Although the zone was declared a police-free area last week, those pronouncements were apparently precipitously made as CHAZ quickly fell under the watchful eye of Raz Simone. Raz is a rapper and an AirBnB ‘superhost’ who describes himself as someone who enjoys art, mentoring youth and philanthropy. He was also one of the only armed men in the territory.
Raz earned the title of the “warlord of CHAZ” after patrolling the area with an AK-47 and a band of armed men who declared, “We are the police now.”
Christopher F. Rufo tweeted, " The #SeattleAutonomousZone is devolving into warlordism. Rapper Raz Simone, who has been patrolling the barricades with an AK-47 and a handgun, has begun assaulting residents who disobey him. "We are the police now," says his crew. "We are the leaders."
Within days of setting up Seattle’s CHAZ, a Reddit thread shows there are those who are already working to oust Raz, while Raz’s Twitter account shows tweets pushing back against CHAZ being an extreme territory.
It could be the presence of a dictator or it could be Raz’s now-deleted disparaging tweets against the LGBT community, which he denies. The question is what else does a territory setting itself as an alternative to the mainstream look like? If it’s ruled by a warlord, how are its views enforced by a group that claims it has no central leadership? The answer might be Antifa.
With law enforcement presence down to a halting zero, CHAZ is seeing everything from a random machete-carrying man to a roving band of thugs. Earlier today, a group of Antifa members put a preacher in the very same chokehold the group was against when carried out by law enforcement.
Ian Miles Cheong tweeted,"The anarchists in CHAZ didn't appreciate the presence of a Christian preacher so they choked him out. https://twitter.com/i/status/1271922987810254848". With events on the ground stranger than reality TV, the key question really comes down to exactly how “autonomous” is CHAZ?
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| All anarchists are equal, but anarchists with AK47s are more equal! |
However, the lack of police presence in the zone is already being felt. “Rapes, robberies, and all sorts of violent acts have been occurring in the area and we’re not able to get to [them],” said Seattle’s police chief Carmen Best, who earlier squarely blamed the departure of police from the precinct in the area on an order from the mayor.
“You should know leaving the precinct was not my decision,” Best was filmed as saying to her police officers in a leaked video. “You fought for days to protect it. I asked you to stand on that line day in and day out, to be pelted with projectiles, to be screamed at, threatened and in some cases hurt. Then to have a change of course nearly two weeks in — it seems like an insult to us and our community.”
That Mayor Bitch Jenny Durkan tweeted on 12 June, "It's clear @realDonaldTrump doesn’t understand what’s happening on five square blocks of our City. Cal Anderson and Capitol Hill has for decades been a place for free speech, community, and self expression.
"Lawfully gathering and expressing first amendment rights, demanding we do better as a society and provide true equity for communities of color is not terrorism - it is patriotism."
Durkan also told CNN that CHAZ is “not an armed takeover, it’s not a military junta.” Rather, “We’ve got four blocks in Seattle… that [are] more like a block party atmosphere.”
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| Kashama Sawant: The Indian Marxist Bitch who started the CHAZ. |
Sawant: The Indian Marxist Bitch behind the CHAZ
CHAZ Anarchy In Seattle: Seattle is Dying
