Washington, D.C. – A group of 50 activists and Vermont constituents staged a sit-in inside Senator Bernie Sanders’ office on Wednesday, demanding the senator to call for peace and diplomacy in Ukraine instead of more weapons and war. The sit-in resulted in the arrest of 11 activists, including an 89-year-old CODEPINK peace activist.
The group was joined by Green Party Presidential Candidate Dr. Cornel West in the Senate lobby for a prayer vigil before the sit-in. The prayer vigil and sit-in were part of a week of action that included an antiwar rally on Tuesday night featuring Dr. West, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary; Claudia de la Cruz, Co-Executive Director of The People’s Forum; Lee Camp, American comedian, writer, podcaster, news journalist; Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK and Global Exchange; and Eugene Puryear, American journalist, activist, and host on Breakthrough News.
“We need Bernie to provide leadership to put a stop to the US funding of the Ukraine war now. Use the money for healthcare, not warfare,” said Burlington resident James Marc Leas.
Crystal Zevon, an artist and CODEPINK peace activist from Barnet, VT, expressed her disappointment in Senator Sanders, who has voted for more weapons to Ukraine and even criticized Democrats who called for peace talks. “Yes, Bernie should condemn the Russian invasion, but he should also be calling for a negotiated end to this brutal war,” said Zevon.
The group carried signs in support of peace talks and negotiations, including one quote from the Senator himself in which he previously called for a diplomatic solution.
Jodie Evans, Co-Founder of CODEPINK, reminded Senator Sanders of his antiwar roots, “We are showing up to remind Bernie of the values he espoused that made his name what it is. And call on him to stand for peace, to call for diplomacy and to again lead for peace,” said Evans.
Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder of CODEPINK and author of War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, expressed her disappointment in the lack of Democrats calling for peace talks. “I am appalled that NO Democrats are saying what the majority of American people are saying: We need peace talks, not more war. This is NOT a MAGA issue or a Republican issue but an issue of human survival to stop WWIII and possibly a nuclear war. We need Bernie to be with us on the side of peace,” said Benjamin.
The activists are urging Senator Sanders to call for the flow of weapons to stop and the leadership of Ukraine, Russia, and the US to sit at the negotiating table and end the horrific war.
Click here to see all the photos and video clips from all the actions.
This was a noble, and necessary effort. However, it is one that is wasted on Sanders. Whatever Sanders was once in terms of being antiwar, he is no longer. He is a bought and paid for tool of the imperial state.
I really don’t remember him ever being a true antiwar individual.
That’s the way I remember him too. He doesn’t always say what he means.
Me either
Yup. Bernie has a long record of successfully pretending to be antiwar. His M.O. has typically been to vote against highly-visible “defense” bills (especially when safe passage was certain) but then vote to support funding for the resulting programs.
He’s outed himself consistently over the past year and a half.
There are nauseating video clips of him defending Israel’s brutality. Also, plenty of anti-Russia Russia-gate clips. For someone who spoke so nice and peaceful to a bird during his campaign against HRC, he can be as rabid on war. (Sarcasm)
Got mainstream headlines though. Any antiwar effort that can do that is a success by current realities.
Voting for every military spending bill that comes down the pike doesn’t qualify anyone to be “antiwar.” Sanders is 100% establishment, as are all the Democrats marching in lock-step with Biden’s war agenda.
The group was joined by Green Party Presidential Candidate Dr. Cornel West in the Senate lobby for a prayer vigil before the sit-in.
In a normal world this guy would be lapping the field. Instead, we’ll have a repeat of something that shouldn’t be possible, and another 150 million people will vote for one or the other.
I don’t think a Normal World would want another semi-coherent elder running our Government.
There are elders and then there are elders … Dr West is brighter and more articulate at this age than 99.9% of the people in this country.
I don’t disagree with the age thing, but the ‘semi-coherent” remark is bullshit. I’m all for age limits but until that happens, I’ll still vote for a 71-year-old antiwar candidate over either the senile 82 -year old moron or the ultra-narcissistic 78-year-old assclown. And just for clarification, Biden is also a narcissist and Trump is also senile.
FTW ;-)
Oh man do I ever agree. I can’t stand Biden or Trump. They’re both damaged goods from top to bottom.
Thank you Cornel West for your efforts. When the leader of the “radical left” per the Republican propaganda have been bought and paid for by the military industrial complex, we know the antiwar left in America is doomed. Support third parties, green or libertarian are both 100% better than the two war parties!
I agree as far as party politics, even so, it is better to shake off the yoke of fake democracy by voting in record numbers and writing in friends.
Yes. Voting for the (slightly and ostensibly) less warmongering of two warmongers is still voting for war.
This clearly demonstrates the delusion of Leftist activists. Bernie Sanders is 100% bought and paid for by the Democrat-WEF agenda, and he’s not the person anyone should go to if they want to end the war. Meanwhile, a group of 8 populist Republicans in the House are the only ones trying to stop funding for Ukraine, but, hey, they’re Republicans, so the Left couldn’t possibly support them on this issue. Keep knocking your heads against the wall Lefties — you won’t find a single Democrat in Congress willing to buck Biden’s reign of terror.
The Show Must Go On
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shSwxxn9zBc
Dude, I couldn’t watch the entire clip. It was too painful to realize how stupid we are. I’m ready for my nuclear annihilation now. (Sarcasm)
Just shows the aging hypocrite that Sanders had become. Despite his rhetoric, he’s just another lockstep neocon/liberal interventionist who sold his soul to the military-industrial-congressional complex. I guess his wife need another vacation house?
I am surprised Bernie is a pro-war advocate when the Ukraine conflict is so obviously contrived.
I know! Is it not amazing? But, it’s not half as amazing as the most amazing thing to me is how we’re getting the Ukrainians to believe they are fighting for their country? …It’s like we tell them everyday that they are “cannon fodders” and we want them to “fight until the last Ukrainian!” …None of them understands English? (Sarcasm)
Why Bernie? He has been at the forefront of the progressive movement. Activists should be conducting sit-ins at Republican Congressmen and women offices not staunch progressives like Bernie. Bernie gets it. Neocons in the Dem party don’t. Target those responsible not those who are already on your side.
Here’s two reasons why;
1• National News Monopolies use him to diffuse American anger by broadcasting going nowhere proposals of the day that are good for people.
2• He formulated a phony “Our Revolution” that short circuited social evolution and then quit without asking the people’s permission, twice.
Bernie was always a reflection of the pre we 1 Social Democrats. All of them except Eugene Debs of the American Socialist party and Lenin’s Bolsheviks opposed supporting ww1.
I have read all of his speeches. We need a Eugene Debs today.
Hopefully, they finally learned how loathsome, sickening, nauseous, repulsive, revolting, repugnant, abhorrent, and detestable is Sanders. And by the way, that’s not “urging.” It’s more like “begging.” It’s exactly like begging a lion not to eat your babies. Any published peer reviewed articles on the effectiveness of such action? (sarcasm)
It’s about time. Ssmall donors have had enough of Bernie’s ignorant, or perhaps craven, support for the neo-con projects that have taken all the energy out of the Bernie campaign.
If Code Pink wants to end the War on Russia, then they must join with Republicans to make sure that the Elections are not stolen again. President Trump must be are- elected for it to end. Sanders has a history of arresting Peace Activists and supporting War so this is not new for him.
Would that be the same Trump who expelled Russian diplomats, closed Russian diplomatic facilities, signed the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act to sanction Russia, sold arms to Ukraine, and withdrew the US from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and Open Skies Treaty? That Trump there?
I’m sure all those people who voted for Sanders are feeling the bern about now.
So, you’d rather see innocent kids die than accept an alliance of convenience with MTG? Or is that a false narrative?
He has a long history of changing his tune on war depending on what seems opportunistic at the moment. He also has a long history of hostility to antiwar activists.