Ep 175. - Why Muslims Should Vote For The Green Party with Dr Jill Stein
The pro-genocide administration of Biden and Harris has been involved in a frenetic outreach to America’s small but vocal Muslim community. These critical constituents in crucial battleground states like Michigan are where November’s election will be won or lost. Both parties, the Democrats and Republicans, are Zionist to their core, but this genocide has happened with the seal of approval and the consent of the Biden-Harris administration. Is Gaza a turning point? Can we move beyond this two-party nightmare? Are third-party options plausible in a system that approves only two possibilities? Or is voting for anyone but the two bad options a wasted vote? And what of the broader question of the US empire and its propensity to violence? How will this election address what the world observes as an imperium without moral or ethical standards? Today I have a very special guest, Dr Jill Stein, leader of the Green Party and Presidential candidate. Jill is a Harvard educated doctor, an environmentalist, campaigner and organiser.
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Transcript - This is an automated transcript and some of the language may not reflect the actual conversation
Introduction
0:00
a vote for you is in vote for Donald Trump Israel is a proxy for the US here can I ask
0:07
you about about M Hassan interview while he opposes genocide he's all in favor of
0:13
those committing genocide he's a LAPD dog to uh to Empire does the green party have
0:20
a Syria problem I have never expressed support for Assad the American people want to end the genocide our children are not okay unless all children are okay
0:30
okay there is a new moral compass here and much of that is coming from the Muslim
0:36
Community the pro genocide administration of Biden and Harris has been involved in a
0:45
franatic Outreach to America's small but vocal Muslim Community these critical constituents
0:52
in crucial Battleground States like Michigan are where November's election will be one or lost both
0:58
parties for Democrats and Republicans are zionists to the call but this genocide has happened with
1:04
the seal of approval and the consent of the Biden Harris Administration is Gaza a turning point can
1:12
we move Beyond this two-party nightmare our third party options plausible in a system that approves
1:19
only two possibilities or is voting for anyone but the two bad options a wasted vote and what
1:26
of the broader questions of us Empire and its propen to violence how will this election address
1:33
what the world observes as an Imperium without moral or ethical standards now today I have a
1:40
very special guest Dr Jill Stein leader of the green party and presidential candidate Jill is
1:46
a Harvard educated doctor and environmentalist campaigner and organizer and she joins us today
1:52
from San Francisco Dr Jill Stein it's a pleasure to have you with us and thank you for joining
1:58
us on the think it Muslim it's such an honor to be here thank you so much for this conversation
Is a vote for the Green Party a vote for Trump?
2:04
well it's wonderful I think we've got a lot of ground to cover uh today so Jill let's start with what I've really observed uh amongst the Muslim communities in the United States and
2:14
Beyond actually and conscientious voters there is this anger a palpable anger over Gaza and many
2:22
are pledging their vote to you a third party the green party now you know that many of your D track
2:30
argue that a vote for you is a vote for Donald Trump how would you respond to that
2:35
you know I think that represents an incredible presumptuousness by the Democratic party and the
2:43
Harris campaign that they own your vote that they somehow own the Muslim vote and that you
2:50
owe your allegiance to the Democratic party and what for you know the party that could not even
2:55
give uh Palestinian voices two minutes on the stage at the Democratic National uh nominating
3:04
convention uh where the delegates held their ears so as not to hear the names of the um you know of
3:12
the murdered uh on outside of that convention um you know it's incredibly presumptuous of
3:19
the democratic party to imply that they own your vote they have to earn your votes they clearly
3:25
have not earned them and the notion that a vote for me is a vote for Trump well actually current
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polls suggest just the opposite of that in fact the Muslim American and Arab American community
3:39
and many other people of conscience have already left the station they are not going to vote for
3:44
this Administration that is actively committing genocide so in fact those votes are already gone
3:50
and now the question is are these voters going to Donald Trump or are they going to our campaign so
3:57
current polls one-sided by Newsweek this week the other sided by breaking points the um uh
4:03
the podcast very popular podcast uh they both show these two polls show in fact that we appear to be
4:11
taking votes from Donald Trump not from kamla Harris and uh one of the commentators crystal
4:18
ball actually observed well maybe it's awfully presumptuous of us to pretend that politics is
4:25
so simple that it's one or the other and maybe we need a little more humility uh and maybe we should
4:32
back off and not try to manipulate elections you know and this has been really our point of view
4:37
from the green party all along as an independent third party that voters have a right to vote for
4:44
a candidate that represents their views their needs their aspirations we have a right to that vote and if some are concerned that votes might be taken from another candidate which by the way
4:55
is what democracy is about we're supposed to compete for votes candidates are supposed to compete for your vat so the whole notion is really a ridiculous framing to start with but
5:04
even if you subscribe to that then the answer is not to suppress alternative voices it's not
5:10
to suppress the voices against genocide the voices against endless war uh you know the voices against
5:17
climate catastrophe whatever you know these are the voices Americans want over 60% of Americans
5:23
regularly say in polls that they want other voices and other choices uh in the presidential race so
5:29
so uh The Simple Solution here is to Simply enact a voter reform called rank Choice voting which
5:37
prevents any so-called splitting of the vote any possibility that you could be casting a wasted
5:43
vote that would be essentially futile in rank Choice voting you rank your choices if your first
5:50
choice loses your vote is basically reassigned to your second choice so it prevents any possibility
5:57
of a so-called split Vote or a spoiled election this is the actual solution if you think that's
6:02
a problem here's how to solve it and it speaks volumes that the Democrats refuse to support
6:08
this system in fact they work very hard to block it why because they rely on fear and extortion
6:16
they want to extort your vote rather than win your vote why do they not want to win your vote
6:22
and right now kamla Harris could go a long way to win back Muslim votes if she simply took a stand
Voters vs Donors
6:29
right now and enacted a weapons embargo to the state of Israel which is what the people
6:34
of America want and what Muslim Americans want as well she could win your vote she has the power to
6:40
do that but she would rather lose the election than end uh the genocide and the massacre of
6:46
children that's going on so you know this is a refusal of the candidate to basically win your
6:53
vote because they have donors whether it's APAC or the weapons uh profiteers they have donors who
7:00
are who rank number one that's who the Democratic party and this and the Republican party and these
7:07
two candidates uh prioritize they prioritize their donors not their voters that's why they
7:14
have to eliminate the competition and silence the competition because these candidates who serve the
7:20
War Industry who are dedicated to genocide this is why they cannot actually stand up and fight
7:26
for your vote because to do so would be to betray they big money donors um are you giving too much
Why is Kamala Harris not opposing the Genocide?
7:32
agency to the vice president here Camala Harris and I was speaking to a black Muslim organizer a
7:40
couple of days ago and he said to me that um Kamal Harris is different to Joe Biden but because she's
7:46
vice president she's not able to voice her her disagreement with the genocide and um once she
7:54
is elected uh she will reverse position uh How likely do you think that is you know I'd say
8:00
famous last words you know um listen to what I say not to what I do she could respectfully voice
8:07
her disagreement uh it's true she cannot overrule the president but she has a lot of agency as the
8:15
candidate for president uh there ought to be a great deal of respect for not only for her
8:21
opinions but also for her status in the polls but unfortunately she cannot find a single difference
8:26
between herself and Joe Biden when actually asked asked you know the difference she points to is
8:31
that uh well she'll maybe have a republican in her candidate in her cabinet you know so she um it's
8:38
hard to give much agency to her at all because she will not assert herself and she tends to you
8:45
know drift with the wind and seek whatever seems to be popular and convenient at the moment so
8:52
you know this is the danger of such a candidate a candidate who's been raising money hand over fist
8:58
and who has more billionaire donors than ever on record so what are the odds that she's going to
9:04
stand up against the interests of uh Wall Street and the War Machine and the military industrial
9:11
complex and APAC what are the odds that she's going to take a principled stand in the future
9:16
when she has yet to find a principled stand really across the board uh in the past Dr SE can I ask
Does the Green Party have a Syria problem?
9:23
you about that Mei Hassan interview uh probably a couple of months back or a month and a half back
9:30
um now of course I I think that um medy probably has a very strong inclination
9:35
towards the Democrats and we've seen that the last few weeks but he did raise some uncomfortable
9:40
questions about Syria um I suppose my question is does the green party have a serria problem
9:46
has it in the past dabbled with pro-assad dis views I don't believe so not that I'm aware you
9:53
know the green party is uh Vigilant about uh us interference and us um you know uh manipulation
10:04
and uh support for uh uh so-called um uh what do they call them you know the uh more moderate
10:13
you know terrorists and funding uh Isis so the green party is very wary of interfering in other
10:24
governments but I don't believe I have heard the part party adopt positions uh in support of Assad
10:33
and our campaign has been accused of taking a stand for Assad back in 2015 I mean you have to
10:40
go back to 2015 where a statement was posted on our website without approval because the issue
10:48
was controversial within our campaign we were not going to take a prosad stance but a statement got
10:55
posted that contained one sentence of support for assign and when we became aware of that it
11:01
was taken down uh within approximately a month or so and we have never I have never expressed
11:10
support for Assad and you know uh the truth of the matter is we support human rights we support the
11:19
sovereignty of the Syrian people actually when I was at that notorious media conference in Moscow
11:30
and I had an opportunity to speak on it I actually took uh Putin to task for uh for
11:37
his bombing campaign in Syria um out of you know sympathy to the Syrian people and their right to
11:47
uh sovereignty and self-determination and to be free from uh you know human rights abuses
11:54
and bombing campaigns are horrific uh forms of you know intervention and Untold thousands of
12:02
people were killed in that bombing campaign and in fact the words that I used uh to my recollection
12:08
was that this was f f following in the footsteps of misguided US foreign policy where we had you
12:15
know basically assaulted Iraq and Afghanistan and had made a complete mess out of these countries
12:22
through violent intervention violent intervention is not a pathway to peace or to human rights
12:29
and sovereignty so we have never and I have never expressed uh support for Assad though we do indeed
12:38
caution against uh us Intervention which so often only makes things worse see if I impress you a
12:44
little bit more on about I mean the impression that often we get when we observe some on the
Oppressive leaders
12:50
left is uh that um uh if there are uh autocrats or dictators or strong men who are anti American
12:59
automatically they must be in in the right and of course uh many of these strong men do oppress and
13:06
suppress Muslim minorities I mean the Chinese and the wigos for example or as we said assard and and
13:13
uh uh but of course also President Putin and and thechans um can you categorically state that you
13:20
are not on the side of these people these leaders these strong men uh who by and large do repress
13:29
the minorities and many of them are Muslim minorities yes of course I think you know any
13:35
leadership has to be taken to task for its human rights violations you know I think at
13:41
the same time we're quick to acknowledge that our government is as Martin Luther King put it
13:46
the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today you know and we are certainly guilty of slaughtering millions of people from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan so you know I think
13:59
our criticisms have to be taken with a grain of salt because we have our own government to account
14:04
for and hold accountable uh but within that framework you know recognizing as Martin Luther
14:10
King said my country is the G greatest purveyor of violence uh in the world today within that
14:16
framework yes there are so many other leaders who are abusing human rights and need to be uh called
14:23
out for that um how do you understand the position of Medi Hassen of course he's not here to to
Mehdi Hasan's position on Kamala Harris
14:29
for himself but medy has uh very strongly argued against for genocide but at the same time I know
14:35
you've had conversations with him on Twitter and elsewhere uh medy has come out in favor of Kamala
14:41
Harris um like how would you frame his position uh on on Camala Harris while he opposes genocide he's
14:51
all in favor of those committing genocide and to me that is just a a um you know that's that's just
15:00
a a a non seor you know that just doesn't follow that you oppose the genocide but you are all out
15:08
in support of the candidates committing genocide and you know Donald Trump is has also expressed
15:16
you know uh full support for that genocide you know wants Israel to hurry up and finish the job um but medy Hasan you know so they're both to my mind they're both greater evils and one
15:28
cannot parse that uh carel Harris is better she's actually doing it you know how do you get worse
15:35
than what we are seeing playing out on our you know on our cell phones and our computers every
15:41
day where children are being purposefully shot in the head you know this is a tactic and a campaign
15:48
where all possibilities for dialogue and diplomacy are eliminated when uh Israel is in the business
15:55
of assassinating the spokes people and the um negotiators you know I think they negotiated um
16:03
rather they assassinated most recently the um uh the Hamas I'm sorry the Hezbollah uh leader
16:12
um after he had agreed to AAS fire you know then they assassinated him this is just the height of
16:19
of treachery barbarism murderousness where wounded in the hospital on an IV are actually set a flame
16:30
and are burned alive uh you know where patients in hospitals are held hostage denied food water
16:38
medicine uh and their hospitals are under sied uh not to mention you know the whole population
16:45
of two and a quarter million people not only subject to murder but to torture on a daily basis
16:52
what the people of Gaza are subjected to and now increasingly uh into Lebanon as well you know is
16:59
bombardment uh assassination being targeted um by snipers told they have to flee while
17:06
being targeted being starved of food and water and medicine at the same time and shelter and
17:13
sanitation it's just almost Beyond Comprehension what is being done and it's not only that hundreds
17:20
of thousands of people have been murdered it's that the entire population is subject to torture
17:26
really on a daily basis it's just Unthinkable and you know how one can forgive and Overlook
17:35
the perpetrator the leading perpetrator here because Israel is a proxy for the US here the
17:41
US uh is funding this War uh is arming Israel is providing diplomatic cover uh is providing
17:49
intelligence so the US does not get a pass here and the US leadership who are committing these
17:56
war crimes uh should not get a pass and to me it's just Unthinkable that medy Hassan goes to the mat
18:03
here over and over again to try to give kamla Harris cover she needs to be held accountable
18:09
and you know he should be part of a movement here to end the genocide the votes are there you know
18:15
if people had the courage of their convictions and that ought to be the responsibility of any journalist to actually keep the American people informed of their options and not systematically
18:27
uh smear and fear camp campaign against candidates who actually would solve this crisis 68% of
18:35
Americans want an end to the genocide over 60% of Americans want a weapons embargo right now in
18:42
order to force the hand of Israel because Israel will not go willingly here uh certainly not under Netanyahu it won't so Medi Hassan is in denial of the political power of this movement and he
18:55
seeks to intimidate the movement in into being some obedient servant of the democratic party
19:02
and its genocidal interent to me that just it's it's horrific and it's completely incompatible
19:09
with Medi Hassan's principal position about the genocide but he's a complete you know uh he's a
19:15
lap dog to uh to Empire here he the Press is supposed to be a watchdog and he's not only
19:23
not a watchdog he is a lap dog to power here in his uh uh in his apology in his promotion
19:32
uh of the genocider and his effort to silence and intimidate those who would stand up and stop this
19:41
genocide so to me this is this is a very sad State of Affairs and the dialogue that took place that
19:47
was not an interview that was an ambush in which he systematically sought to shut down our point
19:53
of view and in particular my point of view that he was just very quick to cut me off to try to force
19:58
you know to force me into a corner and to manipulate my answers um this is not what
20:04
credible journalism does it's a real shame and it's been a real eyeopener for many of his Bas
20:11
he quietly posted that interview he had promoted certain segments but the whole interview itself
20:16
went up without any fan flare whatsoever but it was certainly discovered by his viewers many of
20:22
whom have now signed off from his uh from his you know subscribing to his station feeling like this
20:28
was just um a betrayal of his responsibilities as a journalist I suppose his argument or at
How does voting Green Party help Gaza?
20:33
least the argument of his supporters would be that voting for you will not actually stop the genocide I mean I think if I'm not mistaken the last poll I read you're you're polling around two
20:43
3% um you're not going to win this election so so so explain the Dynamics of this how would voting
20:51
for you uh help to put an end to the genocide so two things you know as Frederick Douglas said
20:58
power concedes nothing without a demand it never has and it never will every vote against genocide
21:04
is a shot across the bow of the Empire to say that we are here we are not going away we are
21:10
uh political opposition that opposition is strong and its voice is growing there's no question that
21:16
there is majority opposition to the genocide if it simply votes for the Lesser evil it has been
21:23
politically disappeared it has been neutralized it has been disarmed and in fact it has been Twisted
21:29
into supporting genocide into endorsing and um enabling genocide so every vote of resistance
21:38
against genocide helps bring closer the time when our elected leadership will cave to the reality
21:47
that the American people oppose this we need to oppose it with political force and let me say
21:53
if see they they can keep us to 2 to 3% because they s us they have you know tried to throw us
Green Party being contested
22:01
off the ballot they hired their army of lawyers to use devious and I must say to misuse the law
22:08
to try to dig up little technicalities in order to throw us off off the ballot and we have been
22:15
in court in seven or eight states fighting them we've ex we've succeeded in all but one and one
22:21
is still being contested uh but we have largely succeeded here they tied up our Public Funding
22:27
in order to prevent us from using money that we had earned Public Funding in order to meet our
22:32
various deadlines for the ballot access and they managed to keep us off the ballot in a couple of
22:37
states by doing that um in most of those States we've been able to be on the ballot as a wrin so
22:43
that con including the rins we are on the ballot for about 95% of Voters they haven't been able
22:49
to stop us but this is another way that they try to silence our opposition and basically um bury
22:56
us so that there is not awareness in the 2020 election one out of every three eligible voters
23:03
did not vote for president those voters tend to be younger of color uh and lower income so
23:11
exactly the people who are most being thrown under the bus who are most served by our agenda which
23:17
calls for cutting the military budget at least half it's a trillion dollars that uh is misspent
23:22
every year on this endless war machine we call for cutting that in half so that we can spend our
23:28
tax dollars on the emergencies right here at home instead of spreading chaos death and destruction
AIPAC is running America
23:34
around the world uh instead we can spend those dollars on our crises right here fixing the crisis
23:39
of Health Care the housing emergency the um uh the education crisis and the fact that some 43 million
23:47
Americans are stuck into unpayable uh student debt um we should have higher education for free
23:54
uh we used to do that in my day growing up we can certainly do that now there are solutions we can fix the climate crisis you know but we can't do that while we're spending all this money on the
24:03
military the American people are are distraught polls among young people now in this country show
24:10
that about 50% of young people say that they are hopeless about the future 25% of young
24:17
people uh have have um have considered harming themselves within two weeks of the last poll this
24:26
tells us you know you couldn't have a stronger indicator out there that this is not working for the American people 50% of all Americans are struggling not to be evicted they're within one to
24:37
two paychecks of losing their housing and uh rates of eviction and homelessness are skyrocketing
24:44
this country is in very bad shape it's being managed on behalf of APAC the war profiteers
24:50
Wall Street the fossil fuel industry you know big powerful special interests are profiting hand over
24:58
right now while poverty rates among children have actually tripled so this country is being thrown
25:04
under the bus there is enormous political will and because of those one out of every three voters who
25:09
would vote for an agenda like ours which is an agenda for everyday working people the Democrats
25:16
are terrified that word is getting out about this they're not just worried about that two or three
25:22
you know percent in swing States they're worried about votes all over that could flip could flip in a big way and you know while I'm not holding my breath we're going to win this election on the
25:34
other hand I don't rule out that there could be uh real unintended or unforeseen developments in this
The Responsibility of a Third Party
25:42
race you know Israel has announced you know many times over that it's about to attack Iran in at
25:49
least one of those statements they've said that this will happen before the election if Israel attacks Iran and we know that the uh nuclear sites are also in their Target hairs which is
25:59
you know a horrific violation of international law and an extremely dangerous thing uh Iran
26:06
is in a military alliance with Russia and Russia has also expressed grave concern about Israel's
26:13
intention to attack Iran and especially to attack the nuclear facilities is it not possible that we
26:21
will be in a war with Iran escalating towards a potential Global um conflict that could
26:28
potentially go nuclear as well and by the way the draft is back in this country the draft is back
26:34
and Men between the ages of 18 and 25 are already signed up for the draft they don't know about it
26:41
or many don't know about it those that I've talked about it are completely unaware that they are uh
26:46
in the Target hairs of The Selective Service and all it takes is for the president to declare we're
26:51
at War and we need boots on the ground in fact he's already pledged boots on the ground Israel
26:57
has already been given the Baton the Baton has been passed for being commanderin-chief of this
27:03
country the US has said Israel can do what it wants and that uh the US will be there to support
27:10
them including boots on the ground and in addition to 5,000 servicemen and women with each of the
27:17
aircraft carrier battle groups one stationed off of Iran the other now stationed off the west
27:22
coast of Gaza so those are 10,000 uh Americans right there there are another 40,000 American
27:30
uh servicemen and women who were stationed in the Middle East who are all very much uh in the Target hairs of this growing rapidly escalating conflict another 100 which were sent maybe two
27:42
weeks ago with the new uh missile defense system that's being given to Israel because Israel is
27:49
completely defenseless here Israel cannot defend itself and it certainly cannot conduct the war
27:54
not even the war that it has on Gaza but just expanding that war even to Lebanon you know
28:00
Israel is not accustomed to a long War Israel's accustomed to a Six-Day War or maybe a six week war and that's about it so Israel is in extremely precarious circumstances right now recent poll
28:11
I heard about says that one out of every three Israelis is intent on leaving and in the process
28:16
of leaving Israel their economy is in a shambles uh their tourist industry of course has completely Gau under so Israel is in very desperate States it needs the US the US is entirely um
28:28
shares full responsibility here with Israel which is basically its proxy and the American people are
28:35
in the Target hairs of this war so I just want to make the point that really dramatic things could
28:41
spin out of control very quickly and it's exactly in that kind of circumstance where you can see the
28:47
electorate flip on a dime and those one out of three voters who aren't voting are not voting uh
28:54
to some extent because they don't know that there is a campaign that is standing out for them if if
29:00
events were to happen if the news cycle were to go in a direction that basically lifts up our
29:06
campaign as the only anti-war anti-genocide pro-worker in climate emergency campaign we
29:12
could see the vote change there are three Pro genocide candidates on the ballot RFK is still
29:18
on the ballot in many states you could see the pro genocide proar vote split three ways you could see
29:26
an informed electorate coming out to support our anti-war anti-genocide pro-worker campaign
29:33
and in a four-way split an election can be one with as little as 26% that's not an impossible
29:41
movement of the electorate even overnight if the country were suddenly to be in a full-blown war
29:47
and if the draft were uh potentially about to be reactivated if there was talk of boots
29:53
on the grounds if there was a real um you know uh devastating conflict and it's hard to imagine how
29:59
this conflict will not be devastating um so you know I just want to make a point that elections
30:05
are unpredictable Affairs and you know part of what you do as an independent third party is you
30:13
wait for the moment you know and that's a moment that depends on forces much bigger than you but
30:22
you have to be ready as a political force to stand up and fight back and you have to begin that fight
30:28
at your soonest opportunity you know it's not just uh an opportunity it's a responsibility if
30:35
we want a world that can survive for our children considering the risks of nuclear war not only in
30:40
the Middle East but also in um uh in Taiwan and China and also uh with Russia and Ukraine you
30:47
know the US mindset is to basically blow it up you know and and to resort to violence as a first uh
30:56
uh as a first Resort rather than as a last resort we're going to war all over the place you know according to the um Congressional research service the US has sent its military into other countries
31:09
Uninvited 250 times in the last three decades we have conducted 80 regime change operations
31:18
since the uh second world war you know so this is a country that as Martin Luther King says you
31:24
know is a massive surveyor of violence and our instinct in the instincts of our leadership who
31:30
are warmongers and have been warmongers and war criminals uh their instincts are precisely um the
31:39
opposite of what they should be right now we're in the nuclear age and you cannot do that you need to negotiate first and you know you need to use you need to exhaust all other options and you should
31:49
not be conducting war in order to maintain uh military and economic domination over the world
31:56
which is basically you know the ration now for US foreign policy also known as full spectrum
32:01
dominance we can come back to that if we need to but the instincts are all wrong and they need to
32:07
be challenged uh publicly and especially now so where we would come out in this election would
32:13
be totally different if we were included in the dialogue if there was a real debate here uh if the
32:20
American people knew that there is a campaign across the country for 90% of Voters a choice
32:28
uh in this election there is such a campaign that actually is advocating for the solutions that the
32:34
American people are absolutely desperate for right now Dr SE I mean that's you know very
32:40
very convincing um uh to build a third party that's going to have longevity you obviously
Building a Third Party for the American people
32:47
need to build a base and I've come across a good number of Muslims uh who almost describe the vote
32:54
they're going to give to you and it seems to me that a large majority maity a plurality of Muslims will give the green party the vote but they describe it as they're lending the
33:03
vote to the green party in in a sense you haven't quite convinced them that their long-term home is
33:08
within the green party now um I have come across for example the mayor of hamrak I mean he's made
33:14
a very naive decision I think to to support Donald Trump but one of his reasons for supporting Donald
33:20
Trump was to site uh social concerns and um um I suppose my question here is that how can you
33:27
re assure voters that uh your position your version of pluralism incorporates a a respect
33:36
for religious attitudes yes and and let me say I don't think anyone should be uh manipulated into
33:45
making premature commitments to any candidate or political party um I think it's much clearer about
33:55
what's going on in this race and in that sense I think it is uh absolutely you know it is uh kind
34:04
of a no-brainer strategy I think that those who oppose genocide need to be supporting our campaign
34:10
in order to you know build uh political momentum and give voice to a real political movement here
34:18
that has legs and Longevity and that is a movement against genocide and endless war because they're
34:26
kind of inseparable so so that much I think is a um that's a partnership right now that makes every
34:33
sense uh you know imaginable for us to partner in this election and I think this is a very
34:40
important get to know you moment and there are some who've been with us there are some Muslims
34:46
and arab-americans who have sought us out from the very beginning have become major um advisers
34:53
and uh uh operators really within the campaign uh have begun political uh parties themselves
Muslims in the Green Party
35:02
there is a new chapter of the green party in Dearborne Michigan for example and uh really
35:07
all over the country now we are seeing uh Muslim Americans and Arab Americans who have really
35:13
join the fabric of the green party and it is a wonderful uh thing to behold because uh we bring
35:19
different skills to the table and uh it's a very powerful and empowering partnership and I think
35:28
the uh future looks very bright uh for this partnership I think there's a very deep um
35:37
uh uh convergence of values and Views here and while there are many in the green party who regard
35:45
themselves as atheists there are I would say even more who regard themselves as humanists who have
35:53
some kind of spiritual beliefs or practices and you universally there is great regard for uh the
36:02
Muslim religion and the experience of uh Muslims around the world their political experience their
36:10
political wisdom for having been uh up close and personal uh in Empire knowing the abuses of Empire
36:20
overseas and then knowing the abuses of Empire here in this country abusing the civil liberties
36:26
uh with the islamophobia um you know and uh the targeting the surveillance Etc where Muslims are
36:36
you know the canary in the Min shaft but all of us and especially political uh opponents of Empire we
36:43
are on the receiving end of this as well and uh there's enormous Common Ground Among Us in our
36:50
campaign I am running as you know with a uh an African a black uh African-American Muslim uh
36:59
man and together with a white Jewish woman uh we have the bases covered I must say on many issues
37:08
including a lot of questions about religion and respect for religious diversity and so on
37:14
so this is a um I think it's a very empowering um uh combination and conversation and we will all be
37:24
changed by this there's no doubt about that there will be influence you know the green party is not
37:30
a um you we are not a top- down organization we are a bottomup organization and you know our four
37:37
pillars are you know Grassroots democracy social justice nonviolence and ecological wisdom and I
37:45
think that fits pretty well with Muslim values uh as I've been introduced to them so I think there
37:52
is within the uh you know within the key values of the green party there's a lot lot of room for
37:58
growth and understanding uh and dialogue so I am extremely encouraged by the kinds of uh Coalition
38:07
building that I'm witnessing and it is such a um I have to say it's so exciting um the green party
38:15
was founded you know generation Generations ago you know maybe one generation ago but there's um
38:22
there's been a real need for an infusion of young people with uh with a contemporary vision and I
38:30
think opposing genocide and Empire and standing up for uh a climate and social justice and fairness
38:38
to workers um we need the energy of the younger generation to lead the way that's always been true
38:44
you know throughout history in social movements it's always been young people who have been at
38:49
the front lines pushing the envelope and that's certainly what's going on right now uh in opposing
38:55
the genocide and watching greens grow with this now has been really kind of a you know a Wonder
39:03
to behold to see our communities coming together across lines of religion and history and ethnicity
39:11
and and race it's really exciting and I must say there are a lot of African-Americans now you know who are ve and Indigenous Americans as well who are very identified with this struggle against
39:21
genocide uh in Palestine and that Community as well has been really reinvented erated uh right
39:28
now politically and it is the objective of Empire to keep us divided and conquered and I think it is
39:36
such a strategic move so timely and essential for us to be coming together for our higher vision and
39:43
and the necessity of building political power at this very critical moment in history can I ask you
5% of The Popular vote
39:50
a question about the 5% Mark so I've heard from a number of people that if the Green Party receive
39:58
5% of the popular vote then they have access to all sorts of funding and they get greater
40:04
recognition within the system can you spell out what that recognition is and and why that 5% is
40:10
so important for you yes so if you are a newcomer to the political process like say Dr West when he
40:17
decided to go independent you have to collect about a million signatures and um at today's
40:23
rates you know unless you have a well-organized base that's across the country and even if you do
40:29
have volunteers around the country you need people to manage them so the cost per signature nowadays
40:35
is about $10 you know so if if you're going to get 10 million uh a million signatures at the cost of
40:42
$10 you know what's $10 million out the door right there and then you usually have staff to add on to
40:47
that as well so it's just uh uh it's it's daunting what you have to do if you're starting over if
40:54
you're in the race uh and already have ballot status um and you're already on the ballot then
41:04
you're ahead of the game to collect a million signatures it'll take you at least nine or 10 months unless you're RFK and you have big money donors from APAC from uh billionaire you know
41:16
running mates and so on then you have corporate money and maybe super Pacs and you can buy your
41:21
way into the race greens don't do that we do not use any of the loopholes for legalized corruption
41:28
you can't sit down and write a million dollar check to a green you can do that to basically all the other candidates I don't believe Dr West uh or the uh or or Claudia and Karina from PSL but
41:40
you know uh Biden or rather Harris Trump RFK and a Libertarian you can write a million dooll check
41:48
through their special arrangements and that comes with strings attached they may not be explicit
41:54
but they're implicit and if you are a recipient of the million dollars you know what the interests of your of your Doner are um the greens don't engage in that we follow the plain old-fashioned rules
42:05
um the limits for ordinary Mortals of $3,300 per election that's a lot of money for most people
42:13
but it's not much compared to a million dollars and through super Pacs you can contribute more than that there are no limits whatsoever through super Pacs and we totally disavow uh super Pacs
42:23
uh entirely so we don't play with that stuff we are basically what um everyday people um you know
42:31
want who funds you runs you and we uh reject all that you know legalized corruption so we are about
42:42
what uh the everyday people you know are really clamoring for so that's why we have an agenda
42:51
which is of by and for the people period that's why our values are you know really lead the way
42:59
our values are popular values they are people's values uh we adopted our position on on uh Israeli
43:08
apartheid occupation and ethnic cleansing back in the year 2006 we took a position in favor of
43:15
boycott divestment and sanctions at that time we are not new to this we are not uh fair weather
43:21
friends here uh we are not opportunists this is who we are and what we we say is what we do
43:29
because all we have are the people we don't have big money donors so there's no one else for us
43:35
to abandon say Muslims uh on behalf of we're not going to abandon this cause uh to stop genocide
43:43
to um uh to challenge APAC uh we are not going to abandon our opposition to uh Wall Street and
43:53
the war machine this is who we are and you know we very much forward to the continuing dialogue
44:00
uh with Muslim Americans and to moving forward together uh and seizing this moment um uh where
44:10
we actually do have a majority if you look at where the power is we have the majority who wants
44:16
healthc care as a human right who want uh an who want affordable housing who want a green New Deal
44:23
and jobs that will transition our economy to the um sustainable and Equitable uh economy and future
44:31
that we deserve so what we say is what we do we very much see eye to eye with Muslim Americans
44:39
on so many things and we very much look forward to continuing to grow the political movement together
Dr Stein's vision of American power?
44:46
uh can I ask you a question about American power in world now you've made it very clear about uh
44:51
American Empire American power is usually a cause for for for bad in the world it doesn't create a
44:59
world which is uh the type of world that you envisage um uh then tell me where do you see
45:06
the position of America in the world um would the world be better without the exercise of American
45:13
power like paint me a picture of the America you desire and the America you want yes so let me
45:19
say very simply about foreign policy we need to move from a monopolar world or a unipolar world
45:27
dominated by one imperial Force to a multi-polar world you know I think that's not rocket science
45:34
there are other economic forces and military forces in the world right now we need to work
45:40
collaboratively uh we need to be adults in the room together working according to international
45:46
law human rights and diplomacy the US you know uh mode of operating right now is through economic
45:53
and Military domination a policy that was formerly named full spectrum dominance we dominate every
45:59
sphere of potential competition or conflict and we we prevent even Regional powers from rising to
46:07
Regional dominance that has been the uh you know the the guidelines of American foreign policy
46:14
since the fall of the Soviet Union and this is not workable especially because we are no longer the
46:20
dominant power we're not the dominant economic power you know we see bricks which is in the
46:25
process of enlarging right now and you know having started with five it's now like 12 members I think
46:32
and then many uh Partners as well so there are rising um uh economic powers and collaborations
46:41
that we have not been friendly to whatsoever so we need to uh uh cease and desist from attempting
46:49
to dominate and become a player in a multi-polar world operating according to international law
46:56
you know we've been substituting for international law with uh what we call a rules-based order whose
47:01
rules our rules rules that change from situation to situation we need to subscribe to the body of
47:07
international law yes there are some things that do need Improvement like the security Council for the United Nations needs to be democratized there are improvements that need to be made that can
47:16
be made um you know so we can move to a foreign policy that's going to work for all of us and the
47:22
America that I see stops squandering half of its Congressional Budget on the endless war machine uh
47:29
and puts those dollars back into the needs of the American people and which also takes a uh the role
47:38
of of humanizer and of supporting human rights uh and the helping Nations meet especially the
47:47
poor nations of the global South meet the Urgent needs of the climate crisis which we have been
47:53
really the major contributor to historically we have contributed did the greatest burden of of
47:58
greenhouse gases so we need to be a responsible player here that assists uh the less fortunate
48:05
in the global Community because we are still the wealthiest Nation uh around the world throughout
48:12
the course of world history we have enormous wealth and resources and we need to use them
48:18
for the betterment of the American people and to support uh the world in which we live because
48:24
these two are interacting you know if you look at the migration crisis that this country is experiencing um our approach is that the most important thing we can do to stop the migration
48:34
crisis is to cease causing it in the first place through very misguided and harmful US policies
48:42
from endless war regime change operations uh economic neocolonialism like in Haiti we overthrew
48:49
the democratically elected uh um president of Haiti twice arised we overthrew him twice and
48:56
after he was overthrown the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came in and reversed the minimum
49:03
wage law which had raised minimum wages in Haiti from a mere 30 cents an hour to a mere 60 cents an
49:11
hour our government our secretary of state pushed that back in order to do a favor and let the um
49:20
the clothing manufacturers reap maximum profits by exploiting labor you know this unfortunately
49:26
is the rule not the exception we overthrew the um the the democratically elected government
49:32
of Iran you know way back in the 1950s because Iran was going to nationalize its oil and use
49:38
its national resources for the benefit of its people rather than for um British Petroleum
49:44
and the United States who came in and overthrew him and substituted you know this uh absolutely
49:50
murderous uh dictator the shaw of Iran and we kept him in power uh you know for uh for
49:56
decades same thing in Guatemala we overthrew their government uh on behalf of United Fruit so that
50:04
the peasants uh would not be um the recipients of redistributed land to enable them to support
50:10
themselves you know so the US has played this role uh throughout history and uh that is not the kind
50:17
of world we want that does not win us friends and influence people again we need to move from
50:24
a monopolar world that um you know is dominating uh in dominating economies and uh military such
50:34
that we are driving migration crisis you know so we're looking at migrants from Haiti we're
50:39
looking at migrants from uh from Guatemala from South America in particular also the drug wars uh
50:46
America's War on Drugs also empowers their drug cartels and it's the violence of those cartels
50:52
then that are driving you know many people to come to this country fleeing the violence you
50:58
paint a a picture of America which I think will sound like music to most of our ears outside of
Where do Ordinary Americans stand?
51:04
America but how much is your uh view your vision of America shared by American people because from
51:10
out from the outside we tend to get um a very skewed understanding of the American electorate
51:16
the American population and their proclivity I suppose to American militancy if that's the
51:22
right way to phrase it um how much is what you say shared by ordinary Americans for that I think
51:29
the most telling um statistic really is to look at Americans opposition to the genocide and American
51:38
support for actually a weapons embargo right now so what you hear from the political parties what
51:45
you hear from the political class the political Elites is not the American people the American
51:51
people want to end the genocide they want a weapons embargo on Israel to enforce that end they
51:56
want to cut the military budget poll after poll shows that Americans do not support catastrophic
52:02
war after catastrophic War that's why we have this you know this uh corporatized media which
52:09
is you know n chonky called it um manufacturing consent you know consent is manufactured through
52:16
uh propaganda this is why our campaign is shoved out of the way because we are a very Inconvenient
52:21
Truth uh and a very inconvenient um you know blockade to manufacturing consent truth is a
52:28
very powerful thing it's hard for people to mobilize to do the right thing unless there's someone out there and that's not necessarily a candidate you know it's it's the students who
52:37
are out there on the campuses and that's why their heads are being bashed in you know and this is not happening you know the the bashing of those heads is not happening incidentally that's not happening
52:47
because the American people want it that's because you know the American uh Power class is sold out
52:53
they are sold out to the military-industrial complex they are sold out to APAC you know so
52:58
the um the messages that are being broadcast in this country and from this country around the
53:04
world do not reflect where the American people are you really have to dig to find that you know you really have to be looking at Independent Media uh systematically you have to be really searching the
53:14
polls and they often don't ask these questions because they don't want the uh you know the responses to be um in the public domain but over and over again when the American people are given
53:24
a choice they don't want to be at War and the uh the genocidal war going on in Gaza right now is
53:30
an example if you pull the American people about expanding this war and potentially uh globalizing
53:36
it and potentially allowing it to go nuclear uh on behalf of protecting Israel's right to commit
53:42
genocide you know the American people would be absolutely up in arms about this especially if
53:48
they were reminded or even informed that the draft is here and they are in the Target hairs of that
53:54
draft and if this war explodes uh we are not only then paying in dollars we're paying in blood uh
54:01
for this genocide and that could happen and the American people is are opposed to this so you know
54:07
the American people want Health Care as a human right they want a solution they want rent control
54:12
they want uh you know they want affordable housing to be built again it was under Bill Clinton that that uh public housing was brought to an end under Democrat Bill Clinton the program of
54:23
public housing was stopped with a thing called the fair CLA amendment that prevents public dollars be from being spent on on public housing and Europe is building quality mixed income um affordable
54:36
housing the US doesn't do that we subsidize luxury housing and then take a little tiny fraction of it
54:41
uh to be affordable the American people are hungry for uh for what our campaign is offering and also
54:48
likewise for a solution to the climate crisis overwhelmingly the American people want that right
54:53
now so we offer solution after solu ution and that includes backing off of this Imperial foreign
55:01
policy that shoots first and asks questions later the American people don't want this they want to
55:08
bring our dollars back to take care of our urgent problems here this is why our voices are kept out
55:13
of this dialogue because when people hear this I mean take a look at the comments on The Breakfast
55:19
Club so The Breakfast Club which is a very popular um uh uh podcast a video podcast especially viewed
55:28
by African-Americans so um uh Butch where my running mate and myself were interviewed we were
55:35
really and set up for an ambush by a talking head with the usual you know ridiculous uh propaganda
55:43
which we shot down very quickly and if you read the comments there are over 20,000 comments right
55:48
now if you look at the full posting it's just mindboggling to see comment after comment is
55:54
I was not going to vote in election now I am registering green and I am voting for uh Stein
56:01
wear people have been so hungering for this you know this is why the Democrats are coming out
56:07
with their advertising campaign because they are very terrified that the cat should get out of the
56:13
bag that the American people have other options coming into this race over 60% of Americans in
56:19
the Gallop poll prior to this race over 60% were saying they want another choice in this election
56:26
because the two that we have are doing such a horrible job of serving the public interest
56:31
so we see this over and over again the American people are hungering for what we don't have it's very important not to be swayed by the propaganda that's out there this propaganda of powerlessness
56:42
in fact we the people are not powerless we are powerful and as Alice Walker said the biggest
56:48
way people give up power is by not knowing we have it to start with we have it it's time to use
56:54
it because we ourselves we're all in the Target hairs you know um James bald said that uh sorry
57:01
all children everywhere belong to all of us you know and the children in Gaza are the you know
57:09
fundamental um illustration of that they belong to all of us it's time for us to change uh business
57:17
as usual here it's time for us to change American politics so that we can step up and actually serve
57:24
the children of the world which are our children as well and our children are not okay unless all
57:29
children are okay the world is just too um interdependent a place right now and people
57:36
flow between countries and we share an atmosphere and water and oceans and food and an economy we
57:43
are too connected now to be at Eternal war with each other or to have leadership who cannot see
57:52
how we are interconnected and interdependent and who can step up to the plate and leave behind them
57:58
their war criminal uh instincts and background and training uh we need to really throw those
58:04
bums out they need to be in the he not in the white house uh we need to be stepping up to um
58:10
Embrace and demand an America and a world that works for all of us if it doesn't work for all
58:16
of us fundamentally it's not going to work for any of us and you would like to see Joe Biden in the H I would like to see him face Justice yeah good think all war criminals all the major enablers of
58:30
this genocide should face Justice I've just heard an informal report that Israel just hit Iran so
58:36
you know this could be unfolding as we speak I don't know you know there have been um a lot of
58:41
indicators that this is going to happen and it and it occurred and no one knows where this is going to go yeah um I think it's not too soon for us to stand up and demand that voices of reason
58:53
and Justice be heard and that we stand up for the politics we deserve uh God knows where this could
58:59
go in the blink of an eye you know we've been on an escalation ladder uh for decades really
59:05
um but you know certainly for the last year BB Netanyahu has been attempting to drag us into um
59:12
you know a devastating War potentially a nuclear war and um we need to stand up and be heard and
59:18
to fight for a world we can survive in and that our children can survive in Dr Jin it's really
59:24
been a pleasure speaking to you and I hope uh you can make a dent in this two-party nightmare thank
It's Not Too Late
59:30
you very much for your time today thank you and it's Jill stein2 24.com for those who'd like to
59:35
know more it's not too late the future's in our hands thank you so much you've got a publishing
59:40
schedule I was speaking to Sam and it's uh you're you're uh you're traveling from City to City at
59:46
the moment oh yeah and then we're either doing in we're either doing uh events or we're doing
59:53
interviews and I don't have a half hour hour to like do a laundry or you know do anything I'm I'm
1:00:00
eating on the Run constantly um it would be hard to maintain this for very much longer so you know
1:00:08
but on the other hand it would be impossible not to just give this my all right now you know it
1:00:16
feels like this is our chance to stand up and fight this horrific genocide and and the the
1:00:23
response that's happening right now feels nothing nothing short of miraculous um I've never been in
1:00:29
a situation before where uh people total strangers are coming up to me bursting out in tears and
1:00:36
greeting me with hugs like I'm a member of their immediate family the uh the passion that's going
1:00:43
into this campaign right now against enormous um uh demonization the effort to criminalize us you
1:00:52
know right and left uh the Democrats are pulling out every dirty trick in the book in the book you
1:01:00
know uh to try to silence me to intimidate me to get me to drop out um and to intimidate voters to
1:01:07
stop them from voting for justice and for a future we deserve there's so much fear campaigning going
1:01:13
on especially about Donald Trump he's terrible but um uh so is you know so is um uh KLA Harris
1:01:21
absolutely terrible and you know so I I couldn't I couldn't hold myself back you know I was uh
1:01:29
recruited to run this race when I had other plans my family had other plans um so you know I want to
1:01:35
make the most of every minute here it feels to me you know uh as I've been saying now in in some of
1:01:41
our our Gatherings uh as Martin Luther K King said the arc the moral Arc of the universe is long but
1:01:49
it bends towards Justice it feels right now like we are in one of those moments where the universe
1:01:54
is bending it's bending because it has to it's bending because we have a genocide on our hands
1:02:00
but as a consequence of that genocide the moral universe is changing and you know and there is a
1:02:07
new moral compass here and much of that is coming from the Muslim Community and the arab-american
1:02:14
community and we are forever changed um I think in a way that uh gives us a real fighting chance for
1:02:25
uh peace and Justice and a world that's going to work for all of us but it feels to me almost like physically that the universe is bending right now and we can feel it bending uh inside of us in a
1:02:37
way that is quite transformational really I think we're we're eternally gratitude grateful to you
1:02:43
for for what you've done and and for your stance on on Gaza and I think um you know I'm I'm not a
1:02:50
voter and I'm I'm an outsider of course but um uh people are talking about you here it's it is
1:02:56
you know it's a conversation here the green party so you know the Muslim Community of course speaks to um their relatives abroad and and it's very clear to me that the message is getting through
1:03:07
I do think so and I don't remember if I said it in this interview or the prior ones but you know
1:03:14
I grew up after the Holocaust uh you know in a genocide of Jews when our community was asking
1:03:21
is there life after genocide you know I wasn't because I was young I didn't feel the genocide but people around me were pretty horrified about it um and I was taught you know that when you see
1:03:33
something wrong you have to stand up and fight it you know and that that uh you know that we
1:03:40
have to hold everyone accountable just not just the perpetrators of genocide but the bystanders
1:03:48
to genocide you cannot be a bystander to genocide or anything else so that's why I became a social
1:03:53
activist and I grew up ated to the proposition that genocide will not happen again certainly
1:04:00
not on my watch and I never expected to actually see our country committing that genocide and that
1:04:08
blood on our hands and it made it impossible for me not to step up when it became clear that that
1:04:18
having an anti-genocide candidate in the race and an anti-genocide voice was going to depend on the
1:04:24
green party using his ballot lines so I had helped recruit a candidate a wonderful candidate Dr West
1:04:30
to be that you know to to be our representative and use our ballot lines but when he decided he
1:04:37
would rather run independent I knew there's no way first time out of the starting date that
1:04:42
you're going to get on a ballot unless you're selling your soul and you've got billionaire donors uh a principled uh anti-war anti-genocide candidate is not going to be buying their way
1:04:52
onto the ballot um so was going to depend on the green party uh if we were going to have a strong
1:04:59
voice to truly challenge Empire and to fight the genocide in this election so I felt like I had no
1:05:07
choice you know I had to stand up because I made this commitment above all to my mother who was
1:05:13
most disturbed about this in my family I made that commitment that I would stand up when I saw wrong
1:05:19
happening in the world I you know that would be my job you know and that's why I became a
1:05:24
medical doctor you know I was going to serve and help you know help write the wrongs and now the
1:05:30
greatest wrong imaginable fell into the lap of our party which was really going to be the only
1:05:37
way we could bring this front and center into the election so that's why I could not say no
1:05:45
although there were a lot of people telling me I should say no I should not stand up I could not
1:05:51
conscience doing that and you know this is just once you see this you can't not see it yeah so
1:05:58
we got to fix it thank you thank you so much I'm I'm we're just so appreciative of your efforts
1:06:05
and and what you've done so thank you so much um for your time today pleasure wonderful talk with
1:06:11
you please remember to subscribe to our social media and YouTube
1:06:17
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