Screaming fans sprinted over, camera phones in hand, to capture the politician’s unannounced speech that followed a blockbuster set from superstar Charli XCX at a neighbouring stage.
“I’m not gonna be long but this country faces some very difficult challenges and the future of what happens to America depends on your generation. You can turn away and ignore what goes on but you do it at your own peril. We need you to stand up to fight for justice,” Senator Bernie Sanders said to raucous cheers at the California desert event that marks the unofficial start of the music festival season.
Earlier in the day, Sanders and Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held a rally that organisers said drew 36,000 people, a stop on their own “Fighting Oligarchy” tour that has featured musicians including Neil Young, Maggie Rogers and Joan Baez.
Singer Clairo (L) and US Senator Bernie Sanders (R) onstage at the Coachella music festival © Emma McIntyre / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Speaking under a full moon at Coachella, Sanders delivered urged crowds to stand up against billionaires, health insurance companies and US President Donald Trump‘s administration.
“Now we’ve got a president of the United States …” Sanders began, before the crowd’s boos quickly drowned out Trump’s name.
“I agree,” Sanders continued. “He thinks that climate change is a hoax. He is dangerously wrong, and you and I are going to have to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and tell them to stop destroying this planet.”
‘Exactly the move’
Sanders gave his speech in introducing pop singer Clairo to the stage, whom he thanked for using her platform to support women’s rights and for speaking out to end the war in Gaza.
“You can turn away and you can ignore what goes on, but if you do that you do it at your own peril. We need you to stand up, to fight for justice. To fight for economic justice, social justice and racial justice,” Sanders told the rapt crowd.
The message hit: “I love Bernie Sanders!” screamed one festival-goer as the self-described socialist senator who caucuses with Democrats concluded his speech.
Samara Guillory, 21, was among the music fans who sprinted to the stage where Sanders spoke.
“It meant so much that Senator Sanders came to our level,” Guillory told AFP. “We’re the new generation, we’re the future of America.”
“Coming here, talking to us, spreading awareness – I think this was exactly the move, honestly.”
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
