Activists seize control of Seattle neighborhood, declare “autonomous zone.” | Hacker News Reader

Activists seize control of Seattle neighborhood, declare “autonomous zone.”

city-journal.org

16 pointsaazaa31 comments

"On the new rebel state’s first night, the atmosphere was festive and triumphant. Hooded men spray-painted the police station with slogans and anarchist symbols, renaming it the “Seattle People’s Department East Precinct.” Raz Simone, a local rapper with an AK-47 slung from his shoulder and a pistol attached to his hip, screamed, “This is war!” into a white-and-red megaphone and instructed armed paramilitaries to guard the barricades in shifts. Later in the night, Simone was filmed allegedly assaulting multiple protestors who disobeyed his orders, informing them that he was the "police" now, sparking fears that he was becoming the de facto warlord of the autonomous zone. A homeless man with a baseball bat wandered along the borderline and two unofficial medics in medieval-style chain mail stood ready for action."

This sounds like the real world version of a Shadowrun game lol. Honestly the city's response was probably appropriate, let them LARP for a while until they run out of bottled water or whatever.

Maybe if they LARP hard enough, the PNW will get their own version of Freetown Christiania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania

That's quite an uh, emotive take. IMO this article gives a more informational view of the situation: https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racia...

A friend lives in Seattle and texted me today about his visit last night:

> I was there last night and it's such a cool pseudo utopian place

> The media coverage of it is WILD

> People on the internet are convinced it's protected by armed guards and people are dying of hunger and instead its...like a music festival campground

> There are speakers, musicians, art walls. I took a group pic for a bunch of black guys last night and they were so proud of what was built because they felt like they fought for it, which in a sense, they did.

I was also there last night and agree with your friend. I didn't personally see anyone with a gun, no one asked me for ID, and no one tried to charge me an entrance fee. The vibe is a cross between a summer block-party and a music festival: lots of street art, music, barbecues, canvassers collecting signatures for petitions, people planting a community garden. I saw several people I know from around the neighborhood who, if they have secret connections to Antifa, have done a remarkable job of hiding them.

The disparity between my firsthand experience and the way that this is reported in the media has been eye-opening.

> The disparity between my firsthand experience and the way that this is reported in the media has been eye-opening.

I haven't read much about this zone, but I don't think I'd trust "City Journal" to describe it accurately. The HTML title of their front page is:

> City Journal | Urban Affairs Magazine | Conservative Magazine Online

Their front page is full of articles pushing back against the current protest movement, from pretty much every angle possible:

> Racism Is An Empty Thesis

> False Prophets: If you really want to help black America, don’t look to Black Lives Matter.

> Repudiate the Anti-Police Narrative

> The Cost of Bad Intentions: Progressive policies threaten a new era of urban dysfunction.

> Why We Need the Police

> Behavior Matters: Why some people spend their lives in poverty and social dysfunction

>> People on the internet are convinced it's protected by armed guards and people are dying of hunger and instead its...like a music festival campground

If the internet is to be believed, it's been scientifically proven that anyone in an any area that deviates from capitalism immediately starts starving in a gulag.

This article is a complete misrepresentation:

- There is no "battle" between SPD and protesters. SPD was trying to quash protests, which resulted in a public backlash. SPD then decided to stop trying to control protesters and left the east precinct. the "autonomous zone" is simply what the protests are calling the new police void.

- There is no actual evidence of material being thrown at SPD. With all the footage recorded, it would be on video, but all we see is flashbangs and tear gas. The "IED" was a photo of a smashed votive candle, presumably found on the ground.

- The article seeks to find and name "leaders". There are no leaders, the autonomous zone is just a bunch of people doing stuff, where there is no police presence.

- There is no sign that Anitfa is involved at all. This is just a boogyman.

Hey, I live in Seattle and my (not WeWork) coworking space is in the CHAZ. Pretty much all of the press coverage feels like a broadcast from another dimension when I compare it to the place itself: mellow and kind of boring. The only real risk is that some wing of the government will send in uniforms or agitators. If that doesn't happen, I think they'll just do stuff like grow vegetables in Cal Anderson Park. Capitol Hill is usually a pretty fun and mellow place, so if outside forces don't change that it'll just keep on keeping on.

I'd be very interested to see how long this actually lasts. It's easy to keep what is essentially an ungoverned commune going for a "long music festival" length of time. Let's see how well it works over the course of months/years once tragedy of the commons kicks in and whatever "governing council" emerges suddenly realizes the only way to actually enforce rules on everybody...is with force.

Plus, something like this seems ripe for "mob justice" when someone with contrary opinions decides they'd like to live in the "freedom zone". Wasn't there just a video circulating of a guy being run out of town because they crowd didn't like what he was saying? Who in this utopia decides which opinions are/aren't allowed and how do they enforce that? What happens when an innocent person gets accused of a crime, but since there's no legal system (without the threat of force to back it) the majority decides to take their own justice?

Where are all the "antifa" labels coming from? I've not seen any actual evidence that there is any antifa involvement at all.

There's more than one activist group in the USA guys.

> Where are all the "antifa" labels coming from?

An organized effort to undermine public support for the Black Lives Matter protests, and to create an enemy to justify over-the-top police actions.

For example: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/nyregion/who-is-martin-gu...: "The president and his allies have often tried to place anti-fascists and other “outside agitators” at the center of the protests as a way to delegitimize them and to deflect from the fact that the vast majority of the demonstrations have been peaceful."

> I've not seen any actual evidence that there is any antifa involvement at all.

There isn't any.

That's just how Seattle rolls. They've done it before, and they'll do it again. More power to them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_General_Strike

Some people associated with it have recently put up their own website: https://caphillauto.zone/

You can watch live footage of the zone, read their demands, and see the answers to some FAQs.

There is a lot of purposeful misinformation going around - rumors of food shortages, extortion, and "paramilitary death squads." These aren't true, to say the least.

How do you know that the local shops aren't being extorted? You think the shop owners consented to this takeover?

Is it really far-fetched to believe that these shop owners expect violence to their property and possibly their person if they do not participate?

> How do you know that the local shops aren't being extorted?

of course it is, like, physically possible that that's happening. There's just no evidence of it happening, so there's no reason to believe it.

How do we know you don’t have a girl in your basement tied up?

That’s not how things work.

Because the local shops have said that they're not being extorted. They're happy to have all the local business.

I'm a socialist (not normal though more libertarian/non-statist), and support this sort of thing, generally. I'm like not opposed, let's say. However, I feel it's kind of a distraction at this specific moment, from what's going on and may actually hinder the BLM movement or at least stifle it's momentum...

I mean: A. Cops give you a sandbox to play in, you claim it. You love it. You're not annoying the neighbors.

B. You peacefully march through the richest neighbors day/night, and a different area each day bringing awareness to people from multiple places and on multiple fronts... While marching they should also be doing a HUGE voter driver and GTVO (I'm green party, but doesn't matter we need people to give a damn enough to vote whether for Biden or Howie).

an aside, lol the website sounds like it's for an auto-zone... They need to pick a better name.

People can do multiple things. Just the other day they went from the Autonomous Zone down to City Hall.

There's a ton of people signing petitions and sharing information down there, it's not just a block party.

And yeah the website name is not great. :P

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