Filed under: Capitalism, Economics, Education, History, Law, Police, Politics, Seattle WA, Socialism, The United States, Unemployment | Tags: Antifa, Autonomous Zone, Mob Violence
What an interesting day! I got up late, but while I was sleeping, apparently Antifa rioters were hard at work, capturing a six-block square territory on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, proclaiming it “The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone“, under their own rules and regulations, seceding from the United States of America and issuing a long list of demands, unsurprisingly silly.
The Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct, under attack from rioters, closed the precinct station down late yesterday, and evacuated before somebody got hurt. By early today the separatists had apparently run out of money and had to beg for food from supporters, beg for people with guns to help protect them, and the City helpfully provided them with dumpsters and porta-potties.
Protesters led by activist Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant occupied City Hall downtown last night for just over an hour, called for the resignation of Mayor Jenny Durkan, and the defunding of the Seattle Police Department. They entered chanting “Whose City Hall? Our City Hall!” and a number of speakers on a range of issues spoke on the importance of Black LGBTQIA+ (Not sure that I can translate that, but you get the idea). “It is about building the kind of political representation that brings the voice of the people into the halls of power and grabs power for ordinary people” Sawant said. :Please stop using Black Lives Matter for your political campaigns, also noting the whiteness of many speakers at recent protests. Sawant also had critical words for her council colleagues who she called “corporate politicians” and “sellouts.”
There are apparently around 500 residential homes in the area, so they have stationed a fire truck there, just in case. While the mayor claimed to keep the area safe, she told the rioters.
“As the Chief takes this operational step, we will continue to remain focused on what we can and must do to address the systemic inequities that continue to disproportionately impact our Black residents,” she tweeted. “Yesterday, we announced a commitment to invest $100 million dollars into community – in addition to existing city programs — and to work with community to create a Black Commission that will help to amplify black voices in City Hall.” She added “With these operational changes, our city can peacefully move forward together.”
The rioters have declared independence from the city itself, and if they are seceding from the United States as well, they will have to negotiate with President Donald Trump. Which might prove interesting.
The Seattle area is home to an enormous number of colleges and universities, which may have something to do with this. There is the University of Washington, Pacific Lutheran, University of Puget Sound, Seattle University, Seattle Pacific University, Northwest University, Bellevue College, all sorts of Community colleges and Evergreen, a list that does not begin to include all the trade schools and branch locations. And, due to the Corona Virus shutdowns, they are not in session. College kids, having learned protesting in college, have in many cases been trained in the wonderfulness of socialism as well. There will be lots more excitement, I’m sure, before we can get back to normal life. Some COVID-19 watchers seem to think that because of all the riots and crowds, we’ll have another bad outbreak in the fall, others don’t think so.
How long our major corporations will be willing to put up with this (Increased taxes for Amazon and Microsoft are a common demand) is an unknown. The rioters seem remarkably free from any knowledge of history, or much of anything else as far as that goes. Certainly young blacks growing up in single-parent households, in bad neighborhoods, don’t see a path to success ahead of them. That is not the fault of the police, who try to keep neighborhoods safe.
Aside from abolishing the police, Seattle protesters have demanded not only amnesty, but free health care and free college. The Black Lives Matter people might pay a little more attention to the young black Ohio teen who walked three miles every day, to go to his public library that offered homework help. He has been offered admission to 12 colleges, including the one he most wants to attend.
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