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FREE PALESTINE STOP COP CITY PALESTINIAN YOUTH MOVEMENT FEBRUARY 11, 2024
It is clear that Stop Cop City represents one of conjunctural spear tips for expanding the existing systems of counterinsurgency that span Africa, Asia, and the Arab world. Original article online at: https://thenewinquiry.com/free-palestine-stop-cop-city/ Layout by Black Flag Library & Distro Typeset in Helvetica and Racing Sans One using Canva
I ‘South Dekalb County, Georgia, the South River forest forms ‘a canopy so lush and life-giving that it is referred to as one of the “four lungs of Atlanta.” This sprawl of green space was known as "Welaunee” by the native Muscogee people, who were forcibly displaced in the 1830's. Swaths of Welaunee Forest were settled and cleared to make way for a cotton plantation, This history encapsulates the twinned imperatives of the American colonial project: the displacement and genocide of indigenous populations and the stolen labor of enslaved Africans. Today, the Welaunee forest is once again imperiled. On February 10, the Atlanta Police Department (APD) raided the home of Stop Cop City activists in the Lakewood Heights neighborhood of Atlanta. This comes on the heels of APD and FBI targeting of the Stop Cop City movement last Thursday morning, with the execution of one arrest warrant and three search warrants. ‘Strugglers from the community have been repeatedly denied bond and subjected to unjust and humiliating collective punishment at the hands of the police and federal government. ‘The Stop Cop City movement has sought to prevent the expropriation of part of the Welaunee Forest for the development of an 85-acre police mega training center: a model town to prepare the state's repressive arms for the urban warfare that will ensue when the contradictions of their exploitation and extraction become uncontainable, as they did in 2020 after the APD murdered Rayshard Brooks. ‘That murder, and all those that came before, were the lodestars of the Black-led movement during the George Floyd uprisings; their demands were no less than the dismantiement of the entire carceral system. Unable to effectively manage or quell the popular street movements, the Atlanta Police Foundation set out to consolidate and expand their capabilities for surveillance, repression, imprisonment, armed. violence, and forced disappearance. One result is Cop City, which has been racked by militant sabotage, land occupation, arson, and popular mobilizations, in an attempt to end the construction and return Atlanta to its people.
As the Atlanta Police Foundation was unable to contain the 2020 Black rebellion, so too have they been unable to quell the resistance against Cop City. The press reports that the project is hemorrhaging money and is mired in delays and difficulties. For their part, the city, the state, and the federal government, have in turn employed every tool in their power to destroy the movement. Last week, the Georgia State Senate passed a bill to effectively criminalize bail funds in the state; RICO charges have been contorted to target networks of 2
support and care that surround the fighters; and last January, APD assassinated the comrade Tortuguita in cold blood while they rested in their tent in the forest. It is clear that Stop Cop City represents one of conjunctural spear tips for expanding the existing systems of counterinsurgency that span Africa, Asia, and the Arab world, Today the system's belly rests atop Gaza, whose rumblings shake the earth upon which we walk. Through its Georgia International Law 3
Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) program, the APD has sent hundreds of police to train with the Zionist occupation forces. And in October 2023, after Tufan al-Aqsa, the Atlanta Police Department engaged in hostage training inside abandoned hotels, putatively intended to “defeat Hamas,” in an advancement of tactics for the targeting of Black people. With every such expansion, the ability of counterinsurgency doctrines to counteract people's liberation struggles grows. The Purpose of counterinsurgency is to marshal state and para-state Power into political, social, economic, psychological, and military warfare to overwhelm both militants and the popular cradle—the people—who support them. Its aim is to render us hopeless; to isolate and dispossess us and to break our will to resist it by any and all means necessary. This will continue apace, unless we fight to end it ‘Stop Cop City remains undeterred: on Friday, an APD cop car was burt overnight in response to the police operation on February yesterday, two trucks and trailers loaded with lumber were burt to the ground. An anonymous statement claiming credit for the former, stated: “We wish to dispel any notion that people will take this latest wave of repression lying down, or that arresting alleged arsonists will deter future arsons.” As the U.S. government and Zionist entity set their sights on the Palestinian people sheltering in Rafah, as they continue their relentless genocide of our people in Khan Younis, Jabalia, Shuja'iyya, and Gaza City, the Stop Cop City movement has clearly articulated its solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. They have done so with consistency and discipline, and we have heard them. Our vision of freedom in this life and the next requires us to confront and challenge the entangled forces of oppression in Palestine and in Turtle Island, and to identify the sites of tension upon which these systems distill their forces. This week, as with the last three years, the forest defenders have presented us one such crucible,
Knowledge must be presented in a manner that ‘enlarges the horizon instead of restricting it. Louise Michel
As the U.S. government and Zionist entity set their sights on the Palestinian people sheltering in Rafah, as they continue their relentless genocide of our people in Khan Younis, Jabalia, Shuja’iyya, and Gaza City, the Stop Cop City movement has clearly articulated its solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. They have done so with consistency and discipline, and we have heard them.


FREE PALESTINE
STOP COP CITY

PALESTINIAN YOUTH MOVEMENT
FEBRUARY 11, 2024


It is clear that Stop Cop City
represents one of conjunctural spear
tips for expanding the existing
systems of counterinsurgency that
span Africa, Asia, and the Arab world.

Original article online at:
https://thenewinquiry.com/free-palestine-stop-cop-city/
Layout by Black Flag Library & Distro

Typeset in Helvetica and Racing Sans One using Canva
I ‘South Dekalb County, Georgia, the South River forest forms

‘a canopy so lush and life-giving that it is referred to as one of
the “four lungs of Atlanta.” This sprawl of green space was known as
"Welaunee” by the native Muscogee people, who were forcibly
displaced in the 1830's. Swaths of Welaunee Forest were settled and
cleared to make way for a cotton plantation,

This history encapsulates the twinned imperatives of the American
colonial project: the displacement and genocide of indigenous
populations and the stolen labor of enslaved Africans. Today, the
Welaunee forest is once again imperiled.

On February 10, the Atlanta Police Department (APD) raided the
home of Stop Cop City activists in the Lakewood Heights
neighborhood of Atlanta. This comes on the heels of APD and FBI
targeting of the Stop Cop City movement last Thursday morning, with
the execution of one arrest warrant and three search warrants.
‘Strugglers from the community have been repeatedly denied bond and
subjected to unjust and humiliating collective punishment at the hands
of the police and federal government.

‘The Stop Cop City movement has sought to prevent the expropriation
of part of the Welaunee Forest for the development of an 85-acre
police mega training center: a model town to prepare the state's
repressive arms for the urban warfare that will ensue when the
contradictions of their exploitation and extraction become
uncontainable, as they did in 2020 after the APD murdered Rayshard
Brooks.

‘That murder, and all those that came before, were the lodestars of the
Black-led movement during the George Floyd uprisings; their demands
were no less than the dismantiement of the entire carceral system.
Unable to effectively manage or quell the popular street movements,
the Atlanta Police Foundation set out to consolidate and expand their
capabilities for surveillance, repression, imprisonment, armed.
violence, and forced disappearance. One result is Cop City, which has
been racked by militant sabotage, land occupation, arson, and popular
mobilizations, in an attempt to end the construction and return Atlanta
to its people.


As the Atlanta Police Foundation was unable to contain the 2020
Black rebellion, so too have they been unable to quell the resistance
against Cop City. The press reports that the project is hemorrhaging
money and is mired in delays and difficulties. For their part, the city,
the state, and the federal government, have in turn employed every
tool in their power to destroy the movement. Last week, the Georgia
State Senate passed a bill to effectively criminalize bail funds in the
state; RICO charges have been contorted to target networks of

2


support and care that surround the fighters; and last January, APD
assassinated the comrade Tortuguita in cold blood while they rested in
their tent in the forest. It is clear that Stop Cop City represents one of
conjunctural spear tips for expanding the existing systems of
counterinsurgency that span Africa, Asia, and the Arab world,

Today the system's belly rests atop Gaza, whose rumblings shake the
earth upon which we walk. Through its Georgia International Law

3
Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) program, the APD has sent
hundreds of police to train with the Zionist occupation forces. And in
October 2023, after Tufan al-Aqsa, the Atlanta Police Department
engaged in hostage training inside abandoned hotels, putatively
intended to “defeat Hamas,” in an advancement of tactics for the
targeting of Black people.

With every such expansion, the ability of counterinsurgency
doctrines to counteract people's liberation struggles grows. The
Purpose of counterinsurgency is to marshal state and para-state
Power into political, social, economic, psychological, and military
warfare to overwhelm both militants and the popular cradle—the
people—who support them. Its aim is to render us hopeless; to
isolate and dispossess us and to break our will to resist it by any and
all means necessary. This will continue apace, unless we fight to end
it

‘Stop Cop City remains undeterred: on Friday, an APD cop car was
burt overnight in response to the police operation on February
yesterday, two trucks and trailers loaded with lumber were burt to
the ground. An anonymous statement claiming credit for the former,
stated: “We wish to dispel any notion that people will take this latest
wave of repression lying down, or that arresting alleged arsonists will
deter future arsons.”



As the U.S. government and Zionist entity set their sights on the
Palestinian people sheltering in Rafah, as they continue their
relentless genocide of our people in Khan Younis, Jabalia,
Shuja'iyya, and Gaza City, the Stop Cop City movement has clearly
articulated its solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. They have
done so with consistency and discipline, and we have heard them.
Our vision of freedom in this life and the next requires us to confront
and challenge the entangled forces of oppression in Palestine and in
Turtle Island, and to identify the sites of tension upon which these
systems distill their forces. This week, as with the last three years,
the forest defenders have presented us one such crucible,




Knowledge must be presented in a manner that
‘enlarges the horizon instead of restricting it.

Louise Michel
























As the U.S. government and
Zionist entity set their sights
on the Palestinian people
sheltering in Rafah, as they
continue their relentless
genocide of our people in Khan
Younis, Jabalia, Shuja’iyya,
and Gaza City, the Stop Cop
City movement has clearly
articulated its solidarity with
the Palestinian struggle. They
have done so with consistency

and discipline, and we
have heard them.