...refusing to let cops into the six-block zone lives in an $800,000 home but has railed against gentrification of Seattle -- Kshama Sawant, 46, has been described as a leader in the creation of Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone -- The city councilwoman has urged fellow activists not to allow cops back into the six-block zone set up in the center of the city -- Indian-born Sawant worked as a software engineer before migrating to the US, where she was 'radicalized by the inequality and poverty' that she saw - Sawant became the first socialist to be elected to Seattle's City Council in 2013; she recently endorsed Bernie Sanders for President - However, she has come under fire for railing against gentrification while being married to a Microsoft engineer; she is also reported to live in a $800K home - One Seattle Times columnist has compared her to the Queen in Alice In Wonderland, because of her 'off with their heads' political style
By ANDREW COURT and JENNIFER SMITH, 13 June 2020
A software engineer turned firebrand socialist has been named as the leader of a movement which has pushed police out of six-block area of central Seattle, known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ).
Indian-born Kshama Sawant, 46, who now serves on the Seattle City Council, is encouraging activists in the CHAZ 'to hold out on giving back the precinct to cops or allowing officers inside the barricaded region', according to Fox News.
The CHAZ was established on June 8, after protesters took over Capitol Hill's East Precinct building, sending members of the Seattle Police Department fleeing.
Sawant tweeted Friday: 'Our movement needs to urgently ensure East Precinct is not handed back to police, but is turned over permanently into community control. My office is bringing legislation to convert East Precinct into a community center for restorative justice.'
She further stated: 'The movement has been undaunted in the face of horrific violence from Mayor Durkan's police. Congratulations, solidarity!'
On Tuesday, Sawant used her position as a councilwoman to lead hundreds of protesters into City Hall, where she reportedly unlocked the building and let 300 people stage an hours-long takeover of the building.
The group called upon Mayor Durkan to resign.
Sawant is known for her militant and uncompromising style of politics, prompting one Seattle Times columnist to liken her to the Queen in Alice in Wonderland.
'She had has one answer to every question, and it is always some form of 'off with their heads'', the writer stated.
In 2013, Sawant became the first socialist to be elected to the Seattle City Council. She describes herself as an 'an activist who brings a passion for social justice to her work as a public servant'.
According to her official government biography, Sawant was born in Mumbai, India but relocated to the United States in the early 2000s after working as software engineer. 'Upon arriving in the US, the richest country in the world, Sawant was surprised and radicalized by the inequality and poverty that exists here,' the biography reads.
She pursued a PhD at North Carolina State University before relocating to Seattle.
Sawant joined the Socialist Alternative in 2006 and became a councilwoman in 2013. She recently endorsed Bernie Sanders for President. The ex-software engineer also made headlines by vowing to give up a majority of her six-figure salary. She has boasted of only taking around $40,000 of her pay and 'donating the rest to building social justice movements.'
However, Sawant has not escaped criticism.
Her reported marriage to a high-powered Microsoft engineer, Vivek Sawant, raised eyebrows given she railed against the gentrification of Seattle. The pair divorced in 2014. According to MyNorthwest, Sawant 'lives in a house that is worth between $800,000 and $900,000 and has over a half-million in equity' in the property. snip At a Thursday news conference neither Police Chief Best nor Mayor Durkan made it clear who decided that police should leave the precinct.
Best said at the press conference that police response times to priority calls of violent crimes in progress had tripled this week. Police sources say that responses to low-priority calls have been suspended. 'If that is your mother, your sister, your cousin, your neighbor's kid that is being raped, robbed assaulted (or) otherwise victimized you're not going to want to have to report that it took the police three times longer to get there to provide services to them,' Best said.
Durkan said regarding Trump's statements about Seattle that one of the things the president will never understand is that listening to community is not a weakness, but a strength.
'A real leader would see nationwide protest, the grief in so many communities of color, particularly our black communities, and the call to be an anti-racist society, as an opportunity for America. An opportunity to build a better nation,' she said.
Protesters have said they want to see the precinct turned into a community center or used for purposes other than law enforcement.
Sawant disputed accounts of violence or intimidation by protesters within the area on Capitol Hill and said it was more like a street fair with political discussions and a drum circle.
'The right wing has been spreading rumors that there is some sort of lawlessness and crime taking place at the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, but it is exactly the opposite of that,' said Sawant, a socialist and a critic of Durkan and the police.
Sawant said she wants the precinct to be 'converted into a public resource that will actually be helpful to society.'
A subsequent presser from Chief Best made it clear, "Leaving the Precinct was not my decision."
"Of all horrible religions the most horrible is the worship of the god within." GK Chesterton
“These High-Tech oligarchs are dangerous for democracy.” Devin Nunes
"It’s a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people, and serve the people it will." Donald Trump's Victory Speech 11/9/16
INSIDE EVERY LIBERAL IS A TOTALITARIAN SCREAMING TO GET OUT -- Frontpage mag
Dori: Kshama Sawant is a con artist By Dori Monson April 27, 2018 at 4:52 pm
LISTEN: Dori: Kshama Sawant is a con artist .................................................
In terms of political corruption, we are as bad as any city in the country has ever been.
An independent citizen journalist recently posted on his website, sccinsight.com, some hidden truths about Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s finances.
When Kshama Sawant first got elected to the Seattle City Council, she pledged that she would only accept an ordinary worker’s salary, $40,000 per year, and would give the rest of her salary away. How noble.
Now that she has updated her filings, I want you to see what a fraud this “caring socialist” is. I want you to hear how a person who pledged to live on an ordinary worker’s salary finances her life at a much higher level than the ordinary worker. She lives in a house that is worth between $800,000 and $900,000 and has over a half-million in equity in her house. Yeah, she’s part of that “proletariat.”
But what does she do with the money she gives away? First of all, let’s talk about her husband. She got rid of the six-figure Microsoft guy — I guess it doesn’t look too good to decry the rich when you’re married to a Microsoftie. So she’s now married to a guy named Calvin Priest. Priest has what is described as “an undefined relationship” with an organization called 15 Now — an organization dedicated to raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Fifteen Now is not registered with the FEC or IRS as a political group, so there’s no paper trail there.
Last year, Sawant gave a total of about $25,000 to 15 Now and Socialist Alternative.
Let’s talk about what those groups do for her. Sawant and her husband have had over $13,000 worth of travel paid for by … drumroll … Movement for the 99 Percent and Socialist Alternative. So she gives money to Socialist Alternative and they pay for her and her husband to fly all around the country. Well that’s odd.
Sawant’s husband apparently works for Socialist Alternative, where he last year made between $10,000 and $25,000. Sawant gives $13,800 to Socialist Alternative, and Socialist Alternative pays for her and her husband to fly all around the country, and they give a salary between $10,000 and $25,000 to her husband.
So the money Kshama Sawant “gives” to Socialist Alternative comes right back to Kshama Sawant. That’s a pretty handy little relationship there.
Socialist Alternative, which is no longer a nonprofit, paid for Sawant and her husband to go to Minnesota and represent them at a conference. This is all, by the way, to do with her building her personal brand as a firebrand socialist, not to do with her being a Seattle City Councilmember.
So that’s what this kind, generous philanthropist is doing with the money she claims to give away. I’m not saying this is illegal — she is well within her rights. I’m simply showing what a phony she is, pure and simple. She’s a con artist. She deceives people and lies to them.
Sawant has a lot of dopey people following her around, cheering for her as some socialist icon. But really, she is all about herself.
However, Sawant has not escaped criticism. Seriously?
You will note that none of this "criticism" has come from her colleagues on the Seattle City Council, despite her vilification of their own police department and her collaboration with the illegal antics of Antifa (or whoever these bozos are). The Emerald City, as Seattle is nicknamed, is lost to reality, I fear.