Defend The Atlanta Forest is circulating this assertion of solidarity, and asking folks to signal on. I’ve already accomplished so, and I’d encourage you to learn the assertion, and achieve this your self:
We name on all folks of fine conscience to face in solidarity with the motion to cease Cop Metropolis and defend the Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta.
On January 18, in the middle of their newest militarized raid on the forest, police in Atlanta shot and killed an individual. That is solely the newest of a collection of violent police retaliations towards the motion. The official narrative is that Cop Metropolis is critical to make Atlanta “secure,” however this brutal killing reveals what they imply once they use that phrase.
Forests are the lungs of planet Earth. The destruction of forests impacts all of us. So do the gentrification and police violence that the bulldozing of Weelaunee Forest would facilitate. What is going on in Atlanta is just not a neighborhood subject.
Politicians who assist Cop Metropolis have tried to discredit forest defenders as “exterior agitators.” This smear has a disgraceful historical past within the South, the place authorities have used it towards abolitionists, labor organizers, and the Civil Rights Motion, amongst others. The objective of those that unfold this narrative is to discourage solidarity and isolate communities from one another whereas providing a pretext to herald state and federal forces, who’re the precise “exterior agitators.” The consequence of that technique is on full show within the tragedy of January 18.
Changing a forest with a police coaching middle will solely create a extra violently policed society, by which taxpayer sources enrich police and weapons firms reasonably than addressing social wants. Mass incarceration and police militarization have didn’t convey down crime or enhance situations for poor and working-class communities.
In Atlanta and throughout the US, funding in police budgets comes on the expense of entry to meals, training, childcare, and healthcare, of inexpensive and secure housing, of parks and public areas, of transit and the free motion of individuals, of financial stability for the numerous. Concentrating sources within the arms of police serves to defend the acute accumulation of wealth and energy by firms and the very wealthy.
What do cops do with their elevated budgets and their carte blanche from politicians? They kill folks, each single day. They incarcerate and traumatize schoolchildren, dad and mom, family members who’re merely struggling to outlive. We should not accept a society organized recklessly upon the values of violence, racism, greed, and careless indifference to life.
The wrestle that’s taking part in out in Atlanta is a contest for the long run. Because the catastrophic results of local weather change hammer our communities with hurricanes, warmth waves, and forest fires, the stakes of this contest are clearer than ever. It’s going to decide whether or not those that come after us inherit an inhabitable Earth or a police state nightmare. It’s as much as us to create a peaceable society that doesn’t deal with human life as expendable.
The forest defenders are attempting to create a greater world for all of us. We owe it to the folks of Atlanta and to future generations in all places to assist them.
Listed here are some methods to assist the protection of the forest in Atlanta:
- Donate to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund to assist authorized prices for arrested protestors and ongoing authorized motion.
- Name on buyers within the challenge to divest from Cop Metropolis (list of APF investors). Name on builders of the project to drop their development contracts.
- Arrange political solidarity bail funds, forest protection funds, and forest protection committees the place you reside.
- Arrange or take part in native solidarity actions.
- Endorse and flow into this assertion of solidarity.
Head over to their page to signal on, and to see the lengthy record of individuals and organizations who’ve already accomplished so. You may also discover extra details about what’s happening there, in addition to by following It’s Going Down. I’ve additionally written one or three posts relating to the topic, if that pursuits you.
And in case you have a platform, as acknowledged above, take into account circulating the assertion of solidarity.
