DEMOCRACY NOW
In Seattle, the fight to demilitarize and defund the police continues as the King County Labor Council voted to expel the Seattle police union Wednesday, following weeks of protest. Seattle police sparked outrage for responding to massive protests against police brutality by using pepper spray, tear gas and flashbangs on demonstrators and reporters. Activists then formed an autonomous zone in response to the police department’s abandonment of a precinct building. On Wednesday, President Trump threatened to send troops into Seattle to dismantle the community-run Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, which extends over several city blocks. Seattle socialist Councilmember Kshama Sawant calls the threat of military intervention “absolutely horrific” and says it “shows that Donald Trump is a coward and movements work.”
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh, as we turn to the fight to demilitarize and defund the police in Seattle, where the King County Labor Council has just voted to expel the Seattle police union. And on Monday, Seattle’s City Council voted unanimously to ban police use of tear gas and chokeholds. This comes after weeks of protests in which Seattle police sparked outrage for using pepper spray, tear gas, flashbang grenades on demonstrators and reporters.
Police have now abandoned Seattle’s Capitol Hill precinct, which has been taken over by activists who set up the CHAZ. That’s the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. It’s now called the Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or the CHOP. On Fox News Wednesday night, President Trump responded by calling for a crackdown on Seattle.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: These people that are taking over this incredible piece of real estate are obviously very good at real estate, maybe better than I was, because they paid nothing. They just took it over. And the police are somehow told not to be there. I’m sure they’d do a good job, if they were told to do a good job. I assume they are properly trained. But we would go in there, if they want us in, and we will take it back very quickly. It should never be allowed to fester like it’s festering right now.
AMY GOODMAN: “We will go in there,” Trump says. And previously he’s talked about sending in the military.
For more, we go to Seattle to speak with the socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, who’s calling for the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone to remain permanently in community control.
Welcome back to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you with us. First, can you respond to President Trump threatening to call in the troops?
KSHAMA SAWANT: It’s absolutely horrific, the threats that Donald Trump is making to call in the troops, the military, on Seattle. And it’s no surprise to me, though, that he’s doing that, because the successes of the peaceful protest movement in Seattle, and hopefully followed by other cities, is threatening to the right-wing and reactionary regime of Donald Trump. And it also shows that Donald Trump is a coward, and movements work. And so, I think this is an example of how, when we build protest movements, when we build social movements, in unity within the working class, we can win, and we can actually become a real threat to the right wing, which absolutely is the job of our movements.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Kshama, explain. You proposed the legislation to have tear gas and chokeholds banned in Seattle. What did it take to do that? And what kind of response have you received?
KSHAMA SAWANT: Absolutely. And, you know, this is what’s happened. This Monday is absolutely historic. Our movement was able to force a unanimous vote on the Seattle City Council, which is dominated by the Democratic Party establishment, to make Seattle the first city in the nation to win a comprehensive ban on the use and purchase of chemical weapons and other barbaric weapons used against protest movements, so tear gas, as you mentioned, mace and pepper spray, rubber bullets, flashbang grenades, water cannons, ultrasonic weapons. I mean, these are just horrific weapons that are being deployed against peaceful movements. And as you said, Nermeen, we also won a ban against the police use of chokeholds.
And what it took to win was an absolutely determined and united movement on the ground, because despite all the co-opting of the vocabulary of the movement by the Democratic Party establishment saying, “Black Lives Matter,” “We want to dismantle and reimagine the police” — despite all of that, there was a shameful attempt by the Democratic establishment to drive a truck-sized amendment into the bill, basically gutting the bill. And we were able to force them to back down because of the ferocity of the movement, where we said, “Absolutely not. This is the bare minimum you need to do. In fact, you need to pass this strong ban, make Seattle the first city, have other cities follow, make this a national trend, and defund the police by at least 50%.”
AMY GOODMAN: Police union, Kshama Sawant? What have you done about the police union in Seattle?
Democracy Now for more