Socialist v. Billionaire

Means TV
3 min readNov 5, 2021

New documentary about Kshama Sawant’s battle for Seattle City Council reelection and Jeff Bezos’ efforts to stop her premieres today

Nov. 5, 2021

What’s it like to face off against one of the world’s richest men?

A new documentary premiering on Means TV today gives you a chance to find out.

Kshama Sawant blazed a trail as Seattle’s first elected socialist in 100 years

Your Boss & Your Landlord Vote goes behind the scenes of the re-election campaign of Kshama Sawant, the socialist Seattle City Council member who Jeff Bezos spent a record-breaking $1.5 million trying to defeat.

In a David vs. Goliath story, Sawant blazed a trail as Seattle’s first elected socialist in 100 years. Since then, her office spearheaded victories that led the way for socialists nationally, including the first $15 minimum wage in a major U.S. city, the Amazon Tax, and landmark renters rights victories that have Seattle’s real estate lobby in an uproar.

As Sawant runs for re-election in 2019, it’s clear that Bezos and the corporations that own Seattle are fighting with everything they have to take down the movement.

Can a socialist candidate overcome these challenges and win?

This is a story about power not ceding without a fight, and about the people willing to fight.

Your Boss & your Landlord Vote premieres today for free on Means TV.

Watch now for free.

Learn more about Kshama Sawant and support the campaign: https://www.kshamasolidarity.org/

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Filmmaker Bios

Derek Knowles is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. His most recent films have explored the aftermath of climate disaster — After the Fire, which tells the story of his hometown following devastating wildfires, was made in partnership with the Tribeca Film Institute, premiered at Big Sky and broadcast on PBS, and Last Days at Paradise High, a coming-of-age portrait of high school seniors after California’s most destructive fire, premiered on The New Yorker and at festivals like San Francisco International. His work increasingly explores the politics of public space and highlights the revolutionary power of small, everyday acts of kindness. Derek graduated with a degree in American Studies and a minor in Film Studies from Stanford University.

Luke Wigren was thrown into filmmaking as co-directer of Reconquest of the Useless, an Amazonian travelogue retracing Werner Herzog’s diary from Fitzcarraldo. The bilingual film screened in Thessaloniki, Havana, Zurich, Woodstock and Mexico City. He has a Race and Ethnic Studies degree from Stanford and wrote his thesis on dismantling racism and class segregation in the global tourism industry. His recent films take place closer to home, working on short documentaries about his mom’s last day as a United States letter carrier, Seattle icons Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix, and the 50th Reunion of Stanford student anti-war activists.

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Means TV is a post-capitalist streaming service with a library of feature-length movies, documentaries, series and more.