Bernie Sanders’ second presidential campaign brought a ray of hope to what had been a dismal political news cycle in the United States dominated by Trump’s odious figure and the Democrats’ ineffectual, “back to normal” opposition to him. To be sure, the broader resistance to Trump has also galvanized genuine movements devoted to protecting the undocumented and other marginalized groups he went out of his way to threaten, to fighting against climate change, and to demanding universal healthcare. These righteous but disparate causes lacked unity until the Sanders campaign made them pillars of its platform. After some tantalizing days this February, when Bernie became the front-runner of the presidential primary, the Democratic party establishment and the corporate media maneuvered to consolidate around Joe Biden, the eventual winner of that race. It bears saying that Biden was the most conservative among the front-runners, generates remarkably little enthusiasm (other than a media-driven myth of his “electability”), and enters into the race with Trump with a strong suspicion of senility and heavy baggage (allegations of corruption and even of sexual assault). We asked three comrades active in grassroots organising for the Sanders campaign about its meaning and critical lessons, for them, their millieu(x), and the left in general? Click on links under photo to read their replies.
