Video: Bernie Sanders discusses democracy, oligarchs, and the Middle East in Amsterdam
There is great dissatisfaction about the status quo in the United States and many other parts of the world, said U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said during a speech and roundtable discussion in De Balie in Amsterdam on Monday. “And if you ask me, the great challenge that we face in this moment; it is that change is going to come,” Sanders said, who also sought the Democratic Party's nomination for president in the 2016 and 2020 U.S. General Elections. “And the question is, what will that change look like?”
“Will it be a change in which we create a more vibrant, democratic society? Will it be a change which brings people together?” Sanders asked. “Or, on the other end, will it be the change that moves us towards autocracy? More and more war?”
“The fight that we are fighting now is to bring our people together. Working people, young people, people of color. To fight for a society where government and the economy works for all, and not just the few,” he said.
The upcoming presidential elections in 2024 will be a pivotal moment for the United States, the senator continued. If former President Donald Trump wins over incumbent President Joe Biden, democracy in the U.S. will be in danger. The nominations for president are not yet set, but the current and previous U.S. presidents are leading the polls in their respective parties. Sanders thinks Biden has a good chance of reelection, but it will be close.
Oligarchs are everywhere
He also discussed the need to open up more access to opportunities and wealth, not just in the United States, but also elsewhere. He reaffirmed his position that the wealthiest people in the world should not be able to exert undue influence on government policy by spreading their cash around to decision-makers in the form of political donations.
"How often in Europe are you talking about it? Is oligarchy just a Russian issue, or just an American issue? You don't think you have oligarchs here? I would be quite surprised if you don't."
Sanders on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis: Gaza "will become much worse as a result" of Hamas attack
Speaking about the weekend attack by Hamas in Israel, Sanders said, "Obviously, what is terrible about it is ...there will be many thousands of people who will die as a result of what Hamas did, and be injured, and Gaza will be leveled. The living conditions in Gaza before this were absolutely horrendous. You had unemployment among young people of 70, 75 percent. Intermittent water. Intermittent electricity. Healthcare was not good. That was before this, and it will become much worse as a result."
He said that the Hamas attack makes it harder for people like Sanders to raise attention to Israel's failings with regard to the Palestinian people, while bolstering the extremists on both sides of the conflict. "The right-wing, Netanyahu and those even further to the right of Netanyahu, will say, 'You See? We were right all along! You can't trust the Palestinians.' And then, what the Hamas people will say is, 'Hey! You see? We can have some little military success. We can get some revenge for what they did.' And the idea of working together becomes, more and more, a distant dream. So it is very distressing."
Sanders is in the Netherlands to promote his new book, It’s OK to be Mad about Capitalism. In De Balie on Monday, he read from his book and spoke with Yasmin Ait Abderrahman of the youth wing of labor union FNV, and BOOS presentor Tim Hofman.
They spoke about young people’s role in activism, the climate movement, and changing the political system. According to Sanders, today’s young people experience the consequences of a failing political system like no one else. But they are also the key to a hopeful future, he said.
