#protect the weelaunee forest

[thatsleepymermaid]

The South River Watershed Alliance is having an entire week of divestment for corporations supporting Cop City! They will be having toolkits and webinars all week open to everyone not just people in Atlanta!! Here's the link to either host or attend an action. We need everyone's help to Stop Cop City!!!

[edwordsmyth]

Manuel "Tortuguita" Teran, murdered yesterday (January 18) by police in Atlanta for protecting Weelaunee Forest from being destroyed and converted into the country's largest militarized police training center.

[darkarches]

Help protect Weelaunee Forest and stop the construction of cop city!

There was a conference last night for the Stop Cop City week of solidarity coming up February 19th-26th.

The main takeaway is that if people are interested in taking action, the best thing to do would be to target the construction company that the police have contracted, the funders of the project, and the insurance company insuring the project. The cops are the ones who want cop city built, but they can't do it without the groups mentioned above.

The construction company is Brasfield and Gorrie. My understanding is the company itself probably won't turn a huge profit from the project and is mostly doing it to strengthen relations with the police. If we can show them they will lose money from this project they may pull out. One way to show them how unprofitable this venture would be for them is to make it harder for them to complete other projects they're working on. One suggestion from the conference is that those who live near construction projects being done by Brasfield and Gorrie could try to obstruct progress on these projects to show there will be repercussions if they don't pull out of cop city.

The main funders of the project are big banks and corporations. I've included a link at the bottom with more details but some of the groups funding this are Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Target, Home Depot, and Chik-fil-a. The Atlanta Police Foundation is also helping fund and support the project. Below I've linked a map that shows the locations of these funders and offices of members of the Atlanta Police Foundation.

The insurance company signed onto the cop city project is AXA. At the conference last night it was emphasized that AXA is the main target we want to go after during the upcoming week of solidarity. The destruction of the forest cannot continue without an insurance company covering them. I did a quick google search and was able to find several AXA offices near me. Like with Brasfield and Gorrie, if we put the pressure on AXA they will hopefully realize this project is simply not worth it and pull out.

This is a list of targets which includes a map of where these targets are located throughout the US. There is also a list of actions that people can take, but be creative.

Nobody wants cop city except the police and corporations. Let's help save the Weelaunee Forest!

[post-leffert]

CHICAGO ABOLITIONISTS SHUT DOWN BANK OF AMERICA BY GLUING ATMS IN RETALIATION FOR THE MURDER OF TORTUGUITA

20th January, Chicago USA.

via: Scenes

“CHICAGO, IL — Friday night, January 20th, Chicago abolitionists in solidarity with the movement to Stop Cop City and Defend the Atlanta Forest glued shut the card reader and keyhole at a Bank of America ATM and “Virtual Banking” facility in Chicago’s affluent Lincoln Park neighborhood (2428 N Lincoln Ave). They also left messages, including STOP COP CITY, DEFEND THE ATLANTA FOREST, and ACAB on the ATM windows and door. The incident was in response to the murder of a forest defender by police in Atlanta on January 18th, 2023.

Bank of America is a top funder of police foundations across the US, in particular the Atlanta Police Foundation, which is funding the destruction of Weelaunee Forest in “Atlanta” to build “Cop City.” The intended facility would be a militarized police training compound, including a mock city for cops to practice urban warfare on Atlanta’s residents, particularly the Black and Brown and poor communities adjacent to the forest. In 2020, BOA gave at least $50,000 to the foundation; tax data from 2021-22 is not yet available.

Bank of America also bankrolls the Chicago Police Foundation, with BoA Senior Vice President Patricia Provenzano sitting on its board.

On January 18th, police in Atlanta murdered a forest defender, Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran, as they attempted to force people out of the forest to allow the destruction to proceed. This violence is further proof that police only serve and protect the interests of the wealthy and powerful – bankers and capitalists who will happily have people murdered and ecosystems destroyed to continue hoarding wealth.

From @defendtheatlantaforest @stopcopcity on Instagram, friends said: “Tortuguita was a kind, passionate, loving person cherished by their community. They spent their time between Atlanta, defending the forests from destruction and coordinating mutual aid, and Florida where they helped build housing in low income communities hit hardest by the hurricane. They were a medic, a loving partner, a dear friend, a brave soul, and so much more.”

Chicago activists echo the calls of Atlanta forest defenders to immediately stop the attacks on the forest and abandon plans to build Cop City.”

[frankendykes-monster]

Check their shoes and look for mud!” shouted one Atlanta police department officer to another. The sun was setting against a tree line growing greener daily due to recent balmy, spring-like weather in Atlanta, but the bucolic setting of a Sunday in the sun at a free music festival abruptly became panic and chaos. Dozens of law enforcement officers, many with automatic weapons, swarmed into a forest of hundreds of acres, seeking to find any of the 200 or so activists who had set fire to a bulldozer, trailer and other infrastructure used for construction on “Cop City”, a $90m, 85-acre police and fire department training center, about an hour earlier. The clash was just the latest dramatic chapter to hit the Cop City project, which has already seen one environmental activist shot dead by police – the first incident of its kind in the US – and drawn national and international attention to the fight to save the Georgia forest where the giant project is planned. The one officer’s frenzied order about dirty footwear seemed as absurd as any part of the Sunday night operation, since Georgia rains had left muddy patches all over the forest, and at least 600 people were lying on the grass, or camped among the trees, or entering the forest to catch an evening’s music under the stars or leaving – thus many had mud on their shoes. But such was the situation on Sunday night, on the second night of the fifth “week of action” by activists over the last year dedicated to protecting the land called South River forest on municipal maps and Weelaunee forest by activists – using the Muscogee (Creek) word for “brown water”. The scene included police running through trees, arresting a legal observer from the National Lawyers Guild, sending a negotiator to agree on terms with five randomly chosen individuals for letting about a hundred music festival audience members safely leave the forest, and detaining journalists for questioning on “what they were there to cover”. The first two days had included free music, herbal workshops and a peaceful march through neighborhoods surrounding the forest south-east of Atlanta. Then, around 5.30 on Sunday evening, about 200 activists, most in balaclavas and camouflage clothing, began lining up to the right of the stage. They marched around three sides of the audience, chanting “Viva Tortuguita” – a reference to Manuel Paez Terán, a 26-year-old activist who was camping several hundred feet away from that spot on 18 January when police shot and killed him in another raid. It was the first time police killed an environmental activist while protesting in US history. Authorities said that Paez Terán fired first. After several hours of chaos on Sunday night, 23 people – including a legal observer with the National Lawyers Guild – had been arrested and charged with “domestic terrorism” under state law, adding to the 18 defendants facing the same unprecedented charges who have been arrested in recent months.

[melchiorgabor]

STOP COP CITY & DEFEND THE ATLANTA FOREST

on january 18, georgia state troops murdered Tortugita (aka Tort, they/it) during a raid of the weelaunee forest in the city of atlanta.

“cop city” is a proposed police training facility planned for construction in southwest atlanta. the designated land belongs to the Muskogee Nation, whose people were forcibly removed by the state in the 1800s.

today, atlanta is the greenest city in the us. we are known for our tree coverage. cop city will destroy a significant portion of our forest, which is essential for climate change mitigation. despite being opposed by 70% of atlanta citizens, the state and local government is not interested in listening to us. cop city will consume 85 acres of land, some of it the site of the old atlanta prison farm.

since 2021, a number of people have been protecting the forest by living in the trees. Tort was one of those people, and last week they were murdered by police while trying to prevent the construction of a facility meant to train more cops to murder more people.

the tree sitters are peaceful. stop cop city/defend the atlanta forest are peaceful protests. there have been rallies and events across the country this week in support of atlanta forest defenders.

please know that the mainstream coverage of Tort’s death and the ensuing protests is not accurate. GSP will not release body cam footage from the raid that killed Tort. they will not release ballistics. all they want is to demonize the brave people in this movement. don’t let them control this narrative.

if you’re able, please consider donating to the atlanta solidarity fund & help other protesters who have been arrested over the course of this week. you can also donate to a gofundme in support of Tort’s loved ones.

the community has been devastated. please spread the word, oppose cop city, and remember Tortugita.

#StopCopCity #JusticeForTort

[decolonize-the-left]

The tree cutting has started

How to help:

Support the work of the Forest Justice Defense Fund a broad coalition dedicated to saving the Atlanta Forest by donating here

The Atlanta Solidarity Fund bails out activists who are arrested for participating in social justice movements, and helps them get access to lawyers. Donate here

You can donate to the lawsuit challenging the Dekalb County movie studio land swap here

Call Brasfield & Gorrie (678.581.6400), the Atlanta Police Foundation (770.354.3392), and the City of Atlanta (404.330.6100) and ask them to cancel the project and to remain peaceful with tree-sitters and other on-the-ground protesters

You can organize protests, send phone calls or emails, or help with direct actions of different kinds to encourage contractors of the various projects to stop the destruction. You can find some of the contractors here: stopreevesyoung.com

You can form an Action Group in your community, neighborhood, town, city, college, or scene. Together, you can host information nights, movie screenings, potluck dinners, and protests at the offices of contractors, at the homes of the board members, on campus, or elsewhere. You can post and pass out fliers at public places and shows, knock on doors to talk to neighbors and sign them up for text alerts, fundraisers, or actions, or you can innovate new activities altogether.

If you want to protest like the French NOW is the time to show that you will support and protect people on the Frontline!!

These protesters are protecting ALL of us after all! Cop city will be a training ground for police across the USA.

Let's show them our gratitude and give them that spark of morale that solidarity and support brings.

[probablyasocialecologist]

The struggle to Stop Cop City is not just a battle over the creation of a $90 million police urban warfare center. It's not just a fight to protect the 381 acres of forest land, known as one of the "four lungs" of Atlanta, currently under threat of destruction. It's not just a conflict over how the city invests the over $30 million it has pledged to the project, to be supplemented by at least $60 million in private funding.

The movement is all of those things. But even more fundamentally, the struggle to Stop Cop City is a battle for the future of Atlanta.

It's a struggle over who the city is for: the city's corporate and state ruling class actors who have demanded that Cop City be built, or the people of Atlanta who have consistently voiced their opposition and demanded a different vision for the city. It is a fight over who the city belongs to; over who Atlanta is run for and who it is run against; over who is welcome to live and enjoy life here, and who is expected to simply labor here for low wages and under constant surveillance.

In January 2023, Cop City claimed its first life when a joint task force of local and state police officers marched into the Weelaunee Forest and assassinated Tortuguita Terán, a 26-year-old queer, Indigenous-Venezuelan forest defender. The project has already claimed the lives of trees in the forest, as clear-cutting began in March 2023. Cop City has already stolen the freedom of 42 people who have been charged with domestic terrorism and dozens more who were violently arrested while protesting the project.

As the struggle to stop Cop City has gone national and international, it has also left many wondering: Given so much widespread opposition, why is the city of Atlanta so intent on building Cop City? And if they insist on building Cop City, why build it atop such precious forest land? And why now, when the plans were first proposed as early as 2017 and the city had previously committed to protecting and preserving the land in question?

Contribute to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund to support the legal defense of Forest Defenders facing domestic terrorism charges.

Learn more about the ongoing fight to #StopCopCity and Defend the Atlanta Forest.

[thatsleepymermaid]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by South River Watershed Alliance (@southriverga)

Another effect of clear cutting Weelaunee to make Cop City: Unchecked flooding.

This is near Constitution road by the way. We've been having our spring storms but ever since cutting down the forest our flooding problem has gotten worse.

Atlanta for All and the Southern River Watershed Alliance are asking people to take part in the New Comprehensive Development Plan prioritizing green spaces and environmental protection. Especially since the City of Atlanta is not following the plan finalized in 2017 to protect Weelaunee.

[mosquitogirl]

my flash for the stop cop city tattoo fundraiser on the 13th <3 if youre in the atlanta area come thru to raise money for the good people putting it all on the line to protect the weelaunee forest from its planned destruction by city officials, the atlanta police foundation and blackhall studios

[a-queer-seminarian]

Learn about the Movement to Stop Cop City and Defend Atlanta's Forest through the stories of forest defenders for whom queerness and faith intertwine with activism. In this first episode, Siihasin describes their experiences as a Diné nádleehi, frontliner, and land defender.

Siihasin was one of around 20 Indigenous two spirit persons invited to the latest Stop Cop City Week of Action to facilitate conversations around Indigenous sovereignty, land rights & protection, and Black liberation & solidarity. How can activist movements work to protect and center their most vulnerable members?

Listen on Blessed Are the Binary Breakers wherever you get podcasts — or click here for links + an episode transcript.

Read more quotes from the episode under the readmore.

ID: A quote from Siihasin reads, "I was reached out to by some local Indigenous folks, Afro-indigenous relatives, who had shared that they were going to be having a Week of Action [and] wanted to bring more Indigenous people into the space to talk about the intersections of land rights and protection, Indigenous leadership and sovereignty, as well as Black Liberation and solidarity."

A photo shows Siihasin posing with a large banner in Weelaunee Forest reading "Land Acknowledgement: Weeluanee Forest is of the Muscogee Creek and Cherokee peoples, Indigenous Caretakers, + Black descendants" / end ID

ID: A quote from Siihasin reads, "We also brought with us a Muscogee relative who was able to reconnect to her homelands for the first time. ...[And] we were really honored to acknowledge and to be a part of a ceremony that reconnected... Muscogee relatives and the land. ...Amidst all of these very beautiful moments, we were being surveilled; we were being followed. ...The State really brought a lot of those moments of heartache and sadness and intensity." A photo shows Siihasin gazing seriously at the viewer while facing a line of police in riot gear. / end ID.

A quote from Siihasin beside a photo of Tortuguita reads, "Tortuguita is joining a long line of Indigenous people, of ancestors who have put everything on the line to protect our relatives, our family, our hearts. Because attack on the land is attack on us as Native people. And so it was very beautiful to be in a space where I was meeting Tortuguita’s relatives, and...where people were elevating some of the things that Tortuguita had said before they were assassinated. ...It also is important to name that it was very unfortunate to see [how] the State was able to target and single out a brown forest defender in that space. ...How do we take care of those of us who...have bigger targets painted on us because of...where we come from and what we look like?" / end ID

ID: A final quote from Siihasin reads, "I'm really excited to see what the future holds for this movement and for the broader movement of Black and Indigenous solidarity — and all of the ways that we can plug our comrades into those. Because we need everybody...we all have a role to play. We all have important places in these movements to keep it going. And so I'm just really hopeful for what's to come." A photo shows Siihasin smiling big and posing in front of another forest banner, this one reading "Defend the Atlanta forest." / End ID

[notworkingphd]

TW: police violence, gun violence, state violence, death, ecocide, murder

Yesterday Georgia Police shot one of their own and put him in the hospital. He's fine. However, they also shot and killed an unarmed civilian and are now accusing four other people of domestic terrorism for trying to protect a forest.

Atlanta is trying to build a giant police playground by bulldozing an entire forest in the south part of the city. They aim to spend around 90 million USD on this project while the streets of the city are covered in houseless people driven out of their homes by the predatory realtors who sold out to Airbnb. The Bank of America and numerous private entities have bought the Council and are forcing this police playground, aka Cop City, on the community against the protests of everyone actually living in and around the forest.

The Weelaunee Forest is significant ecologically to provide cooling shade, protective windbreaks, and control flooding in this part of Atlanta. Without it, temperatures on the raw concrete will skyrocket in the summer, freeze uncontrollably in the winter, and flood dangerously anytime it rains. The direct harm to the people who live here is incalculable, but police training facilities and reckless police spending are demonstrably harmful to surrounding communities.

The blood of the fallen Forest Defender is their responsibility. They are already changing the narrative to insinuate that one of the protesters shot at the attacking police force. They are going to kill more.

[sataniccapitalist]

Labor must join the fight to stop 'Cop City' | Working People

Plans to build Cop City have been mired in controversy and civil rights violations from the beginning—from the city government's attempts to ignore residents' and activists' objections and force through the construction of Cop City in Atlanta's ecologically vital Weelaunee Forest, to police raiding an encampment of peaceful protestors and murdering one of them, Manuel ("Tortuguita") Esteban Paez Terán, who was shot 57 times, to the truly Orwellian crackdown on protestors and advocates, dozens of whom are being arrested and charged with "domestic terrorism."

As Micah Herskind writes, "The struggle to Stop Cop City is not just a battle over the creation of a $90 million police urban warfare center. It's not just a fight to protect the 381 acres of forest land, known as one of the "four lungs" of Atlanta, currently under threat of destruction. It's not just a conflict over how the city invests the over $30 million it has pledged to the project, to be supplemented by at least $60 million in private funding. The movement is all of those things. But even more fundamentally, the struggle to Stop Cop City is a battle for the future of Atlanta. It's a struggle over who the city is for: the city's corporate and state ruling class actors who have demanded that Cop City be built, or the people of Atlanta who have consistently voiced their opposition and demanded a different vision for the city." Make no mistake, though, the fight to Stop Cop City is all of our fight, and that very much includes the labor movement. In this episode of the Working People podcast, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Kamau Franklin and Mariah Parker about Cop City, the fight to stop it, and why labor needs to get off the sidelines and join that fight.

[readingsquotes]

Editor's note: This essay was originally published in WearYourVoice magazine at the height of the summer 2020 uprisings, when the murder of Atlanta's Rayshard Brooks and the violent police response to protestors warranted a deeper understanding of the intimate connections between Atlanta and Palestine's respective carceral apparatuses—both of which mutually benefit from the GILEE program. Given the ongoing struggle today at Atlanta's #CopCity to protect and defend the Weelaunee Forest against the state and corporate capital's insistence on its destruction to construct the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center on the site, this evergreen piece provides timely context for our present struggle.