‘THOSE THAT DENY THEIR HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT!’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Reports that Antifa-linked elements had effectively seized part of downtown Seattle and were holding it hostage sounded more like the Middle-Eastern ISIS attacks of the Obama era than our own freedom-loving nation.
Overnight developments revealed that the lawless “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” had devolved further into a Lord-of-the-Flies-style nightmarish landscape, complete with its own warlord chief, roving gangs of armed bandits extorting businesses for a Mafia-like protection fee, and a formal list of 19 radical demands.
Shockingly, much of the mainstream media had yet to report on the story, leaving conservative journalists like Andy Ngo and Townhall writer Julio Rosas, as well as embedded photojournalist Alex Garland, to report from the front lines.
President Donald Trump had taken notice, however, and warned far-left Gov. Jay Inslee to “take back your city NOW,” or else federal authorities would be obliged to dispatch military force to suppress the insurrection.
Radical Left Governor @JayInslee and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before. Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stooped IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2020
But Inslee, who at one point was a Democrat presidential contender, shrugged off the anarchist takeover of his state’s largest city and responded to Trump instead by mocking a typographical error.
A man who is totally incapable of governing should stay out of Washington state’s business. “Stoop” tweeting. https://t.co/O6i04qmZ9v
— Jay Inslee (@JayInslee) June 11, 2020
Warlords and Tribunals
Among the most surreal stories from the autonomous zone (CHAZ) was the emergence of a local rapper, Raz Simone, as the warlord–chieftain, according to reports from the National File based on Twitter dispatches from the scene.
After the protesters—in collaboration with city officials—forced police to abandon the precinct rather than be permitted to use crowd-dispersal techniques such as tear gas, Simone and his posse of thugs undertook efforts to start their own police force—ironically, using guns and violent beat-downs to maintain their authority.
Raz Simone and crew assault a man for tagging. Man said repeatedly he was kicked in the head, punched and had his glasses broken. For tagging #seattleprotests #seattle pic.twitter.com/B1d2dPSoQB
— hernandez1987 (@WeAreAntifa2020) June 10, 2020
Meanwhile, according to the other police, who still maintained control of the remainder of the city for now, businesses within the six-block “autonomous” zone were being threatened with extortion.
Sources tell me there are those in the #CapitalHillAutonomousZone who are “shaking down” businesses by asking them to contribute supplies or resources. When there was the occupation in Portland in 2018, they threatened a food cart that wouldn’t give them electricity access.
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) June 10, 2020
Although establishments in the popular restaurant and bar district initially tried to support the movement by offering supplies like food, water and first-aid to protesters, they now were being told they must pay tributes to the radical separatists in order to continue operating.
“We’ve heard, anecdotally, reports of citizens and businesses being asked to pay a fee to operate within this area,” Deanna Nollette, Seattle’s assistant chief of police, said Wednesday, according to Fox News.
“This is the crime of extortion,” Nollette continued. “If anyone has been subjected to this, we need them to call 911.”
‘Begging for Help’
It remained unclear whether law-enforcement authorities intended to act or were even capable of doing so after abandoning their precinct station.
Nollette explained that the police had intended to promote peaceful demonstrations by withdrawing from the area.
“We wanted to be able to facilitate and support peaceful demonstrations,” she said.
But since then, an armed guard has surrounded the perimeter and is requiring residents who live there to show ID in order to prove that they belong in the area.
An unnamed official told Fox News that residents were “”begging for help because they are not being allowed into their homes without ID.”
Nonetheless, the separatist left-wingers seem to take pride in maintaining some municipal services, such as their own garbage collection.
Good morning from the #CapitalHillAutonomousZone – looks like they have organized their own trash collection network throughout the zone. How long do you think the “Free State of Capitol Hill” will last? pic.twitter.com/MIYm5tGxll
— Omari Salisbury (@Omarisal) June 10, 2020
And on Wednesday they held a communist-style assembly for the new citizens of the CHAZ.
People’s Assembly – Live from Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) https://t.co/1VYlUt2XrW
— nwartstream (@nwartstream) June 10, 2020
They also released on Wednesday a list of 19 demands which included the complete abolition of the Seattle Police Department, court system and federal immigration authorities operating within the city; reparations for victims of police brutality; and a full-scale federal investigation of past police incidents.
Holy shit, #SeattleAutonomousZone just issued a list of demands. And they’re both radical and realistic at the same time. Most of these, the city and state could just…decide to do, if they wanted. https://t.co/3C54B7EHi2
— Olly (@OneiricCanid) June 10, 2020
An Emerging Standoff
Despite Antifa’s claims that the local authorities could simply “decide to do” them unilaterally, most of the demands seemed vastly unrealistic, raising questions as to what the end game in this hostage situation may look like.
For his part, Trump denounced the group as “domestic terrorists.”
THOSE THAT DENY THEIR HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2020
Much of the precedent involving federal authorities intervening in such standoffs has related either to right-wing groups—like the 2014 dispute between a group of ranchers led by Cliven Bundy and the US Bureau of Land Management—or else involved apolitical cults like David Koresh’s Branch-Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, which federal authorities violently raided in 1993.
But the tenuous politics of it, in the wake of recent nationwide race-riots, could swing public sentiment either way—and without the cooperation of state and local leadership, a federal crackdown could be complicated.
At the same time, a failure to respond could result in poor optics and encourage other Antifa-linked groups to attempt similar takeovers that might rapidly escalate the crisis to a national level.
While the riots of last week have largely subsided, the groups that sought to sow chaos during them—some of which have been funded by anti-democracy globalists like George Soros—seem little interested in letting go of the moment.
Lessons from History
Posts on Twitter continued to link the current protest movement with violent, revolutionary uprisings such as an 1804 Haitian revolt that massacred all of the white land-owners.
The Haitian Revolution, Nat Turner’s Rebellion, Marcus Garvey and the UNIA, Juneteenth…. I didn’t learn about none of this during my K-12 education.
That needs to change.
— ?✨ (@TheJessieWoo) June 11, 2020
Others tied the current anti-government effort with Monday’s “Juneteenth” commemoration, a holiday in parts of the black community to celebrate the emancipation of slaves during the Civil War.
Trump was attacked for scheduling his first political rally since early March for the same day in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a violent race riot in 1921 saw mobs of white residents attacking an affluent black community. In the wake of it, 26 black residents and 10 white residents were confirmed to have died, and thousands were left homeless.
Coincidentally, those events occurred 99 years ago on Memorial Day, the same day as the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis spurred the current wave of protests.
As left-wing opportunists sought recently to tear down monuments to historical figures such as Christopher Columbus and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, a tweet from Trump on Thursday seemed to remind the current wave of insurrectionist revolutionaries that violent overthrow attempts rarely ended well.
THOSE THAT DENY THEIR HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2020