Vermonters for Justice in Palestine have launched Apartheid Free Burlington, a campaign to oppose Israeli occupation and the human rights abuses facing the Palestinian people. Voters in the City of Burlington can sign VTJP’s petition to help put Palestinian solidarity on the ballot for Town Meeting Day in March 2024. This local effort was inspired by the nationwide Apartheid Free Communities movement started by the American Friends Service Committee.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march in Montpelier, VT as part of the 2023 Independence Day rally. Supporters gathered from Central VT Jews for Palestinian Liberation; Party for Socialism and Liberation; Champlain Valley Amnesty International; Education Justice Coalition; and Free Her.
To learn more about what’s happening in Palestine, check out these conversations on the political economy of health under occupation; and how Palestinian struggles relate to the Stop Cop City movement. Check out the Rethinking Palestine podcast to dive into what self-determination might look like. Or read the beautiful comics of Naji al-Ali featuring Handala, a witness to the horrors of occupation.
Quick recap: What is Cop City? If you haven’t heard the news about the fight over this 85+ acre urban police training facility in Atlanta, Georgia, let’s get you caught up.
In August 2021, Atlanta City Council voted to approve a proposed $90 million law enforcement training facility planned for the South River Forest (aka Weelaunee Forest) right next to the city. There is little public input on the project.
This development would be located next to a Hollywood film studio project which would impact an additional 40 acres of nearby forest. (Side note: Ryan Millsap, who was involved with this movie studio project, is also creating an action/war film production studio on 1,500 acres of land just 40 miles east of Atlanta: where they will fly “Blackhawk helicopters and drive Humvees at speed”.)
A movement to fight these projects has emerged through groups like Stop Cop City and Defend the Atlanta Forest. Community associations, racial justice groups, and environmental justice activists have formed a front of resistance, with activists occupying the forest to prevent construction over the last two years.
This winter, SWAT teams escalated their attempts to extract these forest defenders. In January, they swarmed the encampment, killing one forest defender, Tortuguita, in the operation. Over the course of two months, 19 others were slapped with felonies under a Domestic Terrorism Law.
In the wake of Tortuguita’s death, Atlanta’s community has put out a call for support, and offered many ways to take action. Stop Cop City Solidarity is a great starting point for learning how to pressure the network of investors and contractors behind Cop City.
Get mad. Make art:
AXA XL is the insurance provider behind Cop City and a primary target for solidarity actions in this campaign. They host an annual “AXA Art Prize” student art competition, with submissions due by March 2nd: https://www.axaartprize.com/.
Join me in submitting art (drawings, political cartoons, memes) to the AXA Art Prize to remind them of their environmental commitments to climate action, sustainability, and achieving net zero. And make sure you Tweet your submissions to #AXAArtPrize.
The Stop Cop City Solidarity Week of Action starts today (Feb 19-26), with another Mass Mobilization planned in Atlanta from March 4-11.
Michelle Sayles 