Get In the Zone: A Report from the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle

From IGD

The following is an interview with a Seattle resident who has been out on the streets during the recent uprising and watched as both vigilantes, police, and the National Guard have attacked protesters in the Capital Hill neighborhood. Now, after over a week of intense rioting and clashes with the authorities, Seattle police have evacuated from their East precinct and an autonomous zone has sprung up around the empty building. Wanting to know more about what all is going down, we caught up to discuss how the last week and a half has played out on the streets.

IGD: Broadly speaking, what’s been happening in Seattle since intense rioting broke out in late May?

Things began in Seattle on Friday, May 29th, with Saturday the 30th being the most intense day of rioting and looting. The days that followed all had similar arcs and tones, but were generally focused around the Seattle Police Department’s East precinct in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. This is where the majority of the evening clashes with police took place.

"regime occupied safeway" has me fucking crying pic.twitter.com/BoGEehzNNB
— F. Thot Bitchgerald (@MyDadIsOld) June 9, 2020

Every day has seen massive demonstrations throughout the city while protest infrastructure along the main business corridors of Capitol Hill has grown. Food, music, medics, literature tables and a vigil to the fallen all appeared over the course of the week.

IGD: The other day, the police announced that they were gathering their things and leaving their precinct. What do you make of this?

This, to be very honest, is anyone’s guess. There are many theories around why they abandoned the precinct. Some feel that they ran out of resources, some feel that it was a politically expedient move on the Mayor’s part. From my perspective-this was a “good” move on the city’s part. They were getting hammered in the press for the nightly tear gas barrages and street clashes, and the crowds never really got smaller. When an active shooter was on the scene, people rushed to the neighborhood to give support.

Every day has seen massive demonstrations throughout the city while protest infrastructure along the main business corridors of Capitol Hill has grown. Food, music, medics, literature tables and a vigil to the fallen all appeared over the course of the week.

The risks that people were facing in standing off with the cops night after night were just not the deterrent I assume the city thought it would be. Once they left the precinct, while certainly a blow to their power, the focus has been taken off of the heavily militarized police that is still lurking in the area.

" #seattleprotest #seattleprotests #CHAZ pic.twitter.com/GJW5imgAeu
— rigs (@nahnoneinnyet) June 10, 2020"

They also mounted a hard counter ‘arson’ campaign through fearful social media posts about the “threats of arson to the precinct” and the Seattle Fire Department on “standby.” From my perspective, it was a strategy gamble on the city’s part once they realized that the thing they were defending was symbolic at best. What they might not have factored in is how important symbology is to revolt – the statues coming down all over the world is a good example.

IGD: The area in the Capitol Hill neighborhood that people have been gathering around has been described as an autonomous zone. Can you speak more about this?

Autonomy is going to mean a lot of things to a lot of people. This space is certainly not controlled by the city at this point. But it’s important to remember that because of the pandemic, this neighborhood was nearly abandoned for the last 2 months, which has made it an excellent choice to occupy but also an easier space to tip over into feeling like it’s ours.

"Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle. 6 blocks retaken back for the people. “You are now leaving the USA” when you enter. Long live the fucking revolution. pic.twitter.com/xgFVjA33mx
— Armani (@historyofarmani) June 9, 2020"

Capitol Hill is the historic queer neighborhood, and back in the day it was where the punks and the musicians and all the freaks lived. The pitched battles around Ferguson in 2014/2015, Occupy in 2011/2012 and the anti-police movement of 2010/2011 saw a majority of these conflicts on the Hill. This has always been “our” neighborhood – but as with literally every other city in the US, rapid gentrification and demographic shifts kicked everyone out, corporatized Pride month, and built the neighborhood into a tech corridor. Currently, the streets are ours again, and with that comes the next battle of what does it mean to be autonomous?

IGD: What is the crowd coming out to these events like? How have bureaucratic Left groups/peace police attempted to maneuver in this context and how have they been received?

With 9 days of riots, looting, demonstrations, sit-ins, clashes and everything else it’s hard to categorize the crowds in any way. But across the board, especially for the Pacific Northwest, this was some of the most diverse, inter-generational and generalized revolt that I have ever seen.

The streets have been filled with energetic Zoomers and street hardened anarchists, “peaceful protestors,” and those wanting to directly confront the police and capital. What has emerged tactically is the idea that militant defense was acceptable, and that more aggressive actions against the police were more controversial, leading to a deep “peace police” element which has been consistent. Despite that, people of all types continued to charge cop lines, throw sooo much shit at the police and try to create tensions with the cops literally raining tear gas down on people’s heads. The complex nature of race and leadership has been prominent in these clashes, with white people stopping Black youth from doing their conflictual thing because they have some sort of in with, “Black leadership.” These dynamics have made cohesion in the crowd difficult but not impossible. Fuck, despite the peace police people have been able to keep the National Guard at bay and get them to abandon their beloved precinct, so they couldn’t have been that powerful in the end.

Overall, there has been a lot of emotion felt viscerally on these blocks. So much joy and so much anger held at the same time as people have been coming together physically for the first time in months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Live music has been played every night by these musicians calling themselves the Marshall Law Band, less than a block away from where police would be shooting tear gas and flash-bang grenades at protestors. Surreal barely describes the experience.

IGD: The National Guard has now left; does this change anything at all?

The National Guard as of last night (6-8-2020), is very much still present in Seattle. They’ve been spotted at various public school parking lots and parks in the areas surrounding the neighborhood. Not seeing them in backing up the police lines, that have also disappeared from the block, clearly allow a more tranquil atmosphere to take place. There was a lot of rage and anger voiced at the National Guard when they would physically march with police to press protestors back, people still seem very attached to this idea that the National Guard is supposed to serve the “American people” and everyone’s been calling them traitors for serving a role in suppressing the uprising. The public school district of Seattle posted on twitter that they were looking into finding a way to block the Guard from using their parking lots as staging areas, an encouraging statement for all of us who’ve had to stare them down over the last week.

IGD: Law enforcement in Seattle and Portland seems to have trying to outlast the people on the street; tear-gassing people again and again. Can you say anything to their over all strategy on the street? How have people responded?

The police in Seattle have very clearly tried to fix their public relations image in the last couple of days that led up to their withdrawal from the precinct. Seattle police have been issuing countless warnings via sound-system, specifically citing the importance of peaceful protest and stating things like, “It is you the protestors who have advanced your line towards us, we have not made any movement towards you.” Eventually these warnings turn into a deluge of crowd-dispersal tactics, including but not limited to tear-gas, OC canisters, pepper-balls fired from paintball guns, rubber bullets and flash-bangs shot directly at protestors.

It was a horrifying and incredible moment that was a clear example of how a liberatory process will incur attacks from all sides and will have to defend itself in a bunch of different ways. Those who were involved clearly found that the police do not care for our well being, and that we can protect ourselves from reactionary violence without the aid of the police.

I have been nothing short of inspired by the crowds’ ability to remain calm in the face of these aggressive maneuvers by the police. Countless videos show the crowds simply slowly falling back from advancing police lines, forming defensive lines with shields and umbrellas, and even sometimes throwing tear-gas and OC canisters back towards the police. However, it is also in these moments where some individuals have taken the opportunity to throw things at the cops, which is still incredibly unpopular in the streets, even as the police are actively attacking people.

IGD: The other night in Seattle, a vigilante drove into the crowd and opened fire, hitting one person. Has far-Right and/or vigilante violence been a re-occurring problem?

So far, the identity of the shooter is very confusing. As far as most people can discern, he is a unaffiliated, not-white regular ass dude from the South End of Seattle. Instead of focusing on him, I think it’s important to think about the response to his attack – which is irrefutable.

When he drove his car at significant speed towards the crowd, people did not hesitate to try and stop him. People put themselves in the way, tried to pull him from the car, pulled others to safety, and physically stopped the car with repurposed cop barricades. Someone was shot for his efforts. It was a horrifying and incredible moment that was a clear example of how a liberatory process will incur attacks from all sides and will have to defend itself in a bunch of different ways. Those who were involved clearly found that the police do not care for our well being, and that we can protect ourselves from reactionary violence without the aid of the police.

Our general response has been to show up, to be there, to have literature and info available, to stick with it night after night and confront the peace police and help the medics drag bodies out, to get people out of jail and have some of the conversations that need to be hashed out-and to make the alliances and build the crews we we will need to continue this past a conflict with the East Precinct.

The threat of reactionary violence is very real, and I fear that we will see this boomerang back at us soon. But in the current moment one of the bigger threats seems to be the fear around these forces. As we speak, hundreds if not more people are messaging, tweeting and generally boosting unsubstantiated claims of reactionaries on their way to the Hill at any given times. This constant signal boosting of public police scanner channels has deeply hampered the ability to organize real and consistent response to if and when the right does choose to engage us.

IGD: Riot shaming, liberal disinformation, conspiracy theories – the wider Left has really shown itself to be lacking in overall analysis and understanding of the current moment. Just curious how people are dealing with the sea of misinformation and bad-faith actors.

There are so many people engaged in this movement it is difficult to break down one exact way in which these ideas are being addressed. It also greatly depends on which perspective you are coming from. We can see that the people positioning themselves to “lead” this movement are disingenuous grifters, while others think the same way about anarchists. Our general response has been to show up, to be there, to have literature and info available, to stick with it night after night and confront the peace police and help the medics drag bodies out, to get people out of jail and have some of the conversations that need to be hashed out-and to make the alliances and build the crews we we will need to continue this past a conflict with the East Precinct.

There are 33 Comments

"Autonomy is going to mean a lot of things to a lot of people. This space is certainly not controlled by the city at this point. But it’s important to remember that because of the pandemic, this neighborhood was nearly abandoned for the last 2 months, which has made it an excellent choice to occupy but also an easier space to tip over into feeling like it’s ours."

so roughly translated - LARPing is at an all time high in Capital Hill, some flimsy barricades, a few signs and a bunch of 'occupy' types hardly equals an 'autonomous zone'. next.

insult about "LARPing" right now when the police are actually losing a little bit of their authority? Fucking pathetic, please go kill yourself. Like I say here all the time, if you're gonna criticize anything try to be a little more specific and a little less stupid. Maybe all these people holding up the seattle TAZ are just stupid or whatever, but you haven't convinced me that you are any less that way.

You're probably the same person who always just comes on here and talks about "dweeds" and "nerds", what are you some fucking stereotypical jock from a 90's movie?

LARPing is a term within radical spaces now that means engaging with politics in a self-aggrandizing and spectacular way -- for example, running around claiming that police are losing their authority because they left a police station.

I'm actually interested in seeing what comes out of CHAZ, but just waving your hands screaming that a criticism has no substance (and the person who made it should kill themself) doesn't make it true. If you disagree that this is LARPing, make a case, don't just spew aimless vitriol -- at least, if you want anyone to actually care about what you have to say.

not everyone is going to understand your slang on here, i just see you and other people repeating the same insults over and over again and it's kind of tiring. I haven't seen it recently but it's kinda like how people just kept telling SE that he's an "internet narcissist", not sure why he would care because he is an egoist which makes narcissism no longer a sin in his eyes, lol.

"...at least, if you want anyone to actually care about what you have to say."

If I did care about wanting other people to listen/pay attention to me, i clearly wouldn't be posting on @news as much as i do. Of course everyone cares about that a little bit but to see commenting on @news articles as a popularity/attention game is pretty fucking stupid. It's way easier and more effective to do that on facebook or twitter, at least you have some way of measuring that.

That's cute, you know how to actually be popular. Sounds like some LARPing (in the way you and the other scenesters mean it). Now THAT'S funny, not me but your delusional/rationalistic arrogance.

>not everyone is going to understand your slang on here

Which is why I was kind enough to explain it to someone who seemed out of the loop, though the lessons of Cabal, Argot would seem relevant here.

>Of course everyone cares about that a little bit but to see commenting on @news articles as a popularity/attention game is pretty fucking stupid.

I don't know where you got the impression I was talking about "popularity", I was talking about the basic elements of having a conversation. My point was just that if you want to scream into a void, that's your prerogative, but nobody will care about what you have to say if you keep acting like an idiot, so you can just save your and everyone else's time by just, you know, not.

(also, for someone who "doesn't care about popularity", I can't help but notice that you're one of the few people who use a persistent identifier around here, for no obvious reason other than, well, ... Maybe you and ziggy have something to learn about self-destruction yet ;))

bland, colorless, not fun. I like attaching names that either add to what i'm typing (like right now), are silly/stupid, or accentuate some philosophy or ideology that i enjoy or appreciate...such as taoism. I still haven't gotten sick of either taoism or egoism, and keep in mind this is an anarchist forum. Ideological/paradigmatic/religious screen names are allowed here!

that's exactly why i chimed in, to read the above essay and be like "THAAAASS LARPING THIS IS USELESS TO PAY ATTENTION TO, NEXT" is screaming into the void, it's just a petty insult and anyone who read that would think you were a little full of yourself or "above" the chazzers...

that there's any "LARPing" going on in the CHAZ from that quote you used, but okay...it actually sounds like they are honestly trying to assess the situation, a little gleeful that something different from the "norm" is going on in Seattle...

however one thing bothering me about the left's presence in the anti-cop riots and protests is that there is a pretty huge amount of the typically shaming and moralizing going around.

One of the funnier things I saw was one these people part of this "autonomous zone" bitching and complaining about the homeless people eating their food.

I think you may have misinterpreted reporting as complaining. I saw people saying they need more food because the homeless had taken all of theirs, but that's not the same thing as complaining about it.

those mocking what's going down in the CHAZ (Capital Hill Autonomous Zone) should come and see for themselves the beautiful commune that has sprouted here. elite cadre from RAM Philly & RAM NYC arrived here today and have begun doing armed patrols of the CHAZ, there's also been a call put out for volunteers to join the newly formed CHAZ People's Protection Forces, the CHAZ's very own militia modeled on the YPG-YPJ. all you doubters should come see for yourselves what's going down, y'all invited.

"elite cadre"

...of black nationalists marxoids

I’m sorry as much as I want to support the chaz I really hope you don’t believe what you’re saying. There’s nothing elite about activists with little tactical training. Also as much as Rojava is cool it’s not actually an anarchist project. If you want to create a micro state cool but it’s not gonna be an autonomous zone.

I read, on the Stranger, that you’re looking for movie suggestions. As much as I have my own problems with this movie, why not suggest, “The Spook Who Sat by the Door”?

"The Spook Who Sat By the Door" book and movie are both pretty good. Undercover black nationalist working for the CIA trains his black nationalist buddies in guerilla warfare to prepare for the revolt to liberate the ghettos. There's an anarchist that's gonna try something slightly similar. They're gonna be a psychotherapist and use psychotherapy method to get people to change their behavior and rewild!

It seems if communes don't get crushed by externalities(Paris) they just implode on the inside from civilized contradictions. They haven't even cut the grid yet.

Like I said on the twitter however, I do hope the US gets an Exarchia out of all of this.

IF it is true, the presence - no matter how limited - of armed patrols in what is supposed to be an autonomous zone reflects deep ideological confusion among North American anarchists, and the building of walls is also highly problematic. TAZ participants should be experimenting with new paradigms of community and cooperation, not replicating in miniature the power structures of the larger society.

I have come to believe that it is a mistake to equate armed struggle with social revolution, or vice versa. While spontaneous outbursts of violent confrontation with the authorities are to be expected and welcomed in our current oppressive world, it is all too easy for organized resistance to lead to just another type of organized repression by those involved.

yep to makhno.

there is much to love about folks taking over a part of the city and making it an "autonomous zone". but when a cadre of armed authoritarians actually say out loud "WE are the police now" (i was it on a video) ... that shit ain't anarchist in the least.

Very much what Perlman talks about when speaking of putting on the armor of leviathan. Resistance against the leviathan often creates the fertile conditions for a brand new leviathan to appear. People who value their freedom and autonomy should strike back against tendencies that create and reinforce the dynamics present in our current society.

*Speaker announcement* "Will the man in the jeans and brown jacket stop peeing behind the blue tent!.......Yes you.....look upwards at 2 o'clock, you see the box on top of the white post......that's a camera I'm looking through.......Is that an angry look you gave me?........No good waving your fist at me, no peeing, now be nice guy and move on, .....Hey, what are you doing, I said stop peeing, put it away.....Hah, you can't reach me up here.....people are stàring at you, its not funny, there are children around, ....you're laughing at me.......what are you pointing at......oh that other guy in the black tracksuit behind the van........hey you behind the van, WTF STOP TAKING A DUMP OHH YUCK,.......Can I have everyone's attention please, there's a man in a black tracksuit behind the yellow van doing a crap in your CHAZ , I want you all to go over and stop him.......what are you laughing at, I'm just doing my job minding my own business, stop pointing at me and throwing stuff up at the box, ....what is the matter with everyone,,,,,,,,,,,"

Shit... That Raz Simone guy sounds like über-macho authoritarianism all over.

The only genuine autonomous zone was Bey's TAZ, no doubt about it. A creative juxtaposition of anti-authoritarian/hierarchy individualist willpower and psycho-purging exercises in meditation, amoral experimentation and sensual praxis.

"The only genuine autonomous zone was Bey's TAZ, no doubt about it."

No, yes lol... there's total doubt about it.

Beyond the obvious that autonomous zones have preceded the TAZ by decaces, centuries, why not millenia (nomadism?), this overinflated concept also overlooks the fact that there are autonomous zones or spaces that people have struggled to keep open and running... which is the biggest part of the struggle for autonomy, where having by-design temporary zones accepts the despotism of the State as a kind of fact of Nature.

It's a hippie kind of dumb when you want from the start autonomous zones to not last, at all. Why not wanting an experience to turn into a "line of flight" that can change your existence, and create a new lasting relationship and way to approach the world? Why waste it... for a return to the Existent?

Even rainbow gatherings aren't that

Bey ain't only a boy-lover... he's also a State-lover. The most problematic fake friend of anarchy next to the Communards and/or Appeliste cults.

No, I was talking about Bey's " Temporary" in hìs TAZ as not being your materialistic geographical nomadism, but as Bey's psychodramatic exploration of values, actions and fulfilled desires forming a society of constantly evolving impermanence. There is no State-loving in this approach! Aaaand what is so bad about loving boys compassionately as Bey suggests in his development of the non-toxic male psyche freed from its primitive aggressive warfare?

"having by-design temporary zones accepts the despotism of the State as a kind of fact of Nature. "
i'd say that the "temporary" is about recognizing the development of states even among people who don't want them, so making things ad-hoc (doesn't *preclude* but) dissuades from state development. expecting things to be short term *can* mean that relations stay too fluid for serious power to get entrenched.
are you more compelled by the tyranny of structurelessness or the anarchist's response to it?
but you seem to not like bey, so makes sense that you read him badly. o well

the dilemma created, from an anti-authoritarian perspective, by a group of black authoritarians claiming police authority over an "autonomous zone", is obvious and deep. i reject ALL authority, yet i have deep affinity with the response of black folks to the perpetual systemic racism (among other isms) that is experienced daily, and only highlighted periodically. putting raz in his place (as in, gtfo with your authoritarian bullshit) would be seen by many as somehow further attempting to oppress black folks.

i want allies in my project of a life free from ALL institutional authority and hierarchy. but so many that fight for the "freedoms" of oppressed groups, don't want to eliminate all oppression, only the oppression(s) they feel strongly about. they still want/need leaders, and the codified positions of power that requires/enables.

Really empowering to see. Of course there's the usual problems. Autonomous zones are never perfect. I wouldn't take the homeless comment as a complaint, just a call for more food. The armed people are Redneck Revolt, don't let them (or other groups) take over but otherwise don't worry too much. And every historical revolt has its leftists and wannabe leaders. Just make sure they don't take power.

To create something like Exarchia or ZAD was - you'll need to stop pigs coming back. The usual street methods aren't enough for that, especially if numbers dwindle. Things which work. 1) throwing from height creates zones cops won't enter so they can't get into range to use teargas. 2) another effective way to break police lines is set cars on fire, drive towards them and jump out. 3) how to take down drones https://anarchistsworldwide.noblogs.org/post/2020/05/09/drone-down-trans... Helicopters can be handled with simple laser pens. 4) burnout is a big danger, organise small cells with strong affinities which will outlast big outpourings of energy.

Defend what, precisely?
A way of life, a plot of land, a parenthesis during which to experiment, an illusion?
What is there already there, that is not found or could not be more easily recreated elsewhere, that would be worth turning CHAZ into a Sarajevo?
Would moving from city to city destroying precincts be just as untenable? Are there other precincts around U.S. just a push and a shout away from being vacated and their P.D. defunded? Why was a precinct burnt down in one place, but an autonomous zone not set up, while here we have an intact precinct with an autonomous zone around it?
Does the deployment of the National Guard have anything to do with it?

Though I think your tips are great in the sense of the great transformation it would require for a lot of the liberal hippies who live there to carry those out.
But you already have other kinds of security minded armed people patrolling and guarding the gates.

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