Bernie Sanders, Naomi Klein, Cornel West, and Yanis Varoufakis are some of the 250 leading progressives convening at The Sanders Institute Gathering in Vermont, United States. In the event, Sanders and Varoufakis will launch the Progressive International, “a grassroots movement for social justice.”
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Progressive International is fronted by U.S. Senator and Democratic Socialist, Bernie Sanders and former Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis. The aim of the movement is to counter the rise of far-right politics, xenophobia, and anti-rights policies that have been gaining prominence around the world.
Diem25, a self-described pan-European movement of Democrats set on combating "a rise of misanthropy, xenophobia, and toxic nationalism," is joining The Sanders Insitute to build "a movement that will mobilize people around the world behind a shared vision of democracy, prosperity, sustainability, and solidarity," their website states.
The event began Thursday and will run through Dec. 1st. The conference offers an open call for people to join the movement, which both Sanders and Varoufakis say is crucial in curbing the rise of the far-right.
“Fascists did not come to power in the mid-war period by promising violence, war or concentration camps,” Varoufakis said in his blog. “They came to power by addressing good people ... looked at them in the eye and promised to restore their pride… gave them a sense that they belonged to a larger ideal, while inventing a threat of a lurking ‘alien’ who threatened their revived hope,” he says.
“Our era will be remembered for the triumphant march of a globally unifying right-wing –a Nationalist International– that sprang out of the cesspool of financialised capitalism,” Varoufakis writes in his blog. “Whether it will also be remembered for a successful humanist challenge to this menace depends on the willingness of progressives.”