With the crisis that sparked the outcry already chewed up and spit out of the nation’s news cycle, the Seattle City Council Tuesday will consider a resolution stating the city’s opposition to war with Iran and the Trump administration’s treatment of “people with Iranian heritage.”
Another resolution on what is otherwise a light docket for the recently seated new council would show Seattle’s opposition to India’s new citizenship law.
Both of the globally focused resolutions sprouted from District 3 representative Kshama Sawant’s office.
The Iran resolution would denounce the Trump administration’s escalation of hostilities with Iran and “attacks on the democratic rights of people with Iranian heritage in Washington State” and would “communicate these positions to the Washington State congressional delegation.”
West Seattle rep Lisa Herbold’s office has proposed a substitute resolution that would maintain the essence of the Sawant resolution — “The Seattle City Council expresses its outrage at the targeting of Iranian Americans for detention and questioning at the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Blaine, Washington, and at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport” — and adds a layer of further justification plus two new resolution elements:
- The Seattle City Council calls for de-escalation in the conflict between the 20 United States and Iran by all parties, recognizing that many residents of Seattle and the greater Seattle region have close ties of family, love, and friendship with people in Iran and that peace loving people around the world have no desire to see armed conflicts escalate in any location.
- The Seattle City Council reaffirms the importance of promoting people-to people diplomacy espoused by Sister Cities International and like-minded organizations, and frameworks that advocate for citizen diplomacy and city diplomacy to be fostered so as to build the foundations on which peace and stability between nations can grow and flourish.
The resolution opposing India’s National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act, meanwhile, comes after the country’s parliament approved the law that “makes religion a criterion for nationality” in December.
Nearly 1,500 have signed a “Support Councilwoman Sawant On: No War with Iran & Oppose India’s persecution of Muslims” online petition.
Urge @SeattleCouncil to support two resolutions I've introduced.
No war with Iran! Stop detentions of people of Iranian origin!
Stand with protests movements in India! Oppose far-right persecution of Muslims & marginalized communities!
Tue Jan 21 @ 1:30pm
City Hall 600 4th Ave pic.twitter.com/P2G64xV8v0— Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) January 18, 2020
$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE THIS SPRING
🌈🐣🌼🌷🌱🌳🌾🍀🍃🦔🐇🐝🐑🌞🌻
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Can she go back to India to fight their unjust laws?
Can you go away period?
On the plus side, when they are wasting time on feel good measures like these, they are spending less time on legislation that may actually have an effect on quality of life in this city. Let them remain distracted.
We need cash rental assistance immediately. Defund sweeps, tax big business and give people cash assistance for rental housing now!!
Nah, they gonna denounce the Iranian thing and stand with India. But good luck thinking the city will get any of the things Sawant promised in her campaigning. She wanted another 4 years in office to promote her global ambitions and she got it. The joke’s on us.
Losers. Get to work and everyone take care of themselves!
Working people are homeless right now. Jobs aren’t a cure.
What if we crowd-sourced the purchase of a one-way ticket for Comrade Sawant to return to her homeland? Win-win.
Aaaaannd the racism gets explicit. So much of the mistrust and vitriol against Sawant is propped up by this kind of nativism and sexism, often lurking behind veiled statements like “she’s not from here” or media portrayals that paint her as a ranting b**** who never closes her mouth. While her platform would undoubtedly face resistance no matter her identity, if she were a middle aged white dude, it’d be a whole different ballgame
No.
Oh yeah, Mike O’Brien was just cherished.
Knock it off City Council and get to work with the people’s business. This is a bullshit waste of our time and money.
LOL @ the City Council wasting any time talking about this. Delusions of grandeur.
This is awesome. I was laying awake last night wondering what the City Council’s position was going to be on a potential war with Iran. Now I can rest easy.
These are such a distraction from the issues that the council and mayor were actually elected to resolve. We have representatives at the other levels of government to tackle foreign affairs. How about staying in your lane and getting something done. Sawant has been in power for 6 years and by nearly every metric this city is worse off than it was, especially with homelessness. Get back to running the city and let the people we elected at the federal lever worry about foreign affairs. Stop trying to be famous and earn that ridiculous six figure salary we are paying you to be on the city council. Or run for federal office if your city job is beneath you. And this is directed at all of our local leaders, not just Sawant. You are all a disappointment. Jenny Durka, Pete Holmes, and Dow Constantine especially.
Just more Sawant grandstanding……..sound and fury, signifying nothing.
we can’t all fret our hour on the stage like you, Bob
Glad to see the Seattle City Council working hard to solve the city’s problems.
I for one am looking forward to seeing what Sawant has to say about this on RT.