from Defend the Atlanta Forest

The Jersey Counter-Info Collective and NJ Hate Watch endorse this statement of solidarity. – Remember the dead, fight for the living.

Statement in solidarity with the movement to stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee forest. To add your name or organization, please contact defendweelaunee@riseup.net.

We call on all people of good conscience to stand in solidarity with the movement to stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta.

On January 18, in the course of their latest militarized raid on the forest, police in Atlanta shot and killed a person. This is only the most recent of a series of violent police retaliations against the movement. The official narrative is that Cop City is necessary to make Atlanta “safe,” but this brutal killing reveals what they mean when they use that word.

Forests are the lungs of planet Earth. The destruction of forests affects all of us. So do the gentrification and police violence that the bulldozing of Weelaunee Forest would facilitate. What is happening in Atlanta is not a local issue.

Politicians who support Cop City have attempted to discredit forest defenders as “outside agitators.” This smear has a disgraceful history in the South, where authorities have used it against abolitionists, labor organizers, and the Civil Rights Movement, among others. The goal of those who spread this narrative is to discourage solidarity and isolate communities from each other while offering a pretext to bring in state and federal forces, who are the actual “outside agitators.” The consequence of that strategy is on full display in the tragedy of January 18.

Replacing a forest with a police training center will only create a more violently policed society, in which taxpayer resources enrich police and weapons companies rather than addressing social needs. Mass incarceration and police militarization have failed to bring down crime or improve conditions for poor and working-class communities.

In Atlanta and across the US, investment in police budgets comes at the expense of access to food, education, childcare, and healthcare, of affordable and stable housing, of parks and public spaces, of transit and the free movement of people, of economic stability for the many. Concentrating resources in the hands of police serves to defend the extreme accumulation of wealth and power by corporations and the very rich.

What do cops do with their increased budgets and their carte blanche from politicians? They kill people, every single day. They incarcerate and traumatize schoolchildren, parents, loved ones who are simply struggling to survive. We must not settle for a society organized recklessly upon the values of violence, racism, greed, and careless indifference to life.

The struggle that is playing out in Atlanta is a contest for the future. As the catastrophic effects of climate change hammer our communities with hurricanes, heat waves, and forest fires, the stakes of this contest are clearer than ever. It will determine whether those who come after us inherit an inhabitable Earth or a police state nightmare. It is up to us to create a peaceful society that does not treat human life as expendable.

The forest defenders are trying to create a better world for all of us. We owe it to the people of Atlanta and to future generations everywhere to support them.

Here are some ways to support the defense of the forest in Atlanta:

Donate to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund to support legal costs for arrested protestors and ongoing legal action.
Call on investors in the project to divest from Cop City (list of APF investors). Call on builders of the project to drop their construction contracts.
Organize political solidarity bail funds, forest defense funds, and forest defense committees where you live.
Organize or participate in local solidarity actions.
Endorse and circulate this statement of solidarity.

Endorsements

To endorse this statement, enter your email below, or contact us at defendweelaunee@riseup.net. This list will be updated regularly.

350.org
Adrienne Carey Hurley
Andrew Hinz (Baltimore, MD)
Andrew Zonneveld (Atlanta, GA)
Anonymous comrades from Pellice, Infernotto, Susa valleys (Piedmont, Italy)
[Antimidia](https://antimidia.noblogs.org/)
Asheville Anti-Racism (Asheville, NC)
Atlanta Antifascists (Atlanta, GA)
Atlanta Community Press Collective
Atlanta Justice Alliance (Atlanta, GA)
Autonomous Research Institute for Direct Democracy and Social Ecology
Bay Area Anti-Repression Committee (Bay Area, CA)
Beth Foss
Black Powder Press
Brown Recluse Zine Distro (Oakland, CA)
Chase Iron Eyes
Chicago Against Cop City (Chicago, IL)
Christopher Brannen (Atlanta, GA)
Cindy Barukh Milstein
Clouded Mind
Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists (Colorado Springs, CO)
Community Books (Stone Mountain, GA)
[CrimethInc.]
Daniel Fischer
Detritus Books
Diablo Rising Tide
Dirty South Right Watch
East Tennessee Harm Reduction
The Fellowship of the Hellbound
Firestorm Books (Asheville, NC)
Florida Prisoner Solidarity
Friend of a Friend NYC (Manhattan, NY)
Friends Print Collective (Minneapolis, MN)
Hellbender (Asheville, NC)
Ill Will magazine
Industrial Workers of the World Tallahassee
It’s Going Down
Jarrod Shanahan
Jax Veg Fest (Jacksonville, FL)
Jersey Counter-Info Collective (NJ)
Joshua Potash
Jules Bentley (Athens, Greece)
La Mer Monte, cycle d’écologie anticapitaliste, Marseille (France)
Lauren Sobchak (Kansas City, MO)
Leah Ayer, *Elements of Mutual Aid*
Les Peuples Veulent/The Peoples Want
Lisa Jouet (Atlanta, GA)
Lundi Matin (France)
Merrie M Kelly, Oregon Insurance Lady (OR)
Michigan Solidarity Bail Fund
Minneapolis Against Cop City (Minneapolis, MN)
Nix Makoff (Chicago, IL)
No Bonzo
North California Environment Protection Group (CA)
North East Anarchist Group (UK)
Olympia Jail Support (Olympia, WA)
On Our Own Authority! Publishing (Atlanta, GA)
Payton McDonald, *Elements of Mutual Aid*
People 4 The People (Atlanta, GA)
PM Press
Ralph Macdonald (Decatur, GA)
Ray Gorlin
Rising Tide North America
Robert Lee (Tallahassee, FL)
Ryan Deitsch (Parkland, Florida)
Savannah Against Cop City! (GA)
Savannah Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) (GA)
Save the Meadows (Philadelphia, PA)
Seitanic Jax (Jacksonville, FL)
Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ)
ShutDownDC (Washington, D.C.)
Soup For My Family (Atlanta, GA)
Spirit of May 28
Timothy Cominghay
Timothy Jouet (Atlanta, GA)
Vallejo for Racial Justice
Williams College Young Democratic Socialists of America (Williamstown, MA)
Yanawana Herbolarios (San Antonio, TX)
Yes We Cannibal art collective (Baton Rouge, LA)
Tess Moschetta
E.R. Anderson (Decatur, GA)
Rose City Antifa (Portland, OR)
NJ Hate Watch
Frankie Baker
National Lawyers Guild Bay Area Chapter (San Francisco, CA)
Irregular Rhythm Asylum (Tokyo, Japan)
Alisha Bicknell
The People’s Media NYC
Siskiyou Rising Tide (OR)
Andi Smith
The Healing Underground
Charis Books and More (Decatur, GA)
Charis Circle (GA)
National Lawyers Guild Detroit & Michigan Chapter
Resurgens John Brown Gun Club (Atlanta, GA)
Green Cove Defense Committee (Olympia, WA)
Arm in Arm 4 Climate (Washington, DC)
Greenback Guerilla Distro (Miami, FL)
Extinction Rebellion (Bloomington, IN)
Mergoat Magazine (Knoxville, TN)
Margot Land Design (Knoxville, TN)
Michigan General Defense Committee
Dirty Hands Collective
Joshua Robinson (Edwardsville, IL)
350PDX (Portland, OR)
Distribuidora Anarquista Polaris (Galicia, Spain)
Manchester GMB (UK)
John Johnson (Knoxville, TN)
Charli Ash
Communities United Against Police Brutality (Minneapolis, MN)
Coffee with Comrades
Chris de Ocejo (Holyoke, MA)
Tucson Bail Fund (AZ)
Showing Up for Racial Justice (Tucson, AZ)
Pride was a Riot (Sacramento, CA)
The Lavender Angels
Geoff Doner, Bureau of Power and LIght Art Collective (Toronto, CA)
Caleb Wexler
Survival Resistance (Atlanta, GA)
Jeff Clark (Ypsilanti, MI)
Megan Rosner (Roswell, GA)
Shane Burley
Josh Fox, Awake, A Dream from Standing Rock
Feed the People Farms (GA)
Oil and Gas Action Network (Oakland, CA)
Lane Phillips (Omaha, NE)
Judith’s Dagger
Washington Square Park Mutual Aid (NYC)
subMedia
Guerrilla Grafters
Coven Intelligence Program
Margaretha Haughwout
Oliver Kellhammer
Keyanna Jones
Jerrod Moore
Popular Organization Francisco Villa de Izquierda Independiente (Los Panchos) (Mexico)
Parque Comunitario Panul (La Florida, Chile)
Red por la Defensa de la Precordillera (Santiago, Chile)
Salvemos el santuario de Hualpén (Bio Bio, Chile)
Coordinadora Territorial Wallpen (Bio Bio, Chile)
Farris Fisher (Dallas, TX)
Resist & Abolish the Military Industrial Complex
Barton Prisoner Solidarity Project (Hamilton, ON)
Thomas Lamarre
Stop the Sweeps Eugene (OR)
Pipeline Legal Action Network
Jericho Movement of Boston (Boston, MA)
Russell Bates (Berkeley, CA)
Minnesota Uprising Arrestee Support
Steve Lord (Boston, MA)
Oakland County Mutual Aid (MI)
The Last Real Indians
Fight Toxic Prisons
Bellingham Forest Defense (WA)
CivilSeed (Tucson, AZ)
No Exceptions Prison Collective
Earthfire Abbey
Chuang Collective (China)
Eugene Jail Support (OR)
Free Hearts Tennessee
SoCal Anti-Fascists
Second Rainbow Coalition
A World Without Police (ATL, GA)
Sunshine Bond (New Orleans, LA)
Chicago Free Media Collective
Garden Anarchist Network
East River Park Conservancy (NYC)
Casey Sharp (Atlanta, GA)
Carly (Bellingham, WA)
Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee
Social Justice Action Center (Portland, OR)
Justseeds Artist Cooperative
Death Care WNC
Muchacha Fanzine (San Antonio, TX)
Love Has No Borders (Tampa, FL)
Climate Defense Project
Anarchist Pedagogies Collective
New Jersey Trans and Queer Defense Project
Lisa Fithian
Martin Mantxo
A Planeta (Spain)
The Centre for Land Affairs (Hong Kong)
Rich Garella (Philadelphia, PA)
Anarcoraxa
Lucy Flanagan (Seattle, WA)
Montreal Anarchist Bookfair Collective
Community Not Cages (Winona, MN)
Detroit Will Breathe (Detroit, MI)
National Lawyers Guild
Agency Collective
Sunrise Movement (Bowling Green, KY)
Charlotte John Brown Gun Club
Survival Resistance
L.A. Kearns (Decatur, GA)
NorCal Resist (Sacramento, CA)
Queers Bash Back (Columbia, SC)
Rev. Alan Dicken (Cincinnati, OH)
Medusa & Waffles (Atlanta, GA)
Solano Unity Network
Ricky Maddix
Seaside Sounds Club of Connecticut
Save the Hammarby Forest (Stockholm, Sweden)
Bokkafé Angbett (Sweden)
Anarkism.info (Sweden)
Cascadia Forest Defenders
Extinction Rebellion Boston
Kelly Hayes, Lifted Voices (Chicago, IL)
Savannah Federation of Democratic Women (Savannah, GA)
Illegibles (Poland)
Street Medics Corpus Christi (TX)
Nicholas Isom (Atlanta, GA)
350 New Hampshire Action
No Coal No Gas (NH)
Portland Rising Tide (OR)
Antidote Zine (antidotezine.com)
Fridays for Future Flensburg (Germany)
Black Mosquito (Germany)
Anna Harrison (Mableton, GA)
John Leslie, Mid-Atlantic Workers’ Voice (Philadelphia, PA)
SAFE Boulder (Boulder, CO)
Spill Paint Art Action Collective (Twin Cities, MN)
Siskiyou Abolition Project (OR)
Glenn Carroll (Decatur, GA)
Colombia Freedom Collective
The Antifada Podcast
Emergency Release (NY) emergencyrelease.org
Iglesias Gardens (Philadelphia, PA)
Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project (OR)
Willamette Valley Abolition Project (OR)
Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America (GA)
Workers Voice / La Voz de los Trabajadores
Michael Schreiber (Philadelphia, PA)
Herban Bridge Allies (Bridgeport, CT)
@OccupyWallStNYC
Reale Justice Network (Kansas City, MO)
Jay B
Green and Red Podcast
Timothy Eugene White Aiken
Jerome Jackson (Silver Spring, MD)
Salem Neighborhood Anarchist Collective (OR)
Salem Food Not Bombs (OR)
Marxist Unity Group – DSA
Anarchist Radio Relay League
The Syrian Cantina (France)
Edist.ro Project
Mutual Aid Disaster Relief
Decolonial Solidarity (Canada)
National Lawyers Guild – Minnesota
Adam Horowitz (Decatur, GA)
Ricardo Levins Morales (MN)
Karly Scott (OR)
Lib Aubuchon (Southside Atlanta)
Clayton Trumbull
Gibson
Recalcitrant Seeds
Rachel Arney
Ben Ritter
Erin
Ashley Pollard
Jenn P. (Roanoke, VA)
Jay Ulfelder
Peter Lubbs
Kendall Hayes
Rainforest Action Network
Water Protector Legal Collective
Arthur Fonseca (Picuris Puebla, NM)
Kolektiva
Joseph Albernaz (NY)
Lateef McLeod (Oakland, CA)
Breach Collective (Eugene, OR)
Emma Goldman Book Club (Dallas, TX)
National Lawyers Guild – Vermont
Center for Grassroots Organizing (VT)
Climate Disobedience Center
IkiyA Collective (Indian Territory, Oklahoma)
Drymifolia Collective (Cascadian Bioregion)
Deanville Celestine