Presidential hopeful Bernie
Sanders drew a raucous crowd of 27,000 to a Manhattan rally ahead of the
critical New York primary
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/04/14/sanders-political-revolution-draws-nearly-30000-new-york-city-rally
"There are a lot of
people here tonight!" observed New York native Bernie Sanders as he began
speaking to a raucous, cheering crowd of 27,000
in New York City's Washington Square park on Wednesday night, at the largest
rally of the presidential hopeful's campaign thus far.
Members of the crowd climbed
trees and crowded
at the windows of surrounding buildings to catch a glimpse of the Vermont
senator, and occasionally punctuated the candidate's speech with chants of
"Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!"
The crowd wore face paint,
touted placards declaring "Brooklyn is Berning" and "Democracy v
Oligarchy, Humanity v Greed," and some even arrived sporting Bernie
Sanders costumes
and puppets.
And while many attendees were
young, Sanders also drew an older generation of progressives who remembered attending
rallies in Washington Square to protest the Vietnam War in their youth.
One such member of the crowd
was Robert Carpenter, a retired accountant and veteran from Queens, who told
the New York Times, "Bernie is me. I am Bernie."
"I'm one year older than
him," Carpenter told the newspaper. "We've been fighting for the same
causes our entire lives."
Carpenter also told the Times that
he could never vote for Sanders' opponent: "I will never, ever forgive
[Hillary Clinton] for her voting for the Iraq War. To say it was a mistake?
After all those people were killed and maimed? I do not accept that."
Before Sanders' speech, the
popular NYC-based band Vampire
Weekend warmed up the crowd, and speeches from famous New Yorkers Rosario Dawson,
Tim Robbins,
and Spike Lee
followed to praise the so-called outsider candidate to the overwhelming crowd
of supporters.
Sanders himself even seemed
surprised by the size of the rally, and smiled broadly when he arrived on the
stage to deliver a speech that focused on a few of the touchstones of his
campaign: corporate greed, campaign finance reform, climate change, and income
inequality.
Speaking in the state for
which Clinton served two terms as senator, and in the same city Wall Street
financiers call home, the outspoken democratic socialist candidate also
expressed optimism for his chances of winning the state's upcoming primary.
"When I look at an
unbelievable crowd like this," Sanders said, "I believe we're going
to win in New York next Tuesday."
His chances at winning, he
argued, were good, particularly if the tens of thousands who came out on a cold
Wednesday night to hear him speak presaged a large voter turnout for the
state's April 19 primary.
Sanders also returned to his
campaign's message about political revolution, urging the crowd to continue to
fight to overturn the status quo.
"What this campaign is
profoundly about," Sanders said, "is that change is never from the
top on down. It is always from the bottom on up."
The senator continued:
What this campaign is about is
the understanding that when we stand together—black, and white, and Latino, and
Asian American, and Native American. When we do not allow the Donald Trumps of
the world to divide us up, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. What this
campaign understands is that real change is when 100 years ago, workers who
were exploited, who worked 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, stood together and
said 'we will be treated with dignity and respect,' and formed a trade union.
Sanders also reiterated his support
for the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the union of Verizon employees
who went on strike
on Wednesday for a fair contract. CWA signs from the strike could be seen
waving from the crowd; it appeared that many striking workers attended the
rally after picketing all day.
"Tonight I want to take
my hat off to the CWA. Thank you," Sanders said.
He told his supporters,
"They are standing up to a greedy corporation that wants to cut their
healthcare benefits, send decent paying jobs abroad, and then provide $20
million a year to their CEO."
The progressive crowd booed.
"And Verizon is just a
poster child for what so many corporations are doing today," Sanders
continued. "This campaign is sending a message to corporate America: You
cannot have it all."
The crowd erupted into cheers.
