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Speaker 1: It's a warm spring afternoon in Atlanta, Georgia. You and

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Speaker 1: some of your friends are dancing in the sunlight at

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Speaker 1: a music festival in South Atlanta. It's day two of

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Speaker 1: the South River Music Festival. Last night, you stayed up

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Speaker 1: till three am, alternating between moshing in the pit and

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Speaker 1: laying down on a blanket looking up at the night sky,

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Speaker 1: trying to see stars through the light pollution. After you

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Speaker 1: had your fill of DM you called it a night

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Speaker 1: and hastily set up a tent in the forest near

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Speaker 1: the edge of the festival. You tried to sleep as

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Speaker 1: long as you could, but soon enough the hustle and

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Speaker 1: bustle around the forest beckoned you out of your tent.

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Speaker 1: As you mosed on over back to the music festival,

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Speaker 1: immediately something new caught your eye, a large, multi colored

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Speaker 1: inflatable bouncy castle sitting right in the middle of the

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Speaker 1: field with a big stopcop City banner hung along the side.

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Speaker 1: After you fully woke up, you grabbed a free breakfast

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Speaker 1: burrito and took a walk through the winding forest. Now

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Speaker 1: that you've finished your breakfast, you're back at the far

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Speaker 1: end of the open field in front of the stage,

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Speaker 1: where there's been live music playing for the past few hours.

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Speaker 1: You and some friends briefly try a stint in the

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Speaker 1: bouncy castle, but quickly return to the festival stage as

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Speaker 1: you tire out much faster than you expected. As the

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Speaker 1: sun is barely starting to set around six pm, suddenly

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Speaker 1: you notice the faint scream of police sirens piercing through

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Speaker 1: the music being blasted from on stage. You stand up

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Speaker 1: as the sirens get louder and closer, until a burst

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Speaker 1: of police cars zoom past the music festival at high speed.

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Speaker 1: A short sigh of relief is followed by confusion where

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Speaker 1: else would a whole bunch of police cars be going,

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Speaker 1: But as nothing seems to come of it, everyone starts

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Speaker 1: to relax and begin enjoying music once again with the

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Speaker 1: apparent absence of police. There's a if you brief moments

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Speaker 1: of peace at the festival as things continue as scheduled,

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Speaker 1: except you can't help but notice the police helicopter is

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Speaker 1: flying across the forest toward the festival. As you take

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Speaker 1: note of the chopper, you receive a signal message from

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Speaker 1: a friend quote cops have entered the parking lot with

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Speaker 1: AR fifteen's. You lift up your mask and start running

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Speaker 1: across the field to the parking lot at Willawnee People's Park.

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Speaker 1: But before you even make it halfway across, you notice

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Speaker 1: up ahead a few dozen police officers sprinting into the

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Speaker 1: open field from the festival side entrance. As the sun

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Speaker 1: is setting, a group of cops run past the bouncy

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Speaker 1: house and start chasing down seemingly random concert goers and

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Speaker 1: loan stragglers. One officer points his rifle at the bouncy

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Speaker 1: house as another turns off the generator. You group up

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Speaker 1: with other people from the festival in hopes of working

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Speaker 1: together to incentivize police to leave the area. As you

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Speaker 1: get closer, the cops start getting more aggressive. Just up ahead,

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Speaker 1: a bit further into the woods, close to where you

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Speaker 1: set up your tent, you hear some loud bangs and

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Speaker 1: see a flash of bright light. First, you assume it's

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Speaker 1: just fireworks being used to hold off the cops, until

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Speaker 1: you start coughing and see the faint plume of tear

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Speaker 1: gas seeping in from the forest. You're forced to fall

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Speaker 1: back to the festival and regroup with people by the

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Speaker 1: stage where music is still being played. As you're running back,

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Speaker 1: you can see dozens of people in zip ti cuffs,

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Speaker 1: many still pinned to the ground, still coughing from the gas.

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Speaker 1: You make your way back to where you are washing

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Speaker 1: the previous night. The crowd of festivalgoers tightens up as

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Speaker 1: riot vans and a bear cat pull into the field

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Speaker 1: next to the deflated bouncy castle. Police swat teams surround

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Speaker 1: the South River Music Festival and creep towards the stage,

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Speaker 1: threatening to charge hundreds of people with domestic terrorism. Hanging

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Speaker 1: on the backdrop of the stage is a massive banner

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Speaker 1: that reads, quote in the eyes of the state, all

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Speaker 1: who resist white supremacy, colonialism, environmental racism, gentrification, and police

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Speaker 1: militarization are domestic terrorists unquote. That was the evening of Sunday,

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Speaker 1: March fifth, twenty twenty three. This is it could happen here.

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Speaker 1: I'm Garrison Davis. I arrived in Atlanta a few days

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Speaker 1: prior in preparation for the March Week of Action to

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Speaker 1: defend the Atlanta Forest and stop cop City. This is

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Speaker 1: part one of a four part series covering this week

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Speaker 1: of action, featuring interviews, reportbacks, and analysis from both participants

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Speaker 1: and observers like myself. This four part series will be

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Speaker 1: a follow up of sorts to the four stop Coop

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Speaker 1: City episodes we put together last January following the death

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Speaker 1: of forest defender Tortigita at the hands of the Georgia

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Speaker 1: State Patrol, as well as building off my previous year

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Speaker 1: of work covering the movement to defend the Atlanta Forest.

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Speaker 1: But in case you're new or need a refresher, For

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Speaker 1: over two years now, activists and community members have been

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Speaker 1: in a fight to save the Wallani Forest from being

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Speaker 1: turned into a massive ninety million dollar police training facility

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Speaker 1: stretching across one hundred and seventy acres, with plans to

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Speaker 1: include a mock city for urban combat training to quell

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Speaker 1: civil descent. The cop City project is being led by

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Speaker 1: the Atlanta Police Foundation, one of the most powerful police

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Speaker 1: lobbying groups in the country. Following seventeen hours of public comment,

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Speaker 1: seventy percent of which was against the facility, the Atlanta

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Speaker 1: City Council voted to approve the project's lease in September

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Speaker 1: of twenty twenty one, despite months of protests and community organizing.

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Speaker 1: Later that fall, people started occupying and camping out in

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Speaker 1: the Wallani Forest to maintain a physical presence in the woods.

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Speaker 1: In hopes of preventing or delaying construction. Infrastructure to support

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Speaker 1: long time ter encampments grew over the next year, with

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Speaker 1: forest defenders erecting treehouses, road blockades, and making the forest

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Speaker 1: a place that people could actually live in with outdoor kitchens,

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Speaker 1: community gardens, and places to sleep, whether that be up

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Speaker 1: in a tree or in a tent. For a while

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Speaker 1: it seemed to be working. Throughout twenty twenty two, construction

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Speaker 1: continued to stall. Almost every time cops and workers came

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Speaker 1: in to start cutting trees, they were met with resistance.

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Speaker 1: Construction equipment left around the forest was routinely sabotaged, and

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Speaker 1: last year a tertiary targeting campaign resulted in the general

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Speaker 1: contractor for a cop City Reeves Young construction, to drop

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Speaker 1: out of the project. Police enacted multiple raids on the

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Speaker 1: forest in twenty twenty two, trying to flush out any

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Speaker 1: forest defenders camping out in the woods and tear down

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Speaker 1: encampment infrastructure, but the occupation was generally able to bounce

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Speaker 1: back pretty quick. As the movement to stop cop City

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Speaker 1: was seemingly winning, police intensified their repression as a series

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Speaker 1: of raids in December of last year decimated much of

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Speaker 1: the infrastructure that was built up over the course of

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Speaker 1: that year and left six people with domestic terrorism charges.

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Speaker 1: But things got worse just a month later. In January

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Speaker 1: of twenty twenty three, multiple police agencies engaged in a

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Speaker 1: mass raid of the Wallani Forest, destroying all remaining campsites.

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Speaker 1: About an hour into the January eighteenth raid, the Georgia

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Speaker 1: State Patrol swat team killed a twenty six year old

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Speaker 1: forest defender, Manuel Tehran, also known by their forest name Tortigita.

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Speaker 1: Decab County's autopsy found at least fifty seven gunshot wounds

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Speaker 1: from multiple officers. We'll talk more about the results from

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Speaker 1: various autopsies in a later episode, but just a few

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Speaker 1: weeks ago, tort would have turned twenty seven. The other

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Speaker 1: side of the Defend the Forest movement is focused on

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Speaker 1: a smaller section of the Wallani Forest just east of

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Speaker 1: Entrenchment Creek. Initially in hopes of expanding his movie studios,

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Speaker 1: The now former own of Blackhall Studios, Ryan Millsap, has

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Speaker 1: been trying to gain control of forty acres of public

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Speaker 1: parkland through a shady landswap deal with Decap County that's

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Speaker 1: currently subject to legal disputes. The slate of land in

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Speaker 1: question contains the popular meeting spot in the forest known

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Speaker 1: as the Living Room, which acts as a sort of

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Speaker 1: central hub, as well as what's referred to as Wilawni

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Speaker 1: People's Park, where the Park gazebe used to be before

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Speaker 1: Ryan Millsap demolished it, later ripping out all of the

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Speaker 1: grass and sidewalks in a once again legally questionable move.

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Speaker 1: In January, Wilani People's Park also became home to the

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Speaker 1: vigil site for Tortigita all at Let Matt from the

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Speaker 1: Atlantic Community Press Collective explain the other happenings in the

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Speaker 1: woods since January.

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Speaker 2: They got their land disturbance permit in late January, and

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Speaker 2: the first phase of the land disturbance permit only allows

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Speaker 2: for soil erosion control work, So to this point, essentially

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Speaker 2: what they've done is they've cut some paths into the

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Speaker 2: forest into the proposed site, and then around the exterior

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Speaker 2: of the site they've clear cut a line in order

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Speaker 2: to install silt fencing, so there isn't a large amount

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Speaker 2: of infrastructure. They're not allowed to do a large amount

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Speaker 2: of disturbance right now. They're in like the pre construction

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Speaker 2: phase right now. So they started in February and they

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Speaker 2: did a lot of work very quickly. They installed a

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Speaker 2: privacy fence, so you can't really see what's going on,

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Speaker 2: so our general understanding of it, like comes from drone footage.

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Speaker 2: It actually slowed down a couple weeks later, and from

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Speaker 2: what I understand, they began to pull some construction equipment out,

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Speaker 2: probably not wanting to leave, you know, a target for

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Speaker 2: shall we say, any sort of spicy activities.

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Speaker 1: But not all of their construction equipment was removed, As

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Speaker 1: everyone would soon find out, the deadly Jenny left the

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Speaker 1: community in the morning and unsure of how the fight

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Speaker 1: to stop copp City would evolve. With the use of

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Speaker 1: lethal force and the loss of a friend, the Forest

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Speaker 1: Defender's semi permanent occupation of the Wallani Forest ended after

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Speaker 1: that raid, but the fight was far from over. About

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Speaker 1: a month after the January raid, local Atlantans put out

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Speaker 1: a call for supporters across the country to converge in

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Speaker 1: Atlanta in early March for a mass gathering known as

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Speaker 1: a Week of Action. There have been four previous Weeks

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Speaker 1: of Action, but this one, more than any other, would

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Speaker 1: be crucial in reifying what the next stage of the

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Speaker 1: movement would be. I started off this episode with the

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Speaker 1: Sunday night police raid on the South River Music Festival, because,

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Speaker 1: for better or worse, what happened on that evening set

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Speaker 1: the proverbial stage for what the majority of this Week

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Speaker 1: of Action would look like and how its effects would

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Speaker 1: ripple out in the coming months. But before we get

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Speaker 1: to the rest of the week, we first have to

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Speaker 1: go back to the official start of this Week of

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Speaker 1: Action to explain how we got here in the first place.

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Speaker 1: To kick off the Week of Action, a rally was

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Speaker 1: planned for the morning of Saturday, March fourth, at Gresham

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Speaker 1: Park in southeast Atlanta. By the time I arrived around

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Speaker 1: eleven am, hundreds of people were already in the park.

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Speaker 1: Music was blaring from loudspeakers. Some kids and a few

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Speaker 1: brave adults were running around throwing multicolored powdered paint at

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Speaker 1: each other. It was a pretty festive time. Soon enough,

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Speaker 1: it was time for things to begin. Matthew Johnson, the

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Speaker 1: interim executive director of Beloved Commune, formerly kicked off the week.

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Speaker 3: Hoday, let's get started, all right.

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Speaker 4: I just want to make sure that everybody is in

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Speaker 4: the right way. I came here to stop cop city.

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Speaker 5: What did you all come here to do? What did

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Speaker 5: we come to do? What are we come to do?

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Speaker 5: What have we come here to do?

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Speaker 6: All right?

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Speaker 7: I'm glad that everybody found the right address. Thank you

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Speaker 7: everybody for joining us.

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Speaker 8: It's about two years ago.

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Speaker 7: In what was formerly known as Entrenchment Creek Park now

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Speaker 7: known as Wolani People's Park, where a ragtag bunch of

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Speaker 7: individuals gathered under a gazebo. That gazebo was illegally destroyed

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Speaker 7: by Ryan Millsap and his henchmen in an attempt to

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Speaker 7: break this movement, in an attempt to bury this movement.

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Speaker 7: Yet every single time that they have tried to bury us,

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Speaker 7: they have forgotten that we were seeds. Every time they

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Speaker 7: thought that they backed us into a corner with their repression,

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Speaker 7: we had more of you show up and support this movement,

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Speaker 7: and we thank you so much. They have set every

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Speaker 7: hurdle in the way of every day at Lantern's to

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Speaker 7: intimidate them and stop them from.

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Speaker 4: Supporting this movement, and we still show up. We appreciate

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Speaker 4: every single person that has come here to support us

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Speaker 4: in spite of the terror that the state has right

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Speaker 4: to instill in us. We must be very careful and

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Speaker 4: understand the gravity of the situation that we are in,

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Speaker 4: especially after we've lost a friend.

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Speaker 7: Okay, thank you for standing with us. And now there

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Speaker 7: are many things that we do not agree on. But

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Speaker 7: what did we all come here to do?

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Speaker 9: So let's remember what got us this far was a

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Speaker 9: diversity of tactics, and now it's time for.

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Speaker 8: Us to double down.

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Speaker 1: The crowd gathered was a pretty diverse mix of people

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Speaker 1: from a variety of backgrounds, beliefs, and preferred tactics. On

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Speaker 1: this is Saturday morning, everyone felt pretty united, whether you

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Speaker 1: were a kid running around with paint all over your

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Speaker 1: body or an anarchist to dressed head to toe and camo.

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Speaker 1: Next up, somebody read a statement from the Muscogee elder

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Speaker 1: Miko Chabon.

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Speaker 10: Colonel, I'm here to read.

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Speaker 11: A statement from my Miko, Miko Shabbon.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, my name is Marty. I'm Muscoge on my father's side.

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Speaker 11: On my mother's side, I'm Atham both Acmel and Thana,

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Speaker 11: and my dad's also Filipino. Miko asked me to read

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Speaker 11: this statement. Band Strijaio mart At this time, I would

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Speaker 11: like to express my gratitude to all who have conversed

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Speaker 11: onto these ancestral territories of Muscogean ancestors and modern spiritual

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Speaker 11: inhabitants of the earth that we now stand on today.

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Speaker 11: We represent a vast society of peoples whose presence in

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Speaker 11: the colonized named states of Georgia, Alabama, and.

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Speaker 6: Florida have existed for over thirteen thousand years.

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Speaker 11: We represent a way of life that strove to minimize

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Speaker 11: the harm that humans can.

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Speaker 6: Do to the earth, to other species, and to each other.

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Speaker 11: Today, we continue this movement that begun many years ago,

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Speaker 11: and we honor those who have taken footsteps to protect

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Speaker 11: this forest and our relative who gave the greatest of sacrifices,

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Speaker 11: just as ancestors existed on these very grounds and carried

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Speaker 11: of faith and confidence in what our ancient ones passed

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Speaker 11: on to us. May the hope of peaceful existence for

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Speaker 11: all be achieved for many more centuries to come. This

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Speaker 11: existence can only occur when we realize the sacredness of

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Speaker 11: the Wilani Forest, that all that is natural on this earth, Mother.

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Speaker 11: This type of existence can only occur when we realize

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Speaker 11: that we all belong to this earth, and she does

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Speaker 11: not belong to us. This type of holy existence can

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Speaker 11: only occur when we realize that no cop city can

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Speaker 11: ever exist because more weapons only create more violence. With

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Speaker 11: these efforts to begin today, perhaps reason will prevail and

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Speaker 11: we could create a future where all people have.

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Speaker 6: The right to exist.

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Speaker 11: Today, may our dreams for this forest and the surrounding

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Speaker 11: community come true.

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Speaker 6: For those who can hear, let them hear.

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Speaker 1: The next speaker was from Community Movement Builders, a local

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Speaker 1: black collectives that focuses on combating and gentrification and police violence.

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Speaker 12: I may be a little bit selfish, and my reason

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Speaker 12: for being here I want to be free.

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Speaker 6: I want my children to be free.

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Speaker 3: I want my mother to be free.

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Speaker 12: I want my father, my brothers and sisters to be free.

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Speaker 12: And I don't want to have to live a life

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Speaker 12: in ten years when my babies, my nieces and my

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Speaker 12: nephews come to me and ask, come, I see, where

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Speaker 12: were you What were you doing when they destroyed our

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Speaker 12: clean water, destroyed our clean air happened?

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Speaker 6: Why were you not around?

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Speaker 12: What were you doing when when my babies twenty ten

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Speaker 12: years and they say, comasie, what were you doing when

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Speaker 12: this country turned into a fascist dystopia?

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Speaker 13: What were you doing?

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Speaker 14: Where were you where you're around. I can't sit here

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Speaker 14: best shit back and say I just sat home and

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Speaker 14: watched this.

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Speaker 3: Whole world burn to hell.

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Speaker 6: I don't believe in the power.

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Speaker 5: I don't believe in the power of being periless.

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Speaker 13: I believe in the power of the people.

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Speaker 14: So I said to everyone today that during this week

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Speaker 14: of action, I don't know where you will be. I

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Speaker 14: don't know what you will be doing, but we standing

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Speaker 14: behind you and we're staying with you. And we want

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Speaker 14: to show the city of Atlanta. We want to show

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Speaker 14: Mary Dickens that he is not fit to rule and

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Speaker 14: he does not runing city way.

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Speaker 15: We want to show.

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Speaker 12: Them said, the ninety million dollars that they took to

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Speaker 12: build this very warfare training facility will not cross our

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Speaker 12: communities wheo. And we also want to show the city

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Speaker 12: of that letter that again we are ready to stop

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Speaker 12: really surviving to start living.

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Speaker 1: Finally, our last person Reverend Leo'she is a Baptist minister

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Speaker 1: part of the Stop Copp City Clergy Coalition, which we'll

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Speaker 1: talk a bit more about in the next episode.

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Speaker 16: And I believe my faith compels me and convicts me

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Speaker 16: that in this moment, the work that has been.

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Speaker 13: Done, and the work that is to come to.

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Speaker 16: Defend this, our beloved family, this, our siblings.

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Speaker 6: The earth is a holy and righteous work.

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Speaker 16: It is a holy and righteous work that is grounded

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Speaker 16: in a faithful rage, rage which has been boiling in

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Speaker 16: the human family's blood for centuries and meets us care

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Speaker 16: at this moment and asks us, what will you do

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Speaker 16: to defend those who have no defense?

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Speaker 13: What will you do to protect those who have no shelter?

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Speaker 16: What will you do when the time comes to decide

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Speaker 16: on whose side you are on? Will you stand for

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Speaker 16: oppression or will you stand for the liberation of all people?

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Speaker 16: My friends, I come with so good news if that's okay.

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Speaker 16: And the good news is that God stands on the

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Speaker 16: side of the oppress. God stands on the side of

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Speaker 16: the forest defenders. Law stands on the side of the

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Speaker 16: most marginalized. And let us make no mistake that in

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Speaker 16: our protests and in our rage, we also have to

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Speaker 16: cry out and lament. We cannot be silent as dou

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Speaker 16: Gita's blood cries out from the ground. We must honor

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Speaker 16: a life that did not have to be lost. It

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Speaker 16: did not have to be this way. Do not listen

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Speaker 16: to anyone who tells you that there is not a

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Speaker 16: better way, there is always a better way. I come

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Speaker 16: with my faith and the conviction that in this work,

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Speaker 16: in this moment, a prophetic imagination, a creative vision, is

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Speaker 16: needed for the world that we want to see. I'm

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Speaker 16: not here to wait for the Kingdom of God. I

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Speaker 16: want the Kingdom of God right now, right now.

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Speaker 1: After the speeches were finished, it was announced that the crowd,

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Speaker 1: now nearing a thousand strong, would gather up together and

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Speaker 1: march to Wilani People's Park to retake the forest. As

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Speaker 1: everyone was getting ready to leave, you could see the

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Speaker 1: care and solidarity people had for each other on full display.

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Speaker 1: Bike scouts were checking to see if the path was clear,

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Speaker 1: volunteer street medics ready to help anyone in need. Water

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Speaker 1: bottles are being handed out to keep everyone hydrated, while

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Speaker 1: others autonomously coordinated rides for people unable to make. The

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Speaker 1: walk looks like approximately one thousand people marching from Gresham

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Speaker 1: Park to Alani People's Park on.

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Speaker 10: The bike path.

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Speaker 1: That's a I can't even see the end of where,

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Speaker 1: of where, the of where the people's it's a long,

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Speaker 1: long stretch of people marshing, hundreds and hundreds of feet.

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Speaker 1: There's some banners in front of the march. One of

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Speaker 1: them reads disarm, defund, dismantle, no cop city. There's one

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Speaker 1: of the sun shining over a pink sky with a

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Speaker 1: little blue turtle and their shell is the earth. Massive

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Speaker 1: like ten person banner that reads defend the Forest. The

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Speaker 1: energy of the march remained high as people chanted to

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Speaker 1: the beat of drums. I sat down with Matt from

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Speaker 1: the Atlantic Community Press Collective towards the end of the

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Speaker 1: week to talk about what we saw throughout this week

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Speaker 1: of action.

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Speaker 2: At one point, the entire crowd, seemingly the entire crowd

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Speaker 2: was chanting if you build it, we will burn it,

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Speaker 2: which seems.

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Speaker 10: Almost like a thousand people.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was being chanted like, you know, looking

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Speaker 2: around the crowd, you saw everyone for the most part,

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Speaker 2: partaking in that.

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Speaker 10: So that was a very interesting.

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Speaker 2: Moment where it felt like there was that sort of

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Speaker 2: solidarity amongst the varied groups that make up the Defend

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Speaker 2: the Atlanta Forest movement.

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Speaker 1: As the march went on, the path was getting increasingly forested.

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Speaker 1: About two thirds of the way to Allani People's Park,

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Speaker 1: after turning a bend, the crowd noticed three deer frolicking

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Speaker 1: alongside the march from further within the tree line. To

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Speaker 1: quote the Atlanta Community Press Collectives right up of the

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Speaker 1: march quote. The joyous mood shifted slightly as the protest

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Speaker 1: closed in on the People's Park, passing over the remains

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Speaker 1: of the bike path destroyed in December by film executive

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Speaker 1: Ryan Millsap. Activists were uncertain what they were walking into

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Speaker 1: or whether the police would offer any resistance.

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Speaker 2: Activists thought that there was going to be an issue.

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Speaker 2: They were concerned about the police being in willani People's Park.

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Speaker 2: So about halfway we saw that stack of makeshift shields

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Speaker 2: made out of plastic rain barrels.

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Speaker 1: About two dozen of those five gatlandrum shields just mysteriously

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Speaker 1: showed up along the bike path. We are arriving at

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Speaker 1: Willannee People's Park, no cops.

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Speaker 2: But then when we got there there was no police whatsoever.

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Speaker 2: From what the scanner people told us, there were police around,

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Speaker 2: they were just kind of monitoring from afar, but no

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Speaker 2: police ever entered the park. And it was I would

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Speaker 2: say it was a really nice high point return to the.

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Speaker 1: Forest, banners and shields moving around Willane People's Park as

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Speaker 1: hundreds and hundreds of more people still pour in from

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Speaker 1: the bike path. As the back of the march finally arrived,

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Speaker 1: the crowd gathered up one more time to all chant

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Speaker 1: out a promise.

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Speaker 17: In unison, I will, I Will.

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Speaker 1: One of the activists I interviewed during the Week of

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Speaker 1: Action was Matthew Johnson, the person who kicked off the

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Speaker 1: rally at Gresham Park. We talked about the methodology of

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Speaker 1: starting off this Week of Action with this big inclusive

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Speaker 1: march and how that may have helped achieve the goal

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Speaker 1: of retaking the forest that first day.

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Speaker 18: We wanted to be sure that we would be able

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Speaker 18: to reoccupy the park and what that would entail is

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Speaker 18: having a wide swath of the larger public involved with

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Speaker 18: any efforts to enter into the park. And so we

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Speaker 18: had the rally Aggresshiam Park and there was a march

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Speaker 18: planned from that part to Wallani People's Park. There is

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Speaker 18: violence that people have become accustomed to when it is

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Speaker 18: people on the political fringes. That's just where we're at

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Speaker 18: in the political situation in Atlanta. However, when you have

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Speaker 18: several people that you would consider more normal, liberal, progressive, etc.

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Speaker 18: Like representatives from NGO's nonprofit organizations, just normal people that

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Speaker 18: also wanted to see the project shut down cop City.

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Speaker 18: That's when you have the ability to move towards people

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Speaker 18: that want to reoccupy, having the space to do that

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Speaker 18: without seeing tons of police repression as we have seen

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Speaker 18: in the movement recently.

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Speaker 1: After reaching Wolaanni People's Park, many of those who arrived

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Speaker 1: from out of town for this week of action, myself included,

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Speaker 1: stopped by the shrine for Tortigita just off of the

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Speaker 1: tree line. People added new wildflowers and packs of fruit snacks.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to walk over to the Torti Guita vigil site.

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Speaker 1: Looks about the same as last time I was here.

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Speaker 1: Many candles, little turtles, still a few fruit snacks. Although

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Speaker 1: the vigil shrine was the same as last time I

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Speaker 1: saw it, almost everything else about being in this place

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Speaker 1: was different. When I was here last time in January,

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Speaker 1: it was a dark place of grief. The forest was barren,

438
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,240
Speaker 1: with all of the trees in their bare winter state.

439
00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 1: But looking around the forest this first sunny day, you

440
00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:52,640
Speaker 1: could see new life growing all around you. To quote

441
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 1: the Community Press Collective again quote, small campsites began to

442
00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:59,720
Speaker 1: crop up across the landscape. Some nestled in sunny air spaces.

443
00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:04,280
Speaker 1: Others tucked into thickets, providing shelter and cooler climate for

444
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:08,560
Speaker 1: the new residence. The trees themselves reflected this next phase.

445
00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 1: Sprigs of new growth leaves appeared on the ends of

446
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:15,720
Speaker 1: barren branches. Small white flowers bloomed along the periphery of

447
00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:20,160
Speaker 1: the parking lot. After months of desolation and death, life

448
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:24,040
Speaker 1: prevailed and spring arrives in the forest.

449
00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:25,960
Speaker 10: I'm excited to.

450
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,400
Speaker 1: Get back into the forest because it is so hot,

451
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,480
Speaker 1: and get back in the forest I did. One of

452
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,720
Speaker 1: the events that happened almost daily throughout the week was

453
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:40,560
Speaker 1: tours of the eastern side of the Wallani Forest. The

454
00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 1: walks through the woods were led by Joe Perry, a

455
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,520
Speaker 1: member of the South River Forest Coalition. I was able

456
00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:49,080
Speaker 1: to attend the first tour during the Week of Action

457
00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 1: and got consent to record some of the forest walk.

458
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:56,960
Speaker 19: All right, hey, y'all, welcome to the living room, so

459
00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:59,960
Speaker 19: named because it's it's a very inviting and comfortable place.

460
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:00,560
Speaker 20: Relax.

461
00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:04,200
Speaker 19: This is where a lot of the meetings happened during

462
00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:09,560
Speaker 19: the previous Week of action. People gather and have different

463
00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:18,920
Speaker 19: events here. Oftentimes it will be food available here campfires, silverware.

464
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,480
Speaker 19: So it's also just a very very comfortable place to

465
00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:30,320
Speaker 19: relax because it's in this pine forest and so not

466
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,520
Speaker 19: really any undergrowth and just super comfortable. It's a really

467
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:37,720
Speaker 19: good place to have meetings and just kind of get

468
00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 19: to know each other and establish some calm.

469
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:44,960
Speaker 1: We made our way from the living room to the

470
00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:48,240
Speaker 1: Grandmother Tree, a large oak that is estimated to be

471
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:51,000
Speaker 1: a few hundred years old. On our way to Ryan

472
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,760
Speaker 1: Millsaps proposed a site for so called Michelle Obama Park,

473
00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:57,920
Speaker 1: which is currently a forty acre mount of dirt about

474
00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:01,120
Speaker 1: thirty feet high. We walked past to some old tents

475
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 1: that were slashed apart during the January raid. Among the

476
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:09,760
Speaker 1: destroyed remains were little pink flowers growing out of the ground. Next,

477
00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:13,600
Speaker 1: we headed to Entrenchment Creek. Joe Perry explained some of

478
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:17,520
Speaker 1: the background regarding the environmental state of the watershed and

479
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 1: how protecting the forest is a crucial step in the

480
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,400
Speaker 1: process of helping the land heal itself.

481
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 19: I got involved with a group called the South River

482
00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 19: Forest Coalition. We are trying to help further the vision

483
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,800
Speaker 19: of the South River Forest that Ryan Gravelle and the

484
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:39,440
Speaker 19: Nature Conservancy came up with to try to interweave about

485
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:44,200
Speaker 19: thirty five hundred acres of forest with the other businesses

486
00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:47,560
Speaker 19: and homes and lands around this area that are in

487
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:51,520
Speaker 19: the watershed of the South River forest. And the Entrenchment Creek,

488
00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:55,120
Speaker 19: which we will see on this tour, is the main

489
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,320
Speaker 19: tributary to the South River. The South River is the

490
00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:02,200
Speaker 19: fourth most endangered river in this country, and Trenchmit Creek

491
00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:07,000
Speaker 19: is one of the most polluted creeks in this county.

492
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,960
Speaker 19: And so that is what we're trying to protect. And

493
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:13,920
Speaker 19: in order to protect a river and a creek and

494
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,600
Speaker 19: a watershed, you have to protect the forest that's around it.

495
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,719
Speaker 19: I've been exploring these woods for the last decade and

496
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:24,040
Speaker 19: leading tours and talking to people about it, trying to

497
00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:26,600
Speaker 19: explain what's going on with a lawsuit, trying to explain

498
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:29,040
Speaker 19: what's going on the difference between in Trenchmen Creek Park

499
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:33,080
Speaker 19: and the prison farm and the acreage and all these

500
00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:36,400
Speaker 19: other things, and all that stuff. It's just like it's

501
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:38,760
Speaker 19: just gears turning in your head because when you come

502
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:40,960
Speaker 19: out here and enjoy this, I mean, this is really

503
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 19: what it's all about. This is all we have to

504
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,000
Speaker 19: do to convince people that this is worth saving it.

505
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:49,200
Speaker 19: Just bring you out here and let you appreciate it.

506
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:53,240
Speaker 1: As masses of people converged at Wallani People's Park Saturday afternoon,

507
00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:56,880
Speaker 1: almost immediately a whole bunch of pop up infrastructure was

508
00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:59,960
Speaker 1: set up to facilitate an encampment in the woods once again,

509
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:02,600
Speaker 1: really for the first time in any kind of large

510
00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:07,760
Speaker 1: capacity since January and even December. The December raids decimated

511
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 1: much of the camp infrastructure, which still had not been

512
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 1: rebuilt since then. But upon arriving from Gresham Park on Saturday,

513
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:18,640
Speaker 1: both first time of visitors to the Wallani Forest and

514
00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:22,720
Speaker 1: seasoned forest defenders worked together to rebuild a lot of

515
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,920
Speaker 1: that infrastructure to support camp life for the next week.

516
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:27,960
Speaker 2: One of the things that we saw on the march

517
00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:32,840
Speaker 2: in was like eight cinder blocks right at the entrance

518
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:36,200
Speaker 2: to the living room, and then you and I went

519
00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:38,920
Speaker 2: into the living room, we saw these huge water tanks.

520
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,600
Speaker 2: So later they moved those water tanks to those cinder

521
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 2: blocks and they that has become or a watering point

522
00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 2: for everyone. So like twice a day a truck comes

523
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:52,480
Speaker 2: with a water tank on the back and then they

524
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 2: go through the arduous process of filling that water. So

525
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:59,960
Speaker 2: that everybody in camp can have water, and they had

526
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 2: this system that was seemingly self organized. And then that

527
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,360
Speaker 2: first day we were sitting in the parking lot and

528
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:08,440
Speaker 2: it seemed like every time you turn around there was

529
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:12,719
Speaker 2: like a different train of people carrying supplies into the

530
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:18,400
Speaker 2: living room. The second day, there was a woman who

531
00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:24,400
Speaker 2: was shoveling gravel from the torn up concrete on the side,

532
00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,440
Speaker 2: and she was filling all of the brandom holes in

533
00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:31,280
Speaker 2: the ground so that carts could go up them. And

534
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:34,680
Speaker 2: I was like, you know, did somebody assign this to you?

535
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:37,320
Speaker 2: She's like, no, I saw this. It just needed to

536
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,520
Speaker 2: be done, and I did it. And that was very

537
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,960
Speaker 2: much the entire vibe of those first I would say

538
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:46,440
Speaker 2: twenty four hours was Okay, what do we need to

539
00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:47,680
Speaker 2: do to get this thing running?

540
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:53,319
Speaker 1: As encampments were being established, simultaneously, infrastructure for the South

541
00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:56,960
Speaker 1: River Music Festival was being erected in the adjacent radio

542
00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:00,600
Speaker 1: control field. Within a short amount of time, a full

543
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:05,360
Speaker 1: stage was constructed, complete with lights and speakers, lining the

544
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,960
Speaker 1: sides of the field, where various tables and booths. One

545
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,000
Speaker 1: side featured a large variety of refreshments, as well as

546
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:14,680
Speaker 1: a medic tent, and the other side was home to

547
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:18,839
Speaker 1: free hot food and freshly grilled burgers and hot dogs.

548
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:21,600
Speaker 1: Next to the food were a few tables distributing an

549
00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:25,880
Speaker 1: array of radical literature posters and stickers. What was your

550
00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:27,400
Speaker 1: favorite stuff at the music fest? Suture?

551
00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,799
Speaker 2: So well, there was an arapa table, and I'm very

552
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:33,359
Speaker 2: food motivated, so the arapas were delicious, and we had

553
00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:37,080
Speaker 2: walked a bunch that day, so I needed sustenance. And

554
00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:39,920
Speaker 2: then there was the burger table as well, but we

555
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:42,400
Speaker 2: I don't think. I don't know if you got a burger,

556
00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:43,480
Speaker 2: but I did not get a burger.

557
00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:45,399
Speaker 1: I got I got one burger, but they were out

558
00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:47,359
Speaker 1: of buns when I got a burger, so I had

559
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:51,680
Speaker 1: a lettuce burger. And then soon after they got the

560
00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:53,800
Speaker 1: buns back, and I was kind of kind of bummed.

561
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:57,719
Speaker 2: Yeah I did not at least you got something, but

562
00:35:57,800 --> 00:35:58,600
Speaker 2: I had the arapis.

563
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,120
Speaker 1: So I mean still hardworth to be fair, hundreds of

564
00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:03,600
Speaker 1: people were they've fed for They've had five hundred people,

565
00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:06,879
Speaker 1: you know, And at one point they made announcement that

566
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:08,880
Speaker 1: like they needed to do another food run just to

567
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:11,680
Speaker 1: go get more more food, and like a bunch of

568
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:14,080
Speaker 1: people volunteered and you know, only I think two or

569
00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:15,960
Speaker 1: three went down to Walmart to get a bunch of

570
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:17,960
Speaker 1: more burgers and hot dogs, and it was just a

571
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:18,720
Speaker 1: really cool moment.

572
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:20,840
Speaker 2: So I think by the end the end of the

573
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:22,760
Speaker 2: night when I was there, there were about five hundred

574
00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:26,319
Speaker 2: people just enjoying the music and looking at the sky.

575
00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:28,720
Speaker 2: It was just an immaculate vibe. There was a little

576
00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:32,560
Speaker 2: fire pick off to the side. And yeah, you talked

577
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:34,480
Speaker 2: about the setting up the stage. You know, I didn't

578
00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:38,560
Speaker 2: know what to expect walking in there is not expecting

579
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:42,080
Speaker 2: quite that much of a production. I wasn't expecting a

580
00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:46,040
Speaker 2: light pledged stage with lights all around sort of in

581
00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:49,160
Speaker 2: this really like the lighting worked really well for it's

582
00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:51,600
Speaker 2: it backdropped the surrounding for.

583
00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:53,959
Speaker 1: It like nice like green and purple lighting.

584
00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:55,399
Speaker 10: Yeah, it was. It was great.

585
00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:58,439
Speaker 2: And then they had that green room tent back there,

586
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:00,360
Speaker 2: and then they had a separate tent for a quick like.

587
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:04,960
Speaker 2: It was a very well thought out festival in the

588
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:05,640
Speaker 2: middle of nowhere.

589
00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:09,480
Speaker 1: The South River Music Festival began early Saturday evening at

590
00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:12,600
Speaker 1: five point thirty, kicking off two days of local musical

591
00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:16,880
Speaker 1: artists playing shows free of charge. Before the lineup of

592
00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:20,320
Speaker 1: live music began. Someone on stage read out a small

593
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 1: flyer that was being passed around, detailing the reasoning for

594
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:27,160
Speaker 1: the festival and its place within the fight to defend

595
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:30,760
Speaker 1: the forest, and I got permission to share that reading.

596
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:35,160
Speaker 21: In the limitless possibilities of the cosmos, in the mad

597
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:39,680
Speaker 21: flecks of events, reactions and anomalies of the past twelve

598
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:43,440
Speaker 21: billion years since the birth of our universe, it's a

599
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:46,360
Speaker 21: statistical impossibility.

600
00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:49,520
Speaker 20: That we would be here now, But here we are alive.

601
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:54,839
Speaker 21: Together Such incredible circumstances have brought us here. Among them

602
00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:59,000
Speaker 21: the incredible and innovative resistance to defend this place. From

603
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:02,000
Speaker 21: becoming a poet least training compound.

604
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:07,400
Speaker 10: Magic mushrooms out.

605
00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:11,040
Speaker 21: This resistance, which brings us together the most cunning and

606
00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:15,880
Speaker 21: resilient techniques of the radical environmentalist movement with the incredible

607
00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:19,560
Speaker 21: courage and ferocity of the George Floyd Uprising, is not

608
00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:21,320
Speaker 21: just about a small piece of land.

609
00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:23,360
Speaker 20: It's not about being fought.

610
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:26,359
Speaker 21: Between police and their goons on one hand and some

611
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 21: activists and their friends on the other. We are witnessing

612
00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:33,440
Speaker 21: a collision of two competing ideas of happiness.

613
00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:34,160
Speaker 20: Of life, of the future.

614
00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:40,600
Speaker 21: In this competition experiments with new types of free culture

615
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:44,319
Speaker 21: play a decisive role. This movement cannot be reduced to

616
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:48,080
Speaker 21: what is happening in city hall, on social media, or

617
00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:52,840
Speaker 21: in meetings. For two years, we have descended on these woods,

618
00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:56,280
Speaker 21: finding refuge from the high rents and predatory bookings fees

619
00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:59,560
Speaker 21: of the corporate venues and bars. We have not come

620
00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:03,759
Speaker 21: here to redecorate the actions of some activists as allies,

621
00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:06,759
Speaker 21: lending our service to the drab and loveless militancy of

622
00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:10,760
Speaker 21: something we do not otherwise care about. As the gentrification

623
00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:14,920
Speaker 21: of Atlanta intensifies, more and more diy venues and clubs

624
00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:18,040
Speaker 21: are shutdown, and free spaces to play, shows and dance

625
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:21,440
Speaker 21: are push further and further from the city center. Our

626
00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:24,439
Speaker 21: free time is pinched as rents increase and traffic keeps

627
00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:25,880
Speaker 21: us waiting longer and longer.

628
00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:31,720
Speaker 20: That is going to change.

629
00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:34,840
Speaker 21: Music is not like other forms of human culture. It

630
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:40,400
Speaker 21: is different from painting, drawing, poetry, literature, or film art. Politics,

631
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:45,000
Speaker 21: and symbolic culture in general represent the passions conjuring strong

632
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:48,080
Speaker 21: feelings from the shadows of reality, pulling them from the

633
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:50,760
Speaker 21: depths of the soul or the back of consciousness.

634
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:53,000
Speaker 20: Music, on the other hand.

635
00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:56,960
Speaker 21: Is perhaps the only form of human creativity that contacts

636
00:39:57,040 --> 00:40:02,360
Speaker 21: those feelings without any mediations. Music is physics, music is reality.

637
00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:06,680
Speaker 21: The system we live in is at war with reality.

638
00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:11,839
Speaker 21: The system is destroying forests, rivers, mountaintops, and oceans. It's

639
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:16,080
Speaker 21: destroying our imaginations, our bodies, and our world. To defend

640
00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:19,440
Speaker 21: ourselves from certain annihilation, it will not be sufficient to

641
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:23,000
Speaker 21: strike the right notes at the right time. We will

642
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,800
Speaker 21: have to make recourse to other means, to more direct means,

643
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:32,640
Speaker 21: and that is why we're all here. The defend the

644
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:36,719
Speaker 21: Atlanta Forest Revolution will be economic, political, as well as cultural.

645
00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:40,120
Speaker 21: We're building a new era of human history where music

646
00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:42,880
Speaker 21: will be at the steering wheel. What is needed cannot

647
00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:46,680
Speaker 21: be taught without first being discovered. We are those adventurers

648
00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:49,560
Speaker 21: plunging the depths of the cosmos for the contours and

649
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:53,080
Speaker 21: textures of a free existence, of a life without dead time.

650
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,440
Speaker 21: When it is necessary, we will defend ourselves by the

651
00:40:56,480 --> 00:41:00,000
Speaker 21: means appropriate to the task. Not with words, not with denunciation,

652
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:04,520
Speaker 21: but with actions, real and concrete, actions as real as

653
00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:09,040
Speaker 21: this sounds, as real as reality.

654
00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:12,160
Speaker 20: I'm so lucky to be here with y'all. Thank you.

655
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:16,080
Speaker 1: Across the middle of the field, hundreds of people laid

656
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:20,480
Speaker 1: out blankets on the grass and dirt. Concertgoers alternated between

657
00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:23,319
Speaker 1: a dancing in front of the stage and relaxing and

658
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:27,439
Speaker 1: eating food on picnic blankets. As the night approached, over

659
00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:30,440
Speaker 1: a thousand people were spread out across the RC field.

660
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:33,520
Speaker 1: Amoshe pit had formed directly in front of the stage.

661
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:38,520
Speaker 1: Musicians led stop Coopcity chants, and between sets, people spoke

662
00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:39,800
Speaker 1: on mic about the movement.

663
00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:45,960
Speaker 22: Everybody say stop cop City, Stop cop City.

664
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:49,000
Speaker 3: That's right, that's right.

665
00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:52,920
Speaker 1: Saturday Night was headlined by local Atlanta rapper Zach Fox.

666
00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:56,160
Speaker 1: Zach told stories about how he and his friends used

667
00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:58,840
Speaker 1: to hang out in this very forest as teenagers.

668
00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:02,920
Speaker 23: All Right, man, hey, i'm gonna say this, Fuck the mayor.

669
00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:08,640
Speaker 23: I'm gonna say this, fuck the mayor, and fuck all

670
00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:13,160
Speaker 23: this shit. And I love everybody for coming out to

671
00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:13,960
Speaker 23: support this ship.

672
00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:15,360
Speaker 8: And you're really fucking.

673
00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:21,160
Speaker 13: When I tell you me, Archie.

674
00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:23,520
Speaker 24: Everybody used to walk back in these woods and drink

675
00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:28,840
Speaker 24: red stripes and and walk our dogs and shoot guns

676
00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:32,600
Speaker 24: and shiit. So I really don't want to see this

677
00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:35,920
Speaker 24: shit happen. And I really appreciate Allia for coming out

678
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:36,480
Speaker 24: to do this shit.

679
00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:41,399
Speaker 1: Fuck cop City Chance erupted pretty regularly throughout the night.

680
00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:43,520
Speaker 23: And this is all I'm gonna tell the police. This

681
00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:45,080
Speaker 23: is all I'm gonna tell the police. Okay, hold on,

682
00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:46,560
Speaker 23: let me make sure I push the right button.

683
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:59,840
Speaker 25: Say that ship. Let's go. Fucking run it. Fucking run it. Fucko,

684
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:05,560
Speaker 25: run it, fucking run it, fucking run it, fucking run it.

685
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:13,719
Speaker 3: FUCKO, run it, Atlanta. I love y'all so much.

686
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:22,359
Speaker 23: Man, Hell yeah, hey, man, let me say something real quick.

687
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:23,800
Speaker 23: Let me say something real quick before I get the

688
00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:25,719
Speaker 23: fuck out saves. Let my hummies right this shit. I

689
00:43:25,800 --> 00:43:28,279
Speaker 23: love y'all so much for supporting this shit I have.

690
00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:31,120
Speaker 23: Let me tell you. Let me tell you something. I'm

691
00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:33,040
Speaker 23: thirty two. A lot of niggas start getting old and

692
00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:34,640
Speaker 23: they lose faith in the youth. I got so much

693
00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:41,640
Speaker 23: faith in everybody in this motherfucking bitch. Wherever y'all going,

694
00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:43,880
Speaker 23: I'm going, I truly believe that y'all gonna save this

695
00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:44,720
Speaker 23: motherfucking world.

696
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:45,720
Speaker 26: So I'm with y'all.

697
00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:54,160
Speaker 23: Fuck cop City, fuck cops in general, fuck twelve, fuck authoritarianism,

698
00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:56,560
Speaker 23: fuck capitalism, fuck all that bullshit. I'm with y'all to

699
00:43:56,600 --> 00:44:02,600
Speaker 23: the end. So I motherfucking die so let me hear

700
00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:03,879
Speaker 23: y'all say this one more time.

701
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:13,400
Speaker 25: Start bawow, start bobow. Stiit bob wow, side bobow.

702
00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:17,800
Speaker 1: Besides the domestic terrorism banner I mentioned in the opening

703
00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:21,040
Speaker 1: of this episode, another banner was hung up beside the

704
00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:26,240
Speaker 1: stage featuring turtles and butterflies, along with the Asada Shakur quote.

705
00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:29,480
Speaker 1: Love is our sword, truth is our compass.

706
00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:31,640
Speaker 19: This kind of.

707
00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:35,440
Speaker 1: Music is about the Nazi to nature, filling the trees,

708
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:38,080
Speaker 1: feeling the ground, filling each other.

709
00:44:39,680 --> 00:44:42,040
Speaker 3: Look right up there, look.

710
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:42,840
Speaker 10: At the fucking moon.

711
00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:50,560
Speaker 1: To quote a communicate from the Sonic Defense Committee quote.

712
00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:53,840
Speaker 1: At this point, it was impossible to imagine a meaningful

713
00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:57,840
Speaker 1: police intervention. The crowd was made up of elderly people,

714
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:03,239
Speaker 1: university students, rappers and did US activists, toddlers and newborns, skaters,

715
00:45:03,560 --> 00:45:08,120
Speaker 1: people of all imaginable Atlanta demographics. The night ended around

716
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:11,640
Speaker 1: three thirty am to sounds of house techno and drum

717
00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:13,560
Speaker 1: and bass without any notable incident.

718
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:15,040
Speaker 10: Unquote.

719
00:45:15,239 --> 00:45:18,000
Speaker 1: Tents were set up all over the eastern side of

720
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:21,040
Speaker 1: the forest, with many people choosing to sleep under the

721
00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:24,160
Speaker 1: tree canopy between the living room and the music festival

722
00:45:24,239 --> 00:45:27,280
Speaker 1: for that first night. As the night went on, people

723
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:31,440
Speaker 1: carefully tended small campfires both in the festival field and

724
00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:33,680
Speaker 1: in the middle of the living room. To quote the

725
00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:37,640
Speaker 1: Press Collective, the movement was once again living in joyous

726
00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:42,040
Speaker 1: harmony with the forest it had promised to protect. Tomorrow's

727
00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:45,239
Speaker 1: episode will cover day two of the music festival, the

728
00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:49,400
Speaker 1: frankly unprecedented direct action that took place Sunday afternoon, and

729
00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:52,640
Speaker 1: a more detailed look at the police raid that happened

730
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:59,520
Speaker 1: later that evening. See you on the other side, welcome

731
00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:02,600
Speaker 1: back to it could happen here. This is part two

732
00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:05,680
Speaker 1: of my mini series detailing the March Week of Action

733
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:10,080
Speaker 1: to defend the Atlanta Forest and stop Coop City. Last episode,

734
00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:13,040
Speaker 1: we covered the Week of Action kickoff rally at Gresham

735
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:16,520
Speaker 1: Park and day one of the South River Music Festival.

736
00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:19,640
Speaker 1: Will be picking up basically right where we left off,

737
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:23,280
Speaker 1: starting with my conversation with Matt from the Atlanta Community

738
00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:26,080
Speaker 1: Press Collective. Saturday night, there was music going on to

739
00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:28,880
Speaker 1: like four am. It was a long night, but like

740
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:31,600
Speaker 1: a really good night. What was your Sunday?

741
00:46:31,680 --> 00:46:33,480
Speaker 3: Like Sunday?

742
00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:37,279
Speaker 2: You know, Sunday started off really great, Like walking in

743
00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:39,239
Speaker 2: the first thing you see when you walked back onto

744
00:46:39,239 --> 00:46:44,040
Speaker 2: the festival grounds was this amazing bouncy house that they

745
00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:46,839
Speaker 2: had written some guidelines up there that it did seem

746
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:50,520
Speaker 2: like everyone followed. You could fit six adults, which like

747
00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:53,160
Speaker 2: for a bouncy house, that's pretty large.

748
00:46:53,239 --> 00:46:54,560
Speaker 10: It was a big bouncy house.

749
00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:56,640
Speaker 2: It was like six of dollars through twelve kids or

750
00:46:56,680 --> 00:47:00,840
Speaker 2: something like that. So, yeah, you see bouncy house and

751
00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:03,560
Speaker 2: like when you see that the first thing, but I

752
00:47:03,560 --> 00:47:08,960
Speaker 2: think that visually sets the entire expectation, like that is

753
00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:11,680
Speaker 2: a statement in and of itself of like what they

754
00:47:11,719 --> 00:47:13,160
Speaker 2: were going for that first.

755
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:16,520
Speaker 1: Day, Day two of the music festival started around noon.

756
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:19,200
Speaker 1: Right in the middle of the RC field was this

757
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:23,440
Speaker 1: large rainbow colored bouncy castle adorned with a stop Copcity banner.

758
00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:27,000
Speaker 1: People slowly trickled in all over the course of the afternoon,

759
00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:30,080
Speaker 1: culminating in about a thousand people scattered across the field

760
00:47:30,200 --> 00:47:33,800
Speaker 1: by four pm. Just like the night before, people enjoyed

761
00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:37,680
Speaker 1: free food, Defend the Forest related literature, and a bustling

762
00:47:37,719 --> 00:47:41,440
Speaker 1: refreshment booth while listening to live music. People played a

763
00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:44,719
Speaker 1: soccer and frisbee in the open field, while others were

764
00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:48,360
Speaker 1: continuing to build camp infrastructure in the forest.

765
00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:51,480
Speaker 2: So I think the bouncy Castle set the tone, and

766
00:47:51,520 --> 00:47:54,400
Speaker 2: everything was really lighthearted for the first few hours. I

767
00:47:54,680 --> 00:48:01,400
Speaker 2: spent most of that day walking around watching the autonomous

768
00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:04,120
Speaker 2: infrastructure in the forest kind of pop up on its own.

769
00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:07,600
Speaker 2: It's like everywhere I went, you know, to the parking lot,

770
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:13,440
Speaker 2: you saw trains of people carrying like water and supplies

771
00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:16,879
Speaker 2: deep into the forest. Everyone seemed to just be trying

772
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:19,280
Speaker 2: to find a place to fit in and to work

773
00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:22,080
Speaker 2: and to really participate in the week of Action.

774
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:25,920
Speaker 1: As the day went on, rumors started to circulate about

775
00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:30,720
Speaker 1: inaction happening later that afternoon. Word quickly spread that people

776
00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:35,160
Speaker 1: would meet up in the RC field at five pm. Eventually,

777
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:38,239
Speaker 1: a flyer was posted to social media, and sure enough,

778
00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:41,240
Speaker 1: come five o'clock, a group of a few hundred people

779
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:45,160
Speaker 1: made up of individuals and affinity groups, gathered behind the

780
00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:48,480
Speaker 1: bouncy Castle, most of whom were masked up and a

781
00:48:48,560 --> 00:48:52,440
Speaker 1: donning some form of black block or camo block. A

782
00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:55,560
Speaker 1: communicating posted later on the website scenes dot no blogs

783
00:48:55,600 --> 00:48:59,200
Speaker 1: dot org described the feeling on the ground quote the

784
00:48:59,239 --> 00:49:04,239
Speaker 1: air was tense, no visible rage, just a stealed determination.

785
00:49:04,960 --> 00:49:07,359
Speaker 1: No one knew what was coming next, but we knew

786
00:49:07,400 --> 00:49:09,400
Speaker 1: it was something big that.

787
00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:12,359
Speaker 2: That was quite the visual like this, this crowd of

788
00:49:12,440 --> 00:49:15,800
Speaker 2: Camo and black block and like some people wearing normal

789
00:49:15,840 --> 00:49:18,160
Speaker 2: clothes who I don't think quite knew what they were

790
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:23,560
Speaker 2: about to do next to this massive bouncy castle. And

791
00:49:25,200 --> 00:49:27,520
Speaker 2: I think that that the visual of it kind of

792
00:49:27,560 --> 00:49:32,239
Speaker 2: represents like two aspects of the movement, right, like the

793
00:49:32,360 --> 00:49:35,759
Speaker 2: militant aspect and the joyful aspect, and I think they're

794
00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:40,560
Speaker 2: both very central to what you know, the movement is.

795
00:49:40,760 --> 00:49:44,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a pretty good encapsulation of the diversity present

796
00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:47,680
Speaker 1: around the Defend the Forest and Stop cup City movement.

797
00:49:48,320 --> 00:49:49,040
Speaker 10: There's a few.

798
00:49:48,920 --> 00:49:52,799
Speaker 1: Hundred people in Camo Block walking down, I believe is

799
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:56,960
Speaker 1: a constitution, a lot of people addressed in Black Block,

800
00:49:57,800 --> 00:50:08,800
Speaker 1: mix of legal observers here, police shoppers overhead are Currently

801
00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:15,879
Speaker 1: people are marching west in the direction of the old

802
00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:20,160
Speaker 1: Atlanta prison farm, the slate of the forest that cop

803
00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:23,840
Speaker 1: City is planned to be built on. There has not

804
00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:28,160
Speaker 1: really been a mass convergence of people like this in

805
00:50:28,239 --> 00:50:31,720
Speaker 1: the forest in a long long time. I cannot remember

806
00:50:31,760 --> 00:50:33,840
Speaker 1: the last time there was anything quite like this. This

807
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:37,160
Speaker 1: is definitely the biggest group of people who's ever like

808
00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:41,400
Speaker 1: converged on marching on the old Atlanta Prison farm area.

809
00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:45,640
Speaker 1: Last year, people were occupying and living in the forest

810
00:50:45,640 --> 00:50:48,959
Speaker 1: in that side. Since the repression has intensified, more people

811
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:52,000
Speaker 1: have moved over across on the other side of the

812
00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:55,400
Speaker 1: Churchman Creek Park, on the slate of land closer to

813
00:50:55,440 --> 00:51:00,160
Speaker 1: Wollani People's Park and the section that Lion MILLSAP is

814
00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:04,920
Speaker 1: wanting to develop. Definitely never seen this many people marching

815
00:51:04,960 --> 00:51:10,080
Speaker 1: like this near the forest. In a much more militant

816
00:51:10,120 --> 00:51:14,439
Speaker 1: seeming group of the crowd, as opposed to Saturday's first march,

817
00:51:14,440 --> 00:51:18,840
Speaker 1: which was like a thousand people of various types. Everyone

818
00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:23,520
Speaker 1: here looks much more willing to throw down. As the group,

819
00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:27,480
Speaker 1: around three hundred strong, left the RC field, they calmly

820
00:51:27,520 --> 00:51:31,440
Speaker 1: marched west down Constitution Road toward the power line cut,

821
00:51:31,760 --> 00:51:36,480
Speaker 1: accompanied overhead by a police chopper equipped with a thermal camera.

822
00:51:37,120 --> 00:51:39,080
Speaker 10: Popped as still overhead. I'm sure you can hear it.

823
00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:43,600
Speaker 1: To get a clear picture of what actually happened that day.

824
00:51:43,920 --> 00:51:47,640
Speaker 1: It's useful to understand the geography of the Wilauni Forest,

825
00:51:48,160 --> 00:51:50,600
Speaker 1: especially since the police have tried to make it sound

826
00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:53,560
Speaker 1: like the individuals who were arrested later that night were

827
00:51:53,680 --> 00:51:56,600
Speaker 1: apprehended at this scene of the crime, which is not

828
00:51:56,760 --> 00:51:57,600
Speaker 1: actually the case.

829
00:51:58,040 --> 00:52:01,000
Speaker 2: The entire area that the defenders are trying to defend,

830
00:52:01,040 --> 00:52:05,560
Speaker 2: the entire Weilani Forest, the contiguous part of it is

831
00:52:05,960 --> 00:52:10,320
Speaker 2: surrounded in sort of a triangle by three different roads, Constitution,

832
00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:14,319
Speaker 2: Key and Bouldercrest. All the way to the east is

833
00:52:14,360 --> 00:52:18,319
Speaker 2: Wilani People's Park, and like just to the west of

834
00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:21,560
Speaker 2: that is the RC Field where the music festival was happening,

835
00:52:21,560 --> 00:52:25,480
Speaker 2: where the bouncy castle is and where our group that

836
00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:29,400
Speaker 2: we're following here starts to gather. And then all the

837
00:52:29,440 --> 00:52:34,560
Speaker 2: way to the west is the proposed site of copp

838
00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:39,359
Speaker 2: City along Key Road. So to get there through the

839
00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:44,680
Speaker 2: forest takes a good thirty forty five minutes to get there,

840
00:52:44,760 --> 00:52:46,520
Speaker 2: you know, if you're on the road, is still like

841
00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:49,920
Speaker 2: a twenty five thirty minute walk. It is not like

842
00:52:50,400 --> 00:52:55,160
Speaker 2: anywhere close on foot. No, it's from point A to

843
00:52:55,160 --> 00:52:55,480
Speaker 2: point B.

844
00:52:55,600 --> 00:52:57,160
Speaker 1: And if you're crossing through the woods, you also have

845
00:52:57,200 --> 00:53:00,319
Speaker 1: to like jump over Entrenchment Creek, which is not the

846
00:53:00,360 --> 00:53:02,000
Speaker 1: easiest creek to cross over.

847
00:53:02,560 --> 00:53:05,080
Speaker 2: It's not the easiest and it's not the cleanest something

848
00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:05,759
Speaker 2: you want to step in.

849
00:53:06,360 --> 00:53:07,279
Speaker 10: I'm at the back of the march.

850
00:53:07,320 --> 00:53:10,880
Speaker 1: Now everyone's kind of tightened up into one larger, larger group.

851
00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:15,000
Speaker 1: They've paused briefly and are retrieving some tires that have

852
00:53:15,080 --> 00:53:21,680
Speaker 1: been found near the ditch on the road here, dozens

853
00:53:21,719 --> 00:53:25,239
Speaker 1: and dozens of tires are blocking are blocking the road.

854
00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:28,560
Speaker 1: They're getting moved out pretty quick and the march is

855
00:53:28,560 --> 00:53:31,440
Speaker 1: moving on. Oh, and looks like people arrived at the

856
00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:35,719
Speaker 1: power line cut. This massive clearing for power lines to

857
00:53:35,800 --> 00:53:40,520
Speaker 1: run north south. People are now marching on the green

858
00:53:40,640 --> 00:53:44,560
Speaker 1: grass underneath the power lines. The thin clear cut for

859
00:53:44,680 --> 00:53:48,000
Speaker 1: power lines has been there for years and directly leads

860
00:53:48,040 --> 00:53:51,000
Speaker 1: to where cop City pre construction work is taking place

861
00:53:51,320 --> 00:53:54,560
Speaker 1: near the North Gate. The open area makes it easy

862
00:53:54,640 --> 00:53:56,960
Speaker 1: to traverse, but on the flip side that also makes

863
00:53:57,000 --> 00:54:00,279
Speaker 1: it easy to surveil. There were only a little over

864
00:54:00,320 --> 00:54:03,040
Speaker 1: a dozen cops stationed at the North Gate, as well

865
00:54:03,080 --> 00:54:06,520
Speaker 1: as the police chopper circling overhead. The group of block

866
00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:09,959
Speaker 1: is slowly, slowly moving north along the power line cut.

867
00:54:10,560 --> 00:54:12,839
Speaker 1: I'm keeping my distance for now so that I can

868
00:54:13,360 --> 00:54:18,480
Speaker 1: continue doing stuff without being extremely jeopardized. The block approached

869
00:54:18,520 --> 00:54:21,080
Speaker 1: the North Gate in broad daylight, with shields in hand

870
00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:24,800
Speaker 1: and people behind throwing projectiles in the direction of police,

871
00:54:25,360 --> 00:54:28,800
Speaker 1: a barrage of fireworks, rocks, and just the sheer size

872
00:54:28,800 --> 00:54:32,680
Speaker 1: of the crowd overwhelmed police, causing officers to retreat as

873
00:54:32,719 --> 00:54:35,839
Speaker 1: a swarm of hundreds of people overtook the proposed cop

874
00:54:35,880 --> 00:54:39,920
Speaker 1: city construction site and current police security upost within the

875
00:54:39,960 --> 00:54:42,680
Speaker 1: Wollani Forest. All right, the group has marched a decent

876
00:54:42,719 --> 00:54:46,880
Speaker 1: ways up. There's now fireworks in the distance. Police helicopter

877
00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:49,320
Speaker 1: is still overhead. Looks like most of the crowd is

878
00:54:49,360 --> 00:54:52,200
Speaker 1: still in the area of the power line cut.

879
00:54:52,320 --> 00:54:53,120
Speaker 10: Pretty condensed.

880
00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:56,279
Speaker 1: Large group of people up there, lots of fireworks. Like

881
00:54:56,360 --> 00:54:59,600
Speaker 1: I said, some individuals chose to focus their efforts on

882
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:03,680
Speaker 1: pelling the nearby police, giving the opportunity for others to

883
00:55:03,680 --> 00:55:07,200
Speaker 1: set their sights on various targets. The large number of

884
00:55:07,239 --> 00:55:10,760
Speaker 1: people in the block together allowed for individuals to feel

885
00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:14,480
Speaker 1: more safe and capable of taking action. The APDs put

886
00:55:14,480 --> 00:55:16,440
Speaker 1: a call out to get any available units down here

887
00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:18,920
Speaker 1: by the old line of prison farm property and a

888
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:23,240
Speaker 1: quote from the scanner audios get here now assholes. Forest

889
00:55:23,239 --> 00:55:27,680
Speaker 1: defenders smashed up and set ablaze and office trailer, two UTVs,

890
00:55:28,080 --> 00:55:31,440
Speaker 1: a surveillance tower and a front end loader as the

891
00:55:31,440 --> 00:55:34,440
Speaker 1: police ran for cover behind a fenced off secondary, smaller

892
00:55:34,440 --> 00:55:39,400
Speaker 1: outpost across from Key Road, despite the police helicopter circling

893
00:55:39,440 --> 00:55:42,600
Speaker 1: overhead the gathering spot for a good thirty minutes. It

894
00:55:42,640 --> 00:55:46,480
Speaker 1: seems APD was not fully prepared in their response or

895
00:55:46,560 --> 00:55:49,319
Speaker 1: just did not know what was going on, because they

896
00:55:49,440 --> 00:55:52,319
Speaker 1: made a decent way without any visible resistance so far.

897
00:55:52,960 --> 00:55:56,839
Speaker 1: A communicate posted online reads quote when we approached the gate,

898
00:55:56,880 --> 00:56:00,319
Speaker 1: finally it was not chaos, but it was something like it.

899
00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:04,160
Speaker 1: Our crowd unleashed a wild burst of energy. It was

900
00:56:04,200 --> 00:56:07,240
Speaker 1: incredible and I will never forget it. It was rhythmic

901
00:56:07,360 --> 00:56:12,120
Speaker 1: almost We devastated all of their work, their vehicles, the trailer, everything.

902
00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:15,799
Speaker 1: But it looks like Atlanta Police is now trying to converge.

903
00:56:16,040 --> 00:56:19,320
Speaker 1: Lots of fireworks are still. I see smoke. Oh, a

904
00:56:19,360 --> 00:56:22,680
Speaker 1: lot of smoke. WHOA A lot of smoke very fast

905
00:56:22,840 --> 00:56:26,640
Speaker 1: is filling up, filling up the area around the little

906
00:56:27,120 --> 00:56:29,239
Speaker 1: It looks like it's by the little control tower in

907
00:56:29,280 --> 00:56:32,800
Speaker 1: the middle of the power line cut. Wow, that smoke

908
00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:35,840
Speaker 1: is thick. That's a fire. That is a decent fire.

909
00:56:35,880 --> 00:56:38,279
Speaker 1: You can I can see the orange flame now as

910
00:56:38,360 --> 00:56:40,799
Speaker 1: the few police officers stationed at the North Gate were

911
00:56:40,840 --> 00:56:44,920
Speaker 1: forced to fall back under pressure. Force defenders leveled months

912
00:56:44,960 --> 00:56:48,000
Speaker 1: of their work within a few minutes. To quote the

913
00:56:48,239 --> 00:56:51,720
Speaker 1: scenes dot no blocks communicate quote. This act of mass

914
00:56:51,800 --> 00:56:56,520
Speaker 1: collective sabotage was done methodically and without anxiety. The crowd

915
00:56:56,600 --> 00:56:59,920
Speaker 1: destroyed all of their equipment with ease and confidence.

916
00:57:00,440 --> 00:57:06,040
Speaker 2: So the excavator there was a utility train vehicle, which

917
00:57:06,080 --> 00:57:08,560
Speaker 2: is what the police have been using to sort of

918
00:57:09,120 --> 00:57:12,840
Speaker 2: move in and around the woods, and sort of motorized

919
00:57:12,880 --> 00:57:18,320
Speaker 2: move in and around the woods. And then the office

920
00:57:18,320 --> 00:57:20,640
Speaker 2: space and the storage space.

921
00:57:21,400 --> 00:57:22,840
Speaker 10: We're all torched.

922
00:57:23,360 --> 00:57:26,320
Speaker 2: I think that that comprised like everything that was over.

923
00:57:26,120 --> 00:57:30,040
Speaker 1: There, and then the police surveillance tower, which has been

924
00:57:30,040 --> 00:57:31,160
Speaker 1: taken down a few times.

925
00:57:31,160 --> 00:57:33,880
Speaker 2: Surveillance towers in that area, they have this tendency.

926
00:57:33,400 --> 00:57:33,960
Speaker 10: To fall over.

927
00:57:34,680 --> 00:57:37,800
Speaker 1: The fire has gotten a lot lot bigger. Police scanner

928
00:57:37,800 --> 00:57:41,640
Speaker 1: audio is saying officer needs help, calling for all available

929
00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:44,439
Speaker 1: units to converge on the spot. Wow O, the fire

930
00:57:44,480 --> 00:57:47,800
Speaker 1: is getting so much brighter, smoke is incredibly thick. It

931
00:57:47,800 --> 00:57:50,040
Speaker 1: looks like some people are starting to move out of

932
00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:51,240
Speaker 1: the area back into the woods.

933
00:57:51,800 --> 00:57:52,920
Speaker 10: But wow, that is.

934
00:57:52,880 --> 00:57:57,400
Speaker 1: A huge fire. It was at least two separate things

935
00:57:57,560 --> 00:58:00,200
Speaker 1: lit on fire. There were, in fact, more than two

936
00:58:00,240 --> 00:58:03,120
Speaker 1: things on fire. Looks like crowd is going to be

937
00:58:03,160 --> 00:58:05,680
Speaker 1: starting to move because a lot of police is about

938
00:58:05,680 --> 00:58:08,040
Speaker 1: to show up. Unsure what the response will be for

939
00:58:08,160 --> 00:58:11,240
Speaker 1: people at the music festival or at a Wolani People's

940
00:58:11,280 --> 00:58:13,000
Speaker 1: park who are camping out for the Week of Action.

941
00:58:13,720 --> 00:58:17,200
Speaker 1: But this is a pretty pretty big action for Week

942
00:58:17,240 --> 00:58:21,160
Speaker 1: of Action Day two. Wow, this smoke plume is massive.

943
00:58:25,280 --> 00:58:28,760
Speaker 1: While the action itself was a success, the notion of

944
00:58:28,800 --> 00:58:32,840
Speaker 1: an overall one sided victory was about to come crashing down.

945
00:58:33,240 --> 00:58:36,280
Speaker 1: A whole bunch of sirens just flew by about a

946
00:58:36,280 --> 00:58:39,560
Speaker 1: dozen cop cars, lots of cop cars by the music

947
00:58:39,560 --> 00:58:42,800
Speaker 1: festival entrants as well by the RC field. Looks like

948
00:58:42,840 --> 00:58:47,080
Speaker 1: the cop cars are converging at the festival, not at

949
00:58:47,200 --> 00:58:51,200
Speaker 1: the fire. Okay, back at the music festival. As you

950
00:58:51,200 --> 00:58:55,760
Speaker 1: can hear, it is it is. It is still ongoing.

951
00:58:55,760 --> 00:58:58,560
Speaker 1: There's still hundreds of people, probably like five hundred people

952
00:58:58,640 --> 00:59:01,520
Speaker 1: gathered here at the music festival. You can see smoke

953
00:59:01,600 --> 00:59:05,560
Speaker 1: in the air from this vantage point, from the spot

954
00:59:05,640 --> 00:59:07,840
Speaker 1: by the power line cut where.

955
00:59:07,920 --> 00:59:10,120
Speaker 10: Those two fires took place.

956
00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:13,680
Speaker 1: One indication that this night was far from over was

957
00:59:13,720 --> 00:59:17,200
Speaker 1: that the police helicopter seemed to be moving toward the festival.

958
00:59:17,640 --> 00:59:20,080
Speaker 1: The chopper has moved from being near the power line

959
00:59:20,080 --> 00:59:24,000
Speaker 1: cut to the music festival and Wailani People's Park. Vibe

960
00:59:24,000 --> 00:59:25,960
Speaker 1: seems to be pretty chill on the ground here. I'm

961
00:59:26,000 --> 00:59:28,320
Speaker 1: not sure how many people that are present know what's

962
00:59:28,360 --> 00:59:32,480
Speaker 1: going on, but the chopper is still stationed above the

963
00:59:32,680 --> 00:59:35,160
Speaker 1: entrance to the festival, so I think they're looking to

964
00:59:35,200 --> 00:59:38,040
Speaker 1: see if the group that march is going to march

965
00:59:38,040 --> 00:59:42,400
Speaker 1: back the same direction, which I don't think they will, but.

966
00:59:42,440 --> 00:59:43,760
Speaker 10: That is what's currently going on.

967
00:59:44,280 --> 00:59:46,840
Speaker 1: People still still seem to be coming like to and

968
00:59:46,880 --> 00:59:51,840
Speaker 1: from the festival. Sure enough, within minutes, an increasingly large

969
00:59:51,920 --> 00:59:55,360
Speaker 1: number of police started to stage by the entrance to

970
00:59:55,400 --> 00:59:58,560
Speaker 1: the RC field. Doesn't the police cars are now stationed

971
00:59:58,560 --> 01:00:00,480
Speaker 1: outside the entrance to the RC field where the music

972
01:00:00,520 --> 01:00:03,439
Speaker 1: festival is taking place. There's a lot of police here,

973
01:00:03,480 --> 01:00:06,840
Speaker 1: some with rifles. They're getting their zip ti cuffs ready.

974
01:00:07,720 --> 01:00:10,400
Speaker 1: They've not entered the festival area yet, but I got

975
01:00:10,400 --> 01:00:13,200
Speaker 1: word from somebody that they have entered the Wolani People's

976
01:00:13,200 --> 01:00:18,720
Speaker 1: Park parking lot and it looks like movement is to

977
01:00:18,760 --> 01:00:22,720
Speaker 1: be expected very soon. At around six thirty pm, police

978
01:00:22,760 --> 01:00:25,600
Speaker 1: began to raid the South River Music Festival and started

979
01:00:25,600 --> 01:00:29,000
Speaker 1: what I think is accurately described as the police's own

980
01:00:29,080 --> 01:00:32,400
Speaker 1: counter protest to the events that transpired the past hour.

981
01:00:33,040 --> 01:00:36,960
Speaker 2: So when the police came running up onto the tarmac

982
01:00:37,000 --> 01:00:39,000
Speaker 2: at Rcy Field where the bouncy castle was, of course

983
01:00:39,160 --> 01:00:42,960
Speaker 2: they had to point a rifle at the bouncy castle.

984
01:00:43,440 --> 01:00:45,280
Speaker 2: And if that doesn't show that police are not here

985
01:00:45,320 --> 01:00:48,040
Speaker 2: to have fun and have joy, I don't know what is.

986
01:00:49,040 --> 01:00:50,680
Speaker 2: I don't know if anyone was in it at the time.

987
01:00:50,680 --> 01:00:53,520
Speaker 2: I don't think so. I think they were literally just

988
01:00:53,600 --> 01:00:58,880
Speaker 2: pointing a gun at an empty bouncy castle, which they

989
01:00:58,920 --> 01:01:02,680
Speaker 2: have they destroyed, And I think we have to take

990
01:01:02,680 --> 01:01:04,000
Speaker 2: a moment to mourn that.

991
01:01:04,640 --> 01:01:06,840
Speaker 10: Lots of police running into the music festival.

992
01:01:07,520 --> 01:01:12,959
Speaker 1: They're running someone down, chasing down a few people, Cops

993
01:01:12,960 --> 01:01:17,080
Speaker 1: approaching for multiple sides. Instead of immediately trying to confront

994
01:01:17,120 --> 01:01:20,800
Speaker 1: the hundreds of music festival attendees head on, the still

995
01:01:20,880 --> 01:01:24,440
Speaker 1: extremely outnumbered cops ran to the opposite side of the

996
01:01:24,520 --> 01:01:29,120
Speaker 1: music festival and started to indiscriminately go after isolated stragglers

997
01:01:29,880 --> 01:01:36,800
Speaker 1: people running into the woods trace by police. Someone's tackled,

998
01:01:38,520 --> 01:01:47,200
Speaker 1: no one early arounded to arrest someone else being arrested one, two, three,

999
01:01:48,320 --> 01:01:52,480
Speaker 1: four or five six people currently arrested that I can

1000
01:01:52,520 --> 01:01:55,120
Speaker 1: see or at least being detained.

1001
01:01:56,360 --> 01:01:58,080
Speaker 10: Looks like an NLG person's on the ground.

1002
01:01:59,080 --> 01:02:02,440
Speaker 1: Eventually, the certain goers realized what was happening, and a

1003
01:02:02,440 --> 01:02:05,360
Speaker 1: little over one hundred people mobilized to pressure the cops

1004
01:02:05,480 --> 01:02:06,280
Speaker 1: out of the field.

1005
01:02:07,360 --> 01:02:07,800
Speaker 10: People from the.

1006
01:02:07,840 --> 01:02:12,120
Speaker 1: Music festival are now running behind the police that have

1007
01:02:12,960 --> 01:02:18,280
Speaker 1: rushed into the RC field, cops being flanked by hundreds

1008
01:02:18,280 --> 01:02:18,640
Speaker 1: of people.

1009
01:02:20,120 --> 01:02:23,320
Speaker 2: So the first thing that happened was a few officers

1010
01:02:23,400 --> 01:02:27,080
Speaker 2: entered the RC field, which is where the music festival

1011
01:02:27,120 --> 01:02:29,880
Speaker 2: was happening, and made a few quick arrests.

1012
01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:31,680
Speaker 10: Yeah, like five or six, I would say.

1013
01:02:31,520 --> 01:02:35,760
Speaker 2: And I would assume, seeing like the crowd and realizing

1014
01:02:35,800 --> 01:02:39,320
Speaker 2: that a small force of officers is easily overwhelmed, kind

1015
01:02:39,360 --> 01:02:42,960
Speaker 2: of pulled back with their arrests. And then just after that,

1016
01:02:43,120 --> 01:02:45,720
Speaker 2: over in Wielani People's Park, that's when the CAB came

1017
01:02:45,760 --> 01:02:48,360
Speaker 2: in with their SWAT teams. There was a group that

1018
01:02:48,440 --> 01:02:52,600
Speaker 2: was meeting in the gazebo and they report like dozens

1019
01:02:52,640 --> 01:02:56,680
Speaker 2: of police officers running by. One of them stood up

1020
01:02:56,720 --> 01:03:00,120
Speaker 2: to record, and an officer with an ar fifteen and

1021
01:03:00,200 --> 01:03:02,560
Speaker 2: yelled at them and told them to sit the fuck

1022
01:03:02,640 --> 01:03:05,840
Speaker 2: back down, and they did. They were allowed to finish

1023
01:03:05,840 --> 01:03:09,760
Speaker 2: their meeting. But they report this very surreal experience of

1024
01:03:10,040 --> 01:03:14,000
Speaker 2: just officers like flying by and also making arrest of

1025
01:03:14,360 --> 01:03:15,960
Speaker 2: individuals who were running.

1026
01:03:16,360 --> 01:03:17,680
Speaker 3: And then the third.

1027
01:03:17,440 --> 01:03:21,000
Speaker 2: Wave, I would say, came in on the back of

1028
01:03:21,080 --> 01:03:26,120
Speaker 2: a armored police vehicle with an L RAD, good old

1029
01:03:26,200 --> 01:03:27,120
Speaker 2: DJ L rad.

1030
01:03:28,120 --> 01:03:30,560
Speaker 1: It brings it brings back all the memories.

1031
01:03:30,280 --> 01:03:32,560
Speaker 2: And so from there they sort of launched into the forest,

1032
01:03:32,720 --> 01:03:33,600
Speaker 2: launching tear.

1033
01:03:33,400 --> 01:03:41,200
Speaker 1: Gas again also brings back all of the memories. Police

1034
01:03:41,240 --> 01:03:44,160
Speaker 1: are starting to come back into the music festival. Fireworks

1035
01:03:44,160 --> 01:03:46,800
Speaker 1: are happening in the woods near the living room.

1036
01:03:46,840 --> 01:03:47,360
Speaker 10: It looks like.

1037
01:03:49,400 --> 01:03:52,680
Speaker 1: The police that entered via the RC field advanced up

1038
01:03:52,720 --> 01:03:54,960
Speaker 1: to join another group of cops who came in from

1039
01:03:55,040 --> 01:03:58,680
Speaker 1: Wolani People's Park and were already in the woods. What

1040
01:03:58,800 --> 01:04:02,320
Speaker 1: I first assumed were just fireworks were actually in exchange

1041
01:04:02,360 --> 01:04:05,919
Speaker 1: of munitions, with cops firing explosive tear gas canisters into

1042
01:04:05,960 --> 01:04:08,560
Speaker 1: the forest and people trying to hold the cops off

1043
01:04:08,600 --> 01:04:09,440
Speaker 1: with fireworks.

1044
01:04:10,600 --> 01:04:15,160
Speaker 10: Tear gas is in the woods. Fucked, it's hard. I

1045
01:04:15,200 --> 01:04:18,120
Speaker 10: can't get any I didn't I didn't bring my gas

1046
01:04:18,160 --> 01:04:20,400
Speaker 10: masks because this was a music festival.

1047
01:04:20,680 --> 01:04:23,439
Speaker 1: It's just the woods are completely caked and gas everyone

1048
01:04:23,480 --> 01:04:25,960
Speaker 1: who's inside. I don't know how they're gonna get out.

1049
01:04:26,920 --> 01:04:29,240
Speaker 1: Cops have the place surrounded. It's so gassed up in there.

1050
01:04:29,840 --> 01:04:31,000
Speaker 10: Police raided.

1051
01:04:31,600 --> 01:04:34,520
Speaker 1: They tear gased a section of the woods close to

1052
01:04:34,560 --> 01:04:37,600
Speaker 1: the RCA field, kind of blocking off the RCA Field

1053
01:04:38,000 --> 01:04:41,480
Speaker 1: from from the Wanni People's Park parking lot and the

1054
01:04:41,480 --> 01:04:44,080
Speaker 1: camp sits nearby, So you couldn't like really get away

1055
01:04:44,160 --> 01:04:46,680
Speaker 1: or run through that area because your breathing would stop,

1056
01:04:47,440 --> 01:04:50,479
Speaker 1: as mine temporarily did as I tried, as I tried

1057
01:04:50,480 --> 01:04:54,640
Speaker 1: to run through there, and then policer just took over

1058
01:04:54,680 --> 01:04:58,960
Speaker 1: this entire section of southeast Atlanta, just this entire section

1059
01:04:59,000 --> 01:05:01,360
Speaker 1: of the woods, all the intersections in this.

1060
01:05:01,360 --> 01:05:06,400
Speaker 2: Area, except for the very small space at the music

1061
01:05:06,480 --> 01:05:09,960
Speaker 2: festival was still going on during this entire time.

1062
01:05:10,240 --> 01:05:12,320
Speaker 1: The section like right in front of the stage where

1063
01:05:12,320 --> 01:05:15,040
Speaker 1: people continued to have the music festival for the next

1064
01:05:15,040 --> 01:05:18,280
Speaker 1: few hours. As police were as like, I kid you not,

1065
01:05:18,480 --> 01:05:22,280
Speaker 1: Like over five hundred police officers were in this surrounding area.

1066
01:05:22,400 --> 01:05:25,080
Speaker 1: There was the most amount of police I've ever seen

1067
01:05:25,200 --> 01:05:29,320
Speaker 1: respond to anything ever, it was wild.

1068
01:05:29,560 --> 01:05:31,520
Speaker 10: I am currently heading out.

1069
01:05:31,560 --> 01:05:33,320
Speaker 1: I will try to loop back around to a lot

1070
01:05:33,320 --> 01:05:34,800
Speaker 1: of People's Park because there's just no way through it

1071
01:05:34,880 --> 01:05:38,120
Speaker 1: right now with all the tear gas. But a cop

1072
01:05:38,200 --> 01:05:41,560
Speaker 1: van has pulled into the rc Field Music Festival. People,

1073
01:05:41,600 --> 01:05:43,320
Speaker 1: some of them are study by the stage, others are

1074
01:05:43,400 --> 01:05:49,440
Speaker 1: kind of dispersing. Night's getting pretty hectic. Cops fully surrounding

1075
01:05:49,440 --> 01:05:52,560
Speaker 1: a lot of People's Park and the music festival on

1076
01:05:52,600 --> 01:05:55,479
Speaker 1: all sides. There was at least one individual of note

1077
01:05:55,480 --> 01:05:57,800
Speaker 1: who was witnessed to be at the music festival the

1078
01:05:57,960 --> 01:06:00,960
Speaker 1: entire time during the direct action, and they were one

1079
01:06:01,000 --> 01:06:04,439
Speaker 1: of the very first arrests. Police chased this person down,

1080
01:06:04,920 --> 01:06:08,200
Speaker 1: tased and violently tackled them. Were you on the festival

1081
01:06:08,440 --> 01:06:09,080
Speaker 1: at that time?

1082
01:06:09,840 --> 01:06:13,440
Speaker 18: I was around the festival at that time. I even

1083
01:06:13,600 --> 01:06:19,200
Speaker 18: saw the police tackle someone at the festival and tackle

1084
01:06:19,240 --> 01:06:24,040
Speaker 18: and tase an indigenous person at the festival. And initially

1085
01:06:24,240 --> 01:06:27,480
Speaker 18: the police officer Georgia State Patrol and these are the

1086
01:06:27,520 --> 01:06:31,080
Speaker 18: folks that were responsible for killing Tortigita and making up

1087
01:06:31,080 --> 01:06:34,920
Speaker 18: a lie about it. They started running and there were

1088
01:06:35,000 --> 01:06:37,439
Speaker 18: three people in front of them. All three of those

1089
01:06:37,480 --> 01:06:41,280
Speaker 18: people started running and then there were two white folks

1090
01:06:41,320 --> 01:06:44,360
Speaker 18: that veered off to the left and one Indigenous person

1091
01:06:44,440 --> 01:06:45,400
Speaker 18: that veered off to the right.

1092
01:06:46,320 --> 01:06:48,200
Speaker 8: Go figure, the.

1093
01:06:48,120 --> 01:06:51,520
Speaker 18: Georgia State Patrol veered to the right and then tased

1094
01:06:51,560 --> 01:06:56,160
Speaker 18: and tackled the indigenous person. And then and there's the

1095
01:06:56,200 --> 01:06:59,880
Speaker 18: footage of this that may may not be released, where

1096
01:07:00,920 --> 01:07:03,840
Speaker 18: I was trying to de escalate the situation because this

1097
01:07:03,960 --> 01:07:08,360
Speaker 18: police officer, with no grounds to attack this person, is

1098
01:07:08,520 --> 01:07:11,760
Speaker 18: choking them on the ground and then really just asking

1099
01:07:11,760 --> 01:07:16,280
Speaker 18: you like literally what are you doing, Like why are

1100
01:07:16,320 --> 01:07:19,360
Speaker 18: you doing and then the persons that I didn't do anything,

1101
01:07:19,480 --> 01:07:25,560
Speaker 18: and then the Jorgia State Patrol officer responded, well, you ran, right,

1102
01:07:25,760 --> 01:07:29,720
Speaker 18: as if running when somebody with a gun chasing you

1103
01:07:30,040 --> 01:07:36,240
Speaker 18: is an admission of guilt of something. So the response

1104
01:07:36,760 --> 01:07:38,920
Speaker 18: was nonsensical and stupid.

1105
01:07:39,680 --> 01:07:42,600
Speaker 2: So they're tear gassing the forest and again, you know,

1106
01:07:43,400 --> 01:07:49,560
Speaker 2: grabbing from reports anyone who's who's running, anyone who who

1107
01:07:50,280 --> 01:07:53,800
Speaker 2: you know rightfully runs from a police officer running at

1108
01:07:53,800 --> 01:07:57,080
Speaker 2: them with an AR fifteen, which you know, we've been

1109
01:07:57,120 --> 01:08:00,320
Speaker 2: around police all week, and like the instinct to run,

1110
01:08:00,720 --> 01:08:04,320
Speaker 2: you know, even even now, is still pretty high.

1111
01:08:04,400 --> 01:08:08,600
Speaker 1: No, absolutely, and if you've never been chased by police before.

1112
01:08:09,280 --> 01:08:12,480
Speaker 1: Your first instinct isn't to like let them get you.

1113
01:08:13,480 --> 01:08:16,759
Speaker 1: Like I've had police just charge at me for filming

1114
01:08:16,880 --> 01:08:20,639
Speaker 1: police brutality before, and yeah, you generally want to move away.

1115
01:08:21,000 --> 01:08:22,400
Speaker 10: It is your immediate reaction.

1116
01:08:22,840 --> 01:08:26,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, anyone running at you with a gun is caused

1117
01:08:26,320 --> 01:08:28,439
Speaker 2: for fear and a police officer even more so.

1118
01:08:29,040 --> 01:08:31,040
Speaker 10: Okay, I am out of the area.

1119
01:08:31,240 --> 01:08:33,960
Speaker 1: Police have surrounded on basically every side of the line

1120
01:08:33,960 --> 01:08:36,559
Speaker 1: People's Park, the section of the four people are camping

1121
01:08:36,600 --> 01:08:40,559
Speaker 1: out of the music festival, All entrances and exits are stage,

1122
01:08:40,680 --> 01:08:41,760
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of intersections.

1123
01:08:42,040 --> 01:08:42,959
Speaker 10: This police stage.

1124
01:08:43,160 --> 01:08:45,639
Speaker 1: They're letting some people go, obviously they're arresting a whole bunch

1125
01:08:45,640 --> 01:08:48,920
Speaker 1: of other people. No clear indication on who they're arresting

1126
01:08:49,000 --> 01:08:52,040
Speaker 1: or why. It's pretty chaotic right now.

1127
01:08:52,600 --> 01:08:55,920
Speaker 2: They put out this officer needs help. Call that expanded

1128
01:08:56,000 --> 01:08:58,839
Speaker 2: beyond just APD. But the first thing they did was

1129
01:08:58,840 --> 01:09:04,080
Speaker 2: was calling every available APD officer. Fulton County Sheriff's Office

1130
01:09:04,160 --> 01:09:06,800
Speaker 2: joint to cab County started to mount up, and then

1131
01:09:06,880 --> 01:09:09,760
Speaker 2: of course the Georgia State Patrol definitely had to get

1132
01:09:09,760 --> 01:09:14,280
Speaker 2: in on this action. So jurisdictionally wide or this multi

1133
01:09:14,320 --> 01:09:19,840
Speaker 2: jurisdiction wide force of police amassed on Key Road with

1134
01:09:20,280 --> 01:09:22,599
Speaker 2: the cab kind of coming in on the other side.

1135
01:09:23,080 --> 01:09:26,160
Speaker 1: I passed through at least five hundred individual police officers. Yeah,

1136
01:09:26,240 --> 01:09:29,400
Speaker 1: that like that would check out because I walked a

1137
01:09:29,479 --> 01:09:33,880
Speaker 1: decent a decent, decent ways, I passed by many an

1138
01:09:33,920 --> 01:09:37,200
Speaker 1: intersection with at least fifty to one hundred cops was

1139
01:09:37,240 --> 01:09:38,439
Speaker 1: stationed at like each intersection.

1140
01:09:38,800 --> 01:09:42,120
Speaker 2: Oh and we can't forget the Sandy Springs Police Department

1141
01:09:42,160 --> 01:09:45,000
Speaker 2: also ends way down from outside the premier.

1142
01:09:44,880 --> 01:09:48,480
Speaker 1: Multiple swat teams. There was like I think three different bearcats.

1143
01:09:48,760 --> 01:09:51,639
Speaker 1: After I evacuated the area, I was still in shock

1144
01:09:51,680 --> 01:09:55,280
Speaker 1: about how many police officers mobilized to raid the festival.

1145
01:09:55,960 --> 01:09:58,559
Speaker 1: This is the biggest police response I've seen to anything

1146
01:09:59,320 --> 01:10:02,479
Speaker 1: in Atlanta in the time that I've been here. This

1147
01:10:02,520 --> 01:10:04,200
Speaker 1: is bigger than the police response is to most of

1148
01:10:04,240 --> 01:10:08,040
Speaker 1: like Portland actions compared to like twenty twenty, massive, massive

1149
01:10:08,040 --> 01:10:12,120
Speaker 1: amount of cops from multiple agencies taking over a huge

1150
01:10:12,160 --> 01:10:20,840
Speaker 1: area of South Atlanta and de kep County. As the

1151
01:10:20,960 --> 01:10:24,240
Speaker 1: second wave of police charged in and detained several music

1152
01:10:24,280 --> 01:10:28,960
Speaker 1: festival attendees, panic spread throughout the crowd. Hundreds of people

1153
01:10:29,040 --> 01:10:32,320
Speaker 1: rushed to the exits in an attempt to evacuate. Police

1154
01:10:32,360 --> 01:10:36,559
Speaker 1: blocked exits and arrested, detained, or harassed and threatened those

1155
01:10:36,720 --> 01:10:41,080
Speaker 1: trying to leave. One concertgoer reported that they received death

1156
01:10:41,160 --> 01:10:51,920
Speaker 1: threats from an intruding officer quote you're going to get shot.

1157
01:10:52,000 --> 01:10:53,760
Speaker 1: I don't know how to put it, but you're going

1158
01:10:53,840 --> 01:10:57,200
Speaker 1: to get shot with a bullet unquote. That same person

1159
01:10:57,240 --> 01:11:00,720
Speaker 1: who recorded that interaction also reported that you heard an

1160
01:11:00,720 --> 01:11:03,120
Speaker 1: officer with his side arm drawn in the living room

1161
01:11:03,160 --> 01:11:05,960
Speaker 1: is say, quote, I swear to God, I will fucking

1162
01:11:06,080 --> 01:11:10,320
Speaker 1: kill you unquote. Some people opted for safety in numbers

1163
01:11:10,360 --> 01:11:13,200
Speaker 1: and decided they'd rather stay together as a group as

1164
01:11:13,200 --> 01:11:15,880
Speaker 1: opposed to the risk of trying to escape through the

1165
01:11:15,920 --> 01:11:19,599
Speaker 1: woods alone. That night, about one hundred and fifty people

1166
01:11:19,640 --> 01:11:23,320
Speaker 1: congregated in front of the festival stage, and musicians that

1167
01:11:23,360 --> 01:11:25,479
Speaker 1: stuck around continued to play music.

1168
01:11:25,880 --> 01:11:31,360
Speaker 2: So the music festival continues unhindered until dusk, and about

1169
01:11:31,400 --> 01:11:38,759
Speaker 2: then is when DJ l Rad comes up and officers

1170
01:11:38,760 --> 01:11:42,679
Speaker 2: get out and call over like five people from the crowd.

1171
01:11:43,080 --> 01:11:44,759
Speaker 2: And so at this point I think there's like somewhere

1172
01:11:44,840 --> 01:11:49,280
Speaker 2: between one hundred seventy five to one hundred people still

1173
01:11:49,280 --> 01:11:53,400
Speaker 2: at the music fest, watching the music, and people are

1174
01:11:53,600 --> 01:11:56,040
Speaker 2: calling out from the stage like we have a legal

1175
01:11:56,120 --> 01:11:59,240
Speaker 2: right to be here, this is public property.

1176
01:11:59,600 --> 01:12:05,439
Speaker 1: We had we had dueling loud speakers trying to two

1177
01:12:05,520 --> 01:12:09,720
Speaker 1: people having a regular conversation across a field via opposing

1178
01:12:09,760 --> 01:12:10,479
Speaker 1: loud speakers.

1179
01:12:10,560 --> 01:12:12,479
Speaker 2: Very Scott Pilgrim versus the world right, like.

1180
01:12:14,040 --> 01:12:15,880
Speaker 1: You know, as the police are trying to shut down

1181
01:12:15,880 --> 01:12:19,320
Speaker 1: a concert, and there's like punks screaming into the bike

1182
01:12:20,040 --> 01:12:22,840
Speaker 1: and police officers using the yell red to scream back.

1183
01:12:23,400 --> 01:12:26,080
Speaker 2: It's just amazing. I mean, the visuals of this whole

1184
01:12:26,120 --> 01:12:29,759
Speaker 2: day I think are kind of really easy to imagine,

1185
01:12:29,800 --> 01:12:30,800
Speaker 2: even if you're not there.

1186
01:12:30,960 --> 01:12:34,599
Speaker 1: Yeah, Roughly after two hours of hunting down and detaining

1187
01:12:34,640 --> 01:12:38,280
Speaker 1: stragglers from the festival, dozens of swat in riot gear

1188
01:12:38,439 --> 01:12:42,000
Speaker 1: with high end rifles and armored vehicles slowly moved in

1189
01:12:42,160 --> 01:12:46,160
Speaker 1: towards the stage. Police told festival goers that they had

1190
01:12:46,240 --> 01:12:49,200
Speaker 1: three minutes to leave the festival under threat of arrest

1191
01:12:49,360 --> 01:12:54,720
Speaker 1: for domestic terrorism, to which festivalgoers responded by shouting no.

1192
01:12:55,920 --> 01:12:58,360
Speaker 1: In front of the stage. The crowd linked arms and

1193
01:12:58,439 --> 01:13:05,800
Speaker 1: enchanted let us go home. And we have children who

1194
01:13:09,520 --> 01:13:12,519
Speaker 1: apparently unable to mass arrest one hundred and fifty people.

1195
01:13:12,560 --> 01:13:16,280
Speaker 1: For whatever reason, police called for five individuals from the

1196
01:13:16,320 --> 01:13:20,240
Speaker 1: festival to engage in a brief discussion. After this odd

1197
01:13:20,320 --> 01:13:24,920
Speaker 1: negotiation with a handful of random concertgoers, festival attendees were

1198
01:13:24,920 --> 01:13:27,400
Speaker 1: told they had ten minutes to walk to their cars

1199
01:13:27,439 --> 01:13:31,000
Speaker 1: and go home or else be charged with domestic terrorism.

1200
01:13:31,400 --> 01:13:35,080
Speaker 2: About half the crowd has cars parked in the rc field,

1201
01:13:35,680 --> 01:13:38,240
Speaker 2: and the police allow them to go to their cars

1202
01:13:38,320 --> 01:13:42,439
Speaker 2: and leave, leaving like somewhere between you know, three dozen

1203
01:13:43,560 --> 01:13:47,160
Speaker 2: somewhere around three dozen people without cars still remaining at

1204
01:13:47,200 --> 01:13:52,040
Speaker 2: the festival, And this whole time they're also chanting, we

1205
01:13:52,120 --> 01:13:55,240
Speaker 2: have kids, let us go, and like it's this very

1206
01:13:55,240 --> 01:13:58,840
Speaker 2: big moment of solidarity that I've been told from like

1207
01:13:59,000 --> 01:14:02,000
Speaker 2: people who were there that you could tell that everybody

1208
01:14:02,080 --> 01:14:04,599
Speaker 2: was like really interested in keeping each other safe.

1209
01:14:04,800 --> 01:14:07,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was weird because police, definitely they were letting

1210
01:14:07,760 --> 01:14:10,280
Speaker 1: some people walk away and leave a place, some people

1211
01:14:10,320 --> 01:14:14,040
Speaker 1: drive away, arresting others not really with no clear indication

1212
01:14:14,080 --> 01:14:16,840
Speaker 1: for why they're letting some go and not letting others go.

1213
01:14:17,360 --> 01:14:20,720
Speaker 1: But then this crowd of people around the stage were

1214
01:14:20,720 --> 01:14:24,519
Speaker 1: eventually allowed to leave the music festival in big rent

1215
01:14:24,520 --> 01:14:28,000
Speaker 1: of vans. The police then id'd the people who rented

1216
01:14:28,000 --> 01:14:31,560
Speaker 1: the vans and were driving the vans, but everyone was

1217
01:14:32,080 --> 01:14:37,040
Speaker 1: able to exit who stayed by the music festival. Around midnight,

1218
01:14:37,160 --> 01:14:40,479
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Police Department posted a press release saying that

1219
01:14:40,840 --> 01:14:44,479
Speaker 1: thirty five people have been detained, which was kind of

1220
01:14:44,520 --> 01:14:47,640
Speaker 1: weird language because everyone assumed that those who had been

1221
01:14:47,680 --> 01:14:50,439
Speaker 1: taken by police were all going to be arrested and charged.

1222
01:14:50,880 --> 01:14:54,080
Speaker 1: But then less than an hour later, twelve individuals were

1223
01:14:54,120 --> 01:14:59,000
Speaker 1: suddenly released from police custody back to Gresham Park. Since then,

1224
01:14:59,280 --> 01:15:02,920
Speaker 1: witnesses and lawyers have claimed that police separated out people

1225
01:15:02,960 --> 01:15:07,520
Speaker 1: with Atlanta addresses on their IDs and released those individuals,

1226
01:15:08,040 --> 01:15:10,720
Speaker 1: and then the remaining twenty three people, mostly with out

1227
01:15:10,760 --> 01:15:14,400
Speaker 1: of state ideas or a non Atlanta address, were arrested

1228
01:15:14,439 --> 01:15:19,559
Speaker 1: and charged with domestic terrorism to continue the outside agitator narrative,

1229
01:15:20,040 --> 01:15:22,879
Speaker 1: bringing the total number of people charged with domestic terrorism

1230
01:15:23,080 --> 01:15:27,040
Speaker 1: to forty two. Ever, since Sunday night, there's been this

1231
01:15:27,160 --> 01:15:30,639
Speaker 1: effort from a police and their media allies to frame

1232
01:15:30,760 --> 01:15:33,360
Speaker 1: these arrests as if they happened at the scene of

1233
01:15:33,360 --> 01:15:36,400
Speaker 1: the crime, alleging that the twenty three people arrested were

1234
01:15:36,439 --> 01:15:41,679
Speaker 1: themselves torching equipment or actively engaged in domestic terrorism. Yet

1235
01:15:41,840 --> 01:15:44,479
Speaker 1: all of the arrests took place almost a mile away

1236
01:15:44,520 --> 01:15:47,400
Speaker 1: at the music festival, and even further away in some cases,

1237
01:15:47,560 --> 01:15:50,160
Speaker 1: like in the parking lot, which is on the other

1238
01:15:50,320 --> 01:15:53,040
Speaker 1: side of the forest from the north gate. To quote

1239
01:15:53,080 --> 01:15:56,439
Speaker 1: an article in Truth Out by Candice Burned, quote, law enforcement,

1240
01:15:56,560 --> 01:16:01,120
Speaker 1: failing to apprehend specific individuals at the site itself, indiscriminately

1241
01:16:01,160 --> 01:16:04,960
Speaker 1: targeted the music festival, pouring into the field, campgrounds and

1242
01:16:05,040 --> 01:16:09,599
Speaker 1: parking lot with weapons drawn. They issued commands, chased people down,

1243
01:16:09,720 --> 01:16:14,679
Speaker 1: and threatened to shoot and arrest festival attendees. Still, major

1244
01:16:14,720 --> 01:16:18,080
Speaker 1: news outlets all but ignored the fact that all arrests

1245
01:16:18,120 --> 01:16:21,479
Speaker 1: occurred seemingly at random. During a police raid of the

1246
01:16:21,600 --> 01:16:25,040
Speaker 1: nearby South River Music Festival, where people gathered to see

1247
01:16:25,280 --> 01:16:28,559
Speaker 1: Zack Fox Live, to jump in a bouncycastle and enjoy

1248
01:16:28,560 --> 01:16:32,000
Speaker 1: the outdoors. Many attendees had little to no idea of

1249
01:16:32,040 --> 01:16:35,320
Speaker 1: what had occurred at the cop City construction site. Those

1250
01:16:35,360 --> 01:16:37,920
Speaker 1: who got lucky were forced to walk through tiergas to

1251
01:16:37,960 --> 01:16:41,160
Speaker 1: get to their cars, while others were assaulted by police

1252
01:16:41,200 --> 01:16:44,839
Speaker 1: and charged with domestic terrorism, risking thirty five years in prison.

1253
01:16:45,520 --> 01:16:48,040
Speaker 1: Here's a clip from NBC's Today Show, We.

1254
01:16:48,120 --> 01:16:51,160
Speaker 27: Got breaking news out of Atlanta over night. Dozens arrested

1255
01:16:51,160 --> 01:16:54,600
Speaker 27: after what's being described as a coordinated criminal attack. It

1256
01:16:54,640 --> 01:16:57,160
Speaker 27: happened at the future site of a police training center.

1257
01:16:57,200 --> 01:16:59,400
Speaker 27: And this is Blaine Alexander's on the story for US

1258
01:16:59,439 --> 01:16:59,800
Speaker 27: Blaine Good.

1259
01:17:01,000 --> 01:17:05,000
Speaker 28: Officials say protesters burned construction vehicles and a trailer and

1260
01:17:05,040 --> 01:17:07,879
Speaker 28: set off fireworks toward officers stationed nearby.

1261
01:17:08,320 --> 01:17:10,280
Speaker 29: And this wasn't about a public safety training center.

1262
01:17:10,320 --> 01:17:12,679
Speaker 30: This was about anarchy, and this was about the attempt

1263
01:17:12,720 --> 01:17:14,160
Speaker 30: to destabilize.

1264
01:17:13,600 --> 01:17:17,040
Speaker 28: Police point to a group of what they call outside agitators,

1265
01:17:17,200 --> 01:17:20,360
Speaker 28: saying they left an event nearby, changed into black clothing,

1266
01:17:20,520 --> 01:17:25,280
Speaker 28: and mounted a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers.

1267
01:17:25,840 --> 01:17:28,639
Speaker 1: To quote a statement from the Sonic Defense Committee. Quote,

1268
01:17:29,120 --> 01:17:33,240
Speaker 1: the indiscriminate brutalization and arrest of festivalgoers suggests that law

1269
01:17:33,280 --> 01:17:35,720
Speaker 1: enforcement agencies will go to great lengths to paint the

1270
01:17:35,760 --> 01:17:38,519
Speaker 1: movement to stop Copcity and Defend the Atlanta Forest as

1271
01:17:38,560 --> 01:17:43,200
Speaker 1: a criminal organization. It is, in fact, a broad, decentralized

1272
01:17:43,240 --> 01:17:48,639
Speaker 1: movement with no ideological or organizational unity, only of shared goal.

1273
01:17:49,280 --> 01:17:51,679
Speaker 1: They believe that the movement is made up of bad

1274
01:17:51,720 --> 01:17:56,519
Speaker 1: actors who betray otherwise peaceful protesters, but the movement is

1275
01:17:56,560 --> 01:18:00,559
Speaker 1: not committed to any particular tactic, instead accepting the diversity

1276
01:18:00,560 --> 01:18:03,880
Speaker 1: of approaches to stop the project. The police claim that

1277
01:18:03,920 --> 01:18:06,639
Speaker 1: the movement is not made up of any Atlantans, while

1278
01:18:06,880 --> 01:18:11,440
Speaker 1: Atlanta University Center students, local clergy, faith leaders, small businesses,

1279
01:18:11,479 --> 01:18:15,960
Speaker 1: and dozens of locally famous artists and musicians organize themselves

1280
01:18:16,040 --> 01:18:20,160
Speaker 1: within the movement. The police's false narrative and heavy handed

1281
01:18:20,160 --> 01:18:22,639
Speaker 1: approach to dealing with the opposition to the Cop City

1282
01:18:22,760 --> 01:18:26,840
Speaker 1: project is slowly starting to enclose them in. As the

1283
01:18:26,840 --> 01:18:30,320
Speaker 1: movement grows and city and state officials refuse to see

1284
01:18:30,320 --> 01:18:32,960
Speaker 1: the reality of what they are dealing with, their own

1285
01:18:33,000 --> 01:18:36,599
Speaker 1: authority is being brought into question. If they are not careful,

1286
01:18:36,720 --> 01:18:39,439
Speaker 1: the stakes of the movement will soon exceed the bounds

1287
01:18:39,479 --> 01:18:43,479
Speaker 1: of the forest and Cop City. In fact, that process

1288
01:18:43,680 --> 01:18:45,160
Speaker 1: may already have begun.

1289
01:18:45,880 --> 01:18:49,200
Speaker 2: I think to talk about what happened, we kind of

1290
01:18:49,240 --> 01:18:52,120
Speaker 2: do have to go back to put it in context

1291
01:18:53,120 --> 01:18:57,840
Speaker 2: and going back to January that was the end of

1292
01:18:57,280 --> 01:19:02,520
Speaker 2: the occupation or the you know, continuous encampments in Wilani

1293
01:19:04,840 --> 01:19:09,080
Speaker 2: and then flash uh fast forward to to late January,

1294
01:19:09,080 --> 01:19:12,400
Speaker 2: they get the LDP and so all of these people

1295
01:19:12,479 --> 01:19:16,200
Speaker 2: who have been protecting the forest for so long are

1296
01:19:16,280 --> 01:19:20,240
Speaker 2: now watching construction equipment roll in and they're watching clear

1297
01:19:20,280 --> 01:19:25,680
Speaker 2: cutting and they can't do anything about it. And you

1298
01:19:25,800 --> 01:19:29,560
Speaker 2: had that action, uh, just after Tortigita's death in January,

1299
01:19:29,840 --> 01:19:34,440
Speaker 2: which was a very targeted you know, only two funders

1300
01:19:34,439 --> 01:19:37,760
Speaker 2: and other supporters of cop City and you know, maybe

1301
01:19:37,760 --> 01:19:41,479
Speaker 2: a random police vehicle. But it wasn't really like this

1302
01:19:41,479 --> 01:19:45,080
Speaker 2: this letting of energy. It was a very like specific

1303
01:19:45,520 --> 01:19:48,120
Speaker 2: sort of purpose. And so you have this like build

1304
01:19:48,200 --> 01:19:51,320
Speaker 2: up of energy that I think is really important to

1305
01:19:52,200 --> 01:19:55,479
Speaker 2: keep in mind with with what is about to happen

1306
01:19:55,560 --> 01:19:58,960
Speaker 2: in this story. And they so they can't do anything.

1307
01:19:59,360 --> 01:20:04,280
Speaker 2: And then you have Saturday where you see this massive

1308
01:20:04,320 --> 01:20:08,920
Speaker 2: people return to the forest, and I think it's almost

1309
01:20:09,040 --> 01:20:13,840
Speaker 2: unavoidable in retrospect to look at that and for them

1310
01:20:13,920 --> 01:20:16,760
Speaker 2: not to have said, what can we do now that

1311
01:20:16,840 --> 01:20:22,720
Speaker 2: we couldn't do before? So they gather and they do

1312
01:20:22,840 --> 01:20:25,880
Speaker 2: what they couldn't do before they head over to the

1313
01:20:25,920 --> 01:20:27,200
Speaker 2: construction site.

1314
01:20:27,560 --> 01:20:29,600
Speaker 1: There had not been an action like this in the

1315
01:20:29,600 --> 01:20:33,640
Speaker 1: woods for a long time. Bulldozers and equipment had not

1316
01:20:33,720 --> 01:20:36,599
Speaker 1: been damaged in quite a while, but on Sunday, people

1317
01:20:36,600 --> 01:20:39,080
Speaker 1: were able to use the safety in numbers that comes

1318
01:20:39,120 --> 01:20:41,760
Speaker 1: with a week of action to feel more empowered to

1319
01:20:41,840 --> 01:20:45,639
Speaker 1: take direct action against the actual machinery that is destroying

1320
01:20:45,640 --> 01:20:49,200
Speaker 1: the forest and building cop City. Sunday's action can be

1321
01:20:49,240 --> 01:20:52,080
Speaker 1: seen as a demonstration of the pent up righteous anger

1322
01:20:52,360 --> 01:20:56,639
Speaker 1: from watching the slow destruction of the forest. Participants view

1323
01:20:56,680 --> 01:21:00,320
Speaker 1: what happened as a justified strike against the active struction

1324
01:21:00,439 --> 01:21:03,559
Speaker 1: of the forest, a strike back made an anger after

1325
01:21:03,600 --> 01:21:06,600
Speaker 1: watching the Atlanta Police Foundation make steady progress over the

1326
01:21:06,640 --> 01:21:08,280
Speaker 1: course of the past few months.

1327
01:21:08,720 --> 01:21:12,200
Speaker 2: The day before, there was this chant that was taken

1328
01:21:12,240 --> 01:21:13,760
Speaker 2: up by the entire crowd, and I think we talked

1329
01:21:13,800 --> 01:21:14,720
Speaker 2: about this and.

1330
01:21:16,360 --> 01:21:16,799
Speaker 8: Earlier.

1331
01:21:18,320 --> 01:21:20,800
Speaker 2: If you build it, we will burn it. And that

1332
01:21:21,040 --> 01:21:23,719
Speaker 2: was something that if you looked all throughout the crowd,

1333
01:21:23,840 --> 01:21:28,759
Speaker 2: like they were chanting everybody, everybody, like not just people

1334
01:21:28,800 --> 01:21:30,160
Speaker 2: wearing camera or black block, like.

1335
01:21:30,680 --> 01:21:33,360
Speaker 1: A thousand people, everybody, Yeah, a thousand people watching from

1336
01:21:33,439 --> 01:21:34,080
Speaker 1: Gresham Park.

1337
01:21:34,240 --> 01:21:38,920
Speaker 2: And I think that this is that promise come true.

1338
01:21:38,960 --> 01:21:41,920
Speaker 1: Sunday's action was itself a pretty unique moment in the

1339
01:21:41,920 --> 01:21:46,559
Speaker 1: recent history of environmental and anti police struggles. Watching hundreds

1340
01:21:46,560 --> 01:21:49,320
Speaker 1: of people go on the offensive. To participate in a

1341
01:21:49,439 --> 01:21:52,800
Speaker 1: mass coordinated sabotage in defense of both the forest and

1342
01:21:53,000 --> 01:21:56,799
Speaker 1: targets of police of Islands felt like an unprecedented moment

1343
01:21:56,880 --> 01:22:00,120
Speaker 1: in our modern paradigm of resistance in the United States.

1344
01:22:01,040 --> 01:22:03,559
Speaker 1: But the raid on the music festival on March fifth

1345
01:22:03,920 --> 01:22:06,720
Speaker 1: was also just the start of an unparalleled wave of

1346
01:22:06,760 --> 01:22:10,280
Speaker 1: police repression during this week of action, which we will

1347
01:22:10,320 --> 01:22:13,960
Speaker 1: cover in the next episode. But throughout the whole week,

1348
01:22:14,200 --> 01:22:18,160
Speaker 1: the assurance that copcity will never be built never faltered,

1349
01:22:18,680 --> 01:22:22,080
Speaker 1: as demonstrated by common chance such as I believe that

1350
01:22:22,160 --> 01:22:25,720
Speaker 1: we will win. So I'm going to end this episode

1351
01:22:26,040 --> 01:22:29,240
Speaker 1: with the final chant from the Saturday a Gresham Park rally,

1352
01:22:29,680 --> 01:22:32,960
Speaker 1: right before a thousand people marched to the Wallani Forest

1353
01:22:33,880 --> 01:22:34,559
Speaker 1: in Atlanta.

1354
01:22:34,640 --> 01:22:36,720
Speaker 31: We always in with the asslogan.

1355
01:22:37,520 --> 01:22:39,160
Speaker 3: We're with the words of our.

1356
01:22:39,080 --> 01:22:42,759
Speaker 32: Love or assonas schoor because we have a judy.

1357
01:22:44,920 --> 01:22:47,439
Speaker 33: There's been so much blessed built here.

1358
01:22:48,640 --> 01:22:51,960
Speaker 34: Repeat up to me, give us our duty, the flag

1359
01:22:52,040 --> 01:22:52,719
Speaker 34: for our freedom.

1360
01:22:56,080 --> 01:22:58,280
Speaker 20: It's our judy to wed.

1361
01:23:00,960 --> 01:23:07,519
Speaker 10: Does not each other, irons at each other. I'm not

1362
01:23:07,640 --> 01:23:09,760
Speaker 10: gonna lose flaun Change.

1363
01:23:12,200 --> 01:23:14,200
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna loose Balanche.

1364
01:23:17,640 --> 01:23:30,640
Speaker 35: I'm not annose, but godzizea.

1365
01:23:34,320 --> 01:23:42,080
Speaker 1: Music festival audio courtesy of Unicorn Riot. Come Monday morning,

1366
01:23:42,439 --> 01:23:46,080
Speaker 1: basically no one was in the forest. The police raid

1367
01:23:46,200 --> 01:23:49,000
Speaker 1: the night prior pushed out most of the people gathered

1368
01:23:49,040 --> 01:23:52,240
Speaker 1: for the music festival and week of action, and it

1369
01:23:52,320 --> 01:23:55,439
Speaker 1: was still unclear how the rest of the week would

1370
01:23:55,520 --> 01:24:00,439
Speaker 1: now proceed. This Monday happened to be the Jewish holiday Perham.

1371
01:24:00,960 --> 01:24:03,960
Speaker 1: Initially there were plans to have a Perham celebration in

1372
01:24:04,000 --> 01:24:07,400
Speaker 1: the forest that evening, but it was unknown if people

1373
01:24:07,400 --> 01:24:11,439
Speaker 1: would feel comfortable returning to the woods. Welcome back to

1374
01:24:11,479 --> 01:24:14,680
Speaker 1: it could happen here. I'm Garrison Davis. This is episode

1375
01:24:14,720 --> 01:24:17,920
Speaker 1: three of my mini series covering the March twenty twenty

1376
01:24:18,000 --> 01:24:22,120
Speaker 1: three Week of Action to defend the Atlanta Forest. Monday,

1377
01:24:22,120 --> 01:24:25,400
Speaker 1: March sixth also happened to be the day of an

1378
01:24:25,479 --> 01:24:29,599
Speaker 1: Atlanta City Council meeting, and the Stop Coop City Clergy

1379
01:24:29,640 --> 01:24:34,160
Speaker 1: coalition held a well attended press conference at noon outside

1380
01:24:34,280 --> 01:24:37,840
Speaker 1: City Hall. Reverend Keana Jones opened up at the press

1381
01:24:37,840 --> 01:24:40,800
Speaker 1: conference by making the Clergy's position clear.

1382
01:24:41,479 --> 01:24:45,800
Speaker 36: We are the faith Coalition against Cop City, and we

1383
01:24:45,840 --> 01:24:49,519
Speaker 36: are here so again raise our voices so that Mayor

1384
01:24:49,560 --> 01:24:53,000
Speaker 36: Andre Dickens and the members of the City Council of

1385
01:24:53,080 --> 01:24:58,000
Speaker 36: Atlanta know that we will not stand for the atrocities

1386
01:24:58,400 --> 01:25:01,240
Speaker 36: that have been occurring. I will not stand for cop

1387
01:25:01,280 --> 01:25:05,320
Speaker 36: City to go forward. The community came out and made

1388
01:25:05,400 --> 01:25:10,040
Speaker 36: public comment for over seventeen hours when given an opportunity,

1389
01:25:10,479 --> 01:25:15,320
Speaker 36: and said emphatically, no, we don't want your cop City.

1390
01:25:15,880 --> 01:25:18,880
Speaker 13: We don't want more repression of black people.

1391
01:25:19,320 --> 01:25:23,519
Speaker 36: We don't want more polluted air, we don't want less

1392
01:25:23,520 --> 01:25:27,840
Speaker 36: green space in our community. We don't want more policing

1393
01:25:27,920 --> 01:25:32,840
Speaker 36: and terrorizing of black, brown, indigenous bodies in our community.

1394
01:25:33,400 --> 01:25:36,719
Speaker 1: Reverend Jones gave her own perspective as a local Atlanta

1395
01:25:37,120 --> 01:25:38,799
Speaker 1: with deep ties to the city.

1396
01:25:39,200 --> 01:25:42,360
Speaker 36: So we are here as faith leaders today and we

1397
01:25:42,479 --> 01:25:46,439
Speaker 36: are here to say, Mayor Dickens, if you didn't hear

1398
01:25:46,520 --> 01:25:49,559
Speaker 36: us the first time, we are here once again to

1399
01:25:49,680 --> 01:25:53,720
Speaker 36: let you know that we don't want cop City. This

1400
01:25:53,800 --> 01:25:57,640
Speaker 36: is our community, this is our land. I am a

1401
01:25:57,720 --> 01:26:02,000
Speaker 36: daughter of East Atlanta. I still live in East Atlanta.

1402
01:26:02,520 --> 01:26:06,479
Speaker 36: I don't want cop City. My granny owns a home

1403
01:26:06,520 --> 01:26:09,000
Speaker 36: that she's been in for almost fifty years in the

1404
01:26:09,040 --> 01:26:12,920
Speaker 36: heart of East Atlanta village. She does not want cop City.

1405
01:26:13,439 --> 01:26:16,639
Speaker 36: My neighbor across the street does not want Cop City.

1406
01:26:17,000 --> 01:26:20,840
Speaker 36: The teachers at my daughter's school do not want Cop City.

1407
01:26:21,280 --> 01:26:25,400
Speaker 1: She also addressed the outside agitators narrative that police and

1408
01:26:25,479 --> 01:26:29,720
Speaker 1: media have continued to craft against force defenders, including by

1409
01:26:29,800 --> 01:26:32,519
Speaker 1: only arresting and charging people thought to be from out

1410
01:26:32,560 --> 01:26:35,439
Speaker 1: of town at the music festival that previous night.

1411
01:26:36,040 --> 01:26:38,800
Speaker 36: So we're here today to make sure that we ring

1412
01:26:38,880 --> 01:26:42,320
Speaker 36: the alarm and dispel the false narrative that it's outside

1413
01:26:42,400 --> 01:26:46,200
Speaker 36: agitators who don't want this. We know that this is

1414
01:26:46,200 --> 01:26:49,599
Speaker 36: the rhetoric that's been going on ever since abolition began,

1415
01:26:50,160 --> 01:26:53,600
Speaker 36: that it's outside agitators. They said slaves didn't want to

1416
01:26:53,600 --> 01:26:55,479
Speaker 36: be free, but it was white people from the North

1417
01:26:55,479 --> 01:26:56,080
Speaker 36: who wanted it.

1418
01:26:56,120 --> 01:26:56,919
Speaker 28: That's the lie.

1419
01:26:57,040 --> 01:26:59,320
Speaker 36: They said that black people in the South didn't want

1420
01:26:59,360 --> 01:27:01,439
Speaker 36: civil rights, but it was white people from the North.

1421
01:27:01,520 --> 01:27:04,960
Speaker 36: That's a lie. Today they are claiming that the black

1422
01:27:04,960 --> 01:27:10,040
Speaker 36: people love Cop City. It's outside agitators from elsewhere, and

1423
01:27:10,160 --> 01:27:14,600
Speaker 36: that again is a lie. Simply because the police have

1424
01:27:14,840 --> 01:27:19,559
Speaker 36: chosen to systematically arrest people from out of state doesn't

1425
01:27:19,600 --> 01:27:21,880
Speaker 36: mean that what they're saying is the truth.

1426
01:27:22,360 --> 01:27:26,200
Speaker 1: Reverend Leoshe addressed to other faith leaders and ask them

1427
01:27:26,240 --> 01:27:29,800
Speaker 1: to join in their calls to stop the cop City project.

1428
01:27:30,479 --> 01:27:35,360
Speaker 16: We local Atlanta clergy and religious leaders representing diverse communities

1429
01:27:36,320 --> 01:27:39,479
Speaker 16: call on clergy, religious leaders and people of faith in

1430
01:27:39,600 --> 01:27:43,599
Speaker 16: moral conscience across this nation and in solidarity with local

1431
01:27:43,600 --> 01:27:48,400
Speaker 16: Atlanta leaders to stop cop City, stop the swap, and

1432
01:27:48,479 --> 01:27:50,160
Speaker 16: defend the Atlanta forests.

1433
01:27:50,320 --> 01:27:51,519
Speaker 13: Wilani People's part.

1434
01:27:52,360 --> 01:27:55,160
Speaker 37: Today, we're gathered for this press conference and we will

1435
01:27:55,200 --> 01:27:58,599
Speaker 37: be delivering a letter to Atlanta City Council. But we

1436
01:27:58,720 --> 01:28:01,960
Speaker 37: invite you to continue in this faithful work that we

1437
01:28:02,000 --> 01:28:05,320
Speaker 37: are doing and contribute wherever you find.

1438
01:28:05,080 --> 01:28:06,880
Speaker 13: Your space in this growing movement.

1439
01:28:07,760 --> 01:28:11,120
Speaker 37: We call on clergy religious leaders, who are a moral

1440
01:28:11,160 --> 01:28:15,480
Speaker 37: authority in our society, to use your power in support

1441
01:28:15,760 --> 01:28:17,280
Speaker 37: of the forest protectors.

1442
01:28:18,640 --> 01:28:19,680
Speaker 13: We are deeply.

1443
01:28:19,400 --> 01:28:22,920
Speaker 37: Concerned for the greater Atlantic community and the implications for

1444
01:28:23,000 --> 01:28:25,840
Speaker 37: the future of public safety in the United States if

1445
01:28:25,920 --> 01:28:27,320
Speaker 37: Kopsudy moves forward.

1446
01:28:28,080 --> 01:28:31,240
Speaker 1: At the press conference, the coalition presented a letter to

1447
01:28:31,280 --> 01:28:34,639
Speaker 1: the City Council signed by over two hundred clergy members.

1448
01:28:35,200 --> 01:28:37,479
Speaker 1: Reverend Leoshe also read it aloud.

1449
01:28:38,120 --> 01:28:41,480
Speaker 37: Despite a record breaking amount of public comment opposing the facility,

1450
01:28:42,320 --> 01:28:46,280
Speaker 37: Atlanta City councils still pass legislation to build cop City.

1451
01:28:47,120 --> 01:28:49,960
Speaker 37: We are troubled by leadership that stops acting on the

1452
01:28:49,960 --> 01:28:53,960
Speaker 37: will of the people and aligns itself instead with corporate

1453
01:28:54,080 --> 01:28:59,200
Speaker 37: money and the dominant power structure. Urged on by the

1454
01:28:59,240 --> 01:29:03,000
Speaker 37: message of peace and compassion in all our faiths, we

1455
01:29:03,160 --> 01:29:09,200
Speaker 37: deplore escalating militarization by city and state government, most recently

1456
01:29:09,240 --> 01:29:11,880
Speaker 37: since the police killing of Rayshard Brooks here in twenty

1457
01:29:11,920 --> 01:29:17,120
Speaker 37: twenty by the Atlanta Police Department and Tortugita January eighteenth

1458
01:29:17,120 --> 01:29:22,160
Speaker 37: of this year by Georgia Patrol. We applaud the rising

1459
01:29:22,200 --> 01:29:25,719
Speaker 37: consciousness and the need to protect humans and the more

1460
01:29:25,800 --> 01:29:29,800
Speaker 37: than human by resisting police violence everywhere.

1461
01:29:30,439 --> 01:29:32,720
Speaker 13: Yes, and may I add that in the face.

1462
01:29:32,760 --> 01:29:36,160
Speaker 37: Of the violent raid that took place last night, as

1463
01:29:36,160 --> 01:29:40,519
Speaker 37: city residents gathered in solidarity to defend this forest, that

1464
01:29:40,680 --> 01:29:44,639
Speaker 37: is an example of the militarization that we are calling out.

1465
01:29:44,960 --> 01:29:47,880
Speaker 37: Through violence and greed, these lands have been subjected to

1466
01:29:48,120 --> 01:29:53,200
Speaker 37: centuries of abuse, from the forced removal of indigenous communities,

1467
01:29:53,640 --> 01:29:58,080
Speaker 37: to serving as a plantation for enslaved African labor, to

1468
01:29:58,120 --> 01:30:00,960
Speaker 37: the site of the old Atlanta prison farm in the

1469
01:30:01,000 --> 01:30:05,000
Speaker 37: twentieth century that produced immense profits for the prison system.

1470
01:30:06,320 --> 01:30:07,759
Speaker 13: Today, the sounds of berg.

1471
01:30:07,600 --> 01:30:10,800
Speaker 37: Song from the forest canopy live alongside the sound of

1472
01:30:10,880 --> 01:30:14,519
Speaker 37: gunfire and the adjacent APD firing range.

1473
01:30:15,800 --> 01:30:18,479
Speaker 13: We are troubled.

1474
01:30:18,400 --> 01:30:22,479
Speaker 37: By the commodification of community, land, water, and air on

1475
01:30:22,560 --> 01:30:26,599
Speaker 37: which all of us depend. We are profoundly troubled by

1476
01:30:26,600 --> 01:30:30,640
Speaker 37: the use of military tactics and escalated legal charges on

1477
01:30:30,760 --> 01:30:36,240
Speaker 37: members of our community, suppressing legitimate resistance, while at the

1478
01:30:36,320 --> 01:30:40,559
Speaker 37: same time clearcutting the forest trees despite not having the

1479
01:30:40,640 --> 01:30:45,800
Speaker 37: appropriate permits. The lands and the people of Atlanta have

1480
01:30:45,920 --> 01:30:48,240
Speaker 37: suffered violence for too long.

1481
01:30:49,160 --> 01:30:51,240
Speaker 13: We say no more.

1482
01:30:51,720 --> 01:30:55,240
Speaker 37: We declare with faith, commitment and hope that this land

1483
01:30:55,280 --> 01:30:59,160
Speaker 37: will be a part of healing and repair. We Atlanta clergy,

1484
01:30:59,200 --> 01:31:02,080
Speaker 37: religious leaders, and all of those across the nation and

1485
01:31:02,200 --> 01:31:05,719
Speaker 37: world who are in agreement join our voices with calling

1486
01:31:05,760 --> 01:31:09,240
Speaker 37: for the following, a complete stop of the cop City

1487
01:31:09,360 --> 01:31:15,679
Speaker 37: project and cancelation of the Atlanta Police Foundation's lease, dropping

1488
01:31:15,800 --> 01:31:20,760
Speaker 37: all charges against forest defenders and protesters. We demand an

1489
01:31:20,800 --> 01:31:27,080
Speaker 37: independent investigation into the uses of domestic terrorism charges. We

1490
01:31:27,200 --> 01:31:32,080
Speaker 37: demand an independent investigation into the killing of Manuel Tehran Tortugita.

1491
01:31:32,800 --> 01:31:37,200
Speaker 37: We speak their name, for which recently released video footage

1492
01:31:37,200 --> 01:31:41,080
Speaker 37: of the event suggests there was lying and deceit surrounding

1493
01:31:41,080 --> 01:31:44,480
Speaker 37: the incident on part of law enforcement in their initial

1494
01:31:44,520 --> 01:31:45,919
Speaker 37: reporting of the incident.

1495
01:31:46,840 --> 01:31:50,840
Speaker 1: The Muscogee elder Miko Chabbon, Colonel spoke at the press

1496
01:31:50,880 --> 01:31:54,440
Speaker 1: conference and called for land back and for the Muscogee

1497
01:31:54,479 --> 01:31:58,920
Speaker 1: people to return and remtreat the Wailani Forest in community

1498
01:31:59,000 --> 01:32:01,400
Speaker 1: with the black and brown residents of the area.

1499
01:32:01,840 --> 01:32:05,760
Speaker 38: Our ancestors lived here for over thirteen thousand years, and

1500
01:32:05,800 --> 01:32:08,200
Speaker 38: if you're to do the math correctly, this country that

1501
01:32:08,240 --> 01:32:10,519
Speaker 38: we now call the United States is somewhere in the

1502
01:32:10,520 --> 01:32:14,960
Speaker 38: neighborhood of two hundred and forty just over nearly two

1503
01:32:15,040 --> 01:32:15,559
Speaker 38: years ago.

1504
01:32:16,080 --> 01:32:17,839
Speaker 3: I came here to the Launi Forest.

1505
01:32:18,200 --> 01:32:20,679
Speaker 38: I came here with my own family, my own children,

1506
01:32:20,920 --> 01:32:23,439
Speaker 38: with some of my elders, to just share a little

1507
01:32:23,479 --> 01:32:26,320
Speaker 38: bit about how this territoryiness land feels to us as

1508
01:32:26,400 --> 01:32:29,720
Speaker 38: Muskogee people, because, let it be known today, it was

1509
01:32:29,800 --> 01:32:32,880
Speaker 38: not our choice to leave here. We did go to

1510
01:32:33,040 --> 01:32:36,080
Speaker 38: war to protect these areas. We did go through much

1511
01:32:36,120 --> 01:32:39,280
Speaker 38: burden to protect these areas, only to be forced to

1512
01:32:39,360 --> 01:32:43,759
Speaker 38: leave here under military occupation, but also to be forced

1513
01:32:43,760 --> 01:32:47,559
Speaker 38: to leave here after treachery, after illegally lands were taken

1514
01:32:47,600 --> 01:32:48,200
Speaker 38: from us.

1515
01:32:48,560 --> 01:32:49,800
Speaker 3: This is our homeland.

1516
01:32:50,400 --> 01:32:54,439
Speaker 38: My ancestors for generation upon generation, for millennia are buried

1517
01:32:54,479 --> 01:32:56,679
Speaker 38: on the very ground that you walk on every day.

1518
01:32:58,000 --> 01:33:00,600
Speaker 38: And I think we have a say and how we

1519
01:33:00,600 --> 01:33:02,920
Speaker 38: should live as a society in this day and time.

1520
01:33:03,720 --> 01:33:06,000
Speaker 38: And so in this moment, our hope is to be

1521
01:33:06,080 --> 01:33:09,400
Speaker 38: able to come back to rematriate, to take our lives

1522
01:33:09,439 --> 01:33:11,880
Speaker 38: back and to the intimacy that we once had with

1523
01:33:12,040 --> 01:33:15,000
Speaker 38: everything that grows here in what you now call the

1524
01:33:15,040 --> 01:33:17,840
Speaker 38: state of Georgia, because no matter who we are and

1525
01:33:17,880 --> 01:33:20,559
Speaker 38: where we come from, we have to have air, we

1526
01:33:20,640 --> 01:33:22,960
Speaker 38: have to have water, we have to have the elements

1527
01:33:22,960 --> 01:33:24,400
Speaker 38: of this earth to take care of us.

1528
01:33:24,640 --> 01:33:26,400
Speaker 3: Regardless of what we think.

1529
01:33:27,280 --> 01:33:30,280
Speaker 38: We're dependent on this earth Mother, and she has been

1530
01:33:30,280 --> 01:33:33,200
Speaker 38: faithful in taking care of us. It's us that has

1531
01:33:33,240 --> 01:33:37,120
Speaker 38: not been faithful and respecting her. Our hope is that

1532
01:33:37,160 --> 01:33:40,439
Speaker 38: this earth is not destroyed before we even have a

1533
01:33:40,560 --> 01:33:44,400
Speaker 38: chance to come back, that lives aren't destroyed before we

1534
01:33:44,479 --> 01:33:47,880
Speaker 38: have a chance to come back. So today, in whatever way,

1535
01:33:47,920 --> 01:33:50,960
Speaker 38: I come here to join the choruses of voices that

1536
01:33:51,000 --> 01:33:54,280
Speaker 38: you hear all around you saying what is going on

1537
01:33:54,439 --> 01:33:59,240
Speaker 38: now is a violence against all of creation? What is

1538
01:33:59,280 --> 01:34:03,000
Speaker 38: going on now bringing death and harm and hurt is

1539
01:34:03,040 --> 01:34:06,640
Speaker 38: a violence against all of creation. And we stand in

1540
01:34:06,680 --> 01:34:10,760
Speaker 38: solidarity as Muskogie people. I stand in solidarity with the

1541
01:34:10,840 --> 01:34:14,040
Speaker 38: voices that we hear of those tenants, those persons who

1542
01:34:14,080 --> 01:34:17,559
Speaker 38: live in the land now. But my hope is now,

1543
01:34:17,600 --> 01:34:22,080
Speaker 38: at this moment in time, that somehow we can change

1544
01:34:22,200 --> 01:34:27,080
Speaker 38: the trajectory of our species and go into a direction

1545
01:34:27,680 --> 01:34:31,080
Speaker 38: where we can value each other, and we can stop

1546
01:34:31,120 --> 01:34:35,200
Speaker 38: the criminalizing of descent. We should be able to say no,

1547
01:34:36,400 --> 01:34:39,280
Speaker 38: the increasing of the militarized forces out there does not

1548
01:34:39,320 --> 01:34:44,599
Speaker 38: ever create peace. It only creates harm, and it only

1549
01:34:44,680 --> 01:34:46,440
Speaker 38: harms those that are most vulnerable.

1550
01:34:47,680 --> 01:34:49,160
Speaker 3: That's the prayer that I carry today.

1551
01:34:49,720 --> 01:34:53,200
Speaker 1: Reverend Darcy Jarrett joined in the call for a stewardship

1552
01:34:53,240 --> 01:34:56,719
Speaker 1: of the Wallani Forest to be returned to the Muscogee people.

1553
01:34:57,320 --> 01:35:03,600
Speaker 34: City Schools of Decatur has a of solidarity an acknowledgment

1554
01:35:03,640 --> 01:35:07,280
Speaker 34: of harms to cab County and the City of Atlanta.

1555
01:35:07,320 --> 01:35:10,479
Speaker 34: We call on you to make good on these words,

1556
01:35:10,840 --> 01:35:14,639
Speaker 34: to give the land back to our indigenous siblings, so

1557
01:35:14,680 --> 01:35:17,640
Speaker 34: that they, as they have stated and will do and

1558
01:35:17,800 --> 01:35:21,320
Speaker 34: always have done, work in collaboration with the black and

1559
01:35:21,360 --> 01:35:26,400
Speaker 34: brown community right there near where the site is outside

1560
01:35:26,400 --> 01:35:30,320
Speaker 34: of the Wilawni Forest. The City of Atlanta is ready

1561
01:35:30,320 --> 01:35:34,960
Speaker 34: to lease this land at just ten dollars an acre. Instead,

1562
01:35:35,320 --> 01:35:40,080
Speaker 34: give this land to the native inhabitants. Repatriate this land

1563
01:35:40,200 --> 01:35:43,519
Speaker 34: to the people to whom is their sacred call, to

1564
01:35:43,640 --> 01:35:47,320
Speaker 34: defend and work in community with the black and brown

1565
01:35:47,360 --> 01:35:53,080
Speaker 34: communities that are there. We call on you, Atlanta City Council,

1566
01:35:53,560 --> 01:35:57,839
Speaker 34: to be the moral compass and to not just halt

1567
01:35:57,960 --> 01:36:02,280
Speaker 34: the building of this structure, but to repatriate the land

1568
01:36:03,000 --> 01:36:07,920
Speaker 34: to the sovereign Muskogee Nation, the sacred keepers of this land.

1569
01:36:08,960 --> 01:36:10,599
Speaker 34: May it be so amen.

1570
01:36:11,560 --> 01:36:15,960
Speaker 1: Finally, Matthew Johnson spoke about the worrying amount of police

1571
01:36:16,000 --> 01:36:19,400
Speaker 1: repression and violence the movement has already seen.

1572
01:36:20,000 --> 01:36:22,400
Speaker 18: We're projecting by the end of the day, there will

1573
01:36:22,439 --> 01:36:27,240
Speaker 18: be forty people that have domestic terrorism charges, many of

1574
01:36:27,280 --> 01:36:31,200
Speaker 18: which just for being in a parking lot. I don't

1575
01:36:31,240 --> 01:36:34,280
Speaker 18: know how anybody can accept this when you have a

1576
01:36:34,360 --> 01:36:37,720
Speaker 18: projected forty people that are committed of domestic terrorism, not

1577
01:36:37,880 --> 01:36:42,320
Speaker 18: one dead body. Meanwhile, we can't even show the bruise

1578
01:36:43,560 --> 01:36:46,600
Speaker 18: on the police officer that was allegedly shut at but

1579
01:36:46,720 --> 01:36:52,400
Speaker 18: our friend's ashes. We have the ashes of a friend

1580
01:36:52,479 --> 01:36:55,559
Speaker 18: that we will spread. We can no longer accept this

1581
01:36:55,640 --> 01:36:59,679
Speaker 18: as a people as at lanterns. If we can't figure

1582
01:36:59,720 --> 01:37:04,439
Speaker 18: out away to fix public safety without lacking tons of

1583
01:37:04,520 --> 01:37:07,960
Speaker 18: black kids up in the blackest city in America, every

1584
01:37:08,040 --> 01:37:10,599
Speaker 18: person in that build that needs to step down. If

1585
01:37:10,640 --> 01:37:12,759
Speaker 18: we can't do it here, we can't do it anywhere.

1586
01:37:14,080 --> 01:37:17,719
Speaker 1: Both myself and Matt from the Atlanta Community Press Collective

1587
01:37:18,080 --> 01:37:20,759
Speaker 1: were at the press conference and we met up after

1588
01:37:20,880 --> 01:37:24,599
Speaker 1: to discuss the events of the day. During the press conference,

1589
01:37:25,600 --> 01:37:28,040
Speaker 1: some of the media's line of questioning was very much

1590
01:37:28,080 --> 01:37:30,760
Speaker 1: like aligned with the types of narratives being put out

1591
01:37:30,760 --> 01:37:33,160
Speaker 1: by police in relation to the events that previous night,

1592
01:37:33,320 --> 01:37:37,080
Speaker 1: the Sunday Direct Action and Music Festival. I think it's

1593
01:37:37,280 --> 01:37:39,760
Speaker 1: also worth noting that the people at the clergy event

1594
01:37:39,840 --> 01:37:44,040
Speaker 1: did not openly like demonize the actions that people chose

1595
01:37:44,080 --> 01:37:47,400
Speaker 1: to take on Sunday, And it was very much like

1596
01:37:48,120 --> 01:37:50,400
Speaker 1: the media definitely gave them opportunities to try to throw

1597
01:37:50,400 --> 01:37:52,840
Speaker 1: people under the bus and that did not happen.

1598
01:37:53,240 --> 01:37:56,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we've seen that all throughout the week. Every

1599
01:37:56,960 --> 01:37:59,240
Speaker 2: chance that the media is trying to throw somebody to

1600
01:37:59,360 --> 01:38:04,040
Speaker 2: like call cause dissension or a divide, amongst the movement

1601
01:38:04,600 --> 01:38:09,360
Speaker 2: has been really handily deflected by anyone who's come across it,

1602
01:38:10,400 --> 01:38:14,639
Speaker 2: and the clergy did not just a good job of

1603
01:38:14,720 --> 01:38:17,960
Speaker 2: like not falling into that trap, but of actually pointing

1604
01:38:18,000 --> 01:38:22,080
Speaker 2: out how that line of thinking was like missing the

1605
01:38:22,120 --> 01:38:25,640
Speaker 2: point and where the true violence was coming from this.

1606
01:38:27,680 --> 01:38:31,519
Speaker 39: And so why are there a majority of people engaging

1607
01:38:31,600 --> 01:38:33,439
Speaker 39: some funds coming from other states.

1608
01:38:34,000 --> 01:38:35,840
Speaker 36: The reality of it is that the ones who are

1609
01:38:35,840 --> 01:38:38,200
Speaker 36: engaging in violence are the police, and they're from right

1610
01:38:38,240 --> 01:38:42,479
Speaker 36: here in Atlanta, Georgia. You got APD, you got Georgia

1611
01:38:42,479 --> 01:38:46,040
Speaker 36: State Police, you got GBI, you got Georgia State troopers,

1612
01:38:46,080 --> 01:38:49,320
Speaker 36: you got everybody except the mart of police who are

1613
01:38:49,360 --> 01:38:53,880
Speaker 36: engaging in violence and terrorism against the people who are

1614
01:38:53,920 --> 01:38:58,280
Speaker 36: standing against this illegal land swap. So I would suggest

1615
01:38:58,600 --> 01:39:01,439
Speaker 36: that the next time you decide that you are going

1616
01:39:01,479 --> 01:39:04,400
Speaker 36: to bring up your police rhetoric that you get from

1617
01:39:04,439 --> 01:39:07,880
Speaker 36: whichever police source, you go ahead and discuss that with them.

1618
01:39:07,960 --> 01:39:10,200
Speaker 13: Because we don't know what they're doing.

1619
01:39:10,240 --> 01:39:12,200
Speaker 36: But what we do know is what we're doing and

1620
01:39:12,240 --> 01:39:15,240
Speaker 36: what we see from them that we know. I know

1621
01:39:15,320 --> 01:39:17,800
Speaker 36: when I get hit by an officer. I know when

1622
01:39:17,800 --> 01:39:19,960
Speaker 36: I see a mother with a child begging to be

1623
01:39:20,040 --> 01:39:22,400
Speaker 36: let up off the ground because her children are with her.

1624
01:39:22,640 --> 01:39:25,280
Speaker 36: I know when I see officers pointing a rifle inside

1625
01:39:25,280 --> 01:39:26,240
Speaker 36: a bouncy house.

1626
01:39:26,680 --> 01:39:29,519
Speaker 18: If I could just say, I'd like to just bring

1627
01:39:29,600 --> 01:39:35,840
Speaker 18: up a story. Initially, the colonizers that came onto this

1628
01:39:35,960 --> 01:39:42,879
Speaker 18: land attempted to use the indigenous folks as their slaves. However,

1629
01:39:43,320 --> 01:39:48,439
Speaker 18: the indigenous folks knew the land so they could get away. Now,

1630
01:39:48,479 --> 01:39:51,160
Speaker 18: when you ask me about why is it that you

1631
01:39:51,240 --> 01:39:54,720
Speaker 18: keep catching people that aren't from here that might not

1632
01:39:54,880 --> 01:39:58,880
Speaker 18: reflect the people that are actually involved in the resistance.

1633
01:39:59,200 --> 01:40:00,479
Speaker 8: God, bless you, thank you.

1634
01:40:00,920 --> 01:40:04,559
Speaker 1: After the press conference, people from the Clergy Coalition marched

1635
01:40:04,600 --> 01:40:07,960
Speaker 1: to the front door and entered City Hall before making

1636
01:40:08,000 --> 01:40:11,000
Speaker 1: it upstairs to sign up for public comment during the

1637
01:40:11,080 --> 01:40:12,040
Speaker 1: city council meeting.

1638
01:40:13,200 --> 01:40:21,920
Speaker 33: Hie, we shall not be moved. Fine for read now,

1639
01:40:22,760 --> 01:40:24,599
Speaker 33: we shall not be moved.

1640
01:40:24,880 --> 01:40:34,240
Speaker 20: Just like the street collided by the wall, We shall not.

1641
01:40:38,120 --> 01:40:41,160
Speaker 1: The large group of the clergy and the people gathered

1642
01:40:41,400 --> 01:40:43,960
Speaker 1: for the interfaith Coalition are now moving through City Hall.

1643
01:40:44,479 --> 01:40:47,000
Speaker 1: There's a whole bunch of cops here that looks relatively

1644
01:40:47,040 --> 01:40:53,479
Speaker 1: nervous about the easily sized group of people. The scary

1645
01:40:53,560 --> 01:40:55,479
Speaker 1: Christians are now invading City Hall lookout.

1646
01:40:56,520 --> 01:40:58,719
Speaker 2: So usually in city Hall there there are several APD

1647
01:40:58,840 --> 01:41:01,559
Speaker 2: officers who you know, just kind of hang out. But

1648
01:41:01,680 --> 01:41:04,640
Speaker 2: while the clergy are walking up to city Hall, you

1649
01:41:04,680 --> 01:41:07,679
Speaker 2: can look out and there is APD on every corner.

1650
01:41:07,880 --> 01:41:10,960
Speaker 2: And then you enter into city Hall and there are

1651
01:41:11,080 --> 01:41:14,320
Speaker 2: clusters of APD. There are I think four floors to

1652
01:41:14,320 --> 01:41:17,839
Speaker 2: City Hall. There are clusters of APD on three sides

1653
01:41:18,000 --> 01:41:19,920
Speaker 2: of every floor of City Hall.

1654
01:41:20,280 --> 01:41:25,519
Speaker 1: After an unexpectedly long awards and proclamations ceremony, the public

1655
01:41:25,560 --> 01:41:28,360
Speaker 1: comment section of the city council meeting finally began.

1656
01:41:29,439 --> 01:41:33,080
Speaker 37: I'm standing here today with the Faith Coalition.

1657
01:41:33,840 --> 01:41:35,519
Speaker 13: We are clergy and faith leaders.

1658
01:41:37,040 --> 01:41:42,000
Speaker 37: We are citizens, and we are protectors of the land

1659
01:41:42,000 --> 01:41:45,920
Speaker 37: that doesn't belong to us, but belongs to God. We

1660
01:41:45,960 --> 01:41:49,800
Speaker 37: are deeply concerned for our community members, for ourselves, and

1661
01:41:49,840 --> 01:41:53,040
Speaker 37: the implications for the future of public safety in the

1662
01:41:53,160 --> 01:41:57,920
Speaker 37: United States if this cop city development goes forward. We

1663
01:41:57,960 --> 01:42:01,040
Speaker 37: are asking for all people of faith, those of you

1664
01:42:01,400 --> 01:42:05,160
Speaker 37: who sit on council, regardless of your tradition or background,

1665
01:42:05,360 --> 01:42:10,559
Speaker 37: and those who stand with moral conscience, to stop the

1666
01:42:10,640 --> 01:42:15,639
Speaker 37: cop city project. My faith convicts me and tells all

1667
01:42:15,680 --> 01:42:18,160
Speaker 37: of us that there is a better way. We have

1668
01:42:18,200 --> 01:42:22,599
Speaker 37: a prophetic, moral imagination and opportunity here to do something

1669
01:42:22,640 --> 01:42:27,599
Speaker 37: different in Atlanta, to do something different for the South. Finally,

1670
01:42:27,640 --> 01:42:29,879
Speaker 37: we're asking for a community process.

1671
01:42:29,960 --> 01:42:31,480
Speaker 13: A community process.

1672
01:42:33,080 --> 01:42:35,960
Speaker 37: Let us come together with moral imagination to envision how

1673
01:42:36,000 --> 01:42:39,439
Speaker 37: the Wilani River forests can be the heart and lungs

1674
01:42:39,479 --> 01:42:44,360
Speaker 37: of community wellness and healing, not more militarization of police.

1675
01:42:45,040 --> 01:42:47,280
Speaker 37: We want a process that centers the voice and needs

1676
01:42:47,280 --> 01:42:52,360
Speaker 37: of Muskokee leaders and community members, our Indigenous siblings, incarcerated

1677
01:42:52,360 --> 01:42:55,760
Speaker 37: folks and surrounding prisons, families and neighbors who live in

1678
01:42:55,760 --> 01:42:59,440
Speaker 37: cross proximity to the firing range and under police surveillance.

1679
01:42:59,640 --> 01:43:01,679
Speaker 13: We want holistic.

1680
01:43:01,080 --> 01:43:05,719
Speaker 37: Community safety, clean water, tree canopies, a future for every

1681
01:43:05,800 --> 01:43:11,759
Speaker 37: single one of our children. May it be so.

1682
01:43:10,080 --> 01:43:14,160
Speaker 1: Someone from the Muscogee Creek Reservation in Oklahoma spoke about

1683
01:43:14,240 --> 01:43:16,320
Speaker 1: the desire to return to their homeland.

1684
01:43:16,920 --> 01:43:21,559
Speaker 40: The Miko of our Hellbi ceremonial grounds back home in

1685
01:43:21,560 --> 01:43:25,080
Speaker 40: Oklahoma has come here where our original fire was started,

1686
01:43:25,400 --> 01:43:28,040
Speaker 40: and then it was taken all the way to Oklahoma,

1687
01:43:28,680 --> 01:43:30,240
Speaker 40: and now we want to bring it back to our

1688
01:43:30,320 --> 01:43:34,160
Speaker 40: land and we want to start those fires again. Well,

1689
01:43:34,360 --> 01:43:36,200
Speaker 40: when we come back. We need a land to come

1690
01:43:36,240 --> 01:43:39,000
Speaker 40: back to. This is my first time coming back to

1691
01:43:39,080 --> 01:43:42,240
Speaker 40: visit my homelands. I wanted to visit here where my

1692
01:43:42,400 --> 01:43:46,519
Speaker 40: ancestors are, as a spiritual and personal journey. I didn't

1693
01:43:46,560 --> 01:43:49,320
Speaker 40: want to come here to try to fight the violence

1694
01:43:49,360 --> 01:43:53,160
Speaker 40: that I'm hearing. What I'm hearing is from the residence

1695
01:43:53,240 --> 01:43:58,120
Speaker 40: is they need investments in housing and public spaces, and

1696
01:43:58,200 --> 01:44:02,600
Speaker 40: not investment in further melody tries policing. They want investment

1697
01:44:02,640 --> 01:44:08,280
Speaker 40: in the well being of incarcerated and not further violent incarceration,

1698
01:44:08,439 --> 01:44:11,200
Speaker 40: but the well being of the community members. Thank you,

1699
01:44:11,240 --> 01:44:12,920
Speaker 40: Moto Chichatis.

1700
01:44:13,840 --> 01:44:18,080
Speaker 15: I turned seventy last week and I've lived in Atlanta

1701
01:44:18,160 --> 01:44:22,320
Speaker 15: my whole life. I'm not an outsider, and I am

1702
01:44:22,360 --> 01:44:25,240
Speaker 15: here to say to you that I find cop City

1703
01:44:25,320 --> 01:44:30,000
Speaker 15: to be an abomination. My husband is a pastor of

1704
01:44:30,040 --> 01:44:32,040
Speaker 15: a church a couple of miles from here, and he

1705
01:44:32,080 --> 01:44:34,880
Speaker 15: could not be here today. He's out of town, but

1706
01:44:35,000 --> 01:44:38,360
Speaker 15: he stands with me with these comments. But people who

1707
01:44:38,360 --> 01:44:41,240
Speaker 15: have spoken before me have said the things I would say.

1708
01:44:41,280 --> 01:44:43,160
Speaker 15: But I would like to say that I pretty much

1709
01:44:43,200 --> 01:44:47,080
Speaker 15: agree with every single thing they have said about this

1710
01:44:47,479 --> 01:44:53,760
Speaker 15: insanity that you all are calling a police safety training facility.

1711
01:44:54,880 --> 01:44:57,960
Speaker 15: So I think you need to just cancel it, start

1712
01:44:58,040 --> 01:45:01,120
Speaker 15: having some real conversations with the people of this city

1713
01:45:01,760 --> 01:45:04,679
Speaker 15: to solve the real problems in a way that will

1714
01:45:04,720 --> 01:45:07,439
Speaker 15: actually be effective. And this facility is not going to

1715
01:45:07,479 --> 01:45:11,479
Speaker 15: be it. And the mayor's proposed task force is just

1716
01:45:11,720 --> 01:45:15,000
Speaker 15: one more way to try to propagandize us to believe

1717
01:45:15,040 --> 01:45:17,719
Speaker 15: that this is good for us, when we're not stupid

1718
01:45:17,920 --> 01:45:19,920
Speaker 15: and we know it's just lipstick on a pig.

1719
01:45:20,320 --> 01:45:23,439
Speaker 36: And if you heart in your heart, be reminded of

1720
01:45:23,479 --> 01:45:27,160
Speaker 36: the story of another pharaoh who had a very hard heart,

1721
01:45:27,760 --> 01:45:30,320
Speaker 36: who would not free the people of God, who would

1722
01:45:30,360 --> 01:45:33,559
Speaker 36: not lead them to their land. You know what happened

1723
01:45:33,560 --> 01:45:36,400
Speaker 36: in that story. Don't think that you will not suffer

1724
01:45:36,479 --> 01:45:39,640
Speaker 36: the same fate. Don't think that the infrastructure of this

1725
01:45:39,760 --> 01:45:43,360
Speaker 36: so called Black Mecca will not come toppling over, because

1726
01:45:43,400 --> 01:45:43,920
Speaker 36: it will.

1727
01:45:44,479 --> 01:45:47,320
Speaker 2: There are a couple like things to note about how

1728
01:45:47,439 --> 01:45:50,680
Speaker 2: City Council public comment works. City Council doesn't tend to

1729
01:45:50,680 --> 01:45:55,200
Speaker 2: pay attention to them. Essensibly, the only one who pays

1730
01:45:55,200 --> 01:45:58,120
Speaker 2: attention is City Council President Doug Shipman, because it is

1731
01:45:58,160 --> 01:45:59,760
Speaker 2: his job to call time and to call up the

1732
01:45:59,760 --> 01:46:03,080
Speaker 2: next person. But you know, city councilors will like step

1733
01:46:03,120 --> 01:46:05,080
Speaker 2: in and out of the room, get something to eat.

1734
01:46:06,040 --> 01:46:08,240
Speaker 2: During the seventeen hours of public comment for cop City,

1735
01:46:08,320 --> 01:46:10,320
Speaker 2: like one of them held a press conference.

1736
01:46:10,560 --> 01:46:13,880
Speaker 1: There are two council members notoriously bad at paying attention

1737
01:46:14,040 --> 01:46:17,639
Speaker 1: to public comment. Dustin Hillis who is the committee chair

1738
01:46:17,960 --> 01:46:21,840
Speaker 1: for the Public Safety Legal Administration Committee. Basically he's in

1739
01:46:21,920 --> 01:46:25,400
Speaker 1: charge of police. And the other is Mary Norwood, who

1740
01:46:25,439 --> 01:46:29,880
Speaker 1: represents Buckhead and has what I would describe as ontologically

1741
01:46:29,960 --> 01:46:34,439
Speaker 1: evil vibes. Buckheed is the northern, primarily white neighborhood in

1742
01:46:34,479 --> 01:46:38,120
Speaker 1: Atlanta that is wanted to secede from the city, which

1743
01:46:38,320 --> 01:46:43,559
Speaker 1: in Atlanta has very uncomfortable segregation and redlining parallels. But

1744
01:46:43,800 --> 01:46:47,920
Speaker 1: despite not paying attention during public comment, these two in particular,

1745
01:46:48,200 --> 01:46:52,280
Speaker 1: both paid extra attention after public comment when Police Chief

1746
01:46:52,400 --> 01:46:57,240
Speaker 1: Darren Sheerbaum gave testimony on what happened the night previous, Where.

1747
01:46:57,120 --> 01:47:03,200
Speaker 41: There any firefighter or police city employee entries yesterday's event.

1748
01:47:03,439 --> 01:47:06,160
Speaker 30: Because memory there was not. We're very fortunate that that

1749
01:47:06,320 --> 01:47:08,679
Speaker 30: was the outcome. We're fortunate that there was no injuries.

1750
01:47:09,200 --> 01:47:14,360
Speaker 41: If this continues, do we have the ability to deploy

1751
01:47:14,560 --> 01:47:20,559
Speaker 41: even greater force to quill this. You know, the millions

1752
01:47:20,560 --> 01:47:23,920
Speaker 41: of damage, millions of dollars of damage to public and

1753
01:47:23,960 --> 01:47:24,840
Speaker 41: private properties.

1754
01:47:25,800 --> 01:47:29,680
Speaker 30: We will make adjustments as those that used various tactics.

1755
01:47:30,479 --> 01:47:31,959
Speaker 29: Yesterday was an escalation.

1756
01:47:32,320 --> 01:47:35,240
Speaker 30: We had not seen this large number of individuals engaged

1757
01:47:35,240 --> 01:47:38,120
Speaker 30: in this activity, and the aggressive manner in which the

1758
01:47:38,200 --> 01:47:41,840
Speaker 30: officers were attacked was a significant change from what we

1759
01:47:41,880 --> 01:47:44,679
Speaker 30: had seen before when it generally had been setting property

1760
01:47:44,680 --> 01:47:46,720
Speaker 30: on fire. We'd seen police cars set on fire, win

1761
01:47:46,800 --> 01:47:49,360
Speaker 30: those buses, but this was started as an attack against individuals,

1762
01:47:49,560 --> 01:47:51,840
Speaker 30: men and women who are employees of this city, So

1763
01:47:51,880 --> 01:47:54,160
Speaker 30: that was an escalation. Council Member hillis that we have

1764
01:47:54,200 --> 01:47:57,599
Speaker 30: already made adjustments for both within our capability as well

1765
01:47:57,600 --> 01:47:59,840
Speaker 30: as with our partners through out to Sheerbombs.

1766
01:47:59,880 --> 01:48:02,920
Speaker 1: To testimony, it was interesting the degree to which the

1767
01:48:03,000 --> 01:48:08,080
Speaker 1: Chief framed Sunday's direct action as primarily being targeted against

1768
01:48:08,080 --> 01:48:12,479
Speaker 1: officers and not the destruction of equipment and machinery at

1769
01:48:12,479 --> 01:48:16,919
Speaker 1: the North Gate. From the videos that APD themselves released

1770
01:48:16,960 --> 01:48:20,519
Speaker 1: of the incident, it's clear that engagement with the police

1771
01:48:20,600 --> 01:48:24,400
Speaker 1: was limited to keeping officers at bay as construction equipment

1772
01:48:24,520 --> 01:48:28,640
Speaker 1: was targeted, and despite the continued referring of fireworks as

1773
01:48:28,760 --> 01:48:33,400
Speaker 1: quote unquote mortars or explosives, as the chief himself admitted,

1774
01:48:33,640 --> 01:48:39,200
Speaker 1: no officers were harmed during the direct action. In a

1775
01:48:39,280 --> 01:48:43,120
Speaker 1: later episode, we'll hear more of Chief Sheerbaum's explanation of

1776
01:48:43,160 --> 01:48:46,960
Speaker 1: Sunday nights events, as it gives insight into the police's

1777
01:48:47,000 --> 01:48:50,840
Speaker 1: own surveillance capabilities and their ability to respond quickly to

1778
01:48:51,000 --> 01:48:55,400
Speaker 1: direct actions. But until then, back to the events of Monday,

1779
01:48:55,479 --> 01:48:59,559
Speaker 1: March sixth. After the city council meeting, I dressed up

1780
01:48:59,600 --> 01:49:01,559
Speaker 1: in the gayest little outfit that I had with me

1781
01:49:01,960 --> 01:49:04,519
Speaker 1: and went back to the woods for the first time

1782
01:49:04,680 --> 01:49:09,280
Speaker 1: since Sunday Night for Perhum. Initially, people were very cautious

1783
01:49:09,360 --> 01:49:12,519
Speaker 1: when entering the woods again, but as the night went on,

1784
01:49:13,000 --> 01:49:15,320
Speaker 1: more and more people started to pour into the forest,

1785
01:49:15,640 --> 01:49:19,160
Speaker 1: with some choosing to return to their camp. Later that night,

1786
01:49:19,240 --> 01:49:22,000
Speaker 1: I enjoyed an experimental noise show in the living room,

1787
01:49:22,120 --> 01:49:25,040
Speaker 1: probably to the detriment of people trying to sleep in

1788
01:49:25,120 --> 01:49:28,000
Speaker 1: the area. I went to the Perham in the woods.

1789
01:49:28,080 --> 01:49:33,439
Speaker 1: I got to share my memory of the Veggietail's esther

1790
01:49:33,640 --> 01:49:36,920
Speaker 1: story starring the Tickle Monsters. I got to bond with

1791
01:49:37,000 --> 01:49:39,760
Speaker 1: a few expangelicals about that, So that was fine. Then

1792
01:49:39,760 --> 01:49:42,880
Speaker 1: there was an experimental noise show in the forest, and

1793
01:49:43,320 --> 01:49:45,200
Speaker 1: really I think it actually is worth talking about because

1794
01:49:45,200 --> 01:49:46,000
Speaker 1: this was the first time.

1795
01:49:45,880 --> 01:49:48,360
Speaker 10: People returned to the forest. Yeah, this was the.

1796
01:49:48,280 --> 01:49:50,640
Speaker 1: First time that people like returned to the forest in

1797
01:49:50,800 --> 01:49:53,760
Speaker 1: mass since Sunday, and he started to kind of feel

1798
01:49:53,760 --> 01:49:57,439
Speaker 1: people's energy get reinvigorated. The woods became a place again

1799
01:49:57,560 --> 01:50:00,160
Speaker 1: that people were able to like be in and like

1800
01:50:00,160 --> 01:50:03,719
Speaker 1: they were able to be in community in the woods again.

1801
01:50:03,800 --> 01:50:06,040
Speaker 2: And that is in keeping with sort of how this

1802
01:50:06,080 --> 01:50:09,960
Speaker 2: movement is always responded to what we I guess could

1803
01:50:10,040 --> 01:50:11,120
Speaker 2: call a loss, right.

1804
01:50:11,080 --> 01:50:14,720
Speaker 1: Like twenty three people getting arrested in charged is is

1805
01:50:14,760 --> 01:50:15,479
Speaker 1: a great loss.

1806
01:50:15,600 --> 01:50:18,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the bounce back period is pretty quick. Like

1807
01:50:18,760 --> 01:50:23,479
Speaker 2: the resiliency is continual and always strengthening every time that,

1808
01:50:23,720 --> 01:50:26,240
Speaker 2: you know, the repression grows, like it does seem like

1809
01:50:26,520 --> 01:50:27,840
Speaker 2: the resiliency grows with it.

1810
01:50:28,080 --> 01:50:30,960
Speaker 1: People were not scared away from the woods. People still

1811
01:50:31,120 --> 01:50:33,160
Speaker 1: still were like, no, this is something I care about.

1812
01:50:33,200 --> 01:50:34,960
Speaker 1: I am still going to be in the woods. I'm

1813
01:50:35,000 --> 01:50:38,120
Speaker 1: still going to defend these woods. And you kind of

1814
01:50:38,160 --> 01:50:42,000
Speaker 1: have like there's always this essence of like fear kind

1815
01:50:42,040 --> 01:50:45,719
Speaker 1: of kind of underlying whenever you're like in the Wollani forest,

1816
01:50:45,720 --> 01:50:48,280
Speaker 1: because you know, people have been arrested and charged for

1817
01:50:48,960 --> 01:50:52,800
Speaker 1: laying in a hammock like that with another defendant, with

1818
01:50:52,840 --> 01:50:56,800
Speaker 1: another defendant, and like, so you know that it is

1819
01:50:56,880 --> 01:50:59,559
Speaker 1: it is fundamentally a risky place to be, but people

1820
01:51:00,120 --> 01:51:03,439
Speaker 1: think the potential cost is worth it, Like they will

1821
01:51:03,479 --> 01:51:06,240
Speaker 1: they continue to be here because they know this is

1822
01:51:06,280 --> 01:51:08,639
Speaker 1: a winnable fight and they know that it is worth

1823
01:51:08,680 --> 01:51:12,240
Speaker 1: it to defend these woods. Early Tuesday morning, a few

1824
01:51:12,320 --> 01:51:16,479
Speaker 1: stop Coop City banner drops happened throughout the city. Two

1825
01:51:16,479 --> 01:51:19,479
Speaker 1: people were detained by police during one of these banner drops,

1826
01:51:19,800 --> 01:51:23,160
Speaker 1: but were later released with a traffic citation after being

1827
01:51:23,160 --> 01:51:27,519
Speaker 1: interrogated separately and extensively photographed by law enforcement officials only

1828
01:51:27,520 --> 01:51:33,320
Speaker 1: identified as quote Georgia Police and Homeland Security unquote. Tuesday

1829
01:51:33,479 --> 01:51:35,840
Speaker 1: was the start of a series of non violent direct

1830
01:51:35,880 --> 01:51:41,360
Speaker 1: actions that were being launched around downtown and midtown. Tuesday morning,

1831
01:51:41,400 --> 01:51:44,120
Speaker 1: I followed a small group that went to the headquarters

1832
01:51:44,160 --> 01:51:47,599
Speaker 1: of Norfolk Southern, one of the Atlanta Police Foundation's financial

1833
01:51:47,600 --> 01:51:50,760
Speaker 1: contributors and noted enemy of Ohio.

1834
01:51:51,439 --> 01:51:54,760
Speaker 2: They entered the lobby and it's a very small group,

1835
01:51:54,800 --> 01:51:56,240
Speaker 2: but like I think half of it was.

1836
01:51:56,360 --> 01:51:59,880
Speaker 1: It was like five people and another five like press people.

1837
01:52:00,080 --> 01:52:00,320
Speaker 8: Yeah.

1838
01:52:00,360 --> 01:52:02,960
Speaker 2: So they enter and they read aloud a letter to

1839
01:52:03,120 --> 01:52:06,519
Speaker 2: Alan Shaw, the CEO of Norfolk Southern, calling forward investment

1840
01:52:07,560 --> 01:52:11,360
Speaker 2: from of Norfolk Southern from copsody, and immediately they are

1841
01:52:11,400 --> 01:52:15,840
Speaker 2: met with uh a security guard screaming like go you

1842
01:52:15,880 --> 01:52:18,639
Speaker 2: get out of the hobby. You're you're being criminally trust

1843
01:52:18,920 --> 01:52:21,559
Speaker 2: you're being trespassed. You have to leave. One of the

1844
01:52:21,600 --> 01:52:25,000
Speaker 2: other security guards runs around with cell phone camera and

1845
01:52:25,040 --> 01:52:29,120
Speaker 2: like shoves it in everybody's faces, reaching rather rudely over

1846
01:52:29,160 --> 01:52:31,120
Speaker 2: you to get my face, and.

1847
01:52:31,120 --> 01:52:39,360
Speaker 1: They got very close to me entering the Norfolk Southern building.

1848
01:52:39,800 --> 01:52:43,479
Speaker 23: Please this letter.

1849
01:52:49,760 --> 01:53:00,520
Speaker 33: Explaining a horrible role in the city, can you please?

1850
01:53:03,760 --> 01:53:06,559
Speaker 2: And so the whole thing lasts like less than five minutes,

1851
01:53:06,560 --> 01:53:09,280
Speaker 2: maybe ride about five minutes when they finished reading the letter,

1852
01:53:09,360 --> 01:53:11,840
Speaker 2: Like all they asked was that the letter go to

1853
01:53:11,920 --> 01:53:12,679
Speaker 2: the CEO.

1854
01:53:12,960 --> 01:53:13,160
Speaker 8: YEP.

1855
01:53:13,600 --> 01:53:17,879
Speaker 1: While people were inside the headquarters, security called ns Police,

1856
01:53:18,040 --> 01:53:21,920
Speaker 1: which is the Norfolk Southern Police, who are legally allowed

1857
01:53:21,960 --> 01:53:28,600
Speaker 1: to arrest people.

1858
01:53:28,880 --> 01:53:30,799
Speaker 20: Anyone you can see.

1859
01:53:32,439 --> 01:53:33,080
Speaker 5: For your building.

1860
01:53:33,400 --> 01:53:35,800
Speaker 2: But nobody was arrested at that non violent direct action.

1861
01:53:36,400 --> 01:53:38,760
Speaker 2: The whole thing was over pretty quickly, and you know,

1862
01:53:38,800 --> 01:53:41,640
Speaker 2: as we were walking out, we saw like the the

1863
01:53:42,840 --> 01:53:45,640
Speaker 2: a force of Norfolk Southern Police like swarm kind of

1864
01:53:45,720 --> 01:53:47,760
Speaker 2: the exterior of the campus and like keep an eye

1865
01:53:47,800 --> 01:53:48,400
Speaker 2: out on things.

1866
01:53:48,640 --> 01:53:50,680
Speaker 1: And then we moved over to Woodriff Park, which was

1867
01:53:50,760 --> 01:53:54,200
Speaker 1: the meeting place for these non violent direct actions that

1868
01:53:54,240 --> 01:53:57,800
Speaker 1: happened about every every day at noon starting on starting

1869
01:53:57,840 --> 01:54:01,880
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. It's Tuesday, March seventh, around noon, there's about

1870
01:54:01,880 --> 01:54:05,040
Speaker 1: fifty or so people gathered in Woodriff Park who are

1871
01:54:05,040 --> 01:54:09,240
Speaker 1: heading out and marching to go stop by two of

1872
01:54:09,280 --> 01:54:12,040
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Police Foundation corporate funders.

1873
01:54:12,560 --> 01:54:15,240
Speaker 2: We roll up and I think at that point they

1874
01:54:15,240 --> 01:54:16,920
Speaker 2: were like twenty ish protesters.

1875
01:54:16,960 --> 01:54:17,120
Speaker 14: It was.

1876
01:54:17,240 --> 01:54:19,479
Speaker 2: It started off very small. There was no police, like

1877
01:54:19,560 --> 01:54:21,760
Speaker 2: no real visible police presence. They were like maybe a

1878
01:54:21,760 --> 01:54:25,519
Speaker 2: cruiser or two like kind of around and actually start

1879
01:54:25,520 --> 01:54:27,519
Speaker 2: to gather and kind of talk about like what their

1880
01:54:27,560 --> 01:54:30,800
Speaker 2: plan is for the day, which was just to march

1881
01:54:30,880 --> 01:54:33,440
Speaker 2: around to three different sites. They wanted the EIGHTE and

1882
01:54:33,480 --> 01:54:44,240
Speaker 2: T Building, the Georgia Pacific Building, and GSU Georgia State University.

1883
01:54:44,080 --> 01:54:47,560
Speaker 1: They are they are now leaving Woodriff Park. They got

1884
01:54:47,640 --> 01:54:50,600
Speaker 1: to Georgia Pacific, one of the cop City financial backers.

1885
01:54:50,840 --> 01:54:54,200
Speaker 1: Without much incident and without much in terms of visible

1886
01:54:54,240 --> 01:54:57,600
Speaker 1: police presence, people called on Mayor Dickens, who is the

1887
01:54:57,680 --> 01:55:00,840
Speaker 1: chair of the board of directors for Georgie Pacific, to

1888
01:55:01,040 --> 01:55:03,920
Speaker 1: cancel the Atlanta Police Foundation lease of the land that

1889
01:55:04,000 --> 01:55:06,040
Speaker 1: copp City is slated to be built on.

1890
01:55:06,960 --> 01:55:10,080
Speaker 32: Mayor Diggis, we want you to cancel this leak. We

1891
01:55:10,240 --> 01:55:12,280
Speaker 32: know that you have the authority to do so.

1892
01:55:12,880 --> 01:55:15,800
Speaker 1: They finished up that Georgia Pacific, they set up a

1893
01:55:15,800 --> 01:55:17,640
Speaker 1: little vigil for Torti Guita.

1894
01:55:17,160 --> 01:55:20,440
Speaker 2: And from Georgia Pacific they began their trek to the

1895
01:55:20,480 --> 01:55:21,320
Speaker 2: AT and T building.

1896
01:55:21,520 --> 01:55:23,680
Speaker 1: They left a little vigil for Torti Ghita in front

1897
01:55:24,000 --> 01:55:31,360
Speaker 1: of the Georgia Pacific Center and the group of like

1898
01:55:31,480 --> 01:55:35,800
Speaker 1: more than fifty people are continuing to march north. Police

1899
01:55:36,480 --> 01:55:39,440
Speaker 1: eight to ten police officers are directly behind them, and

1900
01:55:39,480 --> 01:55:42,640
Speaker 1: the whole bunch of police cars are blocking Peachtree along

1901
01:55:42,680 --> 01:55:45,760
Speaker 1: the path to AT and T. Was the APF's headquarters

1902
01:55:45,960 --> 01:55:50,040
Speaker 1: just across the street, and as the crowd approached this intersection,

1903
01:55:50,480 --> 01:55:54,400
Speaker 1: the amount of police ballooned massively in the block around

1904
01:55:54,440 --> 01:55:57,160
Speaker 1: the Atlantic Police Foundation headquarters. There's got to be about

1905
01:55:57,360 --> 01:56:01,560
Speaker 1: thirty to forty officers station and walking off the entrance

1906
01:56:01,560 --> 01:56:04,320
Speaker 1: to the APF, and also just like following the crowd

1907
01:56:04,320 --> 01:56:09,760
Speaker 1: around as they're as they're marching through the sidewalks. There's

1908
01:56:09,800 --> 01:56:14,680
Speaker 1: definitely over god, there's I think around seventy five officers

1909
01:56:14,680 --> 01:56:15,840
Speaker 1: deployed in this area right now.

1910
01:56:15,880 --> 01:56:17,160
Speaker 10: The number keeps growing.

1911
01:56:17,840 --> 01:56:21,240
Speaker 1: As we start walking down different sidewalks and different streets,

1912
01:56:21,280 --> 01:56:23,240
Speaker 1: you just see more officers that are already stationed.

1913
01:56:24,200 --> 01:56:29,240
Speaker 2: There are fifty activists and what certainly over one hundreds

1914
01:56:29,240 --> 01:56:31,040
Speaker 2: some were probably between one hundred, one hundred and twenty

1915
01:56:31,760 --> 01:56:36,560
Speaker 2: police officers started marching not like behind, not in front,

1916
01:56:36,960 --> 01:56:40,040
Speaker 2: but directly beside the march, sort of pinning the march

1917
01:56:40,040 --> 01:56:42,440
Speaker 2: to the wall and like essentially kettling the march.

1918
01:56:42,680 --> 01:56:45,160
Speaker 1: There was police station in front, there was police station behind,

1919
01:56:45,320 --> 01:56:48,240
Speaker 1: and police stationed on the side. It was surrounding the

1920
01:56:48,280 --> 01:56:51,640
Speaker 1: surrounding like these fifty people who were simply walking on

1921
01:56:51,680 --> 01:56:55,320
Speaker 1: the sidewalk stumbling upon a new group of officers.

1922
01:56:55,320 --> 01:56:57,400
Speaker 10: Got to be about one hundred officers in this area

1923
01:56:57,480 --> 01:56:57,840
Speaker 10: right now.

1924
01:56:58,680 --> 01:57:02,280
Speaker 1: At one point, a police vehicle was just parked on

1925
01:57:02,360 --> 01:57:06,200
Speaker 1: the sidewalk, completely blocking it. During this entire time, police

1926
01:57:06,200 --> 01:57:09,440
Speaker 1: were blocking all of the traffic in these intersections and roads.

1927
01:57:09,360 --> 01:57:13,120
Speaker 2: Driving wrong way up a one way like just you know,

1928
01:57:13,160 --> 01:57:14,480
Speaker 2: doing police things.

1929
01:57:14,600 --> 01:57:18,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, a Doorida State University canine unit. This blocking off

1930
01:57:18,520 --> 01:57:21,200
Speaker 1: the entire sidewalk next to a Fulton County Sheriff's vehicle.

1931
01:57:24,000 --> 01:57:25,960
Speaker 1: They're trying to make it impossible for people to actually

1932
01:57:26,000 --> 01:57:26,800
Speaker 1: move on the sidewalk.

1933
01:57:27,360 --> 01:57:28,800
Speaker 10: But for the most part, if.

1934
01:57:28,680 --> 01:57:31,080
Speaker 1: People have been able to move around the police and

1935
01:57:31,880 --> 01:57:33,880
Speaker 1: keep their movement going instead of just stalling in one

1936
01:57:33,880 --> 01:57:38,000
Speaker 1: spot or like trying to physically confront what is now

1937
01:57:38,080 --> 01:57:41,200
Speaker 1: like hundreds and hundreds of law enforcement officers from Fulton

1938
01:57:41,240 --> 01:57:45,080
Speaker 1: County Sheriffs and Atlanta Police Department and even like Georgia

1939
01:57:45,120 --> 01:57:46,480
Speaker 1: State University Police.

1940
01:57:47,160 --> 01:57:48,520
Speaker 10: So the group is split up in.

1941
01:57:48,440 --> 01:57:50,680
Speaker 1: Between two streets right now because people are trying to

1942
01:57:50,800 --> 01:57:54,480
Speaker 1: follow the follow the crossing signals because otherwise police are

1943
01:57:54,480 --> 01:57:57,920
Speaker 1: going to tackle and violently assault people. No one was arrested,

1944
01:57:58,000 --> 01:58:00,480
Speaker 1: People marched to their perspective locations.

1945
01:58:00,680 --> 01:58:04,560
Speaker 2: People very pointedly kept to laws. There was a couple

1946
01:58:04,520 --> 01:58:07,280
Speaker 2: of times when like the crosswalk changed and the group

1947
01:58:07,360 --> 01:58:09,560
Speaker 2: kind of had to split. They would stay and wait

1948
01:58:09,640 --> 01:58:12,160
Speaker 2: until the crosswalk went back to walk, and then crossover

1949
01:58:12,200 --> 01:58:13,480
Speaker 2: and join it's.

1950
01:58:13,320 --> 01:58:16,320
Speaker 1: So funny that the cops are so insistent if you

1951
01:58:16,320 --> 01:58:18,600
Speaker 1: stepped on the street, you're going to get arrested, and

1952
01:58:18,640 --> 01:58:20,040
Speaker 1: make sure people stay on the side of walks.

1953
01:58:20,360 --> 01:58:21,320
Speaker 10: But the result of that.

1954
01:58:21,360 --> 01:58:23,040
Speaker 1: Is that all the cops are standing in the street

1955
01:58:23,200 --> 01:58:26,960
Speaker 1: and they're blocking off like miles of traffic downtown Right now,

1956
01:58:27,960 --> 01:58:30,760
Speaker 1: people just arrived at the fifty one Peachtree Center Avenue

1957
01:58:30,920 --> 01:58:34,240
Speaker 1: AT and T Building in downtown Atlanta. Police were already

1958
01:58:34,240 --> 01:58:36,920
Speaker 1: stationed in front of the AT and T building, so

1959
01:58:36,960 --> 01:58:40,240
Speaker 1: there wasn't much to do. After a brief speech talking

1960
01:58:40,280 --> 01:58:43,400
Speaker 1: about AT and T's contributions to the Police Foundation and

1961
01:58:43,520 --> 01:58:47,320
Speaker 1: Cop City, the crowd moved on. Now people are turning

1962
01:58:47,560 --> 01:58:51,440
Speaker 1: west in the opposite direction from the AT and T headquarters,

1963
01:58:52,200 --> 01:58:56,800
Speaker 1: heading back into the Woodruff Park area where this march began.

1964
01:58:57,760 --> 01:59:01,840
Speaker 1: Police with long guns here. Finally, the crowd stopped at

1965
01:59:01,840 --> 01:59:05,160
Speaker 1: Georgia State University and talked about GSU's connections to the

1966
01:59:05,200 --> 01:59:08,320
Speaker 1: Atlanta Police Foundation. What is of note for this action,

1967
01:59:08,520 --> 01:59:10,880
Speaker 1: and really all of the actions that happened the next

1968
01:59:10,920 --> 01:59:14,200
Speaker 1: few days, is not what the protesters did. It's the

1969
01:59:14,200 --> 01:59:18,160
Speaker 1: police's disproportionate response to just fifty people walking on the sidewalk,

1970
01:59:18,440 --> 01:59:23,560
Speaker 1: chanting and giving short speeches outside of businesses tied to APF.

1971
01:59:24,200 --> 01:59:27,360
Speaker 2: With a small line of officers in front of GSU.

1972
01:59:27,480 --> 01:59:29,960
Speaker 2: They gave their last round of speeches and sort of

1973
01:59:30,240 --> 01:59:32,120
Speaker 2: dispersed for the day before.

1974
01:59:32,160 --> 01:59:35,080
Speaker 32: We wrap today and gave these clouds something else to

1975
01:59:35,120 --> 01:59:35,440
Speaker 32: go do.

1976
01:59:36,480 --> 01:59:37,520
Speaker 10: We will be out here.

1977
01:59:37,960 --> 01:59:40,040
Speaker 6: We won't be out here for the rest.

1978
01:59:39,760 --> 01:59:41,920
Speaker 42: Of the week, for the rest of the hunt, for

1979
01:59:42,080 --> 01:59:43,040
Speaker 42: the rest of that year.

1980
01:59:47,160 --> 01:59:47,760
Speaker 20: We won't fight.

1981
01:59:48,040 --> 01:59:48,920
Speaker 10: That's here we wait.

1982
01:59:55,280 --> 01:59:58,400
Speaker 1: Some of the police are now grouping up and opening

1983
01:59:58,480 --> 02:00:02,480
Speaker 1: up the sidewalk so people can actually It seems officers

1984
02:00:02,520 --> 02:00:05,400
Speaker 1: were in fact instructed to make arrests during this action,

1985
02:00:05,880 --> 02:00:09,440
Speaker 1: but for some reason did not follow through on those orders.

1986
02:00:09,760 --> 02:00:13,760
Speaker 1: According to scanner audio from Atlanta Police Department's SWAT team.

1987
02:00:14,360 --> 02:00:15,600
Speaker 8: That's about of them.

1988
02:00:17,400 --> 02:00:19,520
Speaker 5: The problem is they've been telling them to make a risk,

1989
02:00:19,600 --> 02:00:21,080
Speaker 5: but also is not taking a risk.

1990
02:00:21,480 --> 02:00:24,720
Speaker 8: I guess they weren't supposed to. I don't know.

1991
02:00:24,840 --> 02:00:28,200
Speaker 10: But un lit with that, we'll just hold what we

1992
02:00:28,320 --> 02:00:30,280
Speaker 10: got at fawn as leaders.

1993
02:00:30,800 --> 02:00:35,240
Speaker 1: Extensive police activity continued later that night. At around five

1994
02:00:35,400 --> 02:00:39,160
Speaker 1: thirty to six pm, police started staging around the forest

1995
02:00:39,600 --> 02:00:42,800
Speaker 1: in a way that usually indicates that a raid is forthcoming.

1996
02:00:43,480 --> 02:00:47,360
Speaker 1: Word spread around the recovering encampment that police could be

1997
02:00:47,400 --> 02:00:48,560
Speaker 1: preparing for a raid.

1998
02:00:50,400 --> 02:00:52,640
Speaker 2: So the initial reports were like that there were fifty

1999
02:00:52,760 --> 02:00:57,560
Speaker 2: police officers staged at Key Road and ready to go,

2000
02:00:58,120 --> 02:01:01,680
Speaker 2: and then the Decab County Swat starts to roll up

2001
02:01:02,080 --> 02:01:06,280
Speaker 2: at the fire station, and I would say a fair

2002
02:01:06,320 --> 02:01:08,640
Speaker 2: amount of like panic starts to set it at camp.

2003
02:01:08,760 --> 02:01:13,760
Speaker 1: Multiple multiple police copters are are getting flown overhead, multiple

2004
02:01:13,760 --> 02:01:15,720
Speaker 1: different SWAT teams are being brought in. At least like

2005
02:01:15,880 --> 02:01:20,480
Speaker 1: three or four different agencies are stationing officers around the woods.

2006
02:01:20,520 --> 02:01:22,480
Speaker 1: I believe it's estimated that at least one hundred and

2007
02:01:22,480 --> 02:01:27,200
Speaker 1: twenty police officers were being staged in the area directly

2008
02:01:27,480 --> 02:01:31,000
Speaker 1: surrounding the forest and in the area by the power

2009
02:01:31,000 --> 02:01:32,080
Speaker 1: line cut on Key Road.

2010
02:01:32,200 --> 02:01:34,040
Speaker 2: And it should be said that you know, up until

2011
02:01:34,040 --> 02:01:37,320
Speaker 2: this point, the police have never brought in that many

2012
02:01:37,360 --> 02:01:41,000
Speaker 2: resources to any protest action that I'm aware of, and

2013
02:01:41,040 --> 02:01:45,320
Speaker 2: not come in and engaged. So I was with a

2014
02:01:45,360 --> 02:01:49,320
Speaker 2: group offsite who like immediately began to fear, like you know,

2015
02:01:49,440 --> 02:01:51,080
Speaker 2: for they wouldn't be able to get back to their

2016
02:01:51,080 --> 02:01:53,200
Speaker 2: camp size, they wouldn't be able to get their gear,

2017
02:01:53,200 --> 02:01:55,680
Speaker 2: They wouldn't be able to get their medication, and that,

2018
02:01:56,040 --> 02:01:58,680
Speaker 2: from what I understand, was the general vibe around. But

2019
02:02:00,080 --> 02:02:00,880
Speaker 2: nothing happened.

2020
02:02:00,920 --> 02:02:05,640
Speaker 1: Nothing seemed to happen, and then at around seven police

2021
02:02:05,640 --> 02:02:09,600
Speaker 1: started to almost like express confusion on what was going on,

2022
02:02:09,720 --> 02:02:12,560
Speaker 1: and then everyone else expressed confusion for why the police

2023
02:02:12,560 --> 02:02:15,880
Speaker 1: were confused. And we think we've kind of put together

2024
02:02:15,960 --> 02:02:22,560
Speaker 1: what may have happened. So Clark, what is suspected of

2025
02:02:23,040 --> 02:02:23,920
Speaker 1: going down here?

2026
02:02:24,360 --> 02:02:27,520
Speaker 2: So the one thing that police don't understand and probably

2027
02:02:27,520 --> 02:02:31,360
Speaker 2: will never understand, is humor. Now, they become the butt

2028
02:02:31,400 --> 02:02:35,160
Speaker 2: of the joke often, but they don't understand comedy. So

2029
02:02:35,400 --> 02:02:39,720
Speaker 2: at seven o'clock that evening was scheduled Comedy in the Forest.

2030
02:02:40,440 --> 02:02:43,120
Speaker 2: And from what we've gathered, the police thought that the

2031
02:02:43,160 --> 02:02:45,080
Speaker 2: Comedy in the Forest event was going to be a

2032
02:02:45,120 --> 02:02:48,280
Speaker 2: cover for another Sunday night like action.

2033
02:02:48,720 --> 02:02:52,480
Speaker 1: So this event was scheduled on the public Defend the

2034
02:02:52,520 --> 02:02:56,920
Speaker 1: Atlanta Forest calendar that anyone can look at online is

2035
02:02:57,080 --> 02:03:00,520
Speaker 1: this Comedy in the Woods event for people to tell

2036
02:03:00,680 --> 02:03:05,000
Speaker 1: jokes around a campfire. And I guess they thought it

2037
02:03:05,080 --> 02:03:07,240
Speaker 1: was like it was like this event that was like

2038
02:03:07,280 --> 02:03:09,840
Speaker 1: a red herring so that people could then go do

2039
02:03:10,360 --> 02:03:14,200
Speaker 1: violent militancy in around the woods. So when seven o'clock

2040
02:03:14,240 --> 02:03:17,400
Speaker 1: came and went, like police were expecting people to like

2041
02:03:17,480 --> 02:03:19,840
Speaker 1: arrive at the woods or something, and that just didn't happen,

2042
02:03:19,920 --> 02:03:22,879
Speaker 1: because it turns out a few minutes before seven o'clock,

2043
02:03:23,400 --> 02:03:26,280
Speaker 1: this comedy event was canceled for like unrelated reasons. The

2044
02:03:26,360 --> 02:03:29,760
Speaker 1: organizer had had things come up, So this event just

2045
02:03:29,880 --> 02:03:33,640
Speaker 1: didn't happen. But there still was comedy in the woods.

2046
02:03:34,240 --> 02:03:37,360
Speaker 1: It just was that the police wasted probably over one

2047
02:03:37,440 --> 02:03:43,440
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars mobilizing over one hundred officers. I mean, obviously,

2048
02:03:43,480 --> 02:03:45,320
Speaker 1: I think some people in the woods were you know,

2049
02:03:45,880 --> 02:03:49,600
Speaker 1: had some frustration that that that you know, they experienced

2050
02:03:49,720 --> 02:03:52,839
Speaker 1: this fear of this possibly incoming rate that then resulted

2051
02:03:53,320 --> 02:03:56,280
Speaker 1: in there being nothing. I think it's always important to

2052
02:03:56,800 --> 02:03:59,760
Speaker 1: when people are relaying information, they relay information that is

2053
02:03:59,800 --> 02:04:03,800
Speaker 1: no without like unadue speculation. So like it is a

2054
02:04:03,840 --> 02:04:06,919
Speaker 1: fact to say that there's over one hundred cops stationing

2055
02:04:07,080 --> 02:04:09,120
Speaker 1: by the woods, and they've never had that many cops

2056
02:04:09,120 --> 02:04:11,760
Speaker 1: there before without doing some sort of raid or some

2057
02:04:11,800 --> 02:04:15,000
Speaker 1: sort of some sort of like activity in the forest.

2058
02:04:15,160 --> 02:04:18,560
Speaker 2: And part of what I've heard go on since then

2059
02:04:18,720 --> 02:04:21,480
Speaker 2: was you know, some very generative conversations about how they're

2060
02:04:21,520 --> 02:04:24,040
Speaker 2: going to take into account like this, this new paradigm

2061
02:04:24,160 --> 02:04:28,080
Speaker 2: that developed that night, And I think that again speaks

2062
02:04:28,120 --> 02:04:30,760
Speaker 2: to sort of just how the movement continues to develop

2063
02:04:30,800 --> 02:04:34,280
Speaker 2: and grow and like you know, handle new new challenges

2064
02:04:34,320 --> 02:04:35,280
Speaker 2: and shifts.

2065
02:04:35,880 --> 02:04:38,880
Speaker 1: So with the forest camp is still intact, the week

2066
02:04:38,920 --> 02:04:42,560
Speaker 1: of action continued on as planned, with another downtown nonviolent

2067
02:04:42,600 --> 02:04:44,720
Speaker 1: direct action that next morning.

2068
02:04:45,200 --> 02:04:49,520
Speaker 2: So Wednesday and noon is a lot smaller of direct

2069
02:04:49,560 --> 02:04:51,280
Speaker 2: action than the day before.

2070
02:04:51,440 --> 02:04:53,440
Speaker 1: It starts with like a dozen people. It slowly grows

2071
02:04:53,480 --> 02:04:55,680
Speaker 1: to like a few dozen, but yeah, it started extremely,

2072
02:04:55,800 --> 02:04:59,720
Speaker 1: extremely small. So this was one difference from Tuesday is

2073
02:04:59,760 --> 02:05:02,680
Speaker 1: that when we arrived, police already had a visible presence

2074
02:05:02,880 --> 02:05:06,800
Speaker 1: in downtown, stationed around Woodriff Park. So a group of

2075
02:05:06,800 --> 02:05:09,800
Speaker 1: people just launched from Woodriff Park, they kind of split

2076
02:05:09,840 --> 02:05:14,080
Speaker 1: off in different different little sub subgroups. Lots of people

2077
02:05:14,120 --> 02:05:18,520
Speaker 1: are just stationed outside of Marta Stops handing out flyers,

2078
02:05:18,680 --> 02:05:21,000
Speaker 1: and that is what people are doing right now. Police

2079
02:05:21,080 --> 02:05:24,720
Speaker 1: seem relatively confused and are trying to like mobilize the

2080
02:05:24,720 --> 02:05:29,240
Speaker 1: different areas where they feel like something might happen. But

2081
02:05:29,680 --> 02:05:31,720
Speaker 1: it's just people handing out flyers.

2082
02:05:32,320 --> 02:05:34,600
Speaker 2: And they decided to split into groups and engage in

2083
02:05:34,680 --> 02:05:37,400
Speaker 2: like just some typical outreach activity that you would see,

2084
02:05:37,600 --> 02:05:39,480
Speaker 2: you know, from any group, like just passing out flyers

2085
02:05:39,480 --> 02:05:42,720
Speaker 2: and pamphlets and attempting, from what I saw, to have

2086
02:05:42,760 --> 02:05:45,120
Speaker 2: like one on one conversations with anyone who wanted to.

2087
02:05:45,360 --> 02:05:47,520
Speaker 1: So, this this group that it broke off into these

2088
02:05:47,560 --> 02:05:51,839
Speaker 1: smaller subgroups. The group that we kind of accompanied stationed

2089
02:05:51,880 --> 02:05:55,120
Speaker 1: themselves around some Marta stops around I believe it was

2090
02:05:55,120 --> 02:05:58,720
Speaker 1: like the it was the Peachtree Lata station prep. Yeah,

2091
02:05:58,720 --> 02:06:01,520
Speaker 1: so they stationed at the like the three different exits

2092
02:06:01,600 --> 02:06:04,320
Speaker 1: or entrances for that, just just handing out flyers, handing

2093
02:06:04,320 --> 02:06:07,680
Speaker 1: out leaflets, trying to talk to anybody who walks by.

2094
02:06:07,960 --> 02:06:11,120
Speaker 1: Another group of people standing outside of a public transit

2095
02:06:11,200 --> 02:06:15,080
Speaker 1: spot handing out flyers, probably like I don't know, four

2096
02:06:15,160 --> 02:06:19,560
Speaker 1: or five other small, small groups doing similar things throughout downtown,

2097
02:06:19,960 --> 02:06:21,960
Speaker 1: which means police have a lot more places to be

2098
02:06:22,320 --> 02:06:24,240
Speaker 1: as opposed to just following one big group.

2099
02:06:24,600 --> 02:06:27,720
Speaker 2: The group that we followed had its own police presence

2100
02:06:27,760 --> 02:06:30,440
Speaker 2: follow it, and then when they split into three more groups,

2101
02:06:30,960 --> 02:06:33,480
Speaker 2: each group had its own police presence follow it, and

2102
02:06:33,600 --> 02:06:37,680
Speaker 2: police stuck to the protesters the entire time. And of course,

2103
02:06:37,720 --> 02:06:41,280
Speaker 2: like there's white transport vans that are full of cops

2104
02:06:41,360 --> 02:06:42,160
Speaker 2: kind of driving by.

2105
02:06:42,600 --> 02:06:45,360
Speaker 1: Thin white van full of police officers just showed up

2106
02:06:45,360 --> 02:06:50,200
Speaker 1: across the street. Army green tan SWAT vehicle just parked

2107
02:06:50,440 --> 02:06:54,160
Speaker 1: a block away from the Atlanta Police Foundation headquarters. There

2108
02:06:54,240 --> 02:06:57,160
Speaker 1: was an Atlanta SWAT vehicle parked outside of the Hooters.

2109
02:06:57,440 --> 02:07:02,480
Speaker 2: Totally normal response, totally normals. And so the leafleting goes

2110
02:07:02,480 --> 02:07:04,880
Speaker 2: on for you know, like forty five minutes, and then

2111
02:07:05,560 --> 02:07:09,280
Speaker 2: all of the groups start to gather together conveniently with

2112
02:07:09,360 --> 02:07:11,360
Speaker 2: the group that like we had embedded with.

2113
02:07:11,960 --> 02:07:14,240
Speaker 1: All right, there's actually a pretty decent number of people

2114
02:07:14,280 --> 02:07:17,440
Speaker 1: gathered here for the flywering event today. You know, normal

2115
02:07:17,440 --> 02:07:20,879
Speaker 1: police responds to people handing out flyers. Just fifty officers

2116
02:07:20,880 --> 02:07:24,640
Speaker 1: in the SWAT team. But yeah, there's probably at this point,

2117
02:07:24,680 --> 02:07:27,720
Speaker 1: like two or three dozen people that have kind of

2118
02:07:27,840 --> 02:07:31,200
Speaker 1: all converged together. It started off very small, people were

2119
02:07:31,280 --> 02:07:35,120
Speaker 1: very very spread out. They splintered off into little smaller groups,

2120
02:07:35,480 --> 02:07:38,200
Speaker 1: but now they've all kind of coalesced together back again.

2121
02:07:38,920 --> 02:07:41,840
Speaker 1: So all the little subgroups kind of meet up on

2122
02:07:41,960 --> 02:07:45,480
Speaker 1: Andrew Jung and peach tree right next to the Hooters

2123
02:07:45,520 --> 02:07:46,560
Speaker 1: and the hard Rock Cafe.

2124
02:07:46,920 --> 02:07:50,240
Speaker 2: This area is like the business district, so in the

2125
02:07:50,280 --> 02:07:52,400
Speaker 2: middle of the day, it's like really busy. It's a

2126
02:07:52,400 --> 02:07:55,720
Speaker 2: fairly like good spot to pass out leaflets.

2127
02:07:55,800 --> 02:07:58,680
Speaker 1: So they are passing out these leaflets. Pedestrians are still

2128
02:07:58,680 --> 02:08:00,680
Speaker 1: able to like walk through the side walks. It's pretty

2129
02:08:00,680 --> 02:08:05,800
Speaker 1: it's pretty chill. And then APD approaches the crowd, like

2130
02:08:05,840 --> 02:08:08,560
Speaker 1: the APD has already been around this area. There's there's

2131
02:08:08,600 --> 02:08:11,879
Speaker 1: this vehicle across the street watching people hand out flyers.

2132
02:08:12,840 --> 02:08:17,720
Speaker 1: But then Lieutenant Neil Welch approaches the crowd and gives

2133
02:08:17,720 --> 02:08:19,640
Speaker 1: them a dispersal order.

2134
02:08:19,960 --> 02:08:21,520
Speaker 3: Okay, can I read it this first order?

2135
02:08:23,000 --> 02:08:23,320
Speaker 17: All right?

2136
02:08:23,320 --> 02:08:27,000
Speaker 43: So I'm Lieutenant Neil Welch, a police officer, City of Atlanta.

2137
02:08:27,600 --> 02:08:30,400
Speaker 43: I hereby declare that, being on this sidewalk, you are

2138
02:08:30,480 --> 02:08:34,360
Speaker 43: obstructing or repeating the normal and reasonable movement a pedestrian

2139
02:08:34,440 --> 02:08:39,920
Speaker 43: traffic and violation of Atlanta City ordinates. Okay, and the

2140
02:08:40,000 --> 02:08:42,640
Speaker 43: name of the people is Saya, Georgia. I hereby command

2141
02:08:42,640 --> 02:08:45,920
Speaker 43: that all present in the sidewalk, all present here in

2142
02:08:46,000 --> 02:08:50,480
Speaker 43: the sidewalk immediately exit the street or the roadway or sidewalk.

2143
02:08:50,920 --> 02:08:53,120
Speaker 43: If you do not do so, you may be detained

2144
02:08:53,200 --> 02:08:58,000
Speaker 43: or arrested. Should you fail to exit the sidewalk in

2145
02:08:58,080 --> 02:09:01,400
Speaker 43: accordace with this lawful command, you shall be in violation

2146
02:09:01,640 --> 02:09:07,240
Speaker 43: of Section one five zero two six six substructing pedestrian traffic,

2147
02:09:07,720 --> 02:09:11,440
Speaker 43: which prehibits standing are being on any street, roadway, or

2148
02:09:11,720 --> 02:09:14,920
Speaker 43: sidewalk in a manner to obstructor impede the normal or

2149
02:09:14,960 --> 02:09:16,800
Speaker 43: reasonable pedestrian traffic.

2150
02:09:17,440 --> 02:09:19,800
Speaker 10: Cops threatened arrest and detainment.

2151
02:09:20,520 --> 02:09:23,560
Speaker 1: They claimed that people were blocking the sidewalk, which they

2152
02:09:23,560 --> 02:09:26,160
Speaker 1: absolutely were not. I was walking freely, as was all

2153
02:09:26,200 --> 02:09:29,440
Speaker 1: of like downtown pedestrian traffic. They were not blocking anything.

2154
02:09:30,000 --> 02:09:35,800
Speaker 1: This is this is pretty silly, utterly, utterly ridiculous response

2155
02:09:35,840 --> 02:09:40,680
Speaker 1: to people handing out flyers. So they were told they

2156
02:09:40,760 --> 02:09:43,200
Speaker 1: cannot be on the sidewalk. Obviously they can't be on

2157
02:09:43,200 --> 02:09:46,600
Speaker 1: the street. Where are you allowed to protest if not

2158
02:09:46,680 --> 02:09:51,120
Speaker 1: the sidewalk or the street. Seemed like very like flimsy

2159
02:09:51,200 --> 02:09:53,720
Speaker 1: legal footing. But obviously they police can arrest anyone they

2160
02:09:53,720 --> 02:09:56,160
Speaker 1: want to at any time for any reason. So people

2161
02:09:56,160 --> 02:09:58,600
Speaker 1: decided to move. They cross over the street, they walk

2162
02:09:58,800 --> 02:10:01,720
Speaker 1: like a block north, they cross the street again, and

2163
02:10:01,760 --> 02:10:03,840
Speaker 1: they they move onto this part of the sidewalk that

2164
02:10:03,920 --> 02:10:06,640
Speaker 1: is like really large, like a massive, massive open open

2165
02:10:06,680 --> 02:10:07,560
Speaker 1: section that.

2166
02:10:08,160 --> 02:10:10,880
Speaker 2: Right in front of the mall. So it's it's it's

2167
02:10:10,920 --> 02:10:13,040
Speaker 2: it's meant to like have a bunch of people passed

2168
02:10:13,160 --> 02:10:13,440
Speaker 2: by it.

2169
02:10:13,680 --> 02:10:15,880
Speaker 1: So people continue to hand out flyers.

2170
02:10:15,800 --> 02:10:16,839
Speaker 10: While this is happening.

2171
02:10:17,080 --> 02:10:20,960
Speaker 2: Uh, there's another group who comes in to the side

2172
02:10:21,040 --> 02:10:24,560
Speaker 2: of Petree Center Mall and enters the mall to find

2173
02:10:24,560 --> 02:10:26,640
Speaker 2: Mayor Andre Dickens. There are a couple of boards in

2174
02:10:26,680 --> 02:10:31,040
Speaker 2: Atlanta that stipulate the mayor is like the head of

2175
02:10:31,040 --> 02:10:32,600
Speaker 2: the board, and this is one of them, and it

2176
02:10:32,680 --> 02:10:37,080
Speaker 2: meets in Peatree Center Mall as one does.

2177
02:10:37,200 --> 02:10:39,440
Speaker 1: So the mayor is having a meeting in the mall.

2178
02:10:40,440 --> 02:10:42,440
Speaker 2: Office space is you know, sort of above the mall,

2179
02:10:42,600 --> 02:10:43,320
Speaker 2: and this group of.

2180
02:10:43,320 --> 02:10:46,960
Speaker 1: People from the Muscogie Nation enter and try to meet

2181
02:10:47,080 --> 02:10:49,400
Speaker 1: up with the mayor to hand off a letter.

2182
02:10:50,560 --> 02:10:54,920
Speaker 44: Objection to objection, we have a letter being delivered from

2183
02:10:54,920 --> 02:11:03,480
Speaker 44: the Creek Nation on behalf of Muscogee Creek Spiritual Leadership, and.

2184
02:11:01,680 --> 02:11:03,600
Speaker 31: I came all the way on the trial of tears

2185
02:11:03,680 --> 02:11:08,200
Speaker 31: to deliver this letter to you folks. We want you

2186
02:11:08,240 --> 02:11:12,960
Speaker 31: to know that the contemporary Muscogee people are now making

2187
02:11:13,000 --> 02:11:17,160
Speaker 31: their journey back to our homelands, and hereby give notice

2188
02:11:17,600 --> 02:11:21,600
Speaker 31: to Mayor Andrew Dickens, the Atlanta City Council, the Atlanta

2189
02:11:21,600 --> 02:11:27,480
Speaker 31: Police Department, the Atlanta Police Foundation, the Dakob County Sheriff's Office,

2190
02:11:27,760 --> 02:11:31,760
Speaker 31: and so called copp City that you must immediately vacate

2191
02:11:31,880 --> 02:11:37,040
Speaker 31: Muscogee homelands and cease violence and policing of Indigenous and

2192
02:11:37,120 --> 02:11:40,920
Speaker 31: Black people and Muscogee lands. We lived as stewards and

2193
02:11:41,000 --> 02:11:44,080
Speaker 31: in relationship to this land for more than thirteen thousand

2194
02:11:44,160 --> 02:11:48,640
Speaker 31: years until the illegitimate State of Georgia negotiated with the

2195
02:11:48,680 --> 02:11:53,600
Speaker 31: Tyrant Andrew Jackson for the militarized for the militarized force

2196
02:11:53,720 --> 02:11:59,440
Speaker 31: removal of Muscoge and Cherokee relatives to Indian territories. Mayor Dickens,

2197
02:11:59,480 --> 02:12:09,760
Speaker 31: can I give this letter to you? He got one, Mayor,

2198
02:12:10,200 --> 02:12:12,240
Speaker 31: we want to talk to you about our homelands.

2199
02:12:12,280 --> 02:12:13,720
Speaker 13: A Muskogee Cree people.

2200
02:12:14,680 --> 02:12:18,920
Speaker 2: Three indigenous an activists along with Kamal Franklin arrive and

2201
02:12:19,880 --> 02:12:22,520
Speaker 2: they find the mayor. They enter the board meeting and

2202
02:12:22,760 --> 02:12:26,560
Speaker 2: they begin to read this letter from the Muscoge Nation aloud.

2203
02:12:27,120 --> 02:12:30,160
Speaker 2: And in the letter it essentially says that Atlanta is

2204
02:12:30,200 --> 02:12:33,240
Speaker 2: being evicted out of the Wui Laanni forest and the

2205
02:12:33,280 --> 02:12:35,880
Speaker 2: most Scogi people are going to return and reclaim their

2206
02:12:35,920 --> 02:12:41,640
Speaker 2: ancestral land. Mayor Dickens, in true mayor fashion, bolts away

2207
02:12:41,640 --> 02:12:44,880
Speaker 2: from this, running through an exit door, which is then

2208
02:12:44,960 --> 02:12:47,600
Speaker 2: like blocked by a guard, which I think that has

2209
02:12:47,640 --> 02:12:52,040
Speaker 2: its own like set of legal issues, essentially just ignoring

2210
02:12:52,480 --> 02:12:55,040
Speaker 2: them over his shoulder. He calls out, I've got a

2211
02:12:55,080 --> 02:12:59,600
Speaker 2: copy of the letter and hides just completely. Trying to

2212
02:12:59,800 --> 02:13:02,560
Speaker 2: escape is not a good look for him.

2213
02:13:03,120 --> 02:13:07,120
Speaker 1: The Atlanta Police Department APEX Swatch team was called to

2214
02:13:07,160 --> 02:13:10,520
Speaker 1: the mall, and right as the activists were able to exit,

2215
02:13:10,800 --> 02:13:14,440
Speaker 1: the special police units rushed into the building, finding no one.

2216
02:13:15,840 --> 02:13:18,840
Speaker 1: By now, the police repression during this week of action

2217
02:13:19,280 --> 02:13:22,760
Speaker 1: far exceeded police activity during any of the prior weeks

2218
02:13:22,760 --> 02:13:26,200
Speaker 1: of action, and this trend would continue as the week

2219
02:13:26,360 --> 02:13:30,240
Speaker 1: entered its last few days. The next episode will wrap

2220
02:13:30,320 --> 02:13:32,840
Speaker 1: up our coverage for the week, as well as contain

2221
02:13:32,880 --> 02:13:35,440
Speaker 1: a bit more analysis of the police repression and the

2222
02:13:35,480 --> 02:13:39,000
Speaker 1: fallout of Sunday's direct action. But then there will be

2223
02:13:39,080 --> 02:13:41,920
Speaker 1: a fifth bonus episode that gives an overview of what's

2224
02:13:41,960 --> 02:13:45,120
Speaker 1: happened in the Malani Forest in the intervening two months.

2225
02:13:45,800 --> 02:13:53,920
Speaker 1: See you on the other side, Welcome back to it

2226
02:13:53,960 --> 02:13:57,720
Speaker 1: could happen here. I'm Garrison Davis. This is episode four

2227
02:13:57,880 --> 02:14:01,160
Speaker 1: of my mini series and detailing the March twenty twenty

2228
02:14:01,200 --> 02:14:05,160
Speaker 1: three week of action to stop cop City in Atlanta, Georgia.

2229
02:14:06,040 --> 02:14:08,880
Speaker 1: This episode, we'll be hearing from a lot of new

2230
02:14:08,920 --> 02:14:11,640
Speaker 1: people as we close out the day to day coverage

2231
02:14:11,720 --> 02:14:16,200
Speaker 1: of this week of action. One of the last big

2232
02:14:16,360 --> 02:14:19,600
Speaker 1: organized rallies was on Thursday night and it was put

2233
02:14:19,640 --> 02:14:23,640
Speaker 1: on by community movement builders and other black led groups

2234
02:14:23,720 --> 02:14:24,480
Speaker 1: from Atlanta.

2235
02:14:24,920 --> 02:14:27,800
Speaker 2: The big event Thursday night was a six o'clock rally

2236
02:14:27,800 --> 02:14:31,040
Speaker 2: that met at the Martin Luther King National Historic Site.

2237
02:14:31,080 --> 02:14:34,240
Speaker 1: There was police stationed at King Center before anyone got there,

2238
02:14:35,200 --> 02:14:38,120
Speaker 1: we saw like dozens and dozens of police cars going by.

2239
02:14:38,440 --> 02:14:43,920
Speaker 2: All around the site are various quick response forces and

2240
02:14:44,480 --> 02:14:46,600
Speaker 2: riot cops just ready.

2241
02:14:46,360 --> 02:14:46,760
Speaker 35: To move in.

2242
02:14:47,280 --> 02:14:49,960
Speaker 1: Large police response in the area already, as has been

2243
02:14:50,000 --> 02:14:54,120
Speaker 1: expected for the past few days. Multiple Sandy Springs police

2244
02:14:54,200 --> 02:14:59,120
Speaker 1: buses were driving by. There was multiple unmarked white vans

2245
02:14:59,160 --> 02:15:03,440
Speaker 1: full of officers. The areas crawling with police cars and

2246
02:15:03,480 --> 02:15:05,920
Speaker 1: now there's a small detail of officers across the street

2247
02:15:06,320 --> 02:15:08,520
Speaker 1: from the people gathering here in the park.

2248
02:15:09,120 --> 02:15:14,200
Speaker 2: We are currently surrounded on every side by groups of

2249
02:15:14,200 --> 02:15:18,160
Speaker 2: police officers in riodegear. The crowd started off like actually

2250
02:15:18,320 --> 02:15:21,280
Speaker 2: fairly decently sized, maybe like fifty people, and then continued

2251
02:15:21,320 --> 02:15:25,080
Speaker 2: as well as the speeches progressed to I would say

2252
02:15:25,080 --> 02:15:27,320
Speaker 2: like two hundred two hundred fifty, maybe even a little

2253
02:15:27,320 --> 02:15:30,480
Speaker 2: bit more. They were passing out signs, so like anyone

2254
02:15:30,800 --> 02:15:33,280
Speaker 2: who came, like they had a sign ready for you.

2255
02:15:33,680 --> 02:15:36,160
Speaker 2: Andre Dickins is a sellout of course, as a very

2256
02:15:36,160 --> 02:15:38,840
Speaker 2: popular one. There were stop Coop City like banners that

2257
02:15:39,040 --> 02:15:42,640
Speaker 2: people could like hold atl of verse twelve, like, you know,

2258
02:15:42,800 --> 02:15:45,240
Speaker 2: just a bunch of like really clever sort of protest

2259
02:15:45,360 --> 02:15:48,560
Speaker 2: slogans and things that people can get behind. The makeup

2260
02:15:48,560 --> 02:15:51,200
Speaker 2: of the crowd was definitely leaned like far less like

2261
02:15:51,200 --> 02:15:55,560
Speaker 2: white anarchists than certainly the accusations of this movement, I think,

2262
02:15:55,640 --> 02:15:58,800
Speaker 2: more representative of the movement as a whole, Like it

2263
02:15:58,840 --> 02:16:01,720
Speaker 2: was a mix of a bunch of different people. I

2264
02:16:01,760 --> 02:16:06,080
Speaker 2: would say, like it probably accurately reflected Atlanta demographics.

2265
02:16:06,640 --> 02:16:08,920
Speaker 1: Defend the forest signs and banners and being handed out

2266
02:16:08,920 --> 02:16:11,440
Speaker 1: throughout the crowd. Other people are passing around the Jail

2267
02:16:11,440 --> 02:16:13,800
Speaker 1: Support number and Jill Support contact information.

2268
02:16:15,160 --> 02:16:16,520
Speaker 10: People are starting to get ready.

2269
02:16:16,920 --> 02:16:19,640
Speaker 2: So it meets it at six o'clock and for about

2270
02:16:19,680 --> 02:16:22,440
Speaker 2: an hour and a half we listened to a series

2271
02:16:22,480 --> 02:16:24,640
Speaker 2: of speeches as the crowd begins to swell.

2272
02:16:25,120 --> 02:16:29,000
Speaker 32: So we are here in solidarity together today to make

2273
02:16:29,040 --> 02:16:31,360
Speaker 32: it clear to the mayor that he's not gonna keep

2274
02:16:31,400 --> 02:16:34,360
Speaker 32: lying on our names. They'll literally be building the mock

2275
02:16:34,400 --> 02:16:38,280
Speaker 32: city of Atlanta practice how to repress life.

2276
02:16:38,560 --> 02:16:40,680
Speaker 17: They kill.

2277
02:16:41,120 --> 02:16:41,959
Speaker 13: We find it.

2278
02:16:42,400 --> 02:16:44,160
Speaker 20: Ridiculous, we find it disgusting.

2279
02:16:44,280 --> 02:16:48,280
Speaker 32: We find it embarrassing that a mayor Andre Tickets would

2280
02:16:48,320 --> 02:16:51,160
Speaker 32: fix this, not to say that black people what if

2281
02:16:51,160 --> 02:16:51,760
Speaker 32: we killed by.

2282
02:16:51,680 --> 02:16:54,720
Speaker 33: The woolie that black people walk clock city.

2283
02:16:54,680 --> 02:16:57,640
Speaker 42: Yeah, the mayor must have for guy in that our

2284
02:16:57,760 --> 02:17:03,959
Speaker 42: ancestors will literally fighting abolition since they were brutally brought

2285
02:17:04,000 --> 02:17:07,120
Speaker 42: to this country. They were fighting for freedom, fighting the

2286
02:17:07,200 --> 02:17:11,760
Speaker 42: original police right, the slave patrols that captured black bodies

2287
02:17:12,040 --> 02:17:14,040
Speaker 42: to take them back to their white masters.

2288
02:17:15,080 --> 02:17:16,359
Speaker 20: He's talking to the same.

2289
02:17:16,200 --> 02:17:19,840
Speaker 42: Black people whose elders were fighting here in the same

2290
02:17:19,879 --> 02:17:21,839
Speaker 42: streets in the sixties.

2291
02:17:21,440 --> 02:17:24,760
Speaker 32: And the seventies to stop police occupation of our communities.

2292
02:17:24,920 --> 02:17:25,440
Speaker 20: That's right.

2293
02:17:26,200 --> 02:17:30,120
Speaker 32: Resistance to police, resistance to state violence is literally in

2294
02:17:30,240 --> 02:17:32,039
Speaker 32: our blood as black people.

2295
02:17:32,080 --> 02:17:33,199
Speaker 28: It is in our DNA.

2296
02:17:34,200 --> 02:17:37,080
Speaker 32: They're lying on our name because they want money from

2297
02:17:37,120 --> 02:17:42,160
Speaker 32: the same white corporations that are funding Cop City, Home Depot,

2298
02:17:42,640 --> 02:17:46,640
Speaker 32: Chick fil A, Coca Cola, Norfolk, Southern.

2299
02:17:46,640 --> 02:17:47,520
Speaker 28: At and t.

2300
02:17:49,000 --> 02:17:52,960
Speaker 32: COT enterprises who own say ajac and this is a

2301
02:17:53,000 --> 02:17:56,320
Speaker 32: fight that we will win, that we are committed to winning.

2302
02:17:57,400 --> 02:17:59,680
Speaker 32: And so when we talk about winning, it's important to

2303
02:17:59,680 --> 02:18:01,520
Speaker 32: say what do we mean when we say that we'll win.

2304
02:18:02,160 --> 02:18:04,600
Speaker 36: We mean no Cop City anywhere.

2305
02:18:07,800 --> 02:18:13,280
Speaker 32: Now in South Atlanta, not into cab not in North Atlanta, nowhere.

2306
02:18:13,720 --> 02:18:16,160
Speaker 32: When we say that we will win, we are meaning

2307
02:18:16,320 --> 02:18:19,120
Speaker 32: that this fight does not stop with Cop City. This

2308
02:18:19,240 --> 02:18:21,800
Speaker 32: is a fight for the liberation of all oppressed people

2309
02:18:22,000 --> 02:18:22,800
Speaker 32: here and abroad.

2310
02:18:23,000 --> 02:18:23,680
Speaker 20: That's right.

2311
02:18:24,320 --> 02:18:27,920
Speaker 32: And now, client's disgusting that the mayor and that these

2312
02:18:27,959 --> 02:18:32,720
Speaker 32: corporations will talk about outside agitators. Okay, the reason that

2313
02:18:32,720 --> 02:18:35,280
Speaker 32: there are people coming from all over the world to

2314
02:18:35,280 --> 02:18:38,640
Speaker 32: support this fight is because this is a fight that affects.

2315
02:18:38,240 --> 02:18:38,760
Speaker 12: All of us.

2316
02:18:38,879 --> 02:18:39,440
Speaker 20: That's right.

2317
02:18:39,920 --> 02:18:44,520
Speaker 32: The Atlanta Police Foundation admitted that percent of the cops

2318
02:18:44,520 --> 02:18:47,439
Speaker 32: being trained at that facility will not be in Georgia.

2319
02:18:47,720 --> 02:18:48,959
Speaker 22: So when people came from.

2320
02:18:48,840 --> 02:18:53,520
Speaker 32: Tennessee, from New York, from California, it's because they know

2321
02:18:53,920 --> 02:18:57,199
Speaker 32: that their local police might learn how to kill them better.

2322
02:18:57,240 --> 02:18:58,320
Speaker 20: Here, that's right.

2323
02:18:59,000 --> 02:19:02,240
Speaker 32: And when people come from abroad, they know that currently

2324
02:19:02,400 --> 02:19:06,240
Speaker 32: the Atlanta Police Department trains with the Israeli police. So

2325
02:19:06,320 --> 02:19:10,160
Speaker 32: the same techniques being used to brutalize black people are

2326
02:19:10,200 --> 02:19:13,720
Speaker 32: being used to practice genocide on the Palestinian people. And

2327
02:19:13,800 --> 02:19:16,960
Speaker 32: the same tactics being used to practice genofide on the

2328
02:19:16,959 --> 02:19:20,400
Speaker 32: Palestinian people are being used to brutilize black people right here.

2329
02:19:21,400 --> 02:19:23,600
Speaker 32: So when people came from all over the world to

2330
02:19:23,640 --> 02:19:26,800
Speaker 32: say stop Coup City, they're not outside agitators. They're standing

2331
02:19:26,800 --> 02:19:28,720
Speaker 32: in solidarity with us, because this is the fight.

2332
02:19:29,560 --> 02:19:36,640
Speaker 1: All as the rain picked up, Tortihita's mother, Belquise Taran

2333
02:19:37,120 --> 02:19:39,360
Speaker 1: spoke next on the.

2334
02:19:39,520 --> 02:19:43,000
Speaker 45: Cards the friend that I called them, I called them

2335
02:19:43,000 --> 02:19:47,760
Speaker 45: to come here to support us on the people from

2336
02:19:47,959 --> 02:19:51,400
Speaker 45: different religions come here and help us.

2337
02:19:51,760 --> 02:19:57,720
Speaker 20: This is a matter of the earth. You're talking a.

2338
02:19:57,600 --> 02:20:02,359
Speaker 45: Mountain's saying, right need.

2339
02:20:02,360 --> 02:20:08,400
Speaker 46: Our love, The earth needs our attention, and we are

2340
02:20:09,800 --> 02:20:10,800
Speaker 46: we have conscience.

2341
02:20:10,920 --> 02:20:15,480
Speaker 45: We know that this is not right. Don't go by

2342
02:20:15,520 --> 02:20:20,280
Speaker 45: yourself when we go to activities, stay together, don't go

2343
02:20:20,360 --> 02:20:21,760
Speaker 45: outside by yourself.

2344
02:20:22,280 --> 02:20:25,680
Speaker 46: Don't We need to.

2345
02:20:24,840 --> 02:20:28,680
Speaker 45: Make understand that this is the right thing to do.

2346
02:20:29,640 --> 02:20:33,960
Speaker 45: We we are the correct people. We are right because

2347
02:20:34,480 --> 02:20:42,080
Speaker 45: we are driving by love, by carry and concern, and.

2348
02:20:42,040 --> 02:20:47,320
Speaker 20: We love all of I love you and I know

2349
02:20:47,520 --> 02:20:48,720
Speaker 20: that you love me.

2350
02:20:50,680 --> 02:20:54,039
Speaker 1: A speaker from Black Votes Matter addressed to the crowd next,

2351
02:20:54,400 --> 02:20:57,760
Speaker 1: starting off by talking about the importance of mass action.

2352
02:20:58,360 --> 02:21:00,959
Speaker 22: I just want to explain something because sometimes people get confused,

2353
02:21:00,959 --> 02:21:01,600
Speaker 22: they get it twisted.

2354
02:21:01,640 --> 02:21:02,720
Speaker 7: They say, oh, y'all, look like vote.

2355
02:21:02,720 --> 02:21:04,760
Speaker 29: It's better all y'all do is talk about voting.

2356
02:21:05,200 --> 02:21:07,240
Speaker 22: Be clear, we understand that the way that we get

2357
02:21:07,280 --> 02:21:09,240
Speaker 22: to liberation is not going to come.

2358
02:21:09,160 --> 02:21:10,640
Speaker 7: Just through a vote.

2359
02:21:11,760 --> 02:21:13,680
Speaker 22: That's never been how it's worked for our people in

2360
02:21:13,720 --> 02:21:16,200
Speaker 22: this country. Sister Harry didn't get a chance to vote

2361
02:21:16,400 --> 02:21:18,760
Speaker 22: for liberations. She didn't get a chance to vote to

2362
02:21:18,840 --> 02:21:22,600
Speaker 22: take our people off the plantation right. So we are

2363
02:21:22,680 --> 02:21:25,240
Speaker 22: very clear that what we have got to be. In fact,

2364
02:21:25,360 --> 02:21:28,879
Speaker 22: we just celebrated, commemorated the anniversary of Selma and the

2365
02:21:28,920 --> 02:21:31,560
Speaker 22: marks of Montgomery. But be clear, the people of Selma

2366
02:21:31,640 --> 02:21:34,520
Speaker 22: didn't vote for a Voting Rights Act. They had to

2367
02:21:34,560 --> 02:21:36,280
Speaker 22: fight for it, they had to march for it. In

2368
02:21:36,320 --> 02:21:39,400
Speaker 22: some cases, they bled for it, they had to resist

2369
02:21:39,640 --> 02:21:42,240
Speaker 22: for it, they had to take to the streets for it.

2370
02:21:42,240 --> 02:21:45,160
Speaker 22: It's a that tradition that we are out here today.

2371
02:21:45,440 --> 02:21:46,200
Speaker 18: So yes, hot it.

2372
02:21:46,480 --> 02:21:47,080
Speaker 10: I believe.

2373
02:21:48,840 --> 02:21:50,640
Speaker 22: I believe in the power of the vote, but I

2374
02:21:50,680 --> 02:21:52,720
Speaker 22: also believe in the power of mass action.

2375
02:21:53,640 --> 02:21:56,880
Speaker 1: He then talked about the intersection of Copcity and efforts

2376
02:21:56,920 --> 02:21:59,959
Speaker 1: to further restrict the democratic process in Georgia.

2377
02:22:00,400 --> 02:22:04,520
Speaker 22: The same corporations that are that are funding cop City

2378
02:22:04,840 --> 02:22:07,800
Speaker 22: are the same ones that are funding the bonus questions,

2379
02:22:08,959 --> 02:22:11,360
Speaker 22: the same ones we've did our whole campaign a couple

2380
02:22:11,400 --> 02:22:14,120
Speaker 22: of years ago in Georgia, says that bonus prison bill.

2381
02:22:14,320 --> 02:22:18,360
Speaker 22: And we called out Home Depot and Coca Cola and

2382
02:22:18,480 --> 02:22:21,800
Speaker 22: tell them many of the other corporations that give money

2383
02:22:22,080 --> 02:22:25,000
Speaker 22: to the people, that are that are taken away our.

2384
02:22:25,000 --> 02:22:25,879
Speaker 46: Rights to vote.

2385
02:22:25,920 --> 02:22:28,119
Speaker 22: And then if you don't have a government that reflects

2386
02:22:28,160 --> 02:22:31,119
Speaker 22: the people, then what you need. You need a police

2387
02:22:31,160 --> 02:22:33,840
Speaker 22: force to enforce the fact that you don't have a

2388
02:22:33,879 --> 02:22:38,119
Speaker 22: government that reflects the people. And so our message from

2389
02:22:38,160 --> 02:22:41,360
Speaker 22: Mary Dickets, our message for the City Council is that

2390
02:22:41,440 --> 02:22:44,959
Speaker 22: If you don't respond to the people, you want to

2391
02:22:45,040 --> 02:22:48,320
Speaker 22: lose those chile you want to lose your job.

2392
02:22:49,240 --> 02:22:50,879
Speaker 46: Because we've got that power.

2393
02:22:51,320 --> 02:22:53,560
Speaker 22: We've got the power to make that happen.

2394
02:22:54,080 --> 02:22:58,160
Speaker 1: Students from the Atlanta University Center consortium of four black

2395
02:22:58,200 --> 02:23:00,840
Speaker 1: colleges in Atlanta, where some of the last people to

2396
02:23:00,920 --> 02:23:02,560
Speaker 1: give speeches before the march.

2397
02:23:03,120 --> 02:23:06,440
Speaker 47: We have attempted to reform our police force, add de

2398
02:23:06,560 --> 02:23:10,120
Speaker 47: el escalation training, add civil rights history training, and give

2399
02:23:10,160 --> 02:23:12,640
Speaker 47: more money to our police, but we continue to see

2400
02:23:12,640 --> 02:23:16,240
Speaker 47: black bodies across social media platforms, television, and other media

2401
02:23:16,280 --> 02:23:22,560
Speaker 47: platforms being displayed being murdered. The victims have received no justice.

2402
02:23:22,600 --> 02:23:24,240
Speaker 47: And when we say no justice, what do we say?

2403
02:23:24,400 --> 02:23:30,840
Speaker 11: No justice, no justice, no justice.

2404
02:23:31,280 --> 02:23:34,320
Speaker 42: The building of the Atlanta Public Training Center is an

2405
02:23:34,360 --> 02:23:37,680
Speaker 42: insult and an act of the utmost disrespect from our

2406
02:23:37,720 --> 02:23:38,440
Speaker 42: city leaders.

2407
02:23:39,000 --> 02:23:41,080
Speaker 46: We have a duty to fight for the change that

2408
02:23:41,120 --> 02:23:41,640
Speaker 46: we seek.

2409
02:23:42,400 --> 02:23:46,119
Speaker 32: As an active member of this community, I refuse to sit.

2410
02:23:46,000 --> 02:23:48,840
Speaker 28: By and be idle and just let things happen.

2411
02:23:49,760 --> 02:23:53,440
Speaker 48: This city has been my home ever since I was born.

2412
02:23:54,040 --> 02:23:54,600
Speaker 4: I have been to.

2413
02:23:54,640 --> 02:23:55,760
Speaker 46: Various events here.

2414
02:23:55,959 --> 02:23:58,120
Speaker 48: I have seen the sights and have lived through some

2415
02:23:58,160 --> 02:24:01,760
Speaker 48: of the most important events here in this City. This

2416
02:24:01,800 --> 02:24:05,920
Speaker 48: is my home. This is your home, This is our home.

2417
02:24:06,400 --> 02:24:10,280
Speaker 48: This is the home of Black excellence. This is the

2418
02:24:10,320 --> 02:24:13,680
Speaker 48: home of doctor Martin Luther King Junior. This is the

2419
02:24:13,720 --> 02:24:17,240
Speaker 48: home of John Lewis. This is the home of Joseph

2420
02:24:17,400 --> 02:24:19,320
Speaker 48: Evelyn and Joseph E.

2421
02:24:19,400 --> 02:24:22,000
Speaker 46: Lowy. This is the home of civil rights. This is

2422
02:24:22,040 --> 02:24:24,040
Speaker 46: the home of CT.

2423
02:24:24,280 --> 02:24:24,680
Speaker 5: Gibon.

2424
02:24:25,240 --> 02:24:28,000
Speaker 13: This is the home of great blackness itself.

2425
02:24:28,280 --> 02:24:32,199
Speaker 22: This is the home of every single black person here

2426
02:24:32,640 --> 02:24:39,440
Speaker 22: in America. This city, this house, this place of Black

2427
02:24:39,520 --> 02:24:43,240
Speaker 22: excellence says no to Cop City.

2428
02:24:43,720 --> 02:24:47,080
Speaker 49: My Afro pessimist friends and revolutionaries both agree we are

2429
02:24:47,120 --> 02:24:50,800
Speaker 49: at war. The police in the city have said as

2430
02:24:50,879 --> 02:24:55,279
Speaker 49: much loudly with their words and their actions. It feels

2431
02:24:55,320 --> 02:24:59,480
Speaker 49: obvious to me that we need warriors weapons, and I

2432
02:24:59,520 --> 02:25:03,600
Speaker 49: know that fact may give some of us trepidation, but

2433
02:25:03,680 --> 02:25:05,640
Speaker 49: I want to assure you that we need so much

2434
02:25:05,680 --> 02:25:09,879
Speaker 49: more than soldiers to win this fight. Whatever it is

2435
02:25:09,920 --> 02:25:12,760
Speaker 49: that you do, whatever skill you bring, I just ask

2436
02:25:12,840 --> 02:25:15,360
Speaker 49: that you make it a weapon. If we are ever

2437
02:25:15,480 --> 02:25:19,039
Speaker 49: going to experience democracy, we need your tools to be

2438
02:25:19,200 --> 02:25:24,600
Speaker 49: repurposed in this fight against Cop City. If you're a

2439
02:25:24,640 --> 02:25:26,920
Speaker 49: writer like me, child that Patty better look like a

2440
02:25:26,959 --> 02:25:33,680
Speaker 49: threat to cop city. If you do mutual aid, caring

2441
02:25:33,720 --> 02:25:36,480
Speaker 49: for community ain't gonna get any easier. Please show us

2442
02:25:36,480 --> 02:25:38,920
Speaker 49: the way.

2443
02:25:39,240 --> 02:25:41,000
Speaker 4: If you're an artist, where my artist at.

2444
02:25:43,360 --> 02:25:44,680
Speaker 8: You got a lot of them out here.

2445
02:25:45,760 --> 02:25:49,640
Speaker 49: Let every painting reveal the truth, including the joy and

2446
02:25:49,720 --> 02:25:55,520
Speaker 49: freedom that abolition calls us to. Let us make songs

2447
02:25:55,520 --> 02:26:00,959
Speaker 49: that inspire revolution. If you're a healer, get ready, we

2448
02:26:01,040 --> 02:26:01,360
Speaker 49: need you.

2449
02:26:02,680 --> 02:26:04,280
Speaker 5: Much will be lost in this struggle.

2450
02:26:05,560 --> 02:26:06,440
Speaker 8: Let us not forget.

2451
02:26:07,680 --> 02:26:09,560
Speaker 49: If you're a teacher, well, we got a lot to

2452
02:26:09,640 --> 02:26:12,160
Speaker 49: learn about this war we're fighting and how police practice

2453
02:26:12,280 --> 02:26:17,000
Speaker 49: urban warfare. If you're a lawyer, guide us when they

2454
02:26:17,040 --> 02:26:18,439
Speaker 49: say that any fighter.

2455
02:26:18,160 --> 02:26:18,800
Speaker 4: Is a criminal.

2456
02:26:19,920 --> 02:26:22,160
Speaker 49: If you're a digital organizer, to keep your finger on

2457
02:26:22,200 --> 02:26:25,879
Speaker 49: the pulse and tell our stories far and wide. And

2458
02:26:25,920 --> 02:26:29,480
Speaker 49: if you're a community organizer, we need to tend to

2459
02:26:29,560 --> 02:26:34,720
Speaker 49: our relationships, not just use them. We need real solidarity

2460
02:26:34,760 --> 02:26:40,320
Speaker 49: which goes beyond unity. We need pluralism, making space for

2461
02:26:40,400 --> 02:26:44,800
Speaker 49: many strategies to coexist, and ultimately we need to practice democracy.

2462
02:26:44,800 --> 02:26:47,039
Speaker 49: If we plan to build one cop city, is the

2463
02:26:47,040 --> 02:26:51,080
Speaker 49: police in the establishment preparing for domestic war right here

2464
02:26:51,080 --> 02:26:54,400
Speaker 49: in the city of Atlanta. Any further training of the

2465
02:26:54,400 --> 02:27:05,440
Speaker 49: police is training against our existence. That shit cannot be built.

2466
02:27:06,240 --> 02:27:07,640
Speaker 29: It will.

2467
02:27:09,320 --> 02:27:12,840
Speaker 49: We all must fight for the democracy we've never seen before.

2468
02:27:13,920 --> 02:27:14,920
Speaker 4: What are you willing to do?

2469
02:27:15,720 --> 02:27:16,000
Speaker 35: Thank you?

2470
02:27:19,560 --> 02:27:22,640
Speaker 1: So, after about an hour of speeches, people are now

2471
02:27:22,640 --> 02:27:23,680
Speaker 1: finally getting ready to move.

2472
02:27:23,720 --> 02:27:24,640
Speaker 10: They announced on the.

2473
02:27:24,640 --> 02:27:27,440
Speaker 1: Loudspeaker where we are going. We are marching to the

2474
02:27:27,480 --> 02:27:31,440
Speaker 1: Atlanta Police Foundation headquarters on Peachtree, the same location that

2475
02:27:31,520 --> 02:27:35,960
Speaker 1: had the front windows broken on the protest following the

2476
02:27:36,080 --> 02:27:40,400
Speaker 1: killing of Tortighita that Saturday. So people leave, they stick

2477
02:27:40,440 --> 02:27:44,120
Speaker 1: onto the sidewalk because there's cops staring at them, and

2478
02:27:44,640 --> 02:27:47,760
Speaker 1: cops that definitely had had had indicated that if if

2479
02:27:47,760 --> 02:27:50,959
Speaker 1: people step on to the street, they would be arrested.

2480
02:27:55,440 --> 02:27:58,320
Speaker 1: The length of the march is stretching for about two

2481
02:27:58,400 --> 02:28:01,120
Speaker 1: or three city blocks, just because you know, trying to

2482
02:28:01,120 --> 02:28:04,120
Speaker 1: cram three hundred people onto a sidewalk.

2483
02:28:03,760 --> 02:28:05,640
Speaker 10: Makes sense stretch out really long.

2484
02:28:06,360 --> 02:28:09,560
Speaker 1: But the cops have been pretty pretty adamant that if

2485
02:28:09,560 --> 02:28:12,440
Speaker 1: anyone steps onto the street, they're going to get arrested.

2486
02:28:12,800 --> 02:28:15,600
Speaker 1: That is a banner being carried across that says what

2487
02:28:15,879 --> 02:28:21,840
Speaker 1: you water grows fund our future, Stop cop city, defend

2488
02:28:21,840 --> 02:28:26,680
Speaker 1: the forest. People with the stop cop City signs in

2489
02:28:26,720 --> 02:28:30,879
Speaker 1: the Coca Cola font signs that read Atlanta versus cop City,

2490
02:28:31,440 --> 02:28:38,199
Speaker 1: no cop city on stolen Land. The Thursday march definitely

2491
02:28:38,280 --> 02:28:40,280
Speaker 1: had the most amount of signs out of all of

2492
02:28:40,320 --> 02:28:43,880
Speaker 1: the individual marches or actions that I went to, both

2493
02:28:44,040 --> 02:28:48,480
Speaker 1: small handheld signs and also signs with really tall handles

2494
02:28:48,480 --> 02:28:56,240
Speaker 1: to hold up above the crowd. All right, people are

2495
02:28:56,280 --> 02:28:59,760
Speaker 1: being led into the street now after walking, after walking

2496
02:28:59,800 --> 02:29:04,119
Speaker 1: on the hidewalk for a decent while, people have now

2497
02:29:04,160 --> 02:29:06,959
Speaker 1: taken to the streets along the path of the march.

2498
02:29:07,040 --> 02:29:09,800
Speaker 1: The projector was set up projecting like stop stop coop

2499
02:29:09,840 --> 02:29:12,320
Speaker 1: city slogans onto the side of a building, almost like

2500
02:29:12,440 --> 02:29:14,039
Speaker 1: really really good graphic design.

2501
02:29:14,200 --> 02:29:16,720
Speaker 2: Visuals is definitely a strength of the movement.

2502
02:29:17,120 --> 02:29:21,160
Speaker 1: There's this police riot helmet that has a tree growing

2503
02:29:21,200 --> 02:29:23,440
Speaker 1: underneath it and breaking apart of the helmet. It says,

2504
02:29:23,680 --> 02:29:26,240
Speaker 1: trees give life, police take it. We got a police

2505
02:29:26,320 --> 02:29:29,320
Speaker 1: riot line set up a few blocks ahead of the

2506
02:29:29,320 --> 02:29:32,400
Speaker 1: people marching on the street right next to the building

2507
02:29:32,440 --> 02:29:35,120
Speaker 1: with these with the stop cop City stuff projected onto

2508
02:29:35,120 --> 02:29:39,040
Speaker 1: the side. Rather than let the police do an escalatory

2509
02:29:39,240 --> 02:29:42,480
Speaker 1: show of violence, people opted to move back onto the

2510
02:29:42,520 --> 02:29:46,000
Speaker 1: sidewalk to continue the march uninhibited. People seem to be

2511
02:29:46,080 --> 02:29:49,920
Speaker 1: moving closer back onto the sidewalk as they're staring down

2512
02:29:49,959 --> 02:29:54,040
Speaker 1: this riot line, and police are now heading back inside.

2513
02:29:54,200 --> 02:29:58,480
Speaker 1: They're white rent to bush little vans that they've been

2514
02:29:58,520 --> 02:30:01,640
Speaker 1: staging their riot cops out of, and they're driving off.

2515
02:30:02,600 --> 02:30:06,560
Speaker 1: People are now in downtown Atlanta outside of the Georgia

2516
02:30:06,600 --> 02:30:07,360
Speaker 1: Pacific Center.

2517
02:30:08,879 --> 02:30:12,840
Speaker 10: We have like twelve regular police.

2518
02:30:12,480 --> 02:30:17,720
Speaker 1: Cars, the two white vans full of riot cops and

2519
02:30:17,920 --> 02:30:20,280
Speaker 1: lots of them cops the stage in places I cannot

2520
02:30:20,440 --> 02:30:25,240
Speaker 1: currently see. All right, We're marching north along Peachtree Street,

2521
02:30:27,080 --> 02:30:31,800
Speaker 1: heading heading to the Atlantic Police Foundation got the two

2522
02:30:32,080 --> 02:30:35,440
Speaker 1: the two bus Max rent of buses full of riot

2523
02:30:35,440 --> 02:30:39,320
Speaker 1: cops right right beside the march. Cops really out of

2524
02:30:39,320 --> 02:30:43,520
Speaker 1: it about not letting anybody march in the street. It's

2525
02:30:43,520 --> 02:30:45,720
Speaker 1: funny because a few days ago they wouldn't let people

2526
02:30:45,720 --> 02:30:48,400
Speaker 1: stand on the sidewalk either. Most of the cops that

2527
02:30:48,400 --> 02:30:50,800
Speaker 1: are surrounding the march right now are still in their vehicles,

2528
02:30:51,440 --> 02:30:55,800
Speaker 1: at least from this current vantage point. As opposed to

2529
02:30:55,840 --> 02:30:57,920
Speaker 1: the non violent direct act of march, I was opposed

2530
02:30:57,920 --> 02:31:01,160
Speaker 1: to the non violent direct action marches and actions that

2531
02:31:01,240 --> 02:31:04,240
Speaker 1: have happened launching out of woodword Park the past week

2532
02:31:04,840 --> 02:31:08,480
Speaker 1: in which the police just tailed and surrounded the march

2533
02:31:08,520 --> 02:31:11,879
Speaker 1: on foot, I think this march is just slightly I

2534
02:31:11,879 --> 02:31:14,280
Speaker 1: think this march is just slightly too big to use

2535
02:31:14,320 --> 02:31:19,480
Speaker 1: that tactic, so they're surrounding them with vehicles instead. As

2536
02:31:19,520 --> 02:31:22,680
Speaker 1: the march arrived at the Atlanta Police Foundation, the hundreds

2537
02:31:22,680 --> 02:31:26,160
Speaker 1: of protesters crammed onto the sidewalk were greeted by armed

2538
02:31:26,240 --> 02:31:30,120
Speaker 1: APD officers. Riot police are standing in front of the

2539
02:31:30,200 --> 02:31:34,600
Speaker 1: boarded up Atlanta Police Foundation headquarters at one nine to

2540
02:31:34,680 --> 02:31:38,520
Speaker 1: one Peach Tree. There is a large, large crowd in

2541
02:31:38,560 --> 02:31:42,520
Speaker 1: front of these relatively small amount of officers standing in

2542
02:31:42,520 --> 02:31:45,760
Speaker 1: front of the board and up doors a few dozen cops,

2543
02:31:46,040 --> 02:31:49,120
Speaker 1: some armed with AR fifteen's, A lot of cops stationed

2544
02:31:49,160 --> 02:31:54,440
Speaker 1: outside the APF headquarters and even more stationed inside APF headquarters.

2545
02:31:54,520 --> 02:31:57,160
Speaker 1: Police blocked off traffic in the on this section of

2546
02:31:57,200 --> 02:32:02,680
Speaker 1: Peachtree Street, the sandwiching everybody in. They could have mass

2547
02:32:02,720 --> 02:32:04,560
Speaker 1: arrested as I'm sure they wanted to.

2548
02:32:05,080 --> 02:32:08,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, the police were ready to mass rest the entire time.

2549
02:32:10,080 --> 02:32:11,680
Speaker 10: This is this is kind of a wild sighte.

2550
02:32:11,720 --> 02:32:15,920
Speaker 1: We have hundreds of people staring down about three dozen

2551
02:32:15,920 --> 02:32:20,080
Speaker 1: officers from the Atlanta Police Department on their fifteen's, obviously

2552
02:32:20,120 --> 02:32:24,480
Speaker 1: all of their handguns from hundreds of hundred, hundreds of

2553
02:32:24,480 --> 02:32:28,360
Speaker 1: people holding signs staring down the police. You can you

2554
02:32:28,400 --> 02:32:31,320
Speaker 1: can feel the kind of you can feel the temperature.

2555
02:32:30,879 --> 02:32:34,080
Speaker 10: Rising a little bit here. The cops look very nervous

2556
02:32:34,160 --> 02:32:34,520
Speaker 10: as one.

2557
02:32:34,560 --> 02:32:38,160
Speaker 1: Hundreds of people who are chanting at them, and I'm

2558
02:32:38,160 --> 02:32:42,240
Speaker 1: not very happy are facing them down. They're so they're

2559
02:32:42,240 --> 02:32:45,760
Speaker 1: so close together, we're they're just sandwiched in. This is

2560
02:32:45,800 --> 02:32:48,600
Speaker 1: such a tense situation right now. No one in the

2561
02:32:48,600 --> 02:32:50,680
Speaker 1: crowd has any visible weapons of any kind. Of course,

2562
02:32:51,000 --> 02:32:55,840
Speaker 1: they're holding big signs. Cops have some zipcuffs ready, cops

2563
02:32:55,879 --> 02:32:59,840
Speaker 1: have all of their all their guns ready. I was

2564
02:32:59,879 --> 02:33:02,680
Speaker 1: able to see inside the building via a small slit

2565
02:33:02,800 --> 02:33:06,320
Speaker 1: in the plywood. There were tons of riot cops inside

2566
02:33:06,360 --> 02:33:09,200
Speaker 1: with shields, and all the cops on the inside of

2567
02:33:09,200 --> 02:33:12,720
Speaker 1: the building had gas masks strapped to their leg. At

2568
02:33:12,840 --> 02:33:14,879
Speaker 1: least one riot cop on the other side of the

2569
02:33:14,920 --> 02:33:18,360
Speaker 1: door was wearing a unique armored suit, not like the

2570
02:33:18,400 --> 02:33:21,480
Speaker 1: regular police suits with riot armor like on the outside,

2571
02:33:22,040 --> 02:33:25,160
Speaker 1: this armored padding was built into the clothing. He had

2572
02:33:25,160 --> 02:33:29,240
Speaker 1: these massive bulky leg pants with armor on the insides

2573
02:33:29,280 --> 02:33:32,280
Speaker 1: of them and like a massive riot helmet. He was

2574
02:33:32,280 --> 02:33:35,200
Speaker 1: one of those cops who doesn't need a riot shield

2575
02:33:35,480 --> 02:33:39,240
Speaker 1: because his body is the riot shield. It was very weird,

2576
02:33:39,760 --> 02:33:42,680
Speaker 1: But for those first few minutes, it was a very

2577
02:33:42,879 --> 02:33:46,400
Speaker 1: high stress situation in front of the APF building. It

2578
02:33:46,440 --> 02:33:49,240
Speaker 1: felt like neither the crowd nor the police knew exactly

2579
02:33:49,320 --> 02:33:51,800
Speaker 1: what was about to go down as a few hundred

2580
02:33:51,879 --> 02:33:55,560
Speaker 1: angry protesters were pushed up against a line of armed police.

2581
02:33:56,200 --> 02:33:58,680
Speaker 1: But as time went on, you got the impression that

2582
02:33:58,760 --> 02:34:02,320
Speaker 1: this crowd was probably not going to initiate conflict with

2583
02:34:02,440 --> 02:34:04,680
Speaker 1: the police, and I feel like some of the moods

2584
02:34:04,760 --> 02:34:07,320
Speaker 1: maybe kind of died down. Cops are trying to kind

2585
02:34:07,360 --> 02:34:10,199
Speaker 1: of move around the crowd a bit. There's there's cops

2586
02:34:10,240 --> 02:34:14,000
Speaker 1: being stationed to the north, to the south, to behind

2587
02:34:14,000 --> 02:34:17,720
Speaker 1: the crowd on the other side of the street. We

2588
02:34:18,480 --> 02:34:20,600
Speaker 1: this could go so many ways right now, This could

2589
02:34:20,720 --> 02:34:25,360
Speaker 1: end in so many different scenarios. But people have not

2590
02:34:25,400 --> 02:34:27,959
Speaker 1: initiating anything other than standing on the sidewalk and.

2591
02:34:28,200 --> 02:34:29,439
Speaker 10: Chanting and given speeches.

2592
02:34:30,360 --> 02:34:32,800
Speaker 1: If you look, there's a small section of the FF

2593
02:34:32,840 --> 02:34:35,600
Speaker 1: building where there's still a tiny, tiny, tiny sliver of

2594
02:34:35,640 --> 02:34:38,320
Speaker 1: glass by one of the doors, and you can see

2595
02:34:38,360 --> 02:34:42,199
Speaker 1: lots of lots of cops stationed inside with riot shields.

2596
02:34:42,920 --> 02:34:45,160
Speaker 1: But I do not believe this crowd is gonna be

2597
02:34:45,400 --> 02:34:49,520
Speaker 1: busting down any doors. Camu Franklin, the founder of Community

2598
02:34:49,520 --> 02:34:52,960
Speaker 1: Movement Builders, was the last person to speak in front

2599
02:34:53,040 --> 02:34:54,279
Speaker 1: of the Atlanta Police Foundation.

2600
02:34:55,440 --> 02:35:00,240
Speaker 35: No cops, it's nothing but a chry go over. Please

2601
02:35:00,280 --> 02:35:04,440
Speaker 35: think our communities. We know a cop city. There's nothing

2602
02:35:04,480 --> 02:35:07,320
Speaker 35: but a strategy to stop our movements.

2603
02:35:08,160 --> 02:35:09,320
Speaker 3: And what movements are those?

2604
02:35:09,560 --> 02:35:13,279
Speaker 35: The moments against police follans and terrorism in our community.

2605
02:35:13,560 --> 02:35:16,400
Speaker 35: It is in twenty twenty one that they introduced this

2606
02:35:16,560 --> 02:35:20,000
Speaker 35: idea to stop, to put cop city out here to

2607
02:35:20,120 --> 02:35:23,840
Speaker 35: stop our movements. When people were talking about the fund

2608
02:35:23,920 --> 02:35:27,240
Speaker 35: the police, abolish the police, find our turn it is

2609
02:35:27,280 --> 02:35:29,080
Speaker 35: the public safety, they.

2610
02:35:28,879 --> 02:35:31,080
Speaker 7: Said, hell no, we.

2611
02:35:30,959 --> 02:35:32,600
Speaker 10: Want more police.

2612
02:35:33,320 --> 02:35:37,040
Speaker 35: And I put that idea out there, and the movement

2613
02:35:37,280 --> 02:35:40,440
Speaker 35: was born to stop cop city. This movement is two

2614
02:35:40,640 --> 02:35:42,520
Speaker 35: years old and it doesn't look like.

2615
02:35:42,440 --> 02:35:43,199
Speaker 4: It's going to stop.

2616
02:35:43,200 --> 02:35:43,360
Speaker 49: To me.

2617
02:35:45,080 --> 02:35:47,959
Speaker 1: By the end, you got this sense that this march

2618
02:35:48,120 --> 02:35:50,960
Speaker 1: did exactly what it wanted to. There were three hundred

2619
02:35:50,959 --> 02:35:53,440
Speaker 1: people standing like a foot away from two dozen cops,

2620
02:35:53,520 --> 02:35:57,240
Speaker 1: starring them down, giving speeches chanting. If people wanted to

2621
02:35:57,640 --> 02:36:01,240
Speaker 1: other things could have happened. This rally could have resulted

2622
02:36:01,280 --> 02:36:04,720
Speaker 1: in many ways, many of them probably very ugly and

2623
02:36:04,879 --> 02:36:06,480
Speaker 1: carrying a very high cost.

2624
02:36:06,959 --> 02:36:10,720
Speaker 35: The reason we did in march like this today was

2625
02:36:10,760 --> 02:36:14,560
Speaker 35: to say to all the na saves. Black folks don't

2626
02:36:14,600 --> 02:36:19,720
Speaker 35: want cop City. In people don't want cop City. White

2627
02:36:19,760 --> 02:36:23,920
Speaker 35: folks don't want cop City. At Lantis don't want cop City.

2628
02:36:24,800 --> 02:36:28,800
Speaker 35: Folks from outside Atlanta don't want cop City. Don't body

2629
02:36:28,840 --> 02:36:33,400
Speaker 35: in the United States wants cop City because Ronestitians.

2630
02:36:32,680 --> 02:36:33,680
Speaker 7: Don't work Cops City.

2631
02:36:34,560 --> 02:36:36,279
Speaker 3: So people in Latin America.

2632
02:36:35,959 --> 02:36:36,960
Speaker 46: Don't want cop City.

2633
02:36:37,879 --> 02:36:38,680
Speaker 16: Don't were in.

2634
02:36:38,640 --> 02:36:39,840
Speaker 21: This world don't we.

2635
02:36:39,920 --> 02:36:41,039
Speaker 46: Work cop City.

2636
02:36:42,400 --> 02:36:46,439
Speaker 35: We wanted to make sure that we came in safety

2637
02:36:46,720 --> 02:36:51,120
Speaker 35: and we leave in safety. We wanted to make sure

2638
02:36:51,720 --> 02:36:56,240
Speaker 35: that we don't have any more political prisoners today. That

2639
02:36:56,320 --> 02:36:58,960
Speaker 35: we wanted this to be a march about our unity

2640
02:36:59,120 --> 02:37:03,000
Speaker 35: and our safety in numbers, and as we wrap up today,

2641
02:37:03,280 --> 02:37:06,560
Speaker 35: that's what we want. It's not like we gotta give

2642
02:37:06,560 --> 02:37:09,840
Speaker 35: them an excuse. When you are around the cop the

2643
02:37:09,879 --> 02:37:12,080
Speaker 35: same way when you're around the wild animal.

2644
02:37:11,800 --> 02:37:13,240
Speaker 7: What do you gotta do.

2645
02:37:13,240 --> 02:37:17,280
Speaker 35: You gotta be cautious, you gotta be careful. You gotta

2646
02:37:17,400 --> 02:37:20,480
Speaker 35: move a certain way, you gotta know which way to

2647
02:37:20,560 --> 02:37:24,320
Speaker 35: go because you're looking to protect your safety. And right

2648
02:37:24,360 --> 02:37:28,320
Speaker 35: now I'm looking to protect our safety. So as we

2649
02:37:28,400 --> 02:37:33,000
Speaker 35: depart here today, we are departing in unit, We are

2650
02:37:33,040 --> 02:37:38,600
Speaker 35: departing together. We are gonna walk back in close quarters

2651
02:37:38,720 --> 02:37:41,600
Speaker 35: together where our cars work. If you're going to Martyr,

2652
02:37:42,320 --> 02:37:44,959
Speaker 35: you're gonna walk close together with other people as you

2653
02:37:45,040 --> 02:37:47,680
Speaker 35: go to Marta if you need a van to pick

2654
02:37:47,720 --> 02:37:52,080
Speaker 35: you up, if you can't take Marta two blocks this

2655
02:37:52,240 --> 02:37:58,800
Speaker 35: way by deposit. So we want you to be safe, secure,

2656
02:37:59,200 --> 02:37:59,959
Speaker 35: because you want to be.

2657
02:38:00,240 --> 02:38:01,720
Speaker 46: Here gig the fight.

2658
02:38:04,920 --> 02:38:07,560
Speaker 1: There was this sense that the people there wanted to

2659
02:38:07,560 --> 02:38:11,080
Speaker 1: show that if they wanted to do things, they could have,

2660
02:38:11,560 --> 02:38:14,240
Speaker 1: but they knew that this was not This was not

2661
02:38:14,280 --> 02:38:15,840
Speaker 1: the right time nor the right place.

2662
02:38:16,160 --> 02:38:20,280
Speaker 2: Restraint and and understanding of what like practice I would

2663
02:38:20,320 --> 02:38:21,720
Speaker 2: say in that situation is.

2664
02:38:21,879 --> 02:38:24,200
Speaker 1: And I mean in the speeches that happened beforehand, there

2665
02:38:24,280 --> 02:38:27,280
Speaker 1: was people from community movement builders, from Black Votes Matter,

2666
02:38:27,440 --> 02:38:30,240
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of other black led groups in the city.

2667
02:38:30,680 --> 02:38:33,879
Speaker 1: And similarly, like like like what happened at the Clergy event,

2668
02:38:33,920 --> 02:38:37,760
Speaker 1: there was not a single whiff of condemnation of militant tactics,

2669
02:38:38,280 --> 02:38:42,520
Speaker 1: of of of property, destruction of actions that people take this.

2670
02:38:42,840 --> 02:38:46,480
Speaker 1: They people there who gave speeches recognized that such tactics

2671
02:38:46,760 --> 02:38:52,840
Speaker 1: were a staple of the civil rights movement. Early Saturday morning,

2672
02:38:52,959 --> 02:38:56,440
Speaker 1: I woke up to news that police had begun another raid.

2673
02:38:57,160 --> 02:39:00,400
Speaker 1: But instead of writing the Mulani Forest the the police

2674
02:39:00,400 --> 02:39:03,680
Speaker 1: were searching the ten acre property of the Lakewood Environmental

2675
02:39:03,760 --> 02:39:07,760
Speaker 1: Arts Foundation or LEAF, a local nonprofit that was offering

2676
02:39:07,920 --> 02:39:11,880
Speaker 1: safe haven for people during the week of Action. All right,

2677
02:39:12,040 --> 02:39:15,120
Speaker 1: so the Lant police have executed a warrant on the

2678
02:39:15,240 --> 02:39:18,840
Speaker 1: LEAF meet up spot in southeast Atlanta that people have

2679
02:39:18,840 --> 02:39:21,520
Speaker 1: been using as a welcome center, as like a medic

2680
02:39:21,720 --> 02:39:24,640
Speaker 1: station and just another spot to hang out. It was

2681
02:39:24,800 --> 02:39:28,160
Speaker 1: set up after the raid Sunday night and it is

2682
02:39:28,200 --> 02:39:32,400
Speaker 1: now Saturday morning. The police have executed this warrant to

2683
02:39:32,800 --> 02:39:35,080
Speaker 1: search Parmasis ID everyone who's there.

2684
02:39:35,360 --> 02:39:37,240
Speaker 10: We got a group of people. It's being able to

2685
02:39:37,320 --> 02:39:37,959
Speaker 10: leave right now.

2686
02:39:39,080 --> 02:39:43,040
Speaker 1: There has been a prison transport vehicle called in and

2687
02:39:43,160 --> 02:39:45,360
Speaker 1: cops have like blocked off intersections around the area. No

2688
02:39:45,400 --> 02:39:47,400
Speaker 1: one's allowed to get close. People are not allowed to

2689
02:39:47,400 --> 02:39:49,160
Speaker 1: return to their cars. People are not allowed to return

2690
02:39:49,160 --> 02:39:52,640
Speaker 1: to their private property. Since Sunday night, the land was

2691
02:39:52,680 --> 02:39:55,920
Speaker 1: being used as a medic hub and provided a secondary

2692
02:39:55,959 --> 02:39:59,039
Speaker 1: place to camp for those who didn't feel safe staying

2693
02:39:59,160 --> 02:40:03,600
Speaker 1: in the forest. During their raid Saturday morning, police detained

2694
02:40:03,640 --> 02:40:06,920
Speaker 1: at least twenty two people and refused to show anyone

2695
02:40:07,040 --> 02:40:10,560
Speaker 1: the search warrant. And yeah, the group that got released

2696
02:40:10,600 --> 02:40:13,320
Speaker 1: is just walking up now. Maybe like two dozen people

2697
02:40:13,480 --> 02:40:14,480
Speaker 1: have been able to walk up.

2698
02:40:16,120 --> 02:40:23,760
Speaker 26: We just goat through their police lines and we're gonna, yeah,

2699
02:40:23,879 --> 02:40:27,400
Speaker 26: huddle up and get to a safe place. We were

2700
02:40:27,480 --> 02:40:33,560
Speaker 26: woken up by helicopters. There had been helicopters doing rounds

2701
02:40:33,600 --> 02:40:38,920
Speaker 26: all evening and I don't even know what time. Seven something,

2702
02:40:39,080 --> 02:40:44,359
Speaker 26: we heard loud speakers saying that they had a warrant

2703
02:40:45,879 --> 02:40:53,200
Speaker 26: to search the property private property, and that was very disorienting.

2704
02:40:53,280 --> 02:40:56,880
Speaker 26: Obviously I was in the middle of sleeping. We came

2705
02:40:56,920 --> 02:41:00,800
Speaker 26: out with our hands open, our hands up. We had

2706
02:41:00,920 --> 02:41:04,840
Speaker 26: more than twenty guns pointed at us. Some people have

2707
02:41:04,920 --> 02:41:08,039
Speaker 26: their fingers on triggers. Certainly they were screaming at me.

2708
02:41:09,160 --> 02:41:14,039
Speaker 26: And as I was waking up, we came through the line.

2709
02:41:14,120 --> 02:41:16,560
Speaker 26: They said that they had a warrant to search the property.

2710
02:41:16,840 --> 02:41:19,560
Speaker 26: We know that Homeland Security was one of the departments

2711
02:41:19,560 --> 02:41:23,039
Speaker 26: that was arrested that was part of the arrest crew

2712
02:41:23,120 --> 02:41:29,680
Speaker 26: or extraction crew or whatever. It's very traumatic. Obviously, it's freezing.

2713
02:41:29,800 --> 02:41:33,039
Speaker 26: This is the coldest day this week, and so we are,

2714
02:41:35,400 --> 02:41:39,520
Speaker 26: you know, worried about people's health because people are cold.

2715
02:41:40,400 --> 02:41:46,800
Speaker 26: They detained us, they took identification. It was extremely violent situation,

2716
02:41:47,080 --> 02:41:50,119
Speaker 26: but everyone here was really taking care of each other

2717
02:41:50,200 --> 02:41:51,039
Speaker 26: and remaining calm.

2718
02:41:51,520 --> 02:41:55,039
Speaker 1: To address the raid, activists scheduled a press conference for

2719
02:41:55,200 --> 02:41:57,840
Speaker 1: later that day after a youth rally to defend the

2720
02:41:57,879 --> 02:42:01,240
Speaker 1: forest was to take place in East Village. And I

2721
02:42:01,280 --> 02:42:04,560
Speaker 1: think you can hear said youths in the background, so

2722
02:42:05,080 --> 02:42:07,480
Speaker 1: excuse their joyous young screams.

2723
02:42:07,800 --> 02:42:10,400
Speaker 36: We thought that it was important for us to not

2724
02:42:10,480 --> 02:42:14,240
Speaker 36: only amplify the wonderful children's march that happened here today,

2725
02:42:14,320 --> 02:42:18,760
Speaker 36: the community in East Atlanta, this community where they are

2726
02:42:18,800 --> 02:42:23,560
Speaker 36: proposing to build cop City, came out this morning overwhelmingly

2727
02:42:23,640 --> 02:42:25,480
Speaker 36: to say that they don't want cop City.

2728
02:42:25,720 --> 02:42:26,959
Speaker 13: So we had parents, we.

2729
02:42:26,959 --> 02:42:30,480
Speaker 36: Had children, we had other neighbors and community stakeholders who

2730
02:42:30,560 --> 02:42:33,240
Speaker 36: gathered right here in Brownwood Park today in East Atlanta

2731
02:42:33,320 --> 02:42:36,480
Speaker 36: to say that we are East Atlanta and cop City

2732
02:42:36,560 --> 02:42:39,520
Speaker 36: is not a part of what we imagine an envision

2733
02:42:39,879 --> 02:42:44,760
Speaker 36: for this community. Also this morning, unfortunately, there is a

2734
02:42:44,920 --> 02:42:48,680
Speaker 36: place that was held as a commune for campers who

2735
02:42:48,720 --> 02:42:51,720
Speaker 36: wanted to stand in solidarity during this week of action.

2736
02:42:52,360 --> 02:42:56,440
Speaker 36: The place is called Leith l EAF. That is, the

2737
02:42:56,520 --> 02:43:01,480
Speaker 36: Lakewood Environmental Arts Foundation, a nonprofit or organization that's dedicated

2738
02:43:01,520 --> 02:43:04,960
Speaker 36: to combating food insecurity here within the city of Atlanta,

2739
02:43:05,120 --> 02:43:08,800
Speaker 36: offered up their space to be used for people who

2740
02:43:08,800 --> 02:43:12,240
Speaker 36: did not feel safe camping in the forest because of

2741
02:43:12,560 --> 02:43:16,800
Speaker 36: the over aggression of police there and they wanted to

2742
02:43:16,840 --> 02:43:19,600
Speaker 36: stand in solidarity with this week of action, so LEIF

2743
02:43:19,680 --> 02:43:23,920
Speaker 36: offered up their space for those people to camp safely. Unfortunately,

2744
02:43:24,000 --> 02:43:29,280
Speaker 36: this morning, a gang of police officers descended upon that

2745
02:43:29,720 --> 02:43:30,720
Speaker 36: sacred space.

2746
02:43:31,640 --> 02:43:34,960
Speaker 1: During the raid, up to forty officers swarmed the property,

2747
02:43:35,400 --> 02:43:39,320
Speaker 1: ransacking the infrastructure set up at the Leaf Encampment site.

2748
02:43:40,040 --> 02:43:43,960
Speaker 1: Cops slashed aparts two medical supply tents, disrupting metical operations,

2749
02:43:44,320 --> 02:43:47,040
Speaker 1: broke windows of a camper van parked on the site,

2750
02:43:47,160 --> 02:43:50,960
Speaker 1: and ripped apart a greenhouse. Police took pictures of the

2751
02:43:51,000 --> 02:43:54,520
Speaker 1: people detained at Leaf and collected their ideas, but after

2752
02:43:54,600 --> 02:43:57,480
Speaker 1: being held for several hours, the police let all but

2753
02:43:57,680 --> 02:44:01,080
Speaker 1: one person go free. To quote an article by Candice

2754
02:44:01,120 --> 02:44:04,480
Speaker 1: Burned in Truth Out Quote, one person was arrested for

2755
02:44:04,560 --> 02:44:09,280
Speaker 1: an outstanding parking ticket, demonstrating the state's desperation to snatch

2756
02:44:09,360 --> 02:44:12,279
Speaker 1: up anyone associated with the Stop Copcity movement.

2757
02:44:13,360 --> 02:44:16,400
Speaker 50: Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Marlon Kautz.

2758
02:44:16,760 --> 02:44:21,000
Speaker 51: I'm an organizer with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, where civil

2759
02:44:21,000 --> 02:44:24,720
Speaker 51: liberties and anti repression organization that exists to make sure

2760
02:44:24,760 --> 02:44:27,760
Speaker 51: that people who participate in social movements have the right

2761
02:44:27,840 --> 02:44:32,680
Speaker 51: to protest and don't suffer from repression. So the reason

2762
02:44:32,720 --> 02:44:37,160
Speaker 51: I'm here is because, as we've all heard previously, there

2763
02:44:37,200 --> 02:44:43,600
Speaker 51: was an incident of political repression. Early this morning, police

2764
02:44:43,640 --> 02:44:47,440
Speaker 51: executed a search warrant and performed a raid against the

2765
02:44:47,600 --> 02:44:52,400
Speaker 51: Lakewood Environmental Arts Foundation, which is a community space in Lakewood,

2766
02:44:52,400 --> 02:44:56,840
Speaker 51: Atlanta that exists primarily to serve artists and musicians. It's

2767
02:44:56,920 --> 02:45:00,160
Speaker 51: clear that it was part of a political strategy to

2768
02:45:00,240 --> 02:45:04,720
Speaker 51: repress and intimidate protesters who are associated with the Stop Pop.

2769
02:45:04,600 --> 02:45:06,480
Speaker 50: City movement, a movement to defend the forest.

2770
02:45:07,080 --> 02:45:13,600
Speaker 51: This is very concerning, especially when taken in context. Of course,

2771
02:45:13,760 --> 02:45:16,440
Speaker 51: it's very likely that police are going to report that

2772
02:45:16,480 --> 02:45:21,800
Speaker 51: this was part of a routine investigation, a law enforcement

2773
02:45:21,879 --> 02:45:25,000
Speaker 51: matter that they had every right to conduct. The other

2774
02:45:25,080 --> 02:45:27,720
Speaker 51: thing that police are likely to claim is that they

2775
02:45:27,920 --> 02:45:32,200
Speaker 51: made an arrest on scene, and our understanding is that

2776
02:45:32,240 --> 02:45:36,200
Speaker 51: they did make an arrest due to somebody who was

2777
02:45:36,240 --> 02:45:39,240
Speaker 51: there having an old traffic ticket from a long time ago.

2778
02:45:39,480 --> 02:45:43,039
Speaker 51: So it's important to clarify that the arrest was because

2779
02:45:43,080 --> 02:45:47,120
Speaker 51: of a traffic ticket, not because of any alleged crimes

2780
02:45:47,360 --> 02:45:51,400
Speaker 51: related to the movement or any other serious criminal activity.

2781
02:45:51,800 --> 02:45:54,360
Speaker 51: So it's important that we understand this raid as part

2782
02:45:54,400 --> 02:45:58,440
Speaker 51: of a series of ongoing abuses of the legal process

2783
02:45:58,640 --> 02:46:02,320
Speaker 51: to harass and intimidate political throw testers. They were unable

2784
02:46:02,360 --> 02:46:06,360
Speaker 51: to demonstrate any criminal activity during their raid on the

2785
02:46:06,400 --> 02:46:10,320
Speaker 51: Lakewood Environmental Arts Foundation, but they're continuing.

2786
02:46:09,879 --> 02:46:10,959
Speaker 3: To abuse.

2787
02:46:12,879 --> 02:46:14,760
Speaker 50: Every justification that they can.

2788
02:46:16,160 --> 02:46:20,760
Speaker 51: To raid spaces, to make arrests, and to hold people

2789
02:46:20,800 --> 02:46:21,320
Speaker 51: in jail.

2790
02:46:22,320 --> 02:46:26,840
Speaker 36: So before the police come out and say we raided

2791
02:46:26,879 --> 02:46:31,320
Speaker 36: this place where all of these outside aggressors were and

2792
02:46:31,520 --> 02:46:34,240
Speaker 36: we picked up some violent offenders, we want you to

2793
02:46:34,320 --> 02:46:36,920
Speaker 36: know that our brothers and sisters who were standing with

2794
02:46:37,000 --> 02:46:40,040
Speaker 36: us in solidarity just saying hey, we want to camp here,

2795
02:46:40,080 --> 02:46:42,720
Speaker 36: since we don't feel safe camping in the people's park

2796
02:46:43,000 --> 02:46:46,680
Speaker 36: that's been overrun with police repression and aggression.

2797
02:46:47,360 --> 02:46:48,480
Speaker 13: They raided that place.

2798
02:46:49,080 --> 02:46:53,080
Speaker 36: They snatched people up, some people were sleeping, They took

2799
02:46:53,160 --> 02:46:57,080
Speaker 36: pictures of people, They took their IDs, and they searched

2800
02:46:57,080 --> 02:47:01,360
Speaker 36: and searched, found nothing else, never to warrant, and only

2801
02:47:01,400 --> 02:47:06,200
Speaker 36: one person was arrested because of an outstanding parking ticking.

2802
02:47:07,240 --> 02:47:11,000
Speaker 1: About a week after the raid, the Guardian obtained evidence

2803
02:47:11,120 --> 02:47:14,240
Speaker 1: of the search warrant. The warrant stated that there was

2804
02:47:14,360 --> 02:47:18,600
Speaker 1: probable cause for believing that evidence of quote conspiracy to

2805
02:47:18,600 --> 02:47:23,120
Speaker 1: commit domestic terrorism unquote could be found at the Lakewood location.

2806
02:47:24,120 --> 02:47:30,400
Speaker 1: Listed in the warrant were objects officers sought, which included quote, cameras, radios,

2807
02:47:30,760 --> 02:47:37,160
Speaker 1: boxes of nails, lighters, tents, camping equipment, spray paint, black clothing,

2808
02:47:37,480 --> 02:47:41,360
Speaker 1: and literature related to defend the forest. These were the

2809
02:47:41,400 --> 02:47:47,560
Speaker 1: materials tied to domestic terrorism. As the week progressed, there

2810
02:47:47,600 --> 02:47:51,119
Speaker 1: were an increasing number of reports of police tailing people

2811
02:47:51,240 --> 02:47:57,000
Speaker 1: coming and going from a march's and especially the actions downtown. Basically,

2812
02:47:57,160 --> 02:48:00,359
Speaker 1: officers would follow people suspected of participating in the movement,

2813
02:48:00,760 --> 02:48:03,920
Speaker 1: pull them over try to id anyone within the vehicles

2814
02:48:04,200 --> 02:48:09,160
Speaker 1: and then issue some nonsense traffic citation. This continued on

2815
02:48:09,240 --> 02:48:13,160
Speaker 1: Thursday after the Community Movement Builders march, as people were

2816
02:48:13,160 --> 02:48:16,160
Speaker 1: heading home from the public Park, police stalked a few

2817
02:48:16,160 --> 02:48:20,480
Speaker 1: individuals and pulled over multiple vehicles. A van carrying one

2818
02:48:20,520 --> 02:48:23,160
Speaker 1: of the speakers was targeted, as well as two other

2819
02:48:23,280 --> 02:48:26,080
Speaker 1: cars that were pulled over as they were leaving the protest.

2820
02:48:27,440 --> 02:48:31,400
Speaker 1: Marlin from the Atlanta Solidarity Fund talked about the various

2821
02:48:31,400 --> 02:48:35,120
Speaker 1: ways police had been using their power to intimidate activists

2822
02:48:35,480 --> 02:48:36,920
Speaker 1: and suppress protest.

2823
02:48:37,600 --> 02:48:42,480
Speaker 51: Our organization has gotten many reports of pretext stops of

2824
02:48:42,600 --> 02:48:45,880
Speaker 51: political protesters or people who are suspected of being political

2825
02:48:45,920 --> 02:48:49,480
Speaker 51: protesters because of bumper stickers on their car or the

2826
02:48:49,520 --> 02:48:53,920
Speaker 51: state that their license plate is ProMED. We've gotten report

2827
02:48:55,120 --> 02:48:58,680
Speaker 51: people being stop and frisked simply because they're profiled as

2828
02:48:58,720 --> 02:49:03,440
Speaker 51: looking like political acts the lists, and of course we've

2829
02:49:03,480 --> 02:49:09,240
Speaker 51: seen dozens of protesters or suspected protesters arrested and charged

2830
02:49:09,280 --> 02:49:12,960
Speaker 51: with domestic terrorism simply because they were found at a

2831
02:49:13,200 --> 02:49:16,080
Speaker 51: music festival that's associated with the stock Coop City movement.

2832
02:49:16,800 --> 02:49:19,600
Speaker 51: And so we can see that every step of the

2833
02:49:19,640 --> 02:49:24,280
Speaker 51: way police and prosecutors are abusing the legal process to

2834
02:49:24,400 --> 02:49:26,400
Speaker 51: intimidate and discourage this movement.

2835
02:49:26,680 --> 02:49:29,720
Speaker 2: Throughout this time, police have been watching or monitoring one

2836
02:49:29,760 --> 02:49:33,039
Speaker 2: of the off site locations in the forest. They've parked

2837
02:49:33,080 --> 02:49:36,800
Speaker 2: in front of this site and kept up surveillance on it.

2838
02:49:37,600 --> 02:49:41,080
Speaker 2: And then leading all the way up into Friday, there

2839
02:49:41,760 --> 02:49:45,120
Speaker 2: was a journalist pulled over leaving the final non violent

2840
02:49:45,120 --> 02:49:48,160
Speaker 2: direct action from Woodruff Park. They were pulled over with

2841
02:49:48,240 --> 02:49:51,039
Speaker 2: two other people in the car and like detained briefly,

2842
02:49:52,040 --> 02:49:57,240
Speaker 2: ostensibly to you know, continue to identify and connect people.

2843
02:49:57,800 --> 02:49:59,720
Speaker 1: A big part of the story for this week of

2844
02:49:59,760 --> 02:50:03,520
Speaker 1: Act is the excess of the police response to quite

2845
02:50:03,680 --> 02:50:08,200
Speaker 1: typical acts of quote unquote nonviolent protest, the sort that

2846
02:50:08,280 --> 02:50:11,120
Speaker 1: the government and even the police loved to claim that

2847
02:50:11,200 --> 02:50:15,400
Speaker 1: they actually protect. With every single action downtown this week,

2848
02:50:15,600 --> 02:50:19,400
Speaker 1: virtually no laws were being broken, not even any civil disobedience.

2849
02:50:19,879 --> 02:50:23,480
Speaker 1: People were handing out flyers, marching on sidewalks, giving out letters,

2850
02:50:24,000 --> 02:50:27,240
Speaker 1: and the police's response was to deploy SWAT, to mobilize

2851
02:50:27,440 --> 02:50:30,080
Speaker 1: hundreds of officers, to shut down multiple city blocks, to

2852
02:50:30,160 --> 02:50:33,080
Speaker 1: carry ar fifteens as they tail crowds of a few

2853
02:50:33,080 --> 02:50:36,480
Speaker 1: dozen people just walking on the sidewalk and yelling at

2854
02:50:36,520 --> 02:50:39,840
Speaker 1: people if they accidentally miss step off the curb and

2855
02:50:40,000 --> 02:50:45,199
Speaker 1: threaten violent arrest. This was the sort of extremely aggressive

2856
02:50:45,240 --> 02:50:49,000
Speaker 1: response to people doing protest quote unquote the right way.

2857
02:50:49,720 --> 02:50:52,720
Speaker 2: We should highlight that. That is the apparent goal of

2858
02:50:52,760 --> 02:50:55,400
Speaker 2: these protests was to show that even when they are

2859
02:50:55,400 --> 02:50:58,000
Speaker 2: doing things the right way, this is how the state

2860
02:50:58,040 --> 02:50:59,320
Speaker 2: reacts to dissent.

2861
02:50:59,800 --> 02:51:03,240
Speaker 1: It reacts in this militarized fashion where you like it's

2862
02:51:03,280 --> 02:51:06,600
Speaker 1: it's I think a big part of what's happened in

2863
02:51:06,800 --> 02:51:08,880
Speaker 1: these types of protests that have happened the past week

2864
02:51:09,160 --> 02:51:13,160
Speaker 1: is demonstrating why people are campaigning to stop cop City

2865
02:51:13,360 --> 02:51:16,360
Speaker 1: because the sheer amount of resources that the police already

2866
02:51:16,400 --> 02:51:19,560
Speaker 1: have in the city. To to be deploying hundreds and

2867
02:51:19,760 --> 02:51:22,600
Speaker 1: hundreds of officers every single day to respond to people

2868
02:51:22,640 --> 02:51:26,280
Speaker 1: handing out flyers, it's like to respond to people who

2869
02:51:26,320 --> 02:51:29,440
Speaker 1: are walking on the sidewalks. They have this massive amount

2870
02:51:29,480 --> 02:51:33,280
Speaker 1: of resources. They're using tear gas in the woods, they're

2871
02:51:33,320 --> 02:51:37,119
Speaker 1: using paper balls, they're using flash bangs, they're they're having

2872
02:51:37,320 --> 02:51:41,440
Speaker 1: multiple different swat teams follow around people handing out pamphlets.

2873
02:51:41,800 --> 02:51:45,680
Speaker 1: The level of police militarization in Atlanta is already at

2874
02:51:45,720 --> 02:51:49,600
Speaker 1: this extremely high point, and COP City is only going

2875
02:51:49,640 --> 02:51:52,720
Speaker 1: to intensify that. And that is the reason they want

2876
02:51:52,800 --> 02:51:55,840
Speaker 1: to build cop City. It's for this type of urban

2877
02:51:55,879 --> 02:52:00,080
Speaker 1: counterinsurgency training to quell civil unrest and to quell protests.

2878
02:52:00,959 --> 02:52:04,520
Speaker 36: On Thursday night, we held a very peaceful and successful

2879
02:52:04,600 --> 02:52:07,959
Speaker 36: march in downtown Atlanta, starting at the King Center.

2880
02:52:08,680 --> 02:52:10,720
Speaker 28: We had someone who.

2881
02:52:10,520 --> 02:52:12,920
Speaker 36: Was stopped by the police and asked if he was

2882
02:52:13,000 --> 02:52:18,080
Speaker 36: picking up protesters taking out of the vehicle, handcuffed for

2883
02:52:18,120 --> 02:52:21,320
Speaker 36: no reason. They couldn't find a reason to detain him

2884
02:52:21,520 --> 02:52:24,720
Speaker 36: any longer, so they had to let him go. But Atlanta,

2885
02:52:24,760 --> 02:52:27,600
Speaker 36: this is why we're standing against cop City, because if

2886
02:52:27,640 --> 02:52:30,200
Speaker 36: cop City is built, you can guarantee that you won't

2887
02:52:30,200 --> 02:52:32,840
Speaker 36: even be able to go to the grocery store without

2888
02:52:32,879 --> 02:52:36,000
Speaker 36: being harassed by the police for no reason at all.

2889
02:52:36,520 --> 02:52:39,720
Speaker 1: When I spoke with Matthew Johnson, he brought up a

2890
02:52:39,760 --> 02:52:40,640
Speaker 1: similar point.

2891
02:52:41,280 --> 02:52:44,320
Speaker 18: With the resources that the police had to respond in

2892
02:52:44,360 --> 02:52:45,400
Speaker 18: the way that they did.

2893
02:52:46,000 --> 02:52:47,000
Speaker 8: The assertion that.

2894
02:52:46,920 --> 02:52:52,000
Speaker 18: They need more training in a militarized facility or they

2895
02:52:52,040 --> 02:52:56,680
Speaker 18: need more resources is crazy because you had them literally

2896
02:52:56,800 --> 02:53:03,919
Speaker 18: out numbering protesters kettling them, and we have credible sources

2897
02:53:03,920 --> 02:53:07,800
Speaker 18: that say that there were swat forces who had instructed

2898
02:53:08,280 --> 02:53:14,680
Speaker 18: the officers to arrest nonviolent protesters, and there were actually

2899
02:53:14,720 --> 02:53:17,560
Speaker 18: police officers that refused to take that order, which I

2900
02:53:17,600 --> 02:53:22,240
Speaker 18: think is another fascinating dynamic that is worth exploring and

2901
02:53:22,320 --> 02:53:27,199
Speaker 18: understanding more. But just with the resources that they had

2902
02:53:27,560 --> 02:53:33,760
Speaker 18: to try to shut down protesters, harass folks, constantly, ticket

2903
02:53:33,840 --> 02:53:36,920
Speaker 18: and pull over people that they saw, you know, creating

2904
02:53:37,040 --> 02:53:41,200
Speaker 18: like a logistical framework for the week of action is nuts,

2905
02:53:41,600 --> 02:53:47,840
Speaker 18: and they're making our point for us. On Friday, the

2906
02:53:47,920 --> 02:53:52,760
Speaker 18: word came out that Tortugita had bullet holes through both

2907
02:53:52,800 --> 02:53:56,600
Speaker 18: of their palms and that they were more than likely

2908
02:53:56,640 --> 02:54:00,000
Speaker 18: sitting cross leg with their hands up when they were

2909
02:54:00,200 --> 02:54:03,840
Speaker 18: shot by police. And now we are supposed to be

2910
02:54:03,959 --> 02:54:08,439
Speaker 18: convinced that these people that lied about this killed somebody

2911
02:54:09,200 --> 02:54:12,440
Speaker 18: that was absolutely no threat to them. On the same

2912
02:54:12,560 --> 02:54:15,400
Speaker 18: grounds that they're trying to build this police training facility,

2913
02:54:15,720 --> 02:54:18,480
Speaker 18: we're supposed to believe that this is going to make

2914
02:54:18,560 --> 02:54:23,360
Speaker 18: them less violent towards people like as you're building a

2915
02:54:23,360 --> 02:54:26,800
Speaker 18: militarized police training facility, and like people that try to

2916
02:54:26,840 --> 02:54:29,320
Speaker 18: convince themselves that these is going to be a place

2917
02:54:29,320 --> 02:54:33,520
Speaker 18: where people are also being taught de escalation tactics, while

2918
02:54:33,600 --> 02:54:36,560
Speaker 18: like everything around that is militarized. It's like if you

2919
02:54:36,760 --> 02:54:41,400
Speaker 18: had somebody build a water park and you're like, oh, yeah,

2920
02:54:41,480 --> 02:54:43,560
Speaker 18: I'm just trying to stay dry. I don't want to

2921
02:54:43,600 --> 02:54:45,920
Speaker 18: get splashed or anything like that, and it's like, oh no, no, no,

2922
02:54:45,840 --> 02:54:48,560
Speaker 18: don't worries. We have a food court right in the

2923
02:54:48,560 --> 02:54:50,520
Speaker 18: middle of it, and it's great, you're really just coming

2924
02:54:50,560 --> 02:54:52,879
Speaker 18: there for the food court, so don't worry about it.

2925
02:54:53,680 --> 02:54:57,879
Speaker 18: And then like you go there and then you get splashed.

2926
02:55:00,000 --> 02:55:03,080
Speaker 18: What were you expecting? Like, that's obviously not what that

2927
02:55:03,120 --> 02:55:07,680
Speaker 18: facility is for, because all the infrastructure around it is

2928
02:55:07,760 --> 02:55:10,440
Speaker 18: made to be a water park or a militarized police

2929
02:55:10,480 --> 02:55:13,440
Speaker 18: training facility. So don't be surprised when maybe they might

2930
02:55:13,520 --> 02:55:16,160
Speaker 18: have one de escalation program and like you know where

2931
02:55:16,200 --> 02:55:19,920
Speaker 18: the food court would be, and then somebody gets killed, right,

2932
02:55:20,000 --> 02:55:22,640
Speaker 18: because they're actually building the infrastructure for killing.

2933
02:55:23,360 --> 02:55:25,080
Speaker 8: So that's where we're at.

2934
02:55:25,640 --> 02:55:27,840
Speaker 1: This week of action has shown a lot about how

2935
02:55:27,879 --> 02:55:31,680
Speaker 1: the police are operating post the twenty twenty Uprising, how

2936
02:55:31,720 --> 02:55:34,840
Speaker 1: they will respond to people exercising their First Amendment right,

2937
02:55:35,440 --> 02:55:38,879
Speaker 1: and the indiscriminate way that police will respond to any

2938
02:55:38,920 --> 02:55:43,360
Speaker 1: active protest. One of the main takeaways from this week

2939
02:55:43,760 --> 02:55:47,360
Speaker 1: is that their response to protest is deployed against people

2940
02:55:47,480 --> 02:55:51,480
Speaker 1: without target or focus. They care very little if you

2941
02:55:51,520 --> 02:55:54,440
Speaker 1: are breaking a window or if you're marching on the sidewalk,

2942
02:55:54,640 --> 02:55:58,200
Speaker 1: They're still gonna send the SWAT team. Police are acting

2943
02:55:58,240 --> 02:56:01,880
Speaker 1: as if they are entirely in case of differentiating between

2944
02:56:01,959 --> 02:56:04,960
Speaker 1: acts of descent. Toward the end of the week, I

2945
02:56:05,040 --> 02:56:08,520
Speaker 1: sat down and talked with an unnamed forest defender to

2946
02:56:08,640 --> 02:56:12,279
Speaker 1: get their thoughts on the week of action. For security reasons,

2947
02:56:12,280 --> 02:56:13,680
Speaker 1: we did a vocal replacement.

2948
02:56:14,240 --> 02:56:17,440
Speaker 52: The police presence has been pretty unprecedented. I haven't seen

2949
02:56:17,480 --> 02:56:20,560
Speaker 52: shit like that here since twenty twenty, not downtown at least.

2950
02:56:20,840 --> 02:56:22,880
Speaker 52: I mean shit, I don't think we had seen gas

2951
02:56:22,959 --> 02:56:25,120
Speaker 52: in Atlanta in a minute, and then they gassed the forest.

2952
02:56:25,280 --> 02:56:27,760
Speaker 52: It'd been a while, but yeah, I mean they're punching out,

2953
02:56:28,160 --> 02:56:30,400
Speaker 52: especially like Tuesday, they were putting out one hundred and

2954
02:56:30,440 --> 02:56:33,240
Speaker 52: fifty two hundred cops the entirety of downtown. I mean

2955
02:56:33,520 --> 02:56:37,959
Speaker 52: multi jurisdictional task forces deployed multiple different Atlanta APD SWAT

2956
02:56:37,959 --> 02:56:41,520
Speaker 52: teams between like regular APD SWAT and APEX, which is

2957
02:56:41,560 --> 02:56:44,400
Speaker 52: like the Drug and Gang Interdiction unit. I mean a

2958
02:56:44,440 --> 02:56:47,920
Speaker 52: fucking whole drone unit, GSP, some weird unmarked cars that

2959
02:56:47,959 --> 02:56:51,200
Speaker 52: I won't speculate on, helicopters, all that shit. You know,

2960
02:56:51,280 --> 02:56:53,320
Speaker 52: the type of police response you would expect to see

2961
02:56:53,320 --> 02:56:55,600
Speaker 52: in like a dystopian fucking police state. For some people

2962
02:56:55,640 --> 02:56:58,280
Speaker 52: handing out flyers that just say this is bad for

2963
02:56:58,320 --> 02:57:00,680
Speaker 52: the environment, doesn't matter how much milk toast or not,

2964
02:57:00,720 --> 02:57:02,400
Speaker 52: and like I shouldn't say milk toasts like that's not

2965
02:57:02,440 --> 02:57:04,879
Speaker 52: a bad thing. We need people to go hand out flyers.

2966
02:57:04,920 --> 02:57:07,320
Speaker 52: We need to inform people as far as what this

2967
02:57:07,560 --> 02:57:10,080
Speaker 52: is to get people involved, but like as non violent

2968
02:57:10,120 --> 02:57:11,720
Speaker 52: as you can get, and still they're going to treat

2969
02:57:11,760 --> 02:57:13,800
Speaker 52: you like your fucking al Qaeda, you know, and it

2970
02:57:13,800 --> 02:57:17,600
Speaker 52: puts you in a weird position because then it's like, okay, cool,

2971
02:57:17,640 --> 02:57:19,560
Speaker 52: if you're going to treat us the exact same for

2972
02:57:19,680 --> 02:57:23,280
Speaker 52: being nonviolent, why not do crime. If the police response

2973
02:57:23,320 --> 02:57:25,280
Speaker 52: to an assault on an outpost that drove the police

2974
02:57:25,280 --> 02:57:27,520
Speaker 52: out and burned five things down, the police response to

2975
02:57:27,560 --> 02:57:29,960
Speaker 52: fifteen people handing out flyers downtown are going to be

2976
02:57:29,959 --> 02:57:33,039
Speaker 52: about the same, then why not take more militant radical action?

2977
02:57:33,760 --> 02:57:37,360
Speaker 1: The twenty three people arrested on Sunday, March fifth were

2978
02:57:37,400 --> 02:57:40,760
Speaker 1: not arrested as anyone was torching equipment. They were not

2979
02:57:40,879 --> 02:57:43,840
Speaker 1: arrested at the power line cut. It was people who

2980
02:57:43,840 --> 02:57:48,040
Speaker 1: were attending a music festival. Arrests were not widely targeted

2981
02:57:48,080 --> 02:57:51,600
Speaker 1: against people who police knew were engaged in property destruction.

2982
02:57:52,040 --> 02:57:55,600
Speaker 1: They were targeted against anyone the cops could grab. Same

2983
02:57:55,720 --> 02:57:58,440
Speaker 1: was the case at the January twenty first action, where

2984
02:57:58,440 --> 02:58:02,800
Speaker 1: people were marching downtown Saturday after Tortugita was killed. The

2985
02:58:02,800 --> 02:58:07,480
Speaker 1: only people arrested and subsequently charged with domestic terrorism was

2986
02:58:07,760 --> 02:58:10,959
Speaker 1: anyone the police could get their hands on. Officers went

2987
02:58:11,000 --> 02:58:14,360
Speaker 1: after people who were carrying banners the entire duration of

2988
02:58:14,400 --> 02:58:17,560
Speaker 1: the march. It was not targeted against people who were

2989
02:58:17,560 --> 02:58:25,320
Speaker 1: engaged in militant action. Among all this talk of police

2990
02:58:25,360 --> 02:58:30,000
Speaker 1: repression and multiple raids, it's easy to overlook that throughout

2991
02:58:30,080 --> 02:58:34,760
Speaker 1: the week people still sought opportunities for finding joy and resistance,

2992
02:58:35,120 --> 02:58:38,920
Speaker 1: because most people wouldn't dedicate years of their life to

2993
02:58:38,959 --> 02:58:42,200
Speaker 1: this if it was just miserable battles with police the

2994
02:58:42,240 --> 02:58:42,800
Speaker 1: whole time.

2995
02:58:43,640 --> 02:58:45,560
Speaker 2: I think one thing that's been lost in all of this, too,

2996
02:58:45,840 --> 02:58:48,160
Speaker 2: is all of the lighthearted events that have continued to

2997
02:58:48,160 --> 02:58:52,040
Speaker 2: go on through the week, and like the joy of

2998
02:58:52,080 --> 02:58:55,879
Speaker 2: the movement that was represented in the Bouncy Castle rip.

2999
02:58:56,160 --> 02:58:58,560
Speaker 1: But that joy is continuing in the woods, like people

3000
02:58:58,560 --> 02:59:00,360
Speaker 1: have still continued to camp in the woods. People still

3001
02:59:00,400 --> 02:59:03,360
Speaker 1: having dinner in the woods, people are still having camp fires,

3002
02:59:03,360 --> 02:59:05,080
Speaker 1: people are still talking the woods. It is still a

3003
02:59:05,120 --> 02:59:08,680
Speaker 1: place that people are gathering at and are enjoying each other.

3004
02:59:09,160 --> 02:59:11,760
Speaker 1: This company in now are enjoying the woods, and it

3005
02:59:11,800 --> 02:59:15,640
Speaker 1: is a place that the morale has never been fully crushed.

3006
02:59:15,920 --> 02:59:17,440
Speaker 3: The moral has never been fully crushed.

3007
02:59:17,520 --> 02:59:23,400
Speaker 2: And like the participatory acts of the Week of Action

3008
02:59:23,800 --> 02:59:27,720
Speaker 2: are continuing like none of that has been quashed.

3009
02:59:28,000 --> 02:59:31,880
Speaker 1: An example of the joyful, continuous resistance during the Week

3010
02:59:31,920 --> 02:59:34,600
Speaker 1: of Action can be found at the youth rally that

3011
02:59:34,680 --> 02:59:36,640
Speaker 1: happened on Saturday the eleventh.

3012
02:59:37,840 --> 02:59:40,680
Speaker 10: All right, So I'm at the youth rally Saturday.

3013
02:59:41,040 --> 02:59:43,680
Speaker 1: After the warrant was served on the meetup spot in

3014
02:59:43,720 --> 02:59:47,320
Speaker 1: Southeast Atlanta. There's around two hundred people marching through East

3015
02:59:47,400 --> 02:59:51,320
Speaker 1: Village in Atlanta. Pretty pretty joyous group here actually, and

3016
02:59:51,360 --> 02:59:52,840
Speaker 1: they're actually like on the streets.

3017
02:59:52,879 --> 02:59:54,440
Speaker 10: This is the first time we've had a large march

3018
02:59:54,440 --> 02:59:54,600
Speaker 10: like this.

3019
02:59:55,120 --> 02:59:58,480
Speaker 1: Take to the streets because every action that was in

3020
02:59:58,520 --> 03:00:02,440
Speaker 1: downtown or midtown Atlanta was just so heavily surveilled by

3021
03:00:02,480 --> 03:00:05,560
Speaker 1: police who were not letting anyone get near the street

3022
03:00:05,600 --> 03:00:05,879
Speaker 1: at all.

3023
03:00:06,000 --> 03:00:07,039
Speaker 10: But there's no police here.

3024
03:00:07,600 --> 03:00:10,879
Speaker 1: They were busy doing the search war and so this

3025
03:00:10,920 --> 03:00:13,240
Speaker 1: group is actually is actually able to take to the streets.

3026
03:00:13,760 --> 03:00:16,280
Speaker 1: It's like everyone everyone kind of in this area of

3027
03:00:16,280 --> 03:00:20,760
Speaker 1: Atlanta is pretty pretty pro pro this little protest here.

3028
03:00:21,879 --> 03:00:25,040
Speaker 1: There's like workers from the little shops and stores nodding

3029
03:00:25,040 --> 03:00:26,920
Speaker 1: along Bullden County.

3030
03:00:26,680 --> 03:00:28,879
Speaker 2: Shares just walked by the march like on there, just

3031
03:00:29,200 --> 03:00:32,440
Speaker 2: you know, off shift workout routine, wearing Fulden County gear.

3032
03:00:33,160 --> 03:00:33,959
Speaker 10: That's pretty funny.

3033
03:00:34,760 --> 03:00:39,320
Speaker 1: People dancing in the streets, Families walking with their kids

3034
03:00:39,520 --> 03:00:42,959
Speaker 1: through the streets all right, walking around the park that

3035
03:00:43,400 --> 03:00:47,560
Speaker 1: the youth rally started at, and the press conference about

3036
03:00:47,600 --> 03:00:51,000
Speaker 1: the raid this morning just ended at there's as you

3037
03:00:51,040 --> 03:00:53,360
Speaker 1: can probably hear kids playing in the park.

3038
03:00:53,680 --> 03:00:54,920
Speaker 10: People are handing out food.

3039
03:00:55,240 --> 03:00:57,560
Speaker 1: It's a massive, massive amount of food just in the

3040
03:00:57,600 --> 03:01:00,720
Speaker 1: middle of the park with all these tables set up. Overall,

3041
03:01:00,760 --> 03:01:03,279
Speaker 1: this is kind of one of the more joyous events

3042
03:01:03,320 --> 03:01:07,680
Speaker 1: that we've had since the initial Saturday rally at Gresham Park,

3043
03:01:08,440 --> 03:01:10,959
Speaker 1: just with the amount of food, the amount of kids

3044
03:01:11,000 --> 03:01:14,520
Speaker 1: just running around and playing, all the information tables that

3045
03:01:14,520 --> 03:01:17,720
Speaker 1: are handing out literature and giving you know, making connections

3046
03:01:17,720 --> 03:01:21,320
Speaker 1: with people. Yeah, when I was down here in January,

3047
03:01:21,840 --> 03:01:24,560
Speaker 1: the mood was very somber. The mood was very grim

3048
03:01:24,600 --> 03:01:27,840
Speaker 1: like coming to the vigil when there was the destroyed

3049
03:01:27,879 --> 03:01:31,440
Speaker 1: remains of the gazebo, the torn up parking lot, all

3050
03:01:31,520 --> 03:01:34,680
Speaker 1: of the trees in there still within their like winter

3051
03:01:35,200 --> 03:01:37,480
Speaker 1: state with all of the leaves gone. Everything was very

3052
03:01:37,520 --> 03:01:39,959
Speaker 1: kind of barren. And the first thing I noticed on

3053
03:01:40,000 --> 03:01:42,880
Speaker 1: Saturday as we were marching is like there's new life

3054
03:01:42,959 --> 03:01:47,520
Speaker 1: springing in the woods. There's this invigorated sense of the

3055
03:01:48,160 --> 03:01:51,520
Speaker 1: almost assurance of victory that people are carrying with them

3056
03:01:51,640 --> 03:01:54,040
Speaker 1: as they take action. And I think that really does

3057
03:01:54,160 --> 03:01:56,520
Speaker 1: change what the action you take is, and that does

3058
03:01:56,640 --> 03:01:58,800
Speaker 1: change the types of results that people will see. Is

3059
03:01:58,840 --> 03:02:02,040
Speaker 1: if they go at this with the idea that we

3060
03:02:02,080 --> 03:02:03,000
Speaker 1: are going to win this.

3061
03:02:03,480 --> 03:02:05,520
Speaker 2: And I think that that is kind of why the

3062
03:02:05,560 --> 03:02:08,720
Speaker 2: non violent direct actions have become like that have moved

3063
03:02:08,720 --> 03:02:11,160
Speaker 2: to the floor. Right when you think that you're going

3064
03:02:11,200 --> 03:02:14,680
Speaker 2: to lose and you have nothing to lose, you engage

3065
03:02:14,680 --> 03:02:19,360
Speaker 2: in these incredibly radical actions because what else are you

3066
03:02:19,400 --> 03:02:22,200
Speaker 2: going to do. And then when you have this belief

3067
03:02:22,240 --> 03:02:24,840
Speaker 2: that no, we can win, we just have to find

3068
03:02:24,879 --> 03:02:26,039
Speaker 2: that pathway.

3069
03:02:25,959 --> 03:02:27,960
Speaker 1: And that is a part of the diversity of tactics

3070
03:02:28,240 --> 03:02:30,760
Speaker 1: is using both of those and almost every ecological movement

3071
03:02:30,760 --> 03:02:34,920
Speaker 1: that's been successful has demonstrated that the pathway to success

3072
03:02:35,000 --> 03:02:38,480
Speaker 1: is often paved with a diversity of tactics, with people

3073
03:02:38,520 --> 03:02:42,840
Speaker 1: doing non violent action at noon, which will pull a

3074
03:02:42,840 --> 03:02:46,840
Speaker 1: massive militarized police response as people are doing regular ass shit.

3075
03:02:47,200 --> 03:02:49,480
Speaker 1: And then a part of diversity of tactics is also

3076
03:02:49,800 --> 03:02:53,440
Speaker 1: people leaving a music festival to go towards a bulldozer,

3077
03:02:53,720 --> 03:02:56,520
Speaker 1: and both both of those things are a diversity of tactics.

3078
03:02:56,959 --> 03:03:00,200
Speaker 1: Now I stand by most of that statement. However, where

3079
03:03:00,560 --> 03:03:03,920
Speaker 1: issues can arise when there is a ticking clock and

3080
03:03:04,320 --> 03:03:08,160
Speaker 1: during the time spent looking for this pathway, the enemy

3081
03:03:08,320 --> 03:03:13,760
Speaker 1: meanwhile is making steady progress. Issues may also arise when

3082
03:03:13,840 --> 03:03:18,199
Speaker 1: a large diversity of tactics is shoved under just one roof.

3083
03:03:19,160 --> 03:03:23,360
Speaker 1: I had a lot of conversations with movement participants regarding

3084
03:03:23,400 --> 03:03:26,920
Speaker 1: the direct action that happened on Sunday night and how

3085
03:03:26,920 --> 03:03:30,240
Speaker 1: it cast a shadow of repression over the whole week

3086
03:03:30,280 --> 03:03:36,600
Speaker 1: of action to synthesize the many conversations. In general, most

3087
03:03:36,600 --> 03:03:40,760
Speaker 1: people thought that what physically happened was good. The actual

3088
03:03:40,959 --> 03:03:45,000
Speaker 1: actions at the North Gate were successful and justified. But

3089
03:03:45,280 --> 03:03:48,120
Speaker 1: there are other things on the periphery of that action

3090
03:03:48,640 --> 03:03:50,920
Speaker 1: that make it slightly more complicated.

3091
03:03:51,400 --> 03:03:53,880
Speaker 18: And now we can have lots of questions about tactics

3092
03:03:53,879 --> 03:03:58,440
Speaker 18: and cost benefit analysis about that action, which I did

3093
03:03:58,480 --> 03:04:01,160
Speaker 18: not think it would be wise, especially being so visible

3094
03:04:01,160 --> 03:04:04,480
Speaker 18: for me to have to be anywhere near on that day.

3095
03:04:04,560 --> 03:04:08,240
Speaker 18: We can have questions about that. But what was for

3096
03:04:08,360 --> 03:04:12,039
Speaker 18: certain was that the way in which the police responded

3097
03:04:12,440 --> 03:04:15,200
Speaker 18: was absurd and predictably so.

3098
03:04:15,920 --> 03:04:18,600
Speaker 8: Now with the destruction that I saw, etc.

3099
03:04:18,800 --> 03:04:21,800
Speaker 18: It cost them less than a million dollars and maybe

3100
03:04:21,840 --> 03:04:24,879
Speaker 18: like two weeks actually of construction that they were.

3101
03:04:24,760 --> 03:04:27,440
Speaker 8: Pushed back max. These are like max numbers.

3102
03:04:28,320 --> 03:04:31,440
Speaker 18: Was that worth twenty three people being arrested and quaching

3103
03:04:32,320 --> 03:04:36,880
Speaker 18: what could have been a larger occupation and wider participation

3104
03:04:37,240 --> 03:04:40,640
Speaker 18: and wider buying in the movement. Instead, by the time

3105
03:04:40,720 --> 03:04:43,880
Speaker 18: we got to Monday, the clergy was having to do

3106
03:04:43,959 --> 03:04:46,080
Speaker 18: clean up rather than like cast division of what the

3107
03:04:46,080 --> 03:04:50,320
Speaker 18: world could be, And so these are trade offs right

3108
03:04:50,680 --> 03:04:54,680
Speaker 18: where even though we have to be very clear about

3109
03:04:54,720 --> 03:04:58,720
Speaker 18: what a diversity of tactics means and also a separation

3110
03:04:58,840 --> 03:05:03,039
Speaker 18: of time and space. So I mean, we can't just

3111
03:05:03,080 --> 03:05:05,920
Speaker 18: look at a diversity of tactics and everybody does what

3112
03:05:05,959 --> 03:05:09,000
Speaker 18: they want as if they're operating in asylo, but rather

3113
03:05:09,920 --> 03:05:12,800
Speaker 18: we give space for one another to do different things

3114
03:05:12,840 --> 03:05:16,840
Speaker 18: that may work, respectful of the fact that some of

3115
03:05:16,920 --> 03:05:18,920
Speaker 18: our actions may affect one another.

3116
03:05:19,640 --> 03:05:22,320
Speaker 1: In the lead up to the Week of Action, nighttime

3117
03:05:22,360 --> 03:05:27,560
Speaker 1: sabotage actions decreased around Atlanta in favor of these big

3118
03:05:27,720 --> 03:05:31,840
Speaker 1: public demos during daylight. That seems to result in more

3119
03:05:31,879 --> 03:05:35,840
Speaker 1: people getting arrested. And one of the results of Sunday's

3120
03:05:35,879 --> 03:05:39,200
Speaker 1: action happening in such close proximity to the festival and

3121
03:05:39,480 --> 03:05:42,680
Speaker 1: the encampments is that the people at the festival and

3122
03:05:42,720 --> 03:05:46,120
Speaker 1: in the woods who did not consent to participating in

3123
03:05:46,200 --> 03:05:50,680
Speaker 1: a high profile direct action got disproportionately hit with the

3124
03:05:50,720 --> 03:05:54,360
Speaker 1: immediate repression from police. A lot of the people who

3125
03:05:54,440 --> 03:05:57,840
Speaker 1: were arrested were completely unaware of the actions that took

3126
03:05:57,879 --> 03:06:01,080
Speaker 1: place at the North Gate. Even if those actions were

3127
03:06:01,080 --> 03:06:04,800
Speaker 1: one hundred percent justified in the end, it still creates

3128
03:06:04,840 --> 03:06:09,440
Speaker 1: a dynamic with an unequal distribution of police violence. Now,

3129
03:06:09,520 --> 03:06:12,800
Speaker 1: obviously the woods are an inherently dangerous place to be

3130
03:06:13,360 --> 03:06:17,080
Speaker 1: and people are not responsible for actions that police choose

3131
03:06:17,120 --> 03:06:20,560
Speaker 1: to take. But there are still considerations to be had

3132
03:06:20,760 --> 03:06:25,360
Speaker 1: regarding the proximity of space and time when engaging in

3133
03:06:25,400 --> 03:06:29,480
Speaker 1: more risky actions, and how the consequences of those actions

3134
03:06:29,560 --> 03:06:32,640
Speaker 1: may affect people who did not consent to participating in

3135
03:06:32,680 --> 03:06:37,760
Speaker 1: actions at other locations, especially when people are lulled into

3136
03:06:37,800 --> 03:06:40,959
Speaker 1: a false sense of safety by claiming that police have

3137
03:06:41,400 --> 03:06:45,600
Speaker 1: never cracked down hard in the forest during previous weeks

3138
03:06:45,600 --> 03:06:46,000
Speaker 1: of action.

3139
03:06:46,840 --> 03:06:49,520
Speaker 52: Yeah, in terms of the actions done Sunday, in reference

3140
03:06:49,520 --> 03:06:52,199
Speaker 52: to a group of people assaulting a like police position,

3141
03:06:52,440 --> 03:06:54,600
Speaker 52: driving them out with force, and then burning their shit,

3142
03:06:55,000 --> 03:06:56,760
Speaker 52: that was all good, and we should not denounce that

3143
03:06:56,800 --> 03:06:59,959
Speaker 52: A step away from it. It only harms the movement

3144
03:07:00,160 --> 03:07:02,120
Speaker 52: to back away from radical action and act like there

3145
03:07:02,120 --> 03:07:06,640
Speaker 52: are definitions of good or bad protesters, because eventually the

3146
03:07:06,680 --> 03:07:09,640
Speaker 52: logical conclusion of that is snitching, and that only furthers

3147
03:07:09,720 --> 03:07:12,959
Speaker 52: like the GBI's motivations to tear the movement apart. What

3148
03:07:13,000 --> 03:07:16,320
Speaker 52: went wrong Sunday is as a result of two things

3149
03:07:17,080 --> 03:07:20,039
Speaker 52: it's one that the police used indiscriminate violence when people

3150
03:07:20,080 --> 03:07:22,760
Speaker 52: beat them. They were beaten, they got angry, and they

3151
03:07:22,760 --> 03:07:25,480
Speaker 52: were beaten because they got their shit rock by like fireworks.

3152
03:07:25,920 --> 03:07:28,280
Speaker 52: And then they use in discriminate violence against people who

3153
03:07:28,280 --> 03:07:29,760
Speaker 52: they knew were on the side of like where the

3154
03:07:29,800 --> 03:07:32,560
Speaker 52: events were that weren't where all the militants were coming

3155
03:07:32,600 --> 03:07:34,840
Speaker 52: back from. They didn't want to go up against those

3156
03:07:34,879 --> 03:07:38,520
Speaker 52: people because they're cowards. And second, because of how big

3157
03:07:38,560 --> 03:07:41,320
Speaker 52: the movement's gotten over the past two years, the strategy

3158
03:07:41,320 --> 03:07:43,800
Speaker 52: of the Weeks of Action has stagnated. It's made it

3159
03:07:43,840 --> 03:07:46,400
Speaker 52: so work, so compact in a singular week that when

3160
03:07:46,440 --> 03:07:48,800
Speaker 52: you have all the diversity of tactics that exist within

3161
03:07:48,879 --> 03:07:52,600
Speaker 52: Defend the Atlanta Forest and stop Coop City, those tactics,

3162
03:07:52,720 --> 03:07:54,600
Speaker 52: with how big everything is now, they start to step

3163
03:07:54,600 --> 03:07:57,720
Speaker 52: on each other's toes. They can hurt each other sometimes

3164
03:07:57,760 --> 03:08:00,360
Speaker 52: because yeah, not everyone who was at the RC field

3165
03:08:00,480 --> 03:08:02,880
Speaker 52: was like ready for the consequences of like a militant

3166
03:08:02,959 --> 03:08:05,400
Speaker 52: radical action like that. And that doesn't mean that the

3167
03:08:05,480 --> 03:08:08,920
Speaker 52: action wasn't good or justified, because the action was wildly successful.

3168
03:08:09,320 --> 03:08:11,440
Speaker 52: There were no arrests made at that action. There were

3169
03:08:11,440 --> 03:08:13,240
Speaker 52: a rest made when the police got angry and used

3170
03:08:13,240 --> 03:08:15,879
Speaker 52: indiscriminate violence because they were pissed off and they wanted.

3171
03:08:15,600 --> 03:08:19,320
Speaker 1: To riot, so they retaliated at a music festival that

3172
03:08:19,440 --> 03:08:20,640
Speaker 1: was happening nearby.

3173
03:08:21,200 --> 03:08:23,760
Speaker 52: Yes, and that's the fault of nobody but the police.

3174
03:08:24,120 --> 03:08:25,720
Speaker 52: That's not the fault of the people who went and

3175
03:08:25,720 --> 03:08:28,480
Speaker 52: assaulted that outpost. That's only the fault of the police,

3176
03:08:28,520 --> 03:08:30,680
Speaker 52: and really the fault of a bad long term strategy

3177
03:08:30,680 --> 03:08:34,640
Speaker 52: of two heavily compacting factors of you know, being just

3178
03:08:34,760 --> 03:08:37,120
Speaker 52: like a weak and where making it so this movement

3179
03:08:37,200 --> 03:08:39,800
Speaker 52: where people can take radical action, it feels so limited

3180
03:08:39,840 --> 03:08:42,840
Speaker 52: to just inside the forest because that puts people in

3181
03:08:42,879 --> 03:08:46,320
Speaker 52: harm's way, and that put people in harms way, including

3182
03:08:46,440 --> 03:08:48,720
Speaker 52: the people who you know, went and did the thing

3183
03:08:48,760 --> 03:08:51,440
Speaker 52: on Sunday. But no, it would be wrong as the

3184
03:08:51,440 --> 03:08:53,600
Speaker 52: movement to like balk out a radical action like that.

3185
03:08:53,800 --> 03:08:55,640
Speaker 52: Radical action like that is such a big part of

3186
03:08:55,640 --> 03:08:58,040
Speaker 52: why this movement has been as successful as it has been.

3187
03:08:58,440 --> 03:09:00,280
Speaker 52: It's a huge part of why the police did do

3188
03:09:00,440 --> 03:09:02,680
Speaker 52: like a full sweep or a larger sweep or a

3189
03:09:02,720 --> 03:09:05,040
Speaker 52: series of raids in the following days because they were

3190
03:09:05,080 --> 03:09:07,280
Speaker 52: afraid that those three hundred to four hundred people who

3191
03:09:07,320 --> 03:09:09,800
Speaker 52: hit that out posts were lying and waiting in the forest,

3192
03:09:09,840 --> 03:09:11,800
Speaker 52: ready to attack them because they were afraid of militant

3193
03:09:11,879 --> 03:09:12,480
Speaker 52: radical action.

3194
03:09:13,040 --> 03:09:15,960
Speaker 1: On Thursday, when I was in front of the APF building,

3195
03:09:16,160 --> 03:09:19,359
Speaker 1: I could like hear some of the supervisors and coordinators

3196
03:09:19,800 --> 03:09:23,600
Speaker 1: talking about being scared of ambushes or like being scared

3197
03:09:23,640 --> 03:09:28,400
Speaker 1: of splinter groups, like being staged to attack officers. It's

3198
03:09:28,520 --> 03:09:31,680
Speaker 1: it's bizarre how fearful they are. Of the types of

3199
03:09:31,720 --> 03:09:35,160
Speaker 1: people who are opposing the cop city project, they're.

3200
03:09:34,959 --> 03:09:36,720
Speaker 52: The most afraid of the people who are willing to

3201
03:09:36,800 --> 03:09:40,240
Speaker 52: go do physical violence to them, and not even physical violence,

3202
03:09:40,280 --> 03:09:42,360
Speaker 52: but people who are just willing to like throw a

3203
03:09:42,440 --> 03:09:44,560
Speaker 52: rock at them or like a firework. Once they realize

3204
03:09:44,560 --> 03:09:47,680
Speaker 52: that they haven't paralyzed somebody with fear, once they realize

3205
03:09:47,680 --> 03:09:49,560
Speaker 52: that they have not made you so afraid of taking action,

3206
03:09:49,680 --> 03:09:51,000
Speaker 52: they become such cowards.

3207
03:09:52,600 --> 03:09:56,240
Speaker 1: In the aftermath of the police killing forest defender Tortigita,

3208
03:09:56,800 --> 03:09:59,920
Speaker 1: law enforcement agencies tried to claim that Tortigita shot at

3209
03:09:59,920 --> 03:10:04,920
Speaker 1: the first leaving one officer injured, but recently released findings

3210
03:10:04,959 --> 03:10:08,880
Speaker 1: from multiple autopsies have cast more doubt on the state's

3211
03:10:09,000 --> 03:10:13,760
Speaker 1: version of events. On the afternoon of Friday, March tenth,

3212
03:10:13,879 --> 03:10:16,600
Speaker 1: Towards the end of the week of action, the family

3213
03:10:16,640 --> 03:10:20,160
Speaker 1: of Tortighita released the findings of an independent autopsy done

3214
03:10:20,160 --> 03:10:25,320
Speaker 1: by former GBI Chief Medical Examiner, doctor Chris Sperry. The

3215
03:10:25,400 --> 03:10:29,080
Speaker 1: results suggested that Tortighito was sitting cross legged with their

3216
03:10:29,160 --> 03:10:31,920
Speaker 1: hands in front of their face when shot and bullet

3217
03:10:31,920 --> 03:10:34,760
Speaker 1: exit wounds through the palms of both of their hands.

3218
03:10:35,840 --> 03:10:39,840
Speaker 1: The family ordered autopsy also did not find any evidence

3219
03:10:39,920 --> 03:10:44,440
Speaker 1: of gunshot residue from a GSR test kit. And then

3220
03:10:44,560 --> 03:10:47,560
Speaker 1: a month later, De Cab County released the results of

3221
03:10:47,600 --> 03:10:51,400
Speaker 1: their official autopsy, which found at least fifty seven bullet

3222
03:10:51,400 --> 03:10:55,960
Speaker 1: wounds across Tortigita's body and according to this autopsy, torte

3223
03:10:56,000 --> 03:10:59,840
Speaker 1: did not have any gunpowder residue on its hands. Then,

3224
03:11:00,120 --> 03:11:03,360
Speaker 1: a few days later, via a public records request, the

3225
03:11:03,400 --> 03:11:07,400
Speaker 1: Atlanta Community Press Collective received the gunshot residue test kit

3226
03:11:07,600 --> 03:11:11,760
Speaker 1: from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's crime Lab. The document

3227
03:11:11,879 --> 03:11:15,440
Speaker 1: contained the names of six Georgia State Patrol SWAT members

3228
03:11:15,720 --> 03:11:21,600
Speaker 1: who shot and killed Tortigita, Bryland L. Myers, Jerry A. Parish,

3229
03:11:22,080 --> 03:11:28,120
Speaker 1: Jonathan Salceda, Jonathan Mark lamb Ronaldo Kegel, and Royce Zaw,

3230
03:11:28,760 --> 03:11:32,000
Speaker 1: with Zaw being the subject of a lawsuit after he

3231
03:11:32,040 --> 03:11:34,440
Speaker 1: shot a protester in the face with a les lethal

3232
03:11:34,560 --> 03:11:38,320
Speaker 1: round during the George Floyd protests in May of twenty twenty.

3233
03:11:39,080 --> 03:11:42,160
Speaker 1: The document also included the results of the GBI's crime

3234
03:11:42,240 --> 03:11:46,000
Speaker 1: lab report, claiming that they found quote the presence of

3235
03:11:46,080 --> 03:11:50,600
Speaker 1: more than five particles characteristic of gunshot primer residue unquote

3236
03:11:50,760 --> 03:11:54,800
Speaker 1: from a test kit, with the report also stating quote,

3237
03:11:55,120 --> 03:11:57,320
Speaker 1: it should be noted that it is possible for a

3238
03:11:57,440 --> 03:12:01,360
Speaker 1: victim of gunshot wounds to have gas are present on

3239
03:12:01,480 --> 03:12:05,920
Speaker 1: their hands, considering that among the more than fifty seven

3240
03:12:06,000 --> 03:12:09,840
Speaker 1: gunshot wounds were entrance and exit wounds on Tortighita's hands,

3241
03:12:10,240 --> 03:12:13,440
Speaker 1: which could be caused for gunshot residue if the crime

3242
03:12:13,520 --> 03:12:16,520
Speaker 1: lab findings are genuine. The findings do not point to

3243
03:12:16,560 --> 03:12:19,879
Speaker 1: any specific interpretation of events, as it's not unusual to

3244
03:12:19,920 --> 03:12:22,960
Speaker 1: find primer residue on the hands of a victim following

3245
03:12:23,000 --> 03:12:26,280
Speaker 1: the path of a bullet. Plus, coupled with the ever

3246
03:12:26,400 --> 03:12:29,680
Speaker 1: changing story from the GBI, on the ground chatter from

3247
03:12:29,680 --> 03:12:33,280
Speaker 1: APD officers claiming that Georgia State Patrol quote fucked their

3248
03:12:33,280 --> 03:12:37,040
Speaker 1: own officer Upot. As well as reports from forced defenders

3249
03:12:37,080 --> 03:12:39,959
Speaker 1: from the day of the shooting, there is indication that

3250
03:12:40,080 --> 03:12:43,840
Speaker 1: Georgia State Patrol most likely suffered from so called friendly fire,

3251
03:12:44,600 --> 03:12:48,200
Speaker 1: with many people believing that the killing of Tortighita was

3252
03:12:48,280 --> 03:12:50,080
Speaker 1: essentially an execution.

3253
03:12:51,440 --> 03:12:51,880
Speaker 10: Instant.

3254
03:12:51,920 --> 03:12:56,680
Speaker 1: Reports obtained via public records requests also revealed that GSP

3255
03:12:56,879 --> 03:12:59,800
Speaker 1: fired a quote unquote, a Leslie Thual pepperball gun at

3256
03:12:59,879 --> 03:13:04,840
Speaker 1: d Tortighita's tent as SWAT initially approached, once again contradicting

3257
03:13:04,840 --> 03:13:08,560
Speaker 1: the claims made by GBI officials in the months since

3258
03:13:08,640 --> 03:13:13,560
Speaker 1: the killing. As the week came to a close on Sunday,

3259
03:13:13,600 --> 03:13:17,680
Speaker 1: March eleventh, a memorial service for Tortighita was held in

3260
03:13:17,720 --> 03:13:22,080
Speaker 1: the Malani Forest, where Tort's family spread their ashes in

3261
03:13:22,160 --> 03:13:26,640
Speaker 1: the forest it died to protect. I attended the Sunday

3262
03:13:26,680 --> 03:13:30,560
Speaker 1: morning memorial. The sky opened up and poured down rain

3263
03:13:30,640 --> 03:13:35,039
Speaker 1: in South Atlanta throughout the whole morning. Hundreds of people

3264
03:13:35,160 --> 03:13:38,200
Speaker 1: gathered in Wollanne People's Park to light candles under a

3265
03:13:38,200 --> 03:13:44,120
Speaker 1: canopy and hear from Towrt's family. Then, led by Tortighita's mother,

3266
03:13:44,560 --> 03:13:47,160
Speaker 1: we walked through the forest to the site of the shooting,

3267
03:13:47,520 --> 03:13:51,320
Speaker 1: where a banner hung that read, quote on this ground

3268
03:13:51,560 --> 03:14:00,160
Speaker 1: gsp assassinated forest defender, comrade, friend, lover Tortigita unquote. Family

3269
03:14:00,240 --> 03:14:05,080
Speaker 1: and friends spread Tortigita's ashes throughout the woods along the

3270
03:14:05,120 --> 03:14:10,080
Speaker 1: path to quote Candice burned in truth out. In contrast

3271
03:14:10,160 --> 03:14:15,000
Speaker 1: to its tumultuous start, Sunday's vigil and ceremony provided a

3272
03:14:15,040 --> 03:14:18,640
Speaker 1: somber and heartfelt close to the fifth week of Action.

3273
03:14:20,560 --> 03:14:23,640
Speaker 1: I met up with Matthew Johnson after the memorial to

3274
03:14:23,720 --> 03:14:26,640
Speaker 1: discuss the week of Action, and we briefly touched on

3275
03:14:26,840 --> 03:14:28,360
Speaker 1: the memorial in the forest.

3276
03:14:29,240 --> 03:14:30,199
Speaker 8: I think that.

3277
03:14:31,680 --> 03:14:36,800
Speaker 18: We have to hold space for very real grief. We

3278
03:14:36,879 --> 03:14:39,400
Speaker 18: lost a friend, and at the same time, just two

3279
03:14:39,480 --> 03:14:44,160
Speaker 18: days ago, on a Friday, what we always knew to

3280
03:14:44,200 --> 03:14:50,560
Speaker 18: be true was found to clearly be true. Tortigita was murdered,

3281
03:14:51,320 --> 03:14:53,160
Speaker 18: and we have to bear the burner of that pain.

3282
03:14:53,560 --> 03:14:58,560
Speaker 18: And all the people in power lied and even gave

3283
03:14:58,680 --> 03:15:02,720
Speaker 18: their condolences to a state trooper that seemed.

3284
03:15:02,640 --> 03:15:06,480
Speaker 8: As if he was shot by a state trooper.

3285
03:15:06,520 --> 03:15:10,480
Speaker 18: And did not say a mumbling word to even acknowledge

3286
03:15:10,560 --> 03:15:13,600
Speaker 18: our friend's existence and the value of their life. And

3287
03:15:14,040 --> 03:15:17,080
Speaker 18: this morning was beautiful. I had been able to meet

3288
03:15:17,120 --> 03:15:24,120
Speaker 18: Bilkis Tortugita's mother previously, and she really does have a

3289
03:15:24,160 --> 03:15:30,440
Speaker 18: beautiful spirit. I've really grown appreciation for that family, and

3290
03:15:30,680 --> 03:15:35,960
Speaker 18: just to see just how large these gatherings were like

3291
03:15:36,040 --> 03:15:39,240
Speaker 18: throughout the week, even in spite of the hoopla and

3292
03:15:39,320 --> 03:15:45,959
Speaker 18: the opening weekend, it was very encouraging. But in a

3293
03:15:45,959 --> 03:15:50,000
Speaker 18: lot of ways, Tortugita has become the face of this

3294
03:15:50,080 --> 03:15:55,440
Speaker 18: movement because they really did light up wherever they were.

3295
03:15:55,959 --> 03:16:01,120
Speaker 18: One thing that's gotten me through thinking about when you

3296
03:16:01,120 --> 03:16:03,600
Speaker 18: would just see them sometimes and they would just give

3297
03:16:03,640 --> 03:16:06,760
Speaker 18: you the biggest, like cheesiest smile, like out of nowhere.

3298
03:16:06,800 --> 03:16:07,240
Speaker 8: I just.

3299
03:16:09,080 --> 03:16:12,360
Speaker 18: And like that like got me through the first week

3300
03:16:13,959 --> 03:16:21,440
Speaker 18: after their passing. Yeah, but I've grown a great appreciation

3301
03:16:21,640 --> 03:16:26,040
Speaker 18: for that family because in so many ways, tord Ti

3302
03:16:26,080 --> 03:16:29,320
Speaker 18: Gita is their hero. And just learn how consistent they

3303
03:16:29,400 --> 03:16:34,440
Speaker 18: were as like such a welcoming and loving and caring

3304
03:16:34,560 --> 03:16:38,000
Speaker 18: person just meant so much. I mean to know that

3305
03:16:38,040 --> 03:16:40,400
Speaker 18: this wasn't something new that they had stumbled upon. They

3306
03:16:40,400 --> 03:16:44,080
Speaker 18: had lived this whole life of caring and making space

3307
03:16:44,120 --> 03:16:44,560
Speaker 18: for others.

3308
03:16:45,160 --> 03:16:48,480
Speaker 1: Some of Toward's friends have raised concerns that a side

3309
03:16:48,480 --> 03:16:51,840
Speaker 1: effect of toward unwittingly becoming the face of the movement,

3310
03:16:52,520 --> 03:16:56,400
Speaker 1: is that the details around their death have eclipsed some

3311
03:16:56,480 --> 03:17:00,480
Speaker 1: of what they died fighting for in doing so, stripping

3312
03:17:00,480 --> 03:17:04,119
Speaker 1: toward of their individuality and removing their own agency to

3313
03:17:04,160 --> 03:17:07,800
Speaker 1: turn them into this perfect liberal, friendly avatar of the

3314
03:17:07,840 --> 03:17:12,039
Speaker 1: movement to simply be used as a political tool and

3315
03:17:12,280 --> 03:17:13,880
Speaker 1: add to a list of demands.

3316
03:17:14,560 --> 03:17:16,880
Speaker 52: There's a thing that's been happening more and more recently

3317
03:17:16,879 --> 03:17:20,359
Speaker 52: that I've been bothered by, which is when organizations, specifically

3318
03:17:20,400 --> 03:17:24,720
Speaker 52: more liberal organizations, are invoking towards name actions, they're misgendering

3319
03:17:24,760 --> 03:17:26,760
Speaker 52: the hell out of them, and it's alienating a lot

3320
03:17:26,800 --> 03:17:29,959
Speaker 52: of people. And I understand that Sunday's action alienated a

3321
03:17:29,959 --> 03:17:33,440
Speaker 52: lot of liberal orgs. This is a problem with the

3322
03:17:33,440 --> 03:17:37,520
Speaker 52: week of Action type strategy, with the diversity of tactics

3323
03:17:37,560 --> 03:17:40,080
Speaker 52: all being forced under one roof. But we cannot stand

3324
03:17:40,080 --> 03:17:43,440
Speaker 52: to alienate each other. And it's really frustrating and really

3325
03:17:43,480 --> 03:17:46,080
Speaker 52: angering to see this really beautiful soul be flattened into

3326
03:17:46,120 --> 03:17:47,959
Speaker 52: just a murder that these liberals want them to be,

3327
03:17:48,160 --> 03:17:50,040
Speaker 52: stripping them of so much of their life and what

3328
03:17:50,320 --> 03:17:53,760
Speaker 52: was a revolutionary life and a revolutionary death into just

3329
03:17:54,200 --> 03:17:56,879
Speaker 52: martyrdom by taking away their identity and who they were

3330
03:17:56,959 --> 03:17:59,520
Speaker 52: and making them nothing more than someone who was murdered

3331
03:18:00,680 --> 03:18:03,080
Speaker 52: when they were someone who is living such a full

3332
03:18:03,120 --> 03:18:05,640
Speaker 52: and beautiful life until the day they died. And this

3333
03:18:05,760 --> 03:18:08,040
Speaker 52: movement will tear itself apart if we do not accept

3334
03:18:08,040 --> 03:18:10,360
Speaker 52: the fullness of towards life, what it stood for, and

3335
03:18:10,360 --> 03:18:13,600
Speaker 52: what they live for. This movement has always been built

3336
03:18:13,800 --> 03:18:16,119
Speaker 52: on a lot of trans people in the woods fucking

3337
03:18:16,160 --> 03:18:18,800
Speaker 52: the cops up, and if we alienate those people were fucked,

3338
03:18:18,840 --> 03:18:21,000
Speaker 52: there's no winning and we can't lose. We don't have

3339
03:18:21,040 --> 03:18:23,120
Speaker 52: a choice about this anymore. We have to win by

3340
03:18:23,160 --> 03:18:24,320
Speaker 52: any means necessary.

3341
03:18:25,160 --> 03:18:27,760
Speaker 1: That will wrap up our day to day coverage of

3342
03:18:27,840 --> 03:18:31,520
Speaker 1: the entire week of action, but much has happened in

3343
03:18:31,560 --> 03:18:35,200
Speaker 1: the intervening two months, so in the next episode we'll

3344
03:18:35,240 --> 03:18:38,760
Speaker 1: cover where the movement is now, discuss the future of

3345
03:18:38,760 --> 03:18:41,959
Speaker 1: the fight to stop Cop City, and offer a more

3346
03:18:42,040 --> 03:18:45,680
Speaker 1: critical retrospective on the fifth week of action. See you

3347
03:18:45,920 --> 03:18:51,720
Speaker 1: on the other side, welcome back to it could happen here.

3348
03:18:52,200 --> 03:18:55,480
Speaker 1: This is a bonus fifth episode following my coverage of

3349
03:18:55,560 --> 03:18:57,520
Speaker 1: the Stop Coop City Week of Action in.

3350
03:18:57,440 --> 03:18:58,800
Speaker 10: March of twenty twenty three.

3351
03:18:59,560 --> 03:19:02,480
Speaker 1: This will be a more critical retrospective on the week

3352
03:19:02,520 --> 03:19:05,160
Speaker 1: as a whole and offer a glimpse into what the

3353
03:19:05,200 --> 03:19:07,880
Speaker 1: movement might look like in the next few months as

3354
03:19:07,920 --> 03:19:11,680
Speaker 1: we are rapidly approaching summer. In the last episode, we

3355
03:19:11,760 --> 03:19:15,520
Speaker 1: talked about the police repression of protests and demonstrations as

3356
03:19:15,560 --> 03:19:18,840
Speaker 1: they happen, but we have yet to mention the various

3357
03:19:18,879 --> 03:19:21,359
Speaker 1: methods of state repression the movement is facing.

3358
03:19:21,480 --> 03:19:22,279
Speaker 10: Day to day.

3359
03:19:23,120 --> 03:19:26,160
Speaker 1: Repression for the Week of Action started well before the

3360
03:19:26,240 --> 03:19:30,440
Speaker 1: kickoff rally in Gresham Park. Emails from early February obtained

3361
03:19:30,520 --> 03:19:33,800
Speaker 1: via public records requests found that the Atlanta Police Foundation

3362
03:19:34,000 --> 03:19:37,560
Speaker 1: and its contractors were waiting for quote indictments to the

3363
03:19:37,640 --> 03:19:40,760
Speaker 1: leaders unquote of the Stopcob City and Defend the Atlanta

3364
03:19:40,800 --> 03:19:44,680
Speaker 1: Forest movement to quote the Atlantic Community Press Collective. In

3365
03:19:44,760 --> 03:19:48,040
Speaker 1: a February third email to APF board members, the director

3366
03:19:48,080 --> 03:19:51,240
Speaker 1: of Public Affairs, Rob Baskin, calls the Defend the Atlanta

3367
03:19:51,280 --> 03:19:54,440
Speaker 1: Forest and Stop Coop City movement a quote conspiracy of

3368
03:19:54,480 --> 03:19:58,280
Speaker 1: protesters against the Public Safety Training Center investigated by a

3369
03:19:58,320 --> 03:20:02,600
Speaker 1: consortium of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies unquote.

3370
03:20:03,360 --> 03:20:06,680
Speaker 1: Baskin promised the APF Board in an email quote that

3371
03:20:06,879 --> 03:20:09,959
Speaker 1: the recent arrests, our receipt of the land and disturbance permit,

3372
03:20:10,200 --> 03:20:12,440
Speaker 1: the mayor's announcement of the project will be moving forward,

3373
03:20:12,680 --> 03:20:17,240
Speaker 1: and the continued investigation by law enforcement will dampen activists' efforts.

3374
03:20:17,640 --> 03:20:20,720
Speaker 1: We will likely see more indictments in the coming weeks.

3375
03:20:22,440 --> 03:20:25,520
Speaker 1: Back in February, Brestfield and Gory, the general contractor for

3376
03:20:25,560 --> 03:20:29,600
Speaker 1: the project, planned to mobilize for land clearing around April,

3377
03:20:30,080 --> 03:20:34,199
Speaker 1: but told the Atlanta Police Foundation that subcontractor bidding wouldn't

3378
03:20:34,240 --> 03:20:39,480
Speaker 1: happen quote until indictments have happened unquote, And then, of course,

3379
03:20:39,520 --> 03:20:42,360
Speaker 1: a few weeks later, twenty three people were charged with

3380
03:20:42,440 --> 03:20:46,520
Speaker 1: domestic terrorism at a music festival. Matt from the Atlanta

3381
03:20:46,560 --> 03:20:50,120
Speaker 1: Community Press Collective talked about the history of domestic terrorism

3382
03:20:50,240 --> 03:20:53,560
Speaker 1: charges in the movement and how they affected bail proceedings.

3383
03:20:54,240 --> 03:20:57,440
Speaker 2: The domestic terrorism charges go back to the middle of December,

3384
03:20:57,480 --> 03:21:01,359
Speaker 2: that's when the first of them happened, and up until

3385
03:21:01,760 --> 03:21:03,520
Speaker 2: the week of action, there have been a total of

3386
03:21:03,640 --> 03:21:07,600
Speaker 2: nineteen arrest or individuals who have been charged with domestic

3387
03:21:07,720 --> 03:21:13,000
Speaker 2: terrorism and then of those people, anyone who did not

3388
03:21:13,240 --> 03:21:17,520
Speaker 2: have either a Georgia license or could not prove like

3389
03:21:17,680 --> 03:21:25,199
Speaker 2: Georgia residency, they were all initially denied bond, but everyone

3390
03:21:25,560 --> 03:21:29,680
Speaker 2: who lives here they were able to get bond. Before

3391
03:21:29,720 --> 03:21:33,240
Speaker 2: the bond hearing, we're kind of there are discussions that

3392
03:21:33,760 --> 03:21:36,480
Speaker 2: there's no way that they're going to hold twenty three

3393
03:21:36,520 --> 03:21:41,320
Speaker 2: people without bond with on such flimsy evidence.

3394
03:21:41,520 --> 03:21:43,720
Speaker 1: That's the most people that have been arrested and held

3395
03:21:43,720 --> 03:21:47,720
Speaker 1: in one day. It really is in relation to the

3396
03:21:47,720 --> 03:21:48,360
Speaker 1: movement so far.

3397
03:21:48,520 --> 03:21:51,199
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the largest mass arrest of the movement,

3398
03:21:52,080 --> 03:21:56,800
Speaker 2: So it's kind of inconceivable for twenty three people to

3399
03:21:56,879 --> 03:22:00,960
Speaker 2: be held without bond. So we get to the bail hearing.

3400
03:22:01,040 --> 03:22:04,119
Speaker 2: The first person has their mother come on. Their lawyer

3401
03:22:04,720 --> 03:22:08,440
Speaker 2: brings their mother on, who swears essentially on like every

3402
03:22:08,680 --> 03:22:14,000
Speaker 2: religious text ever written, that her child will immediately go

3403
03:22:14,120 --> 03:22:17,360
Speaker 2: home with her and she will personally bring her child

3404
03:22:17,440 --> 03:22:21,720
Speaker 2: back to every court hearing and her child will have no,

3405
03:22:22,200 --> 03:22:25,480
Speaker 2: you know, further contact with the movement and all of

3406
03:22:25,520 --> 03:22:30,560
Speaker 2: these things. And the judge denies the bond. So at

3407
03:22:30,600 --> 03:22:34,080
Speaker 2: that point it's like, okay, there, you know, I guess

3408
03:22:34,080 --> 03:22:35,640
Speaker 2: we're going to go back to the old thing. If

3409
03:22:35,680 --> 03:22:40,320
Speaker 2: you can't prove residency, you're you're you're not getting out.

3410
03:22:41,000 --> 03:22:44,000
Speaker 2: It was like person number five is from Athens, Georgia,

3411
03:22:44,040 --> 03:22:48,200
Speaker 2: which is about an hour outside of Atlanta, and the

3412
03:22:48,280 --> 03:22:51,800
Speaker 2: judge denies her bond, not because the judge thinks she's

3413
03:22:51,840 --> 03:22:55,840
Speaker 2: a flight risk, but because she is a threat to

3414
03:22:55,879 --> 03:23:00,560
Speaker 2: the community. And that was the moment where the understanding changed.

3415
03:23:00,600 --> 03:23:04,040
Speaker 2: It was like, oh no, like nobody's getting out of me.

3416
03:23:04,200 --> 03:23:06,879
Speaker 1: Yes, this isn't this isn't a real this isn't a

3417
03:23:06,879 --> 03:23:10,400
Speaker 1: real bond. Here at the press conference after the leaf raid,

3418
03:23:10,760 --> 03:23:14,120
Speaker 1: Kamal Franklin from the Community Movement Builders spoke about it

3419
03:23:14,160 --> 03:23:17,160
Speaker 1: the years of state repression against people fighting to stop

3420
03:23:17,240 --> 03:23:17,800
Speaker 1: Cop City.

3421
03:23:18,120 --> 03:23:22,600
Speaker 39: This movement has been repressed by the states, by the

3422
03:23:22,640 --> 03:23:27,280
Speaker 39: city since its very beginnings. When we first started organizing

3423
03:23:27,320 --> 03:23:30,800
Speaker 39: in twenty twenty one, where we had rallies in demonstration,

3424
03:23:31,120 --> 03:23:35,160
Speaker 39: we would have police break them up, throw people to

3425
03:23:35,200 --> 03:23:39,039
Speaker 39: the ground, pepper spray them, and arrest them. We had

3426
03:23:39,080 --> 03:23:42,879
Speaker 39: over twenty arrest in our first years of rallying and

3427
03:23:43,000 --> 03:23:45,120
Speaker 39: demonstrating against Cop City.

3428
03:23:45,720 --> 03:23:47,160
Speaker 3: At the time, those.

3429
03:23:46,879 --> 03:23:51,760
Speaker 39: Folks were charged with resisting arrests, obstruction of governmental administration,

3430
03:23:52,600 --> 03:23:55,360
Speaker 39: and then the police decided to step up their tactics,

3431
03:23:55,959 --> 03:23:59,240
Speaker 39: and they started to form a task force, a task

3432
03:23:59,280 --> 03:24:02,040
Speaker 39: force that included at the Atlanta Police so, the Cab

3433
03:24:02,120 --> 03:24:06,640
Speaker 39: County Police, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia State Troopers,

3434
03:24:06,800 --> 03:24:10,840
Speaker 39: the Federal Bureau of Investigation at Homeland Security, where they

3435
03:24:10,920 --> 03:24:16,000
Speaker 39: began to talk about bringing charges of domestic terrorism against

3436
03:24:16,080 --> 03:24:18,959
Speaker 39: organizers and activists. And so now we're coming to a

3437
03:24:19,040 --> 03:24:24,360
Speaker 39: point where they're raiding houses, where they're telling organizers and

3438
03:24:24,480 --> 03:24:28,480
Speaker 39: activists that they can't stand on corners and legally give

3439
03:24:28,520 --> 03:24:29,240
Speaker 39: out leaflets.

3440
03:24:29,920 --> 03:24:32,880
Speaker 2: And then the judge kept saying like, I'm not here

3441
03:24:32,959 --> 03:24:36,560
Speaker 2: to hear anything on evidentiary claims and I'm not here

3442
03:24:36,600 --> 03:24:40,920
Speaker 2: to engage with the domestic terrorism statute. Like both of

3443
03:24:40,959 --> 03:24:44,520
Speaker 2: those were I think very valid things that defense attorneys

3444
03:24:44,600 --> 03:24:46,000
Speaker 2: kept bringing up, because.

3445
03:24:45,879 --> 03:24:47,440
Speaker 10: Yeah, they're problematic.

3446
03:24:47,720 --> 03:24:50,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, one of the defense attorneys mentioned that the way

3447
03:24:50,840 --> 03:24:53,039
Speaker 1: people are being charged with domestic terrorism right now doesn't

3448
03:24:53,040 --> 03:24:55,040
Speaker 1: really have any legal basis in the state of Georgia

3449
03:24:55,120 --> 03:24:58,959
Speaker 1: because the terrorism law works as like an enhancement for

3450
03:24:59,080 --> 03:25:02,360
Speaker 1: other folonial charges, and these people aren't being charged with

3451
03:25:02,400 --> 03:25:05,760
Speaker 1: anything besides domestic terrorism. There's no evidence these people committed

3452
03:25:05,959 --> 03:25:08,920
Speaker 1: any actual crimes. So they're just being charged with terrorism.

3453
03:25:08,959 --> 03:25:13,080
Speaker 1: This like nebulous concept. The judge said that the legal

3454
03:25:13,080 --> 03:25:15,160
Speaker 1: basis of these claims will have to be decided on

3455
03:25:15,240 --> 03:25:19,880
Speaker 1: another day. Similarly, they said that in regards to actual

3456
03:25:19,920 --> 03:25:23,720
Speaker 1: evidence that these people charged did any crimes, she said

3457
03:25:23,720 --> 03:25:25,320
Speaker 1: that she had none of this evidence in front of

3458
03:25:25,320 --> 03:25:28,240
Speaker 1: her and that evidence is for another day. One of

3459
03:25:28,280 --> 03:25:31,440
Speaker 1: the main reasons the judge said that defendants were denied

3460
03:25:31,480 --> 03:25:34,480
Speaker 1: bond was due to quote a lack of ties to

3461
03:25:34,560 --> 03:25:39,800
Speaker 1: community in Atlanta. But regarding this ties to the community aspect,

3462
03:25:40,280 --> 03:25:42,959
Speaker 1: the judge had this weird double standard. There was this

3463
03:25:43,000 --> 03:25:45,760
Speaker 1: one person arrested and charged who lives with their partner

3464
03:25:45,760 --> 03:25:48,440
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, who also had ties to another state where

3465
03:25:48,440 --> 03:25:51,879
Speaker 1: they had previously lived. So despite them having ties to

3466
03:25:51,920 --> 03:25:54,000
Speaker 1: the community in Atlanta, which was one of the main

3467
03:25:54,040 --> 03:25:56,959
Speaker 1: things the judge considered for this one individual, they were

3468
03:25:57,000 --> 03:25:59,959
Speaker 1: still denied bond on the basis that this individual also

3469
03:26:00,240 --> 03:26:03,480
Speaker 1: has ties to a different community, thus deeming them a

3470
03:26:03,520 --> 03:26:06,720
Speaker 1: flight risk even though they currently live in Atlanta. One

3471
03:26:06,720 --> 03:26:09,200
Speaker 1: of the reasons that the judge mentioned is based on

3472
03:26:09,240 --> 03:26:11,119
Speaker 1: the arrest warrants that she was given for why these

3473
03:26:11,120 --> 03:26:14,800
Speaker 1: people were a threat to the community. Is that the

3474
03:26:14,840 --> 03:26:18,080
Speaker 1: state claims that they were in possession of metal shields

3475
03:26:18,360 --> 03:26:22,599
Speaker 1: as they were being arrested. You know, shields the offensive

3476
03:26:22,680 --> 03:26:26,440
Speaker 1: weapon that shows that you are a threat you holding

3477
03:26:26,440 --> 03:26:29,039
Speaker 1: a shield. And so first of all, that's that's that's

3478
03:26:29,040 --> 03:26:30,800
Speaker 1: funny on us on that on that level.

3479
03:26:30,959 --> 03:26:34,240
Speaker 2: When you and I were coming in on Saturday and

3480
03:26:34,480 --> 03:26:37,600
Speaker 2: along with the march, we passed by a bunch of shields,

3481
03:26:37,720 --> 03:26:41,840
Speaker 2: right and they were kind of placed near the end

3482
03:26:42,000 --> 03:26:45,039
Speaker 2: of the path, like in anticipation that there might be

3483
03:26:45,080 --> 03:26:50,039
Speaker 2: police presents. And I took pictures of the shields and

3484
03:26:50,840 --> 03:26:55,680
Speaker 2: they are evidently plastic shields. There's no way of mistaking

3485
03:26:55,720 --> 03:26:57,959
Speaker 2: them for anything other than plastic.

3486
03:26:57,879 --> 03:27:00,520
Speaker 1: The plastic five gallon shields that you see almost every

3487
03:27:00,560 --> 03:27:04,680
Speaker 1: protest in every city across the country. The cops know

3488
03:27:04,720 --> 03:27:07,200
Speaker 1: what these things are. That the fact that they claimed

3489
03:27:07,200 --> 03:27:11,320
Speaker 1: that people were arrested carrying metal shields is so ludicrous

3490
03:27:11,360 --> 03:27:13,840
Speaker 1: because there was not There was not a single metal

3491
03:27:13,879 --> 03:27:16,720
Speaker 1: shield at this music festival. And there's a lot of

3492
03:27:16,760 --> 03:27:19,520
Speaker 1: footage of these arrests. I don't there's I've not seen

3493
03:27:19,560 --> 03:27:22,680
Speaker 1: evidence that every that any person was arrested that was

3494
03:27:22,720 --> 03:27:25,560
Speaker 1: carrying a shield, let alone a metal one.

3495
03:27:25,680 --> 03:27:28,520
Speaker 2: There's this weird thing where so typically when you do

3496
03:27:28,640 --> 03:27:32,720
Speaker 2: these these bail hearings, the the defense attorneys waive the

3497
03:27:32,840 --> 03:27:38,280
Speaker 2: reading of the warrant typically because they have already gone

3498
03:27:38,320 --> 03:27:40,520
Speaker 2: over that with their client, and you know, everybody's aware,

3499
03:27:40,520 --> 03:27:42,720
Speaker 2: and it just kind of speeds up the process. And

3500
03:27:42,760 --> 03:27:45,720
Speaker 2: it was like really notable that these attorneys weren't doing it,

3501
03:27:46,640 --> 03:27:49,600
Speaker 2: and once you started to listen to them, you notice

3502
03:27:49,640 --> 03:27:54,520
Speaker 2: this very repetitive nature of them. And so about halfway

3503
03:27:54,560 --> 03:27:57,160
Speaker 2: through we get to a lawyer who straight up calls

3504
03:27:57,200 --> 03:28:01,000
Speaker 2: out the fact that these warrants seem like they were

3505
03:28:01,000 --> 03:28:02,320
Speaker 2: just copy pasted.

3506
03:28:02,280 --> 03:28:05,320
Speaker 1: Like every single person all the way downline. During the

3507
03:28:05,320 --> 03:28:08,279
Speaker 1: first hearing, only one person was let out on bail,

3508
03:28:08,680 --> 03:28:11,840
Speaker 1: and they were an NLG legal observer and lawyer at

3509
03:28:11,840 --> 03:28:15,080
Speaker 1: the Southern Poverty Law Center. After the week of action,

3510
03:28:15,240 --> 03:28:17,920
Speaker 1: on March twenty third, there were a second set of

3511
03:28:17,959 --> 03:28:20,680
Speaker 1: bail hearings for ten of the people arrested on March

3512
03:28:20,720 --> 03:28:24,039
Speaker 1: fifth at the South River Music Festival. In a rare move,

3513
03:28:24,240 --> 03:28:26,640
Speaker 1: the second in command of the State of Georgia's Attorney

3514
03:28:26,640 --> 03:28:30,920
Speaker 1: General's office, John Fowler, was deployed to argue against granting

3515
03:28:31,000 --> 03:28:35,800
Speaker 1: bond Fowler, along with several top county prosecutors, weaved a

3516
03:28:35,879 --> 03:28:40,080
Speaker 1: complex narrative of a grand conspiracy of protesters dating back

3517
03:28:40,120 --> 03:28:44,160
Speaker 1: to twenty nineteen, saying that the quote unquote organization behind

3518
03:28:44,280 --> 03:28:48,400
Speaker 1: Defend the Forest is responsible for quote one hundred incidents

3519
03:28:48,560 --> 03:28:53,440
Speaker 1: nationwide unquote. Fowler claimed that the Force Defenders are a

3520
03:28:53,480 --> 03:28:56,840
Speaker 1: well funded group with millions of dollars hiding behind five

3521
03:28:56,879 --> 03:29:00,280
Speaker 1: oh one c three nonprofit organizations, and that the so

3522
03:29:00,440 --> 03:29:03,640
Speaker 1: called autonomous zone at the Wendy's where Rayshard Brooks was

3523
03:29:03,680 --> 03:29:06,840
Speaker 1: murdered in twenty twenty, is a part of the same organization.

3524
03:29:08,000 --> 03:29:11,240
Speaker 1: Fowler also tempted to tie the use of laser pointers

3525
03:29:11,320 --> 03:29:14,560
Speaker 1: in the forest to a racial justice protests in twenty twenty,

3526
03:29:14,959 --> 03:29:18,400
Speaker 1: as well as a sophisticated communication network of prepaid phones,

3527
03:29:18,440 --> 03:29:23,640
Speaker 1: telegram channels, proton mails, and rise up accounts. Prosecutor Lance

3528
03:29:23,680 --> 03:29:26,760
Speaker 1: Cross stated that the quote unquote leader of the Defend

3529
03:29:26,760 --> 03:29:32,480
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Forest movement never actually goes into the forest. Okay, So,

3530
03:29:33,040 --> 03:29:37,119
Speaker 1: to paraphrase a friend of mine. As potentially dangerous as

3531
03:29:37,200 --> 03:29:40,520
Speaker 1: claims like these are, it will never stop being funny

3532
03:29:40,520 --> 03:29:44,359
Speaker 1: that the state just simply cannot conceive of horizontal organizing

3533
03:29:44,400 --> 03:29:47,080
Speaker 1: as like a real thing that exists and not just

3534
03:29:47,120 --> 03:29:52,119
Speaker 1: a smoke screen for this shadowy cabal of protesters. Prosecutor

3535
03:29:52,240 --> 03:29:55,240
Speaker 1: Lance Cross claimed that anyone at the music festival is

3536
03:29:55,480 --> 03:29:58,120
Speaker 1: a party to the crime of the direct action that

3537
03:29:58,240 --> 03:30:00,840
Speaker 1: took place around one and a half kilometers away at

3538
03:30:00,840 --> 03:30:04,960
Speaker 1: the construction site, and that after the direct action, individuals

3539
03:30:05,160 --> 03:30:07,680
Speaker 1: left to return to the other side of the woods,

3540
03:30:07,760 --> 03:30:10,640
Speaker 1: crossing over the creek and changing out of their black block.

3541
03:30:11,280 --> 03:30:14,840
Speaker 1: For the first defendant. At this hearing, Prosecutor Cross said

3542
03:30:14,920 --> 03:30:18,520
Speaker 1: that there's police helicopter video of this first person changing

3543
03:30:18,560 --> 03:30:20,880
Speaker 1: out of their black block, but when asked by the

3544
03:30:20,920 --> 03:30:23,560
Speaker 1: judge if the state has any evidence that this defendant

3545
03:30:23,600 --> 03:30:26,160
Speaker 1: did anything illegal, not just change clothing in a forest,

3546
03:30:26,600 --> 03:30:30,360
Speaker 1: the prosecutor was unable to provide any such evidence. This

3547
03:30:30,440 --> 03:30:33,520
Speaker 1: defendant received a twenty five thousand dollars bond with a

3548
03:30:33,560 --> 03:30:36,800
Speaker 1: stay away from Georgia order and a no contact order

3549
03:30:37,000 --> 03:30:40,920
Speaker 1: with any codefendants or anyone associated with the Defend the

3550
03:30:40,959 --> 03:30:44,879
Speaker 1: Atlanta Forest movement. Only one other defendant was granted bond

3551
03:30:44,959 --> 03:30:47,680
Speaker 1: during this hearing, a second year law student who was

3552
03:30:47,760 --> 03:30:50,600
Speaker 1: arrested as they were eating food at a food truck

3553
03:30:51,200 --> 03:30:54,160
Speaker 1: At the hearing, they presented letters of support from Tibetan monks,

3554
03:30:54,200 --> 03:30:58,039
Speaker 1: a former mayor, numerous academics, and Charlotte's mayor pro tem

3555
03:30:58,360 --> 03:31:01,840
Speaker 1: was on the call. Bond was also set at twenty

3556
03:31:01,840 --> 03:31:04,720
Speaker 1: five K, along with having to surrender their passport, where

3557
03:31:04,760 --> 03:31:08,119
Speaker 1: an ankle monitor, and maintain no contact with co defendants

3558
03:31:08,440 --> 03:31:12,600
Speaker 1: nor join any future protests. To paraphrase my friend again,

3559
03:31:13,040 --> 03:31:16,320
Speaker 1: these are old Green Scare tactics back in action and

3560
03:31:16,480 --> 03:31:19,920
Speaker 1: kicked into high gear. Courts are being used as a

3561
03:31:19,959 --> 03:31:23,120
Speaker 1: meat cleaver to hack off and isolate people from their communities,

3562
03:31:23,440 --> 03:31:26,800
Speaker 1: regardless of evidence. This is the type of repression that

3563
03:31:26,879 --> 03:31:30,520
Speaker 1: courts were born to do. Much of the repression we're

3564
03:31:30,520 --> 03:31:33,320
Speaker 1: seeing in Atlanta is a revamped version of the Green

3565
03:31:33,360 --> 03:31:36,600
Speaker 1: Scare with additional tactics and knowledge the state gained from

3566
03:31:36,600 --> 03:31:40,240
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty protests, including the targeting of jail support

3567
03:31:40,400 --> 03:31:45,400
Speaker 1: and bail fund organizations. Another thread in this grand Cabal

3568
03:31:45,440 --> 03:31:47,760
Speaker 1: of Forest Defender's narrative that the state was trying to

3569
03:31:47,800 --> 03:31:52,039
Speaker 1: weave was that prosecutors claimed that having an Atlanta Solidarity

3570
03:31:52,080 --> 03:31:55,680
Speaker 1: Fund jail support number on your person is evidence of

3571
03:31:55,760 --> 03:32:00,120
Speaker 1: criminal intent and that the Solidarity Fund is quote being

3572
03:32:00,160 --> 03:32:04,280
Speaker 1: investigated as a part of this whole thing unquote. The

3573
03:32:04,320 --> 03:32:07,240
Speaker 1: majority of the eight individuals denied bond were not even

3574
03:32:07,320 --> 03:32:09,480
Speaker 1: found to be at the site of the direct action,

3575
03:32:09,959 --> 03:32:12,600
Speaker 1: and none of the eight individuals had any evidence against

3576
03:32:12,640 --> 03:32:16,240
Speaker 1: them showing they committed any crime at that location, but

3577
03:32:16,480 --> 03:32:19,920
Speaker 1: were still deemed a risk to the community and denied bond.

3578
03:32:20,520 --> 03:32:22,800
Speaker 1: Being held against them is the fact that they had

3579
03:32:22,840 --> 03:32:26,519
Speaker 1: a jail support number on their person. As former communications

3580
03:32:26,520 --> 03:32:29,680
Speaker 1: director at the Southern Center of Human Rights Hannah Riley said,

3581
03:32:30,200 --> 03:32:33,039
Speaker 1: it is a gross irony that a jail support number

3582
03:32:33,120 --> 03:32:36,360
Speaker 1: is being framed as evidence of intent to commit crimes,

3583
03:32:36,800 --> 03:32:39,520
Speaker 1: where in fact its evidence that we live in a

3584
03:32:39,560 --> 03:32:43,400
Speaker 1: horrifying police estate. A defense attorney pointed out that all

3585
03:32:43,440 --> 03:32:46,160
Speaker 1: of the warrants had the same bits of evidence copy

3586
03:32:46,240 --> 03:32:50,000
Speaker 1: pasted like this alleged possession of a metal shield, to

3587
03:32:50,080 --> 03:32:53,880
Speaker 1: which the prosecution claimed this was simply a typo, meaning

3588
03:32:53,959 --> 03:32:57,600
Speaker 1: that people were being held in jail based on typos,

3589
03:32:58,160 --> 03:33:01,480
Speaker 1: and also the prosecutor responded by saying, quote, there were

3590
03:33:01,600 --> 03:33:04,840
Speaker 1: thirty forty fifty shields out there, I can't attest that

3591
03:33:04,920 --> 03:33:08,120
Speaker 1: he was carrying one. When referring to a specific defendant

3592
03:33:08,879 --> 03:33:12,400
Speaker 1: for one individual denied bond. Prosecutors claimed that they were

3593
03:33:12,400 --> 03:33:16,359
Speaker 1: an anarchist based on information provided by Customs and Border Protection,

3594
03:33:16,959 --> 03:33:21,119
Speaker 1: and yet no evidence of criminal acts were presented. Extra

3595
03:33:21,160 --> 03:33:24,720
Speaker 1: scrutiny was put on two defendants who were foreign nationals,

3596
03:33:25,120 --> 03:33:28,840
Speaker 1: with prosecutors wondering how someone from out of country could

3597
03:33:28,879 --> 03:33:32,039
Speaker 1: possibly know the solidarity fund of jail support number. A

3598
03:33:32,040 --> 03:33:34,480
Speaker 1: defense attorney try to point out that jail support numbers

3599
03:33:34,480 --> 03:33:38,360
Speaker 1: are often passed out to everyone present at protests by volunteers,

3600
03:33:38,920 --> 03:33:41,640
Speaker 1: and in the case of the circumstances regarding the raid

3601
03:33:41,680 --> 03:33:45,280
Speaker 1: of the music festival, panicked concertgoers were instructed to write

3602
03:33:45,360 --> 03:33:47,960
Speaker 1: down the jail support number as it became clear that

3603
03:33:48,040 --> 03:33:53,360
Speaker 1: police were indiscriminately grabbing people. Deputy Attorney General Fowler argued

3604
03:33:53,400 --> 03:33:57,520
Speaker 1: that wearing black clothes at a protest is akin to

3605
03:33:57,600 --> 03:34:02,120
Speaker 1: wearing a football uniform indicating a player was part of

3606
03:34:02,160 --> 03:34:04,920
Speaker 1: the team who took to the field during the game.

3607
03:34:05,360 --> 03:34:08,039
Speaker 1: And even if we may not know they carried the football,

3608
03:34:08,400 --> 03:34:11,840
Speaker 1: we do know that they were on the field, which

3609
03:34:12,720 --> 03:34:15,520
Speaker 1: I don't even want to get into. But it is

3610
03:34:15,560 --> 03:34:18,360
Speaker 1: still a fact that the majority of people were denied

3611
03:34:18,400 --> 03:34:22,720
Speaker 1: bond because some had black clothing mud on their shoes

3612
03:34:22,800 --> 03:34:25,480
Speaker 1: and ran from police. This is what made them a

3613
03:34:25,520 --> 03:34:28,760
Speaker 1: quote unquote threat to our community, and this is the

3614
03:34:28,800 --> 03:34:32,880
Speaker 1: evidence being used against people who were allegedly engaged in

3615
03:34:33,080 --> 03:34:36,560
Speaker 1: domestic terrorism. Near the end of the hearing, the judge

3616
03:34:36,560 --> 03:34:40,360
Speaker 1: claimed that everyone is presumed innocent and that the state

3617
03:34:40,520 --> 03:34:42,760
Speaker 1: does have to bear the burden of proof beyond a

3618
03:34:42,760 --> 03:34:46,480
Speaker 1: reasonable doubt at some point, but not now. During this

3619
03:34:46,600 --> 03:34:50,080
Speaker 1: spell hearing, one of the claims was that the reason

3620
03:34:50,080 --> 03:34:52,039
Speaker 1: why people were arrested is because they had mud on

3621
03:34:52,080 --> 03:34:55,560
Speaker 1: their clothes. The night before the festival started, there was

3622
03:34:55,600 --> 03:34:59,600
Speaker 1: a tornado warning in Atlanta. I forgot about that and

3623
03:35:00,240 --> 03:35:04,440
Speaker 1: there was rain, which makes I don't know if the

3624
03:35:04,480 --> 03:35:07,520
Speaker 1: prosecutors know this, but when rain mixes with dirt, it

3625
03:35:07,640 --> 03:35:10,200
Speaker 1: creates something called that we that we refer to as mud.

3626
03:35:10,720 --> 03:35:13,040
Speaker 1: So when people are, you know, at this music festival

3627
03:35:13,080 --> 03:35:15,440
Speaker 1: in a field full of dirt, they might get mud

3628
03:35:15,480 --> 03:35:16,200
Speaker 1: on their clothes.

3629
03:35:16,440 --> 03:35:19,320
Speaker 2: And yeah, so if you've ever been to a music festival,

3630
03:35:19,760 --> 03:35:22,640
Speaker 2: standing around for a very long period of time really annoying,

3631
03:35:22,879 --> 03:35:27,280
Speaker 2: people like to sit down. So I like, my feet

3632
03:35:27,280 --> 03:35:30,240
Speaker 2: were caked in mud, and I sat down a few times.

3633
03:35:30,360 --> 03:35:33,279
Speaker 10: I'm I'm my docker partons are still caked in mud.

3634
03:35:33,720 --> 03:35:36,720
Speaker 2: Not to mention the parking lot completely torn up, covered

3635
03:35:36,720 --> 03:35:39,360
Speaker 2: in mud, and as I mentioned earlier, the you know

3636
03:35:39,480 --> 03:35:42,920
Speaker 2: the person having like fill in mud all along the

3637
03:35:42,959 --> 03:35:46,040
Speaker 2: trails with gravel, So there's mud everywhere, and it is

3638
03:35:46,080 --> 03:35:50,000
Speaker 2: an inescapable fact of just being in both the forest

3639
03:35:50,080 --> 03:35:50,880
Speaker 2: and the festival.

3640
03:35:51,040 --> 03:35:52,920
Speaker 1: At the time of the bail hearings, they've very clearly

3641
03:35:52,959 --> 03:35:56,440
Speaker 1: had no evidence linking individuals to crimes, so the best

3642
03:35:56,480 --> 03:35:58,840
Speaker 1: they could come up with was metal shields and mud,

3643
03:35:59,320 --> 03:36:02,800
Speaker 1: two things things that are completely nonsense. There was no

3644
03:36:02,879 --> 03:36:06,040
Speaker 1: metal shields and oh wow, you have mud on your

3645
03:36:06,080 --> 03:36:08,000
Speaker 1: You have mud on your clothing. This is why you're

3646
03:36:08,000 --> 03:36:11,320
Speaker 1: a terrorist. During the hearing, a defense lawyer alleged that

3647
03:36:11,360 --> 03:36:13,720
Speaker 1: the twelve people who were detained at the music festival

3648
03:36:13,720 --> 03:36:16,280
Speaker 1: but not arrested and were later released at Gresham Park

3649
03:36:16,720 --> 03:36:20,640
Speaker 1: were all from Atlanta, and by releasing these twelve locals,

3650
03:36:20,680 --> 03:36:23,600
Speaker 1: police can claim that the people arrested were from fourteen

3651
03:36:23,720 --> 03:36:26,920
Speaker 1: different states, which is obviously part of an attempt to

3652
03:36:26,959 --> 03:36:30,400
Speaker 1: continue accelerating the outside agitator narrative that they've been pushing

3653
03:36:30,400 --> 03:36:31,920
Speaker 1: out since last in December.

3654
03:36:32,640 --> 03:36:38,800
Speaker 2: Of the twenty three who were charged. Only two had

3655
03:36:39,120 --> 03:36:44,440
Speaker 2: the Georgia licenses, the person from Athens and the legal deserver.

3656
03:36:45,000 --> 03:36:47,200
Speaker 2: The rest were out of state and two were out

3657
03:36:47,200 --> 03:36:51,320
Speaker 2: of country. So at one point during the proceedings the

3658
03:36:52,080 --> 03:36:56,320
Speaker 2: bail proceedings, one of the lawyers says that from what

3659
03:36:56,440 --> 03:36:59,800
Speaker 2: they understand, the twelve individuals who were let go Sunday

3660
03:36:59,840 --> 03:37:04,200
Speaker 2: night all had in state licenses. So it does appear

3661
03:37:04,280 --> 03:37:10,480
Speaker 2: that APD released people to continue this outside agitator narrative

3662
03:37:10,520 --> 03:37:16,880
Speaker 2: that they have been using for months now, since May,

3663
03:37:16,959 --> 03:37:18,039
Speaker 2: since early summer.

3664
03:37:18,400 --> 03:37:22,280
Speaker 1: Prosecutor Cross responded to claims that detained local Atlantans were

3665
03:37:22,320 --> 03:37:25,920
Speaker 1: let go by saying that the people released were interviewed,

3666
03:37:26,280 --> 03:37:28,560
Speaker 1: did not have the jail support number on their arm,

3667
03:37:28,840 --> 03:37:32,840
Speaker 1: and quote unquote knew little about the movement. At a

3668
03:37:32,840 --> 03:37:36,680
Speaker 1: press conference, Marlin from the Solidarity Fund talked about how

3669
03:37:36,800 --> 03:37:40,760
Speaker 1: repression has taken form and concerns of what other tactics

3670
03:37:40,760 --> 03:37:42,160
Speaker 1: the state may try to employ.

3671
03:37:42,760 --> 03:37:46,080
Speaker 51: No evidence has besially presented to support any of these

3672
03:37:46,120 --> 03:37:49,680
Speaker 51: claims of domestic terrorism, including on the other eighteen people

3673
03:37:49,800 --> 03:37:52,760
Speaker 51: who've been given this charge previously. In this movement, police

3674
03:37:52,760 --> 03:37:56,160
Speaker 51: some prosecutors are not involved in a law enforcement effort

3675
03:37:56,520 --> 03:38:00,320
Speaker 51: they're involved in a political campaign to suppress a political

3676
03:38:00,400 --> 03:38:04,080
Speaker 51: movement which they find objectionable because as the police, they

3677
03:38:04,080 --> 03:38:06,480
Speaker 51: have a vested interest in the construction of cop City.

3678
03:38:07,800 --> 03:38:10,359
Speaker 51: From a civil liberties perspective, we find this very concerning.

3679
03:38:10,400 --> 03:38:12,840
Speaker 51: We find it to be an abuse of power, and

3680
03:38:12,959 --> 03:38:15,360
Speaker 51: we're committed to ensuring that all of the activists who

3681
03:38:15,360 --> 03:38:18,320
Speaker 51: are targeted have access to the legal resources that they need,

3682
03:38:18,440 --> 03:38:21,280
Speaker 51: not only to defend themselves from these bogus charges, but

3683
03:38:21,360 --> 03:38:25,279
Speaker 51: also civil litigation against police who have abused their power

3684
03:38:25,280 --> 03:38:28,840
Speaker 51: and violated people's rights. We are concerned about the possibility

3685
03:38:29,680 --> 03:38:31,959
Speaker 51: that prosecutors may try to use RICO.

3686
03:38:31,760 --> 03:38:34,000
Speaker 50: Charges against organizers.

3687
03:38:34,879 --> 03:38:39,040
Speaker 51: Because RICO is understood as a way of suppressing organizations,

3688
03:38:40,200 --> 03:38:42,840
Speaker 51: and the narrative that we've seen coming from police and

3689
03:38:42,879 --> 03:38:47,600
Speaker 51: prosecutors is their belief that the broad and diverse stop

3690
03:38:47,680 --> 03:38:51,320
Speaker 51: Cop City movement is in fact a criminal conspiracy whose

3691
03:38:51,360 --> 03:38:54,680
Speaker 51: members conspire to commit acts of terrorism.

3692
03:38:55,160 --> 03:38:56,879
Speaker 50: This could not be further from the truth.

3693
03:38:57,120 --> 03:39:00,920
Speaker 51: This is like a clear misrepresentation of a broad movement

3694
03:39:00,959 --> 03:39:04,800
Speaker 51: that encompasses all of society. But this is the narrative

3695
03:39:04,840 --> 03:39:07,400
Speaker 51: that prosecutors are trying to promulgate to make it easier

3696
03:39:07,440 --> 03:39:08,599
Speaker 51: to target activists.

3697
03:39:08,640 --> 03:39:11,520
Speaker 1: In the intervening month and a half, five more people

3698
03:39:11,560 --> 03:39:14,640
Speaker 1: were led out on bond. Then, on May third, a

3699
03:39:14,720 --> 03:39:17,440
Speaker 1: series of preliminary hearings took place for the last three

3700
03:39:17,440 --> 03:39:20,440
Speaker 1: people being held into Cab County Jail from amongst the

3701
03:39:20,680 --> 03:39:23,440
Speaker 1: twenty three individuals arrested at the music festival and charged

3702
03:39:23,440 --> 03:39:26,879
Speaker 1: with domestic terrorism. Before the changes to the law in

3703
03:39:26,879 --> 03:39:29,959
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, the State of Georgia required ten or more

3704
03:39:29,959 --> 03:39:33,000
Speaker 1: people to be killed for domestic terrorism charges to even

3705
03:39:33,040 --> 03:39:37,000
Speaker 1: be filed. During a wave of anti protest bills, while

3706
03:39:37,080 --> 03:39:40,320
Speaker 1: citing racially motivated mass shootings. To get the bill passed,

3707
03:39:40,720 --> 03:39:43,960
Speaker 1: the State of Georgia removed any death threshold and essentially

3708
03:39:44,000 --> 03:39:47,920
Speaker 1: replaced it with references to property damage. To quote a

3709
03:39:47,959 --> 03:39:51,120
Speaker 1: write up by the Atlantic Community Press Collective Quote, the

3710
03:39:51,240 --> 03:39:55,320
Speaker 1: Cab County Magistrate, Judge James Altman explained that he decided

3711
03:39:55,360 --> 03:39:59,000
Speaker 1: whether to uphold the charges based on two criteria. The

3712
03:39:59,040 --> 03:40:02,280
Speaker 1: first was whether prosecutors provided enough evidence to satisfy the

3713
03:40:02,320 --> 03:40:06,440
Speaker 1: conditions set forth in the Georgia Domestic Terrorism Statute, namely

3714
03:40:06,720 --> 03:40:10,920
Speaker 1: the threat to critical infrastructure. The second criteria prosecutors needed

3715
03:40:10,920 --> 03:40:13,840
Speaker 1: to meet was identification or their ability to show that

3716
03:40:13,879 --> 03:40:17,360
Speaker 1: the defendants were each a party to the alleged crimes

3717
03:40:17,360 --> 03:40:21,400
Speaker 1: committed on March fifth, quote, and it's worth noting that

3718
03:40:21,440 --> 03:40:24,400
Speaker 1: the threshold for probable cause is much lower than the

3719
03:40:24,440 --> 03:40:28,800
Speaker 1: threshold needed to convict someone of a crime. In opening arguments,

3720
03:40:28,840 --> 03:40:32,600
Speaker 1: Assistant da Lance Cross claimed that Defend the Forest activists

3721
03:40:32,720 --> 03:40:36,760
Speaker 1: are well funded and quote have a pretty good propaganda

3722
03:40:36,879 --> 03:40:41,280
Speaker 1: arm on social media, and that doing direct action while

3723
03:40:41,360 --> 03:40:45,840
Speaker 1: chanting stop Copcity qualifies activists to be charged under the

3724
03:40:45,879 --> 03:40:50,439
Speaker 1: Georgia Domestic Terrorism Statute because it's using violence to advocate

3725
03:40:50,560 --> 03:40:54,560
Speaker 1: change of government policy. Judge Altman found that the first

3726
03:40:54,560 --> 03:40:58,000
Speaker 1: criteria of the domestic terrorism charges were met for all

3727
03:40:58,040 --> 03:41:01,240
Speaker 1: three defendants on the basis that setting fires at the

3728
03:41:01,240 --> 03:41:04,440
Speaker 1: construction site in such close proximity to a power line

3729
03:41:04,480 --> 03:41:08,280
Speaker 1: tower was an attack on critical infrastructure, even if the

3730
03:41:08,280 --> 03:41:12,480
Speaker 1: defendants did not themselves start any fires. Georgia Bureau of

3731
03:41:12,480 --> 03:41:16,920
Speaker 1: Investigation Special Agent Ryan Long testified that the entire music

3732
03:41:17,000 --> 03:41:21,440
Speaker 1: festival was cover for the direct action against the construction site,

3733
03:41:21,520 --> 03:41:24,800
Speaker 1: even without evidence of defendants in black bloc or proof

3734
03:41:24,879 --> 03:41:28,720
Speaker 1: that they engaged in any destructive acts. Assistant DA Cross

3735
03:41:28,800 --> 03:41:31,480
Speaker 1: said that everyone at the site was enabling the destruction

3736
03:41:31,560 --> 03:41:34,520
Speaker 1: of the property and as such is party to the crime.

3737
03:41:34,640 --> 03:41:37,360
Speaker 1: Due to the assertion that the alleged crimes were only

3738
03:41:37,440 --> 03:41:41,080
Speaker 1: possible due to the large size of the crowd, one

3739
03:41:41,120 --> 03:41:44,160
Speaker 1: of the state's witnesses, a sergeant of the APD, said

3740
03:41:44,160 --> 03:41:47,000
Speaker 1: that he wouldn't be able to recognize anyone who was

3741
03:41:47,040 --> 03:41:49,400
Speaker 1: at the site, and that he could not tell if

3742
03:41:49,440 --> 03:41:51,600
Speaker 1: the defendant was even in the crowd of people at

3743
03:41:51,640 --> 03:41:55,120
Speaker 1: the North Gate, let alone through rocks or set fires.

3744
03:41:56,000 --> 03:41:59,360
Speaker 1: Defense argued that mere presence at a location should not

3745
03:41:59,600 --> 03:42:03,320
Speaker 1: be automatic aiding and a betting, but Judge Altman said

3746
03:42:03,360 --> 03:42:06,400
Speaker 1: there was sufficient evidence presented showing the acts of the

3747
03:42:06,400 --> 03:42:09,400
Speaker 1: crowd and that the defendant's presence is at least sufficient

3748
03:42:09,480 --> 03:42:12,879
Speaker 1: for being party to the crime, even by simply participating

3749
03:42:13,000 --> 03:42:16,160
Speaker 1: at the music festival. One of the hearings was for

3750
03:42:16,280 --> 03:42:19,119
Speaker 1: the indigenous person who was tased at the music festival,

3751
03:42:19,440 --> 03:42:22,320
Speaker 1: who was specifically witnessed to be there during the duration

3752
03:42:22,440 --> 03:42:25,840
Speaker 1: of the direct action. Under questioning from the defense, special

3753
03:42:25,840 --> 03:42:28,560
Speaker 1: Agent Long said that the defendant was not visible on

3754
03:42:28,600 --> 03:42:32,320
Speaker 1: the helicopter footage of the incident. After initially suggesting that

3755
03:42:32,360 --> 03:42:36,040
Speaker 1: the defendant was identified by a helicopter pilot. Long rolled

3756
03:42:36,080 --> 03:42:38,960
Speaker 1: that back by saying he was unsure if the chopper

3757
03:42:39,040 --> 03:42:41,240
Speaker 1: was able to track the defendant and then had to

3758
03:42:41,320 --> 03:42:42,840
Speaker 1: leave to go make a few calls to get a

3759
03:42:42,920 --> 03:42:47,240
Speaker 1: more definitive answer, which he failed to provide, But the

3760
03:42:47,320 --> 03:42:51,280
Speaker 1: judge still found that the second criteria of identification was

3761
03:42:51,400 --> 03:42:54,720
Speaker 1: sufficient to find two of the defendants at least party

3762
03:42:54,760 --> 03:42:58,400
Speaker 1: to the actions at the construction site. Special Agent Long

3763
03:42:58,440 --> 03:43:01,279
Speaker 1: testified that there is a quot unquot to command structure

3764
03:43:01,440 --> 03:43:04,520
Speaker 1: in the Stop Cop City movement and described the movement

3765
03:43:04,560 --> 03:43:07,680
Speaker 1: as a pyramid scheme created by activists with different names

3766
03:43:07,720 --> 03:43:10,400
Speaker 1: like stop Coop City and Defend the Forest to act

3767
03:43:10,440 --> 03:43:14,560
Speaker 1: as little different subgroups to attract new subordinate members to

3768
03:43:14,640 --> 03:43:19,879
Speaker 1: operate under leadership. Long asserted that activists pretend to be

3769
03:43:20,000 --> 03:43:23,920
Speaker 1: ecologists one day and then anarchists the next to further

3770
03:43:23,959 --> 03:43:27,280
Speaker 1: their cause, which once again we have to point out,

3771
03:43:27,600 --> 03:43:30,160
Speaker 1: is on one hand, a dangerous thing to claim. On

3772
03:43:30,200 --> 03:43:34,280
Speaker 1: the other hand, extremely funny social media posts were brought

3773
03:43:34,320 --> 03:43:37,920
Speaker 1: up by prosecutors as evidence linking defendants to criminal acts

3774
03:43:38,120 --> 03:43:42,560
Speaker 1: and a conspiracy of terrorism. During the first hearing, Special

3775
03:43:42,560 --> 03:43:45,840
Speaker 1: Agent Long claimed that they knew that the defendant was

3776
03:43:45,959 --> 03:43:49,560
Speaker 1: at the construction site due to street pool camera footage

3777
03:43:49,680 --> 03:43:53,960
Speaker 1: and social media posts allegedly made by the defendant's friend.

3778
03:43:54,840 --> 03:43:58,800
Speaker 1: In another hearing, agent Long claimed that on the defendant's

3779
03:43:58,920 --> 03:44:02,920
Speaker 1: social media they were posts of stop coop City banners

3780
03:44:02,920 --> 03:44:06,600
Speaker 1: and flyers, demonstrating an awareness of the nature of the

3781
03:44:06,640 --> 03:44:11,400
Speaker 1: stop cop City movement. The state also cited alleged social

3782
03:44:11,400 --> 03:44:15,400
Speaker 1: media posts of the defendant self describing as anti capitalist

3783
03:44:15,520 --> 03:44:20,280
Speaker 1: and anti colonial as proof of criminal intent. Near the

3784
03:44:20,400 --> 03:44:24,000
Speaker 1: end of the last hearing, Judge Altman said that social

3785
03:44:24,040 --> 03:44:28,240
Speaker 1: media posts do not count towards probable cause. However, the

3786
03:44:28,280 --> 03:44:31,359
Speaker 1: framing of social media posts by prosecutors as an indication

3787
03:44:31,400 --> 03:44:34,520
Speaker 1: of guilt is still cause for alarm, and what gets

3788
03:44:34,520 --> 03:44:37,640
Speaker 1: admitted as evidence during trial is still yet to be determined.

3789
03:44:38,600 --> 03:44:41,720
Speaker 1: When the prosecution asked if a defendant had a jail

3790
03:44:41,760 --> 03:44:44,959
Speaker 1: support number on their arm, the judge noted that, quote

3791
03:44:45,280 --> 03:44:49,280
Speaker 1: the existence or non existence of an organization doesn't really

3792
03:44:49,360 --> 03:44:52,600
Speaker 1: seem to me as an element of the crime unquote.

3793
03:44:53,160 --> 03:44:56,120
Speaker 1: Similar to the March twenty third hearings, Prosecutor Johnson tried

3794
03:44:56,120 --> 03:44:58,920
Speaker 1: to argue that the solidarity fund and jail support is

3795
03:44:58,959 --> 03:45:02,000
Speaker 1: an arm of the Stop Phpy movement, to which the

3796
03:45:02,080 --> 03:45:06,720
Speaker 1: judge reiterated that participation in an alleged organization is not

3797
03:45:06,879 --> 03:45:11,000
Speaker 1: part of the crime of domestic terrorism. For one defendant,

3798
03:45:11,120 --> 03:45:13,760
Speaker 1: the judge granted bond on the conditions of twenty five

3799
03:45:13,800 --> 03:45:16,320
Speaker 1: thousand dollars bail, with the defendant having to turn over

3800
03:45:16,360 --> 03:45:19,480
Speaker 1: her passport, a no contact order with other co defendants,

3801
03:45:19,520 --> 03:45:23,960
Speaker 1: and no participation in discussion of stop coopsity on social media.

3802
03:45:24,640 --> 03:45:29,080
Speaker 1: Bond for the other two defendants was denied. Ultimately, Judge

3803
03:45:29,120 --> 03:45:33,160
Speaker 1: Altman upheld the domestic terrorism charges against all three defendants

3804
03:45:34,200 --> 03:45:38,040
Speaker 1: on the low barrier of evidence sufficient for ruling probable cause.

3805
03:45:38,440 --> 03:45:41,840
Speaker 1: Judge Altman said that, quote whether it gets any further

3806
03:45:41,920 --> 03:45:45,520
Speaker 1: than that is not my problem, unquote, and that if

3807
03:45:45,560 --> 03:45:49,280
Speaker 1: the DA wanted further charges brought against defendants, he must

3808
03:45:49,360 --> 03:45:51,600
Speaker 1: use a grand jury. As the judge did not find

3809
03:45:51,720 --> 03:45:56,160
Speaker 1: probable cause for arson or assault on an officer, Judge

3810
03:45:56,200 --> 03:46:00,600
Speaker 1: Altman mentioned that he was concerned about alleged witnesses intimidation

3811
03:46:00,840 --> 03:46:04,879
Speaker 1: by members of the Defend the Forest movement. Meanwhile, in

3812
03:46:04,920 --> 03:46:08,680
Speaker 1: the adjacent Fulton County, there was also a preliminary hearing

3813
03:46:08,800 --> 03:46:11,440
Speaker 1: for one of the six people arrested at the protest

3814
03:46:11,520 --> 03:46:15,360
Speaker 1: in downtown Atlanta on January twenty first, the Saturday following

3815
03:46:15,400 --> 03:46:19,600
Speaker 1: the killing of Tortigita. Judge Ashley Drake upheld a total

3816
03:46:19,680 --> 03:46:23,600
Speaker 1: of eight charges, including one of domestic terrorism, and the

3817
03:46:23,600 --> 03:46:27,240
Speaker 1: next day the defendant was released on bail. One thing

3818
03:46:27,280 --> 03:46:30,360
Speaker 1: of note from this hearing is that Deputy Attorney General

3819
03:46:30,480 --> 03:46:34,280
Speaker 1: John Fowler compared the Defend the Forest movement to nine

3820
03:46:34,320 --> 03:46:38,920
Speaker 1: eleven by saying, quote, protesters were trying to knock out

3821
03:46:38,959 --> 03:46:42,000
Speaker 1: the windows of one to nine to one Peachtree Street.

3822
03:46:42,760 --> 03:46:52,320
Speaker 1: That is a dangerous situation. That's a twin towers unquote.

3823
03:46:52,400 --> 03:46:56,480
Speaker 1: When talking about the various hearings, I mentioned helicopter and

3824
03:46:56,680 --> 03:47:00,160
Speaker 1: street pole camera footage of the direct action on Sunday

3825
03:47:00,400 --> 03:47:03,480
Speaker 1: that both prosecutors and the defense were using to support

3826
03:47:03,600 --> 03:47:06,600
Speaker 1: their claims, and I think it's worth diving a bit

3827
03:47:06,640 --> 03:47:11,000
Speaker 1: deeper into specifically the police helicopter footage, since I like

3828
03:47:11,120 --> 03:47:13,520
Speaker 1: keeping up with the methods that police are using to

3829
03:47:13,600 --> 03:47:17,280
Speaker 1: surveil and suppress protest. I'm going to start by letting

3830
03:47:17,320 --> 03:47:20,920
Speaker 1: Atlanta Police Chief Darren Sheerbaum walk us through what was

3831
03:47:20,959 --> 03:47:24,800
Speaker 1: able to be observed via helicopter mounted cameras. Based on

3832
03:47:24,840 --> 03:47:27,200
Speaker 1: his testimony during the city council meeting that took place

3833
03:47:27,480 --> 03:47:30,240
Speaker 1: less than twenty four hours after the incident.

3834
03:47:30,120 --> 03:47:32,840
Speaker 30: Individuals were seeing changing out of the clothes that they

3835
03:47:32,879 --> 03:47:35,880
Speaker 30: were wearing at the concert and were now dressing themselves

3836
03:47:35,879 --> 03:47:39,840
Speaker 30: in all black with backpacks with items fensive nature approaching.

3837
03:47:40,040 --> 03:47:43,000
Speaker 30: What we saw is this group moved rather quickly to

3838
03:47:43,080 --> 03:47:45,959
Speaker 30: the site for the proposed public safety trading center. They

3839
03:47:46,000 --> 03:47:49,000
Speaker 30: move quickly on the group of officers that were assembled there.

3840
03:47:49,320 --> 03:47:52,560
Speaker 30: These officers had been stationary at the site protecting the location.

3841
03:47:52,959 --> 03:47:55,520
Speaker 30: In the first line, there are individuals with shields that

3842
03:47:55,560 --> 03:47:58,320
Speaker 30: are forming The officers attempted to first to de escalate

3843
03:47:58,360 --> 03:48:03,560
Speaker 30: by repositioning themselves. You repositioning themselves inside of the fenced

3844
03:48:03,560 --> 03:48:07,039
Speaker 30: in area. The officers again start to reposition because they

3845
03:48:07,080 --> 03:48:09,520
Speaker 30: can tell this is not a peaceful demonstration. So you

3846
03:48:09,560 --> 03:48:13,959
Speaker 30: just start to see smoke occurring as fires are set,

3847
03:48:14,360 --> 03:48:17,920
Speaker 30: malotov cocktails are thrown, and fireworks are discharged from our

3848
03:48:18,000 --> 03:48:20,160
Speaker 30: air unit that is deployed in the area. You will

3849
03:48:20,160 --> 03:48:23,199
Speaker 30: see individuals that have started to move against the officers.

3850
03:48:23,840 --> 03:48:27,960
Speaker 30: They will have start throwing rocks fireworks as they are

3851
03:48:27,959 --> 03:48:30,280
Speaker 30: pushing the officers in the area where we see individuals

3852
03:48:30,320 --> 03:48:33,320
Speaker 30: as another group is engaging the officers with rocks, Malotov

3853
03:48:33,320 --> 03:48:35,840
Speaker 30: cocktails and bottles are moving to set fire to the

3854
03:48:35,879 --> 03:48:38,320
Speaker 30: various equipments in the area. While you see in the

3855
03:48:38,360 --> 03:48:40,080
Speaker 30: left hand of the gentleman with the mask over his

3856
03:48:40,120 --> 03:48:42,600
Speaker 30: face is a Malotov cocktail it is being there will

3857
03:48:42,640 --> 03:48:45,160
Speaker 30: be accelerants in his hands that will be used also

3858
03:48:45,280 --> 03:48:47,520
Speaker 30: to attack some of the construction equipment that is in

3859
03:48:47,560 --> 03:48:51,800
Speaker 30: the area. These individuals are massed hide their identity. This

3860
03:48:52,000 --> 03:48:55,439
Speaker 30: is playing out across the area that had been previously

3861
03:48:55,480 --> 03:48:56,120
Speaker 30: been fenced in.

3862
03:48:56,840 --> 03:48:58,760
Speaker 29: There will be generators.

3863
03:48:58,280 --> 03:49:01,000
Speaker 30: That are will be destroyed, other pieces of equipment that's

3864
03:49:01,040 --> 03:49:04,800
Speaker 30: being destroyed. There you see more accelerant being thrown onto

3865
03:49:04,920 --> 03:49:07,280
Speaker 30: the vehicle that is being set on fire.

3866
03:49:07,560 --> 03:49:08,960
Speaker 29: And what you see here, ladies.

3867
03:49:08,760 --> 03:49:12,280
Speaker 30: And gentlemen, is as some of the individuals that had

3868
03:49:12,360 --> 03:49:15,520
Speaker 30: just previously attacked the worksite returned back into the woods.

3869
03:49:15,560 --> 03:49:18,320
Speaker 30: They start changing back into the clothes that they were

3870
03:49:18,400 --> 03:49:21,600
Speaker 30: just wearing moments before, as they were portraying themselves to

3871
03:49:21,640 --> 03:49:24,600
Speaker 30: be attendees of the event that was occurring in the music.

3872
03:49:24,640 --> 03:49:27,280
Speaker 30: So it was clear today that we saw repeat of

3873
03:49:27,320 --> 03:49:30,360
Speaker 30: what we've seen in the past where events that are

3874
03:49:30,400 --> 03:49:34,200
Speaker 30: shown to be peaceful and to being publicized as to

3875
03:49:34,200 --> 03:49:38,080
Speaker 30: be peaceful are being used by individuals as cover to

3876
03:49:38,160 --> 03:49:41,880
Speaker 30: launch illegal and criminal attacks. We had a rapid response

3877
03:49:41,920 --> 03:49:44,880
Speaker 30: from our partners at the Decab County Police Department, the

3878
03:49:44,880 --> 03:49:46,640
Speaker 30: Sheriff of Fulton County.

3879
03:49:46,560 --> 03:49:48,120
Speaker 29: As well as the Georgia State Patrol.

3880
03:49:48,720 --> 03:49:51,680
Speaker 30: Those officers entered into the woods as individuals were attempting

3881
03:49:51,680 --> 03:49:54,360
Speaker 30: to flee, hide the weapons they had just used, as

3882
03:49:54,360 --> 03:49:56,800
Speaker 30: well as to change their clothing, and we begin to

3883
03:49:56,840 --> 03:49:59,240
Speaker 30: make a number of arrest.

3884
03:49:58,760 --> 03:50:02,040
Speaker 1: I spoke with the unnamed Forest defender about the surveillance

3885
03:50:02,080 --> 03:50:04,960
Speaker 1: capabilities of the state on full display during the week

3886
03:50:05,000 --> 03:50:05,400
Speaker 1: of Action.

3887
03:50:05,960 --> 03:50:08,840
Speaker 52: I find that the thermal helicopter video fascinating for a

3888
03:50:08,880 --> 03:50:11,160
Speaker 52: variety of reasons. One, it's interesting to look at the

3889
03:50:11,160 --> 03:50:14,000
Speaker 52: surveillance capacity of the state. It's, to my memory, the

3890
03:50:14,040 --> 03:50:16,520
Speaker 52: first time the APD has ever posted their own thermal

3891
03:50:16,560 --> 03:50:19,480
Speaker 52: chopper footage. It's a very similar camera to the type

3892
03:50:19,520 --> 03:50:21,920
Speaker 52: you would see on a birector on some kind of

3893
03:50:22,040 --> 03:50:25,200
Speaker 52: armed unmanned aerial vehicle. What I found most interesting about

3894
03:50:25,200 --> 03:50:27,400
Speaker 52: the thermals is exactly how they were using that type

3895
03:50:27,400 --> 03:50:29,720
Speaker 52: of targeting software to attract people, and I think it's

3896
03:50:29,760 --> 03:50:31,480
Speaker 52: worth people knowing what they were doing with it, so

3897
03:50:31,520 --> 03:50:33,600
Speaker 52: we have an idea how to counter it. When you're

3898
03:50:33,680 --> 03:50:36,040
Speaker 52: using a software to tract targets on an optical lens,

3899
03:50:36,080 --> 03:50:38,640
Speaker 52: at least during a daytime event, thermals are easier because

3900
03:50:38,640 --> 03:50:40,720
Speaker 52: it breaks the image up into just two colors white

3901
03:50:40,720 --> 03:50:42,440
Speaker 52: and then like black and gray, so they can track

3902
03:50:42,480 --> 03:50:44,360
Speaker 52: the body heat shapes of people in white and then

3903
03:50:44,400 --> 03:50:46,240
Speaker 52: just click the thermals off, get a snapshot of the

3904
03:50:46,280 --> 03:50:48,560
Speaker 52: outfit they're wearing, click the thermals back on, and track

3905
03:50:48,600 --> 03:50:50,320
Speaker 52: them easier than it is to track them with just

3906
03:50:50,360 --> 03:50:52,800
Speaker 52: a normal camera. This gives them a clear image of

3907
03:50:52,800 --> 03:50:54,640
Speaker 52: what they're wearing before they d blocked, and then they

3908
03:50:54,640 --> 03:50:56,560
Speaker 52: can go back to tracking that person, follow them to

3909
03:50:56,560 --> 03:50:58,400
Speaker 52: where they're de blocking, wait for them to de block,

3910
03:50:58,400 --> 03:51:01,200
Speaker 52: get another picture with the regular camera, and then arrest them.

3911
03:51:01,880 --> 03:51:03,640
Speaker 52: So that meant that when people were leaving, it was

3912
03:51:03,720 --> 03:51:06,920
Speaker 52: advantageous to be deep blocking under overhead cover, under thick brush,

3913
03:51:06,960 --> 03:51:08,840
Speaker 52: under thick canopy, out of direct line of site with

3914
03:51:08,880 --> 03:51:11,160
Speaker 52: the chopper, you know, not in the open air. It's

3915
03:51:11,240 --> 03:51:13,560
Speaker 52: definitely a really hard thing to counter. The surveillance. State's

3916
03:51:13,560 --> 03:51:15,200
Speaker 52: one of the things that I find the most fearful

3917
03:51:15,200 --> 03:51:18,120
Speaker 52: about the police state. Not like individual beat cops. They're

3918
03:51:18,120 --> 03:51:20,760
Speaker 52: guns and shit are cool or whatever, But man, those cameras,

3919
03:51:21,000 --> 03:51:21,800
Speaker 52: they're really something.

3920
03:51:21,840 --> 03:51:22,040
Speaker 16: You know.

3921
03:51:22,080 --> 03:51:23,880
Speaker 52: I think the Portland Police Bureau just got a new

3922
03:51:23,880 --> 03:51:26,400
Speaker 52: spy plane and new Sessna loaded up with surveillance equipment

3923
03:51:26,440 --> 03:51:28,600
Speaker 52: and shit like that. All that stuff does so much

3924
03:51:28,640 --> 03:51:30,360
Speaker 52: more to fuck you up than just like a riot

3925
03:51:30,360 --> 03:51:32,440
Speaker 52: team does. You can throw mortars at a riot team. Sorry,

3926
03:51:32,480 --> 03:51:35,320
Speaker 52: I shouldn't say mortars. Fireworks that are called mortars.

3927
03:51:35,320 --> 03:51:35,720
Speaker 1: My bad.

3928
03:51:35,920 --> 03:51:38,560
Speaker 52: Don't want to lean into the explosives narratives. Honestly, they're

3929
03:51:38,600 --> 03:51:42,320
Speaker 52: fucking weird about fireworks. But you know, those surveillance capacities

3930
03:51:42,320 --> 03:51:43,760
Speaker 52: are one of the hardest things to counter.

3931
03:51:44,280 --> 03:51:46,800
Speaker 1: One term that's already come up during our coverage of

3932
03:51:46,840 --> 03:51:50,720
Speaker 1: Stop Coop City is Fuco's boomerang, And while that still

3933
03:51:50,720 --> 03:51:53,360
Speaker 1: applies here, we're now also kind of getting into some

3934
03:51:53,480 --> 03:51:56,920
Speaker 1: panaptocon territory, as shown by this type of surveillance capacity,

3935
03:51:57,000 --> 03:52:00,720
Speaker 1: specifically at actions. And one of the biggest reasons why

3936
03:52:00,720 --> 03:52:04,240
Speaker 1: the panopticon works is that people are scared of it.

3937
03:52:04,240 --> 03:52:07,040
Speaker 1: It scares you away from even taking action in the

3938
03:52:07,080 --> 03:52:07,720
Speaker 1: first place.

3939
03:52:08,200 --> 03:52:10,360
Speaker 52: And like, as soon as you overcome that paralyzing fear,

3940
03:52:10,720 --> 03:52:13,440
Speaker 52: the cops become really afraid of you. That's why we

3941
03:52:13,600 --> 03:52:15,760
Speaker 52: say that, like the biggest weapon that the state has

3942
03:52:15,840 --> 03:52:17,880
Speaker 52: is fear, because like the cops go from these big,

3943
03:52:17,920 --> 03:52:20,520
Speaker 52: fucking tough guys to like whining cowards the second you

3944
03:52:20,640 --> 03:52:23,280
Speaker 52: just become not afraid. You don't even have to beat them,

3945
03:52:23,360 --> 03:52:26,080
Speaker 52: you don't have to overcome the actual physical weapons. But

3946
03:52:26,120 --> 03:52:29,240
Speaker 52: once you get out of that headspace, that paralyzing fear,

3947
03:52:29,360 --> 03:52:31,120
Speaker 52: once you let it pass over you and through you,

3948
03:52:31,520 --> 03:52:34,720
Speaker 52: they're fucking terrified. And if we're gonna win, we need

3949
03:52:34,760 --> 03:52:35,840
Speaker 52: to be their worst nightmare.

3950
03:52:36,680 --> 03:52:40,000
Speaker 1: As state repression against the stop cop City movement continues,

3951
03:52:40,400 --> 03:52:44,600
Speaker 1: the coalition against the police training facility only continues to grow.

3952
03:52:45,280 --> 03:52:49,080
Speaker 1: Last month, Angela Davis returned an award proclamation given to

3953
03:52:49,080 --> 03:52:52,680
Speaker 1: her by the Atlanta City Council in protest of cop City.

3954
03:52:53,240 --> 03:52:59,000
Speaker 46: If the attempts by the Atlanta Police to build the

3955
03:52:59,120 --> 03:53:04,560
Speaker 46: largest police training grounds in the country are successful, this

3956
03:53:04,600 --> 03:53:09,600
Speaker 46: will represent a major setback for the movement for radical

3957
03:53:09,640 --> 03:53:14,920
Speaker 46: democratic futures, not only throughout the US, but globally as

3958
03:53:14,960 --> 03:53:21,680
Speaker 46: well as a person who has participated in campaigns against

3959
03:53:22,080 --> 03:53:27,840
Speaker 46: prisons and police for far longer than a half century.

3960
03:53:28,320 --> 03:53:33,120
Speaker 46: I want to salute all those who are involved in

3961
03:53:33,240 --> 03:53:37,920
Speaker 46: the stop cup City movement, and I want to urge

3962
03:53:37,960 --> 03:53:44,000
Speaker 46: people everywhere to find ways to generate support for them.

3963
03:53:44,240 --> 03:53:47,280
Speaker 1: Angela Davis made it clear that she stood in solidarity

3964
03:53:47,320 --> 03:53:50,320
Speaker 1: with force defenders facing repression from the police and the

3965
03:53:50,360 --> 03:53:53,840
Speaker 1: city of Atlanta, and joined in calls to halt the

3966
03:53:53,880 --> 03:53:56,600
Speaker 1: construction of this facility, which will only serve as a

3967
03:53:56,600 --> 03:54:01,320
Speaker 1: tool to advance what she called militarized police rights and repression.

3968
03:54:01,960 --> 03:54:07,480
Speaker 46: Atlanta activists are on the front lines of the abolitionist movement,

3969
03:54:07,880 --> 03:54:14,920
Speaker 46: at its crucial intersection with movements to save our forests,

3970
03:54:14,960 --> 03:54:20,960
Speaker 46: indeed to save our planet. The attempt to build a

3971
03:54:21,480 --> 03:54:29,400
Speaker 46: massive militarized police training facility is a dangerous and ominous

3972
03:54:29,440 --> 03:54:34,360
Speaker 46: development that we have to oppose with all our might,

3973
03:54:36,000 --> 03:54:38,640
Speaker 46: and so I want to join those who are standing

3974
03:54:38,800 --> 03:54:43,720
Speaker 46: strong in defense of the forest against the construction of

3975
03:54:43,800 --> 03:54:50,120
Speaker 46: this police training ground. I urge people everywhere to join

3976
03:54:50,520 --> 03:54:54,640
Speaker 46: the campaign to stop up City.

3977
03:54:55,440 --> 03:54:59,240
Speaker 1: After Angelie Davis's announcement, the Walter Rodney Foundation released a

3978
03:54:59,280 --> 03:55:04,120
Speaker 1: statement reporting Davis's decision and against the construction of Cop City.

3979
03:55:04,480 --> 03:55:09,160
Speaker 2: It's interesting to see their more mainline sort of center

3980
03:55:09,320 --> 03:55:12,680
Speaker 2: or center left like organizations that have begun to come

3981
03:55:12,720 --> 03:55:17,120
Speaker 2: on board. Even with what happened Sunday and especially the

3982
03:55:17,480 --> 03:55:23,320
Speaker 2: Thursday march and rally, had it necessitated a response from

3983
03:55:23,360 --> 03:55:26,920
Speaker 2: the city. So Friday morning there was actually an organization

3984
03:55:27,800 --> 03:55:32,280
Speaker 2: concerned Black Clergy who had a press conference like calling

3985
03:55:32,360 --> 03:55:34,600
Speaker 2: out Cop City protesters, and so you had this like

3986
03:55:34,760 --> 03:55:38,160
Speaker 2: very state run. One of the city council members, Antonio Lewis,

3987
03:55:38,240 --> 03:55:40,640
Speaker 2: was there like live streaming at the entire time. And

3988
03:55:40,680 --> 03:55:44,440
Speaker 2: so you can tell the efficacy of a lot of

3989
03:55:44,440 --> 03:55:47,600
Speaker 2: things that have happened this week by how the city

3990
03:55:47,720 --> 03:55:51,480
Speaker 2: is reacting and how like it is necessitating them going

3991
03:55:51,520 --> 03:55:55,440
Speaker 2: to greater and greater lengths to like try to show

3992
03:55:55,800 --> 03:55:57,160
Speaker 2: that the movement is wrong.

3993
03:55:57,840 --> 03:55:59,960
Speaker 1: One way that the city has been working to advocate

3994
03:56:00,120 --> 03:56:02,800
Speaker 1: for the further development of the Cop City project is

3995
03:56:02,800 --> 03:56:05,720
Speaker 1: by launching a website of their own for the Public

3996
03:56:05,760 --> 03:56:09,280
Speaker 1: Safety Training Center full of videos of the mayor and

3997
03:56:09,320 --> 03:56:12,960
Speaker 1: police chief walking through South Atlanta trying to convince neighbors

3998
03:56:13,000 --> 03:56:16,600
Speaker 1: that the project is a good idea. In the past

3999
03:56:16,600 --> 03:56:19,840
Speaker 1: few months. The city has also been turning the official

4000
03:56:19,880 --> 03:56:23,400
Speaker 1: City of Atlanta Twitter account into a hilarious copp City

4001
03:56:23,520 --> 03:56:27,360
Speaker 1: propaganda outlet. About two weeks after the end of the

4002
03:56:27,360 --> 03:56:30,480
Speaker 1: Week of Action, on March twenty fourth, to Cab County

4003
03:56:30,520 --> 03:56:35,000
Speaker 1: CEO Michael Thurmond announced an executive order to indefinitely close

4004
03:56:35,280 --> 03:56:38,880
Speaker 1: Entrenchment Creek Park, also known as Wallani People's Park, claiming

4005
03:56:38,960 --> 03:56:41,160
Speaker 1: that the park was a danger to the public due

4006
03:56:41,160 --> 03:56:44,720
Speaker 1: to booby traps allegedly found in the forest. At a

4007
03:56:44,760 --> 03:56:48,560
Speaker 1: press conference, Thurman displayed photos of wooden boards with nails

4008
03:56:48,640 --> 03:56:52,320
Speaker 1: sticking out of them allegedly found in the park. The

4009
03:56:52,360 --> 03:56:55,520
Speaker 1: executive order reads that the park will quote remain closed

4010
03:56:55,600 --> 03:56:58,640
Speaker 1: until further notice to protect the safety of the families,

4011
03:56:58,880 --> 03:57:02,160
Speaker 1: residents and visit and their pets in the area, and

4012
03:57:02,440 --> 03:57:07,120
Speaker 1: to County personnel. A few days after the announcement, to

4013
03:57:07,240 --> 03:57:09,840
Speaker 1: Cab police led a joint task force in a raid

4014
03:57:09,880 --> 03:57:13,720
Speaker 1: of the Willani Forest and Entrenchment Creek Park. The land

4015
03:57:13,880 --> 03:57:17,360
Speaker 1: was effectively cleared of all force defenders, with one person

4016
03:57:17,400 --> 03:57:21,120
Speaker 1: being arrested. During the raid, The memorial for Tortigito was

4017
03:57:21,160 --> 03:57:24,440
Speaker 1: destroyed by the police and cement barricades were set up

4018
03:57:24,480 --> 03:57:28,320
Speaker 1: around the entrances and exits to the park. Days later,

4019
03:57:28,560 --> 03:57:32,080
Speaker 1: police and contractors began cutting trees in the Wilani Forest,

4020
03:57:32,440 --> 03:57:36,440
Speaker 1: with no one around to resist the destruction. The Solidarity

4021
03:57:36,440 --> 03:57:39,240
Speaker 1: Fund to put out a statement saying, quote, closing down

4022
03:57:39,280 --> 03:57:41,880
Speaker 1: a public park in order to prevent protests from happening

4023
03:57:41,920 --> 03:57:46,720
Speaker 1: in that space is unconstitutional. To CAB CEO Michael Thurmond,

4024
03:57:46,760 --> 03:57:49,880
Speaker 1: is trying to do an end run around the First Amendment.

4025
03:57:51,440 --> 03:57:54,760
Speaker 1: Dacab County Commissioner Ted Terry is pushing to reopen the

4026
03:57:54,800 --> 03:57:58,040
Speaker 1: park through a resolution expected to be introduced in early May.

4027
03:57:58,840 --> 03:58:01,560
Speaker 1: But it wasn't just the park's closure that made force

4028
03:58:01,640 --> 03:58:05,280
Speaker 1: defense more challenging. After the mass action at the North

4029
03:58:05,320 --> 03:58:09,000
Speaker 1: Gate in early March, security was greatly increased at the

4030
03:58:09,000 --> 03:58:13,720
Speaker 1: construction sites in the Willani Forest, with massive spotlights illuminating

4031
03:58:13,720 --> 03:58:16,800
Speaker 1: the area to daylight levels twenty four hours a day,

4032
03:58:17,560 --> 03:58:20,840
Speaker 1: which made returning to the sort of night time sabotage

4033
03:58:20,880 --> 03:58:23,600
Speaker 1: actions in the forest that pioneered some of the movements

4034
03:58:23,680 --> 03:58:27,280
Speaker 1: militancy in its early days to be much more complicated.

4035
03:58:28,080 --> 03:58:31,480
Speaker 1: During my conversations with forest defenders, there was still a

4036
03:58:31,520 --> 03:58:35,040
Speaker 1: desire to see more of those small sabotage actions as

4037
03:58:35,080 --> 03:58:39,120
Speaker 1: the large daytime mass actions seemed to result in more

4038
03:58:39,120 --> 03:58:42,560
Speaker 1: people getting arrested near the site of militant activity.

4039
03:58:43,280 --> 03:58:46,080
Speaker 52: People are angry, you know, like their friend, our friend

4040
03:58:46,400 --> 03:58:49,240
Speaker 52: was murdered. You can just feel however you want about this,

4041
03:58:49,320 --> 03:58:51,680
Speaker 52: but like a lot of people and I guess myself included,

4042
03:58:51,720 --> 03:58:55,640
Speaker 52: are just really angry. There's this kind of blinding rage

4043
03:58:55,680 --> 03:58:58,920
Speaker 52: that comes with it of just like eye for an eye,

4044
03:58:58,960 --> 03:59:01,360
Speaker 52: blood for blood. You know that the police killed our

4045
03:59:01,400 --> 03:59:03,760
Speaker 52: friend and that they need to hurt for that one,

4046
03:59:03,840 --> 03:59:05,320
Speaker 52: and they need to hurt for all the people that

4047
03:59:05,320 --> 03:59:07,240
Speaker 52: they've murdered and all the things they're trying to do.

4048
03:59:07,920 --> 03:59:09,960
Speaker 52: And that leads people to take actions that may not

4049
03:59:10,040 --> 03:59:12,920
Speaker 52: be well thought out, but that are very well intentioned

4050
03:59:12,960 --> 03:59:15,800
Speaker 52: and have tangible results that hurt the police state, but

4051
03:59:15,880 --> 03:59:18,480
Speaker 52: that are actions that do bring harm to themselves or others,

4052
03:59:18,560 --> 03:59:22,040
Speaker 52: because there are not you know, these like middle of

4053
03:59:22,080 --> 03:59:24,480
Speaker 52: the night slash and run sabotage attacks that don't have

4054
03:59:24,560 --> 03:59:28,080
Speaker 52: arrests happen that are safer. And I think we should

4055
03:59:28,160 --> 03:59:30,520
Speaker 52: see a return of that tactic because the level of

4056
03:59:30,560 --> 03:59:32,760
Speaker 52: police presence that we saw at all the actions this

4057
03:59:32,800 --> 03:59:37,480
Speaker 52: week post Sunday, like doing shit at downtown protests. Fuck that, Like,

4058
03:59:37,920 --> 03:59:40,400
Speaker 52: that's not like we're not pulling shit off there without

4059
03:59:40,440 --> 03:59:44,280
Speaker 52: a mass arrest or, like everyone's getting gassed. Like it's

4060
03:59:44,280 --> 03:59:47,000
Speaker 52: not a tactically advantageous or viable way of doing things.

4061
03:59:47,080 --> 03:59:49,240
Speaker 52: But I think people wanted to prove to the cops

4062
03:59:49,280 --> 03:59:52,040
Speaker 52: that like, no, no, no, we could open field fuck

4063
03:59:52,120 --> 03:59:54,200
Speaker 52: them up. And yeah, there were consequences to that, but

4064
03:59:54,240 --> 03:59:56,240
Speaker 52: people fuck them up in the open field, and that's

4065
03:59:56,280 --> 03:59:57,280
Speaker 52: worth ap Plotting.

4066
03:59:57,280 --> 03:59:59,800
Speaker 1: The bounds of the forest is not the only location

4067
04:00:00,160 --> 04:00:03,800
Speaker 1: actions take place. Just about a week after the park

4068
04:00:03,840 --> 04:00:06,880
Speaker 1: closure and when some of the clearcutting began, a report

4069
04:00:06,920 --> 04:00:10,120
Speaker 1: back was posted online that read quote, on the night

4070
04:00:10,280 --> 04:00:13,640
Speaker 1: of Wednesday, April fifth, we set fire to three excavators

4071
04:00:13,720 --> 04:00:16,920
Speaker 1: owned by Brent Scarborough Company on a site across from

4072
04:00:16,960 --> 04:00:21,120
Speaker 1: the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta. Brent Scarborough is the company

4073
04:00:21,160 --> 04:00:25,680
Speaker 1: and individual responsible for clearcutting the Willani Forest. Copcity will

4074
04:00:25,720 --> 04:00:29,960
Speaker 1: never be built unquote. The March twenty twenty three week

4075
04:00:30,000 --> 04:00:32,120
Speaker 1: of action was always going to be a kind of

4076
04:00:32,240 --> 04:00:34,920
Speaker 1: turning point in showcasing what will be seen in the

4077
04:00:34,960 --> 04:00:37,760
Speaker 1: struggle to defend the forest to this spring, and how

4078
04:00:37,880 --> 04:00:40,400
Speaker 1: that will then lead into the summer and what forms

4079
04:00:40,440 --> 04:00:43,120
Speaker 1: of resistance people will choose to take, whether that be

4080
04:00:43,320 --> 04:00:46,680
Speaker 1: another singular week of action or take notes from the

4081
04:00:46,760 --> 04:00:49,720
Speaker 1: Old Earth First playbook and try to do a whole

4082
04:00:49,760 --> 04:00:52,000
Speaker 1: summer of action. How do you kind of see the

4083
04:00:53,200 --> 04:00:57,160
Speaker 1: movement too top Cup City like changing or evolving in

4084
04:00:57,200 --> 04:00:59,200
Speaker 1: the next few months. I mean, because all this is

4085
04:00:59,240 --> 04:01:01,160
Speaker 1: kind of I felt like it's been kind of very

4086
04:01:01,240 --> 04:01:04,280
Speaker 1: much on the heels of what happened in January. People

4087
04:01:04,320 --> 04:01:07,120
Speaker 1: have tried to, like, you know, just try to find

4088
04:01:07,360 --> 04:01:10,200
Speaker 1: new paths of resistance in the wake of the police

4089
04:01:10,280 --> 04:01:13,640
Speaker 1: killing r How do you how do you see like

4090
04:01:13,640 --> 04:01:15,960
Speaker 1: the fight continuing at this stage where like they have

4091
04:01:16,000 --> 04:01:20,080
Speaker 1: some line of Germans permits, there's early construction. What are

4092
04:01:20,160 --> 04:01:23,400
Speaker 1: like the avenues of resistance that people are trying to

4093
04:01:23,560 --> 04:01:24,040
Speaker 1: go down.

4094
04:01:25,280 --> 04:01:29,040
Speaker 18: I think that we have to be very clear in

4095
04:01:29,200 --> 04:01:34,520
Speaker 18: assessing what has worked installing the project and what will

4096
04:01:34,520 --> 04:01:37,160
Speaker 18: work to stop the project, because those aren't necessarily the

4097
04:01:37,200 --> 04:01:42,440
Speaker 18: same things. I think there are nuances in particular strategies.

4098
04:01:44,320 --> 04:01:49,240
Speaker 18: There is a difference between especially in our particular context.

4099
04:01:49,320 --> 04:01:52,760
Speaker 18: That's similar between the difference between gorilla warfare and urban

4100
04:01:52,800 --> 04:01:55,680
Speaker 18: guerrilla warfare and I see that guerilla warfare is more

4101
04:01:55,720 --> 04:02:04,400
Speaker 18: so when people have been destroying equipment, you know, at contractors,

4102
04:02:04,640 --> 04:02:07,960
Speaker 18: you know, offices or wherever, or like near the forest,

4103
04:02:08,360 --> 04:02:11,040
Speaker 18: et cetera, and you could just hide off into the

4104
04:02:11,080 --> 04:02:13,480
Speaker 18: woods and just like disappear back into nothingness.

4105
04:02:13,720 --> 04:02:18,720
Speaker 8: Nobody gets touched. What we have to look at with.

4106
04:02:20,480 --> 04:02:24,520
Speaker 18: The actions at the music festival were it exposed a

4107
04:02:24,560 --> 04:02:28,760
Speaker 18: lot of people because and this is once again because

4108
04:02:28,760 --> 04:02:31,480
Speaker 18: the police acted so heavy handedly. But we also know

4109
04:02:31,560 --> 04:02:33,840
Speaker 18: that the police act heavy handedly, which is why we're here.

4110
04:02:34,120 --> 04:02:36,800
Speaker 18: So that gets kind of dicey because that's like kind

4111
04:02:36,840 --> 04:02:39,080
Speaker 18: of like urban guerrilla warfare where you have the gorillas

4112
04:02:39,120 --> 04:02:41,440
Speaker 18: just shooting paw pa pal and then like running into.

4113
04:02:41,360 --> 04:02:42,400
Speaker 8: Somebody's grandma's house.

4114
04:02:43,000 --> 04:02:46,120
Speaker 18: People do not fuck with the people that just running

4115
04:02:46,120 --> 04:02:49,400
Speaker 18: grandma's house for cover, right, And that's where things get

4116
04:02:49,440 --> 04:02:54,200
Speaker 18: a little bit dicey, because in many ways, a lot

4117
04:02:54,240 --> 04:02:56,760
Speaker 18: of us were looking at means to open up the

4118
04:02:56,800 --> 04:02:59,120
Speaker 18: movement with this week of action, and that was what

4119
04:02:59,320 --> 04:03:02,560
Speaker 18: was widely in stood for a lot of people. And nevertheless,

4120
04:03:02,600 --> 04:03:07,160
Speaker 18: when you just come in with the boomstick from the beginning,

4121
04:03:07,480 --> 04:03:10,040
Speaker 18: that dictates the tone of the rest of the week

4122
04:03:10,840 --> 04:03:13,440
Speaker 18: and then where you could, you know, for instance, operate

4123
04:03:13,520 --> 04:03:18,680
Speaker 18: from a space of like moral authority. It becomes much

4124
04:03:18,760 --> 04:03:22,040
Speaker 18: easier for people on the fence to justify to themselves.

4125
04:03:21,520 --> 04:03:24,080
Speaker 8: Well, what are the police supposed to think? Right?

4126
04:03:24,520 --> 04:03:27,920
Speaker 18: I mean, we have to realize that there are several

4127
04:03:28,360 --> 04:03:32,440
Speaker 18: like mental resistances that have been taught to people for

4128
04:03:32,520 --> 04:03:35,120
Speaker 18: them to try to discredit us. And I just I

4129
04:03:35,120 --> 04:03:39,720
Speaker 18: think there's some important context. Right when Martin Luther King

4130
04:03:39,800 --> 04:03:43,000
Speaker 18: Junior was doing like the nonviolent direct action, at a

4131
04:03:43,000 --> 04:03:46,120
Speaker 18: certain point, they had to make a calculated decision to

4132
04:03:46,200 --> 04:03:49,120
Speaker 18: include women and children in the marches because they had

4133
04:03:49,160 --> 04:03:53,160
Speaker 18: assessed in America had become too desensitized to seeing black

4134
04:03:53,200 --> 04:03:55,880
Speaker 18: men beaten in the streets. Right, So that was a

4135
04:03:55,920 --> 04:03:59,240
Speaker 18: tactical decision to bring in more people.

4136
04:03:59,360 --> 04:03:59,520
Speaker 11: Right.

4137
04:03:59,600 --> 04:04:02,240
Speaker 18: So there are like calculations that people have to make

4138
04:04:02,520 --> 04:04:04,560
Speaker 18: and assessions that they have to make based on the

4139
04:04:04,560 --> 04:04:05,520
Speaker 18: information that we're.

4140
04:04:05,400 --> 04:04:08,600
Speaker 1: Dealing with through talking with forced defenders. I've heard a

4141
04:04:08,720 --> 04:04:12,440
Speaker 1: variety of internal critiques of the Week of Action format

4142
04:04:12,840 --> 04:04:15,560
Speaker 1: because it is such a concentrated time period. The week

4143
04:04:15,600 --> 04:04:18,720
Speaker 1: of Action can give police a very concentrated time to

4144
04:04:18,920 --> 04:04:22,720
Speaker 1: over police and over surveil and for activists. It can

4145
04:04:22,800 --> 04:04:26,160
Speaker 1: open up an expenditure of energy during the week, which

4146
04:04:26,280 --> 04:04:29,280
Speaker 1: then can lead to a lack of energy leading up

4147
04:04:29,320 --> 04:04:32,880
Speaker 1: to what's been called the week of repression in the past.

4148
04:04:33,080 --> 04:04:36,000
Speaker 1: Every time following a week of action, after people from

4149
04:04:36,000 --> 04:04:39,120
Speaker 1: out of town leave, it then leads into a week

4150
04:04:39,200 --> 04:04:41,480
Speaker 1: of repression where police will then do a rate of

4151
04:04:41,480 --> 04:04:45,080
Speaker 1: the forest and have their sort of retaliation the week after.

4152
04:04:45,880 --> 04:04:48,520
Speaker 1: There's been talk of potential changes to some of the

4153
04:04:48,560 --> 04:04:52,000
Speaker 1: Week of Action format, perhaps doing something more akin to

4154
04:04:52,080 --> 04:04:53,240
Speaker 1: a summer of resistance.

4155
04:04:53,880 --> 04:04:56,160
Speaker 52: So the week of repression is always the week that

4156
04:04:56,200 --> 04:04:59,080
Speaker 52: comes after the week of Action, where the cops are like, Okay,

4157
04:04:59,120 --> 04:05:00,640
Speaker 52: the bulk of your reserve, if you're out of state

4158
04:05:00,680 --> 04:05:02,360
Speaker 52: supporter is gone. We're going to come fuck you up.

4159
04:05:02,400 --> 04:05:04,320
Speaker 52: Now they are less of you. Now you're less ready

4160
04:05:04,360 --> 04:05:07,880
Speaker 52: to deal with us. And that is like a major

4161
04:05:07,920 --> 04:05:10,600
Speaker 52: strategic flaw in the weeks of action because it kind

4162
04:05:10,600 --> 04:05:14,840
Speaker 52: of creates a activist tourism for people coming out of state,

4163
04:05:14,880 --> 04:05:17,840
Speaker 52: and not that Atlanta doesn't appreciate their support and their solidarity,

4164
04:05:18,120 --> 04:05:19,760
Speaker 52: and that so many of those out of state people

4165
04:05:19,800 --> 04:05:22,640
Speaker 52: do stay long term, but it does create a situation

4166
04:05:22,680 --> 04:05:25,160
Speaker 52: where like, yeah, we're having an influx of people for

4167
04:05:25,200 --> 04:05:27,560
Speaker 52: a week, building infrastructure for a week, and then the

4168
04:05:27,680 --> 04:05:29,600
Speaker 52: bulk of those people, a good percentage are going to

4169
04:05:29,640 --> 04:05:31,640
Speaker 52: go home because yeah, like traveling long term is hard.

4170
04:05:31,640 --> 04:05:34,760
Speaker 52: People have jobs, kids, whatever, you have commitments wherever you are,

4171
04:05:35,360 --> 04:05:37,160
Speaker 52: and they have to go home. And then the cops

4172
04:05:37,240 --> 04:05:39,720
Speaker 52: just wreck our shit and do raids, and like, unless

4173
04:05:39,720 --> 04:05:41,440
Speaker 52: people want to get on board with doing some pretty

4174
04:05:41,480 --> 04:05:44,280
Speaker 52: crazy shit, those raids are hard to counter. It would

4175
04:05:44,280 --> 04:05:46,240
Speaker 52: behoove us to take a realistic audit of what the

4176
04:05:46,240 --> 04:05:48,200
Speaker 52: weeks of action have meant and what they are actually

4177
04:05:48,320 --> 04:05:51,080
Speaker 52: useful for which the strategic gains of the weeks of

4178
04:05:51,120 --> 04:05:54,840
Speaker 52: action are always now going to be more metaphysical than physical.

4179
04:05:54,880 --> 04:05:56,800
Speaker 52: They bring people to this space, They give them a

4180
04:05:56,920 --> 04:05:59,040
Speaker 52: closeness to the forest that they would not achieve without

4181
04:05:59,040 --> 04:06:02,000
Speaker 52: actually coming here. But as far as tangibly, like materially

4182
04:06:02,040 --> 04:06:04,120
Speaker 52: stopping cop City, those kind of middle of the night

4183
04:06:04,160 --> 04:06:08,200
Speaker 52: slash and run attacks, tertiary targeting of contractors, all that stuff,

4184
04:06:08,480 --> 04:06:10,520
Speaker 52: that's how you pressure the money, and the money's where

4185
04:06:10,520 --> 04:06:10,800
Speaker 52: you win.

4186
04:06:11,640 --> 04:06:14,200
Speaker 1: Ultimately, it's up to the autonomous actors that make up

4187
04:06:14,280 --> 04:06:17,640
Speaker 1: this so called movement and how their choices will determine

4188
04:06:17,680 --> 04:06:20,400
Speaker 1: how the fight to stop Cop City will grow and evolve.

4189
04:06:24,640 --> 04:06:28,080
Speaker 1: As I'm writing this, just thirty minutes ago we found

4190
04:06:28,080 --> 04:06:31,040
Speaker 1: out that the clearcutting at the Cop City construction site

4191
04:06:31,160 --> 04:06:37,040
Speaker 1: has essentially been completed. The overhead photos are devastating. Where

4192
04:06:37,080 --> 04:06:40,400
Speaker 1: there were young, growing trees just weeks ago is now

4193
04:06:40,440 --> 04:06:43,720
Speaker 1: a flattened mound of red clay and dirt, as if

4194
04:06:43,760 --> 04:06:48,120
Speaker 1: the ground itself was bleeding. I counted over one hundred

4195
04:06:48,240 --> 04:06:52,560
Speaker 1: trees uprooted from the earth. Hundreds of people have dedicated

4196
04:06:52,960 --> 04:06:56,120
Speaker 1: years of their life to defending this forest, and the

4197
04:06:56,240 --> 04:06:59,640
Speaker 1: site of sizeable destruction has brought out a variety of

4198
04:07:00,040 --> 04:07:04,400
Speaker 1: reaving reactions. If cop City doesn't get built in the Wallawni,

4199
04:07:04,920 --> 04:07:09,680
Speaker 1: the land could be carefully reforested and healed via regenerative permaculture.

4200
04:07:10,440 --> 04:07:14,040
Speaker 1: With intentional stewardship, the forest could grow to be ecologically

4201
04:07:14,120 --> 04:07:17,680
Speaker 1: healthier than it was before. In some ways, the destruction

4202
04:07:17,760 --> 04:07:20,760
Speaker 1: that has already taken place makes it even more vital

4203
04:07:20,960 --> 04:07:24,720
Speaker 1: to try and stop the construction of cop City. No

4204
04:07:24,760 --> 04:07:28,800
Speaker 1: one is advocating a defeatist approach where force defenders essentially

4205
04:07:29,040 --> 04:07:32,000
Speaker 1: give up and let the police foundation build it, because

4206
04:07:32,160 --> 04:07:35,400
Speaker 1: there are still numerous ways to fight against the construction

4207
04:07:35,480 --> 04:07:38,320
Speaker 1: of this facility, But now is not the time to

4208
04:07:38,360 --> 04:07:42,240
Speaker 1: sugarcoat the dire situation people are in, and there should

4209
04:07:42,320 --> 04:07:45,960
Speaker 1: be time allowed to grieve this loss as well as

4210
04:07:46,120 --> 04:07:49,480
Speaker 1: strike back against the destruction. It would be a mistake

4211
04:07:49,560 --> 04:07:52,120
Speaker 1: to gaslight each other and act as if we're closer

4212
04:07:52,120 --> 04:07:55,400
Speaker 1: than ever to halting the Cop City project. The fact

4213
04:07:55,400 --> 04:07:59,200
Speaker 1: that it's gotten this far itself is devastating. From the beginning,

4214
04:07:59,240 --> 04:08:01,760
Speaker 1: people have said that even if they do believe that

4215
04:08:01,880 --> 04:08:05,040
Speaker 1: Cop City will never be built, the Atlanta Police Foundation

4216
04:08:05,240 --> 04:08:09,480
Speaker 1: and police will absolutely attempt to do as much damage

4217
04:08:09,560 --> 04:08:12,840
Speaker 1: as they can possibly get away with anyway, both to

4218
04:08:12,920 --> 04:08:17,680
Speaker 1: force defenders and to the forest itself. The past few months,

4219
04:08:17,760 --> 04:08:21,440
Speaker 1: I've been increasingly hearing the vice versa of that sentiment.

4220
04:08:22,200 --> 04:08:25,280
Speaker 1: If Cop City does end up getting built, people have

4221
04:08:25,400 --> 04:08:27,800
Speaker 1: pledged that the Atlanta Police Foundation will have to pay

4222
04:08:28,120 --> 04:08:31,360
Speaker 1: for every inch they take. Even if there is no

4223
04:08:31,440 --> 04:08:34,920
Speaker 1: longer hope to save the entire Wilani Forest, then we

4224
04:08:35,000 --> 04:08:38,920
Speaker 1: must do so without hope. At least, there is always vengeance.

4225
04:08:39,640 --> 04:08:41,760
Speaker 1: It is a long road ahead, and there is still

4226
04:08:41,920 --> 04:08:47,440
Speaker 1: much to do. To quote my favorite anarchomonarchist, Tolkien, at

4227
04:08:47,520 --> 04:08:51,200
Speaker 1: this moment, the movement will hone its focus to prevent

4228
04:08:51,440 --> 04:08:55,240
Speaker 1: or at the very least disincentivize, the physical construction of

4229
04:08:55,360 --> 04:08:56,640
Speaker 1: cop City.

4230
04:08:56,680 --> 04:08:58,640
Speaker 52: I think it'd be worth thinking of this movement as

4231
04:08:58,680 --> 04:09:01,000
Speaker 52: an almost two year old movement that's outgrown the week

4232
04:09:01,040 --> 04:09:03,560
Speaker 52: of action. You know, why limit ourselves to seven days?

4233
04:09:03,640 --> 04:09:05,960
Speaker 52: Fuck it, do a summer, you know, do three months

4234
04:09:06,000 --> 04:09:07,840
Speaker 52: of like we're doing three months of action in Atlanta.

4235
04:09:07,880 --> 04:09:09,840
Speaker 52: Come to Atlanta whenever you want, and then go home

4236
04:09:09,880 --> 04:09:12,280
Speaker 52: and do shit at home. There wills fargos where you live.

4237
04:09:12,320 --> 04:09:14,160
Speaker 52: There are Chase banks where you live. There are Atlas

4238
04:09:14,160 --> 04:09:16,920
Speaker 52: construction offices where you live. And yeah, you should come

4239
04:09:16,920 --> 04:09:18,880
Speaker 52: to Atlanta and you should come see the space, and

4240
04:09:18,920 --> 04:09:20,480
Speaker 52: you should be in the forest, and you should feel

4241
04:09:20,640 --> 04:09:23,000
Speaker 52: like the love and community that's there. We win by

4242
04:09:23,000 --> 04:09:25,040
Speaker 52: fighting on enough fronts that they can't fight us back

4243
04:09:25,080 --> 04:09:28,360
Speaker 52: on all of them. The state dies by a thousand cuts,

4244
04:09:28,720 --> 04:09:30,760
Speaker 52: not by all of us being in one place where

4245
04:09:30,760 --> 04:09:33,440
Speaker 52: they can kettle our asses. Like, that's just not how

4246
04:09:33,440 --> 04:09:35,840
Speaker 52: we're going to win. So, yeah, if we had three

4247
04:09:35,840 --> 04:09:38,760
Speaker 52: months of like we're occupying the forest for three months,

4248
04:09:39,160 --> 04:09:40,880
Speaker 52: come to the space whenever you feel like it.

4249
04:09:41,200 --> 04:09:41,600
Speaker 16: But you know.

4250
04:09:41,760 --> 04:09:44,040
Speaker 52: Hopefully when people go home they feel inspired to like

4251
04:09:44,160 --> 04:09:46,440
Speaker 52: understand that they can do just as much hitting those

4252
04:09:46,440 --> 04:09:48,680
Speaker 52: companies where they live as they can here, because the

4253
04:09:48,720 --> 04:09:51,240
Speaker 52: money's all going to the same place. The CEO at

4254
04:09:51,240 --> 04:09:53,360
Speaker 52: the top doesn't care if you hit their businesses in

4255
04:09:53,400 --> 04:09:56,640
Speaker 52: Georgia or in fucking Illinois, or in Oregon or Washington

4256
04:09:56,720 --> 04:09:58,040
Speaker 52: or whatever. The money's all the same.

4257
04:09:58,560 --> 04:10:01,560
Speaker 1: A phrase I've been hearing a lot lately is cop

4258
04:10:01,640 --> 04:10:06,120
Speaker 1: city is everywhere to quota communicate, posted on scenes, dot no, blogs,

4259
04:10:06,160 --> 04:10:06,640
Speaker 1: dot org.

4260
04:10:06,840 --> 04:10:07,280
Speaker 10: Quote.

4261
04:10:07,520 --> 04:10:10,520
Speaker 1: We will keep winning, not just here in so called Atlanta,

4262
04:10:10,560 --> 04:10:13,560
Speaker 1: but we must attack all across these so called states.

4263
04:10:14,200 --> 04:10:16,560
Speaker 1: The money and power that seek to kill us and

4264
04:10:16,600 --> 04:10:21,560
Speaker 1: a Destroyablanni are nationwide, and so our movement must be nationwide.

4265
04:10:22,040 --> 04:10:25,920
Speaker 1: A net of resistance, too vast to comprehend and too

4266
04:10:26,080 --> 04:10:31,400
Speaker 1: resilient to suppress. Reality is the battlefield, but so called America,

4267
04:10:31,440 --> 04:10:35,720
Speaker 1: all of it is the backdrop unquote. When chief is

4268
04:10:35,760 --> 04:10:39,680
Speaker 1: sheerbamb gave testimony at city council even he mentioned the

4269
04:10:39,840 --> 04:10:43,720
Speaker 1: far reaching manifestations of the fight to stop cop City.

4270
04:10:44,240 --> 04:10:46,240
Speaker 30: We have been seeing over the last number of months,

4271
04:10:46,760 --> 04:10:50,200
Speaker 30: crimes that have been occurring in other cities focused towards

4272
04:10:50,200 --> 04:10:53,280
Speaker 30: the public safety training center. So we have seen arsons

4273
04:10:53,360 --> 04:10:56,400
Speaker 30: and cities outside of Atlanta. We've seen the destruction of

4274
04:10:56,440 --> 04:10:59,840
Speaker 30: property outside of Atlanta, and we've seen the harassment of.

4275
04:11:00,160 --> 04:11:02,240
Speaker 29: Private sector employees outside of Atlanta.

4276
04:11:02,680 --> 04:11:05,480
Speaker 30: So that is the next is where the Federal Pure

4277
04:11:05,520 --> 04:11:09,840
Speaker 30: of Investigation has been assisting in this administigation.

4278
04:11:10,440 --> 04:11:13,080
Speaker 1: Like I said in the second episode, the stakes of

4279
04:11:13,120 --> 04:11:16,040
Speaker 1: the movement may soon exceed the bounds of the forest

4280
04:11:16,200 --> 04:11:19,360
Speaker 1: and cop City, and in fact that process it may

4281
04:11:19,400 --> 04:11:22,960
Speaker 1: have already begun. We are seeing stop Coop City turn

4282
04:11:23,040 --> 04:11:26,240
Speaker 1: into a new mode of insurgency and resistance to modern

4283
04:11:26,280 --> 04:11:30,120
Speaker 1: policing in general, not simply limited to the construction of

4284
04:11:30,160 --> 04:11:33,480
Speaker 1: this one a training center, as the police are trying

4285
04:11:33,520 --> 04:11:37,440
Speaker 1: to build a training center to practice quelling future civil unrest.

4286
04:11:38,000 --> 04:11:40,840
Speaker 1: The site of the Malani Forest and beyond has been

4287
04:11:40,880 --> 04:11:43,920
Speaker 1: a training ground for anarchists and those who fight the

4288
04:11:43,960 --> 04:11:48,120
Speaker 1: ever growing police estate the past two years. It's been

4289
04:11:48,200 --> 04:11:53,440
Speaker 1: a dangerous playground for experimentation and liberation. Applications for the

4290
04:11:53,520 --> 04:11:57,080
Speaker 1: lessons learned in the Mulani Forest extend far past the

4291
04:11:57,080 --> 04:12:00,360
Speaker 1: barriers of the woods. As a far right attack on

4292
04:12:00,400 --> 04:12:03,680
Speaker 1: abortion and trans people are accelerating across this country, but

4293
04:12:03,840 --> 04:12:07,920
Speaker 1: especially the South. Perhaps some of the organizing infrastructure that's

4294
04:12:07,960 --> 04:12:12,280
Speaker 1: been developed can take new focus on these battlegrounds, and

4295
04:12:12,320 --> 04:12:15,360
Speaker 1: even just the mere existence of the struggle against cop

4296
04:12:15,440 --> 04:12:18,760
Speaker 1: City in Atlanta has been a deterrent for other cities

4297
04:12:18,760 --> 04:12:23,160
Speaker 1: and states seeking to push forward similar proposals. But as

4298
04:12:23,200 --> 04:12:27,240
Speaker 1: the movement possibly expands past its original scope in these

4299
04:12:27,280 --> 04:12:29,200
Speaker 1: next few months, people will need to be careful that

4300
04:12:29,240 --> 04:12:33,280
Speaker 1: the idyllic notion of the struggle doesn't eclipse the original

4301
04:12:33,360 --> 04:12:36,480
Speaker 1: and still active goal, which is to stop cop City.

4302
04:12:37,160 --> 04:12:40,680
Speaker 1: Cop city is indeed everywhere, but the current manifestation in

4303
04:12:40,720 --> 04:12:44,920
Speaker 1: Atlanta is unique to Atlanta, and the corresponding struggle to

4304
04:12:45,000 --> 04:12:48,800
Speaker 1: stop the physical construction of this training facility cannot be

4305
04:12:49,000 --> 04:12:54,640
Speaker 1: overlooked in favor of fantasies of utopian anarchy. To steal

4306
04:12:54,720 --> 04:12:58,000
Speaker 1: an idea from Matt of the Community Press Collective, one

4307
04:12:58,200 --> 04:13:02,360
Speaker 1: interpretation of the phrase cop city is everywhere is the

4308
04:13:02,360 --> 04:13:06,320
Speaker 1: realization that Atlanta is a cop city, and it already

4309
04:13:06,400 --> 04:13:09,760
Speaker 1: has been for years without us knowing it, and if

4310
04:13:09,760 --> 04:13:12,960
Speaker 1: we don't turn back the tide here, cop city will

4311
04:13:12,960 --> 04:13:14,120
Speaker 1: be exported.

4312
04:13:13,680 --> 04:13:18,920
Speaker 18: Everywhere Atlanta once again because of the Atlanta Police Foundation

4313
04:13:19,120 --> 04:13:22,880
Speaker 18: is the most surveiled city in the country because of

4314
04:13:23,040 --> 04:13:26,400
Speaker 18: twenty seventeen's Operation Shield program where they put tons of

4315
04:13:26,400 --> 04:13:29,120
Speaker 18: cameras all throughout the city and essentially made it a

4316
04:13:29,200 --> 04:13:32,240
Speaker 18: surveillance state once again. Crime has continued to go up

4317
04:13:32,920 --> 04:13:37,240
Speaker 18: during this time, and that would have significantly more to

4318
04:13:37,280 --> 04:13:41,600
Speaker 18: do with the disparity of wealth and opportunities of Black

4319
04:13:41,600 --> 04:13:45,160
Speaker 18: Atlantans that are born under the poverty line. Only five

4320
04:13:45,200 --> 04:13:48,560
Speaker 18: percent of them are projected to ever cross that line.

4321
04:13:49,360 --> 04:13:54,400
Speaker 18: At the same time, the average median income of black

4322
04:13:54,400 --> 04:13:59,320
Speaker 18: households is one third that of the average median income

4323
04:13:59,760 --> 04:14:03,040
Speaker 18: of white households in Atlanta, So that's about thirty five

4324
04:14:03,080 --> 04:14:05,360
Speaker 18: thousand dollars to one hundred and four thousand dollars.

4325
04:14:05,720 --> 04:14:06,240
Speaker 8: And so.

4326
04:14:07,840 --> 04:14:13,840
Speaker 18: The wealth is just so disproportionately spread, and so much

4327
04:14:14,160 --> 04:14:17,920
Speaker 18: of the labor intensive economy is predicated on it that

4328
04:14:18,240 --> 04:14:23,160
Speaker 18: black people are pigeonholed into service economy jobs and they

4329
04:14:23,240 --> 04:14:29,680
Speaker 18: have very few opportunities here. Now, that type of inequality

4330
04:14:31,280 --> 04:14:37,120
Speaker 18: breeds discontent and people looking for other opportunities, and the

4331
04:14:37,160 --> 04:14:40,200
Speaker 18: police are ready to catch them at every turn for

4332
04:14:40,320 --> 04:14:44,200
Speaker 18: arresting the juvenile in the point system that they have

4333
04:14:44,240 --> 04:14:48,200
Speaker 18: for Atlanta police department, it's five points. However, you only

4334
04:14:48,240 --> 04:14:51,160
Speaker 18: receive a quarter of a point as a police officer

4335
04:14:51,200 --> 04:14:55,760
Speaker 18: if you answer a service call. So police officers often

4336
04:14:55,880 --> 04:14:58,520
Speaker 18: ignore service calls because that doesn't give them.

4337
04:14:58,440 --> 04:14:59,200
Speaker 8: The credit that they want.

4338
04:14:59,240 --> 04:15:01,880
Speaker 18: So, just to put that in context, you get twenty

4339
04:15:01,880 --> 04:15:07,160
Speaker 18: times the credit in Atlanta's point quota system for arresting

4340
04:15:07,160 --> 04:15:11,120
Speaker 18: a juvenile then going where people actually wanted police to

4341
04:15:11,160 --> 04:15:13,960
Speaker 18: show up, and we're supposed to be convinced that this

4342
04:15:14,040 --> 04:15:16,400
Speaker 18: system is made to keep us safe.

4343
04:15:17,160 --> 04:15:17,440
Speaker 8: Right.

4344
04:15:18,240 --> 04:15:21,480
Speaker 1: The City of Atlanta and the Police Foundation wants Copcity

4345
04:15:21,520 --> 04:15:24,280
Speaker 1: to be a national training center for police to come

4346
04:15:24,320 --> 04:15:29,440
Speaker 1: and practice militaristic counterinsurgency for export across the country. They

4347
04:15:29,560 --> 04:15:33,240
Speaker 1: murdered someone to further this goal. All eyes must be

4348
04:15:33,320 --> 04:15:34,560
Speaker 1: on Atlanta.

4349
04:15:34,720 --> 04:15:38,960
Speaker 36: Cop City is a symbol of police repression. Cop City

4350
04:15:39,040 --> 04:15:42,760
Speaker 36: is a symbol of the oppression of the people of Atlanta.

4351
04:15:43,240 --> 04:15:45,600
Speaker 36: I want you to look around and see the families

4352
04:15:45,600 --> 04:15:47,600
Speaker 36: here in this part today.

4353
04:15:48,400 --> 04:15:50,200
Speaker 10: These are people who came because.

4354
04:15:49,960 --> 04:15:51,400
Speaker 13: They're concerned for their children.

4355
04:15:51,800 --> 04:15:54,640
Speaker 36: These are people who are concerned because they don't want

4356
04:15:54,840 --> 04:15:57,520
Speaker 36: their city overrun by militarization.

4357
04:15:58,080 --> 04:16:00,800
Speaker 1: The level of repression the movement is face is a

4358
04:16:00,840 --> 04:16:03,800
Speaker 1: sign that the state feels like this movement is a

4359
04:16:03,840 --> 04:16:07,320
Speaker 1: threat and the state feels like this movement has the

4360
04:16:07,400 --> 04:16:12,560
Speaker 1: possibility of actually succeeding, so in response, they're increasing repression.

4361
04:16:13,240 --> 04:16:15,720
Speaker 1: And on the flip side of that, during this past

4362
04:16:15,720 --> 04:16:18,840
Speaker 1: week of action, I saw a lot of affirmation that

4363
04:16:18,880 --> 04:16:21,400
Speaker 1: this is going to be successful and that people believe

4364
04:16:21,440 --> 04:16:25,640
Speaker 1: that they will stop Cop City. A common refrain during

4365
04:16:25,680 --> 04:16:28,280
Speaker 1: the past week of action is that cop City will

4366
04:16:28,320 --> 04:16:31,240
Speaker 1: never be built, and I believe that we will win.

4367
04:16:32,120 --> 04:16:35,200
Speaker 1: There's been such a unique emphasis on the fact that

4368
04:16:35,400 --> 04:16:38,080
Speaker 1: people believe that this fight is one hundred percent winnable

4369
04:16:38,360 --> 04:16:40,920
Speaker 1: and that people do have the ability to stop cop City,

4370
04:16:41,200 --> 04:16:44,280
Speaker 1: and that people who are participating truly believe that, And

4371
04:16:44,320 --> 04:16:46,120
Speaker 1: I think that is an important part of why it's

4372
04:16:46,160 --> 04:16:47,520
Speaker 1: gotten as far as it has.

4373
04:16:48,280 --> 04:16:51,280
Speaker 22: We can get everything we want for this city. We

4374
04:16:51,320 --> 04:16:53,840
Speaker 22: can stop cop City. We got the power.

4375
04:16:53,960 --> 04:16:55,680
Speaker 46: We believe y'all.

4376
04:17:00,920 --> 04:17:03,200
Speaker 22: There's gonna be a lot of people tell us about

4377
04:17:03,240 --> 04:17:06,960
Speaker 22: what we can't do, about what these organizers are here

4378
04:17:07,080 --> 04:17:07,400
Speaker 22: can't do.

4379
04:17:07,680 --> 04:17:09,800
Speaker 46: Tell them what it tells about what we we we

4380
04:17:09,920 --> 04:17:12,440
Speaker 46: can't do. I'm to tell you all of us out here,

4381
04:17:12,480 --> 04:17:15,720
Speaker 46: we're organizers. We are in a business.

4382
04:17:15,920 --> 04:17:18,960
Speaker 22: I've taken that which other people say it is impossible,

4383
04:17:19,400 --> 04:17:20,600
Speaker 22: we make it possible.

4384
04:17:25,040 --> 04:17:27,560
Speaker 3: As long as we believe I say we are.

4385
04:17:30,320 --> 04:17:33,960
Speaker 20: Believe, I believe that we will win.

4386
04:17:36,480 --> 04:17:39,640
Speaker 1: This is interesting to me because in my experience, a

4387
04:17:39,640 --> 04:17:43,320
Speaker 1: lot of leftists and anarchists approach much of their practice

4388
04:17:43,800 --> 04:17:47,280
Speaker 1: with the concept of them expecting to not succeed, but

4389
04:17:47,440 --> 04:17:50,200
Speaker 1: they're going to do it anyway, which there is a

4390
04:17:50,320 --> 04:17:53,200
Speaker 1: kind of fated beauty to that in a certain way.

4391
04:17:53,560 --> 04:17:56,240
Speaker 1: And part of that is taking action even if you

4392
04:17:56,280 --> 04:17:59,320
Speaker 1: don't think it will lead to a decisive victory. But

4393
04:17:59,360 --> 04:18:02,120
Speaker 1: also I think fe that being in that mindset might

4394
04:18:02,200 --> 04:18:05,280
Speaker 1: set you up for that outcome. If you're preparing to fail,

4395
04:18:05,520 --> 04:18:07,920
Speaker 1: that means you're probably going to fail or at the

4396
04:18:08,040 --> 04:18:11,280
Speaker 1: very least limit the ways that you do action. And

4397
04:18:11,560 --> 04:18:14,640
Speaker 1: throughout this movement thus far, it's been interesting the degree

4398
04:18:14,680 --> 04:18:17,240
Speaker 1: to which people are convinced that they are going to win.

4399
04:18:17,760 --> 04:18:20,360
Speaker 52: If you're being prepared to fail, you won't take the

4400
04:18:20,440 --> 04:18:23,520
Speaker 52: radical action that it takes to win. Winning's hard, and

4401
04:18:23,560 --> 04:18:26,840
Speaker 52: winning means doing things that are scary and uncomfortable, and

4402
04:18:26,920 --> 04:18:29,480
Speaker 52: doing things that put you in danger, and doing things

4403
04:18:29,480 --> 04:18:32,120
Speaker 52: that are new and unknown and different and taking new

4404
04:18:32,160 --> 04:18:35,360
Speaker 52: strategies and doing new things, and we in the US

4405
04:18:35,840 --> 04:18:37,600
Speaker 52: and a lot of other places, but this is US

4406
04:18:37,640 --> 04:18:40,680
Speaker 52: based movements. So there's so much learned helplessness on the

4407
04:18:40,760 --> 04:18:44,160
Speaker 52: left here from so many years of like we lost

4408
04:18:44,160 --> 04:18:47,880
Speaker 52: it Occupy and then we lost in Ferguson and Standing Rock,

4409
04:18:48,240 --> 04:18:51,280
Speaker 52: and in twenty twenty, all of these movements that put

4410
04:18:51,400 --> 04:18:54,400
Speaker 52: big body blows to the state put some hits in,

4411
04:18:54,480 --> 04:18:57,160
Speaker 52: but we're just followed by these waves and waves of oppression.

4412
04:18:57,880 --> 04:19:00,440
Speaker 52: We've learned so much helplessness. And for the first time

4413
04:19:00,440 --> 04:19:03,280
Speaker 52: in my life, I'm looking at a movement that I'm like, no, no,

4414
04:19:03,640 --> 04:19:06,720
Speaker 52: we can fucking beat them. And people are stagnating, we're

4415
04:19:06,760 --> 04:19:10,000
Speaker 52: blinking because of what happened on Sunday, and like, no, no, no,

4416
04:19:10,240 --> 04:19:12,800
Speaker 52: what happened on Sunday prove that we can win. It

4417
04:19:12,840 --> 04:19:15,680
Speaker 52: proved that we can one fight them in the open

4418
04:19:15,720 --> 04:19:17,520
Speaker 52: field and beat them, that they are afraid of us,

4419
04:19:17,560 --> 04:19:20,240
Speaker 52: that they will see territory if we hit them, And

4420
04:19:20,320 --> 04:19:22,280
Speaker 52: it proved that they are so afraid of us that

4421
04:19:22,320 --> 04:19:25,800
Speaker 52: they need to mobilize fucking ten different police departments to

4422
04:19:25,880 --> 04:19:28,600
Speaker 52: come deal and then they won't even step into the

4423
04:19:28,640 --> 04:19:30,840
Speaker 52: actual brush of the forest because they think we're the

4424
04:19:30,840 --> 04:19:34,280
Speaker 52: fucking vietcom that proves we can win more than anything

4425
04:19:34,280 --> 04:19:37,200
Speaker 52: that proves we can win. And if we do not

4426
04:19:37,400 --> 04:19:40,000
Speaker 52: accept that, what is proved that we can win is

4427
04:19:40,080 --> 04:19:43,920
Speaker 52: like property destruction and to a degree doing violence, we

4428
04:19:43,960 --> 04:19:47,280
Speaker 52: won't win. Those fireworks helped a lot. They pushed the

4429
04:19:47,320 --> 04:19:50,280
Speaker 52: cops out and like, we shouldn't balk at that, And

4430
04:19:50,360 --> 04:19:53,560
Speaker 52: I guess I don't classify that as violence. The police

4431
04:19:53,600 --> 04:19:56,840
Speaker 52: classify that is violence what they consider taking hits, I guess.

4432
04:19:57,280 --> 04:19:58,760
Speaker 52: But yeah, we are so on the cusp of a

4433
04:19:58,800 --> 04:20:00,760
Speaker 52: make or break kind of deal here, and the only

4434
04:20:00,760 --> 04:20:03,400
Speaker 52: way that we win is not this internal debate we're

4435
04:20:03,440 --> 04:20:06,160
Speaker 52: having about the efficacy of tactics. It's doubling down on

4436
04:20:06,200 --> 04:20:09,000
Speaker 52: what we're already doing because it's working, and expanding on it.

4437
04:20:09,440 --> 04:20:12,320
Speaker 1: Do you believe that copsity will be actually stopped?

4438
04:20:13,320 --> 04:20:17,240
Speaker 8: We got to and here's what I mean by that.

4439
04:20:18,880 --> 04:20:23,400
Speaker 8: This is the line. Right we have.

4440
04:20:24,360 --> 04:20:32,040
Speaker 18: Environmental racism, police militarization and brutality, and police and racism,

4441
04:20:32,160 --> 04:20:35,480
Speaker 18: and it's all coming to a head right here in

4442
04:20:35,480 --> 04:20:41,520
Speaker 18: this particular movement. We have to win because what they're

4443
04:20:41,560 --> 04:20:45,000
Speaker 18: doing now is to build capacity to make sure that

4444
04:20:45,080 --> 04:20:49,760
Speaker 18: we can't win, right and so why people are pushing

4445
04:20:49,800 --> 04:20:52,840
Speaker 18: so hard is that, as we've seen over the past

4446
04:20:53,040 --> 04:20:55,640
Speaker 18: couple of weeks, the police have plenty of like tanks

4447
04:20:55,680 --> 04:21:02,000
Speaker 18: and shit and all sorts of militarized tactical gear. And

4448
04:21:02,040 --> 04:21:05,160
Speaker 18: now they're trying to build another base in the blackest

4449
04:21:05,200 --> 04:21:10,400
Speaker 18: part of the city and to build up more capacity

4450
04:21:10,480 --> 04:21:14,000
Speaker 18: to put down any sense of rebellion or push back

4451
04:21:14,080 --> 04:21:19,040
Speaker 18: against empire. We cannot allow it to happen. And I mean,

4452
04:21:19,600 --> 04:21:23,400
Speaker 18: there is so much money going to kill people in

4453
04:21:23,800 --> 04:21:28,400
Speaker 18: end life. And if we win right here and make

4454
04:21:28,480 --> 04:21:33,760
Speaker 18: this stand right here, that changes the potentiality for how

4455
04:21:33,840 --> 04:21:36,880
Speaker 18: we view how to keep one another safe and how

4456
04:21:36,960 --> 04:21:42,480
Speaker 18: to reinvest in ourselves and our people throughout this country

4457
04:21:43,320 --> 04:21:46,040
Speaker 18: in a huge way. I think that we are at

4458
04:21:46,040 --> 04:21:50,080
Speaker 18: the precipice of not only winning cup City, but pushing

4459
04:21:50,320 --> 04:21:54,200
Speaker 18: back the tide of the cult of death that this

4460
04:21:54,320 --> 04:21:55,200
Speaker 18: country has become.

4461
04:21:56,000 --> 04:21:58,480
Speaker 1: The clear cuts in the Malaune forest at this stage

4462
04:21:58,720 --> 04:22:02,640
Speaker 1: serve a threefold per one. It obviously gets them closer

4463
04:22:02,640 --> 04:22:05,720
Speaker 1: to construction and the mass land grading that is scheduled

4464
04:22:05,760 --> 04:22:08,760
Speaker 1: to start on May twenty third two. It's a ploy

4465
04:22:08,960 --> 04:22:13,080
Speaker 1: by the APF to secure additional needed funds from Copcity investors.

4466
04:22:13,560 --> 04:22:16,920
Speaker 1: And finally, it's to demoralize the people who spent years

4467
04:22:16,960 --> 04:22:19,480
Speaker 1: of their life working to stop this project.

4468
04:22:19,920 --> 04:22:23,480
Speaker 2: Everything that police have done is essentially always a reprisal, right,

4469
04:22:23,960 --> 04:22:28,640
Speaker 2: the movement does something and the police clamp down in

4470
04:22:28,640 --> 04:22:30,560
Speaker 2: a reprisal to try to repress the movement.

4471
04:22:30,800 --> 04:22:33,280
Speaker 1: Police always escalate, but they have always been like in

4472
04:22:33,320 --> 04:22:34,520
Speaker 1: response to something.

4473
04:22:34,560 --> 04:22:38,520
Speaker 2: And their goal, of course is to quiet and chill

4474
04:22:38,880 --> 04:22:43,640
Speaker 2: free speech and end the movement. But every time this happens,

4475
04:22:44,040 --> 04:22:47,040
Speaker 2: the opposite effect is what comes out of it. And

4476
04:22:48,040 --> 04:22:52,440
Speaker 2: from the domestic terrorism rest in December, like really, that's

4477
04:22:52,520 --> 04:22:56,040
Speaker 2: when this even larger groundswell of national support happened and

4478
04:22:56,200 --> 04:22:58,880
Speaker 2: people started to take notice because this was an extreme measure.

4479
04:22:59,320 --> 04:23:02,680
Speaker 1: And then with the killing of Tortighita in January, that

4480
04:23:02,880 --> 04:23:07,200
Speaker 1: changed so much about the movement, including people's personal connection

4481
04:23:07,480 --> 04:23:11,440
Speaker 1: to this struggle, where no longer are people doing this

4482
04:23:11,560 --> 04:23:15,000
Speaker 1: simply because they believe it is what's right. They are

4483
04:23:15,040 --> 04:23:18,320
Speaker 1: doing this because they have to, because the state cannot

4484
04:23:18,360 --> 04:23:20,960
Speaker 1: get away with this, This death cannot be in vain,

4485
04:23:21,400 --> 04:23:24,040
Speaker 1: and now people believe that they have to succeed or

4486
04:23:24,120 --> 04:23:27,320
Speaker 1: at the very least make this state pay for every inch,

4487
04:23:27,800 --> 04:23:31,080
Speaker 1: and that may mean looking beyond the binary of a

4488
04:23:31,160 --> 04:23:36,000
Speaker 1: victory and defeat. According to a construction timeline from this

4489
04:23:36,080 --> 04:23:40,120
Speaker 1: past April, the Atlanta Police Foundation plans to start construction

4490
04:23:40,360 --> 04:23:43,760
Speaker 1: on August twenty ninth, twenty twenty three, in order for

4491
04:23:43,880 --> 04:23:47,480
Speaker 1: a quote unquote soft opening of the facility in December

4492
04:23:47,560 --> 04:23:51,080
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four. One hiccup that the APF has

4493
04:23:51,160 --> 04:23:53,520
Speaker 1: run into is that it seems they have yet to

4494
04:23:53,560 --> 04:23:56,320
Speaker 1: secure enough money to finish the project and have been

4495
04:23:56,360 --> 04:23:59,480
Speaker 1: forced to ask their investors and the city for more

4496
04:23:59,480 --> 04:24:04,040
Speaker 1: additional despite scaling back their plans for the project. As

4497
04:24:04,080 --> 04:24:06,440
Speaker 1: a short clip put together by the Atlanta Community Press

4498
04:24:06,440 --> 04:24:08,200
Speaker 1: Collective explains.

4499
04:24:07,960 --> 04:24:10,360
Speaker 53: The city Council will in fact have to vote on

4500
04:24:10,400 --> 04:24:14,040
Speaker 53: whether or not to allocate thirty three million taxpayer dollars

4501
04:24:14,080 --> 04:24:17,600
Speaker 53: to the construction of cop City in the very near future. Additionally,

4502
04:24:17,800 --> 04:24:21,120
Speaker 53: the Atlanta Police Foundation budget documents show that current construction

4503
04:24:21,200 --> 04:24:23,960
Speaker 53: plans have been scaled back from what was originally promised.

4504
04:24:24,000 --> 04:24:26,560
Speaker 53: This indicates a failure by the foundation to raise the

4505
04:24:26,600 --> 04:24:28,080
Speaker 53: promise sixty million.

4506
04:24:27,800 --> 04:24:29,080
Speaker 29: Dollars in private funds.

4507
04:24:29,160 --> 04:24:32,120
Speaker 53: Should the city vote down this funding package of thirty

4508
04:24:32,160 --> 04:24:34,840
Speaker 53: three million. It is difficult to see a path forward

4509
04:24:34,920 --> 04:24:38,320
Speaker 53: for the Atlanta Police Foundation's effort to begin construction on

4510
04:24:38,440 --> 04:24:40,680
Speaker 53: Cop City anytime in the near future.

4511
04:24:41,040 --> 04:24:44,120
Speaker 1: The City Council has actually not yet voted to approve

4512
04:24:44,160 --> 04:24:47,520
Speaker 1: the allocation of millions of dollars in city funds to

4513
04:24:47,720 --> 04:24:49,000
Speaker 1: the Cop City project.

4514
04:24:49,400 --> 04:24:51,600
Speaker 53: Through an open records request, we were able to get

4515
04:24:51,600 --> 04:24:54,520
Speaker 53: our hands on emails between the Atlanta Police Foundation and

4516
04:24:54,600 --> 04:24:59,280
Speaker 53: Atlanta's Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Leachandra Berts. In this email exchange,

4517
04:24:59,320 --> 04:25:01,720
Speaker 53: the Police found expressed a need for the city to

4518
04:25:01,760 --> 04:25:04,800
Speaker 53: provide thirty three point five million dollars in funding for

4519
04:25:04,880 --> 04:25:08,760
Speaker 53: the project. Bergs responded by mentioning the need for legislative

4520
04:25:08,760 --> 04:25:11,600
Speaker 53: action to secure the funds. The emails state that the

4521
04:25:11,640 --> 04:25:15,520
Speaker 53: Police Foundation wants to pass this legislation before June thirtieth

4522
04:25:15,560 --> 04:25:18,640
Speaker 53: because they need the City of Atlanta's money to secure

4523
04:25:18,680 --> 04:25:19,680
Speaker 53: their construction loan.

4524
04:25:20,000 --> 04:25:23,280
Speaker 1: It's expected that as soon as May fifteenth, a member

4525
04:25:23,320 --> 04:25:26,840
Speaker 1: of the City Council will introduce legislation to allocate public

4526
04:25:26,880 --> 04:25:29,840
Speaker 1: funds to the Atlanta Police Foundation to build COP City,

4527
04:25:30,280 --> 04:25:33,360
Speaker 1: and a final vote could happen as soon as June fifth.

4528
04:25:34,480 --> 04:25:36,800
Speaker 1: One thing that the movement to stop Cop City has

4529
04:25:36,840 --> 04:25:39,800
Speaker 1: shown us is that no matter what police do, people

4530
04:25:39,960 --> 04:25:43,360
Speaker 1: continue to show up despite what happens, and the movement

4531
04:25:43,480 --> 04:25:47,400
Speaker 1: keeps expanding. As the unnamed forest defender told.

4532
04:25:47,240 --> 04:25:50,200
Speaker 52: Me, infrastructure wise, this week of Action was the biggest

4533
04:25:50,200 --> 04:25:53,680
Speaker 52: infrastructure I've seen doing a week of action. I thought

4534
04:25:53,760 --> 04:25:56,080
Speaker 52: that the infrastructure we put together for week one was

4535
04:25:56,120 --> 04:25:58,400
Speaker 52: pretty big, but I mean it doesn't even compare. It's

4536
04:25:58,400 --> 04:26:00,560
Speaker 52: not the same ballpark as what happened for Week five,

4537
04:26:01,320 --> 04:26:03,040
Speaker 52: just from how the medics were set up and how

4538
04:26:03,080 --> 04:26:05,680
Speaker 52: food was handled. There was a shuttle bus program, there

4539
04:26:05,680 --> 04:26:07,720
Speaker 52: was a welcome table at a church at one point,

4540
04:26:07,760 --> 04:26:10,480
Speaker 52: there was like twenty four to seven clinic spaces. There

4541
04:26:10,520 --> 04:26:13,480
Speaker 52: was twenty four to seven ride programs, and medics on standby,

4542
04:26:13,520 --> 04:26:15,920
Speaker 52: and like all these things that were ready to support everybody,

4543
04:26:16,480 --> 04:26:18,440
Speaker 52: Like there was all this infrastructure set up to make

4544
04:26:18,480 --> 04:26:20,640
Speaker 52: sure that people were as supported as possible and to

4545
04:26:20,640 --> 04:26:22,800
Speaker 52: make it as easy as possible and lower the barrier

4546
04:26:22,840 --> 04:26:25,360
Speaker 52: of entry to the movement as much as possible, more

4547
04:26:25,360 --> 04:26:27,600
Speaker 52: than there has been in any other Week of action

4548
04:26:27,720 --> 04:26:31,000
Speaker 52: so far. I feel like the way that we continue

4549
04:26:31,440 --> 04:26:33,600
Speaker 52: that is to take lessons learned from what's happened this

4550
04:26:33,640 --> 04:26:36,120
Speaker 52: week from the problems with the infrastructure, the issues that

4551
04:26:36,160 --> 04:26:38,320
Speaker 52: it had, expand on it and then fucking do it

4552
04:26:38,320 --> 04:26:40,760
Speaker 52: for way longer, Like we could do this for an

4553
04:26:40,880 --> 04:26:43,200
Speaker 52: entire summer. I am fully of the belief that the

4554
04:26:43,240 --> 04:26:45,760
Speaker 52: infrastructure I saw on display during the fifth week of action,

4555
04:26:45,880 --> 04:26:48,040
Speaker 52: we could do that for a summer. I believe in

4556
04:26:48,080 --> 04:26:49,800
Speaker 52: the kind of people who put it together, and I

4557
04:26:49,840 --> 04:26:52,040
Speaker 52: believe in the people who did it. To do that,

4558
04:26:52,520 --> 04:26:54,720
Speaker 52: we just have to kind of look at what went wrong,

4559
04:26:54,800 --> 04:26:57,040
Speaker 52: what went right, and fix it. All the things that

4560
04:26:57,120 --> 04:26:59,320
Speaker 52: existed in this week of action, as far as they're

4561
04:26:59,360 --> 04:27:02,360
Speaker 52: being food rides, medics, and like group supplies, all these

4562
04:27:02,360 --> 04:27:04,640
Speaker 52: things existed during weeks of Action one through four.

4563
04:27:04,920 --> 04:27:05,640
Speaker 13: It's just grown.

4564
04:27:05,680 --> 04:27:08,240
Speaker 52: It's gotten more logistically intense. There are more and more

4565
04:27:08,280 --> 04:27:10,840
Speaker 52: people filling those roles. There's more and more stuff coming in.

4566
04:27:10,880 --> 04:27:12,960
Speaker 52: Like the amount of supplies that we just got sent

4567
04:27:13,360 --> 04:27:15,240
Speaker 52: in or people brought with them from out of state

4568
04:27:15,280 --> 04:27:18,240
Speaker 52: has just so vastly expanded since the first week of action.

4569
04:27:18,600 --> 04:27:20,920
Speaker 52: It's just gotten more i don't know, like not professional,

4570
04:27:21,000 --> 04:27:24,440
Speaker 52: but more polished. It's become a much more polished setup system.

4571
04:27:24,600 --> 04:27:26,320
Speaker 52: As time went on from the first camp that we

4572
04:27:26,400 --> 04:27:28,800
Speaker 52: had during the first Week of Action to now you know,

4573
04:27:29,160 --> 04:27:31,880
Speaker 52: almost two years later. And that's a huge part of

4574
04:27:31,920 --> 04:27:34,160
Speaker 52: why I think we've outgrown the Week of Action. We

4575
04:27:34,240 --> 04:27:36,680
Speaker 52: have these types of thought processes and logistics to do

4576
04:27:36,720 --> 04:27:38,720
Speaker 52: this for a summer or for a month, We just

4577
04:27:38,760 --> 04:27:41,920
Speaker 52: need people and resources. We need more people to be willing,

4578
04:27:41,960 --> 04:27:44,200
Speaker 52: because I don't want people to get tired.

4579
04:27:45,040 --> 04:27:48,320
Speaker 1: Just last month, another Week of Action was called for

4580
04:27:48,520 --> 04:27:52,920
Speaker 1: June twenty fourth to July first, directly leading into what's

4581
04:27:53,040 --> 04:27:57,440
Speaker 1: being called the Wollawni Summer, with locals in Atlanta calling

4582
04:27:57,480 --> 04:28:01,040
Speaker 1: on supporters and forced defenders everywhere to come to Atlanta

4583
04:28:01,080 --> 04:28:04,880
Speaker 1: for the week and stay for the summer. With Entrenchment

4584
04:28:04,960 --> 04:28:08,360
Speaker 1: Creek Park still closed and they're being ongoing efforts to

4585
04:28:08,400 --> 04:28:11,880
Speaker 1: have it be reopened. What the week and following summer

4586
04:28:11,920 --> 04:28:14,280
Speaker 1: will look like is it still very unknown.

4587
04:28:15,000 --> 04:28:17,400
Speaker 52: We always are going to need more people. People are

4588
04:28:17,440 --> 04:28:18,720
Speaker 52: our most important resource.

4589
04:28:18,840 --> 04:28:19,280
Speaker 10: Always.

4590
04:28:19,680 --> 04:28:21,920
Speaker 52: The way that we limit burnout is by having more

4591
04:28:22,040 --> 04:28:24,280
Speaker 52: and more people so that the burden falls less and

4592
04:28:24,360 --> 04:28:27,080
Speaker 52: less heavy on small groups of people, and so that

4593
04:28:27,120 --> 04:28:30,040
Speaker 52: people can take breaks. And that's another problem I have

4594
04:28:30,160 --> 04:28:32,360
Speaker 52: with like the Week of Action as a strategy is

4595
04:28:32,400 --> 04:28:34,600
Speaker 52: you're just going non fucking stop.

4596
04:28:34,360 --> 04:28:34,800
Speaker 13: For a week.

4597
04:28:34,840 --> 04:28:36,720
Speaker 52: If you had three months, you're like, ah, I'm going

4598
04:28:36,800 --> 04:28:38,920
Speaker 52: to chill for a couple of weeks. I'll be back,

4599
04:28:39,120 --> 04:28:41,400
Speaker 52: you know, because I have all this time, and it

4600
04:28:41,440 --> 04:28:43,720
Speaker 52: frees up people from out of state to come in,

4601
04:28:43,920 --> 04:28:46,520
Speaker 52: have times to work it out in their schedule more.

4602
04:28:46,880 --> 04:28:49,160
Speaker 1: There will be more information put out in the coming weeks.

4603
04:28:49,440 --> 04:28:51,560
Speaker 1: You can keep up to date by following stop Coop

4604
04:28:51,600 --> 04:28:55,400
Speaker 1: City on Instagram, Defend atl Forest on Twitter, or by

4605
04:28:55,480 --> 04:29:00,360
Speaker 1: checking out stopcopcitysolidarity dot org. Ideally with a VPM and

4606
04:29:00,560 --> 04:29:02,080
Speaker 1: tour slash a Brave browser.

4607
04:29:02,520 --> 04:29:04,600
Speaker 52: If you were at the music festival and you're just

4608
04:29:04,640 --> 04:29:07,400
Speaker 52: a normal person, you weren't involved with the movement before this,

4609
04:29:07,520 --> 04:29:09,480
Speaker 52: and you were at the music festival and you kind

4610
04:29:09,480 --> 04:29:11,440
Speaker 52: of saw why we're fighting for this. You saw that

4611
04:29:11,480 --> 04:29:13,080
Speaker 52: space and then you saw the type of violence that

4612
04:29:13,120 --> 04:29:15,760
Speaker 52: the police were willing to output to do it. Let

4613
04:29:15,760 --> 04:29:17,480
Speaker 52: that move you to get involved further. You don't have

4614
04:29:17,520 --> 04:29:19,720
Speaker 52: to join an organization, you know, I don't want to

4615
04:29:19,760 --> 04:29:22,920
Speaker 52: speak for other people. I'm a hard anarchist. Fuck organizations

4616
04:29:22,920 --> 04:29:25,480
Speaker 52: to a large degree, but have an affinity group, get

4617
04:29:25,480 --> 04:29:27,480
Speaker 52: your friends together. If you guys want to be helping

4618
04:29:27,520 --> 04:29:29,440
Speaker 52: out with the food. People, help out with the food.

4619
04:29:29,480 --> 04:29:29,760
Speaker 8: People.

4620
04:29:29,800 --> 04:29:31,880
Speaker 52: You want to be medics, go join a medic collective

4621
04:29:32,440 --> 04:29:35,200
Speaker 52: like find what everything calls to you and just go

4622
04:29:35,280 --> 04:29:37,120
Speaker 52: and do it. Because we need people and there's no

4623
04:29:37,160 --> 04:29:39,240
Speaker 52: barrier of entry to join the movement. There's no test

4624
04:29:39,280 --> 04:29:40,800
Speaker 52: you have to take. You just have to show up.

4625
04:29:41,800 --> 04:29:44,920
Speaker 1: I will end this Week of Action retrospective with a

4626
04:29:45,000 --> 04:29:50,200
Speaker 1: promise from a forest defenders. See you on the other side.

4627
04:29:50,480 --> 04:29:51,760
Speaker 10: We well Barn.

4628
04:29:53,520 --> 04:29:57,680
Speaker 46: We well Burn, we well.

4629
04:29:57,280 --> 04:30:08,600
Speaker 1: Burn Music Festival. Audio courtesy of Unicorn Riot.

4630
04:30:10,520 --> 04:30:13,000
Speaker 10: It Could Happen Here as a production of cool Zone Media.

4631
04:30:13,120 --> 04:30:15,800
Speaker 31: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website

4632
04:30:15,800 --> 04:30:18,920
Speaker 31: coolzonemedia dot com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app,

4633
04:30:18,960 --> 04:30:22,320
Speaker 31: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can

4634
04:30:22,320 --> 04:30:25,040
Speaker 31: find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated monthly at

4635
04:30:25,080 --> 04:30:27,280
Speaker 31: coolzonemedia dot com slash sources.

4636
04:30:27,480 --> 04:30:28,320
Speaker 10: Thanks for listening.