The real hoax is Benjamin's claim about some her positions being "anti-
war." Her long-time position has been that United States troops should
leave Iraq -- and that United Nations forces should replace them.
Having met / spoken to Benjamin several times (both in the course of
Latin America solidarity activities / conferences and through
overlapping social circles), I had thought there was something wrong
with my ears when I heard her take that position as she spoke as qua
panelist at Los Angeles AFL-CIO anti-war panel at Faith Campus (what
had been the auditorium of the former South Central Los Angeles campus
of Pepperdine University), especially considering how recent it had
then been since the United Nations "inspection" teams and their
"search" for non-existent "weapons of mass destruction" and other
Iraqi mar materiel were used by Wa****ngton as its main rationale for
the (second) imperialist invasion of Iraq. Alas, since her positions
(including the one below) have been put into print, the problem then
and now was with my hearing, but with what with what has come out of
her mouth.
-- Barry Schier
On Apr 5, 2:55=A0pm, Dan Clore <cl...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> News & Views for Anarchists &
Activists:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smyg=
o
>
> http://tinyurl.com/46hf9d
> Code Pink's Hoax Makes Some See Red
> April 02, 2008
> Oakland Tribune|by Kristin Bender
>
> BERKELEY -- CodePink should be turning red.
>
> That seems to be the consensus of many who were on the receiving end of
> a bogus announcement Tuesday by the radical anti-war group that the
> embattled U.S. Marine Corps recruiting center in Berkeley was caving to
> the pressure of weekly protests and leaving town.
>
> "If you want to be taken seriously as an organization of serious
> protest, then you don't play jokes -- even on April Fools' Day," said
> Robin Lakoff, a professor of linguistics at the University of
> California, Berkeley, who has written about the politics of language.
>
> CodePink and other anti-war groups have been protesting the Marine
> recruiting center in downtown Berkeley for months, hoping to force the
> recruiters to leave town.
>
> A CodePink official defended the hoax Tuesday.
>
> "In CodePink we tend to have a sense of humor," said CodePink co-founder
> Medea Benjamin. "We tend to joke about a lot of things. It keeps us
> going where other anti-war groups have gone by the wayside."
>
> Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin with the Marine Corps Recruiting Command
> in Wa****ngton, D.C., verified Tuesday that there are no plans to
> relocate the Berkeley office, which is conducting business as usual.
>
> The April Fools' hoax -- certainly not the first from CodePink --
> started Monday evening when the group posted a news release on its Web
> site boldly announcing "Marine Recruiting Center Leaving Berkeley:
> Agreement Reached with Landlord, City, and Protesters."
>
> The release said Sasha Shamszad, the owner and landlord of the Marine
> recruiting center, "has reached an amicable agreement with the Marines
> to redeploy from Berkeley" and that further details would be given at a
> noon news conference Tuesday.
>
> The release included false quotes attributed to Shamszad.
>
> "The situation was becoming untenable," the false quote said. "The
> presence of the Marines sparking daily protests have had a negative
> impact on local businesses. The city has been forced to pay hundreds of
> thousands of dollars in police overtime. And some groups have been
> calling for a national boycott of our city. So I sat down with
> representatives of the Marines and we worked out a solution."
>
> Reached by telephone Tuesday, Shamszad said, "Someone is in la-la land
> here. There's a lease involved here. We live in a society where
> contracts are a big deal. These people are my tenants and I'm a
> professional. Once they have a lease, unless they break the rules, you
> can't get them out."
>
> The center's lease runs through December 2009, subject to termination if
> the government cannot provide funding, Franklin said.
>
> CodePink also invented quotes from a civilian Marine Corps employee
> named Michael Applegate, the director of the Marine Manpower Plans and
> Policy Division. The release quoted Applegate as saying the downtown
> Berkeley office is not a good use of taxpayer money. Applegate was not
> available for comment Tuesday, but Franklin said officials aren't angry
> about the hoax.
>
> "It's a protest group that has very strong feelings, just as all protest
> groups do, and this is just one thing that they've done," Franklin said.
>
> Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said the publicity stunt had people calling his
> office and others in the city. Although Bates initially sup****ted giving
> CodePink a permit fee waiver and a free parking space at the Marine
> center for their weekly protests, he criticized their prank.
>
> "I think they have hurt their credibility with this farce," he said.
>
> But Benjamin disagreed.
>
> "We do believe in putting out some positive ideas of what we want to
> see, and what better way to do it than April Fools' Day," she said.
>
> Benjamin said she hopes the hoax will move people to action.
>
> "We've got a topsy turvy world and if more people got out and joined us
> this wouldn't be an April Fools' joke. (It) would be reality," she said.
> "The Marines would be gone from Berkeley, the war would be over, there
> would be impeachment of Bush and Cheney and we'd be upholding our
> Constitution."
>
> What's more, Benjamin said, "We do these types of things every April 1."
>
> And on other days as well.
>
> In October, CodePink distributed a phony news release saying Blackwater
> USA, a private military contractor, was creating a new "Department of
> Cor****ate Integrity" that would "put the mercy back in mercenary,"
> according to published re****ts.
>
> CBS News, the Associated Press and other news organizations ran with the
> story, according to published re****ts about the hoax.
>
> Also Tuesday, CodePink distributed an invented letter from John Conyers,
> chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, that said he had decided to
> start impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush and Vice
> President Dick Cheney. The letter ended with "April Fools!"
>
> At least one Bay Area television station -- KTVU Channel 2 -- ran a
> short segment about the Berkeley Marine center's false departure on the
> 6 p.m. news Monday. KTVU re****ted that the building at 64 Shattuck
> Square was up for rent. By the 10 p.m. newscast, the Oakland-based TV
> station warned of the "hoax" by CodePink.
>
> Despite criticism early Tuesday, CodePink went ahead with a "mock" news
> conference at noon Tuesday where a "pink Marine" announced the Marines
> were moving out.
>
> A real Marine in uniform, who declined to give his name, was outside the
> recruiting center Tuesday afternoon because he had heard re****ts that
> the Marines were leaving Berkeley.
>
> He held a sign that read, "I thought Berkeley wouldn't judge me."
>
> --
> Dan Clore
>
> My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and
Others_http://tinyurl.com/2gcoq=
t
> Lord We=FFrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:http://tinyurl.com/292yz9
> News & Views for Anarchists &
Activists:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smyg=
o
>
> Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
> in charge on this island?
> Professor: Why, no one.
> Skipper: No one?
> Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
> -- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"
|
