On Saturday, April twelfth, twenty twenty five, Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortes held their Fighting Oligarchy Rally in Los Angeles at Grand Park.
Senator Bernie Sanders has traveled all across the United States to discuss how we move forward to take on the oligarchs and corporate interests who have so much power and influence in this country. By the way, I'm Viosa and.
I'm Mala, and you're listening to loc at Tho Radio.
Today, we'll be breaking down what we heard and what we saw at the Fighting Oligarchy Rally. Before we dive into the coverage, let's define what an oligarchy is.
An oligarchy is what happens when a small group of people have a huge and unnecessary amount of control over an entire country, organization, or institution.
Some past examples of that to kind of ground the times that we're living in are one Elon Musk running Doge. Billionaires were front row at Trump's inauguration this past January, like Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos and a couple others. The further we get into lok Atra Radio, the more we see the importance of recording moments, events, interviews as part of this audio archive. I arrived to Clodia Molina Grand Park, which is situated right next to City Hall
in downtown Los Angeles. This was also the very first time that we applied for press passes. We've never done that before. Anytime we've gone to cover something, it's very informal, but this was the first time we went through the process because we thought this is a historical moment and it was. I arrived a little after eight am, and at this time, reporters, journalists, news crews, and content creators are setting up and around eight forty am the first
wave of people were let in. By ten am, the park was pretty full, and by twelve pm there was overflow into the steps of City Hall and the closed streets surrounding the park.
One of the first speakers at the Fighting Oligarchy rally was council member isabel Hourado, who you might recognize as having done an interview on Locatho radio before she won her council seat. And Isabelle, along with other local organizers, union reps, and elected officials, laid out the foundation for the rally council Member Hourrado discussed how she didn't follow the Democratic establishment's playbook because it wasn't designed for people like me.
And I seem on small donor campaigns, and.
She also highlighted the importance of grassroots organizing, how she and her campaign knocked on over one hundred and twenty thousand doors, ultimately resulting in an upset and a win against a longtime incumbent.
Else because that's what the power of the community has. It was so special to see council Member isab Huado because we interviewed her, we saw the work that she was doing, and she unseated a long time incumbent, someone that has been an established elected official and was also caught on the FED tapes in twenty twenty two. So to see her as the opening speaker was so powerful. And to know that she was a tenants rights lawyer
and she's for the people. She speaks like an everyday person, which I think makes her so really and easy to connect with, and that was just really great to see.
How did the crowd respond.
People were so engaged. There was a lot of clapping and like call and response type moments.
And now as we continue to fight this federal and administration who's throwing everything they can. Whether we're immigrants, we're clear, we're trans because when they come after one of us, they're coming after.
All of us. And everyone was just like vibing, Yeah, they were into it. It really felt like the folks who were in attendance were very passionate about being there, that there was a sense of urgency, a sense that they need to get up and do something. And this question of well what now Trump has been elected and now what and it seemed to be the question motivating a lot of folks and their presence there, and more about that later. We do have some clips from the crowd.
As far as speakers, we also heard from council Member Oenissas Hernandez, council member for District one and a council member. Hernandez made a point of saying that if you think you're not affected by California's progressivism, you're wrong.
I love this city, I was born and raised in this city, and I'm right Gala City every day.
But if you think, but if you think.
Cala doesn't feel the impact with those policies because of our soul called progressivism, I hate to break it to you. Look around, Ask the person next to you if they have a savings, Ask them if they're beret, a student debt, Ask them if they can afford rent, if they have healthcare, if they think they'll ever to be able to buy a house in this city. This administration wants you to believe that the reason you can't buy.
Councilmember Hernandez also talked about building new systems and cited police budgets. Forty three percent of the La city budget is spent on police funding and two times as much on police uniforms and the entire Youth Development department. A Council Member Hernandez also commented on Gaza.
Why is there always money to gone children in Gaza but not enough to make.
Sure every kid has We don't have a budget crisis, we have a crisis of our values, and if we're serious about budding flascism, we have to dismantle the systems out of holed it.
Because budgets are not neutral. Budgets are fludprints with the world we are building, were stament of our values and most importantly, it's your money. It's your money.
So Councilmember Hernandez really touched on a lot of things on the minds of Angelino's the budget, the police, debt, rent health insurance, and Gaza.
Yeah, and I think that was really notable because they're from what I've seen and what I've heard, one of the biggest frustrations from at least the people that we're in community with or that we know or that have been critical the Democratic Party have been talking about their lack of response or their lack of pressure when it comes to Gaza and the genocide in Palestine, And so I thought council member Unisa said an one this calling this out at the very beginning was really important because
even if maybe more established Dems aren't talking about it, like, there's clearly some that are, and there's elected officials that are doing it, and they're taking into account like the issues that are important to their constituents.
And I think at this point it's there's an expectation, you know, that someone in a position of power like a city council person, make their stance on Gaza known. And if you're not talking about it, it's not it's not really an option anymore not to talk about it.
It's like if you're not about it, it's it's like a litmus test for people now and I get it, and I get it, and so I thought it was really important that she brought that up pretty early on.
Yeah, and it's a really setting the tone I think of this rally and what it's about. I think that folks were really going there so to speak. When it came to the speakers and the folks in the crowd and the reasons why they were there, I think they were looking for that.
Absolutely. There was also a Congress member that was in participation that was actually from Florida, and he is first gen Z member of Congress and he represents Florida's tenth district. And this was my first time hearing him speak and hearing what he was about. And something that I really I jotted down when he was speaking was he said, solidary without action is just sympathy.
And my friends, I'm here today's to say solidarity without action. It's just sympathy. Solidarity for our movement, for everybody here and across the country has to be a.
Word and freaking of that word.
Today we have many organizations.
Failing to make sure.
You don't we speak with him, don't let your solid leave.
It's smart without.
Signing up to do the next thing? Can you do that now?
Sampless, and he encouraged everyone to not leave the park without signing up to do the next thing. In addition to speakers, there were also vendors. There were also organizations tabling so that you could do the next thing. And I thought that that was a really important statement because so many people are asking that question, what now? And this event is just one thing that you can participate in, but there's still so much more to do.
It's a rally like this is I think meant to like energize people who already are feeling anxious and who already want to move on this and to make a difference. And it's about pumping people up and propelling them forward into action. This is not necessarily the action itself, absolutely, you know it is. It's a rally, just like it sounds like it's like a big pep talk. Yes, you know, like now go out and do it. We'll be right back after this break.
And we're back. We want to recognize that there were union members and leaders that were prominently represented at this rally. Some included Local seven to four ilwu Utla, and I also thought this was such an important factor because it was showing us the class solidarity and really how important unions are and that the Democratic Party was at one point the working Class Party, and unions were so have so much power and have historically had a lot of
people power. And so I thought that that was like really important and like very strategic. Like I saw it. I was like, I see what we're doing here.
Yeah.
One, I mean, the Working Families Party was heavily involved in this event, was one of the organizers of the event, and so it makes sense. Folks are there about very like concrete issues, you know, working labor, our ability to support ourselves and to live. I mean, it's pretty basic stuff, but basic needs. It's basic needs, but it's become so difficult to achieve those to make sure you're covered in
those basic areas, and it shouldn't be that way. And I really felt that that energy in the crowd, you know, we're just fighting. We're fighting for our lives here.
Like figuratively and literally fighting for our lives right now. Yeah, and notably, this is also this past weekend and this coming weekend is Coachella weekend.
Yes it is, And that also kind.
Of felt like a backdrop of what was happening, and that even the type of event this was because various musicians performed at the rally, and I'm not gonna lie, it kind of felt like Coachella light sure, but for politics.
Yeah, it's political.
It's a political Coachella. And there were many performers. So I want to name the performers that were there. Started with a gospel choir called Rai's Gospel. The Red Pairs Jeff Ross and Stock Indigo, This SUSA, Dirty Projectors, Joan Bias, Maggie Rogers, and Neil Young all performed heavy hitters. Yeah, lots of representation here. And Joan Bias made this comment that she thought this was like a meaningful woodstock. That was the energy that she was feeling, like say, my mom.
Was.
And so I loved that example because for me and of course my age and my like cultural nuance is going to be Coachella, But for someone like Joan Bias, it was like, no, it was like this is the woodstock for us.
I love that for the activists, woodstock for activists and for just regular people and families, Like there were children there.
There were children there, people of all ages. Yeah, and people of all abilities. What's something that I thought was, I haven't been to a rally like this in a long time, and I think going as quote press also gave me access to see things that I may not have been able to see if I was in the crowd.
And one of the things was very early on there were folks of all abilities that arrived, and if you were disabled or needed special accommodations, you had your own entrance, and there was also seating and there was shade, and I thought that that was I hadn't seen that before
at a rally, at an event like this. That's not to say that it doesn't happen or that organizers don't do that, but it was my first time seeing that, and I thought that that was really important too, to really let everyone be involved and invite everyone in and just so like y'all can like maybe get more of an insight into the energy. Is that I saw people climbing over barricades to get closer, and I saw a handful of people climbing a slide on the children's playground
to get a better view of the stage. And before the quote political headliners arrived to the stage or entered the stage, there was musical headliner Neil Young, and he was singing take America Back, and people were chanting take America Back Come, which big question mark because what does that mean? Sure, of course, of course, right, but I see what they were doing.
Yeah, you know, this, of course is a you know, it's the Dems. Yes, it's USA. It's literally USA, It's USA, and so we we understand that too. And I do think that it's pretty incredible. Like the way that they even named this rally like fighting oligarchy. I haven't heard such a straight up yeah like rally title like that.
I feel like usually rallies in protests unless it's like issue specific, right, like this is an immigration rally, this is about Gaza, this is about Palestine, this is about sexual violence, this is about abortion, like issue specific, but this is really specifically naming the enemy, so to speak, right, and fighting fighting back and naming the enemy and oligarchy, like putting that out there. Yeah, it's pretty incredible, it is.
Because that is not a word that I really use in my day to day life. I understand what oligarchy is as a concept, and I can see how we are becoming or already are an oligarchy, but it's not a word that I generally use. So I feel like, to your point, part of that is putting it in the ether and putting it in everyday conversation so that people understand what an oligarchy is.
Yeah.
I was even like news coverage, right, like broadcast news coverage to cover the rally. Now they have reporters anchors on air saying fighting oligarchy, right, even just saying it on air, just reporting on it. Now everyone's hearing it. Yeah, And I think it's really clever. It's very strategic. It's smart the naming of the rally because it's like we're putting the notion into people's ears. We're fighting and it's
an oligarchy. I don't know, there was just something when I saw that on the news after having been there, and then I saw this coverage Sunday the next day, it just was like it just really stood out to me.
Yeah, you know, that's a really good point, because, yeah, I'd like, how what better way to mobilize people than to really like get to the core of like class struggle. Yes, you know, I think a lot of what I heard on Saturday was like, how is it beer trying to divide us by race, by gender, by ethnicity, by our political differences. But we're like all struggling and we're all in this like class struggle, and that's what unites us.
And so I think like that's part of the strategy, right, like you mentioned, is like we're going to mobilize everyone because we all have like one quote enemy and it's the oligarchy, it's the billionaires.
Yeah, instead of a sort of a basic like, oh, rally for hope, rally for change, yeah, you know, which is I think what we've heard from the Dems. Yeah, for the past I don't know how many decades forever, I think it's been very lukewarm. It's been very tepid, very timid.
Even it's been timid, and I think that's been one of the biggest critiques is like do more.
What are you doing?
Yeah, like do something?
Yeah.
So this feels like a shift.
It does.
It's a language shift and an energy shift, and I think maybe a strategy shift. And they're they're really going for it. So I hope that continues, and I hope that the people yeah follow suit, you know.
And I think that but that is what I'm hopeful about, is that you know, AOC and Bernie are not our representatives, right, but the changes that they are trying to make. What I'm hopeful for is like, now all the people that heard this, Yeah, because there was a live stream also and you can go back and watch it on the website, on YouTube. There's multiple news outlets that were streaming it completely.
So regardless of where you are, I feel like this is now a model that you can take and like actually make your representative and hold them accountable, put them, take them to task, and have them like do the things that you want them to do in the way that AOC and Bernie Sanders are asking.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Now.
Of course, the fighting Oligarchy tour has not been without its critiques. You know, there are folks of course, who I mean. I think there's always going to be a sort of school of thought that politicians are not can't save us, and so anything that's coming from the Dems at all is going to have is going to be tainted in that way or is never going to be enough, or it's never going to be the full breath of
what we need to establish a democracy. Truly, but I think that if they're not doing this, then what are they doing.
Don't go away. We'll be right back.
And we are back. So let's talk about the main the headliners, if you will.
Yeah, the main event, the main event. Well, of course, shout out to Congresswomen AOC. AOC was elected in twenty eighteen, sworn into office in twenty nineteen, and represents New York's fourteenth district. I can't believe it's been so long since she got elected, I know. I mean her election was like a big deal and it was top of mind, and it was huge, and it's and here we are.
You know.
Yeah, she was a I feel like, one of the first wave of young progressive women that ran for office and didn't take corporate donors and ran a completely grassroots campaign and then became part of the squad which includes like other progressive representatives as well. And so yeah, she has been I mean now she's been doing it for many.
Years or many years. She's not new anymore.
With lots of critique, oh yeah, lots of lots of people have their issues.
Oh yeah, if you know, oh yeah, and it's the critiques on AOC have range the type of range we would expect for women in the public eye. So everything from her policy and her work and what she's talking about and what she's trying to get done in office. Her politics. Of course there's critiques on her politics, but then on the other side, there's always been like real nasty critiques on her appearance.
Her appearance, she's been the center of a lot of misogyny, deep fake images. She's gone through a lot of harassment while being in office.
Yeah, and she's still fighting the fight. And when she addressed the audience, she pointed out ways that LA has been showing up in the fight against fascism, and she used this example, do have power.
In this moment?
All of us do, and everyday people do. In fact, you all showed that this week.
LA.
A few days ago, ice officials attempted to enter two la USD schools to target kids. They lied to school officials and claimed that they had parents permission to get to these children when they didn't.
But it wasn't just a lawyer or a.
Judge that said no. It started with everyday people, school staff and employees who spoke up when I thought something was off, And it was the teacher and principles that's still strong and said no to protect their kids when.
It could have been easier to say yes, have a fear.
She gives various examples of the people groups who are targeted under the Trump administration, and folks like Mahmood Khalil, Palestinian activist who was detained in New York and sent to a detention center in Louisiana.
Yeah, and Macmood Khalil has gained national attention because he was one of the leaders at Columbia University during the Gaza pro Palestinian encampments, and he's a Green card holder as well. So the fact that he was detained has really scared people because if it can happen to a legal resident quote unquote, then it can happen to really anyone.
So people have been following this case very closely, and she, you know, called upon his name and called on a lot of the folks that have also been affected because of the Trump administration.
The Trump administration admits that they have thrown my Mood in a cell thousands of miles away because he attended a protest and are detaining him for the content of his speech and nothing more. In fact, in fact, followed Trump's detention of someone like ma Mood Caglio for his speech is anti American and we demand his release, along with the release of Rumesa Oster, who is also killing for writing an off ed in her school payer.
Here at USC, a ton of student visas have been denied for current students. So it's not good and they're taking real steps to do real harm. So back to the rally. AOC also went into a definition of oligarchy and define that for the crowd.
Donald Trump is not an aberration. He is the logical, inevitable conclusion of an American political system dominated by corporate and dark money. We aren't here to defeat him, we must defeat the system that created him. Money in politics is the hands of oligarchy. Los Angeles, and we are
at a crossroads. We can either have extreme wealth inequality with a toxic division and corruption that it requires to survive, or we can have a fan economy that guarantees healthcare to all for working people, along with the democracy and freedoms that uphold it. Oligarchy or democracy, but we cannot have both, Los Angeles.
Additionally, AOC discusses the importance of voting at every level and supporting democrats who actually fight.
I want you to.
Look at every level of office around and support Democrats who actually fight, because those are the ones who can actually defeat Republicans. Some folks, you know what that means. We have to start working now to give David Valadeo, young Kin, and Ken Calvert the boot and replace them with a grallowing democrat you will stand for the working people of California.
And I think going back to the critique that's been the biggest critique that we've seen about this rally and this tour that Bernie Sanders and AOC have been on, that it's just funneling frustrated people back into the democratic establishment, back into the machine, and not enough is being said about dismantling it. And so when she talked about voting, I just kind of had my ear perked and I was like, Okay, let's see where this goes. And then she said this.
But beyond elections, LA, our task is to build community block associations, volunteer groups, church organizations, ptas, activist organizations, because community is the most powerful building block. We have to
defeat authoritarianism and root out corruption. This is the path to guarantee health care to every American, to establish a living minimum wage, to take on skyrocketing rents and mortgages to tackle the climate crisis and establish a country where the American dream is actually possible for all of us. I hope you see that this movement is not about partisan label or purity tests, but it's about class solidarity.
It is about the thousands of you who came out here today to stand together and say, our lives deserve dignity and our work deserves respect, no matter who we are.
So then came the point in the rally where AOC introduced Senator Bernie Sanders.
Thank you so much, Los Angeles. And it is my harm here today to introduce someone who has dedicated his life to bringing us together. So let's get loud and let's be grateful because Senator Bernie Sanders.
And you could literally feel and hear the electricity coursing through the crowd.
AA to the.
PA PA, the gospel choir saying power to the people, and Senator Sanders cross the stage wearing an LA hat. By the way, as soon as he starts speaking, the crowd begins to chant, there are.
People are half a bottle. Let me.
No, it's not burning, it is you.
Senator Sanders makes this really beautiful statement about joy, and I thought that that was also really central to the event.
And you know why we had all of these great decisions here that it's not just to entertain you. It's more than that. We're gonna make our revolution with joy. Where gonna sing and dance our way to victory against hatred.
And the visitors.
Before Senator Sanders gets into his speech, he acknowledges everyone who participated, from the musicians to the elected officials, to the labor unions, let me thank.
Our brothers and sisters in the trade union movement for being here. Let me thank you night here layouna Local seven four.
It was clear that unions were central to the rally because Senator Sanders openly discussed how the Democratic Party has lost its way with working class people and the class solidarity and worker solidarity was a through line throughout the rally.
Know Californi your labor fem rachid hey ul.
Senator Sanders reminds everyone why we are here today.
We are living in a moment of extraordinary and how we respond to this moment will not only impact our lives, but will impact the lives of our kids and future generations. And in terms of the climate. It will depend We can depend on whether or not the planet Earth survives. That's why we're here today.
She lays out the current political moment, and what's that state.
Moment where a handful of billionaires control the economic and political life of our country. We're living in a moment with a president who has no understanding or respect for the Constitution of the United States, and let us thinke no doubt about it, moving us rightly taught in authoritarian form of society, and mister Trump, we ain't going there.
Senator Sanders is, of course addressing the crowd, but in some ways he's also directly speaking to Donald Trump of.
The individual obeying Trump's every wish and at a time of massive income and wealth inequality. Right now, as we speak, they are plotting about how they can give one point one trillion in tax ranks one percent and devastate programs networking family state.
Senator Sanders also says, we're not just fighting oligarchy, but we're fighting a president who doesn't respect constitutional laws.
We are fighting. We're fighting a president who on the minds our constitution every day and threatens our freedom of speech and assembly, and whose agents are rounding off innocent people off the streets, putting them in unmarked fans and throwing them in the tension sentence. That is what happens in dictatorships, not democracies. And we're gonna stop that outrageous action on the part of.
The SID Going back to Israel and Palestine, which again I feel like is the the litmus tests right and it's like where the pulse is right now, And there were a lot of people in the crowds wearing like cuffias. I saw many Palestinian flags. Senator Sanders made the statement about how Israel has a right to defend itself.
Eight million war dollars to go to nepting Yahoo's war machines. Israel has the right to defend itself against heroism, but it does not have a right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people. It does not have the right to count fifty thousand people injure over one hundred thousand and destroy the entire infrastructure. And as bad as that is, as bad as that is, Trump wants to expel the two point two million people in Gaza in order to create a playground for his billion half friends.
That is beyond insane and we won't.
And I feel like he was meeting the crowd where they were at, like he knew, he knew what what had to be said.
Yeah, I appreciate that from him. I think that he's in a position where he probably can't and probably wouldn't completely disavow Israel as a nation state and as a global power in a lot of ways, He's just not going to, you know, but at least he acknowledged the murder, the genocide.
And I think that it's one of those issues where in the critiques that I've seen online is you know, calling this like a Zionist gathering, right, or the Zionist Democrats. And while there may be a case for that, right, there's also so much mobilizing that's happening and so many issues that are being discussed, and I think to completely like cut them off.
I mean, it's my question is like, if not them, then who, yes, show me the names of the alternatives who are doing it better and who can actually get something done right, not just verbalizing the politics and the exact way you want to hear it exactly, but who actually has the power and the influence and isn't in a position to impact policy and the quality of life for people in the United States. Absolutely not just talk about it, you like the way I talk about it,
but I can't actually do anything about it exactly. So who cares, you know, in a way, who cares? If you like, like the exact politic to the t, if there's no power behind it, there's no movement behind it.
Yeah, And I think that's kind of what God is here is like, if you didn't say it correctly, if you didn't say it the way someone wanted you to say it, then you know, we're going to completely shut you out. What you have to say is no longer important to us. And I think that that's part of the problem. And I think that this was part of the solution absolutely this rally at least.
Yeah.
Yeah, And I think that the crowd was right there, you know, all these people. There were thirty six thousand
people in attendance. Was I spoke with a few of the folks in the crowd at the rally in the overflow section at a point when I arrived, I was checking in at the press entrance, and they told me that per the fire Marshal's orders, they were not allowing anybody in because they were already like two hundred and fifty people over capacity, and so they just had to funnel everybody to the overflow, which was fine because I ended up getting to know some of the motivating factors
why people wanted to go to that rally, and what struck me was how passionate everybody was. There was a small group of friends, a group of three people that I approached, and each one of them, after they finished their interview with me, they were like almost like they had chills, they were shaking. They were so energetic about what they were talking about, so passionate and so angry and at the same time just so excited to be there because it gave them a sense of action, you know,
And so that was palpable. Hi.
My name is Rosie, and what brought me here today is, well, I'm a teacher, so the future I'm I'm motivated by the future, so my students and my children, and also I guess monivated by the past, which is my mom, who she really has her anger out and I'm angry too, but I kind of tried to not show it as much as she is.
She's AOC said, community is the most powerful weapon we have and we've needed this. We need to be in community. We need to be around people, despite party, despite personal beliefs, despite religion, despite all aspects. The fact that this many people can come together to fight the oligarchy, community does that community is powered.
What brought me out today was on the poster it said where do we go from here? And that's a question I've been asking myself since the election, and this was an answer. There was some sort of relief, some sort of fight that we haven't seen before. And as Bernie said, thirty six thousand people participated in it. And there's just a feeling that you can't get on social media. You can't get when you're on your device, so you
start to feel helpless. But when you're in a crowd of this size, with people chanting the things that are really meaningful to America right now, you can't help but feel inspired. And I think that's what I leave here today, feeling is a piece of energy going into a fight that we have to. We know it's going to be long, we know it's going to be hard, but at least there's a fight in anlaces there.
Thank you.
Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum. This rally energized people and gave people hope. I hear from so many friends of mine, family members, and just people that I know that they feel helpless and they have all this pent up rage, fury, big emotions and that cannot stay in your body. That has to be channeled somewhere. And I think this rally allowed people to feel seen, to feel heard, and to know that they're not alone. They were one of thirty six thousand people, the biggest
Bernie and AOC rally to date. So just as a reminder, connect with your local grassroots organizations wherever you are. If you're in California, there's the California Working Families Party. That's one place you can start. But the Working Families Party is also a national organization, so you can get involved wherever you are. The California chapter co organize this rally and it's one step you can take to get more involved. There's also other organizations like Mihinte, La Defensa and Delon.
Go to your local grassroots organizations, go to your local community centers, just organize your friends, like get connected.
There's a lot that people can do here at Loka Thought our radio over the years, we've also talked about your direct circle of influence, your family, your neighborhood, your school, community, and those tend to be the places where we have the most influence and the most impact and the greatest opportunity to make change and to educate. If you can't change minds you know in your own family or your own friends, how do we how do we impact the
world on a larger scale. We we start small a lot of the time, so I think if you don't know where to start, start with the people closest to you.
A thank you for listening to another episode of look At Radio. This was a first of its kind, so we hope you enjoyed it. Let us know what you think and we will catch you next time I see it.
Thus, look At on AM Radio, Look Alumnia