Category Archives: StopCopCity

activism, Anarchist, Atlanta, Georgia, Law, repression, StopCopCity, Transcribed, United States, zine

Stop Cop City RICO Updates 01

Stop Cop City RICO Updates

"Stop Cop City / Defend The ATL Forest | TFSR 12-17-23 | Stop Cop Cities RICO Updates" featuring an upturned cop car with a tree growing through the middle
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This week on the show,  we dig into the pre-trial hearings and jury selection for Ayla King, Stop Cop City movement’s first and only co-defendant so far to be granted a speedy trial. First up, we’re joined by Silver, an on-the-ground correspondent among many in Atlanta focused on supporting the collective defense against the State of Georgia’s RICO indictment. Stay tuned for future coverage of the trials as they unfold.

We will be focusing on the pretrial proceedings of defendant Ayla King, who has bravely flexed their right to a speedy trial and whose case we will be following more in-depth when opening arguments begin on January 10th. To help us unpack some of the media and legal intricacies in this case we will hear from Jewel, a North Carolina based lawyer (member of NLG Mass Defense) followed by an interview with Matt from Atlanta Community Press Collective. Jewel will help us understand some of the strategy of exercising a right to speedy trial while Matt will speak as one of the only members of local media to actively cover jury selection.

First, some background to this case for listeners less familiar:

  •  On August 29th the State of Georgia filed an indictment against 61 people in the movement to Stop Cop City and defend Weelaunee people’s park. The state alleges that music festival attendees and protestors engaged in racketeering, domestic terrorism, arson and money laundering– all as part of a so called mob conspiracy to halt construction of the massively unpopular expansion of police traning grounds in Southeast Atlanta– also known as Cop City.
  • This indictment follows a years-long, powerful and popular struggle against the city of Atlanta and their Police Foundation’s attempts to build the 90 million dollar training grounds. The expansion of this site not only follows the widespread anti-police movements of 2020 but further bolsters US backed military training such the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (aka GILEE) – a direct exhange program between Atlanta police and the Israeli Occupational Forces, who are currently waging genocide in the occupied Gaza strip of Palestine.
  • We have experienced the unrelenting and escalating criminal charges (such as domestic terrorism charges for so called trespassing on public land, racketeering charges for mutual aid), raids of collective organizing and healing spaces, and even the assassination of a beloved comrade, Tortuguita. Not only have these atrocities failed to stop the movement against Cop City, but they have inspired renewed resistance and solidarity from across the country and across the world.

Announcements

Noise Demo on NYE at Buncombe Jail

If you’re around Asheville on Sunday, December 31st, you’re invited by a coalition of abolitionist crews to attend the New Years Noise Demo, gathering at 7pm at the ampitheater at 630 Pack Square and to bring things for making some noise. The Asheville Community Bail Fund will be selling Certain Days Calendars and folks will also be bailing out and welcoming folks to start their new year outside the walls of the Buncombe County Detention Center. It’s a great event to meet folks and learn about local projects dreaming of and working towards a future without prisons! More at Blue Ridge ABC’s website.

If you’re in another area of Turtle Island, you can scan your social media for noise demos to participate in or make one up yourself. Often there’s a list of things to get involved in available at ItsGoingDown.Org

Anticapitalist Bookfair in Small Town Oregon

If you’re in the Corvallis, Oregon area in early January, the folks organizing the Heart of the Valley Anti-Capitalist Bookfair have announced their programming and entertainment schedule for events January 19th to 21st. A few of our past guests on The Final Straw are listed there if you want to brush up on the topics. More info at Hotvbookfair.noblogs.org

Eric King in Halfway House

Anarchist and antifascist prisoner, Eric King, has been released to a halfway house as he finishes the last portion of his nearly-decade-long incarceration. You can donate to his post-release fundraiser via his GoFundMe, read updates and words from Eric at SupportEricKing.org or on Instagram

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Anarchist Media, Atlanta, Bail Funds, Forest Defense, General, Georgia, Police, repression, StopCopCity, Transcribed, zine

Updates On The Struggle To Stop Cop City

Updates On The Struggle To Stop Cop City + The Balkan Anarchist Bookfair

Poster advertising week of action based on the style of the movie poster for Endless Summer featuring a setting sun and polarized pictures of the forest from above and within “DEFEND THE FOREST Week OF ACTION 6 WEELAUNEE Summer "IT'S UP TO US TO DEFEND OUR FUTURE" -KATHLEEN HANNAH JUNE 24 - JULY 1 2023 SUMMER P BREAK COP CITY, ATLANTA A PEOPLE'S POWER Production In association with NO COP CITY The WEEK OF ACTION 6 GEORGIA Week STAY FOR THE SUMMER City is THE FOREST Justice for TORTUGUITA WILL NEVER BE BUILT Go to hell RYAN MILLSAP STOPCOPCITYSOLIDARITY.ORG DEFENDTHEATLANTAFOREST.ORG”
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This week, you’ll hear an interview with Matthew Scott, a journalist with ACPC in Atlanta to talk about recent developments with the struggle against Cop City, the building of a giant police training facility with a simulated cityscape for urban counter insurgency training for law enforcement from around the USA & around the world in a forest in Atlanta, Georgia. You can read Matthews work at ATLPressCollective.Com.

We review the development of the project and the organizing against it, touch on the current situation for the 41 people facing domestic terrorism charges from the state of Georgia, talk about the SWAT raid and financial crime charges against the Atlanta Solidarity bail fund, the vote by city council to move forward with tens of millions of dollars of funding despite 15 hours of public comment against and take a look at where the project is now that clearcutting has happened.

Other Sites of Interest

Balkan Anarchist Bookfair

Then, you’ll hear a segment by A-Radio Berlin from the May 2023 episode of Bad News about the upcoming Balkan Anarchist Bookfair and the St-Imier 2023 anarchist and anti-authoritarian gathering.

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Anarchist, Anti-Civ, Author, Capitalism, Colonialism, Earth & Animal Liberation, Environment, Forest Defense, Hambacher Forest, Lützerath, military, Pluto Press, Police, repression, StopCopCity, Transcribed, war, ZAD, zine

A True(r) Measure of Renewable Energy with Dr. Alexander Dunlap

A True(r) Measure of Renewable Energy with Dr. Alexander Dunlap

"TFSR 3-5-23" + the cover of "Enforcing Ecocide" featuring riot cops in front of a huge digging machine
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This week, I spoke with Dr. Alexander Dunlap about a range of topics, such as Degrowth, green anarchism, the violence of extractivism, questions of the conception of renewable energy and resistance to ecocide. We covered a lot in this discussion and he’s written a lot on a range of related topics. Check out his ResearchGate where many pdfs are available or searching his name on AnarchistLibrary.Net. If there’s something at ResearchGate that isn’t available for download, you can email Alexander and request access.

Other accounts for Dr. Dunlap:

Suggested links:

Our past interviews on resisting infrastructure projects can be found by checking out posts tagged “Environment” or “Earth and Animal Liberation”

Books

Articles 

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A-Radio Berlin, A-Radio Network, activism, Anarchist Media, Atlanta, B(A)D News, Capitalism, Earth & Animal Liberation, Environment, FrequenzA, Germany, Lützerath, Mexico, Police, repression, StopCopCity, Transcribed, United States, zine

Voices In Struggle: Remembering Tortuguita + Resistance in Lützerath and Against Tren Maya

Voices In Struggle: Remembering Tortuguita + Resistance in Lützerath and Against Tren Maya

Manuel "Tortuguita" Teran pictured in the forest "TFSR 2023-01-22 | Remembering Tortuguita + Resistance in Lützerath and against Tren Maya"
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This week on The Final Straw, we feature three segments: words from a friend of Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran, the forest defender killed by law enforcement on January 18th outside of Atlanta, Georgia; A-Radio Berlin’s conversation with an activist at Lutzerath encampment in western Germany attempting to block a lignite coal extraction operation by RWE; a discussion of the Tren Maya megaproject by the AMLO administration in Mexico.

Remembering Tortuguita

First up, we caught up with Eric Champaign of Tallahassee, FL, about his friend Manny, aka Tortuguita or little turtle. Manuel Teran was shot and killed by law enforcement during an early morning raid of the forest encampment to defend the Welaunee aka Atlanta Forest and to stop CopCity on Wednesday, January 18th, 2023. Law enforcement claimed in the media that they responded to shots fired and the wounding of an officer by killing the shooter, but at the time of this release the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has not yet produced a weapon or bodycam footage of the clash. [Update, Georgia Bureau of Investigation claims they found Tort’s gun and ballistics match the bullet in the pelvis of the cop] The killing of Tortuguita has sparked outrage, calls for independent investigations, vigils and calls for renewed and dispersed activity. Word is that another 6 people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism during the raid. Check out our chat with a member of Atlanta Anti-Repression Committee for some context and links to group fighting back in the courts. There’s a fundraiser for Tortuguita’s family at GoFundMe

Eric also speaks about his friend, Dan Baker, who is nearing his release date. You can hear our past chat with Eric about Dan’s case at our website alongside links about the case and how to support him. There’s now a paypal for donations for Dan’s post-release, which can be found at DanielBakerDonations@gmail.com

Then, we feature two segments are selections from the January, 2023 episode of B(A)D News from the A-Radio Network. You can find this ep, #64, alongside many others at A-Radio-Network.Org

Updates from Lützerath

This second segment is a recording by A-Radio Berlin of a conversation with a radio activist from Aalpunk from Lützerath giving some context of the struggle there in the west of Germany. Since this recording, the encampments have been evicted but resistance continues against the ginormous lignite mine that the corporation RWE is attempting to expand there. You can also hear or read our September 25th, 2022 episode for some background. More info at https://luetzerathlebt.info/en

Opposing Project Tren Maya

Finally, we’re sharing a segment by Frequenz-A about Proyecto Tren Maya in the Yucatán peninsula of so-called Mexico. The conversation with a member of Recherche-Ag about a report they published in Solidarity with the Zapatista movement, on the German state and corporate participation in this mega-project and the dangers posed by the Maya Train, which includes huge expansion of electric, travel and other corporate and state infrastructure through sensitive ecosystems and sovereign indigenous lands, being overseen by the Mexican military. You can find this report and more at ya-basta-netz.org.

To hear a past interview of ours talking about Tren Maya & AMLO’s infrastructure projects, you can find our February 2nd, 2020 interview.

Continue reading Voices In Struggle: Remembering Tortuguita + Resistance in Lützerath and Against Tren Maya →

Atlanta, Forest Defense, Georgia, Police, repression, StopCopCity, Transcribed, United States, zine

Evictions and Domestic Terrorism Charges in Atlanta Forest Defense

Evictions and Domestic Terrorism Charges in Atlanta Forest Defense

Green-tinged image of cops trying to stop photo while arrests happen in background at Atlanta Forest protest
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For this week’s main podcast, we spoke with an activist of the Atlanta Anti-Repression Committee about the recent police raids and arrests in the Welaunee Forest, aka Atlanta Forest, which have brought charges of domestic terrorism on 5 people for allegedly building treehouses and throwing stones at cops. These arrests come after police entered the forest and used less lethal weapons on people in the forest, ostensibly participating in the #DefendTheAtlantaForest and #StopCopCity movement to defend the forest from the building of what might be the world’s largest movie studio sound stage and a police training center. Again, be sure to check the show notes for more info sources and ways to support those being repressed. Check out our past coverage of the movement to defend Welaunee Forest in Atlanta by listening or reading our July 3rd, 2022 episode.

Be sure to check out our podcast released December 14th, 2022, where we shared perspectives from Kyle Missouri, resident of the Winnemucca Indian Colony in so-called Humboldt County, Nevada, about evictions, banishment and house razing in an escalating process heaidng through courts by the Winnemucca Tribal Council. Check our shownotes for places to find more info & how to offer help through & beyond. Last minute the court changed the link for the zoom call, ostensibly to lower participation. We heard news on Thursday that Kyle was tased and arrested by Bureau of Indian Affairs, or BIA, pigs while trying to get to the house he shares with his grandmother, and that he was hospitalized and then transferred to Reno. You can find ways to support and more links in our show released December 14th and we hope to air more voices from Winnemucca on our next episode.

Sean Swain

Sean’s segment on Fusion begins at [ 00:30:59 ]

Continue reading Evictions and Domestic Terrorism Charges in Atlanta Forest Defense →

activism, Anarchist, Antifa, Atlanta, Blockade, Capitalism, Environment, Forest Defense, Georgia, Police, Political Prisoner, Prisons, Protest, repression, StopCopCity, Transcribed, United States, zine

Stop Cop City + Intl Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners

Stop Cop City + David Campbell on Antifascist Prisoners

This week’s episode features two interviews.

Stop Cop City / Defend the Atlanta Forest

"Support Antifa Prisoners | #J25Antifa | Defend The Atlanta Forest | TFSR 22-07-03"
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First up, the struggle to Defend the Atlanta Forest and Stop Cop City has been gaining momentum over the last year, in opposition to the building of what would be the largest police urban training center in the so-called USA in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd Uprising, alongside the construction of what would be the country’s largest film sound stage for Blackhall Studios. Coming up, you’ll hear Tony Lane of Defend Atlanta Forest talk about some of the issues involved, the ongoing organizing to stop the destruction of dozens of acres in this forest in the city in the forest, the ongoing info-tours around the country and upcoming week of action from July 23-30th, 2022.

David Campbell on Supporting Antifascist Prisoners

Then, you’ll hear an interview with formerly incarcerated antifascist prisoner, David Campbell, about his experience of incarceration for participation a street melee against fascists in January 2018 in New York City and about the importance of prisoner support and the upcoming annual International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners on July 25th.

David’s former celly who could use some love:

Bruce Williams #21R0721
Orleans Correctional Facility
3531 Gaines Basin Rd
Albion, NY 14411

David’s links:

Antifascist Political Prisoner Support Sites:

Specific Antifa Prisoners Mentioned:

David also mentions the Resistance Committee in Ukraine and Operation Solidarity which include participation of anarchists and antifascists resisting the Russian invasion.

Continue reading Stop Cop City + Intl Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners →