How Maltese activist is making you ‘feel the Bern’

Come November, the world’s eyes will be glued to TV sets in anticipation of the result of what could turn out to be one of the most important elections in our lifetime. 

Maverick businessman Donald Trump will most likely run as Republican candidate in the race for the next President of the United States of America. Everybody expects the eccentric entrepreneur to face Hillary Clinton, who is favourite to win the Democratic nomination, but despite her surname and financial muscle her victory is so far anything but guaranteed. 

But millions of Americans, especially young, white and middle class voters are “feeling the Bern”, and hundreds of volunteers have taken to digital platforms to recruit more Bernie Sanders supporters.

21-year-old Brendan Zerafa lives in Malta and is not a US citizen but he has joined more than 400 people – from the US and 14 other countries – to campaign on Facebook, Twitter, and even online dating app Tinder.

Given the timezone difference, Zerafa has many sleepless nights as he campaigns for the “democratic socialist” Sanders who has taken the Democratic establishment by surprise. 

But why has a 21-year-old from Marsaxlokk taken such keen interest in Sanders? Zerafa says that he came across the Vermont senator some two years ago and upon Sanders’s candidacy in April 2015 he started following him more closely. 

He was then included in a Facebook page connecting grassroots supporters of British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Sanders, and earlier this year Zerafa responded to a call for applications for online volunteers issued by the US Senator’s campaign team.

Democratic battle: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders

“I applied and although it was only open to US citizens I took a chance and informed them that I was Maltese. I was then interviewed via Skype and informed them about my past activism and I was accepted.”

The volunteers design memes and post them on Bernie Sanders fan pages and Facebook groups with Democrats and Independents. 

Although not affiliated with the official campaign, ImagineBernie, which was only launched last month, has already reaped rich dividends as Sanders pulled off a number of stunning victories in primaries across the US. 

Despite having limited knowledge of Photoshop and video editing, Zerafa – who last year contested University Student Council elections with social-democrat youth organization Pulse – produces posters and video which are viewed by hundreds of thousands of voters.

“Our main aim is not to get as many likes on our Facebook page but to reach out to voters. You have grassroots groups which could have up to 400,000 members.” 

One video of his, targeting black voters in Michigan, was seen by some 300,000 people and he says that “such things could make a difference because at the end of the day Sanders carried the vote in the Michigan primaries by just 20,000 votes.”   

Zerafa believes online campaigning is more effective than traditional campaigning and says “it reaches out to many more people in a more efficient and rapid manner.” 

The law student has previously campaigned in Malta but admits “this is much more stressful.” 

“I’m not sleeping at night. I go to university, go back home and start campaigning,” he says. 

Clinton or Sanders need to win the support of at least 2,582 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.

The majority of delegates are called pledged delegates, meaning they are already guaranteed to support a specific candidate according to the results in the various primaries and caucuses at State level. But about 15% of the Democratic Party’s delegates are what are known as “superdelegates.” These are senators, congressmen, governors and party officials and are not pledged to support any candidate before the convention. They can vote however they please and could swing the election in a tight race. 

Following the latest round of primaries, Clinton has 748 pledged delegates to Sanders’ 542. But Clinton has bigger advantage when it comes to superdelegates with 461 supporting the former First Lady and only 25 supporting Sanders. 

Does he believe Sanders – the longest-serving independent in Congressional history – can win the Democratic nomination?

“Our aim is to get a majority of pledged delegates. If we get one more delegate than Clinton it will be enough because then superdelegates would be shooting themselves in the foot if they back her, since they need the delegates’ support to keep their seats in Congress or Senate.” 

Zerafa says that if superdelegates go against the pledged delegates’ preference, Sanders could be compelled to run as an independent although he has declared that he would not do so as this could see a right-wing Republican become President. 

Asked whether he would campaign for Clinton if she were to face Trump in the election, Zerafa says “I would still be vocal but I will not put in the same energy. If she wins the nomination, I would support Clinton not because she is good but because we cannot risk Trump becoming President.”

Describing Sanders as “down to earth,” Zerafa says he supports the Vermont Senator because he shares the same ideology.

“He is not scared of describing himself as a democratic socialist, as opposed to social-democrats who are more in the centre,” he says, adding that Sanders is the only candidate proposing free universal healthcare and education. 

Zerafa also identifies in Sanders because he was opposed to the Iraq war and is “not into regime change like Clinton is” and believes that he is the only one capable of standing up and destroying the 1%, or the oligarchy, which controls the majority of wealth in the US.  

Asked to name the Maltese Bernie Sanders, Zerafa says that the one person who comes closest is former Labour deputy leader Toni Abela who has been kicked upstairs after being nominated as Malta’s representative in the European Court of Auditors. 

He says that he feels more comfortable campaigning for a candidate in the US because in Malta “there’s no room for ideology” in the political scene. “I’m labelled a radical in Malta.”