#Atlanta Bail Fund

[gwydionmisha]

The Atlanta police want to remind you that exercising your first amendment rights is considered terrorism as is any political opposition.

[uboat53]

The state arresting people for actions that are explicitly illegal is not, in and of itself, an indicator of creeping authoritarianism. Perhaps the nature of the law might be, but the act itself is not.

The state arresting people for actions that are explicitly legal beecause it doesn't like the people who those actions help IS, by itself, an indicator of creeping authoritarianism.

Everyone keep an eye on Atlanta, they seem to be willing to throw democracy aside in order to get their new police training center built.

[everlastingrandom]

Please Support the Atlanta Solidarity Fund!!

Within the last hour, an audio recording of Atlanta PD just dropped, with police admitting that the arrest of the three members of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF) this Wednesday was a blatant attempt to disrupt support for the Defend the Forest Movement, by cutting off mutual aid and bail funds.

The first trial hearing today was to determine if the arrestees would get bail. Even the judge could tell the charges were BS—money laundering and charity fraud—When all their transactions are public knowledge. But the court still set bail at $15,000 each to appease prosecution.

The ASF has been forced to use their own funds to avoid being jailed over the weekend, and with one of them denied disability aids and medications! One of the stipulations of the bail is that they can’t use their resources to support (deliberately vague at to what counts as support) the Defend the Forest movement.

The police are worried that the timing of the arrest before the City Council’s final Cop City budget vote on Monday June 5th may have galvanized protesters instead of disrupting them. But APD will follow this pattern of targeting bail funds and charities on the grounds of “enabling violence.” There is a high likelihood of more arrests more coming, and they see it as an opportunity to get overtime pay.

Please boost this if you can!

Donation Link Here!!

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[thatsleepymermaid]

I haven't heard people talking about this much, but I feel like it's important for people to know. Especially since SB 63 essentially bans bail funds by not allowing organizations, charities, individuals, or groups to bail out more than three people per year and requiring them to register as bonding agencies.

This is a direct response to all the protests happening here in Atlanta. So far, spreading the word can help as well as donating to The Atlanta Solidarity Fund .

In the meantime, here's some phone numbers of politicians you can go bug.

Randy Robertson (Guy who's sponsoring the bill): +1-404-656-0045

Brian Kemp (Governor of Georgia): +1-404-656-1776

[opencommunion]

The Stop Cop City movement has sought to prevent the expropriation of part of the Welaunee Forest for the development of an 85-acre police mega training center: a model town to prepare the state’s repressive arms for the urban warfare that will ensue when the contradictions of their exploitation and extraction become uncontainable, as they did in 2020 after the APD murdered Rayshard Brooks.  That murder, and all those that came before, were the lodestars of the Black-led movement during the George Floyd uprisings; their demands were no less than the dismantlement of the entire carceral system. Unable to effectively manage or quell the popular street movements, the Atlanta Police Foundation set out to consolidate and expand their capabilities for surveillance, repression, imprisonment, armed violence, and forced disappearance. One result is Cop City, which has been racked by militant sabotage, land occupation, arson, and popular mobilizations, in an attempt to end the construction and return Atlanta to its people.  As the Atlanta Police Foundation was unable to contain the 2020 Black rebellion, so too have they been unable to quell the resistance against Cop City. The press reports that the project is hemorrhaging money and is mired in delays and difficulties. For their part, the city, the state, and the federal government, have in turn employed every tool in their power to destroy the movement. Last week, the Georgia State Senate passed a bill to effectively criminalize bail funds in the state; RICO charges have been contorted to target networks of support and care that surround the fighters; and last January, APD assassinated the comrade Tortuguita in cold blood while they rested in their tent in the forest. It is clear that Stop Cop City represents one of the conjunctural spear tips for expanding the existing systems of counterinsurgency that span Africa, Asia, and the Arab world.  Today the system’s belly rests atop Gaza, whose rumblings shake the earth upon which we walk. Through its Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) program, the APD has sent hundreds of police to train with the Zionist occupation forces. And in October 2023, after Tufan al-Aqsa, the Atlanta Police Department engaged in hostage training inside abandoned hotels, putatively intended to “defeat Hamas,” in an advancement of tactics for the targeting of Black people. With every such expansion, the ability of counterinsurgency doctrines to counteract people’s liberation struggles grows. The purpose of counterinsurgency is to marshal state and para-state power into political, social, economic, psychological, and military warfare to overwhelm both militants and the popular cradle—the people—who support them. Its aim is to render us hopeless; to isolate and dispossess us and to break our will to resist it by any and all means necessary. This will continue apace, unless we fight to end it. Stop Cop City remains undeterred: on Friday, an APD cop car was burnt overnight in response to the police operation on February 8; yesterday, two trucks and trailers loaded with lumber were burnt to the ground. An anonymous statement claiming credit for the former, stated: “We wish to dispel any notion that people will take this latest wave of repression lying down, or that arresting alleged arsonists will deter future arsons.”  As the U.S. government and Zionist entity set their sights on the Palestinian people sheltering in Rafah, as they continue their relentless genocide of our people in Khan Younis, Jabalia, Shuja’iyya, and Gaza City, the Stop Cop City movement has clearly articulated its solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. They have done so with consistency and discipline, and we have heard them. Our vision of freedom in this life and the next requires us to confront and challenge the entangled forces of oppression in Palestine and in Turtle Island, and to identify the sites of tension upon which these systems distill their forces. This week, as with the last three years, the forest defenders have presented us one such crucible.

(11 Feb 24)

National Lawyers Guild, Stop All Cop Cities: Lessons For a National Struggle (video, 1 hr 45 min)

[starredforlife]

hey idk if y’all have heard about what’s going on on Emory’s campus in Atlanta but it’s some intense stuff.

-There was an encampment for Palestine earlier today (04/25/24) thats been on and off since this morning.

-Several people have been arrested; police teargassed and shot rubber bullets at protesters of all ages, students and faculty, journalists.

-The QR code is a bail fund for the people arrested. (Venmo is HALLESTEWART)

-Here’s sources for videos, pictures, and an article. Warnings for police brutality.

donations can also be made to atlsolidarity.org !

Source for bail fund + it has numbers to call for the university and jail as well (or check out the page for palestinianyouthmovement on instagram)

[probablyasocialecologist]

Approved by the Atlanta City Council in 2021, the plan has been met with months-long opposition from neighbors and protesters concerned with the destruction of the forest at a time of intensifying climate change and environmental racism. Protesters are also alarmed by the expansion of policing and its associated violence, and “Stop Cop City” has become a national rallying cry for environmental and racial justice movements. Law enforcement, in turn, has responded with a ferocious crackdown that has left one forest defender killed (Georgia state troopers riddled 26-year-old Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán with 57 bullets in January) and 42 charged with domestic terrorism. Three organizers with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, a bail fund, are now facing money laundering and charity fraud charges, following SWAT arrests at the end of May.

[...]

Some union leaders say the fight to stop Cop City has significant stakes for the labor movement as a whole. “Working people always have to be wary of any repression against protesters, because there is a history in our country that once it’s used against anyone protesting government policies, it can be turned against workers in their union,” Carl Rosen, the general president of UE, says over the phone from Erie, Pennsylvania, where 1,400 UE members who work for Wabtec Corp. could soon go out on strike.

[...]

“Cops are the first line of defense for business owners and employers, so I think it makes sense for labor to be opposed to Cop City,” he says. “These cops are being trained at Cop City and will use the tactics they learn to crush our strike if we go out.”

[marrowage]

i’m just. sick to my stomach over the video of georgia state patrol tasing a street medic who was already handcuffed and on the ground. donate to atlanta solidarity fund to help with protestor bail if you have the means

[thoughtportal]

The Atlanta Solidarity Fund bails out activists who are arrested for participating in social justice movements, and helps them get access to lawyers.

Your contribution will go directly to supporting those facing repression. Please contribute what you can.

When we stand together, we are strong!

https://atlsolidarity.org/#support

[antifainternational]

First, police announced plans to build a $90 million "Cop City" police training megaplex on environmentally-sensitive grounds near Atlanta. Then, people understandably started protesting this bullshit. Then, police responded to those protests in a draconian manner, assaulting protestors, charging 42 of them (including a legal observer from the National Lawyers' Guild) with "terrorism," and murdering one of the protestors. Then, people running the Atlanta Solidarity Fund were bailing out the arrested protestors and hooking them up with lawyers. Then, the police sent a SWAT team to arrest the admins of the Solidarity Fund, charging them with "charity fraud" and "money laundering!" The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund, which operates in much the same way as the Atlanta Solidarty Fund, has kicked in to help defend the admins of that fund, who are presently out on bail and putting together their defense case. Helping them fight the charges they're facing for helping other activists fight their charges = helping the helpers!

You can join us in defending the Atlanta Solidarity Fund admins here. You can help us to defend anti-fascists around the world facing heavy-handed tactics like what we've just described by making a contribution to the Defence Fund here.

[thatsleepymermaid]

Sources to help stop cop city!!!

Petitions and Funds

Atlanta Solidarity Fund

Donate money or sign the petition for the "Stop the Swap" lawsuit

Fundraiser for Tortuguita Healing Center

Muscogee Tribe fundraiser

Phone numbers and emails

Adre Dickens: (404) 330-6054 541

Brian Kemp: +1-404-656-1776

Construction company in charge: Brasfield & Gorrie 678-581-6400

Atlanta Paving and Concrete Construction: 770-220-0228

Atlanta Police Foundation: 770-354-3392

City of Atlanta 404-330-6100

Updated September 12th, 2024

[crimethinc]

Atlanta Police and Prosecutors Target Legal Support Activists

https://crimethinc.com/AtlantaSolidarity2023

Seeking to protect their cash cow, Cop City, Atlanta police have arrested three legal support organizers connected to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund and charged them with “money laundering” and “charity fraud.” This comes less than a week before Atlanta City Council will decide on whether or not to allocate additional millions of taxpayer dollars to fund Cop City.

This move marks a new low for Atlanta police and prosecutors in their descent into totalitarian tactics. Since December, in addition to murdering one protester, they have pressed trumped-up domestic terrorism charges against practically every defendant they have arrested. Now, in order to ensure that defendants in the movement to protect the forest in Atlanta cannot get proper legal defense, they are attacking activists who help to raise bail and provide legal support.

In this analysis, we discuss the precedents and implications of this attack on all forms of solidarity organizing.

[depressedgarbages-stuff]

All posts of the situation of 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸 I saw today (Fri, Apr 26.):

https://www.tumblr.com/sayruq/748777559228022784/dont-forget-palestinian-students?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/kunikloj/742420689731174400/its-so-sad-that-in-order-to-get-people-to-care?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/hack-saw2004/748679532763070464/one-hour-ago-greg-abbott-who-i-have-the-great?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/i-am-aprl/747664824776982528/palestinian-activists-get-their-message-across-on?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/soon-palestine/748742363966554112?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/murphmurphthejerk/743521268386627584/so-i-found-aaron-bushnells-reddit-and-went?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/kropotkindersurprise/743641102819770368/february-28-2024-american-military-veterans?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/beam-of-sunlightbb/742447601073389568/the-media-is-complicit-in-the-dehumanization-of?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/seasonofprophecy/748287886216101888/hey-everyone-please-consider-buying-the-2024?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/geminisee/748698214045204480/via-zayydante?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/the-bastard-king/745992305559879680/so-even-if-you-think-it-isnt-enough-remember?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/sayruq/748596178051006464/200-days-into-the-genocide-of-gaza-here-are-some?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/eclipsedsuns/748702361534545920/i-wish-i-could-say-this-more-eloquently-but?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/hack-saw2004/748662733371752449/happening-now-texas-state-troopers-are-menacing-a?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/i-am-aprl/748774607671214080/minutes-ago-atlanta-cops-tasing-a-restrained?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/soon-palestine/748772191537086464?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/politijohn/748781273700499456/free-palestine?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/fantasmafanta/748596541842915328/join-the-artists-for-palestine-discord-server?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/magnus-rhymes-with-swagness/748663597800079360/made-a-flyer-with-information-on-how-to-donate-to?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/mirkobloom77/748765931458740224/journalists-in-north-gaza-request-water-get?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/taviamoth/748669412000907264/students-at-harvard-university-launched-an?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/givemearmstopraywith/748773977088016384/verso-books-has-made-books-on-palestine-mass?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/sayruq/748679372889784320/its-not-the-first-time-that-has-happened?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/hack-saw2004/748681928916516864/i-think-its-so-funny-that-alumni-from-schools-like?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/i-am-aprl/748756330650763264/among-those-arrested-in-atlanta-today-were-noelle?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/nanasketchdump/748750589440212992/when-the-rest-of-the-world-looks-at-the-united?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/longlivepalestina/748778024136310784?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/sam-jessie/748749901540868096/its-insane-how-casually-the-calls-to-end-a?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/mysharona1987/748757452861882368?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/soon-palestine/748767647051726848/108-arrested-during-horrific-police-sweep-of?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/b0tster/748783946487250944/cant-get-more-fascist-police-state-than-snipers-on?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/fairuzfan/748685670945570816/update-north-gaza-aid?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/sayruq/748598262312861696/%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/sugas6thtooth/748585204194672640?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/givemearmstopraywith/748695920244310016/bail-funds-for-pro-palestine-activists?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/hack-saw2004/748672614765117440/two-hours-ago-an-incredible-photo-taken-by-a-ut?source=share

[gothhabiba]

Law enforcement officers in Georgia have arrested three top organizers behind a bail fund in Atlanta that has been aiding protesters against Cop City.

Atlanta police arrested the organizers, the CEO, chief financial officer and the secretary for the group behind the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, at their homes on Wednesday morning. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), the three were charged with money laundering and charity fraud.

Activists called the arrests an escalation in the state’s attempt to crush the Stop Cop City movement, with participants being hit with increasingly harsh charges.

“This is a major escalation –– they’re arresting those who defend the arrested,” wrote Atlanta organizer Micah Herskind. “The implications of these arrests is that not only can you not protest, but you cannot defend those who are arrested for protesting. There is no first amendment in Atlanta.”

In a statement, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) spoke as though the organizers and other anti-Cop City activists were already found guilty of their charges from the GBI. He said that he was “proud” to have arrested the “criminals” who he says “facilitated and encouraged domestic terrorism,” referring to terrorism charges against Cop City protesters.

The city of Atlanta is pursuing a $90 million plan backed by both Republicans like Kemp and Democratic Mayor Andre Dickens to build an 85-acre police militarization compound in a forest in the area. If built, Cop City would be the nation’s largest police training compound, and activists say that it would only worsen brutality by local police, as evidenced by the violent response to nonviolent protesters — all while razing a forest to do so.

The Twitter account for the Defend the Atlanta Forest/Stop Cop City movement[] pointed out that the Atlanta Solidarity Fund has aided in lawsuits against the Atlanta Police Department over its arrests of a journalist and protesters in the movement. “This is retaliatory,” the group wrote.

Activists have also pointed out that the GBI’s statement about the arrest, as well as Kemp’s, seem to suggest that the state is preparing to use Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) charges against the bail fund, which the Atlanta Solidarity Fund has been predicting for months.

The organizers have said that the state appears to be creating a “flimsy narrative” that the group is a criminal organization. So far, over 40 activists have been charged with domestic terrorism for protesting the compound.