“They say that the older you get, the more conservative you become. Well, that's not the case with me. The older I get, the less I can tolerate the übercapitalist system we live under, and the more I have the desire to see real changes.” The speaker is Bernie Sanders, author of an essay with the significant title, “Challenging capitalism”, published by Fazi editore, in bookstores from January 30th.
It is a passionate denunciation of the capitalist oligarchy, but above all a political manifesto for the left of the 21st century, already a bestseller according to the New York Times. How can we accept an economic system – asks Sanders – that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer? How can we accept a political system that allows the super-rich to buy elections and politicians? For the popular American senator – “democratic socialist”, as he defines himself, twice running for the White House – “anger against the status quo is justified. Fueled by uncontrolled greed and responsible for an unprecedented level of inequality, Unbridled capitalism undermines democracy and destroys the planet.”
The first candidate in American history to refuse funding from big donors, lobbies and Wall Street, in this book Sanders lashes out against the billionaire class and denounces the immoral nature of the oligarchic, corrupt and rigged system that dominates the United States: “Economic injustice is killing us. They are waging a class war against workers and they are winning. It's time to fight back!” (continued).
Bertinotti, 'A whiplash, an important lesson'
After the story of his extraordinary 2020 presidential campaign – a grassroots movement that brought millions of disillusioned Americans closer to politics, of the war waged against him by the democratic establishment and of his battle to counter Donald Trump's reactionary agenda – Sanders now urges don't be afraid to “challenge capitalism”.
To this end, the politician presents a detailed program of radical change, which constitutes an essential reference for the global left. A real political revolution on the side of workers and the middle class, impoverished by the crisis, which has its core in the recognition that “economic rights are human rights and that we need to create a more just society, which offers a dignified standard of living for everyone”. Not a utopia, but “democracy as it should be”.
“A whiplash – states Fausto Bertinotti, who introduced the volume – An important lesson to look at the new conflicts between capital and labour”. And the positive comments are pouring in: from France the economist Thomas Piketty declares that “Sanders' success shows that much of America is tired of growing inequality”, while according to the Greek politician Yanis Varoufakis “it gives us an idea of how he could be politics.” At home, the linguist Naom Chomsky defines him as “an honest and respectable person. He is quite unusual in the political system”. The New York magazine Jacobin is succinct: “Sanders is angry with capitalism. You should be too.”
(by Rossella Guadagnini)
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