Georgia’s Prosecution of 61 Cop City Protesters Has Disturbing Implications for the Future of Activism

There’s another RICO case to now pay attention to in the state of Georgia. The defendants in this case are reportedly connected to the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement and this started because the city plans to bulldoze forested land to create a $90 million police complex. Critics of the facility call this “Cop City.” This specific complex would include classrooms, a bar (nothing seems worse than mixing police culture with alcohol), and a sort of fake neighborhood that would be used to practice the use of military-style weapons to be potentially used on Americans in “urban warfare.”

Forest defenders have been actively protesting Cop City, going so far as to take over the land designated for the facility. The activists took up residency with the hopes of halting the construction of Cop City. This has caused a lot of retaliatory actions, with one environmental activist being killed by police and the protesters being dubbed domestic terrorists by the legal system.

The protesters are facing real legal challenges. Earlier this week, a Georgia grand jury indicted 61 people connected to the Defenders movement. Protests have been ongoing for about two years, but now the crackdown could have immense repercussions for those seeking to stop “Cop City” as well as other activists more broadly nationwide. Charges of domestic terrorism were levied, along with some financial charges like money laundering as well. A Defend the Atlanta Forest activist, Gingham, made it clear that they had a sense that something was going to happen. They told Rolling Stone, “It feels like for a long time now we’ve been waiting for a ball to drop.” The tensions mounting in and around Atlanta had just become too much.

In an interview with Democracy Now!, a Stop Cop City organizer with Community Movement Builders named Keyanna Jones gave her take on how strategic these charges seem to be. She starts by mentioning the ironic date of the indictment, May 25th, 2020. That was the same date that George Floyd was murdered, sparking outcry and protests nationally. She believes that there is a connection; that, in response to the outrage, governments have been seeking to utilize cop cities or versions of them to quell protests. One of the interesting points brought up related to the charges themselves. An example of an act that was included in the indictment is handing out flyers. Jones said that people were indeed indicted for handing them out but insists the flyers were just about giving people important information. The flyers gave details about what Cop City really is: a military training facility that would destroy over 380 acres of forest land in a Black neighborhood. Some flyers also mentioned that a protester had been killed for nonviolently protesting and that justice needed to be served. “I don’t understand how giving out flyers with information is domestic terrorism. I don’t understand how holding a sign that says “Stop Cop City” is domestic terrorism,” Jones proclaimed. I don’t either, especially since handing out flyers has been found to be explicitly protected under the First Amendment.

Democracy Now! also interviewed Devin Franklin, an attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights. He believes that governments do not necessarily know of a good way to respond to the vast number of protests and the anger that we have seen in the past couple of years. So cracking down legally is a targeted move. Franklin, who was a public defender for 12 years, said he had never seen a case with this many defendants. I am not a lawyer but I can understand this. If you look at the devious web of deceit (allegedly) perpetrated by Trump and his cronies, it appears large and deep. That RICO case has 19 defendants in total. There are 61 defendants here. 

This case could provide key precedents for how governments tackle protesters and activist movements. Of course, these people have no way NEAR the power and sway of defendant Donald Trump, in the same state facing similar charges. But the power of the people is real and I guess some are afraid of that power. As Franklin put it, “This is really clearly a political prosecution.”

(featured image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)