Medea Benjamin is an American political activist, writer, cofounder of CODEPINK and Global Exchange. She was born in 1952 in Freeport, New York and got her master’s degree in public health from Colombia University and in economics from The New School.
Medea Benjamin has dedicated three decades of her live to advocating for social justice. In 1988, along with her colleagues, she founded the Global Exchange based in San Francisco, California, which promotes human rights and social, economic and environmental justice. The organization works on public awareness about the roots of injustice and advocates for nature and workers’ rights.
In 2002, Benjamin and Jodie Evans and their colleagues founded a feminist anti-war group named Code Pink: Women for Peace, which campaigned to end war in Iraq and prevent future wars. The organization is described as “women-led grassroots organization working to end U.S. wars and militarism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect our tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming program” on the CODEPINK website.
Benjamin created Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad and monitored the U.S. military and war that impacted civilians in Iraq. She gave a speech against war in Congress and at the UN in 2003. She raised humanitarian aids for refugees in Lebanon and Gaza and spoke against Israeli bombings. In 2008, she organized a protest in front of a hotel, where President Obama was staying to condemn the invasion of Gaza by Israel. She was one of the lead organizers of the Gaza Freedom March in Cairo in 2011.
Benjamin campaigned against war in Iraq, documented the U.S. abuses and raised awareness about the situation of Iraqi women effected by war and the soldiers serving there. She has taken part and/or organized several protests outside the U.S. such as Egypt, Gaza, Bahrain and Pakistan.
Due to her humanitarian work and her human rights activism she was described as “one of the high-profile leaders” of peace movements by The Los Angeles Times, and “one of America’s most committed – and most effective – fighters for human rights by New York Newsday. She was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Prize in 2010, the Marjorie Kellogg National Peacemaker Award, the Thomas Merton Center Peace Award and the Peace Foundation Memorial Award in 2012, and the Gandhi Peace Award for promoting Peace in 2014.