A RESOLUTION reaffirming Seattle as a welcoming city, expressing the Seattle City Council’s solidarity with Seattle’s South Asian community regardless of religion and caste, and opposing India’s National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act.
Opposed. The bill passes and the chair will sign it. Please read the report to City Council. Item number one. The Report of the City Council and Adam one Resolution 319 26 reaffirming Seattle as a welcoming city, expressing the Seattle City Council solidarity with the Seattle South Asian community, regardless of religion and caste and opposing India's National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act. Wonderful, and this has been introduced by Councilmember Samant. Councilmember Swan, I'll ask you to do an intro to this and I understand there's an amendment. Councilmember Swan Thank you, President Mosquito And with your indulgence, I want to make several remarks and I appreciate in advance my colleagues were bearing up with that. And also I wanted to just add, as you said, President Mosquito, that Councilmember Lewis has an amended version of it, which I'm going to support. But before that, I want to make these comments. And also, if you would, let me make some closing remarks after others. Hoping that maybe we can have the majority of the comments at the end for the closing, if possible. Go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you. By approving this resolution, the Seattle City Council will show that the city's legislative body will stand with the widespread protest movement courageously facing brutal police oppression throughout India against a national register of Citizens, the NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Act, the CAA, which in tandem with each other, threatened to strip away the basic rights of hundreds of millions of people by approving. This resolution, the city council will go on the record opposing religious persecution and Islamophobia, the discrimination, scapegoating and oppression of Muslims, poor people and marginalized communities by the Hindu fundamentalist regime of the Bharatiya Janata Party, or the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra modi. By approving this resolution, the City Council must show that we understand that the fight against the right wing and bigoted agenda of the BJP and of Modi is not separate from, but in fact inextricably linked with the struggle of American progressives against the bigoted agenda of Trump and right wing Republicans. That we cannot fight Trump's Islamophobic agenda if we also do not oppose the rise of the far right globally. Only late last week, the Trump administration expanded the Islamophobic and racist Muslim travel ban to include six additional countries. By approving this resolution, the City Council urged the United States Congress to support legislation censuring the Indian BJP government for adopting policies that are discriminatory to Muslims, oppressed caste, women, indigenous and LGBTQ people. By approving this resolution, the City Council will draw historic line in the sand, recognizing the ominous similarities between the NRC and the CAA and the early Nuremberg laws enacted by the Third Reich in 1930s. Germany. Recognizing the credible news reports that the Modi regime has already put many people in the state of Assam in detention centers and at new detention centers. And prisons are being built as we speak. As a reminder to folks both in the room and to folks who are downstairs in the viewing audience. I know there's a lot of people who want to hear the details, so please continue with your hand motions. I am looking at your comments and folks downstairs that we can't see and please also respect the folks who want to hear the comments that are happening so that we can get through this. Customers want. Please continue. Thank you, president mosquito. Before the concentration camps and the death camps, the Nazis enacted the Nuremberg laws, including the Reich citizenship law, which redefined German citizenship to exclude Jewish people. The result was the isolation of Jewish communities, making them an increasingly easy target for scapegoating. The CIA and the Nazi have ominous echoes of these laws, as the board of directors of the Kadima Rican Reconstructionist Jewish community said in their statement supporting this resolution, quote, Within living memory policies closely parallel to these were among the first steps taken by the Nazi government of Germany in the 1930s and are now recognizable as the initial steps to the Holocaust. Policies such as these were central elements in centuries of systematic oppression of Jews, especially in Europe, unquote. On the other hand, if the City Council does not approve this resolution, it will send a chilling message that for elected officials like us taking a stand against dangerous policies that have outlines in them of past horrors only comes when it is convenient and when there is no political courage involved. I sincerely looking look forward to each one of us up here on the dais taking the morally correct action today by voting yes. It is ironic for the Modi regime that while they are attempting a deeply divisive tactic, it has ended up unifying Indians and Indian immigrants in a way that I haven't seen in my own lifetime. I want them nationwide. And yet please continue. Council members want and have emotions only. Please. I want to thank all the hundreds of Seattle's Indian immigrant community members who helped draft and push for this resolution. It has been a real movement from all parts of the Indian-American community Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and atheists across all guests from India have come together to voice their opposition to these discriminatory and unjust laws. I specifically wanted to commend the courage and leadership of members of the Dalit community in the Seattle region, because I know how much courage it takes for people from oppressed caste to speak out even outside India. Given how given how entrenched the system is, even in Indian communities outside India, I thank Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal for using her position to speak out against the atrocities in Kashmir. And I know she will be speaking out on the CAA, NRC issue as well. I specifically thank Redmond Councilmember, very shaken for coming here and speaking up in favor of the resolution. I thank leaders like Anila Afzali and the Muslim Association of Puget Sound. Our maps, the and many other organizations who have signed statements strongly urging that the council pass this resolution, including Amnesty International, Kadima community, as I mentioned before, Appalachia, One America, the Seattle City of Seattle LGBTQ Commission, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Indian American Islamic Council, the Group of 42 civil and human rights lawyers of South Asian origin living in the United States, who sent us a letter of support, as did hear us sing, who sent us a letter from a group of Sikh organizations and also Imam Muhammad of the Seattle area, Al-Furqan Islamic Center. Our movement here in the Pacific Northwest also sends a message of solidarity to the young people, students and workers all over India who are fighting back with mass ongoing demonstrations on university campuses and strike actions since December. Special mention of the courage of students at Jamia millia Islamia and the peaceful occupation of Shaheen Bagh. On January eight, there were united protests and strikes across India against authoritarian laws and against the devastating economic policies of the Modi government. This was the largest general strike ever in global labor history, with Bloomberg newspaper reporting that 250 million people from banks and transport services in the cities to farmers in rural areas stopped work to participate in the strike, grinding the whole country to a halt. It is telling that virtually no one who spoke against the resolution had anything to say about the National Register of Citizens. Last year in the Indian state of Assam, the BJP government created an updated national register of citizens. NRC people were forced to prove with documentary evidence that they were Indian citizens, and if one had even a modicum of honesty, one would have to call the documentation requirements under the NRC. Absurd on the face of it, and only logical when you see that it seeks to fulfill the specific agenda of snatching away citizenship rights from large numbers of people. The NRC rules for documentation require that if you were born before 1971, like myself, if you have if you have to have your birth certificate. But if you were born after 1971, like myself, I mean, in other words, if you are younger than 48 years old, you must have pre 1971 documents with your parents or grandparents name on it and documents proving your relationship with your parents and grandparents. According to these rules. According to these rules, someone like myself, who was born after 1971, would actually be unable to provide the required documents. So what the Modi government found through the pilot project they did in the northeastern state of Assam is that it is impossible to carry out the NRC without also rendering large numbers of Hindus stateless unless the BJP found some way to target it directly on Muslim Indians. That is the reason for the Citizenship Amendment Act, the CAA, which gives citizenship without documents to people of some religions, including Hindus, but specifically not to Muslim people. So because I happen to have a Hindu name, even though I don't have the documents, even though I was born after 1971, I will still get my Indian citizenship under the NRC update, despite not having the documentation. The BJP government claims that the CAA is a humanitarian act aimed at supporting persecuted refugees, and the NRC is nothing to worry about, but the experience in Assam proves otherwise. Also, if the CAA were truly about refugees, why is the regime building detention camps? Why doesn't it allow refugees to come to India instead of retroactively applying to people who immigrated before 2014? If the CAA allows Indian citizenship for oppressed religious minorities in three neighboring countries, why does it pointedly overlook the oppression of the Shia Ahmadiyya muslim communities in those countries? If it was all about supporting refugees, why does it exclude persecuted minorities and other countries in the region, such as the Rohingya people who are predominantly Muslim, who are facing genocide in Myanmar and the Tamils of Sri Lanka who happened to be the largest refugee group inside India. Unlike Modi's BJP government, our movement, our movement truly supports the right of all refugees, regardless of their religions, and we do not support overt religious discrimination. I will close my comments for now and then you'd like to comment at the end. Thank you. Very much. Council Member Lewis. Okay. This is the first warning I'm going to give to warnings. I've already given a precursor. We are going to get through this. Please continue to use your hand gestures as you have so that we can get through this customer. Lewis, I understand that you have an amendment. Would you like to introduce amendment? Yes. Thank you, Madam President. Pro tem. I am seeking to introduce an amendment I believe is the only amendment on this afternoon to the resolution 31926. I believe that amendment has been circulated for council members to consider and review. It adds just one clause into section two of the resolved sections to change the language well, to rather add language. For us to be calling on Congress to take action in response to our resolution, rather than just sending what we're sending to the Indian government. The basis for that request is that I tend to think that when we engage in these resolutions that involve things outside of the jurisdiction of the city of Seattle, I think it's more in our wheelhouse when we are calling on our federal representatives who are charged with negotiations with other countries in international relations to take the formal action rather than us ourselves to be communicating with the Modi government. So I think that this amendment helps us to capture the same attitude as the underlying resolution, but just making sure that we are targeting it towards folks that are in a position to do something about it. I would add, and this might have actually been a good amendment for a whereas clause that Congresswoman Jayapal has been leading on similar issues and introduced resolutions in the House on this. So I think that actually this is a resolution that would be received probably well by Congresswoman Jayapal. So wonderful. That's the basis of the amendment. And I do. So move it. Okay. And then again, in advance of moving the amendment, let me go ahead and put this on our docket for for official consideration. I'd like to move to adopt resolution 31926. Is there a second? It's been moved. And second, that the resolution be adopted. Now, I'd love to entertain that motion for your amendment, if you could do that again for me. And I do. So move my amendment, Amendment one four on resolution 31926 to be considered. Great. Then it's been moved and seconded that that resolution be amended as presented in amendment number one. Are there any other comments on Amendment number one as outlined by Councilmember Lewis seeing? None. I'd love to have a vote on this. All those in favor of the amendment as outlined by Councilmember Lewis amendment number one vote I and raise your hand I any oppose none. Any abstentions? None. There are five eyes, as I see it up here, and that means the motion carries the resolution is adopted. I'd like to now see if there's any. I'm sorry. Not the resolution. The amendment was adopted. Thank you very much. For the parliamentarians in the room. The amendment has been adopted to the motion. So now we have in front of us the amended resolution. Amended resolution 31926. I'd like to entertain any further comments on the resolution as amended. I have a comment. Yes, thank you, Councilmember Morales. So last week, this body passed a resolution that offered a generic condemnation of all current and future oppression happening in the world. I opposed that resolution. Even though it did acknowledge that there was oppression happening in India and it was in reference to this resolution. As a Mexican-American woman, it's unacceptable to me not to speak out against the tragedy that is happening on our southern border against families who are desperate to find a better way of life. It is also unacceptable not to speak against the targeting on our northern border. Now, as we know that folks are being targeted for being Muslim as they come into this country. And I have to say that as a Jew, it was not lost on me that that resolution passed on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Hmm. It's important that we stand up for human dignity, for the right of people to find refuge from violence, regardless of their religion. India is a secular country, and I have to say that every comment I heard today, most of the comments I heard today had an undertone of religious intolerance. I think we need to speak up against that. A program that detains people because of their faith. Like our own shameful Muslim bans must be rejected. As elected leaders in our community, we have an obligation to speak up against oppression regardless of where it's happening. And I do want to read a quick paragraph from a letter that we got from One America this morning. Please go ahead. From the executive director, Rich Stoltz. It says, I understand that there has been some discussion as to whether non-binding resolutions condemning oppression in other parts of the world are worth the council's time to the communities that one America works with. These issues are extremely close to home. Resolutions like these provide a vital opportunity to demonstrate that their communities matter and that the world is taking notice of their plight. And for this resolution, there is an obvious parallel to the laws, to these laws and what the current U.S. federal government is attempting to achieve in its immigration policies. I think it's important that we ensure that our own constitution in this country protects people from discrimination, especially if they're seeking refuge. And as an elected leader, I think it is our obligation to speak up when we see tragedies happening across the globe. This resolution urges India, the largest democracy in the world, to uphold its secular constitution and reject discriminatory policies. And I intend to support it. Thank you, Councilmember Morales. Are there any other comments? Yes. Councilmember Lewis. Thank you, Madam President. Pro tem. So, you know, I was not prepared to vote on this resolution when it previously came before the council. You know, having done my own independent research, having accepted a considerable number of emails from folks who have been providing feedback on this from the community, you know, I am prepared today to vote in favor of this resolution as it has been amended. Well, you know, it sounds like I'm probably not going to get elected to the Lok Sabha. But I got to say that in looking into the issue more and looking at two and more in depth, a lot of organizations that I'm very favorably disposed to have reached similar conclusions on the CAA is what the resolution has adopted. The economist of which I follow the editorials can very closely too, has editorialized and opined against the CAA. You know, I did not run for Seattle City Council to pass resolutions regarding international matters. I do not intend, in my own practice here on the dais probably to propose resolutions like this. But the question hasn't been posed to me. The people of District seven did send me here to vote and offer a position when they do come before me. There is no other option for me than to support this resolution and call the CAA what it is. I will therefore be voting in favor of the resolution today. And I thank you, Councilmember Swan, for bringing this forward. Thank you, Councilmember Lewis. Any other additional comments? Are there any additional comments? Councilmember So Sawai, I believe you would like to close this out. I will also just go ahead and acknowledge that it has been important from my perspective as an elected official to make sure that we are raising issues that are of significance both here at home, nationally and internationally, and having both been elected for the last two years and also previous to that, being being an advocate for human rights and labor standards, working families. It is important when people take up resolutions, even if it is not within the confines of the borders of the municipality that's being considered. We have had cities, states, Congress take up resolutions condemning injustice. In many different levels. And I would welcome any country who wants to raise questions, condemn U.S. policies of incarcerating children, of separating families, of enacting wars, of aggression, a person pursuing oppression and occupation in countries around the world. I welcome that type of criticism when it is in our country, and I think that it is important to raise concerns when we see injustice in other countries or in other areas. Even here in Seattle, our words have an important impact across the globe and also locally. I do want to acknowledge many of the organizations that you mentioned and also say to folks who both testified today and who have expressed concern, we did receive your messages. And I know many of you been waiting for a long time to speak. We've also heard from a number of the organizations that councilmembers want mentioned, including individuals who were not able to speak who I know are downstairs. I want to say that I understand that you have been waiting a long time to speak for the folks in this room that didn't get to speak. And downstairs and I really do appreciate you coming forward. This is something that I think Councilmember Lewis referenced, that council, that congressional woman, Jayapal, has been very clear to outline her concerns. And I would encourage folks to look at The Washington Post opinion piece that was published on December 23rd, where she articulates the concerns around the CAA and the NRC. So I think that this is something that is not an individual pushing a certain resolution. This is a community effort that we have heard from. And also at the national level, we know that there are many people that have raised this issue. I will be in support of this resolution. I look forward to you closing us out and then we will move to a vote. Thank you, President Mosqueda, especially for recognizing that this is not something that's coming from an individual. But this has been a tremendous community effort and I also greatly appreciate the powerful comments from yourself and from Councilmembers Morales and Lewis, and I hope that this resolution's passage will provide inspiration for other legislative bodies like city councils and state legislatures to do the same as well. And I also wanted to add that such resolutions, as important as they are, will not be sufficient to defeat Modi and BJP and Trump agenda. You know, we are facing similar questions, as you all have echoed about how do we defeat Trump? And there are lots of similarities. Trump and Modi even held an odious joint rally last year in Texas called Howdy Modi. Both Modi and Trump won their election not because their xenophobia and Islamophobia majority support in either country, but because of the complete failure of the political establishment to address the needs of ordinary people, people who hate the BJP voting for them in the election last year. This is the third and final warning. This is the third and. Final one in a pro tem. I'm I would support you. Clean the chamber. Go ahead. Council member. Speak to the. Council members. What council members want please. Do you hate that hated the BJP actually ended up voting for them in the elections last year because they saw no alternative after all. Right. Do you want to continue after that. After decades of open corruption? All right. The chair has asked the meeting to come to order, and order has not been resolved. If you do not resolve this and come to order, the room will be cleared. I know folks want to hear this. The room will be cleared or individuals will be asked to leave. Is the security present. Okay, Councilman. Hey. Security guards. I will ask that the individuals who are yelling, please be removed from the room if they do. If they do, they are welcome to stay. They want. People who hate the BJP ended up voting for them in the elections last year because they saw no alternative. After decades of open corruption, privatizations and neoliberalism by the Indian National Congress Party. They continue. You can read. So you don't have to clear the room. I think they're leaving on their own. Excited about. Sir. You don't mind to calm. And that people are taking their own initiative to leave. Thank you for. How can you be like, sir? You make the Americans. Want you very much. Whereas you we. Understand that some folks have decided to leave. They are welcome to leave. Folks who are willing and interested in hearing the rest of the comments are welcome to stay those who are being disruptive. We appreciate them walking out on their own accord. But we need to continue with this. We have about three more minutes until we have to get to this last item. So if you want to wrap us up, that would be appreciated. Okay. I'm going to get on it in security. I mean, the vote. Okay, at this point. But at this point, we greatly appreciate those who have stayed in the audience and for the viewing audience. Some individuals have chosen to leave, so we are going to go ahead and ask security to let the folks who are still being disruptive get out of the room. Great counsel, colleagues, the sponsor of the resolution has asked that we go ahead and consider the resolution in front of us. At this point, I would like to ask if there are any further comments you're seeing none. All those in favor of. Leaving for once again. All of those and all of those in favor of adoption of the resolution as amended, please vote. I. I. Any abstentions. Our guys saw no abstentions and no opposition. There was five votes in favor. The motion carries the resolution as adopted and as amended is adopted and the chair will sign it. Okay. We still have some more items on our agenda. We are going to go to item three through seven items, three through seven. I know. I can skip it. Can I get it? Oh, I can't skip it. Okay, great. We have a few more items on our agenda. I'd like to quickly do item number two, because I understand there's been a change in the agenda that's been suggested. Before we do that report of the Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee, please read the report. Okay. I've got it. Let's do that. Because we have a hard time deadline for our council colleague who needs to leave it for. I would like to move that. We hold item two until after consideration of items three through seven and we will come back to item two at that time.