It Could Happen Here - Crackdown on Stop Cop City

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

Sabotage attacks continue across the country as state repression intensifies. Meanwhile, organizers experiment with new forms of mass action. https://givebutter.com/tLAvDE https://www.freejack.co/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into tech's elite and how they've turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso

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Submit your podcast today at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards. Calls on media. Get ready for anarchy in Atlanta. This is an illegal protest. You guys need to disperse or you will be arrested. Anarchists start work. They struck again this week. Cops are approaching now.

Obviously got a flashbang. This is It Could Happen Here. I'm Garrison Davis. For the past three years, a wide range of people in Atlanta, Georgia have been working to prevent the construction of a now $110 million militarized police training facility in the South River Forest in Southeast Atlanta. I've continuously covered the evolving struggle on It Could Happen Here for the past few years now. In this episode, I will attempt to summarize some of the actions from the past six months and the wave of recent repression targeted against the movement. I will also

offer some analysis and critique on behalf of anonymous force defenders who spoke with me in dedicated conversations. After the last week of action in summer of 2023, it was clear the movement needed a new way for people to engage in the struggle against Cop City, beyond the referendum and the occasional nighttime sabotage. Forced encampments were essentially impossible, and the weeks of action seemed to expunge their usefulness. A small group of people began organizing what would become known as Block Cop City. The idea was that on Monday, November 13th, a mass mobilization would descend upon the Cop City construction site in an act of non-violent protest, and perhaps plant tree saplings where the forest once stood.

This marks the first time that the framing of quote-unquote strategic non-violence and non-violent direct action were embraced for a mass action like this, hoping that it may attract NGOs and activist groups to co-sign onto the action. Historically, throughout this struggle, such quote-unquote non-violent framing was at least avoided, if not explicitly rejected, as a limiting restriction toward achieving measurable victories against the Atlanta Police Foundation and Cop City contractors. Throughout the end of summer and the start of fall, a speaking tour for Block Cup City traveled to over 80 cities around the country to promote the action and recruit people to travel to Atlanta come November. Block Cup City started as a very vertical, top-down plan. The central conceit was decided upon by a small number of individuals,

many of whom were not from Atlanta, and the finer details would be worked out in a series of public meetings in the days before the action. Whether or not local force defenders liked or disliked the proposal, Block Cup City acted as a gravity well, sucking nearly all of the proposal, Block Hop City acted as a gravity well, sucking nearly all of the energy, time, and attention into its orbit for the entirety of a fall in Atlanta. Throughout the nationwide Block Hop City speaking tour, a small subset of attendees voiced objections and

disagreements with the proposed strategy and its use of time and resources. Those opposed to Block Hop City thought the idea of a large public march to the worksite was going to put people in unnecessary harm without doing much to achieve a measurable blow against Cop City. I'm going to quote from a report back that was published online shortly after the action. Quote, something that tends to happen in autonomous action is that there ends up being an inner circle at the core, which can limit the scope of who is able to meaningfully contribute to the direction of an action because it creates a hierarchy. At Spokes Council, it felt like this at times because it was primarily a small group of speakers who were directing the entire block cop city movement.

This led to dismissal of certain concerns, which were brought up by affinity groups, unquote. have your cameras ready because there will be arrests at noon, demonstrating some form of intent to use people's safety and freedom as a way to generate online buzz with the hope of inspiring people to once again take action in the forest. The possibility of arrest was obviously mentioned at the Spokes Council meetings, but was framed as far from a certainty, with rallying cries insisting that the march will be able to all leave together. During the two days of spokes-council meetings, the route and formation of the march to the construction site was decided upon, and quote-unquote direct action trainings took place to prepare people for the march on Monday morning.

The march was to be split into three distinct clusters, a front line, middle, and rear. Before the march, there was limited communication between clusters, making it difficult to have informed expectations of how a confrontation with police will happen. Part of the quote-unquote strategic non-violence stipulation meant that thrown objects and projectiles were explicitly meant that thrown objects and projectiles were explicitly disallowed. On the morning of the march, word started to spread around that what was left of the frontline cluster decided that only bullets will make the frontline fall back, and that they would withstand all other forms of police violence,

mostly less lethal rounds, tear gas, batons, etc. Now, this whole thing about live rounds was not widely communicated to people who just showed up for the action on Monday morning. During the spokescouncils, it was learned that a vast majority of attendees had never before been to Atlanta or the forest, and a great many of whom had never attended a protest or engaged in a clash with police before. Some local forced offenders took issue with the perceived strategy of primarily recruiting young people from across the country with little to no experience going up against police. Come Monday morning, the number of people gathered to march on Cop City was far fewer than what was initially hoped. It's impossible to say

for sure whether the limiting of acceptable tactics and the non-violent framing hurt or helped the final number of attendees. Regardless, the 400 or so brave people that departed Gresham Park was not the mass action initially envisioned by organizers. not the mass action initially envisioned by organizers. We've got about three dozen riot cops and SWAT teams stationed here, blocking off the road, heading to the west. We've got police shields, we have AR-15s, we have tactical response vehicles, ATV. A lot of cops behind us, a lot of cops in front of us. We are completely sandwiched in by the police right now.

The frontliners approached the police riot line at the big intersection near the entrance to Entrenchment Creek Park. Two large banners formed a V-shaped wedge, and the crowd advanced into the police line. People are pushing through, cops are putting up a fight. People are continuing to move forward. The march is pushing the cops back. Under the pressure from a few hundred people, the police line was pushed back by one or two dozen feet. Frontliners withstood police batons and less lethal munitions.

Steady progress was being made. That was until tear gas got deployed. Cops are continuing to move back. Flashbang! We got gas. CS gas was first launched into the middle of the crowd. Police paused to put on their own gas masks. But instead of using this moment to advance further, the bulk of the crowd held their position, with large sections of the middle cluster subsequently entering into the treeline of Entrenchment Creek Park, as continuing volleys of tear gas were fired by police. ending the offensive portion of the action, as the group that entered into the forest was later escorted out by police, rejoined the march, and eventually returned to Gresham Park. Everyone knew that it was a near certainty that police would confront a mobile crowd, and outmaneuvering police all the way to the construction site would be highly unlikely.

The only way a mass of people would be able to get to the work site is if police allowed it. Still, there's much to learn from Block Cop City and even just the brief skirmish with police, so forgive me for engaging in some tactical analysis based on the good portion of my life spent in riot jousts and input from others with more on-the-ground experience. We first have to think about what will cause a mass of people to break up, scatter, and input from others with more on-the-ground experience. We first have to think about what will cause a mass of people to break up, scatter, and retreat, both on the protester side and on the police side. The front lines are meant to act semi-fluid. Typically, projectile launchers are behind the front line and are designed to scatter the opposing front line

and middle sections of the enemy side, to disrupt an offensive formation so that it loses its capacity for forward momentum, or to stagger a defensive line enough to force retreat. As was the case on November 13th, when a layered defensive police line is backed up with vehicles like a Bearcat, the on-foot line will most likely not retreat back behind their vehicles. Frustratingly, these massive police vehicles occupy a sort of paradoxical role as a 10-ton roadblock that would force a center advancing line to break apart in order to pass, putting the advancing line in a less strategic position, even though if the vehicle was

threatened by being overrun, police would probably attempt to pull the vehicle back, signifying retreat. So how has this paradox been solved before? Well, with ranged attacks like bottles, fireworks, and what the state of Ukraine was teaching its civilians to make in the early days of the Russian invasion. This is why projectiles are of such a strategic importance. One cannot break through a police line without employing violence. Utilizing projectiles is necessary to force rear police vehicles to retreat, along with the cops' own projectile launchers placed behind their riot line, which are used to break up the opposing front line. And police have no such

tactical non-violence scruples against using projectiles. Some Atlanta anarchists have also noted that the resources put towards acquiring a great number of plants that ended up just being abandoned could also have been used to acquire gas masks for the middle cluster, reinforced shields, and ancillary materials put towards prioritizing the crowd's efficacy and safety against the use of crowd control munitions. Thankfully, there were no arrests made in direct connection to the march, but I don't believe this can be accredited to any comprehensive organizing when the day prior, media was told that arrests would be taking place by lunchtime.

For whatever reason, the police let a kettled crowd of people go free. We can only speculate on why, between the logistical hassles, the stretching of prosecutor resources, and the bomb squad that was actively sweeping the area of Entrenchment Creek Park and checking all of the bags and backpacks that were dropped in the area where the splinter of the march was escorted out by police. When talking with force defenders in Atlanta who've spent years now engaging in militant struggle against police, they offered a more fundamental critique of this action. If the choice to employ a strategy of non-violence is in response to grossly inflated charges and repression the movement is facing, as some Blockup City organizers have stated,

that means that you're allowing the state to determine your rules of engagement. The entire idea of announcing your plan to walk onto one of the most policed areas in the country did in fact prevent people with more on-the-ground experience from participating on the day of the action. Risk requires reward. A small core of organizers were so steadfast in one particular version of how this event would take shape, branding people with disagreements as all overly online disaffected nihilists no longer involved in the struggle in Atlanta. disaffected nihilists no longer involved in the struggle in Atlanta. Not only were online critiques discarded, but opportunities for in-person conversations and input from people with more on-the-ground experience in Atlanta were also turned down. And I think it is important to state, hats off to the many young people that traveled from around the country to participate in this

action. One can hope that Block Cop City broadly and going up against this line of armed riot police was a useful learning experience for whatever happens next in these people's lives as we approach the 2024 election and who knows what is to come. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into how tech's elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech

from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel winning economists to leading journalists in the field. And I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God, things actually do things to help real people. I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough. So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry

and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. Hola mi gente, it's Honey German and I'm bringing you Gracias, Come Again. The podcast where we dive deep into the world of Latin culture, musica, peliculas, and entertainment with some of the biggest names in the game.

If you love hearing real conversations with your favorite Latin celebrities, artists, and culture shifters, this is the podcast for you. We're talking real conversations with our Latin stars, from actors and artists to musicians and creators, sharing their stories, struggles, and successes. You know it's going to be filled with chisme laughs and all the vibes that you love. Each week, we'll explore everything from music and pop culture to deeper topics like identity, community, and breaking down barriers in all sorts of industries. Don't miss out on the fun, el té caliente, and life stories.

Join me for Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get into todo lo actual y viral. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba. He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere.

Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba.

Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. The night after Block Cop City, six vehicles owned by the company Ernst Concrete were set on fire in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Earlier that fall, Ernst Concrete trucks were seen working on the Cop City construction site. After the arson, Ernst Concrete released a statement saying that they were not going to work on the Cop City project. In an Atlanta Police Department press conference from December 2023, Chief Darren Sheerbaum discussed a wave of recent arsons. The most recent one happened in Gwinnett County this past November. This was Ernst Concrete when a number of construction equipment was set on fire.

Then we go to three arsons that happened right here in Atlanta, McDonough Boulevard, where a contractor, Brent Scarborough, was targeted three different times in the month of October of this year, July of this year, as well as April this year. We see that the same group takes credit each and every time on their source of giving information out. And so it's likely to be that same group, very small in number, moving from state to state is likely the profile of these individuals. It's very, very small. It is a handful of individuals that are having a much larger impact on the safety of the city than they should have. Atlanta Fire Chief Roderick Smith and John

King, the Georgia Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner, both talked about how these arsons negatively affect the contractors working to build Cop City. As we talk about impacts caused by arson, it affects our businesses, those that are participating in helping out building the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. We suffer from additional costs due to arson that these companies face and individuals face this affects every one of our citizens in there because all these losses yes there's an insurance company that will probably cover some of the costs but those losses will be passed on to the customers so we all will take the losses. On January 17th, APD put out another press conference to discuss, even though the police are already doing such a great job out stopping crime

when it's 14 degrees and homicides continue to decline, even still, a new state-of-the-art police training facility is vital to maintain safety in the city of Atlanta. We've asked you to come together again today because there is an effort underway by a very small group of individuals, anarchists, that want to impact the safety of Atlanta, Georgia. Just yesterday, a piece of equipment aligned with one of the construction companies that was building the public safety training center for every Atlantan was set on fire. Next door in a neighboring state of South Carolina, we had a construction company that had a loose connection to the project here in Atlanta that was targeted by an individual that used one of the tools of violence, fear, and intimidation that has been used mainly by this group, which is arson, set equipment on fire, going after concrete trucks. And so soon, the individuals that have been in the dark of night impacting every one of our neighborhoods will be held responsible as we bring these individuals to justice. Police in South Carolina

were able to identify a suspect and ended up arresting and charging them with arson. The fire chief elaborated on the theoretical risks of arson, such as injury to human life and the ugly sight of burnt rubble left over in neighborhoods, as well as reiterating how it affects the Cop City project. What are the effects of arson? Financial, as we've heard earlier, the impact that the equipment being burned plays a role with the companies working, delays in the project due to this. with the companies working, delays in the project due to this.

Less than a week later, the city had another press conference in front of burnt husks of equipment outside a construction site run by a Cop City contractor. If you look over my shoulder, you will see the equipment that was burned. It belongs to a private contractor. There were a total of four pieces of heavy construction equipment that were damaged this morning. Chief Schierbaum quickly linked the attack to Stop Cop City due to a post online about the attack accompanied by the hashtag Stop Cop City. The hashtag is present. Schierbaum also gave an updated account on the number of arson attacks which have targeted construction equipment. I believe now we're right at 34 that have occurred here in the state of Georgia and elsewhere.

The vast majority of them are concentrated in North Georgia, but there are others that have occurred elsewhere. We're very fortunate of an arrest in South Carolina. There's clearly at least one other person. This individual or individuals don't care about life and safety. They firebombed police precincts. Their goal is to erode proper public safety infrastructure and to erode the government. Very cool stuff indeed. I do believe that 34 number is a gross undercount, but hey,

if they've forgotten a few attacks, really no real harm in that. We have, however, gotten a few recent numbers on the monetary damages caused by Stop Cop City activity. In a Georgia State Senate committee meeting near the end of January, State Senator Deborah Silcox said that APD Chief Administrative Officer Peter Ammon told her earlier that day that the estimated cost of nationwide property damage made in protest of cop city exceeds 100 million dollars that beats the elf numbers now four days later the atlanta police department tried to backtrack that number to new york times reporter sean keenan now saying that it was 10 million dollars in property damage a difference, which either way is

a massive amount of money. And we do know for sure that the city has spent at least $1.3 million just in the legal fees related to Cop City. We know at least some of that $1.3 million was used to combat the Cop City referendum campaign. An initiative started last summer to collect petition signatures to put Cop City on an upcoming ballot. I talked with Sam Barnes of the Atlantic Community Press Collective to get an update on the current state of the referendum. The referendum has more or less been stalled out since last fall in response to a lawsuit from dekalb county residents

who claimed that their first amendment rights were being infringed upon because they were not allowed to canvas for signatures um a court issued down an injunction basically allowing the referendum campaign to have additional time to collect and then turn in signatures. The city then appealed that injunction. That whole situation is currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals, who heard arguments from the city's lawyers and the vote campaign's lawyers in January and who have not yet issued a ruling on that appeal. The referendum campaign has turned in what they say are 116,000 signatures, which, if verified, should be more than enough to get the referendum onto the ballot. But the city of Atlanta has said that they cannot start counting these signatures

until the Court of Appeals issues their ruling. It's not really clear where in case law or in Georgia Code or wherever they are getting that legal precedent from, but it is the line they are sticking to. So long story short, even if the city was to start counting votes today, and even if there were enough to get this referendum on the ballot, the next election it could appear on the ballot in is the general election in November 2024. in November 2024.

Cop City, per APD and the APF's repeated claims, is going to open in fall of 2024. Now, I don't personally have a lot of faith in that. At one point, it was going to open in August 2023. Just the simple fact of every construction project runs into delays. But I think it is pretty clear, especially given the clear cutting and the concrete pouring that has already happened on the site that it will make significant progress by by november

it's pretty obvious the city's strategy here is to just delay and delay and delay the referendum until the thing gets built. Effectively, just making the referendum dead in the water. On February 8th, the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a series of house raids on three homes in South Atlanta that they suspected of being linked to Stop Cop City activists. Phones and computers were seized, along with Stop Cop City related zines and posters. Occupants of the house were dragged outside, sometimes literally. A few were detained for hours on end, with one being driven to a police headquarters

for interrogation but was released later that evening. This morning at 6 a.m., investigators of the Atlanta Fire Rescue, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Fire Rescue, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Atlanta Police Department, joined by uniformed elements of this department of Georgia State Patrol, executed search warrants signed by judges who had reviewed the probable cause, allowing us to enter three locations to seek evidence connected to acts of vandalism and arson that have occurred over the last few months. As investigators went to those locations, they were armed with an arrest warrant. It's worth noting that the search warrants

cited federal statutes on the destruction of vehicles and RICO. While executing one of these raids, police located an individual whom an arrest warrant was issued for days prior and brought them into custody. This arrest, along with the one in South Carolina, also marked the very first arrests linked to clandestine nighttime attacks in the three-year history of the movement. We're processing all the locations now. The evidence to make that arrest had already been in possession of law enforcement even before we executed the search warrants this morning. So the arrest warrant was signed before today, and the arrest warrant was not connected with the search warrants. Those were independent of the arrest we'd be making once we located this

gentleman. In a city press conference, the mayor opened by saying this arrest was, quote, linked to multiple acts of vandalism and arson, unquote. Yet they were only charged with one account of first-degree arson, which police linked to the burning of eight police motorcycles last July, near the end of that summer's week of action. This particular arson is unique from the many other cop-city-related arsons in a few ways. This was not targeting construction equipment. Instead, it was directly targeting police infrastructure. equipment. Instead, it was directly targeting police infrastructure. An unexploded plastic incendiary device was left at the scene, and the police training building that was singed, the city now claims was occupied by a police officer. What was often overlooked is inside of that precinct was a protector of the city. An Atlanta police officer is inside. As police have

said, they only had enough information to make this one arrest linked to this one specific instance of arson. Thus, these raids can be seen both as an intimidation attempt and a last-ditch effort to collect additional information necessary to make future arrests. More arrests will come. They will come soon and will continue to hold people accountable to everyone that has been involved in these acts, are in jail, and before a judge. The investigation is very active, ma'am. There's a reason we serve three search warrants today.

We are looking at a wide range of areas where we believe evidence is held that will identify who is responsible for the others and who else was responsible besides this gentleman. The investigation will play that out, but there are others that I anticipate will be resting in the weeks to come. This messaging from Chief Schierbaum is obviously meant to spread panic and paranoia amongst activists, organizers, and the anarchists of Atlanta. Those in Atlanta were quick to prove that repression would not stifle attacks against Cop City. On the night of February 9th, a police car was torched outside of the home of an APD officer in the Lakewood neighborhood of Atlanta. The next day, police claimed that they tracked the movements of two alleged arsonists via ring doorbell and street cameras to a house

in Lakewood and conducted a raid that afternoon. Nothing was found and no arrests were made. The FBI and the ATF viewed the vehicle arson outside of the home of an Atlanta police officer as a significant escalation and made their first on-camera speaking appearance on Channel 2 to discuss the possibility of introducing federal charges. The house raids, threats, doing all these press conferences, it's all part of this media frenzy to elicit fear. Earlier this year, Chief Schierbaum unveiled plans to put 450 billboards all across the country offering reward money for information, specifically placed in cities they believe anarchists are traveling from to set fires in Atlanta. Every single press conference the police

do, they are desperately begging for members of the public to snitch, saying the only way this case will be solved is if anonymous tipsters come forward with information, offering increasingly comical amounts of money if information leads to a conviction. Fear is one of the greatest tools this state has to bear. But through this sequence of events, police and investigators are also kind of showing their hand here, demonstrating the current limit of their actionable evidence. It has now been well over a month since these raids, and as of now, no subsequent arrests have been made. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast,

and we're kicking off our second season digging into how tech's elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel-winning economists to leading journalists in the field,

and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people.

I swear to God, things can change if we're loud enough. So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. Hola mi gente, it's Honey German and I'm bringing you Gracias, Come Again, the podcast Thank you. We're talking real conversations with our Latin stars, from actors and artists to musicians and creators, sharing their stories, struggles, and successes.

You know it's going to be filled with chisme laughs and all the vibes that you love. Each week, we'll explore everything from music and pop culture to deeper topics like identity, community, and breaking down barriers in all sorts of industries. Don't miss out on the fun, el té caliente, and life stories. Join me for Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get into todo lo actual y viral.

Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean.

He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba. He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian.

Elian. Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation.

Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. at your podcasts. The timing of these house raids also seemed intended to disrupt an event planned for later that month called the Nationwide Summit to Stop Cop City, a convergence located in Tucson, Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. That was planned for February 23rd to the 26th. I was not able to attend, but I spoke with Sam from the Atlantic Community Press Collective, who covered the summit in person. It was a four-day convergence in Tucson, Arizona, called for by the pretty well-entrenched radical organizing scene there in Tucson that was just intended to be the kind of summits we've seen here in Atlanta that are

often called weeks of action that can no longer take place here in Atlanta. So it was intended to be the kind of summits we've seen here in Atlanta that are often called weeks of action that can no longer take place here in Atlanta. So it was intended to be just a gathering of like-minded people to share ideas, build community, have fun, frankly. And there also were some direct actions that occurred during the week. The hub for the summit was a park kind of on what I'd call the north end of Tucson called Mansfield Park. And there was a small camp space set up and organized by locals. The structure of the summit and of the camp space in general was, again, very familiar to anyone who has attended any of the Weeks of Action in Atlanta. There were camp meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There were camp meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There were camp announcements, a lot of spontaneous activities within the camp.

A couple of movie nights were held. Tucson, Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. Is about 100 miles from the US-Mexico border. Sam told me about a panel they attended on the intersections between the border, Gaza, and Atlanta. If you've been paying attention to the cop city struggle,

you're probably already familiar with these themes. The Atlanta Police Department participates in the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange, the GILI program, where they train with members of the IDF. The talk featured Jewish Americans, Palestinian Americans, a correspondent from Indian Collective who was there to cover the summit as well, also spoke during that event. the most profound theme running through the weekend again especially with tucson's proximity to the border and to native lands that are on the border and which are often surveilled using wait for it israeli military technology the sort of a official name of the summit was the Nationwide Summit to Stop Cop City, which was a sort of wink, wink, nudge, nudge at Nationwide Insurance,

which is the main underwriter of the insurance policies that ensure what would be Cop City. Nationwide has a major corporate office in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is in between Tucson and Phoenix. On the first night of the summit, a small group of anonymous vandals attacked three subsidiaries of Nationwide Insurance in Tucson, Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. Breaking windows and vandalizing their buildings. Later on in the week, there were two more public direct

actions that happened during the summit. The first was a black block march on the night of February 25th in downtown Tucson, Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. As a crowd of a little under 100 people moved through downtown, Stop Cop City graffiti filled the plaza, and a PNC bank, as well as a recently closed Wells Fargo branch, had their windows smashed. Wells Fargo is affiliated with the Atlanta Police Foundation, and PNC is a financial backer of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in the Appalachians. Police were able to arrest at least three people suspected of participating in the march. Oddly, they were charged with arson of an occupied building, I believe due to fireworks being thrown in or near one of the banks. Given the name of the nationwide summit,

it was expected that there would be a public action targeting nationwide insurance. So Monday morning, we headed up to Scottsdale, Arizona. Again, just outside of Phoenix. Phoenix is about two hours away, Scottsdale, Arizona. Again, just outside of Phoenix. Phoenix is about two hours away. Where we stopped by a sort of sidewalk rally type situation that was happening outside of the nationwide regional offices, which was honestly quite locked down, quite hard to get access to it as we were leaving the sidewalk rally and being followed by Scottsdale's finest bicycle riders. I thought it was interesting that one of the bicycle cops had a life behind bars

personalized painted bicycle bell. It was teal and said life behind bars. And when we asked him about it, he just said, I just thought it was funny because, you know, I'm a cop and I'm behind bicycle bars. It was delightful and look forward to further coverage of this exciting story in a soon to be released ACPC video feature. So after the rally outside of Nationwide's offices, we got a tip to America's toughest sheriff, Joe Arpaio, into this sort of enclave of gated, dead-end streets with fabulously expensive homes. One of these homes is owned by a nationwide insurance executive. So the activists that locked down placed their bodies in front of two entrances to this enclave with the intention of disrupting the evening of this nationwide executive and their neighbors. There were six activists in total that locked down three at each entrance. They used a device that has been described to me

as being called a cupcake, meaning it was a bag of concrete placed on the inside of a car tire set with some rebar and a kind of pipe sticking out of it, where I assume there was some sort of like handcuff locking on the inside of the pipe. The gates were also locked shut with like bicycle locks. People were locked to the entrance of the gated community for almost four hours before being arrested. All six were ultimately given misdemeanor charges and released within 24 to 48 hours. Sam also talks to me about how these big public gatherings,

like the summit in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, seem like they just can't really happen in Atlanta anymore. So in November here in Atlanta, we had the Black Cop City Convergence, which was organized to a pretty significant extent by folks not from Atlanta. I know one reason I heard for that was it's pretty well known that organizers in Atlanta are tired. And there was a group of people from outside of Atlanta that felt like they could carry that lift to organize an action here in Atlanta. The Summit in Tucson, to my knowledge, is the first major convergence that has been organized outside of Atlanta with a call for

folks to come from the nation over. It was a very keen or a very sharp feeling of grief that this was not happening in Atlanta, that it could not happen in Atlanta, both because the forest has had a huge chunk of it bulldozed, but also due to the police occupation of the forest, that this could not happen in Atlanta right now in the Willani Forest. And I think, especially given recent events in Atlanta, in anywhere in Atlanta, in Georgia, frankly. Even if due to extenuating circumstances, events like this may not be able to happen in Georgia. Sam told me that once the summit kicked off

and things got going, it became clear that of course, convergences can and probably will continue to happen anywhere and everywhere. For a long time, a slogan of this struggle has been cop city is everywhere. A slogan of this struggle has been, Cop City is everywhere. Even if there weren't similar Cop City-like facilities planned or already being built all over the country, I believe the latest count was 69 or 70.

I can't quite remember who did that research. But even if it wasn't for that, again, to go back to the sharp through line of Gaza, the border, indigenous lands, Gili, Israel, genocide, this struggle is the same everywhere. The police are the same everywhere, as recently discussed on this podcast. As this episode draws to a close, I'd like to air out some thoughts I've had ruminating around my head for a while about inter-conflict as desperation. These comments are not about any specific city or situation. This simply reflects a pattern I've observed in various struggles caught in a down spiral,

particularly during the fallout of the 2020 protests nationwide. Historically, I think Atlanta has actually proven to be pretty resilient against this sort of thing, but as the stakes are quite high, I would hate to see something similar happen as the cop city struggle here in Atlanta seems to be entering its latter stages. First, I'd like to say it's always a worrying ticking clock once people start getting treated as disposable or as political props to be sacrificed in the service of spectacle. But primarily, I've been thinking about, at a certain point, far enough within a struggle, it becomes easier to fight each other than it is to fight police. Which is not to say all conflict is bad. Conflict can often be good. Tension can result in new, innovative action that otherwise might not materialize. But when said actionable conflict

starts to materialize more frequently against each other rather than against the state, that signals impending doom. Being able to consistently put your beliefs into practice with a like-minded group of people to directly engage against systems of oppression like the police or the state, especially in your own city, is a life-affirming process, almost intoxicating. It's very easy to become addicted to high-intensity conflict. Unfortunately, the state is a resilient bastard, even if you can land a few sizable blows. Over time, this state can gather a lot of resources to push back. It may take a few days, weeks, months, or even years. Only in our minds may

the glorious first spark of uprising last forever, the burning of the third precinct, or the first year or so of Defend the Atlanta Forest. But nostalgia is a trap, and eventually the empire does in fact strike back. But as it becomes harder, more dangerous, more frightening to engage against the state, the desire for that rush of conflict stays. It lingers. So what is one to do? The walls are closing in, but you have this need to fight. So you take out your anxiety, The walls are closing in, but you have this need to fight. So you take out your anxiety, PTSD, and frustration on those around you. It is much more scary to fight the police. This, by comparison, is easy while still feeding that conflictual drive. We must keep on fighting, and since it's harder and more scary to continually fight the cops or the state,

we instead are looking for ways to fight each other, to find scapegoats to purge, often in service of some unrelated personal grievance or in-group self-preservation. Constant attack, constant strength, constant purity. These conflicts can take form as blame as to why a desired outcome is not being achieved, intensified stratification of in-group, out-group dynamics, as in, these are the bad people in the movement, whereas we are the enlightened affinity group with the only successful strategy, or conspiratorial co-intel pro-like actions, such as cop jacketing, snitch jacketing, and more general bad jacketing against people who you have simple organizational

disagreements with. This can also manifest as a deep unwillingness to hear preemptive critical commentary and the assumption that all criticism comes from a place of bad faith. A recent article in a popular anarchist publication roped in genuine critique and disagreement as somehow being in alignment with the state's motivations against the movement. And is this not just a form of cop jacketing? Saying that if you disagree with a particular strategy, that means you are in alignment with police because they also dislike a particular strategy. But the police dislike the strategy for a completely different reason,

because they dislike any form of resistance. Claiming that critique from anarchists and criticism from the state come from the same fundamental place is simply laughable. It is in moments such as this when repression is increasing that justified frustration and fear leading to paranoia can be turned into a weapon by the state. At these moments, people must be the most vigilant against their own fear resulting in retreat from battle against the state and turning to intra-conflict as a desperate form of alternative struggle. Solidarity, love, and care are paramount, including harsh love, including well-meaning critical commentary, debate, and constructive conversation. Well, that's enough of that.

Finally, I'd like to give an update on the Cop City construction timeline. The past few months, city officials and the Atlanta Police Foundation have made a series of statements claiming construction is very much on schedule and quickly approaching completion. I want to say this. The construction of the training center is on schedule. We'll be moving in in December. It will be operational this time next year. The new facility is almost 70% complete with construction. Many have pointed out that this is a ridiculously high number, considering that a video published by the police just a few days ago showed an unfinished foundation and a single paved road. Now, Sam from the Atlantic Community Press Collective helped explain what this number might be referring to. There are no walls built, to say the least. I personally believe that to be a very charitable reading of a document with a construction

timeline we've seen as a result of our open records requests that sort of break the, what a lay person such as myself would call the construction process up into things like permitting, pre-construction, development, construction. On that timeline, they were about 70% done with the development. And they were also about 70% done with the whole process ranging from permitting to cutting the red ribbon. What again, as a lay person, I would also call the construction process, meaning the whole, you know, roof, walls, doors thing on that particular document was 0% complete or like, I shouldn't say 0% because they have poured like concrete pads and stuff i don't remember exactly what the date on this document was but it was zero to a very small percentage of complete so yes on the grand construction timeline of filing the first

document to again literal walls um yeah sure they're 70 complete By any measure of construction to the average citizen, no, they are not 70% complete. Before I close this episode out, I do want to let listeners know about ways to support Jack, the person arrested in the house raid last month. In the show notes, I'll link to a fundraiser that goes towards his legal fees, jail commissary, and phone calls. You can also go to the website freejack.co, that's freejack.co, for information on how to mail letters and books to Jack while he is currently being held in jail without bond. Trials and court cases related to the Georgia cop city reconditement have all been delayed till at least this summer. Follow the Atlantic Community Press Collective for updates on that as they happen. See you on the other side.

Do you think he's fled the state? You know, obviously he's not here and we're seeking him. And so we would ask him to come in and answer our questions. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, visit our website, coolzonemedia.com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

You can find sources for It Could Happen Here updated monthly at coolzonemedia.com. Thanks for listening. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline Podcast. And we're kicking off our second season digging into Tex Elite Thanks for listening. belly of tech, brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson-Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals.

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