{"id":246,"date":"2023-03-18T12:59:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T12:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/?p=246"},"modified":"2024-07-08T13:01:39","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T13:01:39","slug":"an-historic-direct-action-in-a-forest-outside-atlanta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/?p=246","title":{"rendered":"An Historic Direct Action in a Forest Outside Atlanta"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>DeKalb County, GA \u2013 In broad daylight Sunday, March 5, a group of about three hundred masked people wearing mostly camouflage and black clothing <a href=\"https:\/\/unicornriot.ninja\/2023\/police-raid-atlanta-forest-after-cop-city-opponents-overrun-security-post\/\">stormed the main police security outpost<\/a> within the Weelaunee Forest at the proposed construction site of the \u2018Cop City\u2019 project. Demonstrators tore up silt fencing, and set an office trailer, two UTVs, a mobile surveillance tower, and a front end loader afire as police ran for cover. The group hurled rocks and fireworks at the retreating police, who repositioned to a smaller outpost across Key Road SE and worked furiously to close a gate behind them to establish a barrier between themselves and the advancing group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The moment marked an historic turn in both the environmental and police abolitionist movements, as those seeking a climate-adaptive world without police went on the offensive. An action involving this level of mass participation in coordinated sabotage in defense of both the earth and disenfranchised communities is unprecedented in the modern environmental movement in the U.S.<div id=\"page\" class=\"site\"><div id=\"content-wrapper\" class=\"site-content active-superhead\"><div id=\"primary\" class=\"content-area\"><main id=\"main\" class=\"site-main wrapper\" role=\"main\"><article id=\"post-85164\" class=\"post-85164 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-eco-struggle category-police category-protest-direct-action tag-atlanta tag-atlanta-police tag-atlanta-police-foundation tag-climate-justice tag-cop-city tag-direct-action tag-environmental-activism tag-environmental-justice tag-georgia tag-police-abolition tag-south-river-forest tag-weelaunee-forest tag-weelaunee-peoples-park wpautop\"><div class=\"container content\"><div class=\"post-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"content entry-content\"><p>Although urban uprisings against police violence have become a  visible part of the modern anti-police movement since at least the Oscar  Grant riots in Oakland, California in 2009, these events typically occur shortly after the police kill someone or after the officers  responsible go unpunished. In preventing the construction of a police  training facility, where cops from across the country will train in  urban warfare tactics, the movement in Atlanta doesn\u2019t wait for the  police to harm communities, but instead proactively targets the origin  of mass production of law enforcement officers and the replication of  militarized techniques.\u00a0In order to provide some insight into Sunday\u2019s action, Unicorn Riot  interviewed one anonymous participant about what it felt like, the  motivations and strategies grounding it, and the future of the movement.<\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Unicorn Riot:<\/strong> <strong>What was your experience of the action on Sunday, March 5?<\/strong><\/h3><p><strong>Anonymous Participant<\/strong>: I have never seen anything  like it in this country. Aside from acts of mass, \u201cspontaneous\u201d  rebellion such as riots or uprisings, this was the most serious act of  direct action I have ever witnessed a crowd perform. It was hundreds of  people in masks, many holding shields. Most wore camo or all-black. The  crowd was tight but not in a formation. It wasn\u2019t regimented. This  wasn\u2019t a military assault, it was only a march. The sun was up. The  weather was warm. The music festival crowd cheered and applauded us as  we passed them. I felt safe. I felt calm. The energy was not vengeful or  menacing. It was serious, it was bold, but it was light. I really felt  like I was with a group of people who want to make the world a better,  freer, safer, place. We were chanting <strong>\u201cwe are unstoppable, another world is possible.\u201d<\/strong>  At the time, I really could feel that that was true. When we were close  to the [proposed] construction site, we had a police [helicopter]  hovering over us, we could see police inside of a fencing staring down  at us and we paused. The people holding shields moved to the front.  Everyone chanted and called out for those who had rocks or projectiles  to move behind the shields. You have to understand, people had different  objectives, different tools, dispositions etc. And not everyone wanted  to be up front, to hold a shield, to throw objects. Some people were  there as medics, or even to just hold space, to be present and  supportive in a more unstructured way or an unplanned way I could say.  When we approached the gate finally, it was not chaos, but it was  something like it. Our crowd unleashed a wild burst of energy. It was  incredible and I will never forget it. It was rhythmic almost. We  devastated all of their work. The silt fencing, the vehicles, the  trailer. Everything.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/article><\/main><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>[Photo by Unicorn Riot]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/Although urban uprisings against police violence have become a visible part of the modern anti-police movement since at least the Oscar Grant riots in Oakland, California in 2009, these events typically occur shortly after the police kill someone or after the officers responsible go unpunished. In preventing the construction of a police training facility, where cops from across the country will train in urban warfare tactics, the movement in Atlanta doesn\u2019t wait for the police to harm communities, but instead proactively targets the origin of mass production of law enforcement officers and the replication of militarized techniques.   In order to provide some insight into Sunday\u2019s action, Unicorn Riot interviewed one anonymous participant about what it felt like, the motivations and strategies grounding it, and the future of the movement. Unicorn Riot: What was your experience of the action on Sunday, March 5?  Anonymous Participant: I have never seen anything like it in this country. Aside from acts of mass, \u201cspontaneous\u201d rebellion such as riots or uprisings, this was the most serious act of direct action I have ever witnessed a crowd perform. It was hundreds of people in masks, many holding shields. Most wore camo or all-black. The crowd was tight but not in a formation. It wasn\u2019t regimented. This wasn\u2019t a military assault, it was only a march. The sun was up. The weather was warm. The music festival crowd cheered and applauded us as we passed them. I felt safe. I felt calm. The energy was not vengeful or menacing. It was serious, it was bold, but it was light. I really felt like I was with a group of people who want to make the world a better, freer, safer, place. We were chanting \u201cwe are unstoppable, another world is possible.\u201d At the time, I really could feel that that was true. When we were close to the [proposed] construction site, we had a police [helicopter] hovering over us, we could see police inside of a fencing staring down at us and we paused. The people holding shields moved to the front. Everyone chanted and called out for those who had rocks or projectiles to move behind the shields. You have to understand, people had different objectives, different tools, dispositions etc. And not everyone wanted to be up front, to hold a shield, to throw objects. Some people were there as medics, or even to just hold space, to be present and supportive in a more unstructured way or an unplanned way I could say. When we approached the gate finally, it was not chaos, but it was something like it. Our crowd unleashed a wild burst of energy. It was incredible and I will never forget it. It was rhythmic almost. We devastated all of their work. The silt fencing, the vehicles, the trailer. Everything.\">R<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/Although urban uprisings against police violence have become a visible part of the modern anti-police movement since at least the Oscar Grant riots in Oakland, California in 2009, these events typically occur shortly after the police kill someone or after the officers responsible go unpunished. In preventing the construction of a police training facility, where cops from across the country will train in urban warfare tactics, the movement in Atlanta doesn\u2019t wait for the police to harm communities, but instead proactively targets the origin of mass production of law enforcement officers and the replication of militarized techniques.   In order to provide some insight into Sunday\u2019s action, Unicorn Riot interviewed one anonymous participant about what it felt like, the motivations and strategies grounding it, and the future of the movement. Unicorn Riot: What was your experience of the action on Sunday, March 5?  Anonymous Participant: I have never seen anything like it in this country. Aside from acts of mass, \u201cspontaneous\u201d rebellion such as riots or uprisings, this was the most serious act of direct action I have ever witnessed a crowd perform. It was hundreds of people in masks, many holding shields. Most wore camo or all-black. The crowd was tight but not in a formation. It wasn\u2019t regimented. This wasn\u2019t a military assault, it was only a march. The sun was up. The weather was warm. The music festival crowd cheered and applauded us as we passed them. I felt safe. I felt calm. The energy was not vengeful or menacing. It was serious, it was bold, but it was light. I really felt like I was with a group of people who want to make the world a better, freer, safer, place. We were chanting \u201cwe are unstoppable, another world is possible.\u201d At the time, I really could feel that that was true. When we were close to the [proposed] construction site, we had a police [helicopter] hovering over us, we could see police inside of a fencing staring down at us and we paused. The people holding shields moved to the front. Everyone chanted and called out for those who had rocks or projectiles to move behind the shields. You have to understand, people had different objectives, different tools, dispositions etc. And not everyone wanted to be up front, to hold a shield, to throw objects. Some people were there as medics, or even to just hold space, to be present and supportive in a more unstructured way or an unplanned way I could say. When we approached the gate finally, it was not chaos, but it was something like it. Our crowd unleashed a wild burst of energy. It was incredible and I will never forget it. It was rhythmic almost. We devastated all of their work. The silt fencing, the vehicles, the trailer. Everything.https:\/\/unicornriot.ninja\/2023\/an-historic-direct-action-in-a-forest-outside-atlanta\/\">ead More<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/Although urban uprisings against police violence have become a visible part of the modern anti-police movement since at least the Oscar Grant riots in Oakland, California in 2009, these events typically occur shortly after the police kill someone or after the officers responsible go unpunished. In preventing the construction of a police training facility, where cops from across the country will train in urban warfare tactics, the movement in Atlanta doesn\u2019t wait for the police to harm communities, but instead proactively targets the origin of mass production of law enforcement officers and the replication of militarized techniques.   In order to provide some insight into Sunday\u2019s action, Unicorn Riot interviewed one anonymous participant about what it felt like, the motivations and strategies grounding it, and the future of the movement. Unicorn Riot: What was your experience of the action on Sunday, March 5?  Anonymous Participant: I have never seen anything like it in this country. Aside from acts of mass, \u201cspontaneous\u201d rebellion such as riots or uprisings, this was the most serious act of direct action I have ever witnessed a crowd perform. It was hundreds of people in masks, many holding shields. Most wore camo or all-black. The crowd was tight but not in a formation. It wasn\u2019t regimented. This wasn\u2019t a military assault, it was only a march. The sun was up. The weather was warm. The music festival crowd cheered and applauded us as we passed them. I felt safe. I felt calm. The energy was not vengeful or menacing. It was serious, it was bold, but it was light. I really felt like I was with a group of people who want to make the world a better, freer, safer, place. We were chanting \u201cwe are unstoppable, another world is possible.\u201d At the time, I really could feel that that was true. When we were close to the [proposed] construction site, we had a police [helicopter] hovering over us, we could see police inside of a fencing staring down at us and we paused. The people holding shields moved to the front. Everyone chanted and called out for those who had rocks or projectiles to move behind the shields. You have to understand, people had different objectives, different tools, dispositions etc. And not everyone wanted to be up front, to hold a shield, to throw objects. Some people were there as medics, or even to just hold space, to be present and supportive in a more unstructured way or an unplanned way I could say. When we approached the gate finally, it was not chaos, but it was something like it. Our crowd unleashed a wild burst of energy. It was incredible and I will never forget it. It was rhythmic almost. We devastated all of their work. The silt fencing, the vehicles, the trailer. Everything.\"> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DeKalb County, GA \u2013 In broad daylight Sunday, March 5, a group of about three hundred masked people wearing mostly camouflage and black clothing stormed the main police security outpost within the Weelaunee Forest at the proposed construction site of the \u2018Cop City\u2019 project. Demonstrators tore up silt fencing, and set an office trailer, two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=246"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249,"href":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions\/249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.ryanfatica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}