This article presents a dialogue between University of Tsukuba Professor Emeritus Hiroshi Furuta and international political scholar Genki Fujii concerning the occupation of part of downtown Seattle, the responses of the mayor and Washington State governor, incidents inside the occupied zone, ANTIFA, Black Lives Matter, and campaigns to remove statues of figures including Columbus and Jefferson.
In the latter part, Furuta characterizes the removal of historical statues as a barbaric “erasure of memory” and compares it with disputes over historical memory in Japan and South Korea.

July 23, 2020
This article was originally published on July 23, 2020, and continues the dialogue between Hiroshi Furuta and Genki Fujii from the preceding chapter.
The first part discusses the occupation of several blocks of downtown Seattle in 2020, the responses of Seattle’s mayor and Washington State’s governor, and incidents inside the occupied area that the speakers believed affected public opinion.
The latter part turns to campaigns to remove statues of Columbus, Jefferson, and other historical figures.
Furuta describes such removal as an “erasure of memory” that severs society’s connection with its own past.
The conversation also addresses Japanese historical scholarship, South Korea’s “comfort women statues,” alleged funding from the Middle East, and the possibility of Chinese involvement.
The following translation faithfully reflects the claims and assessments made in the original July 23, 2020 dialogue.
【English Translation】
July 23, 2020
He played dumb, saying, “Oh, is that so?
I didn’t know”… because if he answered, “I know,” he would have been obliged as governor to mobilize the National Guard… That is a remarkably dirty tactic.
The following continues from the previous chapter.
Removing Statues Is a Barbaric “Erasure of Memory”
Furuta: In Seattle, radicals created an autonomous zone.
Fujii: Six blocks of the downtown area were occupied.
Inside, it was completely beyond the reach of law, a lawless area where arson, rape, and looting were rampant.
It is astonishing that they were even said to have collected “protection money.”
Furuta: Why were they allowed to go that far?
Fujii: When ANTIFA and BLM demonstrators surged toward the police station in protest, Mayor Jenny Durkan somehow ordered the police officers to withdraw from the station.
As a result, the police station was taken over, and the occupation spread around it.
Citizens who supported Trump appealed for the military to be sent in quickly, but the city showed no intention whatsoever of suppressing the occupation.
Furuta: Is the mayor a liberal?
Fujii: Yes, a Democratic liberal.
In addition, Washington Governor Jay Inslee is also a Democrat.
When asked about the occupation at a press conference, he played dumb and said, “Oh, is that so?
I didn’t know.” [Laughs.]
If he had answered, “I know,” he would have been obliged as governor to mobilize the National Guard.
Furuta: That is a remarkably dirty tactic.
Fujii: The governor and the mayor probably calculated that if the unrest in Seattle expanded, it would become an obstacle to Trump’s reelection.
Even when Trump said, “If this continues, I will send in the military,” the mayor brushed it aside by saying, “This is like a summer festival.”
Then the mayor suddenly changed course and issued an eviction order.
The following day, she deployed the police.
I thought there might even be a gun battle, but the radicals surrendered without much resistance.
Furuta: Why did the mayor change her mind?
Fujii: It is said that the attack on her own home was also a major factor. [Laughs.]
But apparently, the decisive factor was the killing of a 19-year-old Black youth inside the autonomous zone.
The victim’s father appeared on FOX television and made a tearful appeal.
He reportedly had to wait an entire week before seeing his son’s body.
Even after his son was taken to a hospital, doctors and nurses had evacuated, so he did not receive appropriate treatment.
A 14-year-old Black boy was also attacked.
When these incidents came to light, what the speakers regarded as the hypocrisy of the radicals was exposed.
Public opinion changed dramatically, with people asking, “What happened to Black Lives Matter?”
Furuta: In other words, conduct completely contrary to “Black Lives Matter.”
Fujii: In any event, the Seattle incident was resolved, but after the radicals left, the area was covered with piles of garbage.
It was terrible.
Furuta: Perhaps that too is part of the animal nature of human beings.
Koreans leave places terribly dirty when they move out.
It gives me a sense of “active uncleanliness.”
Fujii: After this incident, movements to remove statues of Columbus and Jefferson also came to an abrupt halt.
A major factor was Trump’s signing of an executive order imposing prison terms of up to ten years for acts that “damage, deface, or remove” monuments or statues.
Furuta: That is probably a barbaric “erasure of memory.”
It erases memory itself so that when people trace the past, they can no longer arrive at it.
We have people like that in our own country as well, among Marxist scholars of Japanese history and the ancient chronicles, and among proponents of Asianist theories of endogenous development.
They treat historical figures such as Motoori Norinaga, who was not affirmative toward Chinese culture, as though they had never existed.
Prince Shotoku nearly became one of their victims as well, but Professor Nobukatsu Fujioka and others successfully rescued him.
Incidentally, South Korea’s “comfort women statues” represent “fabrication of history,” while the removal of statues in the United States represents “erasure of memory.”
The former inserts an imagined figure represented as a common noun, while the latter removes real and famous historical individuals.
Both are dirty tactics of progressives.
Fujii: It appears that considerable funding from the Middle East was flowing to the radicals in Seattle.
In fact, some activists owned multiple companies and drove Mercedes-Benz cars.
Furuta: I wonder whether China was involved.
Fujii: That is not yet clear.
However, there is no doubt that Xi Jinping is the person who most wants Trump to lose the election, so I think there is a high possibility that China was conducting operations behind the scenes.
To be continued.