A visit to, and thoughts on, the CHAZ
(Look, I know it’s called CHOP now but that sounds awful. let me be)
Here’s a blow-by-blow of my visit as it happened.
When you see pictures of the CHAZ, you typically see one of two things: the joke of a barricade plastered in ever-changing signage, or the occupied SPD precinct. Neither image gives you a very good idea of how the place is laid out, or what’s actually going on in there. Much of what’s happening, is actually happening in the adjacent green space at Cal Anderson park. As of 15 June, the CHAZ gradiates outward all the way past a reflecting pool, to a dried-up , graffiti covered fountain. Everything in the CHAZ is drowning in graffiti. As you approach the center, the peppering of tents solidifies into a field of them, 100 or so. They surround a few garden plots, which happen to be the subject of the distant third-most-likely CHAZ photo. On the day I visited, a couple of cheerful anarchists were building a slightly lopsided gazebo next to the garden. The garden sits in front of the park’s public restrooms, a structure whose awnings now protect a tent offering free water. Beyond the restrooms is some kind of Astroturfed sporting field; more tents — some for sleeping, some for offering medical and other support services — sit around its inside perimeter. It’s unexpectedly surreal to see people lounging around on a formal sporting field, though in retrospect, why wouldn’t you? One of the corner tents plays Black Lives Matter speeches over a loudspeaker, and someone — I never found who — has a massive diesel generator out there. If it’s anything like the military, I would assume it belongs to some kind of Operations tent. That’s the thing, though; the CHAZ is very not the military and it’s unclear whether they have, or even want, a lot of control over what happens there. There are some tents out there just selling random stuff, which doesn’t seem in keeping with messaging. A few articles have popped up about how CHAZ has handled arson, street preachers, or general agitators, but commerce guidelines? No idea.
Some of the support service tents struck me as more of an homage to alternative culture than anything that would be… actually useful to a group of people trying to hold territory where protestors can find safety. The “zine supply” tent really takes the cake on that front. Then again, culture matters, and if you want to stick around for a while, maybe you want to provide some cultural enrichment. There’s also the Decolonization Conversation Cafe and the Pay The Fee Tiny Library, both on the outside of the sporting field fence as you move towards the Precinct. When I was there, a group of about 15 was discussing appropriate steps to take when a right-wing troll appears in their midst. It was… pretty naive. A lot of things about the CHAZ are.
Despite that, there’s something moving about being there. Some of — okay, a lot of — what you see is the messy result of people blowing off well-earned anger, but there is occasionally a sign that provokes thought, or reminds occupants that they should spend time volunteering too, not just hanging out. I saw a number of volunteers with long-handled grippers, picking up trash. Volunteers that I interfaced with all seemed genuinely glad to be there, building gazebos or handing out water and bandages. Looks can be deceiving, but thus far they appear to be co-existing peacefully with the local homeless population.
The CHAZ is a very hopeful place.
(More info: 13th st precinct frontage)
The naïveté of the CHAZ doesn’t strike me as what might bring it down; the regular volunteers aren’t necessarily the organizers, and who knows what the organizers have in mind. They could be battle-hardened, for all I know. More importantly, I believe in their ability to adapt as they learn from ongoing events. What concerns me, is first: I’m not sure how they can make this last. Would they even want to? Is it possible to take steps towards sustainability without fracturing the brand new community with small-but-infinite disagreements? Second, something I noticed as afternoon wore on into evening: more and more people showing up with packs of beer in both hands. Because the CHAZ is a party for a lot of folks. Because, can the CHAZ even tell them no? How do you make it boring enough that the Coachella kids fuck off, but not so boring that everybody leaves?
As I was heading out, the anarchists were still working on the gazebo. Either someone gifted them with a level, or they remembered that they had it. They were using it to hammer the supports straight. We said goodbye to each other.
