The fightback against the attempt to recall Kshama Sawant, member of Socialist Alternative and elected to the Seattle City Council is reaching its peak as ballot papers have been sent out to voters and need to be completed by 7 December.
Why do the right-wing want to remove her? The answer is simple. Since her election in 2014 she and her comrades in Socialist Alternative have fought tenaciously for the rights of working people both in Seattle and internationally.
She spearheaded the campaign for a $15 an hour minimum wage at a time when it was attacked as utopian and an impossible demand. The decision to implement it in Seattle, the first major city in the US to do so, acted as a spur to those fighting elsewhere for this demand.
In 2020, she helped lead the ‘Tax Amazon’ campaign to victory. As a result. the company, which is headquartered in Seattle and is renowned for the low level of tax it pays anywhere will have to pay $2 billion over the next decade to fund affordable housing and green new deal projects in the city.
She has angered Seattle’s real estate lobby by winning ground-breaking renters’ rights laws — now they have to give 6 month’s notice before increasing rents. People forced to move are given 3 months of relocation assistance and there is a ban on winter evictions. She has championed rent control.
She has been the most consistent fighter against police brutality and structural racism. She led the way in the first in America ban on the use of tear gas and other ‘crowd control’ weapons and ensured the transfer of tens of millions of dollars of police financing into affordable housing.
As if this wasn’t already enough, big business fears Kshama because she is not a career politician who spends her time making compromises and retreats in the corridors of power, but uses her office to build movements and involve wide layers.
It is therefore not surprising that the corporations have raised huge amounts of money to campaign against Kshama. This year alone they accumulated a war chest of $2 million for Seattle elections. Amongst the most active supporters of the recall campaign are corporate landlords and the likes of Amazon senior vice-president Morgan Battrel and Head of Amazon’s Global Real Estate, John Schoettler.
Traditional enemies of Socialists in Seattle include the Seattle Times. It is campaigning for the recall because, they say “amongst other crimes” she is the first elected official who has ever been rude! Of course, what they really resent is that Kshama is an unabashed and tireless defender of working people. It carried an editorial against Kshama this week littered with sexist prejudice and condescension towards the working class.
The recall election — the first ever to be held in December — is designed to ensure a low turnout — that is to ensure that those from the poorer areas do not vote. The voting period is interrupted by the US’s major Thanksgiving holiday, depriving supporters of more campaigning time. It is expected that in the days before 7 December more attacks and slanders will be launched in an attempt to undermine support for Kshama.
“Political Action Committees” are used in the US as a means of channelling funds to support or oppose candidates. They are supposed to have an upper limit for how much one individual can donate to them of $1,000. The right-wing have set up different funds to oppose Kshama and are now attempting to get the one thousand limit removed. The latest to be set up called “A Better Seattle” has raised more than $130,000 from corporate real estate and Trump mega donors. In the next days this money will be pumped in to try and get Kshama deselected.
But the fight is on! Even despite the difficult terrain on which the Seattle socialists are having to fight this election, they are determined to pull out every stop. Seattle is not known for its good weather — the campaign has even had an appeal to raise $5,000 to “winterize” the canvass by equipping campaigners with canopies, tarps, ponchos, lanterns, reflective vests, waterproof bins, and much more to keep volunteers as safe and dry as possible.
Huge campaign teams are out meeting voters, explaining the issues, persuading voters to turn out to reject this racist, right-wing, big business sponsored recall.
Last weekend, for example saw a “mega-canvass” of District 3, which Kshama represents. Thousands of people were discussed with about the undemocratic attack that this Recall attempt represents on the Black Lives Matter movement and our voice for working people in City Hall, Councilmember Kshama Sawant. Hundreds of people have volunteered to help in these events.
Even during the campaign Kshama continues to support those fighting for their rights. This included active support for the recent Seattle Carpenter’s strike.
The Kshama Solidarity Campaign has raised a massive fighting fund — over $840,000. This has been raised not from a small number of rich donors but from over ten thousand ordinary people. Union branches are organising fund raising events.
Endorsements are pouring in. Over twenty trade union organisations have endorsed Kshama, many, many more individual union activists and members. Nurses, teachers, tech workers, food service workers, and trade/construction workers are the most common donor occupations. They are joined by community groups and organisations. Left figures such as Noam Chomsky have added their voice.
The Seattle paper the Stranger has come out firmly in opposition to the recall. It says: “When you get your hands on that ballot, rip open the envelope, fill out the ‘Recall No’ bubble, slip it in the nearest drop box before December 7 at 8pm, and then curse the Recall Sawant campaign for this goddamned tedious waste of time and energy.”
Democratic Socialists of America are mobilising to support the campaign, understanding that if Kshama is defeated, there will be further attacks on other elected socialists. Supporters of Bernie Sanders now report that they too are getting messages from Bernie to make sure they oppose the recall attempt.
Big business may think they can remove America’s only elected Marxist — but they have a fight on their hands.
