Bernie Sanders is an imperialist warmonger, helping to drive the world to the brink of nuclear war.

That’s right. As the U.S./Russia proxy war in Ukraine escalates, with tens of thousands already dead, and increasing threats of nuclear war coming from both sides, “Democratic Socialist” Bernie Sanders has not only supported this war, he is using his influence to prevent any talk of negotiations with Russia that could end the war! This past week, when the Congressional “Progressive” Caucus sent a very mild letter to Joe Biden that simply called for accompanying military support for Ukraine with diplomatic efforts, Bernie joined the Democratic Party leadership in slapping this down, compelling Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal to retract the letter.

In contrast to this bourgeois leadership, Bob Avakian, BA, is a revolutionary leader who rightly declared in his new interview on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, “We can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to dominate the world and to determine the destiny of humanity. They need to be overthrown as quickly as possible.”

So when Bernie Sanders came to Los Angeles to speak at a mayoral campaign event with current congresswoman and candidate for mayor of LA, Karen Bass, we knew we had to be there to deliver a message and challenge people to get out of the bourgeois electoral bullshit and get into BA. We got right up to the front row, and as soon as he started speaking we put on our nuclear hazmat suits and interrupted him with a simple question. Watch what happened:

Needless to say, this pissed some people off! A few haters actually helped the security escort us out. Afterwards, there was a lot of controversy on Instagram, with a bunch of people saying it was wrong to protest Bernie because he’s a “leftist” and a “socialist.” BULLSHIT. Do you think imperialist war is OK because a so-called “leftist” is behind it?! Do you think the nuclear blast, shockwave, and radiation will hurt less if it’s detonated by a “Democratic Socialist”? It tells you a lot about the so-called “socialism” of people like Bernie, and the American chauvinism of many of his supporters, that they’re perfectly fine with U.S. imperialism plundering and slaughtering people all over the world and even threatening nuclear annihilation… as long as some of that plunder goes toward solar panels, Medicare, and college debt relief.

People need to wake the fuck up about what's happening, stop being a tail on the Democratic donkey (and the social democratic donkey), and demand a STOP to this disastrous (and potentially catastrophic) war. Instead of trying to get IN on this oppressive capitalist-imperialist system—and get a more “equitable” distribution of its plunder—people need to get serious about revolution to get RID of this system. This means, first of all, watching the new interview with the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian premiering November 3 on The RNL Show at youtube.com/therevcoms. The stakes are way too high for people to stay in their comfort zone of bourgeois electoral illusions and petty reforms, refusing to engage this scientific analysis and leadership, while the planet burns and the imperialist powers drag us toward World War 3.

At the same time, many people were drawn to the slogans on the banner. And while some angrily refused to take our flyers, we got out hundreds of flyers promoting the BA interview. One young man from the city of Hiroshima, Japan, stopped at the banner and was surprised and shocked to find out that many Americans don’t even know about the horrific nuclear bombing of Hiroshima at the end of World War 2, which incinerated tens of thousands of civilians. Overall, people were curious but confused about the nuclear hazmat suits we were wearing, and how this was connected to Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party event they came to. All this speaks to the importance and urgency of going up against the tide of ignorance and American chauvinism, disrupting business as usual (and people’s comfort zones) with the REALITY of what’s happening, and sharply challenging them to act in the interests of humanity.