- 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
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!’