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It sounds like they tried to replicate the Danish 'Free Christiania' area of Copenhagen in Seattle.Of course 50 years ago the Danish anarchists took over an abandoned military base,which belonged to the government,and improved it,which is much different than seizing occupied private property.
It worked to some extent but certainly hasn't spread to the country as a whole and for years was mostly dependent on illegal pot sales to finance its existence.For several decades the weed business was at least community based but eventually organized crime wormed their way in and the police really cracked down.
Eventually 'the state' wormed their way back in too and much is now decided by a 'foundation' that owns the real estate with a board of directors which decides things rather than 'the collective of residents' and the community is mostly dependent on tourism to survive.
Gentrification has occured there too and many founding residents have been forced to move due to rising rents.The place was always dependent on the rest of Copenhagen anyway although somewhat independent.
Human nature being what it is these things NEVER work as their founders envision.In any group there are always leaders and followers,and workers and slackers.They may start out well but always fail in the end because eventually the 'workers' will tire of carrying the 'slackers' and will leave and the 'slackers' will turn on one another for the remaining crumbs.
Chopistas happily NO MORE! ...They whimpered when they realized the police still had the not-so-defunded resources to boot their vegan patchouli-scented carcasses off public property. Gotta LOVE it!
So came to an end the illegal insurrection that Seattle Democrats allowed to take over their city streets. After the chinless riff raff who occupied the Bolshevik utopia started to shoot each other, as Bolsheviks will, the mayor then began to contemplate ending the farce.
But what really hastened the end of CHOP, and the clearing out action by the revivified police, was the rioters loudly protesting and whatnot at the home of Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan.
When that transpired over the weekend Her Ladyship went from calling CHOP “a summer of love” and “a block party” to sounding like the indignant wife of Thurston Howell III in her attitude towards the scruffy dilettantes.
This is the perfect example of what I was talking about. Who are these people?
What relationship to they have to their community? None it seems, they just use Capitol Hill as an outpost for their work life and a venue to entertain their family and friends.
There is no community when work and life are so disparate. Anything bigger than their immediate financial comfort is an annoyance, not exactly the formula for a larger existence.
Last edited by Winterfall8324; 07-03-2020 at 01:16 PM..
What relationship to they have to their community? None it seems, they just use Capitol Hill as an outpost for their work life and a venue to entertain their family and friends.
There is no community when work and life are so disparate. Anything bigger than their immediate financial comfort is annoyance, not exactly the formula for a larger existence.
And guess what? That is their right. Something you clearly seem to lack a grasp of (not that it wasn't already evident from past posts).
the problem was - anarchy eventually showed up. 4 people got shot, 2 died as far as we know.. That Chaz/chop was based on the wrong premise - hate.
At first it appeared to be a peaceful hippie commune.. however, there was something toxic that was infiltrating it, and eventually given the right circumstances, it came out.
I think if people want to form their own commune, go find yourself a place,that does not belong to anyone, and start up a community. the problem is - the chaz chop people decided to reside/squat on property that was not theirs. the businesses and residents who actually belonged there, felt threatened and the chaz chop people made the place look like a slum with particle board and graffiti. not good.
so, the idea might have been ok, but evil lurked among it.
you gotta have lawfulness or else crime will happen.
I'm glad people got to see the consequences for it has taught them a lesson in how not to do a community.
I’m all for seeing a group like CHOP attempting to build a utopia and showing us the error of our ways. However, if the only way they can do so is to steal their property from someone else they’ve already failed and are no better than the “conquering” society that they are attempting to change. If someone wants to give them an area with all of the modern trappings that they supposedly need to start their better society, that’s one thing. Running the people who already occupy the area out in order to take it over, though, violates the non aggression principle and immediately refutes any claim they have to being better than anyone else.
The idea of communal living isn’t new, or unique, or even very well thought out. It’s been tried over and over again, and was even the norm at one point in human history. The problems with it are varying and pervasive, but in general such societies are incapable of sustaining themselves in the long term. That’s sort of the reason that humanity in general moved away from such arrangements.
And it always ends up the same. Some refuse to work and the workers get tired of it.
And guess what? That is their right. Something you clearly seem to lack a grasp of (not that it wasn't already evident from past posts).
What 'right'?
They're transplants who are moved into residential zones so realestate speculators and the city government can better control the land value and jobs sector.
That is not an active community, the people have no bond or shared culture OR shared stock.
They're transplants who are moved into residential zones so realestate speculators and the city government can better control the land value and jobs sector.
They likely did not pay the taxes for the time they illegally settled on city land either.
This is the perfect example of what I was talking about. Who are these people?
What relationship to they have to their community? None it seems, they just use Capitol Hill as an outpost for their work life and a venue to entertain their family and friends.
There is no community when work and life are so disparate. Anything bigger than their immediate financial comfort is an annoyance, not exactly the formula for a larger existence.
The residents "want their neighborhood back". Fancy that. People want to be able to live in their own neighborhood. Boy, the nerve of some people.
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Gotta LOVE it! 
