Medea Benjamin (in pink) proudly posing alongside Iranian foreign minister and war criminal, Javad Zarif in 2018

To the people of Syria who fought so long and so hard and sacrificed so much to overthrow the criminal Assad dictatorship:

As supporters of the Syrian revolution, we wish to advise you of someone from the United States who is headed your way. A woman named Medea Benjamin, who heads up the organization “Code Pink“  has announced plans to visit Syria in the middle of March. Benjamin will present herself as the smiling and friendly advocate of peace and freedom and a friend of the Syrian people. She is nothing of the sort. In fact, she is an asset for Putin and Khameini, just as she was for Assad while he was in office.

While you were fighting to resist and overthrow the Assad dictatorship, Benjamin was campaigning here in the United States against United States military intervention in Syria, but she never mentioned that while current US president Donald Trump was in office from 2016 to 2020, he in fact was indirectly supporting Assad by refusing to allow the Rebel army to attack Assad’s forces. More importantly, she never once mentioned any of the atrocities for which the Assad dictatorship was responsible. Here in the United States, the apologists for Putin and Assad repeated Assad’s claim that he was not responsible for the gas attacks against you, the Syrian people. While we can find no record of Medea Benjamin participating in that particular lie, that was the circle in which she traveled and still does to this day, and she never once countered that lie. And she has associated herself with the open Assad supporter, Rania Khalek, who was one of the main proponents of that lie. (In the linked picture, Benjamin and Khalek stand together holding a sign opposing Israel’s bombing of Lebanon. We entirely agree with that message, but the photo makes it clear: Benjamin stands shoulder to shoulder with that overt Assad supporter.) Nor did she ever oppose the attacks on the Syrian people by Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah.

This must be seen in the context of Medea Benjamin’s support for Assad’s two main allies, Russia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Let us consider Iran first. Before doing so, we must comment on the divisions that exist between people in Syria and Iran. While these

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here is Medea Benjamin standing shoulder to shoulder with Assad supporter Rania Khalek, who says Benjamin is a “hero”.

divisions may have a longer history, both the Assad and the Iranian

regimes have benefited from and played upon these divisions, and just as with all struggles for freedom all around the world, it is only those who oppress us who benefit from such divisions. We see that in Medea Benjamin’s case since she has supported both Assad and the Iranian Mullahs. With that in mind:

Islamic Republic of Iran
Medea Benjamin and Code Pink have organized and sponsored several tours of Iran in coordination with the Iranian regime. Government minders and translators accompanied them every step of the way. It would be like a similar tour of Syria under Assad’s sponsorship. At the time of those tours of Iran, there were all sorts of protests and workers strikes underway there. Medea Benjamin and company never made any attempt to meet with any of these protesters.

As you know, the Iranian regime strongly represses any sort of opposition. First and foremost, this means Iranian women who are fighting for equality. For example, while she and her fellow supporters of the Iranian regime were in Iran in 2018, Iranian political prisoner Nazreen Sotoudeh was being held in prison awaiting sentencing. Shortly after Benjamin‘s tour left Iran, Sotoudeh was sentenced to 33 years in prison and 148 lashes with a whip. Benjamin made no effort to visit Sotoudeh in prison, nor did she try to visit any other political prisoners. There is no record of Benjamin even having expressed any concern about Sotoudeh’s situation while Benjamin was there in Iran, and when she returned, she never mentioned a word about Sotoudeh or the issue of oppression of women or the oppression of LGBTQ people in Iran nor the issue of workers rights either. Nor has she since then, for instance in this speech of hers in 2021.

Medea Benjamin with Zarif. This photo was published by the Iranian regime to try to bolster its credibility at home and abroad.

She and her group met with Iranian foreign minister and war criminal Javad Zarif while they were there in 2018. As foreign minister, Zarif was directly responsible for his government’s support for Assad. Code Pink’s own report shows Benjamin and her group never raised with Zarif the war crimes that his government was responsible for in Syria. Following her return, the Iranian regime used her tour to try to bolster its credibility at home and abroad, exactly as she was warned about in advance. She never did anything to prevent or oppose this outcome.

In other words, she has consciously and systematically helped legitimize the policies of the Iran government, including that government’s assaults on both the people of Iran and Syria.

Russian Invasion of Ukraine
The role of the Russian government in Syria has been repeated by its role in Ukraine, and Benjamin has facilitated Putin’s role in Ukraine also. Russia is subjecting the Ukrainian people to the same atrocities and bombings to which it subjected the Syrian people. Medea Benjamin has been a shill, an apologist, for Russia’s assault on the Ukrainian people. She wrote a book about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which she simply calls a “war“ meaning that it is not simply an assault by Russia on the Ukrainian people. That book is full of falsehoods and distortions. All of these falsehoods and distortions are aimed at creating support for Putin and his government.

Bucha. Just as is the case eith Iranian government war crimes in Syria, Benjamin never mentions these Russian war crimes.

At best, she bemoans the “mass slaughter on both sides“ as if the suffering were equal. We can find no record of Benjamin ever speaking out against Russian atrocities in Ukraine, atrocities, which are not that different from the atrocities for which Putin and Assad are responsible in Syria. For instance, at the outset of the Russian invasion of 2022 they took over and then were forced to retreat from the Ukrainian town of Bucha. Before they left, the Russian troops killed every single man, woman, and child they could get ahold of and then buried them in mass graves. We can find no record of Madea Benjamin ever commenting on that and other atrocities, including Russian troops having kidnapped thousands of Ukrainian children.

Today, her position on this invasion is indistinguishable from that of the Putin-connected President Trump. Like Trump, Benjamin claims she just wants “peace” and a “ceasefire”/an end to the fighting in Ukraine. In reality, that means the Ukrainian people should lay down their arms and allow Russian troops to crush them without any resistance. What would you say if somebody had told you to do the same in Syria – to stop resisting Assad and just submit?

Medea Benjamin happily participating in the “Rage Against the War Machine” rally in Washington D.C. Note the participants with the “Z” – symbol of the Russian troops in Ukraine. Others were waving the Russian flag, all in a show of support for Putin.

Benjamin in the U.S.
Here in the United States, Medea Benjamin consorts with those who at the very least apologize for, and in some cases are overt supporters of Putin. In fact, she had no problem attending a 2023 rally in Washington DC called “Rage Against the War Machine“. Included in that rally were Putin supporters who were carrying the Russian flag, and even Nazis carrying swastikas. That was no problem for Medea Benjamin. Benjamin’s Code Pink is also closely integrated into the web of the Chinese ruling party-connected multi-millionaire, Roy Singham from whom Code Pink gets money.

Conclusion
In conclusion: While Medea Benjamin has opposed U.S. policies, she has never actually supported the struggles for freedom in Syria, Iran, or Ukraine, nor in Russia either for that matter. If she actually visits Syria, she will then return to the United States and present herself as a great friend of the Syrian people, using whatever contacts she makes in your country to bolster that lie. She will use your struggles and your sacrifices, which she did nothing to support, to bolster her own credentials here in the United States, thereby bolstering the authoritarian regimes in Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Not only that, but given the circles in which she travels, and given her apologies for the Iranian and Russian regimes, it is entirely possible that any information that she gathers there in Syria will be passed on to those two regimes. As supporters of the Syrian revolution, and of all freedom struggles we hope that any Syrians who encounter Medea Benjamin are not taken in by the smiling face of this dangerous individual.

Roy Singham with his wife, Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans

coming soon: Code Pink’s finances. Money talks, and in Code Pink’s case it tells us a lot. We suggest you subscribe to our blog to make sure not to miss it.

Medea Benjamin proudly posing alongside Iranian foreign minister and war criminal, Javad Zarif 1n 2018