Here is a video of the inauguration of new city officials in Seattle. Sawant’s speech begins about 30 minutes into the ceremony. The other speeches are typically canned and boring, but it’s worth watching just a little bit of them to get a real feel for the contrast between them and Sawant. She makes no pretense of representing “all of Seattle”; she says she will represent workers, the poor and oppressed and disenfranchised. She doesn’t pretend she can do it on her own; workers must “shout their demands from the rooftops and organize en masse.” She continues “working people need a new political party – a mass organization of the working class run by and accountable to themselves.”

“I will bring the needs and aspirations of working class people to every table I sit at… There will be no back room deals with corporations or their political servants. There will be no rotten sellouts of the people I represent. I wear the badge of socialism with honor.”

What a breath of fresh air!

http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=5011401&file=1