Well! As I write an ISIS-style warlord, a rapper named Raz Simone, has declared a portion of a major American city — Seattle, Washington — to be an autonomous region no longer part of the United States of America. He is enforcing his rule over the Capitol Hill neighborhood of that city in the usual way, with violence and intimidation. Within this new nation are thousands of residents (I suppose they are now ex-pats), and dozens of businesses. Mr. Simone, who patrols his newly acquired fiefdom carrying an AK-47 and a sidearm, has already begun demanding “protection fees” from businesses within the occupied zone.
The new Marxist caliphate has the enthusiastic support of Seattle’s political class. From a recent item at City Journal:
Politically, the Seattle City Council has already begun to champion the protesters’ demands. Socialist Alternative councilwoman Kshama Sawant declared the takeover a “victory” against “the militarized police force of the political establishment and the capitalist state.” Three councilmembers have signaled support for a 50 percent reduction in the police budget, with additional councilmembers likely to support a similar policy in the coming weeks. Sawant also opened Seattle’s City Hall—which had been closed by the mayor—to protesters, who immediately occupied the building.
The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone [CHAZ] has set a dangerous precedent: armed left-wing activists have asserted their dominance of the streets and established an alternative political authority over a large section of a neighborhood. They have claimed de facto police power over thousands of residents and dozens of businesses—completely outside of the democratic process. In a matter of days, Antifa-affiliated paramilitaries have created a hardened border, established a rudimentary form of government based on principles of intersectional representation, and forcibly removed unfriendly media from the territory.
The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone is an occupation and taking of hostages: none of the neighborhood’s residents voted for Antifa as their representative government. Rather than enforce the law, Seattle’s progressive political class capitulated to the mob and will likely make massive concessions over the next few months. This will embolden the Antifa coalition—and further undermine the rule of law in American cities.
“A victory over the capitalist state”, says councilwoman Kshama Sawant. (Ms. Sawant, by the way, is an immigrant from India. How lucky we are to have her, and the blessings of her gratitude toward her adoptive home. Diversity is our strength!)
Imagine being a resident or business-owner in this place. Armed thugs come round to extort money. Shall you call the police? Well, there’s this:
Simone was filmed allegedly assaulting multiple protestors who disobeyed his orders, informing them that he was the “police” now.
He’s right. The Seattle police won’t be going into CHAZ anytime soon, if ever, so I guess you’d better pony up. (“Who ya gonna call? NO-BODY!”)
If I had told you a few years ago that in 2020 the heart of an important American city — an area home to thousands of American citizens — would have been captured and occupied by a swaggering Marxist black-separatist warlord, while the city, state, and federal governments looked on with bemusement, or outright enthusiasm, you’d probably have said I was off my rocker. But here we are.
And… where is Seattle, anyway? Why, it’s in the state of Washington, of course. How about if I told you today that in a year or two the name of George Washington would be stricken from polite society, and expunged from the thousands of places across America whose name honors his memory; that his statues and monuments will torn down and broken to rubble, and his image expunged from our currency?
5 Comments
People who choose to live on capitol hill deserve every bit of this hell. It is the major pervert zone of the city. They are getting what they asked for. Let us hp they get it good and hard.
He isn’t practicing extortion. He is levying taxes. He and his henchmen are now responsible for policing, fire fighting, emergency response, infrastructure maintenance, public utilities of all sorts. He will need money to pursue all these undertakings. And as an afterthought he will need to pay himself and his henchmen a living wage. This puts him in direct competition with the City, County, State and Federal taxing authorities. I have to assume that the new ruler will forbid payment of taxes to any entity outside the newly independent zone.
I wonder just how he will allocate and dispense all that revenue?
I guess this madness was bound to happen in Blue cities run by Democrats for so many years. They are coping with the failure of the only governing model they have ever known–over 50 years of Great Society social welfare state. No one in government knows what to do.
Excellent point, Desert Rat. He has now taken on the responsibilities of the sovereign. I wonder how he will allocate not just the revenue he collects, but that sovereignty itself.
The more I’ve thought about it since making this post, the more I think we should let this little experiment continue. (One does have to feel sorry, though, for the American citizens who own property within this new nation.)
This is what conservatives deserve for embracing liberalism/Zionism and dooming America to anti-racialism.