Anarchists in Seattle have for days been “running” a police-free area of the city that they originally named the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. But as Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) pointed out over the weekend, they are far from being “autonomous” if they are requesting supplies from the real world.
Among the items needed on a sign posted in the area are clothes, Gatorade, tents, backpacks, body lotion, shoes, laundry bags, sunglasses, and other supplies.
“I just want to remind all that when you create an 'autonomous zone,' you don’t get to demand a long list of supplies from the orderly capitalist society that you are rebelling against,” the congressman pointed out. “Kind of defeats the meaning of 'autonomous.'"
I just want to remind all that when you create an “autonomous zone,” you don’t get to demand a long list of supplies from the orderly capitalist society that you are rebelling against.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) June 13, 2020
Kind of defeats the meaning of “autonomous.”#SeattleAutonomousZone pic.twitter.com/XhK9I3BwoO
Reporting live from inside the CHAZ, Townhall’s Julio Rosas said there was an effort to change the area’s name to CHOP— Capitol Hill Occupy Protest or Capitol Hill Organized Protest.
https://t.co/5gB7V0FVFB pic.twitter.com/uvX8gPRaKw
— Unagi (@brownrobin64) June 15, 2020
Last week, Seattle's Mayor Jenny Durkan said the demonstrators in the CHAZ were “lawfully gathering and expressing first amendment rights, demanding we do better as a society and provide true equity for communities of color." This, she added, "is not terrorism" but "patriotism."
Meanwhile, there have been reports of sexual assault, food shortages, allegations of extortion, and the rise of a warlord.