Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control.
Just after the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, Benjamin traveled to that beleagured country. Talking with civilians, she learned of the reality behind the so-called "precision bombs" on which U.S. forces were becoming increasingly reliant.
Now, with the use of drones escalating at a meteoric pace, Benjamin has written this book as a call to action: "It is meant to wake a sleeping public," she writes, "lulled into thinking that drones are good. In reality, the assassinations we are carrying out via drones will come back to haunt us when others start doing the same thing—to us."
She also includes an analysis of who is producing and profiting from the drones, where they are being used, who the victims are, what is being done to ground the drones, and ways to move forward.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Medea Benjamin is a cofounder of both CODEPINK and the international human rights organization Global Exchange. She has been an advocate for social justice for more than 30 years. Described as "one of America's most committed—and most effective—fighters for human rights" by New York Newsday, and called "one of the high profile leaders of the peace movement" by the Los Angeles Times, Medea has distinguished herself as a figurehead in the progressive movement. In 2010 she received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Prize from the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
In 2000, she was a Green Party candidate for the California Senate. She is widely credited as an instrumental figure in the $20 million settlement against Nike and 27 other American clothing retailers for the use of sweatshop labor in Saipan decided in 2002. She also advocates for the use of fair trade goods, Israel/Palestine peace, participated in the Tahrir Square riots in Egypt during the Arab Spring, and in 2012, was part of a human rights delegation to Bahrain in support of democracy activists.
A former economist and nutritionist with the UN and World Health Organization, Benjamin is the author/editor of eight books. Her articles appear regularly in outlets such as The Huffington Post, CommonDreams, Alternet and OpEd News. More »
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