- Telegraph India
- Kshama Sawant at a Seattle rally to raise the minimum wage
Kshama Sawant—Seattle’s rabblerousing, fist-shaking socialist councilmember who’s work played a pivotal role in getting a $15 minimum wage law enacted in the Emerald City and whose tenacity has convinced her fellow councilmembers to agree to a formal debate on housing justice—will deliver a speech in downtown Portland at 7 pm on Friday, Sept 12 at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1126 SW Park.
Sawant will join other speakers 15NowPDX’s Jamie Partidge, who was one of the activists responsible for introducing legislation last session to raise Oregon’s minimum wage to $15; Teressa Raiford, leader of Don’tShootPDX who was recently arrested during a Ferguson anniversary protest; and Nick Caleb, an independent socialist candidate in 2014 for Portland City Council who made raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour a central part of his platform.
FIND OUT MORE AFTER THE JUMP
Sawant became Seattle’s first socialist councilmemeber in 100 years in 2013 after beating a four-term incumbent. Since then she’s led the movement opposing corporate campaigning in the Pacific Northwest. She has fought proudly for workers, unions, renters, homeowners at risk of foreclosure, the LGBTQ community, and the environment, to name a few.
On Thursday, Sawant talked with the Merc before heading out to support Seattle’s striking teachers, taking some time to explain why she’s coming to Portland.
“We are fighting for the interests of the working class in Seattle, but when we have win a victory in this one place, or in this one region, it has a contagious effect and we need to continue to build on that and create a conscious mass movement to organize,” she says. “The powers that be, the big business executives, the mult-billionaires, they’re not going to institute social policies because they make sense. The moment is opening up where the left can build an alternative to corporate politics.”
Sawant is an unapologetic fighter for the working class. She’s a charismatic, intense speaker, and between Sawant, Raiford, Partridge, and Caleb, the event is going to be an energizing one.
Here’s the deets:
What: Kshama Sawant Speaks in Portland
When: 7 pm, Saturday, Sept 12
Where: First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1126 SW Park
Cost: FREE, of course
I’ll be live tweeting the event. Follow me online or, better yet, show up.
It’s like a who’s who of political opportunists using popular movements to advance their own careers!
It has been my experience that when the wages go up, so does everything else.
Don’t we have enough problems here without her showing up?
If you think Kshama is a political opportunist, you clearly haven’t been doing your homework on her background. She’s been fighting on these issues for years and would be doing it whether she was in office or not. Plus, unlike sheer opportunists, she’s been on the cutting edge and pushing the envelope, not jumping on the bandwagon once it’s already a done deal. She helped put the wage issue on the map.
why not tie minimum wage to local cost of living or wages? does it make sense to have rural Oregon have same minimum wage as Portland .. lLet alone SF or NYC?