The State of CHAZ
Seattle’s autonomous zone has become a laboratory experiment in social justice as governance.
Christopher F. Rufo
June 15, 2020 The Social Order
Public safety
The new state of CHAZ has evolved. Over the past week, following Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan’s decision to abandon the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct Building, left-wing protesters have transformed the surrounding neighborhood into the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), hoping to create a new political authority based on social-justice principles. On its first night, the new micro-state was led by the armed paramilitaries of Antifa and the John Brown Gun Club, but after preventing the return of police and securing defined borders, the CHAZ has sought to implement civilian rule.
Almost immediately, activists established a social structure based on a “reverse hierarchy of oppressionâ€: Native American, black, and trans women are the highest authority; diversity determines individual social status; and whites are called upon to perform rituals of atonement. Through a series of speeches and community gatherings, activists have sought to implement the social theory of “decolonization,†which, in the words of Black Lives Matter activist Nikkita Oliver, means overthrowing capitalism, eliminating the structures of “patriarchy, white supremacy, and classism,†and returning the land of the autonomous zone to displaced Native American tribes.
In practice, the CHAZ leadership has taken small steps toward reversing the power structure and redistributing resources. Black and Native American speakers have been “centered†in leadership roles in all community meetings, with white audience members asked to “move past guilt or fragility†and “commit to long-term action and accountability.†At one evening event, an indigenous-rights activist with a purple bandana wrapped around his face announced a campaign for immediate small-scale reparations: “I want you to give $10 to one African-American person from this autonomous zone,†he said to a large crowd gathered on a baseball field. “White people, I see you. I see every one of you, and I remember your faces. You find that African-American person and you give them $10.â€
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https://www.city-journal.org/seattle-chaz
