On the Looming RICO Case in Atlanta

According to a prosecutor in Georgia, state prosecutors are preparing to charge local activists who oppose Cop City and the destruction of Weelaunee forest as a “criminal organization” under the RICO statute:

https://unicornriot.ninja/2023/atlanta-activists-say-prosecutors-plan-to-indict-them-on-rico-charges/

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) was introduced in order to target illegal capitalist operations. However, corporations and police have repeatedly used RICO charges to intimidate perceived adversaries. The nonprofit organization Greenpeace faced RICO charges from 2016 to 2019, for example.

Elsewhere in the Southeast, North Carolina police brought RICO charges against members of the Latin Kings and Queens who were working to organize gang truces in their community:

https://alkqnsupport.wordpress.com/paradigm-shift/

Georgia prosecutors have used the same RICO statute to charge rappers Young Thug and Gunna.

Atlanta police have already been trying to terrorize activists in the #StopCopCity movement, killing one and bringing terrorism charges indiscriminately against others.

We recall how in 2017, DC prosecutors attempted to send over 200 people to prison for decades just for participating in a march at Trump's inauguration. Defendant solidarity won out.

That case is a useful reference for this:

https://crimethinc.com/J20legal

Some background about the upcoming week of action scheduled in Atlanta to defend the forest, starting March 4:

https://defendtheatlantaforest.org/2023/02/16/pressure-mounts-against-cop-city/

A tree-sit blockade and hunger strike has kicked off in #Humboldt in defense of redwoods from logging and in solidarity with #Tortuguita and the movement to #StopCopCity.

"As you’re reading this I am suspended above an entrance to one of Humboldt Redwood Company’s (HRC) industrial timber harvest plans, blocking this entrance by the support lines of the net that is holding me. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and these are desperate times indeed. On January 18th a forest defender named Tortuguita was murdered by state troopers while occupying the Weelaunee forest in Atlanta. They have since held activists with no bail or extremely high bail to prevent people from defending the forest. I am doing this to try and honor Tortuguita’s life and wish for the land to be protected, and in solidarity with activists in Atlanta facing extreme police repression."

https://itsgoingdown.org/tree-sit-defense-of-redwoods-in-humboldt/

Community members in #SilverSpring #Maryland formed a wall of resistance to protect a kids event from violent Proud Boys.

"The Proud Boys became violent, kicking and pushing while shouting at families on megaphones, while the community held the line and drowned them out with music and cheers."

https://itsgoingdown.org/community-holds-back-proud-boys-silver-spring/

"Ineffective oversight and a largely self-monitoring industry that has cut the nation’s rail workforce to the bone in recent years as it puts record profits over safety is responsible for the wreck..."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/11/ohio-train-derailment-wake-up-call

Solidarity with Alfredo Cospito

https://crimethinc.com/AlfredoCospito

Since October 20, 2022, the imprisoned Italian anarchist Alfredo Cospito has been on hunger strike, demanding to be released from solitary confinement under the “41bis” regime. As of today, he has passed 107 days without eating.

Alfredo has lost more than 90 pounds. Bobby Sands, the member of the Irish Republican Army who was elected to Parliament during his hunger strike in 1981, died after 66 days without food. At death’s door, Alfredo has been transferred to a medical facility. His life hangs by a thread.

In this text, we explore what is at stake in Alfredo's hunger strike and offer a translation of an article about the situation by the Italian philosopher Donatella Di Cesare.

"Avenge Tort, Stop Cop City"

Graffiti in the New York subway in memory of Manuel Teran aka Tortuguita, a 26-year-old Atlanta Forest defender who was shot and killed by cops on January 18.