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Speaker 1: In the early morning of January thirty, first, news started

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Speaker 1: to proliferate that the City of Atlanta, the Atlanta Police Foundation,

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Speaker 1: and Decab County reached a quote unquote compromise regarding the

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Speaker 1: future of Copp City. Word spread that city officials in

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Speaker 1: Atlanta were about to announce a major scaling back of

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Speaker 1: the cop City project, that the project's size would be

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Speaker 1: dramatically reduced and focus more on fire department and first

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Speaker 1: respond to resources, as opposed to the original plans for

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Speaker 1: the militarized police campus. Many were skeptical about this news

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Speaker 1: and saw this simply as an empty promise masquerading as

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Speaker 1: a compromise in a savvy pr move but even some

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Speaker 1: who were pessimistic at least saw this as a sign

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Speaker 1: that the movement is having a substantial impact. Activists rallied

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Speaker 1: outside city Hall, holding stop coop City signs and Defend

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Speaker 1: the Forest banners. Some reporters were denied entry into the

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Speaker 1: press conference, and protesters stood outside Mayor Andre Dickens's office

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Speaker 1: and chanted. At the press conference that afternoon, the Mayor

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Speaker 1: of Atlanta and representatives of Decap County announced an agreement

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Speaker 1: to allow the previously announced eighty five acre Copsity project

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Speaker 1: to proceed as planned, with land disturbance permits to be issued.

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Speaker 1: The rest of the land parcel of forest leased to

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Speaker 1: the Police Foundation will be allegedly set for preservation, a

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Speaker 1: claim that was already previously promised by officials involved with

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Speaker 1: the project. Decab County and the City of Atlanta released

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Speaker 1: a memorandum of understanding for the building of the site,

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Speaker 1: containing a quote statement of principles, commitments, and intentions unquote.

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Speaker 1: Mayor Dickens framed the facility as an answer to demands

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Speaker 1: for police training reform during twenty twenty's George Floyd Uprising, saying, quote,

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Speaker 1: this training needs space, and that's exactly what this training

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Speaker 1: center is going to offer unquote. The mayor also responded

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Speaker 1: to environmental concerns by claiming the area of forest slated

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Speaker 1: for destruction contains only quote invasive species soft woods and

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Speaker 1: weeds unquote. Officials said the so called compromise agreement would

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Speaker 1: contain provisions for preserving parts of the South River Forest.

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Speaker 1: When asked how the environment would be protected, Mayor Dickens

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Speaker 1: mentioned that it's a three hundred and eighty five acre

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Speaker 1: set of land. Copcity is eighty five acres. The rest

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Speaker 1: is green space, and that quote the environment will be

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Speaker 1: protected in that way unquote, with no indication given on

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Speaker 1: how it would be protected or by whom. Among the

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Speaker 1: few environmental promises are quote replacing any removed or impacted

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Speaker 1: specimen trees with one hundred new hardwood plantings on the

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Speaker 1: site or elsewhere, as well as one specimen tree for

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Speaker 1: any invasive species tree that was removed unquote. It's unknown

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Speaker 1: if they have even counted how many trees have been

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Speaker 1: felled so far. Activists called this a ploita hastily push

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Speaker 1: through a sequence of land disturbance permits. The most up

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Speaker 1: to date site plans has the Public Safety Training Center

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Speaker 1: spread out over a parcel of one hundred and seventy

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Speaker 1: one acres, with about eighty seven of those acres slated

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Speaker 1: for disturbance. There is nothing in the lease agreement that

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Speaker 1: restricts the Police Foundation from building outside of those one

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Speaker 1: hundred and seventy one acres, though they promise it will

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Speaker 1: be protected green space. This compromise pr stunt is not

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Speaker 1: even a new tactic. In August of twenty twenty one,

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Speaker 1: after initial protests against the project delayed, the city Council vote.

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Speaker 1: The Atlanta Police Foundation claimed a similar quote unquote compromise.

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Speaker 1: Instead of clearing the three hundred and eighty so acres

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Speaker 1: that they are leased by the City of Atlanta, they

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Speaker 1: would reduce the footprint of buildings and disturbed surfaces to

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Speaker 1: only ninety acres, while more of the land would be

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Speaker 1: cleared and turned into turf fields, shooting ranges, and horse

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Speaker 1: stables labeled quote unquote green space. And wouldn't you know

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Speaker 1: that sounds almost exactly identical to this new plan for compromise.

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Speaker 1: Unfailed at the end of last month. Upon such rhetoric

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Speaker 1: and empty promises, The movement didn't fall, but continued to

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Speaker 1: demand and fight for the full cancelation of the project,

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Speaker 1: whether in the Wolani Forest or elsewhere. After the January

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Speaker 1: thirty first press conference, organizers in Atlanta called for a

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Speaker 1: week of solidarity actions starting February nineteenth through the twenty

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Speaker 1: sixth quote calling on all people wherever you are to

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Speaker 1: take action in solidarity with the Movement to Stop Copcity. Protest,

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Speaker 1: sit in, call and email the contractors building Copcity. Every

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Speaker 1: action has an impact unquote. At stopcopcitysolidarity dot org, there

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Speaker 1: are guides for various actions people can take from calling

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Speaker 1: copcity contractors or investors, to posting flyers around town or

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Speaker 1: planning direct action using the interactive target map. If you

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Speaker 1: do go on any movement related website, it's strongly recommended

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Speaker 1: to use a VPN and a tour compatible browser like Brave.

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Speaker 1: The national spot light on the movement has certainly increased

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Speaker 1: a great deal in the past month, both with an

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Speaker 1: influx of scrutiny and support from across the country and

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Speaker 1: even the world.

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Speaker 2: The press collective has always had kind of a hybrid

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Speaker 2: role both of recording on the movement and researching the movement,

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Speaker 2: researching the prison farm, but a lot of media outlets

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Speaker 2: don't quite understand the autonomous nature of the struggle, so

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Speaker 2: we have kind of found ourselves in a role of

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Speaker 2: kind of liaisoning between media and the rest of the movement.

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Speaker 2: But thankfully it's not just us doing it, because boys

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Speaker 2: everyone interested. All of a sudden. No one was talking

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Speaker 2: about the movement at the beginning, so we were like,

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Speaker 2: all right, we'll talk about it ourselves. We've been able

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Speaker 2: to use our platform to publicize a lot of solidarity events,

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Speaker 2: not just share memorials and what people want to know

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Speaker 2: about tort but you know, publicize these things across the

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Speaker 2: nation and across the world.

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Speaker 1: Statements in solidarity have come in from radicals in Italy, Germany, France,

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Speaker 1: and Rajava. After the killing of Tortigita, vigils happened in

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Speaker 1: cities all across the United States. A wave of targeted

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Speaker 1: vandalism and direct action against cop city investors and contractors

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Speaker 1: happened across the country in response to Towart's death in Atlanta.

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Speaker 1: There's a concerted effort to not seed perception of the

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Speaker 1: movement to the state. People have an intentional, collaborative way

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Speaker 1: to affect how the movement is seen externally. This media

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Speaker 1: strategy is simply one prong of the fight, along with

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Speaker 1: the encampments, sabotage, vandalism, pressure campaigns, and canvassing.

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Speaker 2: I think it's really representative of the type of people

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Speaker 2: that are dedicated to the struggle in general, the way

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Speaker 2: that anyone and everyone has come together to handle the

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Speaker 2: influx of media requests to make smart decisions about it,

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Speaker 2: to make sure that decisions are made with the consent

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Speaker 2: of those involved, be it sharing the stories of people

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Speaker 2: who are arrested that day, sharing the stories of twarts,

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Speaker 2: family and towarts partners and making sure to respect their

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Speaker 2: boundaries in space.

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Speaker 1: Despite the diverse nature of requests, there always seems to

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Speaker 1: be somebody in the movement who is able to speak

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Speaker 1: on whatever aspect of the struggle is needed.

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Speaker 2: You need someone who's cut a master's in environmental engineering.

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Speaker 2: There's someone in the movement that can talk to you

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Speaker 2: for forty five minutes about the good environmental reasons to

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Speaker 2: stop cop City. You need someone to talk for three

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Speaker 2: hours about the history of the place. There's someone for

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Speaker 2: that too. You need someone to talk about how the

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Speaker 2: project is a pretty good example of why the Black

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Speaker 2: Mecca is a myth. The movement has people who can

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Speaker 2: speak to that too. There's been a tremendous amount of

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Speaker 2: attention paid to the movement all of a sudden, and again,

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Speaker 2: the way folks have just stepped up and come together

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Speaker 2: to handle it, I think speaks to the communal nature

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Speaker 2: of the movement. It is dedicated to building. It's not

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Speaker 2: just about saving the forest, it's about saving the forest

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Speaker 2: for the community.

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Speaker 1: When I spoke with Karen, the neighborhood mom who started

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Speaker 1: canvassing and organizing in her community, she mentioned how even

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Speaker 1: her older family who are longtime Georgia residents, haven't totally

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Speaker 1: bought the state's talking points.

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Speaker 3: I can say, you know, my mom and my mother

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Speaker 3: in law and like, you know, family, they know that

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Speaker 3: I care about this, and you know they're boomers. But

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Speaker 3: I've been surprised how there's a lot of skepticism in

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Speaker 3: the police narrative, which I found really interesting.

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Speaker 2: You know, normally when something like this happens, it's just

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Speaker 2: one hundred percent police narrative. Mayor Dickens, the dey toort died,

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Speaker 2: put out a pretty for mistweet that just expressed their

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Speaker 2: condolences to the family of the trooper that was injured,

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Speaker 2: and not one single word about the person that died.

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Speaker 2: And in most fatal incidents with police, you at least

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Speaker 2: get some kind of boilerplate language about, oh, we're sorry

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Speaker 2: that someone died, and a lot of the initial statements

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Speaker 2: from government and larger organizations just just said nothing. But

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Speaker 2: the media, even local news, in pretty much every single report,

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Speaker 2: there's at least a line or two, if not a

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Speaker 2: pretty decent chunk of you know, whatever five PM news

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Speaker 2: story it is that say protesters have questions, people have

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Speaker 2: questions about towards death and given the pretty universally negative

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Speaker 2: way that Atlanta media in particular has covered the defendive

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Speaker 2: Forest movement, the fact that even those outlets have to

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Speaker 2: respond to the overwhelming amount of folks speaking out about

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Speaker 2: how what happened doesn't make sense, about what kind of

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Speaker 2: person tour it was, about how none of this had

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Speaker 2: to happen in the first place. I'd love to say

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Speaker 2: that someone who pays attention to the meat how the

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Speaker 2: media covers this, that I could have predicted that would happen.

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Speaker 1: Three members of Congress Rashida Thalib, Corey Bush, and Senator

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Speaker 1: Ed Marky have joined in calling for an independent investigation

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Speaker 1: into Tortighita's death.

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Speaker 2: Like I saw a screenshot from NBC News this morning,

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Speaker 2: NBC News, and like the Chiron was protesters still have

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Speaker 2: questions about towards death, Like that's from this morning.

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Speaker 1: Even after the riot quote unquote, after the artison and

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Speaker 1: property destruction, and almost like a week after the incident.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I mean it was It's hard to remember now,

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Speaker 2: but I think it was like almost a month after

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Speaker 2: George Floyd died before folks really yeah, before it really

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Speaker 2: got national attention with when Raichard was killed here in Atlanta.

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Speaker 2: It was a little more immediate because of because of

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Speaker 2: a lot of things.

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Speaker 1: During the rally at Underground Atlanta, while people were speaking

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Speaker 1: in front of the dozen or so news cameras, someone

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Speaker 1: talked about how there are still people in town that

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Speaker 1: are just learning about Cop City and the fight to

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Speaker 1: prevent it from being built.

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Speaker 4: They of work.

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Speaker 5: I had four different conversations about the Lalaani Forest in

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Speaker 5: regards to everything that's going on, with four different people

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Speaker 5: who were unaware of what was happening. As big as

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Speaker 5: this seems right now, a lot of people are still unaware.

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Speaker 5: And as long as we keep being loud, as long

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Speaker 5: as we make sure that cop City will never be

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Speaker 5: fucking built, we just got to keep talking about it.

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Speaker 5: May and Dickens, Ryan millsap, you have blood on your hands. Uh,

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Speaker 5: fuck cop City.

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Speaker 2: I think we're about to really see how the national

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Speaker 2: media is going to pick up on the domestic terrorism

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Speaker 2: and frankly, the fact that they're talking to us at all,

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Speaker 2: or the fact that they're talking to the movement at all,

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Speaker 2: I think speaks to the strength of the movement and

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Speaker 2: the simple truth of it, which is that tort didn't

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Speaker 2: have to die and This is a very wide arranging

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Speaker 2: movement with a lot of people who have some very

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Speaker 2: good reasons for being opposed to the project, and I

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Speaker 2: think those reasons are so compelling that I don't want

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Speaker 2: to say it's easy to see past the noise, but

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Speaker 2: it's not that hard.

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Speaker 3: I remember one conversation with Tort where I was like,

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Speaker 3: this might just be like an egotistical or something, but

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Speaker 3: I really think this is like a lot bigger than you,

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Speaker 3: you know, just a little neighborhood struggle. And yeah, we

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Speaker 3: talked about We were like, yeah, no, people don't know

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Speaker 3: it yet, but it's the intersection of so many things,

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Speaker 3: and you know, if more people realize is that it

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Speaker 3: would be huge. And it's you know, really heartbreaking that

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Speaker 3: I think they were right, you know, they didn't get

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Speaker 3: to see it.

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Speaker 1: One of the main talking points the state has been

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Speaker 1: trying to push through to the media is condemning copcity

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Speaker 1: protesters and force defenders as outside agitators. There's a Good

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Speaker 1: Crime Thing zine titled The Making of Outside Agitators that

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Speaker 1: focuses on the use of the term as related to

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Speaker 1: the twenty fourteen Ferguson Uprising that gave birth to the

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Speaker 1: modern Black Lives Matter movement. For this next section, i'll

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Speaker 1: paraphrase a little bit from that zine. The state and

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Speaker 1: media's invocation of the term in Atlanta has been accelerating

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Speaker 1: rapidly since the raids last December, using it alongside notions

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Speaker 1: of terrorism to justify the police's violent escalation of protest suppression.

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Speaker 1: For example, this clip from the Copcity Community Stakeholders Advisory

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Speaker 1: Committee meeting held days after the December raid that introduced

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Speaker 1: the domestic terrorism charges. Speaking is the assistant chief for

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Speaker 1: the Atlanta Police Department.

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Speaker 4: And so one of the things we charged them with,

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Speaker 4: to include criminal trespass, was domestic terrorism charge that we

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Speaker 4: put on them. So going forward, that is one of

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Speaker 4: the charges we will be using because that's exactly what

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Speaker 4: they are. None of those people live here. They do

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Speaker 4: not have a vest interest in this property, and we

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Speaker 4: show that time and time again. Was an individual from

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Speaker 4: Los Angeles, California concerned about a training facility being built

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Speaker 4: in the state of Georgia. And that is why we

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Speaker 4: consider domestic terrors.

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Speaker 1: There's a darkly prophetic sentence from that Crime thinkazine I

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Speaker 1: mentioned quote when we hear them say outside agitators, we

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Speaker 1: know the authorities are getting ready to spill blood.

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Speaker 2: A pretty consistent talking point by the Police Foundation police

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Speaker 2: the state in general has been that a lot of

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Speaker 2: the people they've arrested for incidents related to defend the

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Speaker 2: forest have had out of state licenses, out of state addresses,

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Speaker 2: and what they describe as no connection to Georgia. They

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Speaker 2: have been sent here to stir up trouble. Right, they

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Speaker 2: aren't from here, They're just they're just here to because

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Speaker 2: they don't like the cops, right, they have they have

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Speaker 2: no stake in this struggle. So there's some pretty obvious

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Speaker 2: problems with that, And there's some pretty lengthy historic races

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Speaker 2: tied to the term outside agitators that makes it, you know,

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Speaker 2: especially Hanus to use. In the South, the term outside

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Speaker 2: agitators was used to describe the Freedom Writers, so it's

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Speaker 2: got a got a little bit of history there.

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Speaker 1: Governor Brian Kemp declaring a state of emergency so that

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Speaker 1: the National Guard can be on standby to occupy Atlanta

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Speaker 1: sure seems like outside agitation. But even the Atlanta Police

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Speaker 1: Department's use of the term carries with it a great

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Speaker 1: deal of hypocrisy.

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Speaker 2: APD has since twenty twenty really made a big deal

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Speaker 2: out of stepping up its recruitment efforts, and if you

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Speaker 2: go back and look at those presentations to the media

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Speaker 2: to city council, they consistently talk about, oh, we went

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Speaker 2: to New York for three days, we went to Miami

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Speaker 2: for a week. I believe it was would have been September,

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Speaker 2: just after Darren Sheerbaum was officially installed as Chief of Police.

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Speaker 2: He went before the City Council. I talked about how

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Speaker 2: he was so proud to have personally recruited someone from

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Speaker 2: Detroit per basically a part of their loan application, because

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Speaker 2: they're applying for a loan to finance part of cop city.

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Speaker 2: By their own numbers, forty three percent of recruits that

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Speaker 2: will be trained at this facility will come from out

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Speaker 2: of state. They are forty three percent from outside the

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Speaker 2: state of Georgia. Again in APDs on statements about the facility,

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Speaker 2: this facility is built to bring in people from out

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Speaker 2: of state, from out of the country. Even because Atlanta

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Speaker 2: participates in the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange, which is

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Speaker 2: basically an exchange program with the idea with the Israeli military,

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Speaker 2: where we go there, they come here, We teach each.

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Speaker 1: Other news articles claiming that a majority of those arrested

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Speaker 1: are residents from other states might sound like convince the

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Speaker 1: evidence to middle class readers, But anyone who has been

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Speaker 1: poor and precarious knows that the permanent address you give

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Speaker 1: when you're arrested may not be the same as the

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Speaker 1: place you actually live. You might give a different address

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Speaker 1: because you aren't sure your current housing will last, because

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Speaker 1: your landlord doesn't know your place has more people in

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Speaker 1: it than are named on the lease, or simply because

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Speaker 1: you don't want local vigilantes to know where you live. Instead,

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Speaker 1: you might give a more reliable, long term address, perhaps

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Speaker 1: from another state.

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Speaker 2: I mean on a human level, like how many times

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Speaker 2: have you moved somewhere and not changed your address? How

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Speaker 2: many times have.

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Speaker 1: You going to the DMV sucks?

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Speaker 2: Yes, going to the DMV sucks.

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Speaker 1: So a lot of people don't have the privilege to

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Speaker 1: be able to go to the DMV or don't have

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Speaker 1: a permanent home address. A lot of people are dealing

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Speaker 1: with housing instability like this. There's so many aspects of

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Speaker 1: this that makes it pretty egregious, and not.

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Speaker 2: Only of course, is this a struggle that deeply compelling

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Speaker 2: Regardless of where you call home. It just doesn't match

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Speaker 2: up to like the facts of life, Like it's a

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Speaker 2: little bit bizarre. Their insistence that the local populace couldn't

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Speaker 2: possibly be that opposed to it when grab any one

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Speaker 2: person in the movement who's from Georgia and they know

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Speaker 2: ten people who's opposed to it, that person who's ten people.

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Speaker 2: And also you have statistics like during the what's seventeen

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Speaker 2: hours of public comment, seventy percent of people who called

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Speaker 2: in were opposed to it. Basically the only people who

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Speaker 2: weren't were people who self identified as police officers, firefighters,

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Speaker 2: and those who lived in Buckhead. And it's not that simple,

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Speaker 2: but it's pretty clear that maybe you'd be okay with

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Speaker 2: building the facility somewhere else. Maybe you're an abolitionist, maybe this,

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Speaker 2: that and the other. But Atlanta doesn't want this. Atlanta

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Speaker 2: doesn't want this here.

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Speaker 1: Let's imagine that some of these arrestees who gave out

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Speaker 1: of town addresses are in Atlanta for the very first time.

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Speaker 1: Would that make them outside agitators? Maybe if the issue

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Speaker 1: was specific to Atlanta alone and they had no stake

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Speaker 1: in the cause, copp City would be a place that

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Speaker 1: police agencies from all around the country and world come

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Speaker 1: to to train and practice urban militarism. Climate collapse and

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Speaker 1: the destruction of forests is similarly a worldwide issue and

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Speaker 1: one of apocalyptic magnitude.

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Speaker 2: It's a false narrative in one sense, because climate change

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Speaker 2: affects everybody. Cutting down a forest would make climate change worse.

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Speaker 2: Like that's a very very very obvious talking point. If

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Speaker 2: if environment of protecting the environment is important to you,

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Speaker 2: it is obvious that this is a very key struggle

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Speaker 2: right now, especially in the context of Atlanta and growing

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Speaker 2: and also gentrifying city, and this being in a largely

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Speaker 2: black and brown, middle to low income neighborhood, and this

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Speaker 2: being such a vast green space in those communities that

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Speaker 2: don't have the manicured Piedmont Park in their backyards.

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Speaker 1: When people are suffering the same forms of oppression everywhere,

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Speaker 1: it makes sense for us to come into each other's assistance.

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Speaker 1: This is not outside agitation, This is solidarity. Solidarity has

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Speaker 1: always been the most important tool of the oppressed. This

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Speaker 1: is why authorities go to such lengths to demonize anybody

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Speaker 1: who has the courage to take risks to support others.

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Speaker 1: Crickets spoke at length about the outside agitator narrative that

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Speaker 1: the state has been employing.

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Speaker 6: I think one thing that comes to mind is something

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Speaker 6: that I've heard a lot is that the people in

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Speaker 6: this movement are not from here. Quote, that they're outside agitators,

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Speaker 6: that they're not from this community, They're not you know.

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Speaker 6: And it seems to me very clear to be an

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Speaker 6: attempt to sort of discredit what is a very clear

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Speaker 6: majority of the community that does not want this forest destroyed,

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Speaker 6: does not want copp City built, you know, seventy percent.

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Speaker 6: And that argument infuriates me because I mean, first of all,

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Speaker 6: the US military is the biggest like outside agitator in

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Speaker 6: the world, and I just I find that irony sort

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Speaker 6: of unbearable. And then I think there's this question. We

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Speaker 6: can get into questions of what does it mean to

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Speaker 6: be from somewhere? And what I think is a more

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Speaker 6: helpful question is how are you somewhere? How are you

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Speaker 6: in relation to a place? And I think Tort was

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Speaker 6: someone who was always trying to be in the right

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Speaker 6: relation with the land and in right relation with their neighbors,

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Speaker 6: in right relation with the communities here. One story that

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Speaker 6: I keep revisiting of them is when we were checking

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Speaker 6: in and people were asking them, you know what, what

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Speaker 6: do folks in the forest need? What can we get them?

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Speaker 6: Do they need food? You know what do they need?

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Speaker 6: And tour it was like, oh no, actually, you know,

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Speaker 6: we have everything we need. But it would be great

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Speaker 6: if people could start, we could make sure they're giving

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Speaker 6: food to the poor folks in their own communities, Like

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Speaker 6: make sure you're giving the food to the people in

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Speaker 6: your neighborhoods. Are you checking in with the unhoused communities

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Speaker 6: in your neighborhood like they were just I think constantly

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Speaker 6: seeking to be in right relation. And I think regardless

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Speaker 6: of where all of us are from, if we can

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Speaker 6: conclaim to be from somewhere, I mean, arguably, if we're

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Speaker 6: not Muscogee Creek, none of us is from here. But

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Speaker 6: I think it's a more helpful direction to think about

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Speaker 6: what are we doing once we're here? How are we

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Speaker 6: trying to be here? And yeah, I mean that that

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Speaker 6: specific argument. Really it really frustrates me because I think

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Speaker 6: it really obfuscates how much this is a local movement.

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Speaker 6: And also having solidarity from across state lines, from across

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Speaker 6: national lines, speaks to the intersection of our the intersections

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Speaker 6: of our oppressions the intersections of our movements. It doesn't

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Speaker 6: speak to the fact that this is co opted, or

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Speaker 6: it doesn't indicate anything other that none of us is free,

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Speaker 6: into all us are free.

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Speaker 1: The ultimate goal of the police is not so much

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Speaker 1: to brutalize and pacify specific individuals as it is to

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Speaker 1: extract rebelliousness itself from the social fabric. They seek to

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Speaker 1: externalize agitation, so anyone who stands up for themselves will

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Speaker 1: be seen as an outsider, as deviant and anti social.

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Speaker 1: Noah mentioned how the outside agitator narrative is rooted in

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Speaker 1: stripping people of their own autonomy.

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Speaker 7: It's completely denying you, like the freedom of movement and

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Speaker 7: the freedom to decide that you would like to go

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Speaker 7: and support other issues, as if with the empathy of them,

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Speaker 7: to show solidarity with other people, as well as like

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Speaker 7: just deciding that if you are living here a bit

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Speaker 7: from out of town, that somehow makes you a flight rescler,

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Speaker 7: That makes you in some way it's more more dangerous

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Speaker 7: than if you are, I guess, an official resident. In

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Speaker 7: some it's all complete bullshit.

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Speaker 1: I mean, and even some of the people who are

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Speaker 1: like out of town, they're like not even two hours

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Speaker 1: away from where from where the prosecutors are claiming where

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Speaker 1: they're from the outside. Agitator's narrative only works if we

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Speaker 1: have this sense of otherness that we talked about in

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Speaker 1: the last episode, this disconnect and separation from neighboring struggles,

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Speaker 1: as if lines on a map change the morality of actions.

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Speaker 1: Keeping people in pre trial jail for an unknown amount

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Speaker 1: of time could could be literally over a year because

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Speaker 1: they are deemed non local, so the judge thought they

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Speaker 1: were a quote unquote flight risk beyond the charters themselves,

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Speaker 1: which are innately kind of absurd, and the brutality is

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Speaker 1: the point. The she audacity of keeping people with no

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Speaker 1: evidence in cages for years for going to a protest

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Speaker 1: is just it's not surprising, but it still is incredibly upsetting, Like.

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Speaker 6: It's like it's no and it would be completely decried

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Speaker 6: if it were happening in any other country, right and

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Speaker 6: a massive human rights violation. If it's happening in China

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Speaker 6: because of the US China relations, like absolutely not there

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Speaker 6: there'd be an entire like I don't know, national outcry.

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Speaker 6: But because it's people who are resisting this government in

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Speaker 6: this state, then yeah, it doesn't get the same kind

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Speaker 6: of empathy, it doesn't get the same outcry.

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Speaker 1: When I talked with Karen, she spoke about how thankful

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Speaker 1: she is that there are people from across the country,

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Speaker 1: people like Torte who care about the South River Forest

436
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:39,160
Speaker 1: enough to travel to Atlanta to defend it.

437
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:43,159
Speaker 3: In terms of the narrative of like outside agitators, you know,

438
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,480
Speaker 3: I'm I'm really grateful that people are coming to like

439
00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:50,720
Speaker 3: protect the forest in my backyard, Like I am. I

440
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:55,479
Speaker 3: have like so much gratitude. It is so it is

441
00:27:55,520 --> 00:28:02,359
Speaker 3: so meaningful. Yeah, and I I think I think after

442
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:06,000
Speaker 3: the first raid, I told toward that and I'm glad

443
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:10,600
Speaker 3: I did. But yeah, it really is like just so

444
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 3: much gratitude.

445
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,960
Speaker 1: The framing of outside agitators is meant to keep people

446
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 1: away and stifle solidarity, just like the domestic terrorism charges

447
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,560
Speaker 1: are meant to The state is trying out every tactic

448
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:27,600
Speaker 1: to scare people away from participating in the movement. So

449
00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:30,440
Speaker 1: it feels like just the past month there's been such

450
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:34,080
Speaker 1: an intense increase in the level of state repression and

451
00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:40,239
Speaker 1: state violence. How do you see things evolving in the

452
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,680
Speaker 1: next few weeks and months and or like even days.

453
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:47,360
Speaker 1: At this point, like just with how both like physical

454
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 1: violence is definitely increasing with the raids and now like

455
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:54,000
Speaker 1: you know, killing somebody, and then the types of like

456
00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:58,280
Speaker 1: you know, judicial abuse of power, giving people seven hundred

457
00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:03,120
Speaker 1: thousand dollars bail being many others just in jail and

458
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 1: perpetuity for who knows how long.

459
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:08,719
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I think it's clear looking at this

460
00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:12,600
Speaker 6: movement that the state, the cops police have always been

461
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 6: the first to escalate have and have now murdered someone,

462
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:19,440
Speaker 6: have now assassinated someone, and are the ones who are

463
00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 6: constantly sort of making putting other people's lives in danger.

464
00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:26,080
Speaker 6: They're really the people who are making folks unsafe and

465
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:28,840
Speaker 6: tor it was a street medic tor. It was someone

466
00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:31,000
Speaker 6: who went through street medic training with someone who is

467
00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 6: passionate about protecting their community. And in street medic training,

468
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:36,840
Speaker 6: one of the things that it's taught there's a whole

469
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 6: section on police weapons and state weapons, and sure we

470
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 6: cover tear gas, we cover on bullets, we cover all

471
00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:46,440
Speaker 6: anything that you can sort of commonly see protests or

472
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:48,640
Speaker 6: in raids, and one of the biggest weapons that we

473
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:52,600
Speaker 6: always cover as fear. And that is really what I

474
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,560
Speaker 6: see happening with this escalation is that, yes, there's a

475
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 6: sort of increase of literal weapons, of arms, of just

476
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,960
Speaker 6: everything we've heard about in the forest. But I think

477
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 6: when you take that in combination with the ludicrous charges,

478
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 6: what they're really trying to weaponize is our own fear,

479
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,320
Speaker 6: as our own emotions, making us think that it's too

480
00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:15,120
Speaker 6: dangerous to be in the forest, that it's not worth it,

481
00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 6: that it's too risky, making us think that the forest

482
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,720
Speaker 6: itself is somehow an unsafe place, making us think that

483
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:24,840
Speaker 6: the people who protected are unsafe. And I think that's

484
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:27,280
Speaker 6: the sort of trend that I'm seeing. I think in

485
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:29,320
Speaker 6: terms of what's coming next, I think they're going to

486
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,680
Speaker 6: keep leaning into the weapon of fear. I think it's

487
00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:37,280
Speaker 6: I think it's you know, not haha funny that they

488
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 6: accuse protesters and the people who've been charged with domestic

489
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:44,720
Speaker 6: terrorism of intimidation, when clearly they're using those charges to

490
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,200
Speaker 6: intimidate people, both the people who are charged with it

491
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:49,400
Speaker 6: and anyone who might consider themselves an ally or a

492
00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:51,880
Speaker 6: friend of the forest and a friend of the forest defenders.

493
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,440
Speaker 6: So what I see moving forward in terms of carrying

494
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 6: towards legacy, forward in terms of carrying this movement forward

495
00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:01,960
Speaker 6: is not buying into that bullshit very much, being fear

496
00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:04,920
Speaker 6: walking and not trying to say people shouldn't be scared

497
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:08,000
Speaker 6: or not have those feelings. But one of the memories

498
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 6: of tort that I have is them very clearly refusing intimidation.

499
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,680
Speaker 6: Whether it was cops, whether it was you know whoever

500
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:17,480
Speaker 6: the sort of representative of the state was, they never

501
00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 6: gave into that, And I think that's what I'm trying

502
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:21,360
Speaker 6: to carry forward. A lot of us are trying to

503
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:22,040
Speaker 6: carry forward.

504
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:27,120
Speaker 1: Noah spoke similarly about fear being a powerful weapon of

505
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:31,080
Speaker 1: the state and a very insidious one because it doesn't

506
00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:33,880
Speaker 1: punish people for actions they may or may not have done,

507
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:37,600
Speaker 1: but instead works to prevent people from taking action in

508
00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:38,360
Speaker 1: the first place.

509
00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,680
Speaker 8: Fear. Fear is the number one tool that the state

510
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 8: brings to bear.

511
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,640
Speaker 9: All of their toys and their guns.

512
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:51,360
Speaker 7: And shit do not have the reach and do not

513
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:59,520
Speaker 7: have the capacity to stop actual liberation. Fear making people

514
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:04,520
Speaker 7: afraid of the idea of revolting, of the idea of

515
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 7: dissonance is extremely powerful, and it's.

516
00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:10,680
Speaker 8: Something that we all have to combat in our own ways.

517
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 9: It's something we all have to.

518
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 8: Resist in our own ways. Because like, obviously the.

519
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 7: State is capable of murdering and of putting people in

520
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:21,560
Speaker 7: prison for a very long time, and that is scary,

521
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:23,440
Speaker 7: and that is a valid thing to be afraid of.

522
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:28,240
Speaker 7: But we stand to lose so much if we do

523
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:32,160
Speaker 7: not combat that fear to face off with them. That

524
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:35,880
Speaker 7: it's just something that I've found I have to manage.

525
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:41,120
Speaker 7: It's something that because we I'm so much more afraid

526
00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:43,880
Speaker 7: of what we all lose if we don't stop them

527
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:47,680
Speaker 7: here than I am of myself being harmed or going

528
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 7: to prison. We all stand to lose in terms of

529
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:53,160
Speaker 7: millions of people stand to lose.

530
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:55,800
Speaker 8: Everything if we allow climate back.

531
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:58,960
Speaker 7: Lips to bear, if we allow the powers that be

532
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:02,400
Speaker 7: to get signific can be more effective at combating dissidence

533
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:07,440
Speaker 7: in the streets from not just for in the United States,

534
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:10,400
Speaker 7: but for cop City. This is an international struggle. I mean,

535
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 7: this is the same police department that durs Cross training

536
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:17,120
Speaker 7: with the idea of if you think the I would

537
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:21,400
Speaker 7: becoming this facility to train better, how to you know, kill.

538
00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:23,040
Speaker 8: Palestanan dissidence.

539
00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:28,440
Speaker 7: With yourself Like this will mean something to every foreign military,

540
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:30,600
Speaker 7: to every foreign police first, and every police force in.

541
00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:34,640
Speaker 1: The US there's a quote from Torti Ghita talking about

542
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:37,760
Speaker 1: how to deal with fear. What I'm about to read

543
00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:42,360
Speaker 1: also demonstrates, as their partner said that Tort was very

544
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 1: aware of the risks inherent to resisting the state, especially

545
00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 1: as a non white forest defender, But with an understanding

546
00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:53,600
Speaker 1: of that risk and the fear associated with said risk,

547
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:58,880
Speaker 1: they chose it was worth it to keep on fighting. Quote,

548
00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:02,840
Speaker 1: Am I scared of the state? Pretty silly not to be.

549
00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:05,960
Speaker 1: I'm a brown person. I might be killed by the

550
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 1: police for existing in certain spaces. Fear is the mind killer.

551
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:13,440
Speaker 1: That's a quote I think about often.

552
00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:16,440
Speaker 8: I must not fear, and fear.

553
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:17,200
Speaker 4: Is the mind killer.

554
00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:20,320
Speaker 7: Now here's a little death that brings total obligation.

555
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:24,319
Speaker 8: I'm permitting too passable for.

556
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:29,240
Speaker 1: Me and for me to continue what Tort said quote

557
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:34,200
Speaker 1: I am scared, but you can't let the fear stop

558
00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:39,759
Speaker 1: you from doing things, from living, from existing, from resisting

559
00:34:40,480 --> 00:35:05,400
Speaker 1: unquote m. In the early nineteen sixties, Atlanta was dubbed

560
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:09,279
Speaker 1: the City too Busy to hate. The phrase can be

561
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:12,600
Speaker 1: traced back to a Civil Rights era marketing slogan attributed

562
00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:16,440
Speaker 1: to Mayor Ivan Allen, who spent millions of dollars in

563
00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:21,120
Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties to promote Atlanta as a business oriented city,

564
00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:24,319
Speaker 1: a city moving forward from its racial past and into

565
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:28,680
Speaker 1: a hopeful new future. This was the beginning of the

566
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:32,680
Speaker 1: Atlanta Way. Still today, you can find the city too

567
00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:37,400
Speaker 1: busy to hate everywhere on murals, posters, and t shirts.

568
00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:42,040
Speaker 1: It's become part of Atlanta's identity, or at least Atlanta

569
00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:45,880
Speaker 1: tries to tell itself that within the slogan lies this

570
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:50,160
Speaker 1: admission of the belief that racism and oppression can be

571
00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:55,359
Speaker 1: beaten by hyper capitalism, meaning the first and foremost goal

572
00:35:55,400 --> 00:36:00,000
Speaker 1: of the city is economic progress. Equality and racial justice

573
00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:03,480
Speaker 1: us must take a back seat because the city is

574
00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:07,600
Speaker 1: just too busy. There's few better examples of this inaction

575
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:12,319
Speaker 1: than the black neighborhoods that were demolished to build infrastructure

576
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,360
Speaker 1: for the nineteen ninety six Olympics and later the Mercedes

577
00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:20,360
Speaker 1: Benz Stadium. Since then, the Beltline's original vision of public transit,

578
00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:24,480
Speaker 1: green space, and affordable housing has been abandoned in favor

579
00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:29,280
Speaker 1: of developing luxury apartments and i gentrified retail joints. As

580
00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:34,520
Speaker 1: Fuco's Boomerang brings, the internal colonization of gentrification and increasing

581
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 1: police militarization to Atlanta. It only makes sense that Copp

582
00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:40,759
Speaker 1: City and the battle to stop it is happening here.

583
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:44,560
Speaker 6: Tort died two days right after Martin Luther King Junior

584
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:48,200
Speaker 6: Memorial Day. We're in Atlanta. There's this whole section of

585
00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:50,799
Speaker 6: the Delta Airport in Atlanta dedicated to John Lewis. You

586
00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:52,880
Speaker 6: can hear his voice on a loop saying good trouble.

587
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:55,680
Speaker 6: And yet as soon as the festivities are over, as

588
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:57,960
Speaker 6: soon as the fund raising is over, when someone is

589
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:01,279
Speaker 6: shot resisting the state and a peaceful, nonviolent direct action,

590
00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,719
Speaker 6: they're labeled a terrorist. I don't understand how someone can

591
00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:07,560
Speaker 6: possibly reconcile those two things. They seem to me to

592
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:11,759
Speaker 6: be grotesque. I mean, it's it's disgusting, but I don't

593
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:13,880
Speaker 6: see that reflected in any mainstream narrative.

594
00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:17,640
Speaker 1: Noah talked with me about how he first got involved

595
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 1: in the stop Coop City movement.

596
00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:23,879
Speaker 7: Yeah, so my and then my introduction to cops. They

597
00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:26,120
Speaker 7: started to where most people's and at landed. When it

598
00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:28,120
Speaker 7: got first fleet that this was a thing that the

599
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:28,960
Speaker 7: city was planning.

600
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:31,800
Speaker 9: I remember having just a very.

601
00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:34,279
Speaker 7: Like, oh my god, what the fuck like reaction to

602
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:39,520
Speaker 7: realizing like they want to destroy the largest urban canopy

603
00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:42,640
Speaker 7: in the country, to build a big fake city for

604
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:48,120
Speaker 7: them to practice doing urban combat, and that's like parody dystopian,

605
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:50,919
Speaker 7: And very quickly people.

606
00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:52,520
Speaker 9: Were organizing in.

607
00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:57,040
Speaker 8: Various different ways to start them to make their voices.

608
00:37:56,760 --> 00:37:58,400
Speaker 9: Heard that this was not something that I learned on

609
00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:00,080
Speaker 9: was okay with. This is not something we were.

610
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,600
Speaker 7: Okay with having our communities is not something that anybody wanted.

611
00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 8: That took a lot of different friends.

612
00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:09,759
Speaker 7: For me. I mean that went from working, whether that

613
00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:14,080
Speaker 7: be on the streets, to just doing food destroyers and

614
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:18,200
Speaker 7: medical trainings to you know, scampering around the woods with

615
00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:22,560
Speaker 7: my friends. Like that took many different forms forms of

616
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 7: resistance there, and over time that has in our change

617
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:31,120
Speaker 7: and evolve. But I still think of something that I

618
00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:33,560
Speaker 7: work in a lot of different friends to be as

619
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:37,360
Speaker 7: effective as a person as possible when it comes to resistingness.

620
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:42,400
Speaker 1: The sheer resiliency we've seen in Atlanta post twenty twenty

621
00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:47,719
Speaker 1: has been incredibly impressive and inspiring. After twenty twenty, the

622
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:50,600
Speaker 1: radical communities in a lot of cities dealt with pretty

623
00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:53,839
Speaker 1: extreme burnout to due to such a grueling summer, and

624
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:58,320
Speaker 1: ever since then, people seem to be recovering and anticipating

625
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:03,319
Speaker 1: the next cycle of mass uprising. As news spread of

626
00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:07,759
Speaker 1: Memphis police's brutal beating of Tyree Nichols, which resulted in

627
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:11,680
Speaker 1: his death, there was renewed discussion if it was gonna

628
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:16,319
Speaker 1: spark the quote unquote next twenty twenty. But Atlanta is

629
00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:20,400
Speaker 1: one of the few cities where things really haven't halted

630
00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:23,680
Speaker 1: since twenty twenty defend the Forest stuff. It's been going

631
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:28,640
Speaker 1: pretty hard ever since like twenty twenty one, and it's

632
00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:31,880
Speaker 1: been a very like impressive amount of resiliency. Can you

633
00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:35,520
Speaker 1: can you kind of talk on that aspect of how

634
00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:37,480
Speaker 1: people have been able to do that?

635
00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:41,240
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it comes down to having a really

636
00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:47,240
Speaker 7: good support network of people, people who are willing to

637
00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:51,600
Speaker 7: be support activists, who are support.

638
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:54,200
Speaker 9: Actors monically and financially like, who are able.

639
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:57,360
Speaker 8: To make this possible. And it also comes down to that.

640
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:01,439
Speaker 7: The Defend the Forest movement is so it is so

641
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:04,600
Speaker 7: important to anybody. It should be so important to anybody

642
00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:08,200
Speaker 7: who looked at twenty twenty as a strike back against

643
00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:11,799
Speaker 7: police violence. What copsidy means for all of us is

644
00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:16,000
Speaker 7: a world in which it is much harder to resist police,

645
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:19,880
Speaker 7: especially in the cities, and for a lot of activists

646
00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:22,000
Speaker 7: who came out of twenty twenty to find the forest

647
00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:24,839
Speaker 7: became an extension of that fight. It became its own

648
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:26,640
Speaker 7: and it's on fight to put out the forest and

649
00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:29,640
Speaker 7: an extension of the battle against the violence of the

650
00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 7: state and against.

651
00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:32,400
Speaker 9: The ability of the police to fur the militaries.

652
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:34,960
Speaker 8: And I think that kept a lot of a lot

653
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:38,520
Speaker 8: of people going. But not certainly happens.

654
00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:41,799
Speaker 7: I mean, it can be really exhaustion work, it can

655
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:44,880
Speaker 7: be really defeating at times, and it's been really.

656
00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:49,440
Speaker 9: Important I think for people everywhere and here to have you.

657
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:53,440
Speaker 7: Know, friends and things that they can do to decompress

658
00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:56,640
Speaker 7: and take time off when needed, to stay, to keep

659
00:40:56,680 --> 00:41:01,320
Speaker 7: the ability to keep doing this and to burn up completely,

660
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,400
Speaker 7: and to be able to keep going against what feels

661
00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:05,680
Speaker 7: like our ads at times.

662
00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:10,799
Speaker 9: Also, just activists here are pretty fucking resilient.

663
00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:15,319
Speaker 7: Just I'm continually so impressed by the people I see

664
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:19,760
Speaker 7: just continuing to guard day after day and working behind

665
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:21,759
Speaker 7: the scenes, doing everything possible to make sure that we

666
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,800
Speaker 7: can keep doing the solidary different has a couple of things.

667
00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:28,120
Speaker 7: I'm getting money on people's commissaries, and the past has

668
00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:32,200
Speaker 7: done like later writing campaigns for political personers across the country,

669
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:35,960
Speaker 7: which is certainly like a thing that you know, we're

670
00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:38,560
Speaker 7: looking at a present of people being had a very

671
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:41,520
Speaker 7: long term that's absolutely going to be something in the

672
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:44,960
Speaker 7: coming weeks that I help people spending today, Like obviously

673
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:47,759
Speaker 7: these people who are inclustrated are support in every way

674
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:50,160
Speaker 7: we can possibly possibly do that.

675
00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:54,680
Speaker 1: If the people currently incarcerated are granted bond during the

676
00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:57,799
Speaker 1: appeal process and it's set to the same amount as

677
00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:00,960
Speaker 1: the last two individuals, that would be three hundred and

678
00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:04,840
Speaker 1: fifty five thousand dollars per person for at least five

679
00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,160
Speaker 1: more people that included with.

680
00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:11,280
Speaker 7: Like the previous bond amunds that were set for previous words.

681
00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:14,960
Speaker 7: I mean, we're approaching three million dollars and potential bonds,

682
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,920
Speaker 7: which is just designed to join people as much as

683
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:22,520
Speaker 7: possible and make the idea of protest as same impossible.

684
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,560
Speaker 7: And again this is just another fairtactic. This is how

685
00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:30,960
Speaker 7: they perpetuate powers through fear and making it same as

686
00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:35,360
Speaker 7: impossible to making it seem like if you were to

687
00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:38,719
Speaker 7: get arrested, that you would never get out because that's terrifying. Yeah,

688
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:41,560
Speaker 7: that's the number one to what that they bring the bear.

689
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,480
Speaker 1: There have been a few semi distinct stages in the

690
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:49,000
Speaker 1: struggle against copp City. In summer of twenty twenty one,

691
00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:51,720
Speaker 1: the initial stage was trying to get the city council

692
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:54,319
Speaker 1: to vote no on the project. There was a lot

693
00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:59,920
Speaker 1: of canvassing, calling representatives, involvement from large above ground organization

694
00:43:00,239 --> 00:43:03,239
Speaker 1: like the DSA and Sunrise, you know, people trying to

695
00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:06,840
Speaker 1: quote unquote campaign the right way to get the project

696
00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:11,240
Speaker 1: shut down before it even started. And then even despite

697
00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:14,360
Speaker 1: seventy percent of the local people who called in not

698
00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:19,680
Speaker 1: wanting this, the city council voted for it anyway. And

699
00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:23,279
Speaker 1: then starting two months after the vote, and for over

700
00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:29,120
Speaker 1: a year now, we've had this forest occupation or encampment stage.

701
00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:32,880
Speaker 1: People going into the woods and having their continuous physical

702
00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:38,160
Speaker 1: presence there itself be a deterrent for construction. Concurrently, there

703
00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:42,000
Speaker 1: have been random acts of sabotage with construction equipment spontaneously

704
00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:47,600
Speaker 1: bursting into flames, alongside pressure campaigns targeting subcontractors and cop

705
00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:51,879
Speaker 1: City investors. With the past few police raids having been

706
00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:55,439
Speaker 1: increasingly violent and the last one resulting in the death

707
00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:58,399
Speaker 1: of a force defender, I asked the people I spoke

708
00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:02,440
Speaker 1: with if they saw any forthcoming new stage of the movement,

709
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,839
Speaker 1: considering the cops are trying really hard to make it

710
00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:09,600
Speaker 1: very dangerous to camp in the woods right now, what's

711
00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:12,160
Speaker 1: your sense from on the ground, how stuff might you

712
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:17,640
Speaker 1: know with these increasing charges, increasing withs of alphones and increasing.

713
00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:17,839
Speaker 8: Use of force.

714
00:44:18,200 --> 00:44:20,719
Speaker 1: What's some kind of ways that you feel stuff might

715
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:23,640
Speaker 1: start changing on the ground, Like do you think the

716
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:27,400
Speaker 1: encampment style will continue or will it kind of evolve

717
00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:30,320
Speaker 1: in a new kind of unexpected direction.

718
00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:34,560
Speaker 10: It remains to be seen how the approach to living

719
00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:38,080
Speaker 10: in the woods will adapt to these changes. The decap

720
00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:42,080
Speaker 10: County Police Department has claimed that they're going to increase

721
00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:45,920
Speaker 10: their surveillance and patrol of the neighborhood that the Woods

722
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:50,520
Speaker 10: is in. It remains to be seen what that will

723
00:44:50,560 --> 00:44:52,799
Speaker 10: mean for the encampment and how active they're going to

724
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:56,600
Speaker 10: be in you know, repressing people in a day to

725
00:44:56,680 --> 00:44:59,960
Speaker 10: day sort of thing. And also I think one change

726
00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:04,440
Speaker 10: reconsidering what on the ground means and what the bounds

727
00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:07,680
Speaker 10: of the forest are. There's more woods that black Hall

728
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:12,120
Speaker 10: plans to develop on nearby, so reconsidering what on the

729
00:45:12,120 --> 00:45:16,400
Speaker 10: ground is, you know, Brassfield and gory construction sites could

730
00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:19,680
Speaker 10: be considered an on the ground site, you know, for actions,

731
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:22,680
Speaker 10: and you know, I think there's a lot of room

732
00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:25,000
Speaker 10: to grow in that direction as well.

733
00:45:25,880 --> 00:45:28,680
Speaker 1: Like do you see this moment as like a substantial

734
00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:29,960
Speaker 1: turning point. I think so.

735
00:45:30,200 --> 00:45:32,400
Speaker 9: I mean, I don't think it could be a turning point.

736
00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:35,280
Speaker 8: I think that every every.

737
00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:38,440
Speaker 7: Escalation of violence that has been perpetrated by law enforcement,

738
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:40,640
Speaker 7: there's never been a moment in which the people combining

739
00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:44,120
Speaker 7: law enforcement have been the ones to escalate the violence.

740
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:48,200
Speaker 7: And I think that this marks.

741
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:51,960
Speaker 8: A willingness of the government here and this is the

742
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:53,480
Speaker 8: government that this is the hill that.

743
00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:55,399
Speaker 9: They're willing to die on. This is where they're going

744
00:45:55,480 --> 00:45:59,759
Speaker 9: to stand their ground, and where they are proving to

745
00:45:59,760 --> 00:46:00,239
Speaker 9: wish that.

746
00:46:00,200 --> 00:46:02,920
Speaker 7: They are committed and so committed to the idea of

747
00:46:02,920 --> 00:46:05,120
Speaker 7: building top city that they are willing to kill people.

748
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:07,080
Speaker 8: And I think that that.

749
00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:11,120
Speaker 7: Is a turning point in how we as a movement

750
00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:13,480
Speaker 7: have to be willing to respond to the state, and

751
00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:16,319
Speaker 7: how we have to be willing to look at them

752
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:19,879
Speaker 7: not just as this entity that we are facing down

753
00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:23,120
Speaker 7: like in like the courts and doing fun blocks, because

754
00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:25,759
Speaker 7: that clearly doesn't work. They are just going to murder us,

755
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:29,040
Speaker 7: but as a force that is a you know, like

756
00:46:29,120 --> 00:46:32,360
Speaker 7: offensive militarized force coming after us. I think that is

757
00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:36,759
Speaker 7: a that it marks a really big just shift and

758
00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:39,800
Speaker 7: overallly looking at what the city government here is willing

759
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:41,759
Speaker 7: to do to get this done. And I think that

760
00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:44,520
Speaker 7: a variety of tactics, while always band played, people are

761
00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:46,719
Speaker 7: always going to have different ways that they feel comfortable

762
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:49,480
Speaker 7: and safe and responding.

763
00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:53,040
Speaker 8: But I do think that I think what we.

764
00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:58,919
Speaker 9: Saw on Saturday was a they response.

765
00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:00,680
Speaker 8: To that that people showed up.

766
00:47:00,560 --> 00:47:04,120
Speaker 7: And they made it very clear that we were not

767
00:47:04,239 --> 00:47:06,640
Speaker 7: going to take this line down, that people weren't going

768
00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:09,759
Speaker 7: to be willing to let the state going answer, and

769
00:47:09,800 --> 00:47:11,440
Speaker 7: that they were going to let the police going answer

770
00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:15,279
Speaker 7: for this acts. And I think from from now line

771
00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:18,399
Speaker 7: and going forward, I think we will I.

772
00:47:18,360 --> 00:47:21,360
Speaker 8: Think appropoles that we see more and more people taking.

773
00:47:21,239 --> 00:47:24,799
Speaker 7: Up acts of physical resistance to law enforcement to the

774
00:47:24,840 --> 00:47:28,720
Speaker 7: state to prevent them from building COP City and prevent

775
00:47:28,719 --> 00:47:29,800
Speaker 7: them from committing further.

776
00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:31,160
Speaker 8: Acts of viol engines for gumrades.

777
00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:35,480
Speaker 1: So far, the forced occupation has proved effective in delaying

778
00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:39,160
Speaker 1: the construction of COP City. In the past, barricades have

779
00:47:39,239 --> 00:47:43,160
Speaker 1: inhibited the movement of construction equipment. Machinery left in the

780
00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:46,880
Speaker 1: woods has been sabotaged, and during attempts to fell trees,

781
00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:49,640
Speaker 1: force defenders have put their own bodies on the line

782
00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:52,000
Speaker 1: by climbing into the tree tops to prevent them from

783
00:47:52,080 --> 00:47:56,360
Speaker 1: being cut down. Other prongs of the movement have similarly

784
00:47:56,440 --> 00:48:01,560
Speaker 1: produced successes. Pressure campaigns focused on getting contractors and businesses

785
00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:04,760
Speaker 1: to divest or pull out of the project resulted last

786
00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:08,200
Speaker 1: April in Reeve's Young Construction, the initial contractor for cop

787
00:48:08,239 --> 00:48:11,960
Speaker 1: City severing ties with the project after months of pressure,

788
00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:16,759
Speaker 1: and just this month, Quality Glass Company announced that they

789
00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:19,279
Speaker 1: would not be working on cop City, as well as

790
00:48:19,360 --> 00:48:22,360
Speaker 1: no longer doing business with Brassfield and Gory, the current

791
00:48:22,440 --> 00:48:27,680
Speaker 1: contractor for the facility. These pressure campaigns can include protests

792
00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:32,040
Speaker 1: at company offices, phone calls imploring them to drop the contract,

793
00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:35,760
Speaker 1: or actions more along the lines of vandalism at job sites,

794
00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:40,400
Speaker 1: or visits to the neighborhoods of company executives, even to

795
00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:42,920
Speaker 1: simply drop off flyers or banners.

796
00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:45,040
Speaker 7: I don't think this was ever rough fright that we

797
00:48:45,040 --> 00:48:47,840
Speaker 7: were going to win on one front. The amount of

798
00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:49,680
Speaker 7: people that we were able to put in the encamp

799
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:52,800
Speaker 7: in the forest was really beautiful to see, but the estate.

800
00:48:52,640 --> 00:48:54,000
Speaker 8: Was always going to be able to.

801
00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:56,840
Speaker 7: Put out enough manpower to shut that down. This is

802
00:48:56,880 --> 00:49:02,160
Speaker 7: a battle that we win on multiple friends. That includes

803
00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:06,000
Speaker 7: you know, that includes having that can include having physical

804
00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:08,840
Speaker 7: presence in the forest and preventing machinery from coming in,

805
00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:13,960
Speaker 7: but that also includes acts of sabotage, making sure that

806
00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:17,120
Speaker 7: contractors who are signed on the cop city do not

807
00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:19,840
Speaker 7: feel comfortable and do not feel safe signing on to

808
00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:23,239
Speaker 7: this project, and making this economically impossible for the city

809
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:26,839
Speaker 7: to continue doing. As far as it being like a

810
00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:31,080
Speaker 7: new strategy, I don't know if it would be new,

811
00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:35,719
Speaker 7: as we've already seen you know, equipment spontaneously combussd and

812
00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:39,880
Speaker 7: such things. But I do think this marks a point

813
00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:42,960
Speaker 7: and potentially like the frequency of these things happening, and

814
00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:45,080
Speaker 7: also a necessary.

815
00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:48,800
Speaker 9: I think evaluating of where we are now.

816
00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:51,120
Speaker 7: And thinking realistically about what our next steps are to

817
00:49:52,160 --> 00:49:54,520
Speaker 7: make this an untenable situation for this city.

818
00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:58,480
Speaker 10: To continue prosecuting well. One evolution that I see happening

819
00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:03,040
Speaker 10: is a consensus amongst long term organizers in Atlanta that

820
00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:06,920
Speaker 10: we want as many people coming here to participate as possible,

821
00:50:07,560 --> 00:50:10,839
Speaker 10: and also that I think one change is being less

822
00:50:10,840 --> 00:50:15,160
Speaker 10: picky in who we invite to participate and encouraging liberals

823
00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:18,720
Speaker 10: and moderates to be a part of this. They've always

824
00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:23,440
Speaker 10: been a part of it, but really am emphasizing that

825
00:50:23,600 --> 00:50:24,840
Speaker 10: side of the movement more.

826
00:50:25,719 --> 00:50:28,919
Speaker 1: Back in the Defend the Atlanta Forest episodes from last May,

827
00:50:29,480 --> 00:50:32,520
Speaker 1: I talked about the shack model, the aim of which

828
00:50:32,640 --> 00:50:37,280
Speaker 1: is to make construction economically untenable by maintaining a presence

829
00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:41,920
Speaker 1: in the forest, sabotaging work, and targeting specific subcontractors locally

830
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:46,360
Speaker 1: and elsewhere. In addition to contractors, corporate funders affiliated with

831
00:50:46,400 --> 00:50:50,200
Speaker 1: the APF can also be targeted to disincentivize affiliation with

832
00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:56,000
Speaker 1: the project. Solidarity actions targeting Atlanta Police Foundation contributors have

833
00:50:56,080 --> 00:50:59,719
Speaker 1: been happening nationwide. As mentioned at the top of the

834
00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:02,719
Speaker 1: up episode, A Week of solidarity is coming up on

835
00:51:02,760 --> 00:51:08,560
Speaker 1: February nineteenth, and Stopcopcitysolidarity dot org has many resources. In

836
00:51:08,600 --> 00:51:14,919
Speaker 1: the past, actions have included everything from office protests, divestment campaigns, vandalism,

837
00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:18,680
Speaker 1: and actions by workers within these companies to pressure them

838
00:51:18,680 --> 00:51:23,560
Speaker 1: into cutting ties. No action is too small or too ambitious.

839
00:51:24,719 --> 00:51:28,640
Speaker 1: In analysis on tactics published recently on its going down.

840
00:51:29,120 --> 00:51:34,960
Speaker 1: Said this regarding the targeting of Copcity investors. Quote. In

841
00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:38,680
Speaker 1: other campaigns, banks like Wells Fargo had been forced to

842
00:51:38,760 --> 00:51:43,640
Speaker 1: divest from police and prison expansion, but these efforts often

843
00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:48,200
Speaker 1: take years and lots of resources. Atlanta Police Foundation supporters

844
00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:52,400
Speaker 1: like public universities Georgia State University, Georgia Tech, or Emory

845
00:51:52,520 --> 00:51:57,839
Speaker 1: University could be lower hanging fruit. Comrades should identify which

846
00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:02,320
Speaker 1: COP City funders are most vulnerable, pressure where potential allies

847
00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:05,480
Speaker 1: like student groups and unions are positioned, and share this

848
00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:10,399
Speaker 1: info and synchronize actions. Unquote. Bureaucratic red tape can also

849
00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:14,920
Speaker 1: be effective in delaying progress. Ongoing zoning appeals could result

850
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:18,680
Speaker 1: in an official stop work order, but it remains unseen

851
00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:21,759
Speaker 1: if such an order will even be followed, as currently

852
00:52:21,960 --> 00:52:26,839
Speaker 1: laws around zoning appeals are being ignored by the contractors

853
00:52:27,040 --> 00:52:31,719
Speaker 1: and the Atlanta Police Foundation. Tortigita had spoken of a

854
00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:36,400
Speaker 1: theory of THEIRS concerning the potential for intense police repression

855
00:52:36,719 --> 00:52:40,719
Speaker 1: and how the aftermath of that might play out. Quote.

856
00:52:41,239 --> 00:52:44,600
Speaker 1: They could come in and completely destroy the place, raise it,

857
00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:50,720
Speaker 1: arrest everybody they could find, kill anybody who resists arrest.

858
00:52:51,160 --> 00:52:54,560
Speaker 1: They could do that and then days later there would

859
00:52:54,560 --> 00:52:57,919
Speaker 1: be a shitload of people back here. For every head

860
00:52:57,960 --> 00:53:00,319
Speaker 1: they cut off, there would be more who would come

861
00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:05,160
Speaker 1: back to avenge the arrested, to avenge the Torte did

862
00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:09,520
Speaker 1: not finish that sentence, But resuming, what I'm saying is

863
00:53:10,160 --> 00:53:12,799
Speaker 1: if they do a huge crackdown and completely try to

864
00:53:12,840 --> 00:53:16,680
Speaker 1: crush the movement, they'll succeed at hurting some people, they'll

865
00:53:16,680 --> 00:53:19,719
Speaker 1: succeed at destroying some infrastructure, but they're not going to

866
00:53:19,760 --> 00:53:23,320
Speaker 1: succeed at stopping the movement. That's just going to strengthen

867
00:53:23,360 --> 00:53:25,680
Speaker 1: the movement. It will draw a lot of attention to

868
00:53:25,719 --> 00:53:29,080
Speaker 1: the movement. If enough people decide to do this, with

869
00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:32,920
Speaker 1: nonviolent action, you can overwhelm the infrastructure of the state.

870
00:53:33,520 --> 00:53:36,880
Speaker 1: That's something they fear more than violence in the streets,

871
00:53:37,120 --> 00:53:39,880
Speaker 1: because violence in the streets they'll win. They have the

872
00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:45,480
Speaker 1: guns for it, we don't unquote. No matter how the

873
00:53:45,520 --> 00:53:49,800
Speaker 1: movement continues, the weight of Torte's absence will be felt

874
00:53:50,120 --> 00:53:52,120
Speaker 1: as long as this fight carries on.

875
00:53:53,000 --> 00:53:56,520
Speaker 6: It's such a huge loss. But as we keep thinking about,

876
00:53:56,520 --> 00:54:01,200
Speaker 6: you know, WWTD, what would Torte do. It's continue to

877
00:54:01,239 --> 00:54:03,960
Speaker 6: support those projects, It's continue to uplift the spaces and

878
00:54:04,040 --> 00:54:06,200
Speaker 6: groups that are supporting the most vulnerable amongst us and

879
00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:09,719
Speaker 6: uplifting their voices, uplifting their safety, and they are going

880
00:54:09,760 --> 00:54:12,919
Speaker 6: to continue to be trainings offered, training specifically for folks

881
00:54:12,920 --> 00:54:15,560
Speaker 6: who are marginalized and afraid of gun violence and want

882
00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:17,319
Speaker 6: to know how to be able to protect themselves and

883
00:54:17,320 --> 00:54:20,640
Speaker 6: protect their friends. This came about specifically in the wake

884
00:54:20,680 --> 00:54:23,840
Speaker 6: of the shooting at the gay bar. I guess a

885
00:54:24,080 --> 00:54:27,640
Speaker 6: few months ago now, Jesus, And that was something that

886
00:54:27,800 --> 00:54:31,640
Speaker 6: Tort was helping organize. So, yeah, we're gonna we're gonna

887
00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:32,480
Speaker 6: keep doing that work.

888
00:54:33,280 --> 00:54:35,239
Speaker 1: How do you think you're going to like continue on

889
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:37,960
Speaker 1: without without tour there? Now?

890
00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:43,239
Speaker 3: You know, I think they they set me up the

891
00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:46,719
Speaker 3: hardest thing to navigate, like, Okay, what can I do?

892
00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:49,880
Speaker 3: Where can I fit in? Like short of you know,

893
00:54:50,600 --> 00:54:54,960
Speaker 3: living in the forest, And I think with just like

894
00:54:55,040 --> 00:54:57,480
Speaker 3: the canvassing, I feel like I've really figured out the

895
00:54:57,520 --> 00:55:01,120
Speaker 3: ways I can you know, my place in enough to

896
00:55:01,200 --> 00:55:01,840
Speaker 3: keep me busy.

897
00:55:02,719 --> 00:55:05,799
Speaker 1: Was Tort kind of very instrumental to having you help

898
00:55:05,920 --> 00:55:07,560
Speaker 1: figure out like your role in this.

899
00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:12,520
Speaker 3: I mean honestly, I would just like spitball, you know,

900
00:55:12,560 --> 00:55:14,880
Speaker 3: an idea and they'd be like yeah, you should do that,

901
00:55:16,880 --> 00:55:19,640
Speaker 3: or we would like yeah, that'd be sick. And that

902
00:55:19,760 --> 00:55:23,160
Speaker 3: gave me the confidence to be like okay. And also

903
00:55:23,239 --> 00:55:26,200
Speaker 3: like I think this movement is interesting because it's totally

904
00:55:26,239 --> 00:55:30,080
Speaker 3: different from any other organization or anything I've done in that, like,

905
00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:33,520
Speaker 3: if you want to volunteer in any other thing, like

906
00:55:33,600 --> 00:55:35,879
Speaker 3: you know, you make a graphic and you check it

907
00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:39,200
Speaker 3: and you send it to someone and get it approved,

908
00:55:39,239 --> 00:55:42,560
Speaker 3: you know. And just like the kind of deconstructing that

909
00:55:42,640 --> 00:55:46,319
Speaker 3: thinking was like, I mean, tort was really instrumental in that,

910
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:50,760
Speaker 3: and it can be like difficult to navigate, but really

911
00:55:50,880 --> 00:55:53,360
Speaker 3: just walking all that back and being like if you

912
00:55:53,400 --> 00:55:56,200
Speaker 3: want to like you know, canvas your neighbors, like.

913
00:55:56,360 --> 00:55:57,160
Speaker 8: You, just do it.

914
00:55:57,960 --> 00:56:01,480
Speaker 1: The Stop Coopsity movement has called for a fifth Week

915
00:56:01,560 --> 00:56:05,920
Speaker 1: of Action to be held on March fourth through March

916
00:56:06,040 --> 00:56:10,760
Speaker 1: eleventh in Atlanta, Georgia. They are asking all those opposed

917
00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:13,920
Speaker 1: to Copcity to come participate in a variety of events

918
00:56:14,000 --> 00:56:17,040
Speaker 1: and actions both in and out of the forest and

919
00:56:17,080 --> 00:56:20,960
Speaker 1: if you're able to bring a tent, if you're unable

920
00:56:20,960 --> 00:56:24,080
Speaker 1: to travel, there's still calls to support people in your

921
00:56:24,080 --> 00:56:27,440
Speaker 1: own community who might be able to do so. This

922
00:56:27,600 --> 00:56:29,840
Speaker 1: week of action will be a key moment in the

923
00:56:29,880 --> 00:56:32,560
Speaker 1: next phase of the fight to defend the forest.

924
00:56:33,080 --> 00:56:35,200
Speaker 10: I want people to know that being in the woods,

925
00:56:35,440 --> 00:56:37,880
Speaker 10: even if just for a few days, will transform you

926
00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:42,440
Speaker 10: in unexpected and delightful ways. And that's something that we

927
00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:45,919
Speaker 10: witnessed with Tort. Tort lived in the woods for less

928
00:56:45,960 --> 00:56:49,799
Speaker 10: than a year, and they transformed and blossomed into their

929
00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:55,000
Speaker 10: purpose in unexpected, in beautiful ways. And so if you

930
00:56:55,040 --> 00:56:57,480
Speaker 10: have the opportunity to come and spend any amount of

931
00:56:57,520 --> 00:57:00,040
Speaker 10: time in these woods, I encourage you to do so,

932
00:57:00,200 --> 00:57:03,600
Speaker 10: because I think that you'll find that it will nourish

933
00:57:03,600 --> 00:57:06,000
Speaker 10: you and aid in your growth as a human.

934
00:57:07,120 --> 00:57:10,840
Speaker 1: The police have not succeeded in scaring everybody out of

935
00:57:10,880 --> 00:57:14,960
Speaker 1: the forest. Wilani People's Park is still legally required to

936
00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:18,600
Speaker 1: operate as a public park. Last month I saw regular

937
00:57:18,600 --> 00:57:22,400
Speaker 1: people jogging the trails. People still come every day. The

938
00:57:22,480 --> 00:57:26,680
Speaker 1: movement has only grown despite the repression, and now force

939
00:57:26,760 --> 00:57:30,440
Speaker 1: defenders in Atlanta are urging people everywhere to organize for

940
00:57:30,480 --> 00:57:35,800
Speaker 1: the upcoming mass convergence. A large list of resources and

941
00:57:35,880 --> 00:57:38,960
Speaker 1: movement websites I'll be putting in the description for people

942
00:57:39,000 --> 00:57:41,960
Speaker 1: to learn more and stay up to date with information

943
00:57:42,120 --> 00:57:45,919
Speaker 1: regarding the Week of Action. I'll end this series by

944
00:57:46,280 --> 00:57:49,440
Speaker 1: reading from a defend the Forest poster that I saw

945
00:57:49,480 --> 00:57:54,640
Speaker 1: around Atlanta. Quote, it is your mission to stop Copcity

946
00:57:54,920 --> 00:57:59,040
Speaker 1: by all of the means at your disposal, without hesitation.

947
00:57:59,520 --> 00:58:04,240
Speaker 1: Defend the forest from destruction, the city from commercialization, the

948
00:58:04,320 --> 00:58:09,120
Speaker 1: future from ruin, the imagination from conquest, and the heart

949
00:58:09,320 --> 00:58:14,760
Speaker 1: from resignation. Do not wait for further instruction. Reality is

950
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:15,800
Speaker 1: the battlefield.

951
00:58:16,840 --> 00:58:20,800
Speaker 11: Yeah, the rain on leaves tickling the earliest of instruments.

952
00:58:20,920 --> 00:58:23,680
Speaker 11: The melody we mimicking is the sound of wind whistling,

953
00:58:24,000 --> 00:58:27,280
Speaker 11: lying before the safety, and channing under the stars. Camped

954
00:58:27,320 --> 00:58:30,360
Speaker 11: underbre canopy, she sang own song, and she was far

955
00:58:30,440 --> 00:58:33,640
Speaker 11: from silent, no virus of violence with the fragrance of

956
00:58:33,640 --> 00:58:37,360
Speaker 11: her flowers that continued to invite us of medicine materials

957
00:58:37,440 --> 00:58:40,320
Speaker 11: are vitamins and minerals and all that is essential, which

958
00:58:40,360 --> 00:58:43,080
Speaker 11: just grew right beside us, and tics of starting fighting

959
00:58:43,080 --> 00:58:45,720
Speaker 11: over the gifts that she provide us, scorching over every

960
00:58:45,840 --> 00:58:48,760
Speaker 11: soil that all of us derived from. And when empires

961
00:58:48,840 --> 00:58:52,000
Speaker 11: learning came with stand fire, we returned to the land

962
00:58:52,000 --> 00:58:55,360
Speaker 11: where our ancestors rain Dance were all her creatures. We

963
00:58:55,480 --> 00:58:58,520
Speaker 11: still bear her features. The one and only reason all

964
00:58:58,560 --> 00:59:01,760
Speaker 11: living things is breathing. The cities deceive and leave, Go

965
00:59:01,800 --> 00:59:04,760
Speaker 11: see the dark. Jong Go be among the lungs of

966
00:59:04,840 --> 00:59:06,080
Speaker 11: mother Art could.

967
00:59:07,520 --> 00:59:17,920
Speaker 7: Voice Yeah.

968
00:59:25,480 --> 00:59:31,840
Speaker 10: Down, Shut him down.

969
00:59:32,080 --> 00:59:34,040
Speaker 7: It was a forest.

970
00:59:35,640 --> 00:59:39,880
Speaker 1: Music by the narcissist Cookbook and Propaganda. It could Happen

971
00:59:39,920 --> 00:59:41,800
Speaker 1: here as a production of cool Zone Media.

972
00:59:41,920 --> 00:59:44,600
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website

973
00:59:44,600 --> 00:59:46,840
Speaker 2: cool zonemedia dot com, or check us out on the

974
00:59:46,880 --> 00:59:50,440
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

975
00:59:50,880 --> 00:59:52,960
Speaker 1: You can find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated

976
00:59:53,040 --> 00:59:56,160
Speaker 1: monthly at cool zonemedia dot com slash sources.

977
00:59:56,280 --> 00:59:57,080
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.