An anti-war advocate, a candidate for state assembly and a local journalist spoke to a University of Wisconsin audience Friday about the flaws they see with the current political and economic atmosphere in the United States and the world.
Madea Benjamin, co-founder of the national antiwar coalition CODEPINK, opened the conference with her opinions on the continuing war in the Middle East.
“The war has become very boring to people in the United States,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin said she does not believe President Barack Obama has plans of pulling troops out of Pakistan, and feels it should be the top priority in the U.S.
After troops stationed overseas return the current economy should stabilize, Benjamin said.
“This is a $3 trillion war – imagine what greener jobs could have been generated with this money. All this money borrowed from Japan could have been used in a more productive manner,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin said action must be taken to ensure violence in the Middle East comes to a close, with the first step being cutting ties with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“As a Jewish girl from Long Island I have my pride in Israel, but that does not mean I support their deliberate slaughter of the Gaza people,” Benjamin said.
After Israel’s invasion of Gaza in 2009 it is necessary to expose how AIPAC is influencing the U.S. to add more troops to the surrounding area, Benjamin said.
John Nichols, editor for the Capitol Times said he agreed and said Benjamin demonstrates the importance of forward-thinking U.S. citizens.
Change in democracy cannot occur without individual action, Nichols said. Specifically, people need to act on behalf of each other and stop expecting legislators to do it for them.
“The kid who needs a bone marrow transfer can’t get one, and the homeless person is still homeless,” Nichols said.
Acting for other people also includes pressuring the government about job creation, rather than sitting around complaining, Nichols said.
To stimulate action, U.S. civilians need to pressure the government to further amend and ratify the Constitution, Assembly District 77 candidate Ben Manski said.
Manski asked audience members who signed a petition in the past year to raise their hands, and expressed his disappointment with the results.
“If you have not signed any Wisconsin petition yet this year, go out on Monday and find one that could use your help,” Manski said.
A co-founder of Move to Amend, Manski urged to sign petitions pressuring officials to review certain additions to the Constitution that interfere with rights to freedom of speech.
This coincided with a female yoga instructor in the audience who asked Manski why she could not bring her, “I want to teach Obama yoga” sign to the rally on Sept. 29.
“Freedom of speech is the right to display your opinions without interference,” Manski said. “If you could not tell Obama that you wanted to teach him your yoga technique, then your right to freedom of speech was not granted that day.”
