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The CHAZ Has Become America's Fascination
The Stranger describes it as an "anti-capitalist police-free Vatican City inside Capitol Hill." The New York Times deems it "part street festival, part commune." President Donald Trump alludes to it, via tweet, as a bastion for "anarchists" who "must be stooped [sic]."
Seemingly overnight, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone—or, "the CHAZ," as everyone's calling it—has become a local and national fascination. It was only Monday that the Seattle Police Department loaded up trucks and ditched the East Precinct at 12th and Pine, the site of tear gas-clouded confrontations between officers and Black Lives Matter-inspired protesters in the days after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. Protesters have since barricaded and transformed a cluster of city blocks into a mostly peaceful enclave of free food, face coverings, resistance art, educational town halls, and even some live music. Seattle Police Department chief Carmen Best says she's heard of armed people patrolling the area and businesses having to pay "protection" fees, but as of this writing, no formal police reports related to either situation have been filed.
At a time when cities are mulling the defunding and, in a few cases, abolition of their police departments, some people might be looking at Seattle's police-free movement with a mix of amusement and genuine curiosity: Is this communal version of the American experiment a blip, or is it a preview of what's to come in other population hubs this summer? For many, however, the questions are more fundamental: How long will the CHAZ (or the People's Republic of Capitol Hill, or Free Cap Hill, depending on your sign preference) stick around? And what are its aims?
Raz Simone, a local rapper, has apparently taken a leading role in declaring a several-block area of a residential Seattle neighborhood to be an independent revolutionary state called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (The CHAZ). Simone and a few friends, armed with several guns and a megaphone, have declared themselves the new police. He came to national attention on Wednesday when a video of him assaulting someone over graffiti came to light online.
[...] The president tweeted Wednesday and Thursday morning that the area has been taken over by a "Terrorist Warlord" and "Domestic Terrorists."
See also: The Future of Capitol Hill's New Autonomous Zone Is Predictable
Businesses Extorted? Armed Checkpoints on Capitol Hill? Yes, and Also Mercer Island Is for Sale
An Exceedingly Chill Day at the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone
(Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @07:07PM (7 children)
Bavarian Soviet Republic [wikipedia.org]. Bavaria is a state in Germany. At the end of World War 1 various forces managed to foment in a civil war in Germany. In the midst of that crisis, a group of communists and anarchists managed to overthrow the government of Bavaria and claim it for themselves. Wiki provides a general overview of what happened. However it does not provide the context of its relevance.
Bavaria descended into chaos extremely rapidly. And even though it existed as a sovereign nation for less than a month the leaders played into basically every single stererotype of far left ideology: rapidly confiscating guns, money, putting homeless into high end hotels, imprisoning the wealthy, putting employees in charge of every business (whose owners were now generally in prison) and rapidly running into shortages of pretty much everything with society collapsing rapidly. The state was eventually reconquered in large part by the paramilitary Freikorps. The Freikorps were a mixture between a German military unit and a private mercenary force. You might recognize some names from the Freikorps today such as Henrich Himmler or Rudolf Hoss. Bavaria would help set the stage for the rise of the Nazis in Germany: most of the leadership of the Bavarian Revolution were Jewish.
It's getting really really freaky how we seem to be reenacting so many things throughout history (many of which would ultimately lead to quite disastrous things) at such a stupid rapid pace. It's like we're not only repeating history but doing so on fast forward.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @07:19PM (6 children)
So, you're saying that whomever ultimately conquers this "free state" will go on to pursue genocide and start WWIII?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @07:41PM (1 child)
Hahah, I certainly wouldn't go that specific! But I do think people fail to consider that events do not happen in a vacuum. There are now hundreds of millions of people reacting to this event in various ways and that is going to radically shift people's window of perspective. By window of perspective I mean the range of ideas and concepts they think are even worth considering. Ultimately, it's going to embolden extremists on both the far left and the right. And how are people in the middle who are not especially inclined towards either side going to perceive such events? What sort of ideological direction will this event push them towards?
These are all rhetorical questions because while I have my opinion, I can see there being good arguments for both sides. The ultimately point is that events like this are going to reshape our nation in a much more profound way than I think many may be expecting. Many are just treating it like a game - kind of like when people heard that Chinese had some little virus outbreak. Many believed it couldn't happen to or spread in America and the primary argument seemed to be simply because it hadn't happened in over 100 years. Time unfortunately doesn't offer immunity. If anything, the hubris it builds can make us ultimately even more susceptible to repeating the same dumb games.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @08:13PM
As someone in the middle, I'm inclined to support liberty. That is, among other things, the ability for *everyone* to go about their daily life without worrying about gangsters, acting under the color of authority, harassing/beating/killing people -- for any reason.
How about you?
(Score: 1) by petecox on Friday June 12 2020, @08:20PM
Orwell's vision of an anarchist utopia on the streets of Barcelona lasted barely a few weeks and we know how that turned out.
Luckily the people of Seattle have Bill Gates to keep the peace. A weapon of last resort is his 5G deathray!
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday June 12 2020, @10:54PM (2 children)
Thesis -> progressives
Antithesis -> natsocs
Synthesis -> social democracy (i.e. control of corporation, small fish free to raise up some money until next crisis), one dimensional society, oppa georgia guidestones style.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @11:15PM (1 child)
Is this what happens when you get Hegel drunk and let him fall over sideways?
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Saturday June 13 2020, @12:38AM
At least he's not standing on his head, anymore. But as Marx said that Hegel said somewhere, everything happens twice: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. Marx was referring to Louis Napoleon, [wikipedia.org] but Trump is precedent, so the tone is set.