Anarchy in Seattle--Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

[Emily's Cat]

Unrest continues for a seventh day in former British colony

Oh that was awesome. "Former British Colony" had me laughing, it's such a different way for me to think about it.

 

[Emily's Cat]

"Blackgangland". Seattle?!? Array the laughing dogs.

Not just Seattle... Capitol Hill.

 

[Stout]

Oh yea, Capitol Hill The vibrant center of Seattle’s LGBTQ community, gentrified, techie, super progressive yet those racist bastards are so unhappy with the BLM protests that they're suing the city over their failure to get the lowlife scum out of their neighbourhood.

Anyways, it appears the City is taking action, too bad it took the CHOP vigilante police force going all The Gauntlet on a pair of black kids to prompt it.

 

[arthwollipot]

Well that was certainly a unique view of the current situation. Not exactly inaccurate, but an odd way of phrasing things. Is this how the rest of the world view the U.S.?

Oh, you would be horrified if you knew how the rest of the world views the US.

 

[Emily's Cat]

Oh yea, Capitol Hill The vibrant center of Seattle’s LGBTQ community, gentrified, techie, super progressive yet those racist bastards are so unhappy with the BLM protests that they're suing the city over their failure to get the lowlife scum out of their neighbourhood.

Honestly can't tell if serious. Your framing here seems to exhibit a meaningful departure from the presentation in the article you linked to.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

...

Should be simple enough, investigatively. Any slugs recovered from these alleged shots? Shell casings in the car? Residue on the fingers of the shot up guys? Short fast trip to showing they even could have shot that day based on residue alone. ...

Which is one reason why I said wait for the evidence to get sorted out.

 

[Marcus]

Oh that was awesome. "Former British Colony" had me laughing, it's such a different way for me to think about it.

You can just feel the UKians pining for the old days , when the Brits ruled the world. No doubt we will be in the same position when the Chinese take over.

 

[Stout]

Honestly can't tell if serious. Your framing here seems to exhibit a meaningful departure from the presentation in the article you linked to.

Sure, it's a little over the top but it raises the question why these people who could be reasonably expected to support an action like CHOP when it's at a distance are up in arms when it's happening on their doorstep.

It's got to happen on somebody's doorstep, right.

 

[Delphic Oracle]

Static occupation is an endgame move.

This is another problem with America's sustained protest evolution never getting much past "skilled amateur" at best.

Starting from scratch, catching every break imaginable, a decade to build a coalition up and have a good amount of discipline and experience.

The city in question and it's history of protest I actually would start it in negative territory.

Anyways, it's showing up at the karate tournament without doing the "wax on, wax off" part. Taking territory that already has people on it means those people (and perhaps others as well) will use various amounts of "influence" available to support or resist that annexation. It's a well-worn tactic to draw an enemy into occupying territory you ceded to them so they get bogged down in the trials and tribulations of management. This reduces the momentum of the movement, it remains contained to a single location instead of moving to new places relevant to an emerging and changing discussion. This reduces exposure and recruitment. It increases hostility between the movement and the people in the occupied space. Long-term, the stresses (and increasing need for structure, i.e. positions of authority) can also create interpersonal frictions within the overall movement and its component factions and groups.

A static occupation is for when the defunct tyrant has already been toppled and is used to demonstrate that fact. When you already won the people and have assurances state security forces will stand down at the right moment, the officials are resigning in droves. When the government head is shouting into a phone not being listened to while the guards try to drag them to the waiting helicopter.

BLM and a few other groups have good vision and understanding of coordinated action. BLM is not remotely in the driver's seat in the kinds of actions that get all the air play.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Disagreed. No guns were found, period. It was not "due to" any known cause, including your suggestion that they were stolen.

Should be simple enough, investigatively. Any slugs recovered from these alleged shots? Shell casings in the car? Residue on the fingers of the shot up guys? Short fast trip to showing they even could have shot that day based on residue alone.

Methinks the free love crowd, with their random militias, done ****** up.

This assumes any kind of thorough investigation occurs. The cops claim that the scene had been spoiled, which it certainly plausible. Any guns in the car might have been squirreled away. The shooting occurred in the wee hours of the morning, and the handful of people nearby that may have witnessed the alleged prior shooting from the SUV or the final shooting at the barricade may not be inclined to identify themselves or cooperate with the police. The cops may not even prioritize such an investigation.

It's entirely possible that a clearer picture of what happened never comes out, which is troubling. There is certainly the possibility that the fatal shooting was a case of mistaken identity, but it does seem likely based on reporting from within the CHOP that there was some car shooting indiscriminately into the area immediately prior to the shooting.

It seems these shootings are going to be used to justify a push to end the CHOP. It was only created because the cops couldn't behave themselves at protests and were pulled out of the area to end the nightly scandals of excessive force.

I'm curious if they will take a different approach if they resume a police presence in the area.

 

[crescent]

The police seem to have reclaimed the area.

At least 13 arrested as Seattle police retake control of the East Precinct

Police moved into the CHOP just before 5 a.m. and issued a dispersal order to any protestors in the area. Police tweeted at 5:20 a.m. that 10 people had been arrested. Another tweet at 5:30 a.m. said three other people were arrested at 12th and Pike.

"Anyone who remains in the area, or returns to the area, is subject to arrest," another SPD tweet said.

Live feed shows police and a few reporters, nobody else:



That was fast, once the move to clear the area was made, it seemed to have been implemented quickly.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Assuming the cops remain in the are and prevent the CHOP from setting back up, I wonder how the PD is going to handle a return of nightly protest marches that seem likely.

I suppose this block might get a little rest as the cops tear gas and beat protesters in other parts of of the city.

 

[Stout]

So the walls of the CHOP playpen are coming down, too bad it took a murder to make the city take action.

Speaking of murder, any word of BLM setting up a fundraiser to help out with the medical bills of that 14 year old they shot ?

 

[Arcade22]

Assuming the cops remain in the are and prevent the CHOP from setting back up, I wonder how the PD is going to handle a return of nightly protest marches that seem likely.

I suppose this block might get a little rest as the cops tear gas and beat protesters in other parts of of the city.

Or the protesters may have gotten so demoralized by their haven degenerating into a violent, chaotic mess (as predicted) that they might not want to protest anymore.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Or the protesters may have gotten so demoralized by their haven degenerating into a violent, chaotic mess (as predicted) that they might not want to protest anymore.

It's not a far glance over to Portland, which continues to have nightly protests met by excessive violence by the police. Portland and Seattle are almost parallel cases, except Portland never had their demonstrations develop into a CHAZ situation. I see no reason why Seattle wouldn't just return to ordinary demonstrations that police escalate to chaos now that the CHOP is gone.

How these shake out is largely up to the cops. Will they go back to their indiscriminate gassing? Will they escalate, as Portland has, to targeting journalists for arrest? Time will tell.

The optimist in me says they will be smart enough to use their temporary PR advantage to adopt deescalation tactics. If they can be the PD that ended the chaotic CHOP and didn't blanket the streets with gas in the nights immediately afterwards, it would be a big win for them. It will take strong leadership to enforce such discipline on these cops that have shown themselves to be such unrepentant brutes.

 

[Ranb]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/01/us/seattle-chop-protesters/index.html

Dustin Akers, who lives in an apartment complex in the heart of the CHOP area, took several videos of police clearing the zone around 5 a.m. Wednesday.

Living in the area has been "incredibly unstable and violent around the clock for the past two weeks," Akers told CNN.
"It started out well intentioned and then quickly took a turn for the worse. The occupied area is now empty with tents and supplies thrown everywhere."
He also shared an excerpt that his apartment complex, Packard Building Apartments, owned by Equity Residential, shared with residents on June 30.
"Since the occupation of the streets surrounding our building, tenants have been subjected to violence, threats, vandalism, noise, lewd conduct, public defecation, daily fights and limited access to the building," the complex wrote.

If people can't even keep a place clean, how can they be expected to lead any kind of reasonable life there?

 

[Thermal]

The Autonomous Collective of the Flies, indeed.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

So the walls of the CHOP playpen are coming down, too bad it took a murder to make the city take action.

Speaking of murder, any word of BLM setting up a fundraiser to help out with the medical bills of that 14 year old they shot ?

Tell me, Mr Law and Order, do you see Trump and Barr adhering to the law? Curious minds want to know.

 

[Nessie]

Oh that was awesome. "Former British Colony" had me laughing, it's such a different way for me to think about it.

"Unrest and protests continued for a seventh straight day in the former British colony of the United States as the government vowed to use its military to end the demonstrations..."

"US President Donald Trump, who was ‘elected’ in 2016 despite the majority of votes going to his rival candidate, vowed in a speech to bring in the military to end the protests.
“I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them,” Trump said in a national address."

"Religious fundamentalism and minority suppression has long been a problem in the former British colony.

The United States has had a long history of suppressing and persecuting its various ethnic minorities since the country gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1776.

The treatment of its indigenous ‘Native Americans,’ its imported Asian and Black communities, and its Hispanic community has long been a source of friction.

American black minority groups were under a program similar to South Africa’s Apartheid policy until as recently as 1964."

Oh, how others see you!

 

[dudalb]

Tell me, Mr Law and Order, do you see Trump and Barr adhering to the law? Curious minds want to know.

One can be violently anti Trump but still think that CHOP was always doomed to fail.
A lot of sillliness on both sides of the spectrum on this issue.