Rob Kall: Is there
a way you position yourself in the crowd
or in the seating that you think through ahead of time and plan on, or you just
grab what you can, or..?
Medea Benjamin: Oh no.
You think about it a lot. But
first, I should say I was very nervous, because they opened the doors to the
place very early on, and we had to wait for about two and a half hours; and I
was sure during that waiting time that somebody was going to recognize me and
say, "Medea, I don't think we want you hear."
So I was trying to be invisible; and as part of being invisible, I read
a lot of the same newspaper over, and over, and over again. I also talked on the phone (or even pretended
to talk on the phone) for a lot of the time so I would look busy and have a
reason to be turning my head away. So
yeah. You want to be as inconspicuous as
possible.
Then, when I got inside, I wanted to look for a
place that wasn't on an aisle (because if you're on an aisle it's easier for
them to pull you out), but was in direct sight of the President. I could have been on front of the cameras,
but then if I was in front of the cameras, they would've had my back when I was
addressing him, and I felt I had a better chance if I was behind the cameras,
and they did have a chance if they wanted, then, to turn around. So I picked a pretty good spot that was in
direct sight of him. In fact, if you
notice, he looks like he's looking right into the camera when he's looking at
me, because I'm right behind the main camera.
It's very important to think about logistics.
Rob Kall: OK. Once you start -- were you sitting? Were you standing? Did you stand up right away? Are there thoughts that go into the first
words, the first action, the first behavior?
Medea Benjamin: Yeah.
It's important to stand up and it's important to project, because you
want him to hear you, and yet you don't want to sound, as they say,
"Shrill." So, speaking loudly, but not
screaming, is what I try to do. And try
to get out first words that are a bit respectful, like, "Mr President"; but you
also don't want to waste words, so you've got to get something out right
away. I was debating in my head what the
most important thing to say first was, but I realized what had most struck me
was his hiding behind the cloak of Congress; so I said, "Mr. President, you're
Commander in Chief. You can do
this." So yes, it's important to get out
your main point very quickly, because you don't know if you're going to have
any more time at all.
Rob Kall: How long was
it into your first utterance of a word before the security people started
coming at you?
Medea Benjamin: I would say just a couple of words. Because as soon as I got up, started speaking
-- sorry?
Rob Kall: What did
they do, and how did you handle it? How
do you avoid getting grabbed and silenced?
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