What do you guys think about this new zone that has been setup in downtown Seattle? Its been blacked out by MSM. Is it bogus or is it something that might last? How long will it last? Is it the next Christiania?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_Autonomous_Zone
They setup barricades and are checking ID upon entrance


Peace broke out the first night the cops left. They had a movie night lastnight. People were handing out fruits and masks.

Nice signs



They even setup a border

And a no cop co-op

Its pretty valuable real estate so you know theres gonna be hell to pay

6/10/2020 10:46:56 PM

Well at least one person is not a fan

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1270914092295950337?s=21

6/10/2020 11:20:08 PM

Must be stooped immediately!!!

6/10/2020 11:22:10 PM

MOVE FAST!

6/11/2020 4:52:28 AM

dj on http://kexp.org in Seattle this morning totally making fun of the idea that it's been "taken over"

6/11/2020 10:26:23 AM

6/11/2020 11:57:24 AM

Sounds like the people up there have been reading "Homage to Catalonia" by Orwell.

Barcelona was an autonomous region during the Spanish Civil War, lead primarily by the anarchists of the C.N.T. who successfully barricaded off Franco's fascist troops. This was the inspiration for the anarchist anthem, "a las barricadas." Anyway, the only reason why the Catalonian anarchists were successful in their experiment was because they were armed and militant with their resistance during an actual war and most of them were eventually killed by Franco's troops.

6/11/2020 1:32:59 PM

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1271142274416562176?s=21

The president seems mad.

6/11/2020 2:11:29 PM

I’m sure his base will assume that this is all ANTIFA and that they have created a not-so-sleeper cell in a major American city and thus use of government force against this overt act by classified terrorists is warranted.

6/11/2020 2:17:18 PM

He already called them domestic terrorists

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1270923257844301836

I think anarchism is a silly ideology and doomed to failure, but what they did here is sort of impressive. I doubt it's very productive it is in the grand scheme of things and I'm worried about what might happen to them, but props and good luck.

6/11/2020 2:26:40 PM

Counterpoint: Anarchism is cool. Impractical, yes. But still cool. Rejecting oppressive hierarchies and setting up societies based on mutual aid should be a requirement for socialist ideologies, in my opinion.

Chomsky's "On Anarchism" is a good read, as is Kropotkin's "Conquest of Bread," in addition to the Orwell novel I mentioned above if you want a history on the fragile nature of anarchist and "tankie" partnership.

6/11/2020 8:52:53 PM

Cool in theory, a mess in practice. MLs also believe in abolishing hierarchy, but understand the need for a transitional state (among other things) before it’s possible.

6/11/2020 10:42:50 PM

I don't think you run into necessary problems until you overscale. There are plenty of successful anarchist communities. Transitional states are risky because they are going to be very vulnerable to infiltration and corruption.

I really appreciate Bookchin's theory and "Democratic Confederalism"

Quote :

""system of popularly elected administrative councils, allowing local communities to exercise autonomous control over their assets, while linking to other communities via a network of confederal councils."[114] Decisions are made by communes in each neighborhood, village, or city. All are welcome to partake in the communal councils, but political participation is not mandated. There is no private property, but rather “ownership by use, which grants individuals usage rights to the buildings, land, and infrastructure, but not the right to sell and buy on the market or convert them to private enterprises.”[114] The economy is in the hands of the communal councils, and is thus (in the words of Bookchin) ‘neither collectivised nor privatised - it is common.’[114] Feminism, ecology, and direct democracy are essential in democratic confederalism."

6/11/2020 11:11:22 PM

And looks like it's going to go to shit. So much for a vast utopian paradise

6/20/2020 6:03:35 PM

Couple of supposed white supremacists were shot in their car and one of them killed by CHAZ security. They ended up being a 14 and 16 year old African-American boys. The scene was tampered with so not sure what evidence can be collected and nobody wants to talk. Sad to see this become what they had been fighting against and give further ammo to the right-wingers about how CHAZ/CHOP can never work.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/crime/seattle-shooting-capitol-hill-chop-chaz/281-48392a9e-d760-42f3-9469-c99466ed7a9f

6/29/2020 10:18:51 PM

I mean, you don't need to be right-winger to think it won't work. People are inherently shitty, 'cop free zones' devolve into violence/sexual abuse fairly quickly. It has happened with damn near every Occupy style protest

6/30/2020 12:03:51 PM

Oh yea I thought it was doomed to fail from the beginning as well. I'm just saying, it has ended up being exactly what it was fighting against and lets conservatives say "See what happens if you defund the police."

6/30/2020 12:06:26 PM

gnsp

7/1/2020 10:25:35 AM

Doing a brief dive into this, I did learn something. Seattle has nonpartisan elections. Okay, that's common, nothing crazy there. But 1 of the 9 City Council members is Kshama Sawant. Sawant is a member of the Trotskyist party Socialist Alternative, been on Council since 2013, and is the only blemish on what is otherwise an all-Democrat City Council and Mayor. She led a march to the mayor's personal home this past weekend and talked at a rally there saying defund the police. Mayor wrote a letter to Council for her yesterday to be expelled for the stunt.

It's amazing to think a Trotskyist (hard left-wing politics being what they are meaning Trotskyism is a splinter of a splinter of a splinter) is elected somewhere in the U.S.

[Edited on July 1, 2020 at 12:58 PM. Reason : .]

7/1/2020 12:56:43 PM

Quote :

"I doubt it's very productive in the grand scheme of things"

welp

Quote :

"She led a march to the mayor's personal home this past weekend and talked at a rally there saying defund the police."

Imagine thinking this isn't amazing.

Quote :

"It's amazing to think a Trotskyist (hard left-wing politics being what they are meaning Trotskyism is a splinter of a splinter of a splinter) is elected somewhere in the U.S."

My council rep in Denver is a communist <3

[Edited on July 1, 2020 at 1:26 PM. Reason : .]

7/1/2020 1:01:40 PM

Quote :

" But 1 of the 9 City Council members is Kshama Sawant"

I’ve been to an event that she hosted. she’s beloved.

7/1/2020 1:33:28 PM

^^ Nonpartisan too I imagine, i.e. the communist is not listed as Communist, or Socialist Workers Party, or Socialist Alternative, or Party for Socialism & Liberation, or Socialist Party USA, or Socialist Equality, or...you get the idea.

[Edited on July 1, 2020 at 2:36 PM. Reason : /]

7/1/2020 2:35:32 PM

It's a pretty fun story. There's a major highway construction project that surrounding poor communities have been protesting for a couple of years. She was part of one of those communities and her council member, Albus Brooks, supported the project. He had been in office since 2011, had the support of the mayor, and would likely have become council chair if he won. But she ran as a Democrat (since there isn't a big enough socialist party in Denver) and beat him. She has specifically identified as a democratic socialist and an anarchist, and has openly called for a worker-controlled economy.

It's been amazing having an explicitly people-focused council member. Here's a very recent example of her priorities:

Last week, protestors (led by the Party for Socialism and Liberation), took over a council meeting that was open to the public and gave speeches for 2-3 hours. When they were about to leave, Candi asked them to stay and give her backup while they voted.

This week, the council had a closed meeting to talk about how to prevent it from happening again. Candi live-tweeted the whole thing. The council chair ended up cancelling the next open meeting, hoping protestors would lose interest.

Instead, we held our own town hall on the steps of the legislature (again led by PSL). Candi was the only council member who attended. She gave a speech and stayed for 2-1/2 hours to listen to everyone, even after media left. She encouraged people to run for office and take her coworkers' jobs (including her own, if we felt it necessary). Denver recently passed a 9:1 (!!!) public funding bill which makes it a hell of a lot easier for challengers.

She's incredible. I don't know much about Kshama Sawant, but I imagine it's similar with her.

7/1/2020 3:47:35 PM