It Could Happen Here - Week of Action to Stop Cop City, Part 1: South River Music Fest Day One

Episode Date: May 4, 2023

A thousand people march to the Weelaunee forest to kick off the Defend the Atlanta Forest Week of Action, later that night Zach Fox headlines a DIY music festival in the woods.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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an industry veteran with nothing to lose. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. It's a warm spring afternoon in Atlanta, Georgia. You and some of your friends are dancing in the sunlight at a music festival in South Atlanta. It's day two of the South River Music Festival. Last night, you stayed up till 3 a.m., alternating between moshing in the pit and laying down on a blanket, looking up at the night sky, trying to see stars through the light pollution. After you had your fill of EDM, you called it a night

and hastily set up a tent in the forest near the edge of the festival. You tried to sleep as long as you could, but soon enough, the hustle and bustle around the forest beckoned you out of your tent. As you moseyed on over back to the music festival, immediately something new caught your eye. A large, multicolored, inflatable bouncy castle sitting right in the middle of the field

with a big Stop Cop City banner hung along the side. After you fully woke up, you grabbed a free breakfast burrito and took a nice walk through the winding forest. Now that you've finished your breakfast, you're back at the far end of the open field, in front of the stage where there's been live music playing for the past few hours. You and some friends briefly try a stint in the bouncy castle, but quickly return to the festival stage as you tire out much faster than you expected. As the sun is barely starting to set around 6pm, suddenly you notice the faint scream of police sirens piercing through the music being blasted from on stage. You stand up as the sirens get louder and closer,

until a burst of police cars zoom past the music festival at high speed. A short sigh of relief is followed by confusion. Where else would a whole bunch of police cars be going? But as nothing seems to come of it, everyone starts to relax and begin enjoying music once again, with the apparent absence of police. There's a few brief moments of peace at the festival as things continue as scheduled, except you can't help but notice the police helicopter is flying across the forest toward the festival. As you take note of the chopper, you receive a signal message from a friend. Quote, cops have entered the parking lot with AR-15s, unquote. You lift up your mask and start running across the field to the parking lot at Wolani People's Park. But before you even make

it halfway across, you notice up ahead a few dozen police officers sprinting into the open field from the festival's side entrance. As the sun is setting, a group of cops run past the Bouncy House and start chasing down seemingly random concert goers and lone stragglers. One officer points his rifle at the Bouncy House as another turns off the generator. You group up with other people from the festival in hopes of working together to incentivize police to leave the area. As you get closer, the cops start getting more aggressive. Just up ahead, a bit further into the woods, close to where you set up your tent, you hear some loud bangs and see a flash of bright

light. First, you assume it's just fireworks being used to hold off the cops, until you start coughing and see the faint plume of tear gas seeping in from the forest. You're forced to fall back to the festival and regroup with people by the stage, where music is still being played. As you're running back, you can see dozens of people in zip-tie cuffs, many still pinned to the ground. Still coughing from the gas, you make your way back to where you were moshing the previous night. The crowd of festival-goers tightens up as riot vans and a bearcat pull into the field next to the deflated bouncy castle. Police SWAT teams surround the South River Music Festival and creep towards the stage, threatening to charge hundreds of people with domestic terrorism. Hanging on the backdrop of

the stage is a massive banner that reads, quote, in the eyes of the state, all who resist white supremacy, colonialism, environmental racism, gentrification, and police militarization are domestic terrorists. Unquote. That was the evening of Sunday, March 5th, 2023. This is It Could Happen Here. I'm Garrison Davis. I arrived in Atlanta a few days prior in preparation for the March Week of Action to defend the Atlanta forest and stop Cop City. This is part one of a four-part series covering this week of action, featuring interviews, report backs, and analysis from both participants and observers like myself.

This four-part series will be a follow-up of sorts to the four Stop Cop City episodes we put together last January following the death of forest defender Tortuguita at the hands of the Georgia State Patrol, as well as building off my previous year of work covering the movement to defend the Atlanta forest. But in case you're new or need a refresher, for over two years now, activists and community members have been in a fight to save the Walani Forest from being turned into a massive $90 million police training facility stretching across 170 acres with plans to include a mock city for urban combat training to quell civil dissent. The Cop City Project is being led by the Atlanta

Police Foundation, one of the most powerful police lobbying groups in the country. Following 17 hours of public comment, 70% of which was against the facility, the Atlanta City Council voted to approve the project's lease in September of 2021, despite months of protests and community organizing. Later that fall, people started occupying and camping out in the Wolani Forest to maintain a physical presence in the woods in hopes of preventing or delaying construction. Infrastructure to support long-term encampments grew over the next year, with forest defenders erecting treehouses, road blockades, and making the forest a place that people could actually live in, with outdoor kitchens, community gardens, and places to sleep, whether that be up in a tree or in a tent. For a while, it seemed to be working. Throughout 2022, construction continued to stall. Almost

every time cops and workers came in to start cutting trees, they were met with resistance. Construction equipment left around the forest was routinely sabotaged, and last year, a tertiary targeting campaign resulted in the general contractor for Cop City, Reeves Young Construction, to drop out of the project. Police enacted multiple raids on the forest in 2022, trying to flush out any forest defenders camping out in the woods and tear down encampment infrastructure. But the occupation was generally able to bounce back pretty quick. As the movement to stop Cop City was seemingly winning, police intensified their repression. As a series of raids in December of last year decimated much of the infrastructure that was built up over the course of that year,

and left six people with domestic terrorism charges. But things got worse. Just a month later, in January of 2023, multiple police agencies engaged in a mass raid of the Walani Forest, destroying all remaining campsites. About an hour into the January 18th raid, the Georgia State Patrol SWAT team killed a 26-year-old forest defender, Manuel Teran, also known by their forest name, Tortuguita. DeKalb County's autopsy found at least 57 gunshot wounds from multiple officers. We'll talk more about the results from various autopsies in a later episode, but just a few weeks ago, Tort would have turned 27. The other side of the Defend the Forest

movement is focused on a smaller section of the Wolani Forest, just east of Entrenchment Creek. Initially in hopes of expanding his movie studios, the now-former owner of Blackhall Studios, Ryan Millsap, has been trying to gain control of 40 acres of public parkland through a shady land swap deal with DeKalb County that's currently subject to legal disputes. The slate of land in question contains the popular meeting spot in the forest known as the Living Room, which acts as a sort of central hub, as well as what's referred to as Wolani People's Park, where the park gazebo used to be before Ryan Millsap demolished it, later ripping out all of the grass and sidewalks in a, once again,

legally questionable move. In January, Wolani People's Park also became home to the vigil site for Tortuguita. I'll let Matt from the Atlantic Community Press Collective explain the other happenings in the woods since January. They got their land disturbance permit in late January. And the first phase of the land disturbance permit only allows for soil erosion control work. So to this point, essentially what they've done is they've clear cut some paths into the forest, into the proposed site. And then around the exterior of the site, they've clear cut a line in order to install silt fencing. So there isn't a large amount of infrastructure.

They're not allowed to do a large amount of disturbance right now. They're in like the pre-construction phase right now. So they started in February and they did a lot of work very quickly. They installed a privacy fence so you can't really see what's going on. So our general understanding of it comes from drone footage. It actually slowed down a couple weeks later. And from what I understand, they began to pull some construction equipment out, probably not wanting to leave a target for, shall we say, any sort of spicy activities.

But not all of their construction equipment was removed, as everyone would soon find out. Welcome, I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter? Nocturnum, Tales from the Shadows, presented by iHeart and Sonora. An anthology of modern-day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures.

I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts. Or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, I'm Jack Peace Thomas. The host of a brand new Black Effect original series. Black Lit. The podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. I'm Jack Peace Thomas. podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. I'm Jack Peace Thomas, and I'm inviting you to join me in a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories.

Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while commuting or running errands, for those who find themselves seeking solace, wisdom, and refuge between the chapters. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Together, we'll dissect classics and contemporary works while uncovering the stories of the brilliant writers behind them. Black Lit is here to amplify the voices of Black writers and to bring their words to life. Listen to Black Lit

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple, 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. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. The deadly January raid left the community in mourning and unsure of how the fight to stop Cop City would evolve with the use of lethal force and the loss of a friend. The forest defenders' semi-permanent occupation of the Wolani Forest ended after that raid, but the fight was far from over. About a month after the January raid, local Atlantans put out a call for supporters across

the country to converge in Atlanta in early March for a mass gathering known as a Week of Action. There have been four previous Weeks of Action, but this one, more than any other, would be crucial in reifying what the next stage of the movement would be. I started off this episode with the Sunday night police raid on the South River Music Festival, because, for better or worse, what happened on that evening set the proverbial stage for what the majority of this Week of Action would look like, and how its effects would ripple out in the coming months. But before we get to the rest of the week, we first have to go back to the official start of this week of action to explain how we got here in the first place. To kick off the week of action, a rally was planned for the morning of Saturday, March 4th at Gresham Park in Southeast Atlanta. By the time I arrived, around 11am, hundreds of people were already in the park. Music was blaring from loudspeakers. Some kids and a few brave adults

were running around throwing multicolored powdered paint at each other. It was a pretty festive time. Soon enough, it was time for things to begin. Matthew Johnson, the interim executive director of Beloved Commune, formally kicked off the week. Everybody, let's get started. Alright, I just want to make sure that everybody is in the right place. I came here to stop Cop City. I came here to stop Cop City. What did you all come here to do? Stop Cop City! What did we come to do?

Stop Cop City! What did we come to do? Stop Cop City! What did we come here to do? Stop Cop City! Alright, I'm glad that everybody found the right address. Thank you everybody for joining us. It's about two years ago in what was formerly known as Entrenchment Creek Park, now known as Waulani People's Park, where a rag-tag bunch of individuals

known as Wilani People's Park, where a ragtag bunch of individuals gathered under a gazebo. That gazebo was illegally destroyed by Ryan Millsap and his henchmen in an attempt to break this movement, in an attempt to bury this movement. Yet every single time that they have tried to bury us, they have forgotten that we were seeds. that we were seeds. Every time they thought that they backed us into a corner with their repression, we had more of you show up and support this movement and we thank you so much for that. They have set every hurdle in the way of everyday Atlantans to intimidate them and stop them from supporting this movement and we still show up. We appreciate every single person that has come here to support us in spite of the terror that the state has tried to instill in us. We must be very careful and understand the gravity of the situation that we are in, especially after we've lost a friend.

Thank you for standing with us. And now there are many things that we do not agree on. But what did we all come here to do? Stop the tea! So let's remember, what got us this far was a diversity of tactics. was a diversity of tactics. And now it's time for us to double down. The crowd gathered was a pretty diverse mix of people from a variety of backgrounds, beliefs, and preferred tactics.

On this Saturday morning, everyone felt pretty united, whether you were a kid running around with paint all over your body or an anarchist dressed head to toe in camo. Next up, somebody read a statement from the Muscogee elder, Miko Chaban Colonel. I'm here to read a statement from my Miko, Miko Chaban. Yeah, my name is Marty. I'm Muscogee. On my father's side, on my mother's side, I'm Atum, both Akmel and Tana, and my dad's also Filipino. Miko asked me to read this statement.

Mundo Shihayomad. At this time, I would like to express my gratitude to all who have converged onto these ancestral territories of Muscogeean ancestors and modern spiritual inhabitants of the earth that we now stand on. Today, we represent a vast society of peoples whose presence in the colonized named states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida have existed for over 13,000 years. We represent a way of life that strove to minimize the harm that humans can do to the Earth, to other species,

and to each other. Today, we continue this movement that begun many years ago, and we honor those who have taken footsteps to protect this forest and our relative who gave the greatest of sacrifices. Just as ancestors existed on these very grounds and carried a faith and confidence in what our ancient ones passed on to us,

may the hope of peaceful existence for all be achieved for many more centuries to come. This existence can only occur when we realize the sacredness of the Wallani forest, all that is natural on this earth mother. This type of existence can only occur when we realize that we all belong to this earth and she does not belong to us. This type of holy existence can only occur when we realize that no cop city can ever exist

because more weapons only create more violence. With these efforts that begin today, perhaps reason will prevail and we can create a future where all people have the right to exist. Today, may our dreams for this forest and the surrounding community come true. For those who can hear, let them hear. The next speaker was from Community Movement Builders, a local Black collective that focuses on combating gentrification and police violence. I may be a little bit selfish in my reason for being here. I want to be free.

I want my children to be free. I want my children to be free I want my mother to be free I want my father my brothers and sisters to be free and I don't want to have to live a life in 10 years when my babies my nieces and my nephews come to me and ask Kamasi where were you what were you doing when they destroyed our clean water? Destroyed our clean air? What happened? Why were you not around? What were you doing? When my baby's coming 10 years and they say, Kamasi, what were you doing when this country turned into a fascist dystopia? What were you doing? Where were you when you were around? I can't sit here and sit back and say, I just sat home and watched this whole world burn to hell.

I don't believe in the power. I don't believe in the power of the imperialists. I believe in the power of the people. So I say to everyone today that during this week of action, I don't know where you will be. I don't know what you will be doing. But we stand behind you and we stand with you. And we want to show the city of Atlanta. We want to show Mayor Dickens that he is not fit to rule and he does not rule this city.

We want to show them that the $90 million that they took to build this urban warfare training facility will not crush our communities. And we also want to show the city of Atlanta that again, we are ready to stop merely surviving and start living. that again, we are ready to stop merely surviving and start living. Finally, our last person, Reverend Leo Shea, is a Baptist minister, part of the Stop Cop City Clergy Coalition, which we'll talk a bit more about in the next episode. And I believe my faith compels me and convicts me that in this moment, the work that has been done and the work that is to come to defend this, our beloved family, this, our siblings, the earth, is a holy and righteous work that is grounded in a faithful rage.

A rage which has been boiling in the human family's blood for centuries. And meets us here at this moment and asks us, what will you do to defend those who have no defense? What will you do to protect those who have no shelter? What will you do when the time comes to decide on whose side you are on? Will you stand for oppression or will you stand for the liberation of all people? My friends, I come with some good news, if that's okay. And the good news is that God stands on the side of the oppressed.

God stands on the side of the oppressed. God stands on the side of the forest defenders. God stands on the side of the most marginalized. And let us make no mistake that in our protest and in our rage, we also have to cry out and lament. We cannot be silent as Tortuguita's blood cries out from the ground. We must honor a life that did not have to be lost. It did not have to be this way. Do not listen to anyone who tells you that there

is not a better way. There is always a better way. So I come with my faith and the conviction that in this work, in this moment, a prophetic imagination, a creative vision is needed for the world that we want to see. I'm not here to wait for the kingdom of God. I want the kingdom of God right now. Right now. After the speeches were finished, it was announced that the crowd, now nearing a thousand strong, would gather up together and march to Wolani People's Park to retake the forest. As everyone was getting ready to leave, you could see the care and solidarity people had for each other on full display. Bike scouts were checking to see if the path was clear.

Volunteer street medics ready to help anyone in need. Water bottles were being handed out to keep everyone hydrated, while others autonomously coordinated rides for people unable to make the walk. Looks like approximately 1,000 people marching from Gresham Park to Willan and People's Park on the bike path. I can't even see the end of where the people stop. It's a long, long stretch of people marching. Hundreds and hundreds of feet. There's some banners in front of the march. One of them reads, disarm, defund, dismantle, no cop city. There's one of the sun shining over a pink sky with a little blue turtle and their shell is the earth. Massive like 10 person banner that reads defend the forest. The energy of the march remained

high as people chanted to the beat of drums. I sat down with Matt from the Atlantic Community Press Collective towards the end of the week to talk about what we saw throughout this week of action. At one point, the entire crowd, seemingly the entire crowd, was chanting, if you build it, we will burn it,

which seems... Yeah, almost like a thousand people. Yeah. If you build it, we will burn it! If you build it, we will burn it! If you build it, we will burn it! If you build it, We will burn it! If you build it! We will burn it! If you build it! And it was being chanted, like, you know, looking around the crowd,

you saw everyone, for the most part, partaking in that. So that was a very interesting moment where it felt like there was that sort of solidarity amongst the varied groups that make up the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement. As the march went on, the path was getting increasingly forested. About two-thirds of the way to Wilani People's Park, after turning a bend, the crowd noticed three deer frolicking alongside the march from further within the tree line. Deer are cute! Deer are cute! Deer are cute! Deer are cute! Deer are cute! To quote the Atlanta Community Press Collective's write-up of the march, quote,

film executive Ryan Millsap. Activists were uncertain what they were walking into or whether the police would offer any resistance. Activists thought there was going to be an issue. They were concerned about the police being in Wilani People's Park. So about halfway, we saw that stack of makeshift shields made out of plastic rain barrels. About two dozen of those five-gallon drum shields just mysteriously showed up along the bike path. We are arriving at Walani People's Park. No cops. But then when we got there, there was no police whatsoever. From what the scanner people told us, there were police around.

They were just kind of monitoring from afar, but no police ever entered the park. And it was, I would say, it was a really nice high point return to the forest. Banners and shields moving around Walani People's Park as hundreds and hundreds of more people still pour in from the bike path. as hundreds and hundreds of more people still pour in from the bike path. As the back of the march finally arrived, the crowd gathered up one more time to all chant out a promise in unison. I will defend this land! I will defend this land!

I will defend this land! I will defend this land! We will defend this land! We will defend this land! We will defend this land! We will defend this land! One of the activists I interviewed during the Week of Action was Matthew Johnson, the person who kicked off the rally at Gresham Park. We talked about the methodology of starting off this Week of Action with this big inclusive march, and how that may have helped achieve the goal of retaking the forest that first day. We wanted to be sure that we would be able to reoccupy the park and what that would entail

is having a wide swath of the larger public involved with any efforts to enter into the park. And so we had the rally at Gresham Park, and there was a march planned from that park to Wolani People's Park. There is violence that people have become accustomed to when it is people on the political fringes. That's just where we're at in the political situation in Atlanta. However, when you have several people that you would consider more normal, liberal, progressive, etc., like representatives from NGOs, nonprofit organizations, representatives from NGOs, nonprofit organizations, just normal people that also wanted to see the project shut down Cop City. That's when you have the

ability to move towards people that want to reoccupy having the space to do that without seeing tons of police repression as we have seen in the movement recently. Welcome, I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter Nocturnal, Tales from the Shadows, presented by I Heart and Sonora. An anthology of modern-day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters

to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. I know you. with supernatural creatures. I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app

Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts Hey I'm Jack Peace Thomas the host of a brand new Black Effect original series Black Lit the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature

I'm Jack Peace Thomas and I'm inviting you to join me and a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while commuting or running errands, for those who find themselves seeking solace, wisdom, and refuge between the chapters. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Together, we'll dissect classics and contemporary works while uncovering the stories of the brilliant writers behind them. Blacklit is here to amplify the voices of Black writers and to bring their words to life. Listen to Black Lit on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. After reaching Wolani People's Park, many of those who arrived from out of town for this week of action, myself included, stopped by the shrine for Tortuguita just off of the tree line. People added new wildflowers and packs of fruit snacks. I'm going to walk over to the Tortuguita vigil site. Looks about the same as last time I was here.

Many candles, little turtles, still a few fruit snacks. Although the vigil shrine was the same as last time I saw it, almost everything else about being in this place was different. When I was here last time in January, it was a dark place of grief. The forest was barren, with all of the trees in their bare winter state. To quote the Community Press Collective again, Some nestled in sunnier spaces, others tucked into thickets, providing shelter and cooler climate for the new residents. The trees themselves reflected this next phase. Sprigs of new growth leaves appeared on the ends of barren branches.

Small white flowers bloomed along the periphery of the parking lot. After months of desolation and death, life prevailed and spring arrives in the forest, unquote. I'm excited to get back into the forest because it is so hot. And get back in the forest I did. One of the events that happened almost daily throughout the week was tours of the eastern side of the Wolani Forest. The walks through the woods were led by Joe Perry, a member of the South River Forest Coalition. I was able to attend the first tour during the week of action and got consent to record some of the forest walk. All right. Hey, y'all, welcome to the living room.

So named because it's a very inviting and comfortable place to relax. This is where a lot of the meetings happen during the previous week of action. People gather and have different events here. Oftentimes there will be food available here, campfires, silverware. So it's also just a very, very comfortable place to relax because it's in this pine forest. And so not really any undergrowth and just super comfortable. It's a really good place to have meetings and just kind of get to know each other and establish some calm. kind of get to know each other and establish some calm. We made our way from the living room to the grandmother tree, a large oak that is estimated to be a few hundred years old. On our way to Ryan Millsap's proposed site for so-called Michelle Obama Park, which is currently

a 40-acre mound of dirt about 30 feet high, we walked past some old tents that were slashed apart during the January raid. Among the destroyed remains were little pink flowers growing out of the ground. Next, we headed to Entrenchment Creek. Joe Perry explained some of the background regarding the environmental state of the watershed and how protecting the forest is a crucial step in the process of helping the land heal itself. I got involved with a group called the South River Forest Coalition. We are trying to help further the vision of the South River Forest that Ryan Gravel and the Nature Conservancy came up with

to try to interweave about 3,500 acres of forest with the other businesses and homes and lands around this area that are in the watershed of the South River Forest. And Entrenchment Creek, which we will see on this tour, is the main tributary to the South River. The South River is the fourth most endangered river in this country.

Entrenchment Creek is one of the most polluted creeks in this county. And so that is what we're trying to protect. And in order to protect a river and a creek and a watershed, you have to protect the forest that's around it. I've been exploring these woods for the last decade and leading tours and talking to people about it, trying to explain what's going on with the lawsuit, trying to explain what's going on, the difference between Entrenchment Creek Park and, you know, the prison farm and the acreage and all these other things.

And all that stuff, it's just like, it's just gears turning in your head. Because when you come out here and enjoy this, I mean, this is really what it's all about. This is all we have to do to convince people that this is worth saving is just bring you out here and let you appreciate it. As masses of people converged at Walani People's Park Saturday afternoon, almost immediately a whole bunch of pop-up infrastructure was set up to facilitate an encampment in the woods once again. Really, for the first time in any kind of large capacity since January and even December, the December raids decimated much of the camp infrastructure,

which still had not been rebuilt since then. But upon arriving from Gresham Park on Saturday, both first-time visitors to the Wolani Forest and seasoned forest defenders worked together to rebuild a lot of that infrastructure to support camp life for the next week. One of the things that we saw on the march in was like eight cinder blocks right at the entrance to the living room. And then you and I went into the living room, we saw these huge water tanks. So later they moved those water

tanks to those cinder blocks and that has become a watering point water tanks. So later they moved those water tanks to those cinder blocks. And that has become a watering point for everyone. So like twice a day, a truck comes with a water tank on the back. And then they go through the arduous process of filling that water so that everybody in camp can have water. And they had this system that was seemingly self-organized. And then that first day, we were sitting in the parking lot. And it seemed like every time you turn around, there was like a different train of people carrying supplies into the living room. The second day, there was a woman who was shoveling gravel from the torn up concrete on the side. And she was filling all of

the random holes in the ground so that carts could go up them. And I was like, you know, did somebody assign this to you? She's like, no, I saw this just needed to be done. And I did it. And that that that was very much the entire vibe of those first, I would say, 24 hours was, okay, what do we need to do to get this thing running? As encampments were being established, simultaneously infrastructure for the South River Music Festival was being erected in the adjacent radio control field. Within a short amount of time, a full stage was constructed, complete with lights and speakers. Lining the sides of the field were various tables and booths. One side featured a large variety of refreshments, as well as a medic tent, and the other side was home to free hot food

and freshly grilled burgers and hot dogs. Next to the food were a few tables distributing an array of radical literature, posters, and stickers. What was your favorite stuff at the Music Fest that you saw? Well, there was an arepa table, and I'm very food motivated, so the arepas were delicious, and we had walked a bunch that day, so I needed sustenance. And then there was the burger table as well, but I don't know if you got a burger, but I did not get a burger that day. I got one burger, but they were out of buns when I got a burger, so I had a lettuce burger. And then soon after, they got the buns back, and I was kind of bummed.

Yeah. I did not. At least you got something. But I had the arepa, so it made it worth it. To be fair, hundreds of people were being fed burgers, 500 people, you know? And, and at one point they, they made an announcement that like they needed to do another food run just to go get more, more food.

And like a bunch of people volunteered and, you know, only, I think two or three went down to Walmart to get a bunch more burgers and hot dogs. And it was just a really cool moment. And so I think by the end of the night, when I was there, there were about 500 people just enjoying the music and looking at the sky. It was just an immaculate vibe. There was a little fire pick off to the side. And yeah, you talked about the setting up the stage.

I didn't know what to expect walking in there. I was not expecting quite that much of a production. I wasn't expecting a full-fledged stage with lights all around uh sort of and this really like the lighting worked really well for it's it backdropped the the surrounding forest nice like nice like green and purple lighting yeah it was it was it was great and then they had that green room tent back there and then they had a separate tent for equipment like it was a very well-thought-out festival in the middle of nowhere. The South River Music Festival began early Saturday evening at 5

30, kicking off two days of local musical artists playing shows free of charge. Before the lineup of live music began, someone on stage read out a small flyer that was being passed around, music began, someone on stage read out a small flyer that was being passed around, detailing the reasoning for the festival and its place within the fight to defend the forest. And I got permission to share that reading. In the limitless possibilities of the cosmos, in the mad flux of events, reactions, and anomalies of the past 12 billion years since the birth of our universe, it's a statistical impossibility that we would be here now. But here we are alive together.

Such incredible circumstances have brought us here. Among them, the incredible and innovative resistance to defend this place from becoming a police training compound. Boom! to defend this place from becoming a police training compound. This resistance, which brings us together the most cunning and resilient techniques of the radical environmentalist movement, with the incredible courage and ferocity of the George Floyd uprising, is not just about a small piece of land.

It's not about being fought between police and their goons on one hand and some activists and their friends on the other. We are witnessing a collision of two competing ideas of happiness, of life, of the future. In this competition, experiments with new types of free culture play a decisive role.

This movement cannot be reduced to what is happening in City Hall, on social media, or in meetings. For two years, we have descended on these woods, finding refuge from the high rents and predatory booking fees of the corporate venues and bars. We have not come here to redecorate the actions of some activists as allies lending our service to the drab and loveless militancy of something we do not otherwise care about. As the gentrification of Atlanta intensifies, more and more DIY venues and clubs are shut down and free spaces to play shows and dance are pushed further and further from the city center. Our free time is pinched as rents increase and traffic keeps us waiting longer and

longer. That is going to change! Music is not like other forms of human culture. It is different from painting, drawing, poetry, literature or film, art, politics and symbolic culture in general represent the passions conjuring strong feelings from the shadows of reality, pulling them from the depths of the soul or the back of consciousness. Music on the other hand is perhaps the only form of human creativity that contacts those feelings without any mediations. Music is physics, Music is reality. The system we live in is at war with reality. This system is destroying forests, rivers, mountaintops, and oceans. It's destroying

our imaginations, our bodies, and our world. To defend ourselves from certain annihilation, it will not be sufficient to strike the right notes at the right time. annihilation. It will not be sufficient to strike the right notes at the right time. We will have to make recourse to other means, to more direct means, and that is why we're all here. The Defend the Atlanta Forest revolution will be economic, political, as well as cultural. We're building a new era of human history where music will be at the steering wheel. What is needed cannot be taught without first being discovered. We are those adventurers, plunging the depths of the cosmos for the contours and textures of a free existence,

of a life without dead time. When it is necessary, we will defend ourselves by the means appropriate to the task, not with words, not with denunciations, but with actions. Real and concrete actions. As real as the sound. As real as reality. I was so lucky to be here with y'all. Thank you. Across the middle of the field, hundreds of people laid out blankets on the grass and dirt. Concert goers alternated between dancing in front of the stage and relaxing and eating food on picnic blankets. As the night approached, over a thousand people were spread out across the RC field. A mosh pit had formed directly in front of the stage, musicians led stop cop city chants, and between sets, people spoke on mic about the movement.

sets, people spoke on mic about the movement. Everybody say Stop Cop City! Stop Cop City! Stop Cop City! Stop Cop City! That's right, that's right. Saturday Night was headlined by local Atlanta rapper Zach Fox. Zach told stories about how

he and his friends used to hang out in this very forest as teenagers. Alright y'all, man. Hey. I'ma say this. Fuck the mayor. I'ma say this. Fuck the mayor. And fuck all this shit. And I love everybody for coming out to support this shit. Dude, you're really fucking...

When I tell you me, RG, everybody used to walk back in these woods and drink red stripes and walk our dogs and shoot guns and shit. So I really don't want to see this shit happen. And I really appreciate all of y'all for coming out to do this shit. Fuck Cop City chants erupted pretty regularly throughout the night. And this is all I'm going to tell the police. This is all Ipted pretty regularly throughout the night. Fuck around it. Fuck around it. Fuck around it. Fuck around it. Fuck around it.

Fuck around it. Atlanta, I love y'all so much, man. Hell yeah. Amen. Let me say something real quick. Let me say something real quick. Let me say something real quick before I get the fuck off stage. Let my homies rock this shit. I love y'all so much for supporting this shit.

I have, let me tell you, let me tell you something. I'm 32, a lot of niggas start getting old and they lose faith in the youth. I got so much faith in everybody in this motherfucking bitch. Wherever y'all going, I'm going. I truly believe that y'all gonna save this motherfucking world. So I'm with y'all.

Fuck Cop City. Fuck cops in general. Fuck 12. Fuck authoritarianism. Fuck capitalism. Fuck all that bullshit. I'm with y'all to the end. Till I motherfucking die.

So let me hear y'all say this one more time. Say bug 12! Say bug 12! Say bug 12! Say bug 12! Besides the domestic terrorism banner I mentioned in the opening of this episode, another banner was hung up beside the stage featuring turtles and butterflies, along with the Asada Shakur quote, love is our sword, truth is our compass. This kind of music is about connecting to nature,

feeling the trees, feeling the ground, feeling each other. Look right up there. Look at the fucking moon. To quote a communique from the Sonic Defense Committee, quote, at this point, it was impossible to imagine a meaningful police intervention. The crowd was made up of elderly people, university students, rappers, indigenous activists, toddlers and newborns, skaters, people of all imaginable Atlanta demographics. The night ended around 3.30 a.m. to sounds of house, techno, and drum and bass without any notable incident. Unquote. Tents were set up all over the eastern side of the forest, with many people choosing to sleep under the tree canopy between the living room and the music festival for that first night. As the night went on, people carefully tended

small campfires both in the festival field and in the middle of the living room. To quote the Press Collective, the movement was once again living in joyous harmony with the forest it had promised to protect. Tomorrow's episode will cover day two of the music festival, the frankly unprecedented direct action that took place Sunday afternoon, and a more detailed look at the police raid that happened later that evening. See you on the other side. Music Festival Audio, courtesy of Unicorn Riot. on media.com slash sources. Thanks for listening. You should probably keep your lights on for Nocturnal Tales from the Shadow. Join me, Danny Trails, and step into the flames of an anthology podcast of modern day horror stories inspired by the most terrifying legends and lore of Latin America.

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