Editor’s Note: This post has been updated to include information that the woman may be part of a fringe political group known for employing political stunts. No other parts have been altered.
A woman attending a town hall hosted by Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez interrupted the proceedings to demand that people “start eating babies” in response to climate change.
The Thursday afternoon town hall at Queens Public Library in Corona, New York, was about to wrap up with a pair of questions from other participants when a woman wearing a “Save the Planet. Eat the Children” T-shirt stood up and took over the final part with a plea for her own “solution” to climate change.
The woman may be part of a fringe political group known for conducting political stunts, according to a connection highlighted by Gizmodo, a tech-focused publication, which cites Operation Chaos author Matthew Sweet.
It’s that moment when your obscure research subject pops up in the news. Yesterday @AOC was confronted by a woman claiming to be a climate activist at a town hall meeting. Her proposal to solve the climate crisis – “eat the babies”. pic.twitter.com/dUhZDTa85t
— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019
So who was this woman? Not a climate activist. Not even, perhaps, someone with a mental illness. She is a representative of the bizarre political cult once led by Lyndon LaRouche. Previous targets for this kind of stunt include @Janefonda Olof Palme & Michael Dukakis. Now @AOC. pic.twitter.com/0JVsfn6vCn
— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019
But the point here is that a small, weird, politically unclassifiable – once Marxist, now more often described as neo-fascist and antisemitic – has spent nearly five decades pulling these stunts. Democrat Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis was a notable victim. pic.twitter.com/40ILdTAc8v
— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019
The LaRouchies are now firm Trump supporters – though Putin is their first love. pic.twitter.com/lNKfTj5cti
— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019
It also shows, I suppose, the residual intellectualism of their little movement – the whole stunt is a call back to Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. Thomas Malthus – along with Bertrand Russell and the Queen – is one of their gallery of villains.
— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019
The LaRouche cult, described by Sweet, has taken credit for the stunt.
WATCH:
“We’re not gonna be here for much longer because of a climate crisis,” said the woman. “We only have a few months left. I love that you support the Green New Deal, but getting rid of fossil fuel is not gonna solve the problem fast enough.”
She also had a new campaign slogan for Ocasio-Cortez:
So, I think your next campaign slogan has to be this, we have to start eating babies. We do not have enough time. There’s too much CO2. All of you, you are polluting. Too much CO2. We have to start now. Please, you’re so great. I’m so happy that you are really supporting new green deal. But it is not enough. Even if we bomb Russia, we have too many people, too much pollution. So we have to get rid of the babies. That is the big problem. Just stopping having babies is not enough. We need to eat the babies. Please give a response.
The crowd seemed visibly disturbed at the woman’s comments, but Ocasio-Cortez stayed calm and insisted on giving a response. (RELATED: Ocasio-Cortez Rebuffs ‘Fact-Checkers,’ Says The World Ending In 12 Years Was ‘Dry Humor’)
“One of the things that’s very important to us is that that we need to treat the climate crisis with the urgency that it does present,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “Luckily, we have more than a few months.”
The woman could be heard saying “No, we don’t,” in the background.
“We do need to hit net zero in several years,” the New York congresswoman pressed. “But I think we all need to understand that there are a lot of solutions that we have, that we can pursue. And that if we act in a positive way, there is space for hope. We are never beyond hope.”
