DISPATCHES: SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

We have literally been held up as an example for movements in other US cities. People are travelling here to see what they can learn while people from here are going to places like Minneapolis, Portland, and Los Angeles to share their knowledge with protestors in those cities.

By Cina Ebrahimi

Cina Ebrahimi is from Seattle, Washington, United States and has been involved in activism around multiple issues since 2004. He holds advanced degrees in Applied Mathematics and Physics from the University of Washington. He first started doing Animal Liberation activism since 2014 and has been vegan since 2016.

In May 2020, I had jumped back into on the ground activism after taking a 3-year break. The constant head-to-head street fighting with white supremacist, fascist groups left me exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally.

This was all in addition to the constant online bickering that became so common within the confines of “Intersectional Veganism”. A lot of activism in the Seattle, Washington had fizzled out anyway, as had the larger Black Lives Matter movement. So, it seemed like a “good” place to take some time off and I told myself that if something “big” happened where I would need to jump back in again (after much needed recuperation) I would. I never thought it would be something as brutal as George Floyd’s death. But as how these things typically go, I shouldn’t have been surprised that that’s what it would be. How could I have thought that I would base my decision to get involved again on some “feel good” incident? Or maybe it was the severe cabin fever that resulted from the COVID lockdown and my return to activism wasn’t so altruistic all along. I don’t know.

The first night of protests was met with police resistance. Who had all turned their body cameras off (they’re required by law to turn them on when a “crime” law may potentially occur) and other people said they didn’t give their names o badge numbers when asked, which are they are also required to do by law. But as would soon learn in the following weeks, if the police didn’t do anything illegal, then this situation we’re in wouldn’t be happening. My political views have changed a lot in the that time, and they still are in a state of flux. In December of 2019, I attended the Seattle Anarchist bookfair, met some new people, reconnected with some old friends, and got exposed to a lot of new, radical political ideas. Perhaps some higher power knew what was going to happen in a few months and that was supposed to be the beginning of my transition from left of center progressive/liberal towards Anarchist politics.

Protest on 5th Ave & Pine Street, Seattle, WA

Cina after having been shot by rubber bullets

As one would expect, there has been a lot of situations that an “animal person” would find difficult and stand in the way of collective liberation. The first to come about was the incident of a protestor holding a severed pig’s head at a protest. In response, several single-issue vegans with right-wing persuasions used that as a means to undermine the movement for Black Liberation and racial equality as a whole. So again, we have the same painful double whammy, animal bodies ae the targets of human violence and Black bodies are the target of White people who are desperate for an attempt to undermine the movements of people who have been victimized by White Supremacy and state violence, once again creating a chasm between two movements that can and should be a combined force for collective liberation.

Cina after having been shot by rubber bullets

But I don’t think the story has to end there and if the last year has been any indication, it hasn’t. The protest community in Seattle have kept moving forward with no signs of slowing down. We have literally been held up as an example for movements in other US cities. People are travelling here to see what they can learn while people from here are going to places like Minneapolis, Portland, and Los Angeles to share their knowledge with protestors in those cities. More and more people are becoming aware of issues they didn’t even know existed and the number of people beginning to include other animals in the their liberatory framework is growing. It’s been a slow, painful process. But it’s worth it. The recent events in the Palestinian territories have only added to the momentum of people understanding that liberation will either be for everyone or it will ultimately be for no one. I’m very eager to see where things lead.