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Welcome to amped up. This is your host Ryan Knight and our guest today is council

member Shama Sawant. Shama is an independent socialist in Seattle City Council member.

Shama, welcome to Ampt Up.

Thank you so much for having me.

So I want to start off by asking you about this right-wing recall campaign.

For my listeners who don't know, Big Business and the Right are trying to overturn democracy in Seattle and remove you from office. This comes just a few months after your

council office and a grassroots socialist movement won the Amazon Tax which is a tax on the top 500 companies in Seattle that will raise an estimated

$240 million a year to create tens of thousands of green union jobs by building permanently affordable social housing.

Is that what this whole recall campaign is about?

You know, is it the fact that big business just can't handle any victories for working people?

So they're trying to remove one of their most effective advocates.

And how can we help you fight back against this?

There's no question that the recall, there's no question that the recall has any

legitimacy to it. If you look at the four charges that the recall petition

has, they are all based and falsehood. They charged that I broke the law, but to be very, very clear,

crystal clear, we did not break the law. I did not break the law in any way. And as you were alluding to, Ryan,

this really is an attack on our Socialist Council

Office, on Socialist Alternative, my organization,

...