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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right;background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://www.seattle.gov/departments/"><b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#999999'>Departments</span></b></a> | <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/services/"><b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#999999'>Services</span></b></a> | <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/directory/"><b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#999999'>Staff Directory</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><a href="http://www.seattle.gov/default.htm"><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:blue;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=320 height=70 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D03503.3FE216E0" alt="Description: Seattle.gov Home Page"></span></a><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;border:none;padding:0in'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Top of Form<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-top:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:1.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;border:none;padding:0in'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Bottom of Form<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://sawant.seattle.gov/"><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:blue;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=775 height=125 id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D03503.3FE216E0" alt="Description: Kshama Sawant's Blog Home Page"></span></a><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><ul type=disc><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://sawant.seattle.gov"><span style='color:blue'>Home</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://www.seattle.gov/council/Sawant/" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>Kshama's Council Home Page</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://www.seattle.gov/council/com_assign.htm#energy" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>Energy</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="mailto:Kshama.Sawant@seattle.gov" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>Email Me</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://sawant.seattle.gov/socialist-response-to-the-state-of-the-union-2015/" title="Permanent Link: Socialist Response to the State of the Union 2015"><span style='color:blue'>Socialist Response to the State of the Union 2015</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>On January 20, 2015, I gave the Socialist Response to the State of the Union Address. Below is the transcript of my speech and the video will be added here as soon as it is available. </span></i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Sisters and Brothers,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Six years ago, Obama was elected on the hope that he would represent the millions, not the millionaires.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>When Obama delivered his first State of the Union address, Democrats occupied majorities in both the House and Senate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Today, after massive disappointment and disillusionment for the American people, he faces Republican majorities in both branches of Congress. Six years later, will millions of Americans finally get the president they voted for?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Some of the proposals Obama made tonight point in the right direction:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>On taxing the rich, on providing free community college education, paid sick and maternity leave, and municipal broadband.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But how does Obama plan to overcome the inevitable Republican obstruction?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>How will Obama get any serious measure to tax the wealthy or against climate change past the entrenched and undemocratic power of Wall Street and big business?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>There is no answer to this from Obama.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>He talked about the economic recovery.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But the truth is for the vast majority of us this has been a joyless recovery.<br>Americans face the highest levels of inequality in almost a century.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Under Obama the gap between rich and poor has only widened.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But the last two years have seen the shaping of the kind of forces that can reverse this stunning inequality – the historic grassroots movements for a $15/hour minimum wage by heroic low-wage workers taking strike action.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>And we won a $15 minimum wage in Seattle – the first major city to do so – by building a movement of low-paid workers together with unions, community organizations, 15 Now, and others.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Critical for $15 in Seattle was the election of an independent working class candidate who boldly championed it, which forced the political and business establishment to reluctantly make a concession on this issue.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>In contrast, Republican and Democratic politicians, rather than fighting to raise the minimum wage as we did, have instead been taking donations from the same fast food companies that workers are striking against.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Obama is pushing international trade agreements undermining environmental and labor standards that will further fuel inequality and environmental destruction.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>This year also saw a $15 ballot initiative passed by a huge margin in San Francisco, and statewide ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage pass by super-majorities, including Republican dominated states.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Our task is clear – we need to continue to build this movement and democratic organizations like 15 Now to make 2015 the year we win 15 across the nation.<br>Obama spoke about helping the middle class. He spoke about housing issues.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Yet while cities like Seattle have to deal with astronomical rent increases and gentrification, we are simultaneously facing cuts to federal funding for low-income housing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Here in Seattle I along with public housing tenants and community activists just led a successful battle to stop a 400% rent hike for low-income housing in Seattle.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>I hope this example of resistance and struggle can spread nationally where other cities are confronted with similar attacks.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Socialist Alternative, tenants, and I are campaigning for emergency measures like rent control to address this spiraling crisis.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But emergency measures will not be enough. The so called “free market” has miserably failed to provide affordable housing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>We need urgent public investment to build new affordable housing for working families.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>I am working on a plan for the Seattle city government to build thousands of high-quality publicly owned houses to rent at below market rates.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But to win any of this, tenants and homeowners need to build their own housing justice movement, acting locally, but connecting nationally.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Obama´s pledge to say <i>No</i> to Keystone XL and to cap methane emissions are necessary first steps.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But let’s be clear: he has utterly failed to take on the power of the 90 companies who are responsible for almost two thirds of the climate emissions in history.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Instead he brags about being the “Fracking President.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>As Naomi Klein said, this is about capitalism versus the climate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>We need to act here and now. But we can only deal with climate change if we break the power of the giant oil and car companies who are determined to extract every drop of oil from the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Addressing climate change means organizing society around the interests of the 99%, rather than around profits and fiercely competing nation states.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>We need a democratic socialist society based on international cooperation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Real progress is only won by millions stepping into action. We saw that with the tremendous People´s Climate March which had half a million people rallying in New York City. We need to take this forward and demand concrete action. In Seattle, we are pushing forward to ban oil and coal trains from passing through the city.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Last year saw the beginning of the most important movement against racial injustice in decades.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Every 28 hours, a Black person is killed by police or vigilantes in this country.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>We live in the age of mass black incarceration.<br>The age of unindicted, unprosecuted, widespread police brutality against black people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>This is the age of economic racism, where the average income of a black person is one third less than a white person.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>After hundreds of thousands of Black workers and youth campaigned to elect Obama, he has provided no vision to address racism in our society.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Why can’t Barack Obama say “Black Lives Matter”?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Black people, people of color, indigenous people deserve action.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>They deserve action now:<o:p></o:p></span></p><ul type=disc><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>For full prosecution of all acts of police brutality like those against Mike Brown and Eric Garner!<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>For an end to economic racism, for a $15 / hour minimum wage nationally.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>To finally address the gaping income inequalities that define race and gender in the U.S.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The Republicans elected in the mid-terms last fall would like to think they have a public mandate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Nothing could be farther from the truth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The pro-corporate, right-wing agenda of the Republicans is being roundly rejected in poll after poll. This was also evident with the many progressive voter initiatives that passed in the same election that gave Republicans their majority.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The only reason Republicans won is that working people, youth and people of color are deeply disappointed after years of the Democrats doing the bidding of corporations.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>This is why millions stayed home with the lowest voter turnout since the 2nd World War!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Is Obama now prepared to challenge Republicans and big business?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>I fear not.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Unfortunately, the financial aristocracy that funded Obama’s election campaigns and promoted him to the presidency have their tentacles firmly wedded in to every nook and cranny of the White House.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Let us not forget Obama has carried out unprecedented unconstitutional spying, drone strikes, and a ferocious crackdown on brave whistleblowers like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>This is why independent working class challengers will be needed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Candidates who refuse corporate donations, who are financially and politically independent of big business and their two parties.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>We need to build our own political voice, a mass political party for working people.<br>Despite Obama’s speech today, bitter experience has shown we cannot rely on him to deliver.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>We must work to build independent movements of working class people, of young people, of women and people of color, and the LGBTQ community.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>To fight towards affordable cities, health care and education for all.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Towards a society based on economic justice, equal rights, compassion and an end to racism.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>To challenge the domination of the 1%.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Solidarity!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p 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