WEBVTT - Department of Homeland Security, the Manufactured "EcoTerrorist" Panic, and Cop City 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.240 Just a note before we start that this episode contains 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:07.080 depictions of police violence. Please take care while you listen. 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:14.640 In twenty seventeen, developers announced plans to build on an 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:18.280 eighty five acre wild space in the middle of Atlanta. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:23.840 The plans included a massive, ninety million dollar police training 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:28.720 facility that Atlanta residents started to refer to as cop City. 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.040 The forests, which people refer to either as the Atlanta 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:36.400 Forest or Walloni Forest, was full of trees that helped 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.000 to clean Atlanta's air and water and provide green space 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:44.080 for the surrounding neighborhoods, which are predominantly black and brown communities. 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:48.960 Activists also argue that reducing the city's tree canopy makes 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:52.280 it hotter, and that construction of the Cop City training 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:57.280 center is polluting local waterways and the reduction of green 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:01.760 space there will hurt nearby property values. That's all before 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:05.640 we get into the concerns about building a massive police 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:08.319 training center in the middle of a majority black and 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:12.399 brown community. Since the plan was announced, Atlanta residents have 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:16.320 been pretty outspoken in their opposition to it, but despite 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:20.479 overwhelming public disapproval of the plan, the city went ahead 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:23.240 with it. By this point, this season, this pattern is 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:28.400 probably starting to sound pretty familiar. Concerned citizens avail themselves 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:30.959 of all the legal options they have to oppose a 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:35.639 polluting project. They attend meetings, they write to politicians, they vote, 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:39.520 they hold rallies and marches. When none of it works, 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:45.760 some people go home, and some people build camps. In Atlanta, 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:50.440 opponents of Copsody began to organize under the slogan Defend 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:54.280 the Atlanta Forest. Some of the activists involved started to 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:57.040 camp out in the woods. Others brought food to the 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:02.520 campers or supported in other ways. Some protesters escalated things 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.320 a bit, damaging construction equipment, breaking windows, and guming up 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:11.440 the ATMs of the banks financing the project. The response 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:16.720 by local and state police surprised everyone. Beginning in December 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:21.960 twenty twenty two, authorities began aggressively cracking down on copcity protests. 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:27.520 They ultimately charged forty forest defenders, protesters and organizers with 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:33.760 domestic terrorism. In September twenty twenty three, the Georgia Attorney 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:38.880 General charged sixty one cop City opponents with criminal racketeering. 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.480 It was so over the tops that almost every media 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.000 outlet covered it, and when they did, most were more 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:49.320 critical of the police than they were of the protesters. 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:53.160 Here's a bit from NPR reporter Odette Yusef story. 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:57.960 For example, Alex Papali traveled to Atlanta in March. He 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:00.920 says he just wanted to learn firsthand about the movement 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:04.280 that has come to be known as Stopcop City. He 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.480 never expected to end up in jail for three weeks 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:11.280 and ultimately charged in a massive racketeering case. 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:12.680 It's absurd. 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:16.160 Papli is one of more than twenty people arrested after 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:19.880 attending an outdoor protest concert. He says he doesn't know 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:22.760 most of the others who were detained that night, or 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.919 the dozens of others who've been indicted along with him. 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.400 You know, I can say with certainty that I'm not 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:30.720 involved in any conspiracy of this kind. 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.680 But in its indictment, the State of Georgia claims that 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:37.400 the defendants were all part of a well organized conspiracy. 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:41.720 As the indictment asserts, members of Defend the Atlanta Forest 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:46.440 subscribe to a philosophy of anarchy that. 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.880 Was Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr. You heard at the 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:53.560 end there talking at a press conference about the Rico 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:57.960 charges and that language he uses describing Defend the Atlanta 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:03.280 Forest as quote unquote having a philosophy of anarchy that 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:09.120 didn't just come from nowhere. Our senior editor, Allen Brown, 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:12.560 has been reporting on the criminalization of activism in the 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.120 US for about a decade. When she started to see 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:18.960 some of this type of language and certain tactics show 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:22.000 up in the Cop City crackdown, she wondered if and 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:27.880 how federal agencies were playing a role. So she submitted 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.680 some public records requests and what she got in response 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.599 was pretty eye opening. For months leading up to the 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.440 arrests of Cop City protesters, the Department of Homeland Security 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:43.080 was regularly sending out reports warning Georgia and Atlanta authorities 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:48.679 about Defend the Atlanta Forest and their anarchist and extremist tendencies. 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.039 Alleen has written a couple of stories for us on 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.520 this and on those documents, including one we co published 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.599 with The Guardian, so we'll link to that in the 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.080 show notes. But today I asked her to come on 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.359 to walk us through the history that the Cop City 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.640 crackdown is kind of the culmination of, and to share 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:08.919 some of her interviews with the folks caught up in 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.520 all of it, I Memi Westervelt and this is DRILLED 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:17.200 the real free speech threat after the break. Alian Brown 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:29.800 brings us the story of Cop City. 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:34.600 I'm Ellen Brown. I'm a senior editor for Drilled and 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:36.320 I'm an investigative reporter. 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:42.039 So for you, as someone who has looked into the 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:45.880 crackdown protest for a long time, what did you first 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:50.560 think when you started to see the crackdown on Cop 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:54.000 City protesters and what did it connect to for you 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:56.000 in terms of stuff that you'd seen before. 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:00.719 Yeah, when I first saw that so many ponents of 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:05.120 Cop City we're being charged with domestic terrorism in Georgia, 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.560 I mean, for one, I was really surprised because we've 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:13.200 seen lots of cases where prosecutors are using various kinds 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:19.080 of terrorism frameworks to go after protesters, such as terrorism enhancements, 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:24.120 which are a federal phenomenon which makes sentences longer if 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.640 they're considered to be associated with terrorism. You know, we've 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:33.920 seen the spread of critical infrastructure laws, which enhance penalties 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:39.560 for people trespassing on the property of a site where 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:43.520 polluting infrastructure is being built, for example. And then you know, 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:49.400 we've seen lots of counter terrorism funding going toward monitoring 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:54.359 people involved in property destruction related to their objection to 0:06:55.040 --> 0:07:00.080 environmental harms. I'm not aware of other cases where so 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:05.640 many people have been charged explicitly with domestic terrorism using 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.280 a state law like this, the way we have with Copcity. So, 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.080 you know, I think it is distinct in a lot 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.560 of ways, but it's also an extension of this longer history. 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.160 And so one thing that I thought of immediately was 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:23.080 what's known as the Green Scare. So in the early 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:26.600 two thousands, after nine to eleven, there was this flood 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:31.760 of counter terrorism funding, you know, authorized by Congress, all 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.760 kinds of new agencies, the Department of Homeland Security, all 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:40.880 kinds of groups formed that were all focused on countering terrorism. 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:46.280 The FBI's focus also really shifted to counter terrorism, and 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.960 that meant a lot of new focus on people who 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:55.920 were engaged in sabotage in the name of protecting the environment. 0:07:56.720 --> 0:08:02.680 Throughout the nineties, radical group like the Earth Liberation Front 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:07.960 Animal Liberation Front had carried out acts of sabotage that 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:12.480 never harmed any people, but did damage property and caused 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:16.760 a lot of concern for animal product industries, for example. 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.760 And these industries kind of got together and were really 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:23.800 pushing for the FBI and the federal government to approach 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:28.680 these cases of sabotage as terrorism. So that kind of 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:32.360 came to fruition after nine to eleven, and the Green 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:34.920 Scare was one of the results of that. The FBI 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:40.200 eventually declared that eco terrorism was its number one domestic 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:45.360 terrorism throughout ecoterrorism as well as I believe animal enterprise terrorism, 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:50.920 which targets businesses that harm animals. So all of these 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:55.600 resources were going into confronting that. There were a few 0:08:55.679 --> 0:09:00.240 high profile cases where a large swath of active this 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:05.640 were arrested at once. One of these big cases is 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:09.600 known as Operation Backfire, you know, and people faced really 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:14.920 draconian sentences for engaging in property damage. And again a 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.120 lot of the resources that led to these prosecutions were 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:25.240 framed as counter terrorism resources. So now flashing to today, 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.439 I think one of the things that has brought us 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:34.839 to this moment in Atlanta is backlash to the movement 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:39.320 to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. It's also backlash against 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:43.240 protests in the wake of George Floyd's killing by police 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:44.400 in Minneapolis. 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.959 I think we increasingly see both. 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:53.840 Industry and government airing toward framing property damage related to 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:57.480 political demands as terrorism. 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:03.360 You spoke with some of the Cop City protesters who 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:07.400 got kind of caught up in this big roundup. Can 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:09.640 you talk a little bit just about what kinds of 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:11.120 things they are being charged with. 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.920 Yeah, more than forty people have been charged with domestic 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:20.120 terrorism in Atlanta related to their opposition to Cop City. 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:24.679 A number of the people facing those charges are accused 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:29.320 of little more than misdemeanor trespassing, or that's what's in 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:34.160 their arrest affidavits. Anyway, we haven't seen formal indictments or 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:36.440 a lot of these terrorism charges. 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:38.320 There's no cases where. 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:44.400 People are accused of seriously injuring anyone. A lot of 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:48.800 this is kind of alleged property crime, so you know, 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:53.080 the domestic terrorism charges are not associated with mass murder, 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:58.000 for example, or severe injuries. A lot of it's related 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:02.240 to property street protests, people who were camping in the 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:07.120 forest to prevent construction of this project, and the arrest 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:11.800 s efidavits say very little about what they are alleged 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:14.520 to have done that amounts to terrorism, although a number 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:18.559 of them say that the Department of Homeland Security classified 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:22.959 the movement. Defend the Atlanta Forest as a domestic violent 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:26.680 extremist group. You know, DHS has denied that they made 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:30.000 that classification, although we've reviewed all kinds of documents that 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:34.160 suggest they were finding many ways to tell Georgia that 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:37.920 they were facing domestic violin extremists. So there's a lot 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:41.719 of confusion about what DHS meant. In addition to these 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:46.520 domestic terrorism charges, sixty one people have been charged under 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:51.800 George's Racketeer, Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act or RICO. 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:54.040 This is a law that is. 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:57.480 Designed to go after organized crime, but here we have 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:00.880 sixty one activists facing these charges. 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:06.720 You ever been in the forest. Organization is not the 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:08.120 word of it for it. 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.960 Vienna Forest is one of those activists. She spent about 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:16.679 three months camping out in the woods in Atlanta trying 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.680 to stop the construction of copp City. At first, she 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:21.760 describes it as a really joyous time. 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:25.120 I think in a lot of ways, action camps often 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:29.160 have this like matting pinetic pole to them, mainly just 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:34.920 because it's you're every day, you're living out our ideals. 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:39.079 We're taking care of each other, We're practicing and community 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:42.360 building and building each other's capacity, taking care of each other, 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:46.120 having communal meals and just being in a space where 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:50.160 y'all and we share all the same values is just 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:55.200 really powerful. And not to mention just being outdoors, especially 0:12:55.200 --> 0:13:00.720 in such a beautiful forest. There's a certain energy to 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:04.440 a Laani that like, if you've ever been in that forest, 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.679 you can just it's it's thick. You can almost feel 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:11.400 the history of that place and all the trauma, but 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.120 all the joy as well that is in that place. 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.720 In Ulaani Dong Forrest. 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.360 Spent most of her time working as a medic, keeping 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:24.679 everyone fed and hanging out with her partner Manuel Paestan, 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:26.120 who went by Tortuguita. 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:30.680 Torti Ghita had this way about them. There's this one 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:35.839 song that is really underplayed by Matt Rivers. So grows 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.880 the flame a ballot of torti ghita, and there's one 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.400 line that just really sums it up in such a 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:42.040 beautiful way. 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:46.840 The forest is freedom to I would say, with a 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.600 heartful of fire in a face full of play. 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:53.640 A heartful of fire and a face full of play. 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.880 They were a true radical, true revolutionary in the sense 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.720 of they literally lived out all their beliefs and they 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:06.200 were so well read and had so much passion to them, 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:09.440 but they never let the world get them down. They 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:13.800 were always so joyous and loved sharing with their community 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:17.840 their joy, and I think that's what really sold me 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:22.960 on them. My first interaction with police on the park 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:25.720 side when I was there, it was in September, like 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:29.440 when I first got back, and they didn't enter the 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:33.920 forest though they were just escorting some utility workers. Wasn't 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:38.520 until my arrest to my knowledge that the police were 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.680 actually in the forest on the park side, So I 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:45.040 didn't have too many interactions with them until I got arrested. 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:48.320 Most of the interactions I had, they were just outside 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:49.720 of the forest and I just had to stay in 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:51.320 the tree line and I'd be fine. 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:55.640 When was the first time domestic terrorism or eco terrorism 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:56.880 applied to. 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:00.400 You know, this forest offense work. 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:05.840 The first time I heard of it was from someone else, actually, 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:09.920 it was another forest defender was talking about how they 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:15.280 heard them calling as terrorists. That just seemed like a 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.240 joke to us at that time. It wasn't. I never 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:21.520 really considered the possibility of getting charged and that in 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:25.320 the way I have until my arrest and I was 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.040 in holding and they hit me a piece of paper 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:32.520 that said a terroristic acts no bond and gave me 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:34.880 my first appearance date. At that point, I think I 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:38.440 still thought it was a joke, kind of hysterically trying 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.800 to like laugh at the darkness, but I didn't really 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:43.400 know what to expect. I didn't know what they were 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:45.520 accusing me of that at that time. I didn't know 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:49.360 what they thought I did until I heard the warrants 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:51.440 read out to me by a public defender. 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:56.040 Very mrslne so Bruise. 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:57.360 A Flame. 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:03.560 Forest was released with bond conditions that said she wouldn't 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:07.480 use social media to contact members of Defend the Atlanta Forest. 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:10.040 She couldn't go into the forest either. 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:14.520 Torta Gita stepped in to make sure I wasn't feeling 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.600 left behind because so many other people in the movement 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.080 and just didn't want to talk to me really and 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:25.960 for fear of the bond conditions, and so Torti Gito 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:29.120 had just like popped by the house at random times. 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.680 I remember and being out and doing errands and coming 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.560 back and just seeing tork Gita sitting at the kitchen counter. 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:41.600 Oh hi. The last time I saw tort Tiquita. They 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:46.000 took me and two friends to get Vietnamese and Mexican 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:51.000 food and just like getting really full and lots of 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:54.000 get food in US as we went to this drive 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:59.160 in movie theater and watched a really shitty horror movie. 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:02.800 Watched that the Starlight Drive In, which was Tortikita's first 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:07.760 time going to the Starlight which meant a lot to 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.560 me because when they had didn't mention is Tortikita never 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:17.000 really liked leaving the forest. They loved that place so 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:19.040 much and they didn't want to leave it, but they 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:23.400 left it for me and I will always thank them 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.959 for that, because they knew I couldn't go there, so 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:34.119 they came to me. Yeah, that Starlight drive date was 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:36.720 the last time I saw them, and that was Monday, 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:41.560 and they were murdered on Wednesday. 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:46.160 When police raided the forest in January twenty twenty three, 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.879 they shot Tortugita, who was just twenty six years old, 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:55.200 and killed them. Police claimed that Tortuguita fired first, although 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:59.520 neither bodycam footage nor physical evidence from the autopsy ever 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:03.760 backed up that claim. The autopsy did confirm, however, that 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:09.720 tor Duguito was shot fifty seven times. It's impossible to 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:15.320 know exactly what constellation of factors drove police to such extremes, 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.000 but getting regular reports on how these people in the 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:23.919 forest were anarchists and violent domestic terrorists could certainly have 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.880 set them on edge. Here's Allen again. 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:30.199 So when I started to review the results of this 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:33.199 public records request I did, there was kind of this 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:37.720 mystery in my mind, like DHS claims that they didn't 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:42.399 designate any group domestic violent extremists, and yet we have 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:46.399 these Georgia officials claiming that they did. So what did 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:47.800 DHS actually say? 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:48.560 You know. 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:51.720 Two of the most interesting documents to me were these 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:55.879 open source intelligence reports from the Department of Homeland Securities 0:18:55.960 --> 0:19:00.320 Office of Intelligence and Analysis. These were sent in the 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.919 summer of twenty twenty two, so several months before we 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:09.560 started seeing these domestic terrorism charges, and we see Department 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:13.360 of Homeland Security characterizing acts of. 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:15.439 Basically property damage. 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:21.320 There was some tree spiking where copsity opponents put spikes 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:25.400 into trees to make them difficult to cut down, and 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:30.280 I believe a construction vehicle was set on fire. Those 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:36.760 two actions were framed as consistent with anarchist violent extremism 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:41.440 and environmental violent extremism. Which are the categories that DHS 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:46.119 uses to describe what maybe would more commonly be considered 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:51.960 eco terrorism or domestic or terrorism. These reports were sent 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:56.800 to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. That's the same agency 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:02.560 that was putting together these arrests affidavits that described Defend 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:07.000 the Atlanta Forest as a domestic violent extremist group. So, 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:11.560 you know, it looked like a clear line between these 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:15.679 reports and what Georgia law enforcement eventually used to justify 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:17.560 domestic terrorism charges. 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:19.720 I think we'd already seen some. 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:25.919 Reports after those domestic terror arrests began where DHS was 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:30.399 using that language to reference Copcity, but this was, you know, 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:35.719 a DHS officer sending this information directly to Georgia and saying, 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:39.800 here's how you should think about these guys. One other 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:41.359 thing that was really on my mind as I was 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:47.000 going through this material was the police killing of Manuel 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:52.640 Payez Tedan Tortuguita, who you know, was killed as they 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:56.720 were occupying the forest where the project is to be built. 0:20:57.160 --> 0:20:59.720 They were in a tent when law enforcement came into 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:04.600 a the people occupying the forest, and law enforcement shot 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:09.199 and killed them. They claimed that Tedan fired first, but 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:11.800 there was no one to witness what happened. We only 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:15.919 have police accounts, So you know, there had been some 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:21.360 reporting indicating that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had briefed 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:27.000 officers that they would be facing domestic violent extremists or 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:32.520 domestic terrorists, and I was really curious to know how DHS, 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:38.480 how the federal government was fueling that kind of terrifying framework. 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:41.080 Another thing that was really interesting in this trove of 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:45.840 documents was that Atlanta police officers were kind of receiving 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:52.520 the steady stream of material sort of debating and talking 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:57.560 about what the environmental violent extremist threat looked like, what 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:03.560 eco terrorism looked like. One of the most interesting reports 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:08.480 there was actually a school paper that a Homeland security 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:13.160 officer for the Atlanta Fire Department had written where his 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:18.240 research question was should defend the Atlanta Forest be designated 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:24.080 the next domestic terrorist group? His school program, as well 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:27.760 as a lot of the agencies that were generating these reports, 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:33.840 from academic institutions to federal agencies, were all ones that 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:37.280 were created in the wake of nine to eleven. So, 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:41.119 you know, we see when there's this big push to 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:45.920 look at everything as terrorism, suddenly everything looks like terrorism. 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:48.879 When that money is there, it sort of shifts the 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:54.600 way that folks from academia to federal government to local 0:22:54.680 --> 0:23:01.600 law enforcement think about these things. The last thing I'll 0:23:01.640 --> 0:23:05.960 mention is civil liberties organizations recently sent a letter to 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:11.440 congress members urging them to investigate this DJs agency that 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:15.879 was creating the open source intelligence reports. You know, the 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:20.280 civil liberties organizations flagged to additional reports. 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:23.400 Including one that claimed that. 0:23:23.480 --> 0:23:29.280 Animal rights slash, environmental violent extremists, and anarchist violent extremists 0:23:29.440 --> 0:23:34.679 were inspiring criminal acts around the US. This intelligence report 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:38.000 even includes a map of all of the alleged extremism 0:23:38.640 --> 0:23:43.560 inspired actions around the US. The Brendan sent Center for 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:46.960 Justice took a close look at these this list of 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:50.959 cases and found that the ones that they could identify 0:23:51.560 --> 0:23:56.360 were vandalism. So, you know, we have one chart tracking 0:23:56.400 --> 0:23:59.840 these incidents where the agency used the symbol of a 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:04.840 bomb do label sabotage that appears to involve activists damaging 0:24:04.920 --> 0:24:08.439 ATM card readers with super glue. So, you know, I 0:24:08.480 --> 0:24:13.239 think that symbol really kind of illustrates the discrepancy that 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:17.639 is raising a lot of concerns associating super glue on 0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:23.760 ATM card readers with a bomb, you know, environmental sabotage 0:24:23.920 --> 0:24:27.640 with terrorism, which a lot of people associate with nine 0:24:27.640 --> 0:24:29.800 to eleven or mass shootings. 0:24:30.440 --> 0:24:33.440 So these civil liberties organizations. 0:24:32.800 --> 0:24:37.159 Have really pushed for DHS to rein in this kind 0:24:37.200 --> 0:24:40.040 of communication because they say that it has led to 0:24:40.760 --> 0:24:45.560 inappropriate law enforcement actions against political activists. 0:24:45.880 --> 0:24:48.840 I think you mentioned in one of the conversations we 0:24:48.920 --> 0:24:51.199 had about like one of the people that was just 0:24:51.280 --> 0:24:52.639 like walking in the forth. 0:24:53.520 --> 0:24:53.760 Yes. 0:24:53.960 --> 0:24:57.560 Just looking at one of these arrest affidavits, I'll just 0:24:57.640 --> 0:25:00.639 read it because I think it kind of illustrates it's 0:25:00.400 --> 0:25:04.440 just how little there is here. It says the accused 0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:09.200 affirmed their cooperation with Defend the Atlanta Forest by criminally 0:25:09.240 --> 0:25:10.960 trespassing on posted land. 0:25:11.119 --> 0:25:12.480 Okay, criminal trespass. 0:25:12.560 --> 0:25:16.520 Sure, during a standoff with another defendant who's occupying an 0:25:16.560 --> 0:25:22.920 elevated treehouse, said accused then fled upon being in contact 0:25:22.920 --> 0:25:27.439 with law enforcement. The defendant was wearing camouflage clothing and 0:25:27.520 --> 0:25:31.479 carrying a backpack with a climbing harness and rope. So 0:25:32.280 --> 0:25:36.679 you know, we have alleged criminal trespass. Apparently there's someone 0:25:36.720 --> 0:25:40.920 there in a treehouse and the person's fleeing law enforcement. 0:25:41.040 --> 0:25:45.960 Allegedly they're wearing camouflage clothing and carrying a backpack with rope. 0:25:46.480 --> 0:25:51.960 This is what Georgia was using to arrest people as 0:25:52.040 --> 0:25:58.679 domestic terrorists. So I think about nine of the arrest 0:25:58.680 --> 0:26:03.280 affidavits from December twenty two in January twenty twenty three 0:26:03.600 --> 0:26:07.560 were alleged to have committed no specific illegal actions beyond 0:26:07.640 --> 0:26:11.080 misdemeanor trespassing. So a lot of these churches are not 0:26:11.240 --> 0:26:18.440 even linked to serious property damage according to these arrest affidavits. 0:26:20.440 --> 0:26:23.639 In many cases, people swept up in the forest raids 0:26:23.840 --> 0:26:27.000 seemed to legitimately think there had been some sort of mistake. 0:26:27.560 --> 0:26:31.280 That's how little they were doing. One person Ellen spoke with, 0:26:31.480 --> 0:26:34.760 who goes by Lucky, had never even participated in a 0:26:34.800 --> 0:26:36.560 protest before in his life. 0:26:37.600 --> 0:26:39.560 In the beginning, I wasn't sure what was happening, but 0:26:39.600 --> 0:26:42.320 I was like, okay, honest, mistake, you guys. You guys 0:26:42.320 --> 0:26:43.280 can just like let me go. 0:26:44.920 --> 0:26:47.360 But they did not let Lucky go. Instead, they held 0:26:47.440 --> 0:26:50.200 him in jail for three months and denied him bond 0:26:50.440 --> 0:26:54.080 four times. This is how he talks about it now. 0:26:54.840 --> 0:26:57.760 So I was involved in a dragnet arrest during a 0:26:57.800 --> 0:27:00.720 stopcop City Week of Action in the Wheel Forest in 0:27:00.800 --> 0:27:08.359 Atlanta last March. I was unconstitutionally arrested, denied bond four times, 0:27:08.440 --> 0:27:12.040 and incarcerated a total of three months on what I 0:27:12.080 --> 0:27:16.439 consider and many consider bogus domestic terrorism allegations in that 0:27:16.600 --> 0:27:20.679 original warrant, and I was recently wrongfully indicted on RICO 0:27:20.800 --> 0:27:24.880