How Sawant did it, plus victory rally video [View all]

[eridani]

Kshama Sawant Victory Rally Video, Parts 1, 2, 3
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?feature=edit_ok&list=PLt1k_SX7XhCsiTJc9m_zOFkKN32Kf_lfO


COUNTERPUNCH: NOVEMBER 18, 2013
How She Did It
The Improbable Victory of Kshama Sawant
HTTP://WWW.COUNTERPUNCH.ORG/2013/11/18/THE-IMPROBABLE-VICTORY-OF-KSHAMA-SAWANT/

by TOM BARNARD
Sunday was a well-deserved victory party. Her challenger, Richard Conlin, a four-time incumbent with all the money of the 1% behind him, had officially conceded . To celebrate the remarkable come-from-behind win, 300+ of the hard-core faithful – campaign volunteers, activists, veterans of the anti-war movement and other past struggles made some noise at a local union hall for our candidate, Kshama Sawant, a socialist with a 99% platform . And she made sure we knew what the score was. “The power lies in our hands – we make the change.” The crowd responded with roars, cheers, whoops of joy. For most of them understood that in this election, they’d overturned the Seattle electoral model of corporate toadies masquerading as nice-guy liberals.

Seattle is a one party town if ever there was one, the blue center of Washington State. There are tried and true ways to get elected here, invariably by making yourself useful to those in power while mouthing some progressive platitudes. There are two consistent liberal council members, but the model of consensus voting by the council keeps them polite in the face of corporate power. A hearing here, a contested vote there, and business as usual rolls on – until now.

But now we have a socialist as City Councilperson, and she’s not beholden to any of the usual suspects. Not Paul Allen and his aptly named Vulcan, not Burlington Northern Sante Fe, the railroad promising 18 coal trains a day, not commercial construction giants like Wright Runstad, all major Conlin contributors. No, the only people this Kshama Sawant is beholden to are the poorly paid, the foreclosed, the unemployed, and the overly indebted. All of who helped her to smash the conventional rules of Seattle politics, and gain a seat on the Seattle City Council with a current vote tally of 51%-49%, despite the election night predictions of defeat by her opponent and the corporate press.

So how did she do this, and what can we learn from it? Here’s some of the best take-aways: