Kshama Sawant: Democrats and the Right Are Attacking Me — And Left Movements Everywhere
For Seattle’s ruling class, having even one socialist, Kshama Sawant, on city council is far too many. Which is why, Sawant writes in Jacobin, since she first won office in 2013, the attacks from Democrats, the Right, and corporate juggernauts like Amazon haven’t stopped attacking her.
Seattle city council member Kshama Sawant speaks as demonstrators hold a rally outside of the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct on June 8, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. (David Ryder / Getty Images)
Big business, the right wing, and now the courts have rung the bell on what is now the fourth round of the fight to expel socialists from Seattle City Hall.
The corporate elite are determined to do so by hook or by crook. They failed in the first three rounds to buy this city council seat, the last time with unprecedented corporate cash from Amazon. The latest effort, a right-wing recall campaign, is perhaps the most serious threat so far, seeking now to use the courts and four trumped-up charges to overturn my reelection last year.
It’s not for nothing. Socialists and social movements have dramatically altered the course of Seattle politics since my first election in 2013, and we have repeatedly set powerful examples that have spread nationally.
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