#86: Stop Cop City / Defend Weelaunee Forest, Part II: Accounts and Solidarity

The Ex-Worker

In this episode, we continue our coverage of the struggle to Stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta, Georgia. While Episode 85 offered a history and analysis of the first phases of the movement, today we present a series of anonymous first person narratives from participants who describe their inspiring and transformative experiences in the forest, originally published in August 2022 as “Beneath the Concrete, the Forest.” The episode opens with the text of a solidarity statement we’re encouraging all listeners to sign with groups or as individuals, in response to the police’s murder of forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran. Around the US and escalating repression of the movement. {January 29, 2023}

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• Table of Contents:

• Ex-Worker Introduction {0:01}

• Episode Introduction {0:36}

• Solidarity with the Movement to Stop Cop City and Defend Weelaunee Forest {1:53}

• Beneath the Concrete, The Forest: Accounts From the Defense of the Atlanta Forest {6:40}
  • The Forest Within Me {11:29}
  • The Forest is a Portal {15:24}
  • Letter from a Treesitter {16:15}
  • When the Barriers Come Down {18:24}
  • A Tour of the Forest {22:15}
  • The Truck Became an Attraction {26:48}
  • Deep into the Future {30:08}
  • This Time, We Were There {32:22}
  • DJing is an Extension of My Everyday Acts of Resistance {35:12}
  • The Sweat Lodge {37:37}
  • To Defend the Forest, Everyone Has to Fight {39:19}
  • Appendix: Not a Music Festival {43:18}

• Conclusion {46:06}

• We opened this episode by sharing this solidarity statement to show support for the movement. If you are part of an organization, or just an interested individual, you can sign on by emailing defendweelaunee at riseup dot net.

• This episode includes anonymous first-person accounts written by participants in the struggle to defend the forest, originally published as Beneath the Concrete, The Forest: Accounts From the Defense of the Atlanta Forest in August 2022.

• For historical background to the struggle and analysis of its emergence and development, check out The City in the Forest: Reinventing Resistance for an Age of Climate Crisis and Police Militarization – which you can also listen to as Episode 85 of the Ex-Worker.

• Support forest defenders facing legal charges by donating to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund.

• To stay updated on developments in the campaign to Stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest, follow Defend the Atlanta Forest and the Atlanta Community Press Collective on Twitter. You can also access, read, and print zines related to the movement from the Defend the Atlanta Forest library.

• See here to read or share remembrances of murdered forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran. You can also donate to a fundraiser for Tortuguita’s family.

• The Stop Reeves-Young website offers info on the campaigns against the contractors and architects involved in the Cop City project.

• This Defend Atlanta Forest linktree will connect you to a variety of resources on social media and beyond.

• The Ex-Worker is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network, an English-language anarchist radio and podcast network run by radical media makers. You can find more coverage of the struggle to Stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest on other CZN projects, including The Final Straw Radio, It’s Going Down, and Kite Line, so check out those projects through the links above if you want to hear more.