PLEASE SHARE: Internationally known peace activist Medea Benjamin to join former Col. Ann Wright at Richmond event
Phil Wilayto
DEFENDERS ANNOUNCEMENT:
CODE PINK cofounder MEDEA BENJAMIN
to join peace activist COL. ANN WRIGHT (Ret.)
at Defenders May 5 meeting in Richmond
Internationally known peace activist Medea Benjamin will join former U.S. Army Col. Ann Wright for presentations on U.S. foreign policy at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 5, at the William Byrd Community House, 224 So. Cherry St., Richmond, Va. The free public event is being sponsored by the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality. Children are welcome. Donations to help cover costs are appreciated.
The talks by the two prominent anti-war activists and authors will take place after President Barack Obama opens his 2012 re-election campaign with a rally just blocks away at Virginia Commonwealth University's Siegel Center.
Ann Wright is a former U.S. Army colonel and State Department diplomat who, on the eve of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, cabled Secretary of State Colin Powell to inform him that she was resigning from the military and the diplomatic corps because of her opposition to the impending invasion and occupation. Since then, she has been writing and speaking out for peace with a courageous eloquence that has earned her the respect of the entire anti-war movement. She is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience; Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq,” which includes a forward by Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame.
Medea Benjamin is a cofounder of both CODEPINK and the human rights organization Global Exchange. Called “one of the high profile leaders of the peace movement” by the Los Angeles Times, Benjamin is a former economist and nutritionist with the United Nations and World Health Organization. She is the author/editor of eight books. Her latest, “Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control,” supplements her campaigning to get lethal drones out of the hands of the CIA.
Both women have played leading organizing roles in solidarity trips to Palestine, including the 2011 Gaza Freedom Flotilla II that challenged the Israeli sea blockade of Gaza.
The presentations will be preceded by brief reports on community efforts to support Ashley Williams, a young Richmonder wrongfully convicted in connection with the tragic death of her two-year-old son; an update on the case of the 31 women's rights activists arrested March 3 on the steps of the Virginia Capitol Building; Richmond's celebration of International Workers Day (May Day); and recent events in the West African country of Mali.
The Richmond event is part of a three-city tour. Other stops will be in Charlottesville on May 3 and 4 and Norfolk on May 6.
For more information, call the Defenders at 804-644-5834 or e-mail Defend...@hotmail.com or long onto www.DefendersFJE.org or www.DefendersFJE.blogspot.com.
Founded in 2002, the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality is an all-volunteer community organization based in Richmond, Va. Among other activities, we publish The Virginia Defender, a statewide quarterly newspaper with a press run of 16,000; produce DefendersLIVE!, a news and commentary radio program heard Mondays from noon to 12:30 pm on WRIR community radio, 97.3 FM and online at www.wrir.org; and sponsor the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project, which played a leading role in the successful community struggle to reclaim Richmond's African Burial Ground. The Defenders are affiliated with the United National Antiwar Coalition. See DefendersFJE.org and DefendersFJE.blogspot.com.
