To a crowd of students, some who support and others who oppose
the Reform Party’s 2004 presidential campaign, the
party’s vice-presidential candidate Peter Camejo spoke at
UCLA on Friday afternoon. Camejo detailed his goals and condemned
the actions and platforms of both the Republican and Democratic
hopefuls.
Camejo came to campus to rally youth support for a campaign that
has seen many impediments to getting on state ballots.
As the Reform Party candidates in the 2004 election, Ralph Nader
and Camejo are running together as the alternative to the two
parties that have historically dominated the political system, said
Forrest Hill, a campaign coordinator for Nader/Camejo.
Nader and Camejo are running on a platform that includes
environmental conservation, peace in Iraq, preservation of civil
liberties and women’s rights, said Dennis Martin, the UCLA
campus coordinator for the campaign and fourth-year political
science student.
He added that these are issues that have been largely ignored by
the other candidates.
Camejo focused on these issues in his speech and condemned the
actions and positions of both President Bush and Democratic
candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on all counts.
Camejo called the war on Iraq a mistake that has alienated the
United States from the rest of the world and repeatedly referred to
what he sees as dishonesty on the part of the U.S. government on
issues surrounding the conflict.
He referred to the military presence in the region as an
“occupation” and advocated for immediate
withdrawal.
Camejo presented himself as the only candidate who would
actively seek to make peace in Iraq, saying that though Bush and
Kerry have opposing views on how to proceed in Iraq, both plan to
continue a military presence in the region.
“Both support the war,” Camejo said.
“They’re only arguing about how to do it, not what to
do.” He added that any plan that calls for a continued
presence in Iraq is wrong.
Camejo asserted that the American people have received false
information on issues ranging from pre-war relations with Saddam
Hussein to the motives for going to war to the current situation in
Iraq.
“We’re facing an absolute lack of truth in what the
American people are facing (in Iraq). We’re facing an
absolute crisis,” he said.
As Camejo spoke of the deteriorating situation in Iraq and the
actions of the U.S. government throughout the conflict, he gestured
emphatically to emphasize his points and at many times students
showed their approval for his statements with claps and cheers.
Although the crowd was overwhelmingly in support of
Camejo’s campaign, at one point during the speech a student
showed opposition, loudly asking, “Why do you want to
re-elect Bush?”
Camejo and his supporters also condemned both Bush and Kerry for
their support of the USA Patriot Act.
“A fundamental right has been taken away from us,”
Camejo said of the Patriot Act, calling upon the principles of the
founding fathers to emphasize his point.
Martin also said that the Patriot Act threatened the civil
liberties of the American people and should be drastically changed,
if not abolished completely.
Camejo condemned the structure of the electoral system as well,
calling it “controlled” and even in some ways
“backward.”
“We believe in America we have to open up the electoral
system to allow the majority opinion in the world to be
heard,” Camejo said.
The current two-party system has prevented the opinions of a
large amount of the American people to be heard, said Hill, the
campaign coordinator for Nader and Camejo, calling the United
States the “least democratic of the major developed
countries.”
Camejo also alluded to a coordinated effort on the part of the
other parties to keep the Reform Party out of the election,
pointing to his lack of presence on the California ballot and
absence from the presidential debates as ways that he is being kept
out of the election.
The Reform Party has faced opposition because many see
Nader’s campaign as a threat to the Democrats’ success
in the election.
“A vote for Camejo is a vote for Bush,” said Frankie
Medina, of the LaRouche Youth Movement. “Republican people
organize to put him on the ballot,” he added.
“It’s a republican dirty trick.”
But others think it is important to show support for Nader and
Camejo even if it may hurt the Democratic Party’s
campaign.
“Ralph Nader and Peter Camejo have brought to light many
issues that other candidates have ignored. … If he gets a large
percentage of the vote then he tells the American government that
there’s a large amount of people who don’t like the way
things are going,” Martin said.
Camejo’s speech received a mixed response from UCLA
students ““ while some were enthusiastic about the ideas he
presented, others saw his words as empty rhetoric.
Medina said he believed that Camejo did not present solid ideas
but simply said what he thought the students at UCLA would want to
hear.
“There’s no meat on what he’s actually
doing,” Medina added, calling Camejo’s arguments
“complete sophistry.”
But others had a very different response to Camejo’s
speech.
Camilla Drew, a graduate student in neurobiology, described
Camejo’s words as “poetry” and “a
refreshing breeze.”
“He makes a very important point about the nature of
government. Politics in America are completely corrupt,” Drew
said.
Other students were also enthusiastic about the ideas Camejo
presented.
“I’m really excited that he was here today. …
People need to know the truth and we don’t hear that,”
said Holly Laluz, a second-year life science student.
Laluz pointed to the information Camejo presented, including
U.S. tax rates and the government’s alleged relationship with
Saddam Hussein, as important issues that students should be aware
of going into the election.
Camejo and Nader plan to return to campus on Oct. 12 to promote
their campaign.