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Tag: ecodefense

Report Back On The Fight Between Milsap/Dozer/Cops and Forest Defenders

Posted on August 2, 2022 - August 4, 2022 by scenes

On the final day of the fourth week of action, forest defenders awoke to shouts about police activity in the recently reopened Intrenchment Creek/ Weelaunee People’s Park parking lot.

We arrived to find an angry man named Anthony Wayne James sitting in an excavator and threatening to destroy the gazebo, porta potties,paved trails, and to re-close the barriers at the front of the park, effectively re-closing the public infrastructure. A small number of forest defenders blocked the excavator with only their bodies, including a few who remained under the gazebo while it was struck by the excavator bucket.

More forest defenders soon arrived and began to drive back the excavator with rocks and other projectiles. The irate operator had two Dekalb County police officers to back him up, as well as two other men waiting on the street. It was soon revealed that one of those was Ryan Millsap himself. Millsap believes he is the owner of the land in question, after a controversial land-swap agreement between the Dekalb County government and Blackhall Studios sought to give the land over to the film company so that they could develop it into the largest soudnstage complex on Earth. Millsap has since sold much of his holdings in the company in a fashion that nullifies the agreements with the County government and gives, he believes, Millsap personal ownership of the land with few or no obligations to the public.

After a brief interlude, in which forest defenders oriented themselves, the crowd of a few dozen advanced on the attackers. Masked defenders threw rocks at the County police and broke windows out of the truck that was used to carry the excavator in on a flatbed trailer. With the excavator outside the park, a barricade was erected to keep it from re-entering, and volleys of rocks and canned sparkling water kept the police and workers back. Ryan Millsap fled in another vehicle after he was called out by name. When the windows of the excavator were broken, Anthony Wayne James reappeared and repeatedly threatened to shoot all the forest defenders and motioned as if he had a gun several times. Millsap appeared to oversea all of this from a distance. Undeterred by his threats, defenders held the barricades and drove the attackers all the way to the end of the block.

With the immediate threat gone, a search through the truck left in the parking lot revealed a number of contracts for Blackhall Studios, Blackhall Rental Company, Anthony Wayne James drivers license and numerous credit cards. The registration for the vehicle revealed that it was owned personally by Ryan Millsap himself. A great cheer of delight went up after this news was spread, and the mechanic crew stripped the car completely, damaging each and every component of the Ram 5500 that was purchased for $62,500 by Millsap in 2020. The crowd dispersed, having assured the safety of park attendees, and the sanctity of the land. A few hours later, some anonymous individuals burned the truck.

After being held through the morning to ensure no reentry for the police or Millsap and his goons, the barricade was dismantled and the park was open again to the public. By evening, hundreds of people arrived to the forest for the final night of an autonomously organized music festival, passing through the barriers and past the burned-out vehicle, which became something of a public installation and photographic back-drop.

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Posted in Report BacksTagged 4th Week of Action, blackhall, direct action, ecodefense, joy, sabotage

FLOCK SECURITY VEHICLE WINDOWS SMASHED & SCARED OUT OF FOREST​

Posted on July 25, 2022 by scenes
This afternoon a Flock Security Vehicle & worker outside the South Atlanta forest was spotted trying to replace one of the cameras they have habitually used to incriminate & incarcerate high volumes of people of color, activists,& struggling working class people.
  Rocks were thrown at the van, effectively smashing their windows, & the Flock Security vehicle speedily drove away from the forest in a hurry!
   NO Flock security cameras were allowed to be installed or replaced by Flock due to the efforts of forest defenders!
Defending the Forest often means taking risks, & aside from various forms of eco-defense, we will NOT risk allowing the cops to spin the narrative how they see fit, extrapolating & twisting the situation to try and justify their undue violence upon POC, general forest defenders & non-human animals & the LGBTQIA communities!
 . *SMASH ALL THE ENEMIES’ WINDOWS WITH ROCKS*.
-Received Anonymously Over Email
Posted in Communiques, General, Report BacksTagged 4th Week of Action, direct action, ecodefense

RC Field Barricaded

Posted on July 22, 2022 - July 22, 2022 by scenes

A Banner that reads "BECOME UNREMOTECONTROLLABLE" "FUCK BLACKHALL"
“BECOME UN-REMOTE-CONTROLLABLE, FUCK BLACKHALL” reads the banner in front of the new tire-and-brush barricade in front of the Remote Control Airfield at Intrenchment Creek Park, where police entered the forest twice this week after barricading the ICP parking lot shut last Friday. The cops gleefully stepped into their role as the hired henchmen of corporate elites, and “closed the park”—which is still legally a public park—at the behest of Blackhall Studios CEO Ryan Millsap, sworn enemy of all things good in this world. The cops put up private property signs which were swiftly taken down, and the cement barricades autonomously swung open.

The time has long passed to choose a side. You are either with the forest or against it. We know where the cops stand, we know where Blackhall Studios stands, and we will no longer let them into these woods without a battle.

OUR WOODS NOT HOLLYWOOD’S! NO HOLLYWOOD DYSTOPIA! FUCK RYAN MILLSAP! FUCK BLACKHALL STUDIOS! BECOME UN-REMOTE-CONTROLLABLE!!!

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Posted in Communiques, General, Report BacksTagged ecodefense, protest

“We Will Not Be Intimidated” – statement from a squirrel

Posted on July 22, 2022 by scenes

The continued militarized response to treesitters in the south Atlanta forest shows very blatantly how willing the state is to use violence and intimidation to repress our movements.

To the state we say this “We will not be intimidated.” Your “aggressive posturing” will not scare us away. While you depict us as almost mythical creatures capable of terrifying things, skulking through the woods, we enjoy a world filled with relationships built on trust and intimacies deeper than you can imagine. group meals, music around the fire, real talk, a life richer than most anything to be found in civilization, built with the scraps of your world. There are many of us, with many different analyses, but we hold one thing in common, we have seen what is possible, and we stand in total opposition to this world and its cops. For a world without police or prisons or asylums, a world without gender, a world without civilization

-squirrel

 

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Posted in Community Building, General, NewsTagged direct action, diy, ecodefense, joy, protest

BEAVERS GNAW DOWN 40 FT WOODEN SURVEILLANCE POLE IN WELAUNEE FOREST installed by APD & City of ATL:

Posted on July 7, 2022 by scenes

…We noticed that police escorted a white work truck with boom lift affiliated with The City of Atlanta to install a very large & approximate 40 foot wooden pole on Key Road near the prison ruins in south Atlanta yesterday, for what appeared to be a high altitude surveillance tower…
Us beavers just so happen to LOVE a good hardwood pole, & will surely gnaw down more if you bring them!
Thanks for the snack APD!
Downed wooden pole on the edge of a forested road
We saved some leftovers for you on the side of the road in what also appears to be a mounting pile of broken surveillance cameras…

In Solidarity with Forest defenders holding it down in the South Atlanta Forest,
The Beaver Gang

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Posted in Communiques, GeneralTagged apf, direct action, ecodefense, sabotage

North Gate Barricaded Shut to Protect Forest from Cops with Chainsaws

Posted on July 1, 2022 by scenes

Barricaded gate with sign that read "Give Up"This last week, barricades were erected to protect the South Atlanta Forest from police incursions with chainsaws.
The north gate was sealed off to the OPF (Old Prison Farm) on Key Rd. with an array of concrete, thick wood, broken glass, & cunning!
To make matters worse for the police, a lovely bucket of shit was chained to the gate as well!
In conjunction, a banner reading, “Give Up,” was aptly placed on the front of the Barricade to rightfully celebrate the WITHDRAWAL of subcontractor Reeves Young from the Cop City project, as well as what appears to be (but not yet confirmed!) Main contactor Brasfield & Gorie.
Barricades will continue to be constructed as long as the South Atlanta Forest is threatened by cops, & in any danger of clear- cutting & the likes to build Cop City.
If the cops keep trying to enter the forest on UTV’s with hopes of terrorizing forest defenders, abusing non-human animals, or killing trees with evil tools, they will be consistently met with treacherous roadblocks…
Consider this your warning, APD.

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Posted in Communiques, General, Report BacksTagged direct action, diy, ecodefense, encampment, protest, sabotage

More Trees Spiked in the Welaunee Forest

Posted on June 29, 2022 - June 29, 2022 by scenes

sign affixed to a tree that reads "WARNING Trees within a 100 meter radius of this sign have been SPIKED to prevent felling & milling. This process is entirely safe for trees. They have been inoculated randomly with a combination of galvanized steel and ceramic spikes and screws. Magnetic detection and removal cannot reliably ensure that spikes are not present. Attempting to remove trees in this area may pose a substantial danger to you or others. Please do not risk your life or safety to destroy this important wildlife habitat."
Last night we randomly inoculated dozens of trees with steel and ceramic spikes to protect against felling by chainsaw. Signs were posted in English and Spanish to alert workers. This process is harmless to the trees, but poses a serious danger to machinery and workers should they choose to ignore the warnings. Cops have been seen in recent weeks entering the forest with chainsaws, ignoring the stop work order and cutting down trees in an unskilled and dangerous manner at the site of current and former treesits. They should stop.
Since we know the tree-sits ALONE that have been publicized may not prevent logging by themselves, we have taken it upon ourselves to go the extra mile…
“The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses.”–Utah Phillips
The draws of “society” & the “civilized” & ‘developed’ world cannot surpass the sounds of swallows in trees, humming of insects & bees, & the liberation of laying under the starry skies.

-Railroad Workers Union Local 1312

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Posted in Communiques, General, Report BacksTagged direct action, diy, ecodefense, sabotage

Boyette Brothers Equipment Rental Service Machines Set On Fire

Posted on June 7, 2022 by scenes

The Earth destroying machine that entered the forest yesterday, along with a few others, has been torched. To Boyette Brothers (rental service) + anyone who tries to help build cop city, our message is simple: “If you build it, we will burn it.”

– Received anonymously over email

Posted in Communiques, GeneralTagged diy, ecodefense, police, sabotage

A Message From A Tree sitter

Posted on June 3, 2022 - June 3, 2022 by scenes

They destroyed our camp, & sawed one of our platforms apart, but we still got up into same tree in opf near juvy to defend the forest, & we left a message for our oppressors & our tree sitter comrade has issued a statement:
“We are here today to stop the development of a police militarization facility, where police would train in tactics of repression and violence against the civilians of Atlanta. We are here today to stop a beautiful forest from being destroyed, to stop countless animals and plants from being exterminated from this place. Two incredibly important topics are at stake here today. Climate change and police violence are two of the most pressing issues affecting our society today, and they will only worsen if this facility is built. We cannot stand by as we sacrifice humanity’s future for a Cop City.”
-Wish
– Received anonymously over email
Posted in Calls to Action, Community Building, General, News, Report BacksTagged direct action, diy, ecodefense, encampment, protest, report-back

BULLDOZER STOPPED IN ATL FOREST BY HORDE OF FOREST DEFENDERS- CALL TO ACTION

Posted on June 2, 2022 - June 5, 2022 by scenes

On June. 2nd, a horde of forest defenders were able to stop a bulldozer on the edge of the woods (that was being escorted by kkkops) from destroying the forest by throwing rocks, deploying fireworks, & shouting scary words!

  However, cops are destroying forest defense infrastructure & we need all hands on deck to CONTINUE STOPPING THE CONSTRUCTION of cop city, & allow this scarred forest to heal.
   Another tree sit has also gone up in the path our enemies plan to destroy for their racist training facility, & we need help both supporting & defending that zone!
  We are welcoming ALL the tactics. Kate Bush flash mob when kkkops arrive? Fuck yeah. Frontline Action to stop machines of destruction? Fuck yeah. Please just get your sweet fucking feral ass down here.
 Your house sitting gig & coffee shop job can wait– come occupy the forest, & if you got privilege, use it to throw down, as trees, community members & non-human animals are better than a clear cut lot with a militarized police training center.
   The stakes are high & the forest is calling!
 Come for the blackberries & community, & stay for the chaos!
  Week of Action is June.2nd- till the Forest is safe!
   Interested in rolling with Camp Copperhead?Drop a line to:
  campcopperhead@proton.me

& We’ll get back to you soon!

– Received anonymously over email

Posted in Calls to Action, Communiques, Community Building, General, News, Report BacksTagged direct action, diy, ecodefense, encampment, events, joy, police, protest, report-back

Forest Defenders fire fireworks, throw rocks, and attack construction machine

Posted on June 2, 2022 - June 2, 2022 by scenes

Work stopped today, Thursday June 2, as a group of 10 forest defenders confronted a bulldozer in the forest just west of the juvy today. Forest defenders launched rocks and fireworks, yelling ‘get the fuck out of the woods’ as the machine was attacked. 4-5 workers, likely with Long Engineering, hid behind the bulldozer while one APD officer stood idly with his hands on his hips. Forest defenders retreated into the woods howling. No arrests were made.

We call upon anyone who wants to defend the forest and stop cop city to support the struggle by sowing chaos along the perimeter: plan a slow-moving car caravan on Constitution Rd, or a rally at the juvy.

Workers and pigs, we repeat: Stay the fuck out the woods.

-Received anonymously over email

Posted in General, Report BacksTagged direct action, diy, ecodefense, police, protest

Video Submission

Posted on June 2, 2022 by scenes

pic.twitter.com/2DlNDD7PEB

— Scenes from the Atlanta Forest (@scenesatl) June 2, 2022

-Received anonymously over email

Posted in Art, GeneralTagged direct action, diy, ecodefense, joy, protest, sabotage, solidarity

Poem By An Animal In The Weelaunee Forest

Posted on May 21, 2022 - June 17, 2022 by scenes

welaunee forest

“may 19”

daylight
earth-killer oil and steel
rips root tears tree
destroy life for progress

land scarred
night falls
silence

“may 20”

yellow moon watching
soft steps searching
i hunt
stalking

quick
spark
flame growing dancing
run
slip into shadow
fuel tank explodes
echoes
a smile
joy

sun rises
scorched steel beast broken
fire from life
life from fire
forever

the wild always has its revenge
swift sudden silent
beware

-a coyote

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Posted in Art, CommuniquesTagged direct action, ecodefense, joy, sabotage

Construction Vehicles Vandalized In Lane County in Solidarity With The Forest Defenders In Atlanta

Posted on May 19, 2022 - May 19, 2022 by scenes

Over the past month or so many construction vehicles(lost count) in so called Lane County had their windows smashed in. Many more will be smashed in the future. These actions are being done in solidarity with forest defenders in so called Atlanta GA. Not only must Cop City be stopped but all construction everywhere. Construction projects anywhere are a threat to living things everywhere. We will not stop until there are no more windows to smash or excavators to operate. Defend The Forest!

-Received anonymously over email

Posted in CommuniquesTagged direct action, ecodefense, sabotage

Police Raid Atlanta Forest Occupation

Posted on May 18, 2022 - June 17, 2022 by scenes

The RC airfield in the forest with a smoke grenade, police officers, a bulldozer, an overturned car, and a banner in the background. In the foreground: Week of Action 3: May 8-14 2022 in the Atlanta Forest.
This is part of a series on the 3rd Week of Action.
https://unicornriot.ninja/2022/police-raid-atlanta-forest-occupation/

– article by Unicorn Riot

Posted in NewsTagged 3rd Week of Action, direct action, ecodefense, encampment, police, protest, report-back

May 11 House Visit at Keith Johnson (Brasfield & Gorrie)

Posted on May 14, 2022 - June 17, 2022 by scenes

The RC airfield in the forest with a smoke grenade, police officers, a bulldozer, an overturned car, and a banner in the background. In the foreground: Week of Action 3: May 8-14 2022 in the Atlanta Forest.
This is part of a series on the 3rd Week of Action.
On May 11, 30-40 people visited the home of Keith Lanier Johnson Jr. at 1268 Gordon Combs Rd NW, Kennesaw GA 30152.

Keith is the Eastern Regional President of Brasfield & Gorrie (B&G). B&G are the current general contractor for the Atlanta Police Foundation’s Cop City project in southeast Atlanta.

Now that Keith is no longer busy on the board of the Mount Paran Christian School, it seems he is managing the $142,327 of fines levied against his employer for safety and wage theft violations. He is also overseeing the destruction of grave sites, the leveling of a vital tree canopy, and the militarization of the American police force. It is for these reasons that community members went to his home at 6am.

The low-barrier fencing did not seem to deter assembled protesters from approaching the home directly in order to deliver fliers to Jr. Neighbors did not seem overly concerned with the assembled group when they approached the four building estate set back from the road. Hopefully Carolyn Paige Woodruff Johnson, Sarah E. Johnson, or Keith the younger were not bothered too much by the blow-back resulting from the decisions of Keith’s employers.

We hope that Keith is able to convince the two Magnus’s, currently sitting comfortably back home in Birmingham, that the current APF contract is untenable, and that there is an urgent need to cancel it. It could turn out that Keith personally is carrying to brunt of pressure for his bosses decisions.

Brasfield & Gorrie will eventually drop the Cop City contract. Anonymous groups are developing new methods for disincentivizing the project.

And they are getting closer.

-Received anonymously over email

Posted in Report BacksTagged 3rd Week of Action, direct action, ecodefense, home demo, protest

BRASFIELD & GORRIE CORPORATE HQ IN ALABAMA ATTACKED

Posted on May 13, 2022 - May 13, 2022 by scenes

ON THE MORNING OF THE 13TH, THE WINDOWS AND GLASS DOORS TO THE BRASFIELD & GORRIE CORPORATE HQ AT 3021 7TH AVE S, BIRMINGHAM, AL 35233 WERE SMASHED. THE WORDS “DROP COP CITY OR ELSE” WERE SPRAYPAINTED ON THE WINDOWS. PAINT WAS APPLIED TO THE FRONT SIGN.LET IT SERVE AS A WARNING TO THE EXECUTIVES AT BRASFIELD & GORRIE; WE KNOW WHERE YOU WORK AND WE KNOW WHERE YOU SLEEP. YOUR HOUSES COULD BE NEXT. KEITH JOHNSON, MILLER GORRIE, JAMES GORRIE, YOU WILL DROP THIS CONTRACT EVENTUALLY, WHY WAIT TO SEE HOW FAR WE WILL GO?

– IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE STRUGGLE IN ATLANTA

-Received anonymously over email

Posted in Communiques, GeneralTagged direct action, diy, ecodefense, protest, solidarity

Bulldozer enters woods. Forest defenders repel them and the police.

Posted on May 9, 2022 - June 17, 2022 by scenes

The RC airfield in the forest with a smoke grenade, police officers, a bulldozer, an overturned car, and a banner in the background. In the foreground: Week of Action 3: May 8-14 2022 in the Atlanta Forest.
This is part of a series on the 3rd Week of Action.

At 9:30am today, people inhabiting the Weelaunee Forest woke to the sounds of destruction.

A bulldozer marked "Dodd Drilling LLC" accompanied by 2 Dekalb Co cops had bulldozed a destructive path thru Intrenchment Creek public park, threatened by Blackhall Studios development. pic.twitter.com/GRDe74Dqa5

— Defend the Atlanta Forest (@defendATLforest) May 9, 2022

Posted in NewsTagged 3rd Week of Action, blackhall, direct action, ecodefense, police, protest

UPSIDE DOWN BLACK SEDAN BARRICADES SOUTH POWER LINE CUT PATHWAY TO ATLANTA FOREST​

Posted on May 9, 2022 - June 17, 2022 by scenes

The RC airfield in the forest with a smoke grenade, police officers, a bulldozer, an overturned car, and a banner in the background. In the foreground: Week of Action 3: May 8-14 2022 in the Atlanta Forest.
This is part of a series on the 3rd Week of Action.
… A black sedan barrelled it’s way into the south power cut blocking off a MAJOR entrance to the woods off Constitution Road across from Black Hall Studios Sunday night, May.8th, accompanied by a banner that states, “Fuck this World And It’s Cops”– kicking off the, “Week of Action,” to, “Defend the Forest,” in south Atlanta…
A huge ass bonfire along with a vast array of fireworks & feral friends silhouetted & serenaded the break in the forest that has now come to be one of the main zones to defend against police incursion into the woods so many people & non-human animals call home.
Cop City & Black Hall Studios will NEVER be built as long as Forest Defenders occupy these 500 or so collective acres of woods & comrades continue to engage in the practice that, “solidarity means attack,” in regards to fending off the kkkops, impending industrial & suburban sprawl into wild areas, & the generalized evil, “machines”.
“Fuck this World & It’s Cops,” denotes that we can build a better world than the brainwashed, authoritarian, colonized & greedy ass scum that aim to destroy anything they cannot easily destroy, subjugate, imprison, or pave over….
Stay Wild! Help keep/get your comrades & loved ones free!
Bring the War home & Make total destroy– for it is a “privilege” to be able to “choose” when some people “fight” the powers that be, as the poor, the houseless, the marginalized & disenfranchised must fight this battle EVERY DAY to merely keep existing ….
The kkkops won’t stop killing us & our friends unless we fight back! The Hollywood elite won’t keep clear cutting & destroying the earth unless we fight back! Focus on the shit that unifies our resistance & Fight Back!
“Fuck this World And It’s Cops,” means we fight back, & don’t go quietly into the night & we do NOT acquiesce to non-, consensual tyranny.
Destroy what you can & build what you must– in every sense of the words…Abolition on multiple levels!
May the upside down black sedan in the powerline cut pathway to the forest serve as a big-ass, “Fuck you & the cogs that help you operate,” to the Atlanta Police Foundation, APD, Dekalb County Police, Black Hall Studios, all their investors & sympathizers,& of course, Georgia Fucking Power.
FUCK THIS WORLD AND ITS COPS.

-Received anonymously over Email

Posted in Report BacksTagged 3rd Week of Action, direct action, diy, ecodefense, protest, week of action

Trees Spiked by Intrenchment Creek

Posted on April 9, 2022 - April 9, 2022 by scenes

Innumerable trees within a 300 yard radius were spiked to prevent clear-cutting in the South Atlanta Forest on Muscogee lands on April 1st.

The forest and other wild spaces are the origin stories for all life on Earth. Whether it be logging and construction for a police training facility, new subdivisions, or yet another unneeded bank or coffee shop, we oppose it’s existence and choose life over destruction.

“Reclaim skills, master them through practice, and share their power. Reach out to people who have capabilities you want everyone to have… Prepare for the new normal. Learn to [forage], to code, to heal: increase your collective strength.” -Inhabit, INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTONOMY, pg.38

Defend the Forest! Defend Yourself!

-Spikey Boiiiiiiiis

-Received Anonymously Over Email

Posted in CommuniquesTagged direct action, ecodefense

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