Following a King County Superior Court ruling last month, a right-wing recall petition is now in motion to remove Socialist Alternative member Kshama Sawant from her position on the Seattle City Council. Though nominally “grassroots” and “independent,” the initiative was launched by the Democratic Party and has attracted the support of Republicans and far-right forces.
The Socialist Equality Party opposes the right-wing campaign to remove Sawant on the basis of trumped-up charges and overturn the result of democratic elections. Notwithstanding our fundamental political differences with Socialist Alternative, we maintain that Sawant has a right to serve in the office to which she was elected twice, in 2013 and 2019.
Sections of the Democratic Party launched the politically motivated recall drive, attacking Sawant on the basis of her involvement with protests against police violence and her role in the “Tax Amazon” campaign, which resulted in the imposition of a minor payroll tax of less than 2 percent on Amazon and other major corporations.
Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, whose fortune is based on the exploitation of low-wage labor, publicly opposed the payroll tax increase and supported Sawant’s opponent in the 2019 City Council election.
The Democratic Party’s role in the recall campaign demonstrates its right-wing and anti-socialist character, making clear the dead end of all politics based on pressuring the Democratic Party to the left, a key pillar of Socialist Alternative’s own politics.
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