Noise Demo Outside NYC Atlas Office pic.twitter.com/oLj3hOyflV
— Scenes from the Atlanta Forest (@scenesatl) June 8, 2022
— Scenes from the Atlanta Forest (@scenesatl) June 8, 2022
– Received anonymously over email
Tag: events
BULLDOZER STOPPED IN ATL FOREST BY HORDE OF FOREST DEFENDERS- CALL TO ACTION
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:
& We’ll get back to you soon!
– Received anonymously over email
Campaign Against cop city and it’s Subontractors
http://stopreevesyoung.com
“APF is unable to build Cop City alone. They have contracted Reeves-Young to build it for them. Reeves-Young cannot complete this project without its subcontractors. SRY is a campaign to urge these subcontractors to stop participating in the construction of Cop City and/or divest from their dealings with Reeves-Young.
The subcontractors have many other contracts. As service providers, they do not depend on the completion of the Cop City to continue their business operations. Reeves-Young represents just one of their many contracts, just as APF is only one of Reeves-Young’s many contracts. Everyone involved in this project is complicit in some way with the destruction of the forest, the militarization of the police, and the development of a racist and violent project. The fact is that they have economic incentives to move forward with this project. We must create disincentives.
Through this campaign we seek to educate the subcontractors and ask them to drop this single contract. These companies only care about their bottom line: making profits and securing more contracts. By pressuring companies that do not have a commitment to the APF, but do have a commitment to Reeves-Young, we believe we can get them to drop their contracts without incurring significant economic risks. When Reeves-Young realizes that it is not worthwhile to keep the Cop City contract if it means jeopardizing all of their other projects, we believe they will cancel the APF agreement as well. One by one, as subcontractors drop out, we will cause delays and budget increases until it becomes logistically, economically and politically impossible to move forward with the destruction of the forest or the construction of the Cop City.
SRY is a media clearinghouse, providing journalistic updates on the movement. We provide information and updates about the campaign, contextualized within the broader struggle to defend the South Atlanta forest. We maintain this site for educational and journalistic purposes, and are not responsible for the acts or deeds that we report on.”
– From the website
Spring 2022 Week Of Action
defend the ATL forest! May 8-15 pic.twitter.com/pELLt0tMJk
— Defend the Atlanta Forest (@defendATLforest) March 12, 2022
The fight for the forest continues!
Early stages of construction began last week and forest defenders quickly responded. Report from the January 28th march for the forest. The fight is everywhere, the forest is everywhere 🌳
Defending The Atlanta Forest – Background and Reportback
Since Summer of 2021 there has been an active effort to prevent the development of the South River Forest. This effort is intersectional and has been supported by a wide variety of groups for several reasons.
SOME HISTORIC BACKGROUND
The South River Forest is historically one of the regions where the Mvskoke people lived prior to their forced removal from the land. Following that the land was used for a plantation that was worked by enslaved peoples. Then, after the civil war, it was the site of one of the first transitions from chattel slavery to prison slavery. The prison on the land was where residents of the surrounding areas were detained and pressed into forced farm labor.
Once the prison was closed, the South River Forest was treated as a dumping ground. When Atlanta’s first public library was destroyed, pieces were left on the land, dead zoo animals were buried on the land, and the old structures of the prison fell into ruin. As the forest sits at the base of Atlanta’s water shed, the combination of the misuse of the land, the pollution of Atlanta, and the mistreatment of the land left the water and soil badly contaminated.
The South River Forest now houses Intrenchment Creek Park, the Atlanta Radio Control Club, a private police officer shooting range, and a system of trails that are used by the community.
Now, two entities are planning to destroy the forest for their own purposes. One is Blackhall Studios, which plans to build an enormous sound stage, and the other is the Atlanta Police Department, which wants to build a facility that has become colloquially known as “Cop City.”
The surrounding neighborhoods are primarily populated by lower-income residents, so the construction of the Blackhall sound stage will result in gentrification that will displace the local residents.
The construction of Cop City has wide ranging implications. It is meant to be an urban warfare training facility for the region and would drive militarization of police across the southeast. Its construction will create a precedent for urban warfare training facilities across the United States and the world. We have historical precendence of this as seen with the School of the Americas. https://www.grunge.com/338237/the-messed-up-history-of-the-school-of-the-americas/.
All of this comes before even considering the ecological and environmental relevence of protecting this forest. The South River Forest is one of the largest urban forests in the United States. It is populated by diverse species such as coyotes and beavers, and is home to multiple trees that are centuries old.
FOREST OCCUPATION AND DEFENSE
Occupation began in late 2021 with a camp on the Blackhall side of the forest. It was built by those who we will call “forest defenders” for the rest of this document. This includes everyone from those sitting in the trees, to the local public. These people are comrades, but many of us do not even know each other. Entities within this broad term act autonomously of one another, even if they have similar goals.
Following the eviction of the original camp, a new camp was established on the side of the forest designated for the building of Cop City. Over the course of several weeks, two tree-sits were built. As the two tree sits on the Cop City side of the forest were being completed, construction began.
Construction started on January 18th, 2022. Early in the morning, forest defenders noticed the presence of surveyors touring the forest. We had been alerted that there were going to be soil tests in order to prepare for building, so we were unsurprised. We also knew that the APD hadn’t acquired the appropriate permits to remove trees from the forest, which has been confirmed by the Dekalb Land Development manager. We were also unsurprised by the arrival of a bulldozer.
The workers used the bulldozer to rip new paths through the forest, destroying countless trees and saplings. Their plan was to create these new paths so that they could bring in their soil borer. Forest defenders converged on the bulldozer, and safely escorted the workers out of the forest. Afterwards, the windows of the bulldozer were smashed.
Police came to the forest to stop the forest defenders. Some retreated while others remained. A police officer pointed a gun at one forest defender, who was subsequently detained but not arrested. Construction didn’t resume for the rest of the week, giving forest defenders time to prepare. During this time, a few visitors came to the forest including a state surveyor, but things remained largely quiet.
THIS PAST WEEK OF ACTION
On Monday the 24th, a new group of construction workers came to the forest including surveyors and underground utility workers. Police escorted these workers through the forest while forest defenders played cat and mouse with them. Undercover cops surrounded the forest intimidating those who would park nearby. As such, outside support showed up, but not enmasse.
On Tuesday the 25th, surveyors, a bulldozer, and a police escort arrived in the morning. Yet again, the bulldozer was used to destroy trees. It is important to note that this activity was still illegal due to the lack of permits. Thankfully, work was delayed by barricades and a lack of survey markers. Forest defenders played cat and mouse, and were pursued by the police. Two people were detained and served criminal trespass warnings, but not arrested.
That night, a meeting was called. Two protests were planned: a “March for the Forest” for Friday the 28th, and another for two weeks from the date of the meeting. Community supporters coordinated with each other in order to ensure that everyone would know where to go. With a plan in place, we went into the next day more confident.
On Wednesday the 26th, forest defenders managed to block the bulldozers. The Atlanta Police Department and the Dekalb Police Department collaborated in pursuing them. This time the police brought ATVs that they could use to chase people, and a drone for surveillance. Tools were brought to destroy the barricades, and all but one were destroyed. Soil bores were successfully taken, but there were no detentions or arrests.
On Thursday the 27th, workers and police were on-site, dismantling barricades and placing survey stakes. The cat and mouse continued.
On Friday the 28th, 60+ forest defenders and community members gathered to march together. This group marched through the Intrenchment Creek Park side of the forest, took the streets for a time, then entered the forest. Forest defenders confronted cops and workers operating boring machinery. An estimated 4-6 forest defenders were arrested, and a noise demo was organized to support them from inside.
All in all, we are humbled by the love and support of our communities. Many have volunteered their time and talents to help defend the forest. We are holding out, but there is still more that we can and will do.
At this point we are in need of two main things: More people to help support tree sits and defend the forest from destruction, and legal attempts to delay construction. Please, join us, support us, and protect your community!
Check out https://scenes.noblogs.org/ for more info/past communiques and email atldtf@riseup.net to get in touch if you’re interested in coming.
Love and Rage,
The Forest Animals
-Submitted anonymously over email
FUCK COPS//JOIN US IN THE FOREST
The time is now! This is a call from some of us living in the Atlanta Forest; We invite you to join us in its defense. The forest, which is stolen Muscogee land, is slated to become a mock-city for police training. We have no intention of allowing this, nor of limiting our efforts to tree sits and lockdowns (already there have been 2 arson attacks, damaged machinery, home and office visits, barricades, etc.). The more people there are staying in the forest, the more options are open to us. Living in the forest gives us ability to immediately respond to any threat the forest faces. We must not allow them an inch without meeting opposition. Not one blade of grass. As it stands, the forest feels autonomous and the police are reluctant to go deep within it. Help us keep it that way. Come now to defend the forest, in struggle against the police and the civilization that needs them. Check out https://scenes.noblogs.org/ for more info/past communiques and email atldtf@riseup.net to get in touch if you’re interested in coming.
-Submitted anonymously over email
Join Survival Resistance For A Month Of Action at AT&T
Muscogee (Creek) tribal members migrate to homelands 200 years after ancestors’ forced removal
“MVSKOKE TERRITORY — On Sat., Nov. 27, tribal members of the Muscogee (Creek) Tribe currently based in the Helvpe Ceremonial Grounds of so-called Eastern Oklahoma returned to their ancestral homelands known as Atlanta. […] The Muscogee (Creek) community leaders of Oklahoma were joined by other first nation peoples from Alabama and Georgia to participate in cultural sharing and stomp dance ceremonies in the South River Forest located in unincorporated DeKalb County. The event was open to the public and the larger community in the metro area, with hundreds in attendance. The ceremonies were performed in Intrenchment Creek Park, which resides next to a plot of land known as the Old Atlanta Prison Farm. Both plots of land are currently under threat of further development, construction, and deforestation in long-standing battles in the city.” – from article
Coming up: Muscogee Stomp Dance & Culture Sharing
Join the Atlanta community in welcoming Muscogee community members from Helvpe Ceremonial grounds to South River Forest. Take part in preserving Atlanta’s indigenous lands.
Received anonymously over Email
Fall 21 Week Of Action Events
Fall 2021 Week Of Action Announced
Demo To Stop Construction
Atlanta protesters arrested while City Council passes lease agreement with police foundation
https://www.mainlinezine.com/atlanta-protesters-arrested-council-passes-lease-police-foundation/
Fuck Cop City Labor Day BBQ
Signs on John Keen’s Yard https://www.instagram.com/p/CTcl4B3L7uo/