Defending the Atlanta Forest

The Poor Prole’s Almanac

Bleav + The Poor Prole’s Alamanac

Home & Garden, Science, Nature, Leisure, Education, How To

5 • 761 Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2022

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We're joined by two activists working to defend the Atlanta Forest during an attempt to tear down the forest in order to build both a mock city for police to develop urban trainings, which would train police nationally. We talk about what different tactics have been successful and what tactics people should be bringing to defense projects where they live. The intro to this podcast comes from the Defend the Atlanta Forest website Learn more about the movement: https://defendtheatlantaforest.org Learn more about the contractors hired to destroy the forest and build Cop City and Hollywood Dystopia: https://stopreevesyoung.com Anonymous communiques from forest defenders: https://scenes.noblogs.org An article exploring the meanings of this movement and the projects its fighting against: https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/horizons/493130/stop-the-metaverse-save-the-real-world/ A recent Rolling Stone article on the movement: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/defend-atlanta-forest-copy-city-climate-change-defund-the-police-1397188/ Support this podcast through Patreon at www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The Atlanta Police Department seeks to turn 300 acres of forest into a tactical training compound featuring a mock city.
0:22.7	This project was announced to the shock of community members who had been given no opportunity
0:28.0	to weigh in on the proposal. Entrenchment Creek is an existing public park adjacent to the prison
0:34.3	farm. DeKalb County seeks to swap this land with Black Hill Studios,
0:39.3	now rebranded as Shadowbox Studios, a major film production company. Blackhall wants to clear-cut
0:45.6	170 acres of forest to develop an airport and erect the largest sound stage in America. This project
0:53.4	would cement Atlanta as the new Hollywood,
0:56.4	making the cost of this city outrageous. The forest in southeast Atlanta is home to wetlands
1:02.2	that filter rainwater and prevent flooding. It is also one of the last breeding grounds for
1:07.8	many amphibians in this region, as well as an important migration
1:11.5	site for wading birds. The history of this particular land is deeply scarred. In the 1800s,
1:18.8	shortly after the land was stolen from Muskogee Creek peoples, it was used as a plantation.
1:24.7	In the early 1900s, a prison farm was opened where inmates were forced to perform
1:30.4	unpaid agricultural labor, marking the rebranding of slavery into for-profit prison labor.
1:37.6	The Atlanta Police Department currently uses this hallowed ground as a firing range.
1:43.2	This forest is at risk of destruction as the police and Hollywood make plans to pave
1:48.9	over Atlanta's largest remaining green space.
1:52.5	In this episode, we're joined by two activists who work to defend this forest.
1:58.3	If you enjoy this conversation and want to hear more, check out the
2:02.2	Defend the Atlanta Forest for tour information. They should be in the southeast speaking at the
2:07.3	time of this release.
2:12.6	Hey, y'all, thanks for joining us. I know you're busy, and we're going to talk about why you're
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bleav + The Poor Prole’s Alamanac, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Bleav + The Poor Prole’s Alamanac and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.