Rallying for the Other Victims

Human rights activist Medea Benjamin held up photo after photo from her recent trip to Afghanistan, each telling a unique horror story: of children so severely traumatized by the United States bombing campaign that they no longer speak; of a 20-year-old Afghan man who did not have the money to get medical attention after being injured in a bombing raid and later lost his leg; of a mother who lost two children and, with no other way to get food, sends her remaining son out into the streets each day to beg.

"The media did great work following Sept. 11, painting portraits of the victims," she told her audience. "But so far there have been only small mentions of the civilians being injured and killed in the bombings in Afghanistan."

Benjamin was the guest of honor during Friday night services Feb. 8 at Kol Tikvah in Woodland Hills. She spoke about calling scores of people who had lost loved ones in the tragic events of Sept. 11, asking if they would go to Afghanistan and share their grief with families there who were dealing with their own losses in the wake of the bombings by U.S. forces.

In the end, she was accompanied by four friends and relatives of victims: Kelly Campbell, 29, whose brother-in-law Craig Amundson was killed in the Pentagon attack; Derrill Bodley, 56, a music professor at Sacramento City College who lost his 20-year-old daughter, Deora, when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania; Eva Rupp, 28, Deora Bodley’s stepsister; and Rita Lasar, 70, whose brother Abe Zelmanowitz worked at the World Trade Center and chose to remain with his friend Edward Beyea, a quadriplegic, on the 27th floor where both perished when the building collapsed.

Benjamin called the trip, which took place in mid-January and was sponsored by Global Exchange, a nonprofit international human rights organization, "one of the most profound experiences of my life."

"I was with four people who had all suffered profound losses and yet found within their grief the wherewithal to make this trip and express their feelings to the Afghans," she said. "What was interesting was they told me later they never felt as much at home after Sept. 11 as they did in Afghanistan, where every family had lost a loved one."

Benjamin said that within the group there were sharp divisions over the American bombing campaign but all agreed that, no matter what their opinions, the U.S. needed to find a way to help civilians who have been hurt and that there should be full disclosure by the American military of the effects of the bombings.

"Right now, we don’t know how many people have been killed in Afghanistan and that’s the problem — we should know," she said.

Benjamin also spoke of the horror of cluster bombs which leave behind bright yellow "bomblets" that remain a danger to Afghan civilians.

"Every day we were there, a child was brought in with injuries from these bombs," she said. "One little girl told us of yelling at her little brother to drop one, but it was too late — he was killed and she lost both her hands [trying to save him]."

Amid these stories, the activist said the upsetting part was that the Afghan people she met still trusted that the United States would help them.

"One woman we met who lost her husband and several children [in a bombing] went to the American embassy with a letter she’d gotten someone to write in English, asking for help. She was turned away as a beggar," recalled Benjamin, a steely note creeping into her voice. "So Rita [Lasar] and I went back there with her and Rita asked the soldiers there, are we not both human beings? Is it not so important in this time in history to let the Islamic world know we care about them?"

After returning to the United States, the group appeared before Congress to ask for more direct aid for the Afghan civilians. They were told it could take up to a year before funds could be released and that the only way to expedite the request was to take it to the top.

"So now our mission is to get to President Bush," Benjamin said. She then asked the audience to contact the White House and their representatives in Washington, D.C., and if possible to make a donation to Global Exchange, which has put together its own fund to help Afghan civilians.

A longtime activist, Benjamin is probably best known for running on the Green Party ticket for the U.S. Senate against Dianne Feinstein in the 2000 elections. Rabbi Steven Jacobs, leader of Kol Tikvah, first met Benjamin at a meeting with other civil rights leaders following that year’s controversial presidential election in Florida.

"There are maybe four people I’ve known who have devoted their lives to being agents of change and transformation. Medea is a giant in the world," Jacobs said.