The ‘Straight’ Poop From The Nation Of CHAZ

Clearing up the “Raz” disinformation, introducing the Conflict Resolution Advisory Council

You decide if this a legitimate posting of the precepts governing (I use the term loosely) the new Nation of CHAZ, or something someone from the Babylon Bee or The Onion went to a great deal of work to cook up. Me. I can’t make the call.

r/CapHillAutonomousZone–We feel the need to address this because there’s a hella lot of misinformation on this sub.

Basically, Fox News has been saying Raz Simone (a resident artist) is our “leader” or “war lord” and he’s designating himself as the police force. This is all nonsense. Raz Simone is a peaceful supporter of the movement and a powerful shepherd, however he’s no more of a leader than you or me.

You may have heard there was an incident in which it appeared Raz shoved a graffiti artist who irresponsibly tagged over top of an established mural, however this isn’t entirely true. Both Raz and the “victim” have made up and there’s zero animosity. So it’s like it never happened.

Anybody who has visited the Zone knows it’s peaceful. It’s basically an impromptu organic community town square on Cap Hill, a place for art and music, and a safe space where people from all walks of society can peacefully demonstrate. ☂️

So let’s clear this up once and for all for all the trolls and pundits:

The Zone has no leadership. We have a decentralized local governance structure, and we oppose all hierarchical structures.

The fake stories are completely misrepresenting what we are about.

Is it a real problem?
Unfortunately the fake stories are tainting what the Zone is about and distracting from the movement. Even the Wikipedia page is still listing Raz as our leader as we write this.

Also, some of the feedback about the supposed “incident” is legitimate (although it’s hard to tell who is brigading and who is real).

People have been asking us how the Zone is set up to deal with an internal conflict if we generally don’t welcome police presence and our leadership is decentralized and socialist. It’s a very real question.

We’re all here figuring things out as we go, and we fully believe our beautiful community has the spirit to put our collective minds together and invent a peaceful solution that doesn’t involve any power hierarchies.

Introducing: Conflict Resolution Advisory Council
We will form a unique system called the Conflict Resolution Advisory Council.

We hold a community democratic vote to appoint three people to the Council. To eliminate prejudice, we elect one Black man, one Black woman, and one white woman. Each person should undergo at least one 45 minute sensitivity and political training session which we can help organize.
Whenever there is an internal conflict in the Zone, it will be put to the Council. Both people will have an opportunity to present their side of the story to the Council to review.
The Council members will decide on a fair resolution and provide it as advice. Initially the Council will be advisory only. In the future the system could evolve to become more mature with binding resolutions, impositions, retribution, enforcement, and imprisonment.
The appointed people will hear out and settle any internal disputes within the Zone. We’re not suggesting that this Council members become leaders or judges, only referees in case of internal conflicts.

Edit 1: After receiving feedback about inclusiveness we shall include in the council one Black man, one Black woman, one trans Black person, one non-binary Black person, and one white woman (5 4 people).

Edit 2: On more feedback we will add to the Council 1 Asian non-male, 1 Native American non-male, and 1 Latinx non-male, and then 4 additional Black men and women to balance it out. In total there are 3 + 4 + 4 = 11 members.

Edit 3: We’ve received some feedback about including disabledpersons (mental and physical) and homelesspersons on the Council. 20% or 40% of the Council should be persons with lived experience of disability. At least 10% should be experiencing involuntary homelessness.

Edit 4: We realize LGBTQIA communities are being under-represented in the Council so far and are working on proposals to rectify this. The final composition of the balanced Council will likely include 10-50% people who identify as LGBTQIA.

Edit 5: We have agreed to add 3 more seats, two of which are to give a voice to the disadvantaged LGBTQIA community, and one to give children equal representation and fairness. The new seats include one for a LGBTQI-identifying Black disabledperson, one for a LGBTQI-identifying Black homelessperson, and one for a non-white or mixed race child between the ages of 8 and 15.

Edit 6: There have been further concerns raised over the efficacy of the Council to deal with disputes between children, as children are currently not adequately represented. In light of the feedback, we will add child safety training programs to the onboarding session and add one additional seat for another non-white or mixed race child between the ages of 8 and 15 (preferably disabled).

Edit 7: We’ve heard your concerns about the Asian non-male seat representing all Asian subgroups as if they are a monolithic identity. That wasn’t our intention. We will replace the Asian non-male seat with 12 mini-seats for each of the following Asian non-male identities: Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Cambodian, Taiwanese, Malaysian, Mongolian, Okinawan, Singaporean, and wildcard (any Asian identity, except Korean-American). The mini-seats will collectively hold the voting power of one seat.

Edit 8: We’ve been told that our Council under-represents those with a criminal record or incarceration experience, as white culture allows people to suffer a particular disadvantage because of past convictions. The Council will mandate that more than 25% of its members must have a violent criminal history with previous or current incarceration experience.

Edit 9: Some women have expressed to us that they wouldn’t feel comfortable presenting a case involving a sexual offence to a Council that is partly made up of criminals with a history of committing sexual offences. We are placing a cap of 50% on the proportion of Council members who have performed one or more premeditated sexual assaults or rapes in the preceding twelve months. Homelesspersons and disabledpersons are exempt from this cap.

**Found here.