Bernie Sanders takes stage at Coachella to tell revelers to 'stand up and fight' for social justice

Senator Bernie Sanders showed up at the Coachella music festival on Saturday—not to perform, but to push his socialist message about wealth and justice to a crowd of over 36,000.

The Vermont senator took the stage after singer Charli XCX, using the moment to call on young people to pay attention and get involved.

“We need you to stand up,” Sanders told the crowd.

“This country faces some very difficult challenges and the future of what happens to America depends on your generation,” he said.

“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," he said, according to the Telegraph.

Sanders wasn’t alone. He had earlier held a rally alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and they were joined on the tour by celebrities and musicians like Neil Young, Maggie Rogers, and Joan Baez.

Speaking under a full moon, Sanders turned his focus to billionaires, health insurance companies, and former President Donald Trump.

“Now we’ve got a president of the United States,” Sanders said, prompting boos from the crowd.

“I agree,” he 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.”

After his speech, Sanders introduced singer Clairo, thanking her for using her platform to back women’s rights and to speak out against 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 added.

His “fighting oligarchy” tour has been drawing large crowds over the last couple of months. His push resonates with people upset about Trump’s leadership and those frustrated by the Democratic Party’s response.

“We are living in a moment where a handful of billionaires control the economic and political life of our country,” Sanders said Saturday.

He warned that President Trump is moving the country “rapidly toward an authoritarian form of society.”

Sanders, who doesn’t plan to run for president again in 2028, is now encouraging more independents to run without tying themselves to the Democratic Party—at a time when the party’s popularity is falling. 

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, speaking to the same crowd, said: “No matter your race, religion, gender, identity or status, no matter if you disagree with me on some things... I hope you see that this movement is not about partisan labels or purity tests, but it’s about class solidarity.”