Rob Kall: Well, Code
Pink - one of their trademarks, I think, is street theater, and it's sounds
like that's what was the plan here. Was
it rehearsed? Did you actually, it
another location, rehearse it? Was there
some scripting involved? It sounds like
that.
Medea Benjamin: We didn't have a chance to actually all be in
a room together to go one by one, so I rehearsed with each person and said to
them, "What's the issue you care the most about? OK.
How are you going to say it?
Rehearse it with me. Go over it a
couple of times so you're comfortable with it.
Do you need a prop? Can we help
you with that? What are you going to
wear?" I mean, all of these things are
very important. So, yes. We certainly rehearse it one by one if we
aren't able to do it as a group.
Rob Kall: OK. Any other approaches to getting in front of
an audience, when there's a speaker or a hearing?
Medea Benjamin: First, I should say: on the issue of
rehearsing, we've refined this over the years, because there are some really
funny clips of us that people like Jon Stewart have played, that showed us
getting up during a hearing, like when General Petraeus was testifying, and
just screaming, and everybody yelling out different things. And there's something loveable, I think,
about the chaos, but (laughs) we have gotten better in trying to make sure that
our message actually gets heard.
In terms of other tips to get out in front,
ninety-five percent [95%] of the tip is just showing up. And whether you're on the inside or on the
outside of the event, you're still making an impact by being there. Whether it's three people or three hundred
people, it's still important. So every
time I'm debating in my mind, "Oh, should I go to that thing? Oh. I have other things to do today. Oh, I don't know how important that's going
to be," I always try to tell my self, "Yes! Go!" because you never know, and if
you're not there you can't do anything.
For so long, people in, what I would say, "The
pro-war realm of things," they don't have to shout people down: they buy their
way with money; they have the influence of their multimillion dollar lobbyists;
they have the open door into the Congressional offices, but we have to find
other ways, because we don't buy our way in to speak with people of power. So I would just say: anytime you hear your
Congressperson is going to be giving a talk somewhere, try to be there. If you see that Donald Rumsfeld comes out
with a new book, his Rumsfeld Rules, where's he going to be speaking? Go in and get a seat in the bookstore where
he's speaking, and get up and tell him he's a war criminal.
There are endless opportunities, and people can
sign up on Codepink.org , and we'll send you out some of these opportunities. But I would say that whether it's past
administrations, present administration, people who are in power or people, or
people who are part of the Intelligentsia that gets us into these wars. Or, if you're talking about any other issues:
global warming, money in politics, whatever it is, it is important to confront
those who are maintaining the status quo, and to have them get a dose of
reality and opposition every once in a while.
Rob Kall: So: you've
got somebody relatively new who is going to attempt to do this with somebody --
what kind of a pep talk do you give them?
What do you say to her or him?
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