Bernie Sanders is wrong about the LA protests

Bernie Sanders speaking at one of his rallies (Picture: X/Bernie Sanders)

There are times in history when you have to pick a side—and United States senator Bernie Sanders has picked the wrong one.

He criticised the uprising in LA for playing into president Donald Trump’s hands.

Sanders said on X, “Dr King defeated racist government officials and ended segregation through disciplined non-violent resistance.

“Defeating Trumpism, oligarchy and authoritarianism requires that same level of discipline. Violent protests are counterproductive and play right into Trump’s playbook.”

But in LA it is working class people fighting back against a state’s racist immigration raids.

Any socialists should stand with the protesters and celebrate their resistance—not patronise them about what forms of protest they should be taking.

It reflects Sanders’ politics, giving primacy to elections rather than struggle on the streets and the workplaces.

Instead, he should be using his platform to amplify and boost the anti-racist struggle.

All too frequently Sanders does not go far enough. In his series of rallies, under the banner of “Fight Oligarchy”, there has been little discussion about Palestine and the United States’ complicity in the genocide.

It points to a conservatism built in to Sanders’ perspective —a reformism based on trying to change the system from within.

That is why Sanders has twice tried to win presidential nomination for the Democrats and remains wedded to the Democratic party.

But the Democrats are a dead end for the left, as a capitalist party that stands for bosses, not workers, and acts as a shock absorber for any radicalism.

It is a party that excels at turning any potential for transformative change into mild-mannered reforms.

Politicians such as Sanders can hamper the left from putting forward an alternative to both the Democrats and the Republicans.