A RESOLUTION affirming The City of Seattle’s support for its local Iranian-American and Iranian-immigrant communities, recognizing the importance of people-to-people diplomacy at the local level, calling for a de-escalation in the conflict and damaging rhetoric between the U.S. and Iran and an end to the attacks on the democratic rights of people with Iranian heritage in Washington State and requesting the Office of Intergovernmental Relations communicate these positions to the Washington State congressional delegation.
The bill passes and the chair will sign it. See that C rim report of the. Not I guess not committees. We have a report from previous previous items on on the agenda. The report of the city council agenda one Resolution 319 25 expressing the Seattle City Council's opposition to the Trump administration's escalation toward a war with Iran and two attacks on the democratic rights of people with Iranian heritage in Washington State and requesting the Office of Intergovernmental Relations communicate these offers excuse me, these positions to the Washington State Congressional delegation. Thank you. Would customers want to address the resolution? Yes. Should I? Should I move to substitute, speak to the substitution. Then we take a vote. And then I speak to the best of. Yes. That sounds great. Would you like me to move or would you like to? I'm happy to move. And then if you stick it in, then I just want to say something. I move to substitute version three of resolution 319254. Version one. I second. Thank you. Did you want to speak to it or. Sure. I appreciate the opportunity to work with Council Councilmember so on over the last week as well as the Office of Intergovernmental Relations and additional stakeholder groups beyond ones who had been consulted. As of as of last week. And I feel that in although there's been some concern about the the resolution becoming weakened after our weeks worth of deliberations, I think in many ways it's actually been strengthened because we have really, I think, honed in on why it is appropriate for the Seattle City Council to weigh in on this and and and the impact of these international actions on residents of our city, the impact of actions that are happening at the border on residents of our city. And so rather than just simply being a resolution against certain international actions, we are really focusing on our values as a city of being an inclusive, welcoming city and pointing to, I think, a lot of the strength of this community, while I hope preserving the intent of the language in the resolution to also be a strong antiwar statement. Thank you. Council President Pro Tem Herbold I It was my original intention to have this resolution in opposing Trump's escalation to toward war in Iran last week. But we needed to hold it. And as Councilmember Herb also having talked to us, the Office of Intergovernmental Relations Governor Herbert Office proposed a series of amendments just before the vote last Monday. And I do agree that this resolution is a strong, resolute, strong enough resolution. And I really appreciate my colleague for working with me and my office to find the language for the substitute that we can both accept. But I do want to state for the record that the original substitution that was offered greatly weakened the antiwar language and the whole motivation behind the disastrous history of U.S. imperialism and why this war should be opposed. As our Sharifi said, the reason we are opposing the war in Iran is because we know what has happened to previous wars, and it's important to recall that in the resolution and this is also what Dan Gilman from Veterans for Peace was referring to. However, thanks to all of your organizing, thanks to hundreds of people, ordinary people writing to city council and calling and urging that the resolution not lose its antiwar character. We have arrived at a version that I think does present a strong case from the city council, why we are opposing the resolution. And so I, I will support this substitution and then I'll speak to the resolution and thank you. So it's been moved in, seconded to amend the resolution. Are there additional comments on the amended version of the resolution? Councilmember Morales. Just in general on the resolution, is that a no on the amendment? Will we speak to the resolution itself after we get the amended version in front of us if you have comments on the amended version. Okay. All right. With that, those in favor of the proposed substitute vote i. I. I those oppose vote no. And the motion carries and the resolution is amended. We now have the amended version in front of us. Are there any further comments on the resolution as amended comes out of this? Okay. Sorry, I'm new to. This as a sponsor, I'm going to defer to of course, on first. Thank you. This is the resolution in opposition to both Trump's escalation toward war with Iran and also in opposition to reports of Border Patrol agents targeting people of Iranian descent at the border crossing in Blaine, Washington, and at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Trump's policies towards Iran, including airstrikes and the prominent drone assassination of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, are risking war and that is totally unacceptable. The U.S. wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq have not expanded the freedom, democracy, standards of living or safety of ordinary people in the Middle East and have not increased the safety of people in the US. Instead, they have caused massive loss of human life and ongoing suffering in Afghanistan and Iraq and among US soldiers. It is ordinary people, especially women, young people and marginalized communities who always pay the greatest price for imperialist war. As a socialist elected representative, I will do everything in my power to prevent another disastrous war in the Middle East. And I look forward to the whole city council taking that position. In 2019, working people in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon both inspiring mass movements against poverty, corruption, ethnic oppression and authoritarian rule. However, now the threat of war with the US has undermined the momentum of these movements, especially in Iran, and strengthened the authoritarian Iranian regime. Instead of threats of war, we need a mass antiwar movement in the US and globally in solidarity with the movement in the Middle East. In drafting this resolution, my office looked to see if there was a precedent set by the City Council in 2003, when Bush drove the U.S. to war with Iraq, using similarly sketchy intelligence reports claiming imminent threat with no details. We were shocked. I was on I wasn't on the council in 2003. We were shocked to find a 2003 resolution that totally failed to oppose the war in any way, which I think really illustrates how our movement has now, in the current time, moved politics in this city and nationwide. Just to read the first few lines of the resolution passed on March 18, 2003, by the Seattle City Council, two days before the start of the Iraq War. It says, quote, A resolution in support of the men and women of the armed forces of the United States, expressing our pride in their service. Whereas the President of the United States has activated and deployed numerous men and women of the armed forces from Washington State and from Seattle to the war in Iraq, and to assignment in Afghanistan that are related to the ongoing war on terrorism. And. Whereas, their service in our armed forces is one of the highest traditions of American patriotism. This is on. These are the words of a progressive city council about a war started by George Bush. And so let's be crystal clear. It is dishonest for a ruling elite to engage that engages in endless imperialist war in order to apportion the spoils of global capitalism among themselves, while they exploit the majority to then turn around and talk about well-being and pride of the soldiers who are sent to fight their wars. The best way to keep your soldiers safe and protect their well-being is don't start endless war. Another casualty of war is the democratic rights of people at home. Border Patrol agents in Washington state are now targeting people of Iranian descent, including U.S. citizens. People have been detained and questioned for hours, including families with young children, as they return home to Seattle through the border in Canada, near Canada or the SeaTac Airport. We have heard personally from people who have had these experiences. My office spoke to a representative from the Port of Seattle, which is the government entity that operates the SeaTac Airport. First, we were told by them that there was no increased targeting of nor increased targeting of people of Iranian descent at Sea-Tac so far, which is clearly not true because we are hearing incidents that are happening. But then he they claim that this was what Homeland Security is claiming. He then told us that Homeland Security is expecting to start increasing its targeting of Iranian Americans at the airport. This is extremely concerning to us. But what the public should know is that this person, from this representative of the port then told my staff, I requested my staff member that we avoid the sort of peaceful, civil disobedience protest that we had organized at the airport in 2017, which was a protest that joined similar actions at airports around the country and which helped temporarily halt Trump's Muslim travel ban. My office has, of course, told them that we are not going to stop any civil disobedience protests at the airport. And in fact, if peaceful civil disobedience is required to protect our Iranian sisters and brothers, and that is exactly what we will do. And so it's my it's been my pleasure to work with many of the groups, including Veterans for Peace, the Council on American Islamic Relations. And I should also mention all the activists who are fighting for the India resolution are also strongly supporting this resolution. And I've been part of that as well. And. Alice. Thank you. Well, I want to thank everybody first for being here and taking time from your work day. If you needed to do that to be here. I know that's not easy. And I do want to say that I stand in solidarity with the people of Iran and heritage who have been unfairly targeted by our Border Patrol and law enforcement following the assassination of General Suleimani. Our neighbors should not be questioned or detained based on their ethnic, religious or cultural identities. Doing so follows the dangerous tradition of condoning race based discrimination, which we all know becomes enshrined in government policies that exclude people from their ability to pursue prosperity. We have governed based on fear before in this country, and it has led to shameful practices like entering our Japanese-American neighbors, who somebody spoke about earlier. And by questioning the loyalty of longtime residents who deserved their shot at safety and prosperity and opportunity. We know that Seattle must oppose any discrimination against immigrants and refugees and reject the escalation of war with Iran, which puts the lives of millions of Iranians, Iranian Americans and Muslims at large in greater danger. And I am supporting this resolution. Any other comments, Councilmember Peterson. Yes. Thank you to everyone for being here today. Taking time from your busy days to tell us your thoughts on these resolutions. I share the passion and views of my colleagues about these important matters, and I thank you for raising them. I appreciate that. Colleagues have spent many hours over the past week revising the original resolution. Every day I'm deeply troubled by the rhetoric and actions of the Trump administration. I will vote yes. And so I will vote in favor of this resolution, because, of course, it's wrong for President Trump to start a war against Iran. And of course, it's wrong for our federal officials to discriminate at the border, at our airport or anywhere. I will vote yes. And also, please allow me to ask that we try to not craft a city council resolution for every horrible thing that our president or any world leader does. I believe we can do the most good and deliver the best response as elected to City Council members by proving how well a government can be run. And by government, I mean the city government of Seattle. I believe we could research, right, review, debate and vote on a new resolution every hour of every day to counter every bad thing that President Trump or his administration does. But every minute, as a legislative body, we spend researching, writing, reviewing, debating and voting on these resolutions is a minute. We could be spending to reduce homelessness, to improve emergency medical response, to make sure we get through dangerous snowstorms, to oversee a city budget of $6.5 billion, spanning over 40 city departments, impacting over 700,000 people right here in Seattle. So. But I do support this resolution. We must speak out against these injustices. We should. I believe we can send letters of our support to congressional colleagues, to our Port of Seattle colleagues. But to take up time before and during city council meetings for all of these resolutions is a slippery slope where we could take our eye off the ball of running this city government. So, again, I'm voting yes. And I'm confident that our congresswoman, Pramila Jayapal and our U.S. Senators Murray and Cantwell and our esteemed port commissioners are more than capable of dealing with this situation with or without a city council resolution, which I will support today. Thank you. And as the proposer of the resolution, if there's no further, folks who want to talk about allow Councilmember Swann to close out debate. Thank you. In closing out, I wanted to respond to the comments made by Councilmember Peterson just now. He used terms like that. If we pass or if the council acts on resolutions such as the Iran resolution or the India resolution, that is somehow it's going to be a slippery slope and direct the city council away from the cities deaths in my in my view saying that the city council is in danger of passing a resolution on every injustice going on in the planet is a strawman argument. That is not what the City Council does. The purpose of these. The purpose of such resolutions as the two that have been brought forward from my office is not for. For me as an elected representative or someone else to take a pro forma or, you know, just in name only position against oppression and check off that box. The purpose is to use such resolutions as a tool to empower and build social movements, which is ultimately what makes the difference. We are. I as a city council member, I am under no illusion that simply by passing a resolution here, things are going to change. What the resolution does do is it empowers the movement to keep building. And we know that a yes vote on the India resolution from the City Council will not only empower the global movement against Modi's regime, but beyond that, actually, it is going to be nothing short of historic because it will be the first such position taken by a legislative body in the United States. And last. And as far. As the local questions are concerned and if there are any concerns by Councilmember Peterson that somehow we are not paying attention, let me tell you, I've been on the council for six years. The reason the city council continues to oversee an unprecedented crisis of homelessness and housing unaffordability is not because we are passing too many irrelevant resolutions , but it is because of the lack of moral and political courage to do what is needed urgently, which is to tax big business and find a major expansion. Tangible, publicly owned, high quality social housing as part of a Green New Deal program. The climate change and housing crisis are the two crises facing the city urgently, and that is why that is what we need to do. But passing resolutions is not the barrier. The barrier is a lack of courage, and that is why I hope everybody will join us. The Dogs Amazon Action Conference this Saturday at 10 a.m.. In favor of adopting the resolution as amended. Vote i. I. I. Those opposed vote no. The motion carries. The resolution is adopted as amendment amended, and. The chair will sign. Oh.