“Your presence here today is making Donald Trump and Elon Musk very nervous,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told Angelenos on April 12 as he took the stage to a thunderous ovation at Gloria Molina Grand Park in Downtown L.A. “There are some 36,000 of you – the biggest rally yet,” stated the Independent socialist from Vermont who, along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is spearheading the “Fight The Oligarchy” national tour to mobilize the masses to resist the Trump-Musk regime.

The enormous event included union leaders, left-leaning politicians and musicians – “Why music?” Sanders asked. “Because we’re going to make our revolution with joy!” he said from the podium following a live rendition of his theme song, John Lennon’s “Power to the People,” performed by Raise Gospel Choir. The entire five-hour Bernie-palooza can be seen on YouTube, but here is a comprehensive list of most participants and highlights. (Noticeably missing in action: Members of the Hollywood Left. Jane Fonda and company, wherefore art thou?)

At about 9:30 a.m., Raise Gospel Choir kicked the rally off with, appropriately, Jackie Wilson’s “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher.” Newly-elected Council- member Ysabel Jurado was the first officeholder to speak. The Filipina, who identified herself as being “queer” and the daughter of undocumented immigrants, quoted Bernie’s insightful comment about the tragic result of the 2024 presidential race: “The Democratic Party that had abandoned the working class found that the working class abandoned the Democratic Party.” Jurado’s comments set the tone for a recurring theme of the anti-Oligarchy rally that critiqued the corporate, establishment wing that controlled the Democrats, as well as the MAGA Republicans.

Citing her race for City Hall that unseated an incumbent, Jurado urged office seekers and campaigners to “lean into grass roots organizing. We knocked on 120,000 doors,” mailed thousands of handwritten postcards, etc., to win her Council seat. The fiery Filipina lauded LAUSD staffers that recently refused to allow ICE agents entry to elementary schools, proclaiming: “When they come after one of us, they’re coming after all of us… Fuck that!” thundered the Councilmember adorned in a red T-shirt emblazoned with the word “SOLIDARITY.” Jurado urged listeners to join organizations such as DSA – Democratic Socialists of America, who had endorsed her candidacy, as did LA Progressive and the Bernie-affiliated Our Revolution LA County.

(When I interviewed Jurado during her City Council race, she said: “I come from a rich socialist tradition… It’s hot pink socialism, baby! That’s the history I come from and learning about Third World socialism, conceived of in the developing countries around the world. That is really my point of departure.”

The rally’s first union speaker, Unite HERE Local 11 Co-President Ada Briceno, struck a note of defiance, lauding “the biggest hotel strike of 2024… which beat the hell out of the billionaires.” Briceno thanked Bernie for joining the strikers a year ago at Downtown L.A.’s Hotel Figueroa. The union leader led the audience in a call and response: “When we strike!” with the crowd shouting back: “We win!”

The Red Pears performed, followed by the Congress’ youngest Representative,

Maxwell Frost, who rose to office after a school shooting as part of what the 28-year-old Floridian called the largest youth movement (against gun violence) in American history. Exuding a fighting spirit, Frost told the throng packing the park, “I can see here you have lots of people power” which, he noted, “the billionaires don’t have… It’s not about Democrats or Republicans, it’s about the people… You have to take to the streets and be loud about it.” The first congressional Gen X-er elected to Congress described those resisting the Trump regime as “freedom fighters” and quoted former Communist Party member Angela Davis: “I’m not accepting what I can’t change, I’m changing what I can’t accept.” Frost ended with another call and response, shouting out “People” with the crowd roaring back: “POWER!”

Alex Aguilar, Business Manager of the Motion Picture & Television Fund, Local 724, and other production assistants spoke out about working conditions in the entertainment industry. One compared “organizing a union” to “making a film,” and another, urging show biz proletarians to sign up to join a union, repeated famed labor slogans: “An injury to one is an injury to all” and that other oldie but goodie: “Solidarity forever!”

Brandi Good, Longshoreman, Vice President of Local 13, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, repeated “an injury to one is an injury to all,” adding “That’s the power of the labor movement.” She spoke about the fabled history of the ILWU, including “Bloody Thursday, of 1934’s great strike,” when two longshoremen were killed in San Francisco. Good went on to say, “ILWU isn’t just a union, we’re a family,” denounced automation, advocating a “fight for future technology that serves us, not replaces us,” and praised the role AOC and Bernie play in the cause.

The musician Jeff Rosenstock played for the political Woodstock, then Aidan Cullen of Pair and Care and others spoke about providing relief to victims of L.A.’s wildfires. About an hour and 50 minutes into the rally, City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez then delivered one of the happening’s best speeches, denouncing “our country descend[ing] into a fascist oligarchy [which is] a product of policies over years.” She said it was “bullshit!” that “Trump blames immigrants and trans people, not billionaires, corporations and special interests” for America’s problems. “They want us to fight each other so we don’t fight back” against an economic system where “three individuals own more wealth than half the country combined.” (Forget about ethics – from a purely mathematical perspective alone, late stage capitalism is completely impractical and unsustainable.)

Councilmember Hernandez decried the fact that “seven [unhoused] people die on the streets every day” in L.A. and called for “building collective power and a new system.” She condemned the current system’s priorities where there’s “always money to bomb kids in Gaza, not money for kids to have a safe place to sleep… The rent is too damn high… We deserve a city where nobody sleeps on the streets, while luxury towers lie empty.” Hernandez insisted, “There’s more of us than there is of them… Do not give up. Healthcare is a human right, not a business model,” and urged people to join organizations such as DSA (which endorsed Hernandez’s during her race for City Council). In another call and response Hernandez declared: “When we fight” with the multitude answering: “We win!”

U.S. Rep. Jimmy Gomez took the stage, railing against the “billionaire establishment taking root in Washington, D.C. Are we going to stay quiet? Hell motherfucking no! We are the ‘Fuck around and find out’” generation, which led to another saucy call and response.

Guitarist Indigo de Souza played, then Sandy Reding, President of the California Nurses Association spoke: “We’re in the fight of a lifetime against corporations taking over Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.” Reding made an “O” with her hands, symbolizing her support for no cuts to these vital programs, adding: “We know who’s hoarding the wealth, it’s the billionaires, corporations.” At a sign of distress from members of the audience, true to form, the nurses stopped their speech to render offstage help to someone needing aid. Winded, returning to the podium, Reding went on to say: “They want to take the virus of capitalism – yeah, it’s a virus! – and unleash it on us. The billionaires made their money on the backs of the [masses], never forget those billions don’t belong to them.”

Nick Nunez of the National Union of Health Workers spoke about “six fucking months on strike” against Kaiser, denouncing: “They put profits over people by delaying healthcare, give CEOs benefits and perks, instead of their employees and patients.” Licensed clinical social worker Cassandra Thompson called the industrial action “the longest mental health strike in U.S. history.”

Belize-born Georgia Flowers Lee, the United Teachers LA NEA’s Vice President spoke, as did Julie Van Winkle, a special ed teacher and AFT V.P. for UTLA, condemning “send[ing] Homeland Security to schools, parents disappear. They’re bullies: stand up, punch back. We HATE them!”

Mike Miller, UAW Region 6 Director, said “the best way to fight back against billionaires is to join unions,” advocated for a general strike on May 1, 2028 and chanted another oldie but goodie: “Si se puede!” The Dirty Projectors performed and Silicon Valley Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna appeared, criticizing the Democratic establishment which “rejected Bernie in 2016 and 2020. But now they’re listening to him!” (Can Chuck Schumer turn out 36,000 people?)

Representative Pramila Jayapal urged listeners to “fight against unelected billionaires and petty grifters who want to steal from you to buy another yacht. We’re not just fighting back, we’re fighting forward… Bernie and I are introducing a Medicare for all bill again. Take the hand of the people next to you and lift it into the air. Our love is greater than their greed and our power will eclipse their cruelty.” Then it was the first Indian-American’s “great honor to introduce the moral voice of nonviolent resistance, Joan Baez!”

Accompanied by an acoustic (but of course!) guitar player the legendary Baez sang “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around”; “There But for Fortune”; and Lennon’s “Imagine.” Joined by guitar-strumming Maggie Rogers, she and Joan performed a duet of “America the Beautiful.” Perhaps in reference to the recent Bob Dylan biopic wherein she’s depicted, Joan went on to sing Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.” Baez commented that at this rally, a sort of political mini-Yasgur’s Farm, that “it’s a much more meaningful goal than we did at Woodstock.”

Baez introduced Lorena Gonzalez, President of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, as the first woman and person of color to hold that post. April Verrett, President of SEIU, spoke about her recent trip to Selma, Alabama to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of Bloody Sunday at Edmond Pettis Bridge: “It was really clear to me that we’re still fighting that fight. Different tactics, same old oppression. The shit show is still happening in our country. Divide us by race to control us by class… When three Americans have more wealth than more than half the country it’s time to change the rules… We can’t just protest, we gotta disrupt. We are stronger than their greed,” Verrett insisted, harkening back to the sit-down strikes at auto factories in Flint, Michigan during the Depression.

Blowing his harmonica and strumming his guitar like an avenging wraith, Neil Young rocked the free world and the City of the Angels, belting out “Take America Back” and “Rainbow of Colors,” with Baez and Rogers accompanying him. They were a tough act to follow, but if anybody could, it was that barista-turned-congresswoman, the Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. After wishing everyone a “Happy Passover,” the impassioned AOC demanded the release of disappeared Columbia University pro-Palestinian protest leader Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University’s Rumeysa Ozturk, whose “thought crime” was writing a Gaza-related op-ed in the campus newspaper. AOC noted there was no evidence that they broke any laws, and lauded “the everyday people who refused to let ICE enter two LAUSD schools. It can’t be officials alone who uphold democracy, it’s the people, the masses.”

The bold and beautiful AOC reminded everyone “Donald Trump is a criminal found guilty of 34 charges [of business fraud]. Of course he’s manipulating the stock market” to enrich his cohorts. The NYC Congressmember denounced “the every-day corruption and dark money,” and members of Congress who invest in and trade stocks, including in pharmaceutical and military-related industries, for having a clear conflict of interest and possible insider trading. “How can they make objective choices?” AOC asked, adding, “It must end… I don’t care what party you are… I don’t take a dime in corporate money and you have me to standup for you.”

Although elected as a Democrat, she criticized her own party, maintaining “We need a Democratic Party that fights harder for the working class.” She criticized Democrats who voted for the GOP’s recent budget and went on to say, “We can’t turn in our neighbors. Reject division – the only way we can win is with solidarity.

After “Power to the People” was performed, Sen. Sanders stormed the stage where he and AOC – the old and the new – clasped hands and raised them overhead like the progressive champions of the downtrodden. The spry 83-year-old looked and sounded like an Old Testament prophet in a blue Dodgers baseball cap. (Of course, when Bernie was born, they were still the Brooklyn Dodgers.) Bernie thanked the union and other speakers and performers and turning to the throng said, “Mostly thanks to all of you.” Amidst resounding chants of Bernie, the lifelong socialist replied: “No – it’s not ‘Bernie’ – it’s you,” meaning the vast sea of humanity, who had turned out to attend the Fight The Oligarchy rally.

As a chopper flew overhead and a drone hovered, the Tribune of the People attacked the “President who has no understanding or respect for the constitution. They’re moving us to an authoritarian society – we ain’t going there!” Sanders recalled the stage at Trump’s inaugural address, with “the three richest men in America behind Trump. Thirteen other billionaires were also there – that’s what oligarchy is all about,” he said, referring to the Greek word that is defined as “a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people,” a system which Sanders pointed out, is opposed to “the separation of powers” crafted by America’s founders. “They never wanted to see a country under one person with unlimited power.”

The Independent Senator from Vermont went on to cite Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which he said was delivered to honor the thousands of Union soldiers “fight[ing] the evil of slavery,” quoting the Great Emancipator’s immortal words about: “‘Government of the people, by the people, and for the people… shall not perish from the Earth.’ Not to become a government of the billionaire class, by the billionaire class, and for the billionaire class,” as the Trump-Musk regime is trying to install.

Bernie also referred to a 1940s’ State of the Union address by Pres. Franklin Roosevelt called for expanding America’s notion of rights to include economic rights. Sanders lampooned the “corrupt campaign system” that allowed Musk to give “$270 million to elect Donald Trump” and called for “overturn[ing] Citizens United. They are very religious, but their religion is not based on love or justice, it’s based on greed, greed and more greed. Addiction is a big problem, and the addiction of the oligarchy is for greed.” The Independent lawmaker did not spare the party that he caucuses with from his withering comments.

Sanders condemned Trump policy at Ukraine, Gaza, the trillions spent on the military and repeated the recurring mantra about “the three wealthiest Americans own more wealth than half of America, 170 million people. CEOs earn 300 times what” average workers do, he added, excoriating “the concentration of ownership,” noting that ordinary people die seven years earlier than the rich. Why? Stress. Worry every day how to feed their kids… All people should live out their life expectancy… The homeless sleep out on the streets.”

For those following the longtime socialist, it was standard if updated classic Bernie. But that’s one of the best things about Sanders: His consistency, especially in contrast to a White House where the slogan could be “consistency causes cancer.” Wrapping up, Bernie quoted Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will…” Bernie concluded: “They’re the 1%, we’re the 99%… They own congress and the media but they don’t own us,” which sparked an eruption of applause.

The immense rally brought individuals together out of their isolation into a solid mass. The mood was high-spirited – there was no violence, although people were inspired to continue the struggle against an oligarchical takeover of the U.S. and for a more just world. I asked a young woman who identified herself as “Cat, a supporter born and raised in L.A., who’s tired of the way things are now and would like some change,” what she thought of the marathon of the masses, and she gushed: “It was beautiful! Bernie said all the right things.”

Her friend Shelby, an L.A., documentarian making a film about the Eaton fire, added: “It’s good to see some action. It’s about damn time, I want to see more of this from the Democrats. If we’re going to get together collectively as a party, we need leadership like this and we want to see real action in our democracy. It’s really great to see people showing up,” in huge numbers that demonstrate the deep discontent with the Trump-Musk regime.

I asked, “Can you rely on the Democrats or should we try to create independent force?” and Shelby replied: “With the Republicans as they are, we Democrats can’t split up. The Democratic Party needs to shift to what the people want.”

The Fight The Oligarchy tour – which after L.A. went on to the Coachella music festival, Salt Lake City, Idaho and beyond – raises profound questions. Especially considering the abundant criticism not only of the GOP, but of the Democratic Party as well. Should the masses mobilize to oust the control of corporate, establishment Democrats to lead the party with a more economic populist, working class politics? Or will the bourgeois wing of the party use Bernie and AOC to rouse the rabble, only to then cast their ballots for the same old, same old corporate hacks? Should Bernie, AOC and the other left-leaning leaders and speakers seize the momentum represented by 36,000 people at L.A. and at their other very well-attended rallies to spearhead a new pro-people front and force independent of both the Republicans and a “Democratic Party where progressive ideas go to die,” as former Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb once reportedly said?

The backdrop for the April 12 Fight The Oligarchy rally at Gloria Molina Grand Park was L.A. City Hall. During the 1950s, in the Adventures of Superman TV series, that City Hall doubled as the Daily Planet Building, where “mild mannered reporter” Clark Kent would secretly change into Superman and fly out of a window to fight for “truth, justice and the American way.” What the huge, enthusiastic turnout at the Fight The Oligarchy demo showed is that the real superhero is not a “strange visitor from another planet,” but rather the ordinary people, when they are organized, united and determined to fight for their rights against the privileges of the few. That’s our real superpower.

For info re: the “Fight The Oligarchy” tour, including schedule information, see: https://berniesanders.com/oligarchy/.

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