We came together to show comrades in Atlanta and beyond some love, solidarity and strength. We came together to mark this moment in time to honour and mourn Tort, and to connect the struggle in Atlanta to here. The forest occupation in Lützerath Germany, a site of resistance to an open pit coal mine, was evicted days before the heart breaking news of Tort’s murder. We came together to connect these struggles to ecological destruction and state violence world over.
In the same way environmental issues are never simply local, we know that Cop City could become a nationwide, even worldwide, model. Fighting against Cop City in Atlanta is fighting against a more and more militarized world.
Today we made an altar together, lit candles, shared flowers and words. We sang songs of revolution. We shared zines and accounts about what is happening in Atlanta and we shared the words and stories of people who knew Tort.
We know that we must allow ourselves to feel our grief about Tort’s murder, and our grief about the destruction of our forests and of our earth. Our natural role in the ecosystem as humans is to protect, cultivate and be in harmony with the natural world around us and this is being taken away from us.
The way states and police respond to resistance with repression and murder, and frame protection of our earth as domestic terrorism, is dangerous for us all and for our collective future.
Tort died a revolutionary death. We grieve the loss of Tort. We grieve what is happening to the earth around us. Since the beginning of the pandemic, especially, we are experiencing an attack from states and media on our empathy and solidarity with one another. This attempt to harden hearts is an attack on our resilience and resistance to future climate chaos and destruction of our earth and our communities.
We will not let our hearts be hardened. Let us keep our hearts open, soft and strong. Let us keep our solidarity fierce. Let us keep our love and grief and pain and tears flowing, let it move us and keep us going.
From Berlin to Atlanta, we will never stop calling for the abolition of the police and the saving of our forests!
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