Photograph Source: Gage Skidmore – CC BY-SA 2.0

“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........

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