Seattle Socialist Kshama Sawant Cheered in Oakland

Seattle Socialist Kshama Sawant Cheered in Oakland

by Jonathan Nack
September 20, 2015

OAKLAND – Kshama Sawant, Seattle City Councilmember (Socialist Alternative), spoke to a packed house last night at the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. Enthusiastic applause greeted Sawant as she took the stage. Sawant received national attention when she was elected in 2013, in a stunning upset of Richard Conlin (Democrat) who had held the seat for 16 years. Sawant is the first self-described socialist to be elected to the City Council of Seatle in modern times.

In her speech, Sawant described how she had ignored accepted wisdom on her way to victory. She said she was repeatedly advised to keep her program proposals vague, be less strident, and to downplay that she is a socialist. Instead, Sawant's aggressive campaign sharply defined the things she stood for, and she proudly proclaimed herself a socialist.

One of Sawant's signature issue was to raise the minimum wage in Seattle to $15 an hour. Last June, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously for a phased in increase of the city's minimum wage, which will eventually rise to $15 an hour. In August, Washington's State Supreme Court ruled that a referendum to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour which was passed by voters in Sea-Tac, a suburb of Seattle, in 2013 by a razor thin margin, also pertains to workers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Sawant's appearance was used to raise funds for her re-election campaign. She said her victory will be written off as a footnote of history, unless she wins re-election. Sawant emphasized that the Seattle establishment, which includes the politically dominant Democratic Party, and big business interests, have united behind her opponent, Pamela Brooks (Democrat), who is President of the Seattle Urban League, and an African American. Sawant urged the crowd to chip in to help her counteract the big money lavished on Brooks' campaign.

Gail McGlaughlin (Green Party), the former Mayor of Richmond, CA, and current member of its City Council, also received big cheers at the gathering. McLaughlin is a leader of the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA), which unites progressives of different affiliations. She said that while RPA [ http://richmondprogressivealliance.net/ ] is somewhat different, it has many things in common with Sawants campaign. One of them is that neither accept donations from corporations. McLaughlin said that they strove to represent the interests of the community, not those of big money.

Chris Hedges, a Pulizter Prize winning journalist and best selling author, was also a featured speaker. He is currently a columnist and editor at TruthDig. [ http://www.truthdig.com/ ] Hedges called for a bottom up political revolution. He also asserted that there will be no progress domestically until the bloated U.S. war machine is confronted and reduced. Hedges said that 53 percent of the discretional federal budget is dedicated to the military and the security state.

Interestingly, none of the featured speakers said anything positive about U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. The self-described democratic socialist Sanders, previously an Independent, is making waves and drawing huge crowds in support of his campaign for the Democratic Party nomination for U.S. President. The only mention of Sanders came from Hedges, who said he wouldn't vote for him, because it would be a betrayal of the cause of the Palestinian people – a criticsm of Sanders' support for Israel. In August, Sawant campaigned together with Sanders at an event in Seattle. Socialist Alternative [ http://www.socialistalternative.org/ ] the organization which Sawant is a member of, has given critical support to Sanders, particularly his call for a political revolution against the Billionaires.

The program was the first major event organized by the Oakland branch of Socialist Alternative, which has only recently been formed.

For more information on Sawant's re-election campaign: http://kshamasawant.org/