Atlanta: burning the movie studio to defend the forest
In Atlanta, Georgia, the city council voted on September 8, 2021 to allocate 34 acres of the South River Forest to a $90 million police militarization training center project, known to locals as “Cop City.” The facility includes a reconstructed city for cops to train in, as well as a helicopter landing pad, new firing ranges and more. Its development is led by the Atlanta Police Foundation and two-thirds of the funding comes from “philanthropic” and corporate donors, sending the rest of the bill back to the public.
Since April 2021, a struggle has been underway to oppose this “Cop City” project, with regular attacks and sabotage and an occupation of the wooded area to the east, which has reverted to its former name of Weelaunee Forest. And since the Hollywood film studio on the edge of the forest, Shadowbox Studios (formerly Blackhall Studios), also planned to expand by destroying another 80 hectares on the same side as the “Cop City” project, it became another target from the start. This summer, on July 31, when workers intervened accompanied by cops to try to clear the land needed for its expansion, they were, for example, pelted with stones, a backhoe was smashed and a company pickup truck set on fire, after other identical attacks (see brief chronology below).
Continue reading Atlanta (USA): burning the movie studio to defend the forest →