Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) is coming to LA to meet with elected officials, media and Hollywood executives to sell the myth that he is a reformer and say that Saudi Arabia’s repressive regime is open for business. We must take a stand against MbS’ web of lies, demanding that he stop his catastrophic war in Yemen and lift his humanitarian and commercial blockade. Join us on Monday & Tuesday as we protest the Prince’s visits with WME and the RAND Corporation.
The Prince’s schedule is closely guarded, but we know that both events will be in the morning. RSVP to protest the Prince's meeting with WME or the meeting at RAND and we will keep you updated. We need to stand against normalizing violence! Join us on the streets as we demand action for Yemen, because #YemenCantWait.
“Mohammed Bin Salman employs an army of lobbyists and PR firms to sell himself as a reformer when he is really a war criminal and a power-hungry thug whose ego rivals that of Donald Trump,” says Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK co-founder. “It is absurd that the U.S. is in bed with this ‘prince’ who mercilessly bombs Yemen, shakes down Saudi businessmen, captured the Lebanese prime minister, concocted a rift with Qatar, and even kidnapped his own mother. The Saudi monarchy also jails and beheads dissidents, discriminates against the Shia minority, and forces women to live under a repressive male guardianship system. It is not a regime the United States should be arming and abetting.”
In light of #MeToo and #HimToo Hollywood should not take money from Mohammed bin Salman, the leader of one of the world's most misogynistic, patriarchal, and repressive regimes.
MbS’ U.S. visit included a visit with Trump that resulted in a press conference touting the President’s plan to sell more weapons to Saudi Arabia. MbS is also meeting with Lockheed Martin while he is here to stockpile more weapons that will continue the devastating humanitarian crisis and killing of civilians in Yemen. MbS is in our backyard and we need to say no to war and weapons. Join us to protest WME and the RAND Corporation We need your help to stand up for Yemen and against war.
We urge Hollywood to refuse meeting with bin Salman. He is a mass murderer, war criminal, and absolute dictator who is not only the de facto leader of a repressive regime but has single-handedly led the charge in one of the most disastrous conflicts of the post-Cold War era with his relentless strikes against the people of Yemen. Sign on to our call to Hollywood to cancel their meetings!
Recent stories about Saudi women finally being allowed to drive and even attend sporting events might have the patina of a feel-good Hollywood screenplay, but the reality is that Saudi women and men remain deprived of almost every conceivable political and civil right. Even worse, bin Salman's war in Yemen, launched when he was “Defense” Minister, has killed at least 5,000 Yemeni civilians, caused the world's worst cholera outbreak in decades, the worst humanitarian disaster since World War II — even worse than Syria — destroyed numerous irreplaceable world heritage sites, and has pushed the Middle East closer to disintegration than it has been since the first World War.
We will not normalize violence and human rights violations!
In peace and solidarity,
Claudine, Jodie, Kirsten, Kelly, Patricia and Susan
