You probably remember the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) which was formed in Seattle back in 2020 before it was renamed the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP). The CHAZ/CHOP was supposed to be a living example of how woke anarchists could create a utopia by simply removing the fascist element (Seattle PD) from the a few square blocks.
Initially, the police chief and the city complied, pulling out of the precinct and effectively leaving a few square blocks of the city with no law enforcement. CHAZ residents came up with a list of demands which included a 50% cut to the police budget. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan famously described CHAZ as having a “block party atmosphere.” Seattle’s socialist city council member Kshama Sawant visited and urged the residents to turn the area into a restorative justice center. Vox, among other left wing outlets, wrote about the CHAZ as a
