Seattle celebrated its 11th Indigenous People’s Day on Monday with a march through downtown that drew hundreds of participants under unusually bright skies and cool autumn temperatures.
Matt Remle, a Lakota activist who was instrumental in the city’s 2014 decision to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day, continues to organize and lead the annual event more than a decade later. Seattle was among the first major U.S. cities to make the change, setting a precedent that has since spread to communities across the country.
Marchers gathered Monday morning at the Federal building before proceeding through the downtown with the procession featuring drumming, traditional regalia, and banners honoring Coast Salish peoples. The event pays tribute to the Duwamish, Suquamish, Snoqualmie, and other tribal nations indigenous to the Puget Sound region.
The sunny and cool weather brought out a diverse crowd including tribal members, families, elders, youth, and community allies. Participants filled downtown streets as drums echoed between buildings and voices rose in prayer and song.
The annual march has become a fixture in Seattle’s October calendar, serving as both a celebration of Indigenous cultures and a reminder of ongoing efforts toward decolonization and tribal sovereignty. Organizers like Remle have maintained consistent participation over the years, ensuring the observance remains meaningful rather than symbolic.
Labor Day Protesters Target Palantir Over Surveillance Tech and Worker Rights
SEATTLE – Labor Day took on a more confrontational tone in the Seattle area Monday, as hundreds of protesters moved between two locations to denounce what they called connected systems of surveillance and worker exploitation. The day’s actions began outside data analytics company Palantir Technologies in Seattle’s South Lake Union district before continuing at Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Tukwila.
The demonstration, held on the federal holiday that has celebrated American workers since 1894, featured two particularly compelling speakers: a former Palantir graphic designer who quit after connecting their work to military operations, and a labor organizer who drew parallels between the company’s practices and historical struggles for worker rights in Washington state.
Historic Roots of Worker Solidarity
Labor Day itself emerged from 19th century labor organizing, first celebrated in New York City in 1882 through efforts by the Central Labor Union and Knights of Labor. The holiday became federal law in 1894 under President Grover Cleveland, notably chosen over the more radical May Day commemoration to avoid association with the bloody Haymarket affair in Chicago.
The choice of Labor Day for Monday’s protest carried symbolic weight, as speakers explicitly connected their fight against modern corporate surveillance to the historical labor movement that established the holiday. One organizer noted how their family’s three generations of timber work in Washington represented the same struggle against corporate elites that Labor Day was created to honor.
From Designer to Whistleblower
The former employee, who worked as a graphic designer illustrating surveillance technologies, described a jarring awakening after the Gaza conflict began. “I started looking into what I was really illustrating and working on, and what I found out horrified me,” they told the crowd. “Simple illustrations that I sent with proposals and that the Pentagon saw in real life, they look like dead babies near mosques and parks in public places in Gaza.”
The speaker criticized not only Palantir’s military applications but its expansion into commercial surveillance, arguing these “dragnet” technologies violate First and Fourth Amendment rights by monitoring where people go, who they meet, and what they say.
Generational Fight Against Corporate Power
Executive Secretary-Treasurer or Laborers Local 242, Katie Garrow, connected Palantir’s practices to Washington’s labor history, drawing from three generations of family experience in the timber industry. “East Coast elites like Peter Thiel, other oligarchs like Friedrich Weyerhaeuser, owned our forests,” they said, “but my family and thousands of other timber workers over those three generations, fought. They won their unions and they won middle class lives despite incredible odds.”
Garrow argued that current workers face similar challenges to those their grandmother fought, including environmental destruction and corporate control over workers’ lives. They specifically noted that federal workers have lost union protections and that Black workers face unemployment at twice the rate of white workers.
Tech Industry Transformation
In a striking proposal that echoed Labor Day’s original vision of worker empowerment, the labor speaker suggested that “security guards and janitors in these big tech offices can join…apprenticeship programs and become the programmers of big AI and tech.” This vision would fundamentally reshape the current hierarchy in South Lake Union, where service workers clean offices while tech employees develop increasingly powerful surveillance tools.
Connecting Corporate and Government Surveillance
The decision to hold actions at both Palantir’s offices and the ICE facility in Tukwila underscored protesters’ argument that corporate surveillance technologies and immigration enforcement represent interconnected systems of control. Speakers had emphasized how companies like Palantir profit from government contracts while developing tools that affect both immigrant communities and broader worker organizing efforts.
Broader Movement
The demonstration was part of what organizers described as a nationwide effort targeting Palantir offices across multiple cities. Speakers emphasized the need for in-person organizing beyond social media platforms, which they argued are themselves part of the surveillance apparatus they’re fighting against.
The protesters connected various issues – immigration rights, healthcare access, worker protections, and civil liberties – under the umbrella of opposition to what they see as Palantir’s expanding influence in both government and commercial sectors.
Labor Day’s evolution from a 19th-century call for worker solidarity to Monday’s tech-focused protest reflects how labor organizing has adapted to confront new forms of corporate power. As the holiday traditionally marks the unofficial end of summer and return to work and school, this year’s demonstrations suggest labor activists are preparing for intensified organizing efforts in the fall.
What began as a gathering of 15-20 healthcare workers and community activists quickly swelled to over 100 healthcare workers, union members, and supporters. The group first gathered at Harborview Park before marching through downtown Seattle. They made stops at Victor Steinbrueck Park and finally converged on Amazon’s headquarters.
Their message was urgent: looming federal Medicaid cuts threaten to severely reduce healthcare access. At the same time, they warned, billionaires stand to receive massive tax breaks. Speakers denounced this as “the biggest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in U.S. history.”
“We’re seeing billionaires grabbing everything they possibly can, leaving working-class and poor people to scramble for the crumbs,” said Kimela Vigil, a mental health practitioner and vice president of the Harborview Union. She linked the $4.5 trillion in proposed cuts to a broader agenda: “The dismantling of the legal system, attacking education systems, using the military to suppress free speech, all of those are the perfect formula for authoritarianism and fascism… We are in it right now… Our role is to resist, to not be complacent.”
The cuts threaten to reverse healthcare gains at safety-net hospitals like Harborview, where uninsured rates dropped from 12% to 3% under the Affordable Care Act. Now, Vigil warned, the hospital could “lose $8.4 million annually for every 1% of Medicaid patients shifted to uninsured status.” She accused lawmakers of deliberate timing: “They designed these cuts to kick in after the election so they won’t be held accountable.”
The human cost was made starkly clear by frontline workers. “Medicaid is not just for poor people, it is for everyone,” said Harborview RN Sam Conley. “When hospitals can’t get reimbursed for care, our whole system breaks down…When people can’t afford treatment, they don’t get better, they get sicker.” RN Naomi Morris shared a life-or-death example: “Right now I have a 13-year-old patient with diabetes. His care is funded by Medicaid. It’s the reason he continues to survive.”
The rally highlighted how proposed Medicaid cuts fit into a broader pattern of austerity measures, from the elimination of food assistance to reduced childcare funding, while corporations and enforcement agencies reap benefits.
“SNAP cuts have already spiked food bank visits by 200% since 2019,” said Carmen Smith, Executive Director of the White Center Food Bank. “This is not unique to White Center Food Bank. It’s a trend we’re seeing across Washington State and across the nation.”
Meanwhile, the bill triples ICE funding while shrinking child care subsidies. SEIU 925 shared the story of Nicolle Orozco Forero, an asylum-seeking daycare provider detained and deported just days before opening her business—along with her entire family, including her severely ill son.
Corporate tax breaks, dubbed the “Big Ugly Bill” by critics, further fueled outrage. “…the biggest transfer of wealth in American history,” said Sterling Harders, President of SEIU 775, “and yet Amazon has more workers who rely on Medicaid than any other employer in Washington State.”
Yolanda King of SEIU 1199 invoked the spirit of civil rights resistance: “My grandparents stood with Dr. King. They understood that they’re not going to give it to us, we have to take it. Today we are saying that we are going to take back what is ours. This country belongs to us. We are the people, and we need to make a demand.”
Girmay Zahilay, a King County Councilmember, delivered a blunt assessment of the cuts’ local impact: “The budget director of King County told us, there is no way that King County on its own can backfill the scale of cuts coming from the Federal Government.” Zahilay outlined stopgap measures, pointing to the county’s allocation of $1 million to shore up reproductive healthcare clinics after Medicaid cuts threatened Planned Parenthood and Cedar River Clinics.
But he stressed the disparity in resources: “We can use the tools that we have from the state legislator,” he said, referencing a newly passed criminal justice sales tax expected to generate $90 million annually for homelessness and behavioral health services. The state has also authorized a new sales tax, but Zahilay admitted the choice feels wrong. “It’s either use that regressive tax or allow devastating cuts to happen in our community that we can’t stomach,” he said.
Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates greater Seattle organizer Madeline Brown delivered stark projections about the Medicaid cuts’ impact: “These cuts to Medicaid are going to increase and are going to result in 200 clinic closures, 90% of which are going to be in access states like Washington.”
She warned of systemic consequences: “Our healthcare system cannot handle the influx of those patients…after the midterm election, we know that 17 million people are going to be kicked off of their healthcare.”
Brown concluded with the rally’s defining message, met with applause from healthcare workers in scrubs and union members holding signs: “When Republicans choose billionaires, we choose each other.”
Seattle activists with Jewish Voice for Peace staged a sit-in at the Palantir offices in South Lake Union to demand that Washington state sever financial ties with Palantir, accusing the tech giant of profiting from human rights abuses. “We demand that the Washington state investment board and our elected officials divest from genocide by cutting ties with Palantir,” organizers declared at the demonstration.
Speakers said Palantir’s software directly aids Israeli military operations in Gaza. “Palantir is selling surveillance technology to corporations and government, fueling fascism at home and the genocide in Gaza,” one protester said. “Palantir profits off the genocide in Gaza by providing advanced training artificial intelligence to the Israeli Government and the Israeli occupation forces. This means Palantir provides the technology to kill people…individual citizens who are starving and standing in lines trying to get aid and food for their families. More aid workers have been killed during this genocide than in all the wars of the last 30 years.”
Hossam Nasr, a former Microsoft worker who said he was fired “for organizing a vigil on campus to honor the lives of Palestinians,” spoke out about how major tech companies have become “effectively…weapons manufacturers.” Nasr, now an organizer with No Azure for Apartheid, said, “These tech companies have deepened the relationship with the genocidal Israeli military. They saw an opportunity in death and destruction and killing of Palestinians to make profits.”
Nasr singled out Palantir as “leading the charge…the most brazenly, the most explicitly, the most violently.” He added, “Their CEO is publicly saying they’re happy and proud that their technology is killing Palestinians, that their technology is being used to track and detain and kidnap our neighbors.”
He detailed how Palantir built its business by embracing government defense contracts. “Palantir said to hell with that. We are evil and we’re proud, and we’re going to partner with the government because we want to dominate, because we want to kill, because we want to achieve the government’s aims of imperialism,” Nasr said. “Their first…contracts were actually with the US government and the DOD to help them with the war in Iraq. And since then, they have deepened their partnership.”
Protesters warned that these surveillance systems now reach beyond war zones. “Most people don’t know that Palantir is here, let alone that it profits from death and surveillance,” one speaker said. Nasr pointed to Palantir’s $30 million contract with ICE, which he said is creating “a centralized database across the IRS, ICE, other government agencies…to make it easy for us to track and surveil and target people. It’s completely heinous, dystopian, Orwellian, and it is happening with our tax dollars.”
He added, “For them to identify what they claim are immigrants or refugees or whatever, they have to surveil everyone. Your data is in that system, even if you’re a law-abiding legal citizen.”
For two hours, activists blocked entrances and left just before police arrived to arrest them. Protesters pledged to keep organizing. “For far too long, these tech companies have wreaked havoc upon the world. With unity, we must pay our tribute to the Palestinian people and to all victims of US imperialism, and say no more,” they said. “We will not rest until Palestine is free from the river to the sea.”
SEATTLE—Washington’s healthcare safety net is under threat as federal lawmakers consider drastic Medicaid cuts that could leave hundreds of thousands without coverage and force hospitals to slash critical services. At a press conference today at Harborview Medical Center, state officials, healthcare workers, and families who rely on Medicaid shared stark warnings about the potential fallout.
Harborview Medical Center
A Lifeline at Risk
Harborview, the region’s only Level I trauma center for adults and children, serves patients from across the Pacific Northwest, many of whom depend on Medicaid. CEO Sommer Kleweno Walley didn’t mince words: “Cuts under serious consideration by Congress could now result in an annual loss for Harborview alone of hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s impossible to overstate the crisis that cuts of this magnitude would mean for Harborview and this states entire safety net.”
Harborview CEO Sommer Kleweno Walley
Governor Bob Ferguson laid out the numbers: Washington could lose $2 billion in federal Medicaid support over the next four years, leaving an estimated 200,000 residents uninsured by next year. Rural hospitals, already struggling, would be hit hardest. “There is no doubt that hospitals will close in Washington state, in rural and urban parts of our state. Nursing homes will close if this is approved by the United States Senate” Ferguson said. “Our state will change in fundamental ways if this goes through.”
Voices from the Front Lines
Jen Chong Jewell and son Gabriel
Jen Chong Jewell brought her son Gabriel, who relies on Medicaid for surgeries, therapies, and medical equipment. “Medicaid allows my son and so many other children and youth to live, be supported, and thrive in their communities.” she said, “We are more than a number or some data point, we are the expert on our own lives. “
Sam Conley, a nurse at Harborview for over a decade, described the real-world consequences of underfunded care. “I’ve already seen the consequences when patients can’t afford their care,” Sam said. “Diabetics who skip insulin wind up with thousands of dollars in emergency medical bills…Losing health coverage doesn’t make chronic health and illnesses disappear, it just forces people to go without treatement. Patients get sicker more often and stay in the hospital longer.”
Harborview nurse Sam Conley
A Political Fight Ahead
The proposed cuts, tied to broader federal budget negotiations, have drawn fierce backlash. Ferguson accused Congress of prioritizing tax breaks for the wealthy over healthcare for vulnerable Americans. “Last night Congress took an action that only be described as cruel and one that would harm many thousands of Washingtonians if approved by the Senate” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can to persuade the Senate to walk back from the brink of an action that would have truly dire consequences for many thousands of Washingtonians.”
Washington Governor Bob Ferguson
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell pledged solidarity, emphasizing Medicaid’s role in the city. “This is 73% of the funding for the Seattle Indian Health board, as an example. We anticipate that Medicaid cuts will affect 450,000 patients in King County.“
What Happens Next?
If the cuts pass, Harborview and other safety-net hospitals may be forced to eliminate services or even close departments. Walley warned, “Harborview board of trustees, and our King county elected officials will have to have some incredibly difficult conversations about what part of Harborview can stay open and what parts we have to rethink.”
For now, advocates are urging the public to contact lawmakers and share personal stories. As nurse Sam Conely put it: “Cutting Medicaid doesn’t reduce the need for healthcare, it just shifts the cost…In the end, taxpayers bear a larger burden and people face negative outcomes that could have been prevented.”
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Less than 200 supporters of Israel, some associated with the Christian church/corporation, Pursuit Northwest, met at Red Square at the University of Washington in an rally and march intended to disrupt the UW Palestinian Solidarity encampment.
While the 1000 who were expected never appeared, those who support Israel’s occupation of Palestine came ready to instigate, with some carrying brass knuckles or a taser. The encampment remained on their side of the barricade as Israeli supporters continued to encroach. Police from the University of Washington and Washington State Troopers kept the two separate at the beginning.
As the pro Israel march was re-routed away from the encampment, instigators made their way to the sides of the UW Quad in a feeble attempt to enter the Pro-Palestine area. Anti-fascists, also known generally as “black bloc” met the group at every entrance they tried to enter, and successfully defended the camp at the barricades. Some Pro-Israel instigators got close enough to have their flags snatched, which could have been avoided had they kept their distance. A taser was used by a Pro-Israel demonstrator who was subsequently pepper sprayed for his deployment of an (in this case) offensive weapon.
Ari Hoffman, a local activist known for his distaste of homeless people and those who demand an end to genocide, made his way to each entrance, filming and shouting at Pro-Palestine demonstrators. He was followed by his children and occasionally joined by disgraced journalist Jonathan Choe. Hoffman’s American flag was stolen and despite his pleas of desperation to UW police, all he received was a business card in return.
Despite the many attempts to start fights by the Pro-Israel side, the UW encampment kept them out, and the event ended without any arrests.
More than 1000 marched in protest of Israel’s targeting of Rafah. Rafah is the Southernmost region of Gaza at an area of 25 square miles, the same size as Renton, Washington. Rafah is also home to more than 1.2 million refugees, more than the population of Bothell, Seattle, and Renton, shoved into 25 square miles. The protest, while short in length, experienced rain, snow, sleet, and sunshine as it moved from Denny Park towards the ending destination at the Space Needle.
From the Falastiniyat Facebook page …”Seattle is home to major corporations, universities, politicians, and media that are supporting Israel’s genocidal occupation. But Seattle is also home to hundreds of thousands of people who firmly stand with Palestine and their struggle for liberation!
As Israel and the US threaten Rafah with invasion, the time is now to mobilize! No amount of repression and intimidation will stop us. Join us and continue to shut it down for Palestine! #shutitdown4palestine“
Nearly 100 demonstrators gathered outside the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room on Capitol Hill in Seattle to protest Starbucks and their alleged* support of Israel. After disrupting the full coffee business, customers were told to exit through side doors, all entrances were locked and workers were sent home through alley exits.
The protest then moved to Westlake Park by marching down Pine St. via Melrose Ave. Upon entering the area of the holiday event, a circle was formed in the street after meeting up with another group of pro-Palestine protestors. Using banners and the bike brigade to create space, the area between the Westlake stage and the tree became a protest area. Some tables were overturned as activists took over the stage to hold a banner. Despite some yelling from those there to see a tree with lights, there was little interaction between them and those protesting for human lives.
Activists took turns speaking about the atrocities in Palestine, some protestors released balloons with signs reading “Merry Genocide”, “Free Palestine”, and “Let Gaza Live”, and eventually the tree was lit, and the crowds began leaving.
*(A key element of Starbucks’ potential backing for Israel is found in its most prominent private shareholder, Howard Schultz. Recognized for his unwavering advocacy of Zionism, Schultz possesses a significant ownership stake in Starbucks and has actively endorsed Israel’s economic endeavors. Particularly noteworthy is Schultz’s high-profile investment of $1.7 billion in an Israeli cybersecurity startup named Wiz. This financial commitment underscores Schultz’s dedication to fostering Israel’s economic prosperity and technological progress, raising inquiries about Starbucks’ implicit alignment with Israeli interests.). https://fortune.com/2021/04/07/wiz-howard-schultz-investment-fundraising-cybersecurity-startups-starbucks-ceo/
According to Reuters, “Asked for comment, Starbucks referred to a statement on its website about its operations in the Middle East that was updated in October. The statement said the company was a non-political organisation and dismissed rumours that it had provided support to the Israeli government or army. Starbucks, which earlier this month reported record revenues for the fourth quarter, said it had nothing further to share on its business.” https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/boycott-campaigns-over-gaza-war-hit-western-brands-some-arab-countries-2023-11-22/
Some Pro-Palestinian organizations have called for an International Day of Action on Wednesday, November 8th 2023. The intent nationwide is to focus on “weapons manufacturing facilities” to include Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Elbit Systems, Amazon, HP and Microsoft.
From @resist.seattle on Instagram “Every year, U.S. war profiteers — Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Elbit Systems — fuel violence here and abroad by arming violent regimes in Israel, the Philippines, and local police departments across the United States. We choose to fight back. We call for an end to the genocidal siege on Palestine.”
The Dignity Virus 