The state of Georgia has indicted over 60 protesters on organized crime and racketeering charges over their involvement in the movement to stop the construction of a $90 million police training facility in Atlanta that opponents have dubbed “Cop City.”
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RICO charges can result in a fine or a five to 20 year prison sentence in Georgia.
Battling Against A $90 Million 'Cop City' - YouTube
"Atlanta is building a $90 million state-of-the-art police training facility that activists call “Cop City.” Major corporations like UPS, Home Depot and Delta Airlines are investing millions of Dollar into the project...."
Charlie Tennenbaum has been jailed for >7 weeks over flyers notifying state trooper Jonathan Salcedo's neighbors that Salcedo is tied to the killing of a #StopCopCity activist.
“I think it’s protected by the First Amendment... I have the right to raise awareness about this."
Today, a prosecutor announced that Georgia State Patrol SWAT troopers Brylend Myers, Jerry Parrish, Jonathan Salcedo, Mark Lamb, Ronaldo Kegel, and Royce Zah will not face charges for killing #StopCopCity protester Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán on Jan. 18.
BREAKING: This morning in Atlanta, Georgia authorities raided a home with a SWAT team to arrest 3 organizers of a bail fund used to help #StopCopCity protesters get out of jail.
Despite having gathered over 115,000 signatures of local voters who want to put #StopCopCity on the ballot - the city of #Atlanta is attempting to block the referendum. Today, officials refused to accept boxes of signatures, and claim they are waiting for "a decision from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over whether" a recent "judge’s deadline extension was lawful."
When their power is threatened - Democrats - just as with the Republicans - are doubling down on voter suppression and the trampling of basic democratic rights.
What are the "proper channels" for change, when the State is hell bent on refusing to follow even its own basic rules?
"You have the fight against environmental defense. You have the fight for racial equality. You have the fight against capitalism. And of course, you have the fight against police militarization or the fight for police abolition," said Matt Scott, a journalist w. the Atlanta Community Press Collective
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We are heartbroken by the news out of the Weelaunee forest.
Forever Fuck the Police.
We recently happened upon some stickers received from #StopCopCity comrades, and we'll be sending them in every package until we run out. A tiny and wholly inadequate response to murderous repression, but it's what we can offer at this time.
On the final day of the #StopCopCity summit in Arizona, multiple protesters locked down in front of the suburban mansion of a Nationwide Insurance executive to pressure Nationwide to stop supporting police militarization.
Across the country in New York City, 200 people marched to the joint offices of AXA XL and Nationwide Insurance, both of which profit from the ongoing genocide in Gaza as well as their ties to the Atlanta police foundation and Cop City. Over 100 protesters stormed to the building, hanging banners and disrupting business.
If you’re in the US and not following what’s happening in Atlanta, Georgia, it is very chilling.
Basic organizing and mutual aid is being called terrorism and bail fundraisers are being charged with racketeering.
And this is after police killed an Indigenous activist on site.
This is the next level of criminalizing protest. All because people have been trying to save a patch of forest slated for a massive militarized training facility for police.
#StopCopCity Week of Action Panel: Dirty South’s History of Overpolicing Atlanta
A speaking event Friday evening examined the historical continuity of racist and violent policing in Atlanta. The ‘town hall’ event was hosted by Hip Hop Caucus, and had panelists from Community Movement Builders, Southern Center for Human Rights, Black Men Build and Black Male Initiative Georgia.
The #StopCopCity movement’s sixth ‘Week of Action’ is getting underway at Brownwood Park in southeast Atlanta today - a variety of protests, gatherings, workshops and discussions are slated to take place around Atlanta over the next 7 days
A collective of Jewish anarchists involved in the fight to #StopCopCity in Atlanta explains why they are committed to solidarity with Palestinians and what they think it will take to halt the assault on Gaza.
They explore the protests calling for a ceasefire, arguing that solidarity movements must shift from presenting demands to taking direct action.
As the first trial in the RICO case in Atlanta gets underway, both Attorney General John Fowler and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution are spreading outrageous falsehoods—for example, alleging that “The International Workers of The World... issue instructions on anarchy [sic] and committing crime.”
There is no organization called the "International Workers of the World." Fowler is presumably referring to the Industrial Workers of the World, an aboveboard labor organization that—contrary to this cartoonish AJC article—is not run by the legal support workers that Fowler is absurdly charging with violating the RICO act.
From Donald Trump's claims about the 2020 election to this trumped-up court case, intentionally spreading lies is an integral part of the authoritarian strategy. Never take anything they say at face value.