PHILIDELPHIA — Bernie Sanders supporters at the Democratic National Convention insist their revolution will go on, even without the Vermont senator’s presidential campaign.
“Bernie delegates came here with an entirely different agenda than what the Democratic Party would like to see it be a part of,” Sanders California delegation co-chair Kaern Bernal told reporters at a press conference on Monday. “On its face we are here to chose the nominee of our party who will face off against the Republican Donald Trump in November, so they would like to see party unity. But we came here to talk about the power structure, its corruption and that we utterly reject the system in which we’re operating now.”
“This is something that has been blood sweat and tears for the delegates,” Bernal added, saying the Sanders delegates trying to force a contested convention were “neutered” by the Democratic National Committee.
The Bernie Delegates Network aims to organize Sanders delegates to better voice their opinions at the convention rather than coordinate with the Clinton team. The group describes itself as completely independent of the Sanders campaign and they plan to protest every word outgoing DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz speaks on the convention floor.
“If there’s one thing I can say about the Bernie delegates it’s that they are not ones to take marching orders, they are very open minded,” Bernie Delegate Network national director Norman Soloman said, when asked about the Sanders campaign’s requests to quell protests in Philadelphia as the Vermont senator attempts to foster party unity.
Network leaders said that the weekend WikiLeaks emails confirmed their expectations that the DNC was biased against them the bias they suspected was coming from the Democratic National Committee, but Wasserman Schultz’s resignation doesn’t placate them.
“They throw party unity around like that’s something that will make us jump for joy when they mention our name. But what they’ve done over the past year is pull away from party unity,” California delegate Manuel Zapata said. “We’re not happy about being right [about the DNC’s bias]. We are heartbroken.”
Not even Sanders’ endorsement of Clinton will necessarily sway these delegates.
“I know that he had to play good Democrat, and he probably wouldn’t have gotten the speaking slot of he didn’t endorse her,” Zapata explained. “I don’t blame him for that. But we are going to personally vote who we want to vote for.”
