Patrick Evans

Mad River Union

HUMBOLDT STATE – Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein delivered a fiery speech calling for national action to fight climate change and denouncing the Democratic Party Wednesday evening, March 8 at Humboldt State University.

Stein strode to the podium in the Kate Buchannan room wearing a wide smile, flashing peace signs to a cheering crowd. Her speech topics ranged from corporate influence over the Democratic Party to cutting fossil fuel consumption, supporting Standing Rock and opposing the Trump administration’s travel ban.

Stein spent much of the time arguing for her “Green New Deal,” a plan for national mobilization to build green energy and infrastructure which she says would create 20 million jobs.

“To do so would revive the economy, turn the tide on climate change, and make the friggin’ wars for oil obsolete,” Stein said.

Stein compared her proposal for mobilization to fight climate change to the United States’ war response after Pearl Harbor.

“We need a wartime-scale mobilization to meet the climate crisis now,” Stein said.

“That means an emergency jobs program to transform our energy, our food, our public transportation systems, and restore our ecosystems.”

The crowd cheered Stein on for most of the night, but there was an awkward moment during a question-and-answer session when Stein, a medical doctor, dodged a request from a student who asked that she clarify her past statements on vaccines. The student repeated the question while a few people near the front called out “Vaccines, vaccines!”

The controversy over Stein’s stance on vaccinations first arose during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” hosted by Stein in 2016, when she questioned mandatory vaccination and the role of private pharmaceutical companies in pushing vaccines.

Stein later told the Washington Post that vaccines are a compelling need for public health, but questioned whether government oversight of vaccinations could not be trusted.

Stein compared press coverage of her statements to attacks against President Obama by the birther movement.

“The thing about vaccines is, the political power structure does not like you to challenge them on things like war, healthcare and immigrant rights, so they will make things up,” she said.

Stein also denied recent accusations that she is under Russian state influence and responsible for sabotaging Hillary Clinton’s chance at winning the 2016 election.

“Right now I’m a major public enemy because I’m a Putin operative, in case you didn’t know,” she said.

In response to a question about how Stein differed from Sen. Bernie Sanders (D–Vermont), Stein accused the DNC of sidelining progressive candidates.

“What just happened to Bernie, what happened to Dennis [Kucinich], what happened before them, happened at the DNC,” Stein said.

“The difference between Bernie and our campaign is that we are not constrained by a counter revolutionary party.”

Stein’s political experience includes a run as a Green Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election, election to a Town Meeting Seat in Lexington, Massachusetts in 2005 and 2008, and unsuccessful runs as a Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate in 2002 and 2010.

In the 2016 presidential campaign Stein received one percent of the vote nationally. In Humboldt County Stein won 3,000 votes compared to 33,000 for Hillary Clinton and 18,300 for Donald Trump.

About 300 people showed up to see Stein speak at HSU; interested locals and students, green party supporters, and activists whose bright banners carried messages about climate change.

Local activists and students gave speeches and performed songs before Stein’s appearance. Yurok tribal member Gene McCovey spoke about the knowledge of sustainability preserved by Native American people’s cultures and the importance of caring for the environment. McCovey started off the evening with a prayer for the earth and shared a Yurok song and story about the lifecycle of redwoods.

Immigration rights advocate Fernando Paz spoke to the crowd about the work being done by local organizations like El Centro Del Pueblo, an indigenous and Latino rights advocacy group in Eureka, and said that the immigrant community has experienced an increase in racist violence and threats of deportation since the election of Donald Trump.

Local social rights activist Sarah Torres sang an original song, Water is Life, which she said was inspired by the Standing Rock struggle and the massacre of Wiyot people on Tuluwat Island by white residents of Eureka in 1860.

At the end of the night former Eureka Mayor Peter LaVallee, a Stein supporter during the 2016 campaign, told the Union he was pleased with the turnout and felt Stein represents a new alternative for progressives.

“I’m really disillusioned by the Democratic Party, we need to get rid of this corporate control of politics,” LaVallee said.

LaVallee, who was named Democrat of the year in 2014 by the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee, said voting for Stein in 2016 was the first time he had opposed the party candidate since 1980.

“I’m ready for something new,” LaVallee said.

HSU senior computer science major Abdul Shaikh said he had heard skeptical opinions of Stein and wanted to clear up his impression.

“I left with more questions than I started with,” Shaikh said.

HSU Anthropology major Lily Camara said it was easy for her to agree with Stein’s opinion on climate change, but said she wanted Stein to cite the sources for her policies.

“I wish there was more evidence included. Give people like me seeing [Stein] for the first time more information on where she stands,” she said.

Note: The headline to this story was changed to correct the event's location. – Ed.















