INTERVIEW: ‘The American people are in rebellion.’ Dr Jill Stein

George Galloway interviews Dr Jill Stein

@00:00:00: Doctor Jill Stein is running to be president of the United States of America.

Doctor Jill Stein is running to be president of the United States

George Galloway: And seriously running at that. She's no fringe candidate. She's imposing herself in the political system of the United States in a way that no third party candidate for a very long time has managed to do. And we're glad to welcome her on to the mother of all talk shows. Doctor Jill, thank you for joining us.

We are the only anti genocide, anti war, or pro worker campaign

Kindly start by saying how you're doing in the campaign so far.

Jill Stein: We are rising up angry and strong, and the american people are in rebellion. They are facing crisis in virtually every dimension of their lives. And that is reflected in incredible grassroots energy coming into our campaign. We are the only anti genocide, anti war, or pro worker campaign on track to be on the ballot across the country to challenge empire and oligarchy in this election.

@00:01:09: There are other voices out there, but they really don't have a shot at being on the ballot in a substantial number of states for a substantial number of voters. And if you're going to challenge Empire, you really need to be on the ballot across the entire country. We are fighting on an incredibly tilted playing field, as you can imagine. But we are going strong right now. We're finishing up a ballot fight in New York, which is the empire's last stand, where they have pulled out all the stops to shut down independent grassroots challenges. The major parties are grandfathered in, basically. RFK has deep pockets with his super PAC and his zionist supporters. He has very deep pockets. So he's not a grassroots candidate and he can buy his way on the ballot.

@00:02:03: That's where the fight is right now, that we are the one grassroots, anti war, anti genocide campaign. If we get on the ballot in New York, and it's looking very likely, we're trying to get a margin of safety. Right now, the Democrats have announced, they've hired an army of lawyers in order to try to throw grassroots campaigns like us off the ballot. But if we pull this off, and it looks like we will, it's going to be off to the races, because the american people are in rebellion right now. They are not happy about either Joe Biden or Donald Trump, and they are appalled by Joe Biden's genocidal policies in Gaza. Donald Trump will be no better. He's just not as closely seen committing that genocide right now. But his comments clearly show he's in the same place, if not more. He thinks Biden is not genocidal enough. So the american people are fighting angry.

@00:03:01: And I'll just mention one thing. We're not a fringe challenge here. As the one anti war, pro worker campaign that will be on the ballot across the country. It's going to be a four way race, and three out of four are pro war and pro genocide. They could very well be splitting the pro war vote among themselves. And in the case of a four way race, it can be won with as little as 26% of the vote. That is not an unachievable goal. It is possible not only to have a profound influence in this election and to really solidify for the long haul a political realignment that is pro worker and anti war. We can really achieve that, but we could also, in fact, win the White House in this race.

George Galloway: Well, these are sweet. This is sweet music to the ears of this audience, I have no doubt.

@00:04:02: It is ironic, is it not, that the democrats keep saying that democracy is on the ballot, but they are actually hiring lawyers to keep you off the ballot. This kind of rigged democracy is what they really mean, isn't it? It's not democracy as the rest of us would understand it.

Jill Stein: Absolutely. You know, it's not only hiring an army of lawyers, which they announce shamelessly. They don't even have a clue that this is horrific as far as the american public is concerned. The american public is clamoring for other choices outside of this box of war in Wall street. And the Democrats are so clueless that they proudly announce that they're army of corporate lawyers is going to decide this race and prevent the american people from having the choices they want. That's outrageous. But in terms of rigging elections, the Democrats were also unapologetic about rigging the elections where Bernie Sanders was actually a contender, and basically rigging their primaries, which they claimed in court was their right to do as a political party.

@00:05:16: And in terms of the emergency of democracy, just look at what's happening on the campuses across the country and out in the streets as well, where the Democrats are leading the charge to basically violently shut down our rights of free speech and our right to protest for redress of grievances. So we don't have to wait for Donald Trump to see fascism erupting in this country. We have it right here and now. Not to mention that the hallmark of fascism is genocide. And the Democrats have been leading the charge on that score as well.

George Galloway: Yes. I mean, they are a uni party, arent they? I mean, one side is uglier and more vulgar than the other.

@00:06:00: There are more university degrees on the democratic side, no doubt, but they essentially stand for exactly the same thing they do, the same thing they are for the few and not the many. They are for murdering large numbers of people overseas and filling the pockets of the military industrial complex as they do. So there's really no point in choosing one cheek over the other when these two cheeks are on the same ass.

Jill Stein: Yes, exactly.

The Democrats have systematically betrayed their base by betraying working people

And the Democrats always talk about how third parties and candidates like myself, you know, we're so powerful that we have spoiled their election. Well, it's really important to look at the most spoiled election ever for the Democrats, which was 2010, when they lost 1000 seats in state legislatures across the country.

@00:07:05: They lost 64 seats in Congress, 13 seats in the Senate, and 13 governorships as well. This was a wipeout, and there were no third parties on the horizon in that race, which was a midterm elections. So, you know, the point here is that the Democrats have spoiled the election for themselves by systematically betraying their base, especially working people who've been thrown under the bus by Bill Clinton and NAFTA, by the proposals for the Trans Pacific Partnership, and especially by the Wall street bailouts in 2008, after the crooks on Wall Street street had crashed the economy and the american people were screaming, don't bail them out. It took Congress and Obama all of one week to bail out the crooks on Wall street to the tune of trillions of dollars while throwing out millions of homeowners.

@00:08:04: This has not gone lightly with the american people, who then punished the Democrats, especially in the 2010 election. But this simply represents the dynamic that has been longstanding here, certainly since the era of Bill Clinton, where the working people have been systematically thrown under the bus by the Democrats. The Republicans do this as well. But the Democrats promise to do something about it and they don't. They break their promises. So, you know, we have elections here in the US where people do not vote for the candidate they support. They vote against the candidate they hate the most because they have been essentially propagandized and fear campaigned into thinking that they need to vote for the lesser evil. But the bottom line is, good luck deciding which one is the lesser evil in an era when it's Democrats leading the charge on genocide and the assault on free speech and our first amendment rights.

@00:09:06: So the bottom line is, forget the lesser evil. Fight for the greater good, like our lives depend on it, because in fact, they do.

George Galloway: Very good slogan. The lesser evil is very difficult to discern in this contest, as indeed it is in the british election, which began just an hour or so ago. And it's that cycle that we have to break, isn't it? Because even if you could decide which genuinely was the lesser evil. You're guaranteeing that evil always wins. It's time to break that mold, isn't it?

Jill Stein: It absolutely is. And in fact, we're out of time. You know, and it's really critical to seize the moment, seize this perfect storm for political realignment, because we are not making progress.

@00:10:05: You know, under the incrementalism of the neoliberal Democrats and the neoconservative Republicans as well. We are not moving forward. We are moving backwards by leaps and bounds. And while the Democrats may appear, they may give lip service to a progressive agenda, every plank of which, by the way, was launched by the Greens, beginning with healthcare as a human right in the 2000 election, promoted by Ralph Nader. But the rest of the agenda was really launched by our campaign in 20, 2012. The Democrats adopt it, but they don't actually do it. And we, you know, we are facing all out existential crises. Whether you're looking at the economy, which is close to collapse, which is booming for the top five to 10%, the stock market is off the charts. But for everyday working people, it is a struggle. Over half of working people right now are substantially stressed economically, spending over a third of their income.

@00:11:05: In New York City, it's more like over 50% of their income just trying to keep a roof over their heads. Over 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. So economically, this is not working and it continues to get worse. It's not like it's getting better. It continues to get worse. You know, the climate crisis is going off the charts. We are, you know, we are in a state of war. The Middle east war, which is a Middle east war. The US and Israel are bombing some five countries. This is on the verge of exploding. It's like a pre world war one situation with nuclear weapons thrown into the mix. We're also. So the US is also fomenting potentially nuclear conflict in this proxy war in Ukraine, a proxy war with Russia, which was ginned up by NATO and the US. And likewise the US is really egging a conflict with China as well. All of these can go nuclear.

@00:12:01: And our absolutely clueless criminal misleaders, both in the White House and in Congress, seem to be absolutely clueless that these wars are impossible, impoverishing us here in the United States, spending over half of our congressional budget on this endless war machine, which is making the world more dangerous, not safer whatsoever. While it impoverishes us and endangers not just the rest of the world, this also endangers people here in the United States. Because when wars go nuclear, they are effectively everywhere. One single nuclear armed submarine, and the US has 14 of them. One single nuclear armed submarine carries the equivalent of 5000 Hiroshima bombs, which is more than enough to put us into substantial nuclear winter, which basically depresses agricultural production because of all the debris that gets kicked up into the upper atmosphere.

@00:13:01: It doesn't come down with the rain and the weather. It's up there for years or decades and we basically starve to death. We go the way of the dinosaurs. So we should be in the business of eliminating, of banning nuclear weapons along with the rest of the world. Save for the nuclear countries and our allies, the majority of the world's nations now have banned nuclear weapons. And we need to step up to the plate there. There are solutions to all of these crises. You will not see them put on the table by the candidates of Wall street and the war machine. That's why we're in this race and that's why we are fighting to be on the ballot in every state. And I just mentioned, for those who have contacts, relatives, et cetera, in the US, encourage them to get involved and to go to our website, Jillstein two zero two four dot com dot. People who are in New York or near New York can all carry petitions. We're trying to go out with a bang here and make sure that they can't nitpick us off the ballot with their army of lawyers.

@00:14:05: But people can contribute, you know, who are us, citizens or green card holders. They can contribute and help us fight this battle and ensure that there is a winning campaign on the ballot that will stop genocide, end endless war, and lift up an aggressive policy for working people to make their lives actually livable in this country, which they are not.

George Galloway: I can see why they're trying to ban you. Doctor Jill Stein, more power to your elbow. Is there a website that our audience can register their support for you upon and keep track of the campaign?

Jill Stein: Absolutely. So if you go to jillstein 2024.com, you can do everything. From there, you can simply follow the campaign. Get on our newsletter.

@00:15:00: If you are a us citizen or green card holder, you can contribute to the campaign and you can volunteer for the campaign. Those who are here in this country, there are many ways you can volunteer. Be part of our phone banking efforts and canvassing and turnouts and tabling and all that. It's a regular politics 101, grassroots politics 101. And the more the merrier. Together, we are absolutely unstoppable in so many dimensions. We are all rising up and unstoppable together. So join the team and thank you all. Thank you so much.

George Galloway: Fantastic. Well, the very best of luck. Doctor Jill Stein, Green Party candidate to be president of the United States of America. And thank you joining us.

Jill Stein: Thank you, George.

George Galloway: You're welcome. Wonderful to see you again.