Vol. 77/No. 17      May 6, 2013

Edwin Fruit, SWP candidate for Seattle City Council Position 6, campaigned among workers visiting family members incarcerated at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, at an April 13 protest there. The center is a 1,000-bed privately owned jail run for the Department of Homeland Security where undocumented workers are held prior to deportation.

“We join the call to close these jails and to legalize all undocumented workers,” Fruit told protesters. Among other measures working people need to fight for to strengthen and unify our class is “a public works program to put millions of unemployed back to work,” he said.

“You are trying to get out a message, aren’t you?” one participant asked Fruit, and pulled out $20 to help him get on the ballot.

“I am all for the working people,” Charles Watson, a retired Teamster, told Mary Martin, SWP candidate for Seattle mayor, when she knocked on his door April 6. He bought a Militant subscription and a copy of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power. “Let me know about any meetings you have,” he said.

Two Internet news services, Seattlemet and Crosscut, have reported on the socialist campaign.

The candidates are well on their way to raising funds required for ballot status. Martin needs $1,800 and Fruit $1,200. The funds for John Naubert, SWP candidate for port commissioner, have already been collected. Martin and Fruit are about 50 percent toward their goals, with a mid-May deadline.

They are seeking donations of $25 or less, so they don’t have to disclose contributors’ names. “The candidates are turning restrictive state requirements into an opportunity to reach out,” Martin told the Militant.
 
 
Related articles:
Socialist Workers campaign: Legalize! Organize! Unionize!
 
 
 
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