#StopCopCity: The National (and International) Movement to Defend an Atlanta Forest

#StopCopCity: The National (and International) Movement to Defend an Atlanta Forest

By Staff Writer Idalia Gonzalez Stop Cop City is at once, a movement, a hashtag, and a call to action. The decentralized, autonomous movement has quickly risen in digital popularity, amassing tens of thousands of Instagram followers since it began in 2018. It exists as part of “Defend the Forest,” though the two slogans are used interchangeably. Its main purpose is to stop a police training facility, which would be the largest in the country, from being built in Atlanta’s Welaunee Forest.  A deep dive into a few of the many interviews online indicate a movement backed by a core group of activists – also known as forest defenders, who range from abolitionists to anarchists—and supported by thousands of students, artists, socialists, educators, elders, environmentalists, eco-activists, Indigenous leaders and tribes, historians…and so on. The movement’s strength poses questions about the future of mobilizing digital resistance. How does such an intersectional, decentralized movement sustain itself? Do multiple narratives dilute or strengthen mobilization? Long Live Tortuguita  On...
Read More