End of experiment

Seattle has finally completed a social experiment called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). Yesterday the police entered the territory and ended the 24-day history of the commune. Let me remind you what the fuss is about: on June 8, with the blessing of local authorities, antifa settled in one of the districts of Seattle, declaring it a zone free from police oppression. It was assumed that order would be maintained by left-wing paramilitares from the John Brown Gun Club. Also, CHAZ rolled out a list of 30 demands - they, of course, did not deny US jurisdiction as such and did not announce the creation of a "people's republic". The demands mainly concern the dissolution of the police and the establishment of socialism.

How did the experiment end? An expected failure. No, they did not begin to carry out food requisitions and build gulags there, as some prophesied. Although they tried to organize the space according to the principle of the "reverse hierarchy of oppression" i.e. with the creation of segregated public places where representatives of the white patriarchal majority are not allowed to enter. However, CHAZ failed in the main thing: security. 24 days of life without the police - two shot dead and four more victims of the shooting. One 19-year-old was shot dead during a shootout between gangs, the second 16-year-old was shot dead, apparently by local "militias", while driving a stolen car (his 14-year-old colleague was also wounded in the process). All are black. That is, literally that social group, for the sake of ensuring the security of which this whole story was started.

What does it all say? The fact that the solemn dismantling of the "hierarchy of oppression", "racism" and "capitalism" for some reason does not lead to the solution of long-standing social problems. An attempt to demolish and completely renovate the existing social institutions leads to the aggravation of problems rather than to their solution. So the existing police force may not be perfect at all. However, the violence on the streets will only increase if it is replaced by armed revolutionaries who know how to "discourse" but have no idea what real police work is.

It is understandable that supporters of a revolutionary approach will eventually come to the conclusion that the problems that killed CHAZ - black gangs and the corresponding behavior of black teenagers - are also the product of "capitalism" and "hierarchy of oppression." And a real utopia, apparently, needs to be built from scratch, without citizens who have gone through bad socialization. But in reality, a utopia cannot be built even in a single area. Therefore, the only working option is not to "dismantle the system", but to gradually improve it within the existing institutions.

An ironic detail: The local police department building was originally built by Seattle's first African-American city councilman, one Sam Smith, who thus sought to ensure the safety of the black population living nearby. CHAZ declared this site a symbol of racism, oppression and all kinds of evil. A clear illustration of the difference between revolutionary and evolutionary approaches to society.

Mihail Pojarsky 2020-07-02