Through the Static

By Hannah Saunders

With pollen and mosquitoes circulating the air, Seattle Against War (SAW) and Nidal held a press conference and rally outside of Rep. Adam Smith’s Bellevue home on May 19 to speak out against a recently-passed ordinance that limits free speech. Last week, the Bellevue City Council passed Ordinance 6917, which prohibits three or more people from protesting at specific residences— which SAW has been doing to Rep. Smith for months to pressure him to stop funding the genocide against Palestinians.

“In this time of political repression and mass surveillance, Rep. Adam Smith has shown which side of history he stands on. So it is now up to us, the people of his district that must rise up to not let up on the pressure so that he actually represents his constituents and not just his fucking donors!” Rae Lee, an organizer with SAW, exclaimed.

Rep. Smith is a ranking member of the House’s Armed Services Committee, and SAW has repeatedly highlighted in its activism efforts how he has the power to alter funding in the Department of War and on-the-ground operations. Rep. Smith is the fourth largest recipient of Palantir funding, taking in $1.3 million and directly profiting off the genocide against Palestinians via these payoffs, according to SAW. The group has been demanding that Rep. Smith block all spending for the war on Iran, do everything in his power to end the war, implement an arms embargo on Israel, and launch an investigation into U.S. and Israeli war crimes.

Why show up to his home to protest? SAW organizers said they’ve exhausted other options; Rep. Smith now refuses to hold in-person town halls, forcing constituent questions to be screened for virtual meetings, and going unanswered. SAW believes Ordinance 6917 is a direct result of the group’s protests at his home, as several of Rep. Smith’s neighbors noted at the council meeting that they were woken in the middle of the night to noise, despite SAW being in accordance with the 9 p.m. noise ordinance. Those who engage in targeted residential protests in Bellevue will receive a gross misdemeanor, and may face fines or imprisonment.

“He’s weaponizing the laws of the City of Bellevue to shelter Adam Smith from his constituents,” another SAW speaker said, as about ten Bellevue Police Department officers were clustered in the driveway leading up to Rep. Smith’s home. “When Smith lines his pockets with the dollars of the billionaire and the Epstein class, he’s telling us which small groups are allowed to dominate the conversation.”

One person representing Nidal spoke to the small crowd, and said that Rep. Smith gets to live peacefully in his home in an affluent area of Bellevue.

“How sweet, Adam Smith. How sweet that you thought you could live undisturbed as you have funneled our tax dollars into the killing of our people in Palestine, our people in Lebanon, and Iran,” the speaker said. “Adam Smith: You want to sit here peacefully in your nice little home. You want to be in peace. Meanwhile, your war-loving ways have bombed almost 95% of the homes in Gaza.”

Protesters and activists will not stop showing up to his house, and the speaker from Nidal emphasized the importance of calling out politicians that do not represent the people’s interests. Rep. Smith is using his neighbors as a shield from backlash by constituents, and they said he has no respect for basic human values, so why should people have respect for this ordinance.

“If we don’t get no justice, then you don’t get no peace,” they said as the group cheered and whistled in support.

The U.S. and Israel are bombing Lebanon and Gaza daily, are assassinating resistance leaders, executing people who are imprisoned, building settlements, and encouraging mosque attacks. Rep. Smith and other politicians who have supported these wartime efforts are complicit in genocide, the speaker said.

“Adam Smith: I can’t promise that your ordinance will do anything, but what I can promise you is that every single day our valiant resistance in Palestine fights for their homes, their true dignified and ancestral homes in the midst of rubble, we the people will continue to show up at your doorstep! We promise you that!” they said as others cheered and chanted:

“The people United will never be defeated!”

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

Lee said that Democrats are no safer than Republicans, and that politicians, like Rep. Smith, are enabling the fascist regime, all of which needs to be called-out and fought against while people still have the power to do so. Ordinance 6917 is already in effect, and the Bellevue City Council has no plans to roll it back. Lee said people will not stop showing up to Rep. Smith’s home, and said masks will be fully unveiled if police prioritize arresting protesters when people are committing assaults and murder.

“Both the Democrats and Republicans, their plan is to have a system of mass surveillance and AI that runs it, and deportation machines, and incarcerations,” Lee said. “All of this is a package, because they know we are rising up, and they know that people are not going to stand for this anymore, so they’re trying to get this built in a hurry.”

Many activists see the passing of Ordinance 6917 as an erosion in the First Amendment’s freedom of speech, and this that lays down the groundwork for authoritarianism. Lee said SAW looks forward to finding new creative ways to resist despite this repressive new law.

People can connect and become involved with SAW on Instagram.

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