Kshama Sawant

Seattle Activists Win Resolution Calling For Cease-Fire In Gaza

November 22, 2023 Bia Lacombe, Popular Resistance. Resist! Ceasefire, City Council, Gaza, Kshama Sawant, Resolution, Seattle

Seattle -Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), working people, and anti-war activists have won a historic victory in forcing Democrats on the Seattle City Council to pass a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, and release of all hostages. The vote was 6 yes, 0 no, and 3 abstentions. “This victory is a testament to the growing strength of the global anti-war movement,” Sawant said. “In the last weeks, millions have demonstrated in solidarity with the Palestinians and against the brutal Israeli state. In addition to huge and growing street demonstrations, workers have refused to handle Israeli war materiel in the ports of Barcelona, Spain; Salerno, Italy; and in Belgium.

Kshama Sawant Takes Successful Worker-Led Struggle Nationwide

May 22, 2023 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast - Clearing The FOG Kshama Sawant, Socialism, Unions, Worker Rights

Roughly ten years ago, Kshama Sawant won a seat on the Seattle City Council as an open socialist. Sawant eschewed politics as usual and led by example, taking only the average worker's salary from her paycheck and putting the remainder into worker-led movements. She used her office as a platform for people's struggles and won many victories from a higher minimum wage, to the Amazon tax to housing rights and more. She also survived a recall election. Clearing the FOG speaks with Sawant about her plans to leave city council when her term ends next year, what she has learned as a councilwoman and the new Workers Strike Back campaign being organized by Socialist Alternative and rank-and-file union members.

Chris Hedges Report: Kshama Sawant’s New ‘Workers Strike Back’ Coalition

March 11, 2023 Chris Hedges, The Real News Network. Resistance Report Kshama Sawant, Minimum Wage, Seattle, Worker Rights and Jobs

After a decade on Seattle City Council, socialist Kshama Sawant is declining to seek reelection and will instead launch a new national coalition called Workers Strike Back this March in cities around the US. The goal of Workers Strike Back is to build an independent workers’ movement that fights for the interests of the working class, rather than the agenda of either corporate party. This coalition will organize for a $ 25 an hour minimum wage, build grassroots labor unions, fight for a clean energy transition, battle anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ legislation, and more.

Why I’m Not Running Again For City Council

January 22, 2023 Kshama Sawant, The Stranger. Organize! Kshama Sawant, Labor Movement, Socialism, Worker Rights and Jobs

This is now the tenth year I’ve had the honor to serve as an elected representative of Seattle’s working people. Workers in Seattle, through getting organized alongside my socialist City Council office, and my organization, Socialist Alternative, have won historic victories, from the $15/hour minimum wage to the Amazon Tax to landmark renters’ rights. These victories have set a powerful example that has had a national and even international impact. In our four election victories and in every struggle, we’ve had to overcome the combined might of big business, the corporate media, and the political establishment. Each time, working people refused to back down, and we have prevailed again and again. This is the most important lesson from our example of socialist politics in Seattle. That when workers and young people get organized and fight, we can win. That no meaningful progressive change can be won under capitalism without the vicious opposition of the rich and their political servants.

Charges Against Sawant Dismissed In #Fightfor15 Protest

May 3, 2015 Daniel Beekman, www.seattletimes.com Resist! Fight for 15, Kshama Sawant, Living Wage, Washington

A SeaTac city judge abruptly ended the disorderly-conduct trial of Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant and two others Friday, dismissing all charges against the three defendants, who were arrested during a minimum-wage demonstration. The defense didn’t need to call witnesses and the jury didn’t deliberate because Judge Ann Danieli terminated the trial moments after prosecutors rested their case. Danieli agreed with a defense lawyer, who argued the prosecutors had failed to present sufficient evidence that Sawant, the Rev. John Helmiere and airport worker Socrates Bravo engaged in disorderly conduct by intentionally blocking traffic. Testimony from police officers showed that it was police who blocked traffic on International Boulevard in the minutes before Sawant, Helmiere and Bravo were arrested, the judge said.

Sawant Among Those Arrested At Minimum Wage Protest

November 21, 2014 Cathy McLain and Paige Cornwell, www.seattletimes.com Resist! Kshama Sawant, Living Wage, Protest

Seattle City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant was arrested after she failed to disperse during a protest outside of Alaska Airlines headquarters in SeaTac Wednesday evening. Sawant was one of four people arrested when they stayed in the middle of a street at a protest calling for a $15 minimum wage for all workers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The other people arrested were a cargo handler, a former airport worker and a church reverend. Sawant said before the protest started that it was her “obligation as a public servant” to exercise civil disobedience and risk arrest. In a statement issued Wednesday, Alaska Airlines said it supports fair-wage jobs and voluntarily increased wages in April for more than 1,000 vendor employees.

“I Wear the Badge of Socialist With Honor”

January 10, 2014 Kshama Sawant, www.www.commondreams.org Resist! Kshama Sawant, Socialism

"Here in Seattle, political pundits are asking about me: will she compromise? Can she work with others? Of course, I will meet and discuss with representatives of the establishment. But when I do, I will bring the needs and aspirations of working-class people to every table I sit at, no matter who is seated across from me. And let me make one thing absolutely clear: There will be no backroom deals with corporations or their political servants. There will be no rotten sell-out of the people I represent. I wear the badge of socialist with honor. To the nearly hundred thousand who voted for me, and to the hundreds of you who worked tirelessly on our campaign, I thank you. Let us continue."

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