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http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2007/07/01/bakers_1.mov
Bakers without Borders and Co-optation Watch take action today at the US Social Forum to demand accountability from a self-appointed "spokesperson" whose actions further the commodification of resistance and sabotage our movement's sustainability and credibility. This person's actions benefit the NGO Industrial Complex at the expense of real democracy and solidarity.
In particular, we hold Medea Benjamin accountable for:
- Publicly siding with the police and municipal authorities against direct actions performed at the World Trade Organization protests of 1999.
- Administrative authority in an organization that hordes funds raised for community organizations in Guatemala
- Administrative authority in an organization that solicited the economic dependency of residents in Cuba and then abandoned the project, pushing the Cuban participants deeper into poverty.
- Acting as self-appointed spokesperson of the "American Left". One egregious example is publicly refusing to endorse a call by hundreds of Lebanese citizens for Israel to unconditionally withdraw from Southern Lebanon in the 2006 war, claiming that the American Left would not swallow such a demand.
- Exploiting and dominating movement space, resources, and publicity in the global justice and associated movements.
Comments (13)
righteous face full indeed
Posted by op | July 2, 2007 4:36 PM
Posted on July 2, 2007 16:36
Excellent! I went to an event last year with Scott Ritter and Ray mcGovern, among others, and watched Medea Benjamin drain the event of meaning and focus by her self-centered, feel-good moderation.
Posted by bobw | July 2, 2007 4:45 PM
Posted on July 2, 2007 16:45
ahh that brought tears of joy to my eyes. thanks michael!
Posted by tim d | July 2, 2007 5:06 PM
Posted on July 2, 2007 17:06
At the end of a long long day...*bliss!*
Posted by AlanSmithee | July 2, 2007 9:01 PM
Posted on July 2, 2007 21:01
Code Pink has showed up at some of the same venues as Cindy Sheehan (disrupting Congressional hearings, e.g., and generally breaking the rules of "proper public behavior"). Cindy camped out at Bush's ranch, and Code Pink set up an embarassingly and symbolically shabby little encampment in front of Nancy Pelosi's posh San Francisco home.
So why do I think Cindy is a hero, and Medea is a phony?
Posted by bobw | July 3, 2007 12:12 AM
Posted on July 3, 2007 00:12
Yeah, but you'll notice she didn't let it stop her from delivering another one of her patronizing bromides. Next time I hope they include some chloroform.
Posted by Michael Hureaux | July 3, 2007 2:22 PM
Posted on July 3, 2007 14:22
I'm not very impressed by self-styled leftists who have the courage to pie-kill ersatz leftists and of course don't have the courage to pie-kill anyone actually in power. Bleah.
Posted by NYCO | July 6, 2007 12:15 PM
Posted on July 6, 2007 12:15
Medea may have gotten too close to the Democrats, but she still has more integrity in her little finger than Ann Coulter has in her whole body. I just don't get celebrating the latter and attacking the former.
Posted by VAGreen | July 6, 2007 9:13 PM
Posted on July 6, 2007 21:13
I kinda doubt the "integrity" part. I more than half suspect that Medea is a plant -- Gloria Steinem rediviva.
But of course I could be wrong. Maybe she's just a useless-to-us, and useful-to-them, idiot.
When it comes to integrity -- man, Ann has got it. She will do anything to keep her name in lights. This is a dedicated, sharklike, focused, entrepreneurial creature with one goal: Provide, provide, as the poet says.
Medea's so much more relaxed it's slightly suspect. She doesn't seem to feel that urgency to provide. I wonder -- is that because she has a pension? Even -- a Gummint pension?
Posted by MJS | July 6, 2007 10:07 PM
Posted on July 6, 2007 22:07
=v= Last I heard, Medea Benjamin was Green -- though in San Francisco, I'm sorry to say, that doesn't mean a whole lot.
Posted by Jym![[TypeKey Profile Page]](../../nav-commenters.gif)
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July 7, 2007 11:03 PM
Posted on July 7, 2007 23:03
MJS, you're the last person I would expect to confuse "integrity" with "ambition." Coulter doesn't need integrity to float to the top of the bowl. Hell, the pundit class proves time and time again that integrity is an impediment to their success, not an asset.
Ann is not only a scum-sucking maggot, she is pitifully easy to figure out. She wants to make big money and garner big attention by being a shithead. Catering to other shitheads in what must be one of civilization's most fertile breeding grounds for same, she succeeds magnificently. You might just as well congratulate cockroaches for their skills at multiplying under trash heaps in poor neighborhoods during the summer months.
Benjamin, OTOH, I can't figure out. If what she wanted all along was easy money and easy attention, she chose a strange path towards it. One much more risky and circuitous than Coulter's. Then again, I can't figure out any of the Lefties who threw away whatever integrity and self-respect they truly possessed on a pile of puke like Kerry. I don't think I'll ever really understand it.
But that being the case, it seems curious that Benjamin is the one singled out for punishment. Hell, you could keep busy for the next year pie-ing all our supposed spokespeople who've earned the honor several times over, were you so inclined.
Posted by ms_xeno | July 10, 2007 9:45 AM
Posted on July 10, 2007 09:45
Ms X -- I didn't throw the pie myself, so I can only speculate about the motives of the individual who did. Personally, I find Medea particularly irritating because she self-presents as something more radical than the mildly liberal Democrat she really is.
Your point that more people deserve pie-ing than just Medea is of course right on target, and may they all get what they deserve, the sooner the better.
Posted by mjs | July 10, 2007 10:24 AM
Posted on July 10, 2007 10:24
You forgot "backing the Democratic Party which sponsors wars, coups, genocides, and neoliberalism at home and abroad" to the charges.
Posted by Binh | July 12, 2007 2:37 PM
Posted on July 12, 2007 14:37