A member of the Anchorage Party for Socialism and Liberation has signed up to take the microphone at the beginning of the Anchorage Assembly meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 19, when he plans to give remarks critical of Israel.
Michael Patterson, according to his application asking for the privilege of the floor, plans to ask for a resolution calling for a cease fire between Hamas and Israel, and calling for an end of U.S. funding to Israel, which he calls an apartheid state.
On the Anchorage Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Facebook page, the group is asking people to write to Assembly Chair Chris Constant: “The people demand a cease fire resolution. The Anchorage Assembly has remained silent about the genocide in Gaza. We demand more from our elected leaders….email Assembly Chair, Chris Constant and demand that he introduce a Palestine solidarity resolution. In the subject of your email put, ‘Your Silence is Disturbing. Silence is complicity and the people demand that Anchorage stands on the right side of history.'”
Patterson has appeared on the podcast of Rep. Andrew Gray, who describes Patterson as “an outspoken communist, community organizer, and one of the founders of Anchorage’s ‘pre-branch’ of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, (PSL). He discusses growing up in East Anchorage, his time in the army, his political awakening, and the socialist movement here in Alaska.”
Listen to the podcast with Gray and Patterson here (runs 46 minutes).
In 2018, Patterson was involved with the Democratic Socialists of America Electoral Committee, making his appearance at the Anchorage Assembly a partisan activity.
Signing up for public testimony gives members of the public priority during Assembly meetings, so they don’t have to wait until the end of the meetings, which can run as late as midnight.
The Assembly meeting will take place at 5 pm in meeting room on the ground floor of the Loussac Library, at the corner of 36th Avenue and Denali Street in Anchorage.
The Assembly will also consider a $700,000 grant to the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, which is run by Assembly Vice Chair Meg Zaletel. The coalition has been given millions of dollars by the Assembly but has nothing to show for its work, other than political power.
