We spoke with Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK and author of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. Medea has been a relentless activist to stop the use of drones to terrorize communities and kill civilians. She traveled to Pakistan and Yemen to speak with the families of drone victims and recently attended the briefing in Congress in which family members told their stories. Medea exposed that funds for victims of drones are actually going to US-based NGOs. She is organizing the upcoming drone conference. We also spoke with Naureen Shah of Amnesty International about a new study on drone attacks in Pakistan and David Swanson of War Is a Crime about the legality of drone warfare and whether it should be banned.
Listen here:
Should Drone Warfare be Banned? with guests Medea Benjamin, Naureen Shah and David Swanson by Clearingthefog on Mixcloud
Relevant articles, books and websites:
Armed Drones Becoming the Norm? At the Crossroads of Robotic Warfare by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
Where Do the Dollars For Drone Victims End Up? In the Hands of American NGOs by Medea Benjamin
Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control by Medea Benjamin
REPORT: PAKISTAN: “WILL I BE NEXT?” US DRONE STRIKES IN PAKISTAN
Time for the Truth about ‘Targeted’ Killings and US Drones’ Civilian Victims by Naureen Shah
Obama has not Delivered on May’s Promise of Transparency on Drones by Naureen Shah
A New Kind of War is Being Legalized by David Swanson
Finally a Drone Report done Right by David Swanson
Drone Conference Nov. 16 and 17 in Washington, DC
Guests:
Medea Benjamin is a cofounder of both CODEPINK and the international human rights organization Global Exchange. Benjamin is the author of eight books. Her latest book is Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, and she has been campaigning to stop the use of killer drones. Her direct questioning of President Obama during his 2013 foreign policy address, as well as her recent trips to Pakistan and Yemen, helped shine a light on the innocent people killed by US drone strikes.
Benjamin 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 “one of the high profile leaders of the peace movement” by the Los Angeles Times, she was one of 1,000 exemplary women from 140 countries nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the millions of women who do the essential work of peace worldwide. In 2010 she received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Prize from the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the 2012 Peace Prize by the US Peace Memorial.
Since the September 11, 2001 tragedy, Medea has been working to promote a U.S. foreign policy that would respect human rights and gain us allies instead of contributing to violence and undermining our international reputation. In 2000, she was a Green Party candidate for the California Senate. During the 1990s, Medea focused her efforts on tackling the problem of unfair trade as promoted by the World Trade Organization. Widely credited as the woman who brought Nike to its knees and helped place the issue of sweatshops on the national agenda, Medea was a key player in the campaign that won a $20 million settlement from 27 US clothing retailers for the use of sweatshop labor in Saipan. She also pushed Starbucks and other companies to start carrying fair trade coffee.
Her work for justice in Israel/Palestine includes taking numerous delegations to Gaza after the 2008 Israeli invasion, organizing the Gaza Freedom March in 2010, participating in the Freedom Flotillas and opposing the policies of the Israel lobby group AIPAC. In 2011 she was in Tahrir Square during the Egyptian uprising and In 2012 she was part of a human rights delegation to Bahrain in support of democracy activists; she was tear-gassed, arrested and deported by the Bahraini government.
A former economist and nutritionist with the United Nations and World Health Organization, her articles appear regularly in outlets such as The Huffington Post, CommonDreams, Alternet and OpEd News.
Medea can be reached at: medea[@]codepink.org or @medeabenjamin. – See more at: http://www.codepink.org/article.php?id=51#sthash.Tgxj7FrY.dpuf
Naureen Shah (@naureenshah) develops research and advocacy on human rights abuses arising from counterterrorism practices, including covert drone strikes and “homegrown terrorism” prosecutions impacting American Muslim communities.
She is a frequent commentator on U.S. counterterrorism policy, especially drone strikes. She has recently been quoted in coverage by the New York Times, LA Times, ProPublica, Rolling Stone and PRI’s The World. She has recently been a guest on programs such as KCRW Los Angeles’ To The Point, WHYY Philadelphia’s Radio Times, and HuffPost Live. In the past she has appeared on CNN International and the BBC.
Her recent articles include President Obama Has Not Delivered On May’s Promise of Transparency on Drones (The Guardian, Aug. 17, 2013); The FBI’s Surveillance Power in the aftermath of Boston (The Hill, May 17, 2013); End Covert Drone War (USA Today, Feb. 7, 2013); New director John Brennan must kill the CIA’s drone assasination policy (Guardian, Jan. 8, 2013); President Obama’s Dangerous Drone Legacy (USA Today, Oct. 1, 2012); The CIA’s Unchecked Quasi-Military Role (Politico, May 10, 2012); Drone Attacks and the Brennan Doctrine (Guardian, May 2, 2012); They Can’t Go Home Again (Jurist, Feb. 15, 2011); Don’t Deliver Afghans to Torture on a Promise Alone (The Age/Sydney Morning Herald, Jan. 7, 2011); and Growing Up Before Ground Zero (Fort Worth Weekly, Sept. 8, 2011).
She is also the co-author of several major reports on drone strikes: The Civilian Impact of Drones, Counting Drone Strike Deaths and Targeting With Drone Technology: Humanitarian Law Implications.
Naureen holds a B.S. from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, cum laude. She holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was a James Kent Scholar and Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, and received the Lowenstein Fellowship awarded to outstanding graduates pursuing public interest law.
www.twitter.com/naureenshah
David Swanson is an author who’s books include: War No More: The Case for Abolition (2013), War Is A Lie (2010), When the World Outlawed War (2011), and The Military Industrial Complex at 50 (2012). He is the host of Talk Nation Radio. He has been a journalist, activist, organizer, educator, and agitator. Swanson helped plan the nonviolent occupation of Freedom Plaza in Washington DC in 2011. Swanson holds a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich’s 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. He blogs at http://davidswanson.org and http://warisacrime.org and works as Campaign Coordinator for the online activist organization http://rootsaction.org Swanson also works on the communications committee of Veterans For Peace, of which he is an associate (non-veteran) member. Swanson is Secretary of Peace in the Green Shadow Cabinet.