by Hannah Saunders
The Cascadia Democratic Action is hosting a panel discussion on Oct. 14 from 7:30-8:30 p.m. at the Seattle Anthenaeum to explore topics on resisting fascism, including Indigenous sovereignty and soft secession tactics. One of the speakers is Andrew Engelson, an award-winning advocacy journalist with over two decades of experience and an organizer with Cascadia Democratic Action. Engelson told TtS that one of the most pressing ways to push back against the Trump regime this election season is voting by dropbox rather than by mail, as the feds have “decimated,” our postal service.
Washington officials are preparing for voting interference this November, and have announced some protective measures, as previously reported by TtS. A resource guide on state and federal authorities during elections was distributed to polling stations earlier this fall. There is also a chance of armed federal agents turning up to polling sites across the nation, and on Sept. 14, Democrats and activists announced the “New Battlefield Project,” which is working to recruit 10,000 volunteers who will be tasked with guarding the stations.
“If ICE shows up at ballot boxes, we need rapid response networks to alert people and show up, and vote against the repeal of the millionaire’s tax,” Engelson said. “We need fiscal independence, and wealth taxes help us achieve that.”
Engelson will discuss soft secession tactics with Christopher Armitage, a legal scholar and Spokane-based journalist. Such tactics include withholding money from the federal government if they choose to keep illegally blocking funds dedicated to Washington, and “creating a state bank to help keep funds here in Washington, rather than in global banks, like Wells Fargo, that finance Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza,” Engelson said.
Nadine Maestas, an Indigenous and Queer poet who teaches at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle University and at UW Bothell, will talk about how tribes and First Nations in Cascadia “have sovereign rights that pre-exist colonial borders,” Engelson said. He added how they will learn about how those sovereign rights are being used to protect local ecosystems, like rivers, and more.
“We can learn a lot from Indigenous Nations that have existed here long before colonization,” Engelson said.
The Seattle Athenaeum is located at 93 Pike Street #307.
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