Update from the Week of Action to Stop Cop City

Robert talks with Garrison and Clark from the Atlanta Community Press Collective about what’s happened so far during the Week of Action to defend the forest.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Yeah, it could happen here. If that's the podcast that
you're listening to, it's a news podcast about shit falling apart.
That's the only intro you're going to get. Because Garrison
is right now in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, reporting
on the continuing Stop Cop City protests. Garrison's done a

(00:24):
number of scripted episodes covering these in detail over the
last year and change. They're in the thick of it
right now, so I'm just going to bring them and
a friend on to talk about what has been happening
this week. Yes, that's your cue this week. This week
is a special week because this is the fifth week
of action that has happened here in Atlanta as a

(00:45):
part of these Top Cop City and if in the
Atlanta Force movement. This episode is going to be like
a midweek update because this week of action is still
very much ongoing. There's still many many days that that
thinks can happen, but a lot of a lot has
already happened in in these in these first few days anyway,
So we're going to kind of do a quick a

(01:07):
quick little update and then a more comprehensive piece will
be later down the line. But with me to here
to help talk about what's what's what's gone down so
far is someone from the Atlantic Community Press Collective Clark. Hello,
welcome to the show. Hey, thanks for having me on,
So for being on. Yeah, we've we've been kind of

(01:29):
we we've been. We've been kind of teamed up the
past few days here as as many many, many things
both silly and serious, have have taken place across Atlanta.
Of safety in numbers, Yeah, that's always nice to have
friends when you're watching jack booted thugs go fucking ape
shit with all of their new toys. And I mean,

(01:50):
I think that is part of the Week of Action idea,
is getting as many people here as possible and hopefully
some of that makes makes some people uh more safe.
That's something that we'll probably talk more more in detail
later when we have kind of hindsight. But I guess
today let's let's just start on what's kind of happened
so far chronologically. I guess starting on Saturday. We I

(02:14):
I met you Saturday for a rally at Gresham Park.
I think it's where we first met up this week. Yes,
we met at the rally at Gresham Park, which had
about I would say an hour's worth of speeches before
they kicked off a march down the bike path from
Gresham Park to what the activists call we Loaning People's Park,

(02:37):
which is the side of the protest beforehand, so the
forest around it had been unoccupied since the raid in
January that saw the killing of Torture Guita. So this
was the first sort of permanent return to the forest.
So we took a I don't know forty minute march

(03:01):
down the path and then landed in Wielani People's Park
that had one more little round of chance with a
promise to defend the forest, and then they broke off
and everything was a It was a nice, really relaxing day, Yeah,
it was. It was a pretty positive start to the
week of action. People essentially retook Kulani People's Park and

(03:26):
started to go into the forest once again. Camp got
set up in the forest. Lots of people from both
in town and folks from out of town started started
to camp in the woods again. And then in the
hours after this small march, people started to prepare for
the music festival which was planned like a like a

(03:49):
few hundred feet away from a Bullhani People's Park. I
guess inside inside like a more like open field area,
and music festival went off without a hitch. The first
day it was pretty pretty rad. Yeah. I think there
was about five hundred people four five hundred people that
first night of the musical festival. Yeah, the vibes were great.
Everyone was having a fun time. I think it went

(04:11):
on until about one am, and I don't think the
first day could have gone better. I think I went
on till about four am. Okay, well I went to
bed at one am. I did not go to bed
at one am. I was. I was at the music
festival quite quite a bit longer. I'm quite a bit older,

(04:31):
and I think that was the reason I had to leave.
So yearson doesn't understand things like needing sleep yet another
year or two before they hit that sweet sweet wall.
So so true. Then then I'll have to find another
teenager to go to journalism. Every like four or five years,

(04:53):
you don't find a new one. Yeah, just just keep
re upping, like Leo DiCaprio. It so so the first
the first day was was pretty good. There was no
no substantial police response that I saw. Police kind of
left people alone in the forest. The march from Gresham

(05:13):
Park was was fine, Um, and people got to spend
a night in the woods again, which you know had
had not had that many people in the woods in
like months. Um. I mean this is this is it
should be said like camping in a music festival, but
it's like relatively high risk because people have gotten significant

(05:34):
charges just for camping in the woods in the past, Yes,
and the very recent past part part. Some of the
warrants that have been issued that justify the charges like
domestic terrorism have included things such as sleeping in a
hammock with someone else in the forest and that's the
reason why they're getting charged as a domestic terrorist. So, yeah,

(05:56):
it is a music festival, people are camping. It's kind
of chill, but also there's absolutely this kind of this
just like this like a ever present kind of fear
that despite what is being done being pretty pretty kind
of like normal and not not not not not in
and of itself militant radical, still the consequences from the

(06:17):
state are kind of always always looming, which kind of
leads us to Sunday, Yeah, which picks up exactly where
we left on. Yeah, so I got there around noon

(06:38):
on Sunday. I think and the first thing we see
is a bouncy castle, large, large bouncy castle in front
of the music festival. It has a big stop Coop
City banner, um, massive multi colored bouncy castle. People are
having a pretty pretty good time. Yeah. As soon as
they finished setting up the bouncy castle, it was it
was filled and everyone. I think there were about seventy

(07:03):
five one hundred people just set up on blankets around
the stage. Initially, I think in the next few hours
that definitely grew to be there being hundreds and hundreds
of people returning to the music festival for the second day,
I mean, I think the march on Saturday was anywhere
between like I saw estimates of anywhere between five hundred

(07:25):
to two thousand people. Music festival seems to be like
over five hundred people. And then on the second day
at the music festival, it slowly grew in size to
again being hundreds and hundreds of people. And it's yeah,
it's it started off just kind of continuing on with
the music, continuing on, with the people, people having having
nice times in the woods. I walked around the campsites,

(07:47):
got had conversations with people talking about all sorts of
anarchy related things and then they're slowly throughout the day.
I think that this was posted on social media as well.
There was a plan for or a rally at five
pm to meet on part of part of the field
that the music festival was also happening on. By the

(08:08):
time that happened, people people met up. The group that
that kind of converged was in a mix of black
block camo block, so like people like covered head to
toe in various various camo print and they set off
from from the RC Field where the music festival was at.
So they left, they they went down Bouldercrest Road to

(08:32):
the section of the woods called the power Line Cut.
So to to understand what is going on here, you
kind of have to understand some of the geography of
the Wilani Forest. So we have like the the Wilani
People's Park parking lot and that immediate kind of kind
of camp site. This is this is like the the
easternmost part, and then there's the RC Field which is

(08:54):
just like right right next to that to the west,
and then even west of that is Entrenchment Creek, and
the Entrenchment Creek kind of divides up this this uh,
this dissection of the forest and then everything everything west
of Entrenchment Creek is generally referred to as like the
as the old Atlanta prison Farm area, and the power

(09:16):
Line Cut is is pretty close to to to the
creek and to that that is kind of where this
this this prison farm section is and this is this
is an area of the woods that cops have been
more rigorous about policing, more rigorous about surveilling, more rigorous
about having kind of constant surveillance and people on the ground.

(09:36):
It's it's estimated that they're spending over forty thousand dollars
a day running security on this part on on this
part of the woods. So yeah, yeah, so see people
for that amount of money, they could hire like more
people than are on the police force if they just
used fiber. That that's really that's really the tactic they

(09:58):
ought to be embracing. And I think if they had
used fiber, they might have had enough people to counter
the protesters. But baby overbloated police salaries. They only had
like twenty people. Yeah, they did not have many. So
this group set down Bouldercrest. They they they marched up
the power line cut. They they laid out like tire
tire barricades in the street. Um. And then upon them

(10:22):
marching marching on the power line cut. Uh. After after
they arrived near the near near the police surveillance set
up that we that we that we just mentioned some
of some of the equipment somehow burst into flames. UM.
People have blamed like shoddy construction. People have said that,
you know, sometimes equipment just does that. Uh. But yes, no,

(10:46):
so people people set set a whole bunch of police
infrastructure on fire, set some construction equipment on fire that
is being used to destroy sections of the forest where
they wanted to build cop city. Um. Police were repelled
its stuff like rocks and fireworks. The cops that were
stationed there very quickly retreated. I think, Uh, lots lots

(11:06):
of stuff was set on fire. There was the surveillance
tower was set on fire. A bulldozer was set on fire. Well,
I mean it's it's winter. People need fires to camp
come from I understand how a UTV was some kind
of like like a like big like big like trailer
like storage unit thing was set on fire. Yes, and
the cops were very worried about that. They didn't know

(11:27):
if there was flammable material inside that you you wouldn't
store flammable materials, and an easily accessible area. We shut
down an entire interstate because we did that a few
years ago. So we would in Atlanta, Atlanta, would all
of Atlanta collectively? UM so so, so this happened. A
thermal chopper from a thermal police helicopter was was watching

(11:52):
all of this. Um honestly, the footage is pretty interesting.
It is it is worth it is worth discussing how
this type of how this type of surveillance works. UM
almost think the same thermal cameras that are on the
bay Racti drones that Turkey makes. By the way, it's
it's it's it's pretty. It's pretty Fucos boomerang. Yeah, oh

(12:15):
absolutely no, it's it's it's it's pretty. It's pretty frightening
with their ability to track into in to track individual people.
I also think it's worth because there's video of the
cops being pelted with stuff, including fireworks. I think it's
worth noting that, Like, while it is unpleasant to be
pelted with the kind of stuff the cops were pelted with,
you and I have both been pelted with numerous fireworks

(12:37):
of similar size and it is not a serious threat
to life and limb. No, no, they're We survived, but
it's modestly unpleasant. But the cops that were there were
not very happy about it. They put out calls for
officer in need of support and for all available units
in the greater Atlanta area to converge on the forest.

(12:58):
People who were who who marched to to this to
the section of the power line cut started to disperse
throughout the woods. And I was back by the road
watching this from hundreds and hundreds of feet away because
I did not need to go up there. That would
not have been helpful in any way. Um. But as this,
as this was happening, a whole bunch of police cars

(13:21):
zoomed by, So I started following those cars. I went
back to the music festival. UM, I met up with
with some with some other other media people that I
was that I was communicating with, and then I got
a text message saying that a cop showed up in
the parking lot of the Wallani People's Park with an
air fifteen. I started making my way over and then

(13:43):
as as I'm running across the music festival, I see
a whole bunch of police at the parking lot for
the music festival itself at the at the RC field.
So I don't I don't make my way over to
the Waalannie People's Park parking lot where there's the Air fifteen,
because instead I see way way or police closer closer
to where I am, so I staged there. Minutes later,

(14:06):
police start running into into the music festival. They start
tackling seemingly anyone who's like by themselves and that they
could like get their hands on. It didn't. It didn't
seem incredibly targeted. Um, it's this is something that will
kind of prope I'll probably like discuss in more detail
once we have slightly more hindsight. But a lot of

(14:26):
the arrests did not seem specifically targeted. In the bail
hearings from just yesterday as a time of recording, they
said they were going after people who had mud on
their clothing and like it it rains a day before
the music festival. Incredible detective work. Only only a true
terrorist would have mud. I think a month and a

(14:49):
half ago, Ryan millsapp tore up the parking lot so
it rained the day before, and anyone who would walk
through that parking lot or the trail system had to
walk through mud you're walking through, but also people are
just sitting on the dirt at the music festival like
so yes, I mean this might also include like useful
advice for people in the future, because if the movie

(15:09):
Predator was telling me the truth and it's never lied
to me yet, coding yourself entirely in mud makes thermal
vision no longer function. Uh huh uh huh. Yeah. Um,
so police police started attack with people. It was definitely
they were going after people who were like by themselves
and yeah, people with mud. The police alleged in their

(15:32):
in their in their warrants that were read out at
the bail hearing that they were going after people who
had metal shields, and they said that almost everyone they
arrested was arrested carrying a metal shield. Now here's a
few funny notes about that. There was not a single
metal shield present at all. There were a few small
plastic shields, not a single metal one. And in looking

(15:55):
through all of the footage of arrests, the footage that
I have that's been sent to NLG for other people
have had no one was arrested carrying a shield, let
alone a metal one m So a whole bunch of
the reasoning for these arrests is incredibly suspect police so
rated once tackled, arrested like five people, carried them out,

(16:16):
they rated again, and this is where they started launching
tear gas into the forest. I got gassed decently bad.
It was not It was not very fun. First time
I've gotten tear gassed in years, old, old old memories.
Um and during this time kiss from a dear friend.
So that was exactly what I was thinking. And I

(16:38):
did not. I brought gas masks to Atlanta, but I
didn't bring them on the Sunday because usually you don't
bring gas masks to a music festival. Yeah, I mean,
the thing about gas, the thing about tear gas and
gas masks is that, like when you're used to getting
tear gassed, it's really easy to have them handy and
get them on. When like you're not used to being

(17:01):
tear gas, you're probably not going to bring it with you. Yeah,
so people got some people in the forest got gassed
pretty bad. I mean, the whole point was to sew confusion,
make it so that people could not hide out in
the woods. It was it's to make people scatter runaways
so that they can be tackled and arrested. One person
that was a national Lawyer's guild, a legal observer, was arrested. Um,

(17:22):
they're also a lawyer at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
This whole boy, this person was the only person arrested
that I'm aware of that was released on bail. Everybody else, everyone,
everyone else is being held indefinitely. That actually includes there
was a second legal observer who was not wearing the hat.
So during the bail hearings yesterday, their lawyer said that

(17:45):
they were a legal observer, but because they weren't wearing
the hat and because they were not local, they were
not given bail. It was reported there was like around
like thirty five arrests the night of yes Initially, APD
released at press release that said there were thirty five
detain which at the time they released it was a
very interesting term because we thought thirty five people had

(18:06):
just been arrested and were on their way to jail. Yeah,
but just about forty five minutes after that, twelve of
those thirty five were released, So this was very curious.
There is a lot of theories going on for what
has happened. I'm gonna I'm just going to relay what

(18:27):
I heard when I was listening to the bail hearings yesterday.
So a defense lawyer for some of the people arrested
said yesterday during the bail hearing that, to his understanding,
the twelve people that were detained but not arrested were
people from Atlanta, and the twenty three people who got
arrested and charged or were not from Atlanta. And part

(18:49):
of so what police could be doing here is basically,
if you're from Atlanta, will we will id you, but
we're not going to actually arrest and charge you, but
you will arrest and charge you if you're from out
of state. So this so they can continue this outside
agitator narrative, so they can say every single person arrested
after this protest was from out of state. Um. The

(19:12):
cops in the media have done a lot of weird
collusion regarding the events of Sunday night. Um, they've conflated
the location of the arrests a lot. Police want to
make this seem like they arrested people at a crime scene,
that like they arrested people as they were like torching
construction equipment. Which just is it's true they arrested people
almost seemingly at random at a music festival that was

(19:35):
like hundreds and hundreds of feet away, like it was.
It is. It is not an it is not an
easy walk from from the power line cut to the
music festival, because not only do you have to go
through some like pretty pretty harsh brush some woods, um
and like jump over a pretty large creek of the alternatively,
you have to like walk down a road, which nobody did.

(19:57):
So the police have done a police and and like
local media, like large like large corporate local media have
have tried to make it seem like that this that
this music festival things just like a red herring that
it's it's not it's not important. But a lot of
the people that that were that were that were arrested,
see seemed to be people that were just enjoying this

(20:18):
music festival. So twenty three of them um have been
charged with domestic terrorism. Most of those people are being
held indefinitely for now. There the the bail hearing's going
to get appealed to the to the Superior Court, where
we'll see if that changes anything. The judge said that
they were not presented with any evidence that these people

(20:38):
did anything wrong, but they still decided to not give
them bail. Um that the judge. The reasoning for that
was that the judge thought that people who did not
have any local ties to the community could be a
flight risk, and some people who did have local ties
to the community, they said, still were a threat to
the community somehow, despite many of them not having any

(21:00):
prior convictions, not not having any prior arrests. It's it
seemed it seemed pretty suspect during during during the during
the bail hearing, but that was that was most of
Sunday night. Um. Eventually police kind of surrounded and kettled
the group of people that that was still still at
the music festival hours after these arrests happened. They gave

(21:21):
like a five minute dispersal warning, and then they gave
a ten minute dispersal warning. Eventually cops let most of
the people who like gathered who were gathered right in
front of the stage leave. That was probably like fifty
people at that point because people throughout the night we're
trying to leave um as as police were, you know,
like rating the forest. Some people were able to some
people were just like let go and like we're able

(21:43):
to leave. Others were detained almost arbitrarily. It's it's it's
it's hard to say. So that that was the first
two days of the Week of Action, and it felt
like a week. What happened the next day? So yeah,

(22:06):
the non violent direct actions and then the Monday the events.
Oh no Monday, yeah, because that was only that was
only the second Is the city council meeting that we
were in for eight hours? Yes, yes, So Monday there
was there was an interfaith coalition of clergy that UH
that have held a press conference outside of city hall.

(22:28):
UM basically like endorsing the stop Cop City movement or
like Clark, how how would you describe what what? What happened?
So there were a couple of elements to the clergy. Um,
we'll just call it an action. The first thing was
they presented a letter with over two hundred other clergy
members who had signed that UH denouncing Cop City, calling

(22:52):
for an independent investigation into the killing of Tortuguita and
calling for an independent investigation into the use of domestic
terror and charges to chill free speech. And then during
that press conference, UH Miko Shabon called for land back
and called for landback in the Wilani Forest to the

(23:15):
Muskogee people. Two stored in um coordination with the legacy
Black residence of the area. Yeah, so they were both
like talking about the need to stop cop city but
also providing a plan on how this land could be used.
This land that is that is leased by the city.

(23:36):
It is on decap County. After this press conference, some
of these people from the coalition gave public comment during
the city council. That was most of the events on
Monday that I can recall. Oh, there was the there
was the poem in the forest that night and that
was that was very enjoyable. That was kind of the

(23:56):
first time people like tried to go back into the
forest since since the Sunday night raid. And I think
that started to slowly boost morality again. Yeah, and I
think we should talk about also after the raid, there
are a few, um really unique things that happened. There
were a lot of people who didn't have housing and
they were housed by local activists. Um. There was the

(24:18):
bus network was set up to transport people from the
site where everyone was getting arrested to somewhere safe. They
moved breakfast offsite to a different location. So there was
a lot of work done in continuing the Week of
Action and providing some sort of infrastructure for all of
these people who had come into town and didn't have
anywhere else to go. Yeah, once again, the resiliency on

(24:42):
display was impressive and people's ability to adapt to the
ever evolving situation was tested, and people adapted pretty well. Tuesday,
there was there was starting to be like typical non
violent direct actions happening throughout to downtown. A whole bunch

(25:03):
of banner drops happened around highways and interstates around Atlanta.
People were detained for y US three people were briefly
detained at the site of of of a banner drop,
but throughout throughout the day there was people handing out
letters to people, to folks like the CEO of Norfolk

(25:27):
Southern Norfolk Southern Alan Shaw, and then similar similar types
of like non violent direct action were happening. A small
a small march was led from Woodroffe Park to At
and T and Georgia pacific Um. There was like maybe
maybe fifty I think fifty is an accurate number. Fifty
people gathered to march. Well, there were fifty marchers gathered

(25:50):
and then like one hundred and twenty police officers in
the in the in the surrounding area, massive, massive police presence.
Police caused a huge, a huge disruption to to downtown.
Um that's something we've seen kind of ever since the
Sunday raid. The police have been incredibly heavy handed in

(26:11):
their response to every single thing, whether that be people
handing out flyers or whether that be you know, uh,
you know, people at people at at at a music festival. Um,
whole a whole bunch of police were mobilized to stay
night near the forest, like a hundred again, like one
hundred and twenty cops at least three or four different agencies, bearcats, helicopters.

(26:34):
I think there, it's it's it's unclear what they were doing. Um,
this is something that we might we might speculate further
on once we have hindsight. When I when I put
together my my kind of my kind of a more
more intense deep dive. And then uh, then today the
thing that me and Clark just got back from. Uh,
how do you want to explain today's today's events? So

(26:58):
today was a lot of leaflet handing out and marching
for it was a smaller group than the march yesterday.
I would say there was like twenty twenty five people. Yeah,
Like it started off being like only only but like
a dozen, um and it's it slowly grew to like
maybe like two or three dozen. But yeah, small, small,
small group of people. Yeah, a small group of people.

(27:19):
And when they met at noon, they met and they
broke into three different groups. Yeah. And so the group
that we followed was just, uh, they walked a little
northward and started passing out flyers at the Petrie Center
Marta station. They went to all three entrances, and each
group warranted its own police surveillance unit, massive police surveyless units.

(27:42):
It was following everybody around. There was there was a
SWAT vehicle parked right right outside where these people were
handing out flyers. Um it was. There was there was
like fifty to one hundred cops flanking people on like
from from like, from like different sides. Eventually all the

(28:02):
all of the smaller groups that kind of branched off
converged again and police then gave a dispersal warning to
people who were on a sidewalk outside of a hard
rock cafe who were handing out flyers. Okay, well they
mean they were in that case, they may have been
protecting people because you want you want to get folks

(28:23):
as far away from the hard rock cafe as possible, Garrison,
And that's a real dangerous I was. I was campaigning
for all of the press gathered to meet afterwards. That's
a hard rock cafe between the hard rocks on that one. So, Garrison,
I watched you at the Rainforest Cafe. You barely made

(28:44):
it through that dessert. That was different, That was different.
I was. I did I did get food poisoning from
that Rainforest Cafe. I will, I will continue to claim.
And I woke up with a headache for an under
an inexplicable reason that because you were carrying around a
bottle of bourbon throat through bourbon and a t or

(29:08):
a milkshake or whatever. Yeah. Yeah, So, so cops gave
it dis personal warding to people who were not not
in fact blocking a sidewalk. We're simply handing out flyers.
People were still walking everywhere. Um. So they basically moved
to a different section of the of the sidewalk and
cops kind of left him alone. Um. Near by, a
group of indigenous activists from the Indian collective. I believe

(29:31):
it's what it's It's actually a Miscogee nation, the Muscogee Nation.
Uh went went to a meeting that the Mayor of Atlanta,
Andre Dickens, was having near by. H Clark, I think
you know slightly more about what happened here than I do. Yes,
So several of the indigenous activists entered. So where he

(29:52):
was having this meeting is a mall in true Atlanta fashion.
Um So they entered them all and they they found
where he was in the building, and uh so Miko
Colonel Chabon delivered a letter essentially evicting the city of
Atlanta from the Wilannie Forest. Uh So they got in

(30:17):
without the police noticing. Um and then the moment they
got out, a large squad of police mobilized. They were
they were not happy how close people got to the mayor.
So at this point we don't know what the full
reaction of that's going to be. We do know that
the mayor ran away from accepting the letter, and then

(30:40):
one of I believe they handed it to one. There
are a few few more beautiful sites than a mayor
running away. More mayors need to spend time fleeing from
their peoples. So I think this this episode comes out,
I think like like late Thursday night, Friday morning, um,

(31:00):
Thursday afternoon there. So, like we are, we are recording
this Wednesday. There's plans for Thursday. There's gonna be there's
gonna be a large march at six pm. I believe
there's gonna be a youth rally at Saturday, and then
on on Sunday morning. Um Manuel torn Tortoquita's family is
holding a memorial for tort in the Wilani forest um

(31:21):
where I've been told that they're going to spread towards
ashes inside the woods, and that is kind of the
last thing that's going to happen. Um. And so those
are the things that have have not not not yet
took place. Um So, but we've we've explained in pretty
pretty in pretty spruciating detail, some of some of what's

(31:42):
happened so far. So yeah, that that's kind of the
current current state of on the ground at the week
of action. UM. I guess, Robert, do you have any
questions for Clark as someone who's kind of been on
the ground in Atlanta for years covering stop city. Yeah,
I mean, I'm curious what over the last few weeks,

(32:03):
like you've you've had some direct clashes with the police
that have ended in a variety of ways. Broadly speaking,
is there anything that you're you're kind of leaning towards
this doesn't work? And is there anything you're kind of
leaning towards This seems to work really well. So there's
something to be said for the more aggressive actions, and

(32:23):
I think they serve their purpose. And there's definitely something
to be said for the forest occupation. It continued the
movement until there was a ground swell of support. So
at this point, I think the actions have sort of
switched gear into more non violent direct actions as we're

(32:46):
seeing this week, and I think that those actions will
will continue. I'm sure that the anarchistic contingent will continue
to do some other more aggressive, shall we say, direct actions. Yeah,
and all of the work. We have a large swath
of different uh avenues of of engagement that the movement

(33:10):
is has developed, and each of them has their place,
and if they're used in the proper place, they're used
to great effect. I think one kind of change that
has happened we've seen We've seen a bit of a
decrease in the types of like nighttime sabotage, like the
the sort of like attack and disappear tactics that was

(33:31):
was really popular in like the early days of the
occupation of of like of of like the fourth occupation
of people living and living and camping out in the woods. Um.
And you know the because like the last two much
more like militant actions were done during the daytime, during
like large rallies. There was there was the protest on
Saturday after Tortuguita was killed where a cop car was torched.

(33:54):
Then there was this, then there was this protest on
on Sunday night um at people that people marched, people
marched to the to the power line cut and then
the police started doing repression at the music festival. UM.
But like those things were happening like during like before
the sun was setting. UM. So I think that that

(34:16):
that's one interesting change. I feel like some people are
definitely thinking about this, especially because there's been twenty three
people arrested during this week of action and they're being
held in jail uh and we have no idea when
they're going, when they're going to be able to have
the option of getting out. So I think this is
something This is something that people are thinking about in
terms of how they are, how they are doing direct action,

(34:38):
and how how their involvement in direct action will affect
people who did not participate, like with people at the
people at the music festival, who who were not who
were not present at the power line cut direct action,
and how some of those people are undoubtedly now facing

(34:58):
like punishment from from the state. UM. So I feel
like that there is definitely going to be some discussion
about that. I've i've i've i've seen discussion about this
threat in the city. Um. But I mean the Week
of Action is still is still ongoing. It is it
is only Wednesday. It feels like it's been a month, um,
but it's only been like three or four days. Uh.

(35:22):
But I mean it's people. People are in this for
the long haul. Um. We're We're starting to see more
solidarity from from groups that are less militant, like with
the Interfaith Coalition right, like you're not. I don't think
any of like the priests, the priests or the clergy
were there throwing maltov cocktails um at the at the

(35:42):
surveillance tower. Yet the very next day they're standing out
outside of City Hall and demanding the same things that
the people throwing maltovs are are demanding. You should be
noted that they didn't denounce No, that is it is
solidarity across the movement. Absolutely. They talked about how them
as clergy you know, and uh, the in the history

(36:05):
of Abrahamic religions, how many how many people associated and
are the figureheads of such religions have been killed by
the state, and how often often these religions have been
in opposition to the state during during their formative years. Um,
and they don't know. I just I just can't think
of any prominent uh Christian figures or Jewish figures who

(36:26):
were who were murdered by the state. That's just not
nothing's coming up right none, zero, Yeah, No, I grew
up Christian and I can't really remember anyone. So um, yeah,
that is. That is. That is the week of action
so far. There will there will certainly be be be
a more a more detailed deep dive with like analysis

(36:49):
and like, you know, a narrative through line in the
coming weeks as we're actually able to like look back
on what has happened. Um, interviews with more people who
are who are like actually involved interviews with like organisers, protesters,
forest defenders, UM. But people despite the ig massive amount
of repression that we've seen on Sunday, the increasingly like

(37:11):
heavy handed response police have had to both direct action
that includes property destruction and non violent direct action. UH.
Despite all that, people are still continuing to be in
the woods. They are not letting it scare them away.
The woods are still a place that the people are
able to like exist in. Uh. They are still able
to live, live together in the woods, stay in the woods.

(37:35):
The cops don't like being in the woods. No, there's
a real fear that you're trying to tear them down. Yes,
the cops are. The cops are still very much scared
of the woods. UM and and UH people have have
have not have not let the violence shown by police
scare them away from from wanting to stay in the forest.

(37:56):
So that is that is something that continued every day.
There's been like guided tours throughout the forest showing off
the different different types of plants, the different sections of
the woods, different different old campsites that people have slept at. UM. Yeah,
it's it's been it's been pretty nice to see with
the with just the incredible level of resilience. Well, I

(38:21):
know that that I am, and I'm sure many people
are kind of watching this from a distance and very
very happy to see that folks are continuing to adapt
and endure and and take punches. It's unfortunate that the
punches keep coming, but the ability of the community to

(38:42):
take those hits and continue iterating and adapting remains tremendously impressive. UM.
I think kind of the note that makes most sense
to end on as to say that this is still
a winnable fight. Absolutely, and that is aiment that literally
everyone on the ground shares like we are at a

(39:04):
point where like people keep saying like at this point
they have to win, like like there there is no
other option than winning, um, And people have the ability
to win this. This is a winnable fight, um. And
that is that is something that people continue continue to
talk about, and that that is why people are fighting
so hard. That's why people are are are risking getting

(39:26):
these ridiculous charges because they know that this fight is
both worth it and they know this fight is winnable.
Like these are these the actions and the risks that
people are The actions and the risks that people are
taking are not for nothing like they they know that
it is impactful and there is a very good chance
that this this will lead to victory and will lead

(39:48):
to the forest being preserved, to being protected and being
able to continue continue to grow. It does have a
feeling of inevitability that they will win, that we're we
will win. I don't know which the appropriate way to
say that is as a journalist, but the feeling is
that that Cops City will not be built and that

(40:10):
is something that shared, I think by all of the
activists in this city. And I guess the last thing
I'll say is, uh, Atlanta Solidarity Fund. You if you
if you've been listening to any of our coverage, you
should already know what it is. You can find the
Solidarity Fund at atl solidarity dot org. You can donate

(40:30):
there to help the force defenders and you know, anyone
who's who's arrested in relation to this with with legal expenses, lawyers,
that sort of thing. Um. Yeah, well, um, that's gonna
do it for this episode. Uh. And we'll have more
from you, Garrison, more from Atlanta soon. Uh. Until next time, everybody, Uh,

(40:55):
keep an eye on shit. It could happen here as
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(41:16):
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