Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant
Council position 2, In office since 2014.
It is with extreme pleasure and excitement I announce that Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant will be our inaugural guest speaker sharing her thoughts and plans for the Seattle Puget Sound Area at our next meet up.
Where: Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery and Restaurant, Pyramid suite Room
1201 First Ave S. (across from the sports stadium - free parking in their lot
subject to availability.)
Date: Saturday, 10/4/14
Time: 12:30 - 3:00 - Please arrive on time. No seating allowed after 1:00pm
Cost: $25.00 per person (includes non-alcoholic beverage, gratuity, tax and your
choice of food from a limited-choice menu)
Why: Meet Kshama Sawant and share ideas!
Space will be limited to the first thirty who RSVP for this event and I'm working to have the room filled to capacity, so don't delay.
Please note: A larger group, in a private room, bringing in a guest speaker means we've got to have things more formal than our past meet ups. Please refer to the google group announcement for more details.
From Sawant's biography page:
Kshama Sawant is not a career politician. She is an activist who brings a passion for social justice to her work as a public servant. As a member of the City Council, Kshama pledges to be a voice for workers, youth, the oppressed and the voiceless. She only accepts the average workers' wage and donates the rest of her six-figure salary to building social justice movements.
Alongside being a teacher, Kshama is an activist, organizer, and socialist, and is a member of Socialist Alternative, in solidarity with the Committee for a Workers' International, which organizes for working-class interests on every continent.
While growing up in India, Kshama was always conscious of the extreme poverty and inequality surrounding her. After working as a computer engineer, she came to the US to study economics in order to better understand the root causes of oppression and poverty. Upon arriving in the US, the richest country in the world, Kshama was surprised and radicalized by the inequality and poverty that exists here.
After earning her PhD, Kshama moved to Seattle and began teaching at Seattle Central Community College, Seattle University, and the University of Washington Tacoma. She joined Socialist Alternative in 2006, and since then has helped organize demonstrations for marriage equality, participated in the movement to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and was a visible presence in the Occupy Movement. Kshama has also been an activist in her union, the American Federation of Teachers Local 1789, fighting against budget cuts and tuition hikes.
In 2012, Kshama ran as a Socialist Alternative candidate for WA State Legislature and surprised everyone by winning 29% of the vote. The momentum continued in her campaign for Seattle City Council where she boldly ran on a platform of fighting for a $15/hr minimum wage, rent control and taxing the super-rich to fund mass transit and education. In November she defeated a 16-year incumbent Democrat to become the first socialist elected in a major US city in decades.
Kshama Sawant now chairs Seattle City Council's Energy Committee with covers Seattle City Light, alternative energy sources, energy policies and air pollution regulations.
Follow below the organge hairpiece for a liittle more detail.
Sawant is a member of Socialist Alternative, a political party formed in 1986 that is active in at least 20 major U.S. cities. (Motto: "Struggle, Solidarity, Socialism.") Socialist Alternative played a major role in organizing and sustaining the Occupy Wall Street movement. According to the group's website, it believes that "the dictatorships that existed in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were perversions of what socialism is really about. We are for democratic socialism where ordinary people will have control over our daily lives."
Sawant joined Socialist Alternative after hearing a speech from one of the group's members in 2009. Since then, she has worn her affiliation proudly.
In keeping with the social justice themes of her campaign, she takes only $40,000 of her $117,000 a year council member salary and puts the rest into a self-administered "solidarity fund," which she uses to fund social justice campaigns.
In her own words:
"This is not a question of charity. You simply cannot be so far removed from the values of the people you're representing."
Because we are all part of Daily KOS we have the clout to attract influential guest speakers. Your participation in these events assists greatly in this effort.
I've said this before but let me say it again.
I have a vision of our group becoming the hub of a wheel with spokes emanating from that hub. A place where people can share their reasons for being part of Daily KOS. A place where people can inform others of their activist efforts so like-minded individuals can connect. A place where we can invite others to join our community. A place to make new members feel welcome and connected. And starting October 4th a guest speaker forum giving us the opportunity to hear from our local leaders and us a chance to share our ideas with them.
I do hope you can join us at the Pyramid on Saturday, October 4th to spend some quality time with the maverick of Seattle politics, Ksharma Sawant.