7 September 2016
If Jill Stein is a spray paint vandal, Jill Stein is a fool
According to various news reports, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein (Harvard M.D.) will be arrested for vandalizing a bulldozer at a construction site for the disputed Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.
Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said Tuesday that the charges would be for trespassing and vandalism. State court records Tuesday evening didn’t yet list any formal counts against Stein.
A spokeswoman for Stein says that activists invited her to leave a message at the protest site. She says Stein wrote “I approve this message” in red spray paint on the blade of a bulldozer.
Stein, who is anti-war and advocates for clean energy, camped out with protesters Monday evening. (ABC News.)
Paint on a bulldozer’s blade hardly qualifies as damage. It will be rubbed off in ten minutes the next time the blade pushes dirt.
But squirting her cheeky message onto the metal sends a terrible message to law abiding citizens, and may encourage pipeline critics torn between “direct action” and lobbying and lawsuits to lay down their pens and pick up their paint cans. Her graffiti blesses lawlessness, something a presidential candidate never should do. She’s embraced methods appallingly similar to Donald Trump’s.
Although I deplore the pipeline company’s use of private security thugs with dogs and pepper spray, I also deplore violent civil disobedience. The pipeline has been approved, and although it is near the Standing Rock reservation, it is outside the reservation’s boundaries. Yet, reports the Guardian:
…Diggers and bulldozers began digging out the turf on the west bank, a mile north of the camp, churning the green prairie to brown clod, in August – accompanied by armed security guards.
They were ordered to stop when protesters, some on horseback, broke on to the site and surrounded the machines on 10 August. Eighteen were arrested, including Standing Rock tribal chairman David Archambault II.
These encounters may be intended to provoke arrests so that martyrs to the cause can be created.
Will the pipeline be stopped? I doubt it. Transporting oil by pipeline is far safer than transporting it by train and truck.
Several Montana blogs published anti-pipeline articles yesterday. At Montana Cowgirl, Justin Robbins. At Intelligent Discontent, Brian Johnson. At Reptile Dysfunction, William Skink. At Big Sky Words, Greg Strandberg. Also at Intelligent Discontent, Pete Talbot reports the Missoula Democratic Central Committee sent the Standing Rock protesters a letter of solidarity.
My message to the protesters? Stand down. Strike your tents, pack up, and leave. If you lose in court, let the pipeline be built. My message to the pipeline company? Fire the goons. If armed guards are needed, have them provided by the government. My message to the government? Lecture Stein on her self-indulgent, undignified, immature, behavior, but don’t file charges against her. They won’t stick, and you’ll be stuck with unnecessary paperwork. My message to the environmental community? This is a foolish fight, and not worth the money you’re raising from it.