‘Fighting Oligarchy’ rally in Los Angeles brings thousands to the streets

On Saturday, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) of New York held a rally at Gloria Molina Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles. The rally, titled “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here,” was a response to President Donald Trump’s cuts to social programs such as Social Security, Medicaid, and public education and attacks on the immigrant community, where over three million immigrants reside in L.A. County. The rally featured musical guests Neil Young, Maggie Rogers, Joan Baez and other local artists.  

An estimated 36,000 people attended the rally. The event, which included members of the Democratic Party like L.A. City Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez and Ysabel Jurado, and U.S. congressional representatives Jimmy Gomez, Ro Khanna and Pramila Jayapal, aimed to energize voters against the current Trump administration and bring them back to the Democratic Party’s grip. It also highlighted some attendees' frustration with the party’s policies and leadership. Thousands of supporters waited in the blistering heat, waving signs that read “Fight the Oligarchy” and “Stop Trump.” 

Representatives from local organizations and unions like the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), UNITE HERE, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) were among the attendees. “We are here sitting in solidarity. You can see the thousands of people out here standing up for workers, people, poverty, and all the justices we need to see in America. It is amazing,” said Datosha Williams with SEIU-UHW SoCal. 

Speakers waited no time in attacking Trump’s agenda, calling him a threat to working families, democracy and the future of this country. “They (Trump and Elon) didn’t break the system; they are operating exactly as it was designed,” said Hernandez of L.A. City Council District 1. 

All-out war on the poor

In March, Trump signed an executive order directing U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to take measures toward closing the Department of Education. He stated that his administration aims to “return our students to the states.” During the signing of the executive order, Trump introduced McMahon, a billionaire donor to his campaign, remarking, “hopefully she will be our last Secretary of Education,” and added that he would find her another job once the agency is closed. 

Although abolishing the department requires an act of Congress, Trump has already reduced $600 million in grants, leading to a workforce reduction of more than half. The new executive order aims to expedite this process. 

The White House has sent migrants from Venezuela to Guantanamo Bay without evidence linking them to the gang Tren de Aragua. These migrants are being trafficked to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and prisons in El Salvador without due process, sparking outrage from communities across the U.S. Trump claims he has the authority to do this under a wartime measure known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. However, this action has been challenged in federal courts. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services, ordered cuts to public health agencies. In April, the Department of Health and Human Services began laying off thousands of employees across various agencies, marking the start of plans to dismiss 10,000 HHS workers. While workers were being laid off, Kennedy Jr. took to social media to declare this move as “the revolution begins today,” referring to it as a reduction of “bureaucratic sprawl” intended to enhance the department’s efficiency. There were 82,000 HHS workers when Trump took office, and now there are 62,000 employees. Kennedy said that HHS, which includes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), failed to use that money to improve the health of people in the U.S. 

The cuts to social programs are part of a transfer of wealth from the public to the private sector. “They do not want us to have access to or expand public healthcare services like Medicaid or Medicare because they know that if public services are not available to us, we have no choice but to use private healthcare services where the CEOs are in the pockets of the Trump administration,” said Aaron Smith, an attendee of the rally and a long time Democrat.  

Last month, the administration announced that it would cancel billions of dollars of funding that local public health departments receive. As a result, 23 states joined together to sue the administration. These attacks have resulted in mounting resistance from students, researchers and organizers nationwide.  

“We are in the fight of a lifetime against the corporate takeover of Medicaid, Social Security and the Veterans Administration,” said Sandy Reding, president of California Nurses Association (CNA) at the rally. “These programs have allowed hundreds of millions of Americans, going back multiple generations, to receive housing, medical treatment, and social support to live a life in dignity and stability,” Reding added as people cheered, signaling their enthusiasm to defend public health programs.         

Trump’s second term has been termed a billionaire coup due to the individuals he appointed to his cabinet, while the executive orders he signed primarily benefit the ruling elite. The “Make America Great Again” movement aims to return the U.S. to the pre-civil rights era, characterized by a lack of government regulation on social issues, education and healthcare. “The Trump administration is pushing us back to a time when workers had less power, unions were not that strong, and racism and bigotry went unchecked and were the norm,” said Jessica Ortiz, a Pasadena resident who considers herself a progressive Democrat.

The Vermont senator urged his supporters to boost voter turnout for local and national elections and build a broad coalition to counter the persistent attacks on working-class communities.  

“This moment has been a long time coming. The destruction of our rights and democracy is directly tied to the growing extreme wealth inequality that has been building for years in America,” said AOC at the rally. 

Palestine

Throughout the rally, public school teachers, healthcare workers and everyday people were seen wearing keffiyehs or T-shirts with the slogan “Free Palestine.” It was impossible to miss someone wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh in solidarity with the people of Gaza. 

For the last nineteen months, elected officials who fully support the U.S. funding of Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza have been interrupted and protested to raise awareness about the plight of Palestinians. In recent days, Israel bombed a flour distribution center belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine refugees and targeted food kitchens, journalists, hospitals and refugee camps. 

Every elected official who spoke expressed solidarity for the people of Palestine, except for Jimmy Gomez, who has received up to $2.6 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and Ro Khanna, who received $221,050 from AIPAC. 

AOC dedicated a few minutes of her speech to bring awareness of Trump’s attack on U.S. residents Mahmoud Khalil, Momodou Taal and others for supporting the free Palestine movement. “In fact, the Trump administration admits that it has jailed Mahmoud Khalil, a young husband and father from New York, without any evidence or charge of a crime,” said AOC. Attendees who fully support Sanders and AOC did not hold back on their criticism of Sanders's voting to continue sending Israel weapons to carry out their bombing campaign on Palestinians. “Even if it is just one vote against the resolution, Sanders should not vote for sending more weapons to Israel,” said Alex Candelaria. 

Senator Sanders has also faced criticism from the Free Palestine movement for rejecting calls for a ceasefire. AOC was also called out for lying on national television that former presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris was “working tirelessly for a ceasefire.” At the same time, Harris continued to send weapons to Israel. “We don’t forget that they play a role in how Israel treats Palestinians, and that is going to hurt them in the long run,” said Ortiz.

Francis, an organizer with the Democratic Socialists of America, Los Angeles Branch (DSA-LA), stated that it is important to also criticize AOC and Sanders' stance on Palestine.

Since March 2nd, Israel has not allowed water, food or medicine to enter the Gaza Strip, as reported by the United Nations on April 7th leaving millions of people starving.

“We are unabashedly in solidarity with the Palestinian people. What our government is doing to arm Israel and to commit this genocide in Gaza is horrifying,” said Francis. 

Mounting resistance

Attendees, many of whom were young voters, students and elders, expressed enthusiasm for AOC’s and Sanders’s progressive stance on social issues here in the U.S. Numerous labor unions supported Sanders and AOC’s message. 

The turnout for the rally signals that people, the working class from various left-leaning movements and political ideology, are prepared to oppose the Trump administration. “We are here to talk about how the Democrats abandoned the working-class,” said Gabe Alfaro, a Peace and Freedom Party member. “A lot of these people are progressive leaning, they like socialist policies. We are a socialist party, let’s build a socialist alternative to the Democrats,” Alfaro added. 

Sanders and the attendees also highlight the growing resentment among significant working-class communities, which has extended to areas that supported Trump. As this movement expands into Trump districts, the hope is that the working class will become more galvanized into an organized resistance against the ongoing attacks on social programs and the people.