Farroukh Abadi
61 activists in Atlanta, Georgia have been indicted on racketeering charges for their alleged involvement in the Stop Cop City movement. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is used to increase the penalties for convicted individuals part of a criminal organization, setting a dangerous precedent for repressing activist groups. The indictment adds to the existing charges of domestic terrorism, among others, that have been used against dozens of activists for reasons as flimsy as trespassing, and claims the beginning of the conspiracy at May 25, 2020—the beginning of the May Uprisings triggered by George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the police.
The charges were approved by the same grand jury that indicted former President Donald Trump just weeks ago.
Stop Cop City is a movement in opposition to a $90 million police training center that is being constructed in the outskirts of Atlanta following the May Uprisings. Introduced by Democrat Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms along with the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF), the training center will specialize in training police forces in tactical urban operations. It is no coincidence that Atlanta has the largest income inequality in the country and the second largest Black-majority metro area.
The Atlanta Police Foundation—the second largest in the country after New York—is a nonprofit organization that channels funds from private sources directly to fund and militarize the police. Donors and board members include Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, Amazon, Delta Airlines, UPS, Home Depot, and Inspire Brands (the second-largest restaurant company in the US, owning Dunkin’ Donuts, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy John’s, and others), among other corporations. Silver Lake Management, a tech-focused private equity firm, is invested in Motorola, which has sold over $22 million worth of products and services to the Atlanta police department since 2016. Silver Lake Management also manages the pension funds of Texas and Ohio teachers and South Dakota and California state employees,funneling the money of unsuspecting workers to fund state terror in Atlanta.
Protests against Cop City began immediately after the project had been announced and have continued since then. The ongoing struggle is notable not only for the protests’ bravery and persistence but also for facing numerous precedents in state repression. In addition to dozens of protesters being charged with domestic terrorism and indicted for racketeering, activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán was murdered by the police, the first recorded killing of an environmental activist in the US.
More recently, activists have begun a petition drive to secure enough signatures to get the issue on a ballot for public vote. The mayor has stated that it is “going to be unsuccessful” while the city attorney has said the attempt is “futile.” In mid-September, activists submitted twice as many signatures as are required to get the measure on the ballot; however, the city responded that the activists missed the deadline for submission and are refusing to recognize their efforts. We are reminded of the words of Karl Marx: “The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.”
