Kshama Sawant: Political Hellraiser

 

By David Starr

 

Seattle, Washington has had some significant changes over the last ten years. This is mainly attributable to Kshama Sawant.

 

Sawant is a socialist who is not in the habit of aligning herself with politicians from either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. On the contrary, she has strong criticisms of the two, who are both ideologically the same, being capitalist parties. They are like two tendencies of one party.

 

According to Sawant, “Most of the time, working people have no representation under capitalism. Both the Democrats and the Republicans serve the interests of the billionaires, and both are warmongering parties down to their bones.”

 

It’s true that both parties are beholden to billionaires and big corporate interests. But, actually, the Democrats are a little less warmongering than the Republicans, the latter now being outright fascists. Nevertheless, in the bottom line, there have been plenty of wars, invasions, occupations and bombings attributable to both.

 

Sawant served as a Seattle City Congresswoman from 2014 to 2023 and pushed for changes that have benefitted the working class and the poor. Sawant asserts that, “My fellow socialists and I completely flipped the script on how to use elected office…we won the nation’s first major-city $15 an hour minimum wage, a wage that is now the highest in the country at $20.75 an hour…” 

 

Further, “we won the Amazon tax, which raised hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the city’s wealthiest businesses to fund affordable housing. So, yes, it is possible to beat Amazon, even on their home turf. 

 

“We won a slew of renters’ rights victories, including limits on previously exorbitant move-in fees, a requirement of six months’ notice for rent increases, economic assistance evictions forcing landlords to pay three months’ rent to tenants forced to leave due to rent increases of 10 percent or more, a ban on evictions in winter months, and a ban on school-year evictions of children and public-school workers.”

 

Sawant wound up being undefeated in four elections and afterwards launched an organization called Workers Strike Back. And as Sawant says, “Seattle’s Democrats have dedicated themselves to trying to undermine or overturn our working-class victories in Seattle.”

 

Sawant is running for the U.S. Congress against Democrat Adam Smith. She says, “I will use my Congressional election campaign to help build the antiwar movement and launch a historic fight for Medicare for All.”

 

Not only that, Sawant did not have kinds to say about Smith. “[He] has met a war he didn’t like. He has fully backed the genocide in Gaza. He has demonized anti-genocide activists as ‘extremists’ and ‘left-wing fascists,’ called for them to be arrested, and likening their actions to the far-right attack on the U.S. Capitol.” 

 

Additionally, Smith supported wars in Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya “and the currently bloody inter-imperialist war in Ukraine.” (To emphasize, it should be mentioned that the Russia-Ukraine war was a result of the U.S./NATO alliance’s initiation of hostilities that not only ruined Ukraine, but also is a threat to Russian sovereignty. The missiles in Eastern Europe and Ukraine pointed at Russia are an indication of that.)

 

Sawant adds that, ”For nearly three decades, Smith has been bankrolled by weapons industry profiteers such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Palantir, General Atomics and Kymeta.” It is, thus, accurate to say that Smith is part of the corporate, Democrat establishment. Despite him being opposed to Donald Trump.

 

Sawant also called Smith a “war hawk.”

 

Corporate Crime Reporter published an interview of Sawant which was in the Capitol Hill Citizen. Sawant laid out the mood in the United States: 

 

“Across the nation for several years now, but much more so in recent months, ordinary people, millions of working and young people, are absolutely fed up and angry at the status quo. In an unprecedented turn of events, historically for the United States, a majority of working people in America are now opposed to the Israeli State and the genocide in Gaza, and are angry at the fact that both Democrats and Republicans are both war-mongering parties of the billionaire class.” 

 

Sawant says that both have been bi-partisan in supporting Israel and in turn the genocide. True, given, for example, the positions of Joe Biden and Trump on Israel.

 

What has Smith got to say? The Washington State Standard did an interview with him. It called Smith “a moderate Democrat.” Which sounds absurd, given Smith’s positions and entanglements relating to an imperial foreign policy. Regarding the Middle East, Smith says that “With Hezbollah weakened, with [former Syrian leader al-Assad,] gone, there’s a chance that Lebanon and Syria could become stable countries. 

 

“They could focus on governing and not jihad grievances against Israel. But for that to happen, Israel needs to make peace with the Palestinians. That’s the great unknown.”

 

What is unknown? It’s obvious what the Israeli right is doing, committing genocide, but Smith prefers to take a “moderate” stance on the issue. 

 

Smith did condemn the U.S. attacks on Iran, saying, “No, it was a mistake. I don’t think it was the right policy.” But still views Iran as a threat, saying it could build a nuclear weapon. However, he implied that Iran didn’t have a choice. Still, Smith gives the impression from the establishment view that Iran must be stopped. 

 

Regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, Smith says that “Russia will take every inch of Ukraine that they can get away with. The only way to make peace is to make it clear that they can’t.” Ironically, the West claimed that NATO would not move one inch eastward, but it got away with that. Now, it has been a contributing factor in the war…and a threat.

 

Sawant obviously faces an uphill battle in trying to unseat Smith. But considering Smith’s position with regard to being a part of the corporate establishment, if one truly used commonsense, one would vote for Sawant.