Seattle Socialist Kshama Sawant Takes Office
Seattle's first socialist city official in decades, an economics teacher, former Occupy Wall Street activist and former Truthdigger of the Week, ran on a campaign to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. She enters office Monday along with Mayor Ed Murray.
Seattle’s first socialist city official in decades, an economics teacher, former Occupy Wall Street activist and former Truthdigger of the Week, ran on a campaign to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. She enters office Monday along with Mayor Ed Murray.
“The important thing about running as a socialist is, for one, to show that there is a definite openness for clear alternatives, not only to the big business parties, but the system that they represent, the capitalist system,” Kshama Sawant told “Democracy Now!” on Monday.
Seattle’s new mayor, Ed Murray, has announced plans to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for all city employees, a decision that will affect 600 people. Meanwhile, voters in the nearby community of SeaTac recently increased the minimum wage for many local workers to $15. The vote suffered a setback when a judge ruled last month that the hike does not apply to workers at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the area’s largest employer. That ruling has been appealed.
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
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Once a week, Truthdig’s editor in chief interviews someone who, through long engagement with American culture or politics, has an informed and highly personal perspective on pressing issues.
Sawant, who is in her second term on Seattle's City Council, and Truthdig's editor in chief discuss her political achievements and challenges. Audio and transcript.
Seattle’s socialist City Council member, Kshama Sawant, has called on Bernie Sanders to break with the Democratic Party and run as an independent. If he refuses, she says, his supporters must build a third party without him.
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