After a turbulent few weeks that saw the repeal of federal abortion rights, and the passage of a major law, Climate and fossil fuel billSenator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), is encouraging progressives not to give up, despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges facing this country.
In an interview with Teen VoguePublished on Thursday, Sanders stated to young progressives that political change and social justice can only be achieved after long periods of struggle where ordinary people work hard for revolutionary change.
The country is creeping toward corporate oligarchy, he said, citing major corruption in the political system and a dominant corporate media structure that “often deflects attention away from the real issues facing working people.” But these threats only make it more important for people to speak out and resist.
“Real, underline, politics is not instant gratification,” Sanders said. “Anybody who knows anything about history, going way back from the struggle of the abolitionists, struggle to end slavery, struggle for women’s rights, the struggle for workers’ rights, these are not easy struggles and they don’t happen overnight.”
To combat unprecedented wealth accumulation Violent right-wing bigotryThe senator stated that progressives need perseverance and tenacity to succeed in a worsening climate crisis.
“It is absolutely imperative that people continue to be engaged and stand up for economic justice, social justice, racial justice, environmental justice. You can’t back down. Now is not the time to give up, now is more than ever the time to be involved,” said Sanders. “The overall struggle that we are engaged in is not complicated. It is to struggle for justice in the deepest sense of the word.”
The Vermont senator had A similar message is for progressivesShortly after the Supreme Court justices of far right issued their decision to reverse, Roe v. Wade, Say it in a livestreamThe country’s problems are too serious and dangerous for progressives not to face them.
Sanders also highlighted in the interview how progressives are winning across the country despite corporate media outlets pushing the contrary narrative. Progressives aren’t just winning electorally, with triumphs for candidates like Jamie McLeod-SkinnerOregon Summer Lee in Pennsylvania; they’re also waging an Amazingly successfulThe labor movement has opened up new opportunities for workers to have a voice at work.
“At a time when working families are falling further and further behind, I think more and more workers see unions and the opportunity to engage in collective bargaining as a means by which they can earn decent wages and decent benefits,” he said.
The union campaigns at Amazon and Starbucks have seen workers take on some of the most powerful and wealthy people in the world, such as Jeff Bezos and Howard Schultz. “We are seeing now maybe an unprecedented wave of union organizing,” Sanders said, “which, to me, is very, very important, because we’re not going to rebuild the middle class in this country unless we have a strong union movement.”
