Nov 13 Update – Today was a big day! Early this morning comrades gathered in Atlanta to march on the construction site and block Cop City. They marched and sang peacefully, and some folks planted saplings along the roadsides to try and replace the many trees that have been cut already in ongoing construction.
They were met with tear gas, bashed with police riot shields, and shot with less lethal rounds. Later in the day police displayed some of the shovels and yard equipment folks had used to plant trees as evidence that these protesters were armed and dangerous. This is a lie. Help us spread the truth – that the protest today was peaceful and non violent, and that we will never allow Cop City to be built, using the social media tools below
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Nov 1 update – This November 10-13, opponents of Cop City will gather in the South River Forest for a mass nonviolent direct action. And we want you to meet us there
We’ve been telling you about the grassroots movement to save the forest and stop the expansion of authoritarian policing started under the fossil fuel fascist Trump. For two years, this work has delayed, but not stopped, progress on Cop City in Atlanta, Georgia. And now construction is set to begin.
Groups in and outside Atlanta are getting ready for the mobilization. and there is updated information about housing, schedule, and some fun weekend concerts to kick off the mass action. Click here to get the details and RSVP to join us in Atlanta Nov 10-13.
A few weeks ago we told you about the effort to defeat Cop City at the ballot box. Over a hundred thousand local residents have signed a petition for a referendum on Cop City, which would allow the people of Atlanta to decide the project’s fate through a popular vote.
But the mayor of Atlanta, the City Council, and local election officials, all of whom say the support the police training facility, have refused to count the signatures, and are using classic, Jim-Crow-style voter suppression tactics to try and deny a vote. We just helped deliver more than 50,000 signatures supporting the effort to let the people of Atlanta vote on Cop City. And if we’re able to clear those legal hurdles, the referendum will be on the ballot in March.
But until then, and without a legal order to halt construction, that may be too late.
As Atlanta organizers say:
With our future on the line and the whole world watching, we’ll take a stand to bend the course of history. If the city government does not halt construction in order to listen to the people, then we will simply have to do it ourselves: a People’s Stop Work Order.
This is classic non-violent, direct action to protect our climate and communities. The Weelaunee forest is a vital resource for the city of Atlanta – the lungs of this urban area and a powerful climate mitigation. Cop City is an un-wanted, un-needed, massive training police to help militarized police from Israel to California, not just the Atlanta Police Department, practice warfare and urban siege tactics – tactics that are expressly designed to put down peaceful assemblies and protests against climate chaos, environmental in-justice, and more.
In response to past peaceful protest, advocates and organizers have been thrown out of city council meetings, arrested on trumped up conspiracy charges, and assaulted by armed police. The current mobilization was started when Manuel “Tortuguita” Páez Terán, was murdered by police while camping in the forest.
If we can get enough people to take action with us in November, we can delay the process and give the ballot initiative and other strategies time to work. Will you join us in Atlanta Nov 10-13 for the block cop city mobilization?
Who says fascism can’t happen in America? It’s happening in Atlanta and many other parts of the country where the people’s voice is becoming diminished more and more. Elected leaders and officials are listening to their constituents less and less and much more to their special interests. If we truly cherish and hold sacred freedom and democracy let’s prove it by not letting fascism take root here!