“Requiem for Stop Cop City” – It Could Happen Here (November 24, 2025)

Episode Overview

In this deeply reflective episode, host Garrison Davis offers a comprehensive autopsy of the years-long movement against the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center—widely known as “Cop City.” This episode marks Davis’s final in-depth report on Stop Cop City, tracing the movement’s phases, its ultimate defeat, and the lessons for anti-authoritarian organizing in an era of escalating police power and state repression.

Davis draws on interviews with Atlanta organizers, anarchists, and forest defenders to dissect why the movement initially felt winnable, how momentum was lost, and how state retaliation and movement fragmentation thwarted the goal of stopping Cop City’s construction. The episode situates the Atlanta struggle as both a local battle and a prototype for national repression tactics in the era of “Trump 2.0.”

Key Discussion Points and Timeline

[03:20] The Genesis and Unique Spirit of the Movement

• The Stop Cop City movement began in 2021, sparked by plans to build a massive police training complex in Atlanta’s South River Forest.
  • “Something that set the movement in Atlanta apart was the genuine belief that this fight was actually winnable, as opposed to the many lofty aspirations of other anti police, anarchist or leftist struggles.” – Garrison Davis (03:20)
• A sense of real possibility energized the campaign, with slogans like “I believe that we will win” expressing authentic hope.

[06:00–20:00] Phases of the Movement: From Militancy to Repression

1. Attack Phase (Spring–Summer 2021)

• Initial period defined by sabotage, tree-spiking, and uncompromising militancy.
• Quote: “Early stages of the movement were very intentionally defined by lots of sabotage and unapologetic militancy. … If you don’t like it, that’s cool, but then don’t be a part of this.” – Anonymous Atlanta Anarchist (06:35)

2. Occupation and Pressure Campaign (Fall 2021–Spring 2022)

• Physical encampments in the forest; pressure tactics aimed at construction subcontractors.
• At first, police seemed paralyzed, unable to disrupt encampments or halt sabotage.
• Quote: “The cops just not knowing what to do at all. Small incursions would get made, but they just had not figured out what to do about it yet. There was just kind of like free reign.” – Anonymous Atlanta Anarchist

3. Escalation & Police Raids (May 2022–Jan 2023)

• Police shifted to large “grid sweep” raids—ending the period of cop inaction (“paralysis”).
• Culminated in the killing of activist Tortuguita in Jan 2023, marking the end of continuous occupation.
• Quote: “May of 2022 is the end of the paralysis phase for the cops... you’re getting your multi-agency large sweeps...” – Anonymous Atlanta Anarchist

4. Revenge Phase (Early 2023)

• Intense direct action and confrontation, notably during the March 5 South River Music Festival, when activists torched construction equipment, leading to mass arrests and domestic terrorism charges against 23 people.

5. Limbo, Fragmentation, and Crackdown (Mid–Late 2023)

• State repression: raids on encampments, the razing of the forest, persistent surveillance, and increasingly draconian charges (RICO indictments against 61 organizers).
• Divisions emerged over appropriate tactics; “limbo” replaced unified direction.
• Notable event: police raid on Atlanta Solidarity Fund, followed by City Council’s $67 million Cop City funding approval and the (ultimately thwarted) referendum campaign.

[20:00–34:00] Why the Movement Lost: Strategy, Momentum, and State Tactics

• Failure to Recalibrate: As police overcame their initial paralysis, activists did not escalate or adapt strategies quickly enough.
  • “You need contingency lines, right? Either things that you’re willing to escalate... or a complete change in strategy … At the end of the day, you have to.” – Anonymous Atlanta Anarchist (20:00)
• ODA Loop: Davis explains how both police and activists navigate an ODA (Observe–Orient–Decide–Act) feedback cycle, where the side that fails to adapt rapidly loses the initiative.
• State's Counterinsurgency Playbook: Domestic terrorism charges, RICO indictments, home raids, and highly visible surveillance all worked to cripple organizing and shatter movement morale.
• Quote on Fear as Weapon: “It takes black bagging six people to paralyze 6,000. Because it’s terrifying, because it’s scary, like it’s fucked up. That’s a bad thing to have happen to you.” – Anonymous Atlanta anarchist (46:38)

[34:00–55:00] Stop Cop City as Predictor and Template

Lessons Learned: Fear and Counter-Fear

• The movement strove to use fear offensively (“making your enemy afraid of the dark”) but also had to cope with the psychological toll of repression.
• Quote: “While we understand our own fear, I think people often fall into the trap of not understanding that the state is also afraid of them… they are susceptible to emotional impulses like all of us… that’s the single way out. They’re human and they get scared.” – Anonymous Atlanta anarchist (23:59)

Nationalization of Lessons and Repression

• Cop City was a training ground for both activists and the state.
• The playbook developed in Atlanta is now being used nationwide, with increased surveillance, anti-activist legislation, and aggressive police deployment under Trump’s expanded law enforcement directives.
• Georgia’s Flock Safety surveillance cameras now blanket the country; the National Guard is being integrated into federal policing, and anti-ANTIFA executive orders are being signed.
• Quote: “What’s happening in Atlanta is a vision of the future. This is a test run of a repressive playbook that authorities on many different levels are experimenting with to discover what they can get away with.” – Marlon Kratz, Atlanta Solidarity Fund (39:55)

Contagion and Next Steps

• Both activists and state forces are spreading their tactics: organizers take “lessons learned” with them, while police agencies hold conferences and adapt innovations.
• The struggle must shift to a national scale, with new forms of antifascist resistance and support networks.

[55:00–61:00] Internalization, Legacy, and Closing the Book

• Moving On: Activists are cautioned not to let Cop City become a movement “zombie”—continuing rituals without impact or closure.
  • “If you never close the book yourself on this battle... this could just remain like an open wound on you forever if you let it. … We need to move on to other things that are larger than Atlanta.” – Anonymous Atlanta anarchist (23:59)
• Physical and Metaphysical Terrain: The terrain of struggle is reframed—no longer just a forest, but a nationwide network of repression and potential resistance. The focus must expand to wider campaigns: “Cop City is everywhere.”
• Need for Security Culture: Emphasis on militancy, counter-surveillance, and the day-to-day practice of staying secure against repression.
  • “Militant anarchism as a daily practice… you are being like hunted for sport and you have to evade and maneuver constantly.” – Anonymous Atlanta anarchist (46:38)
• Legacy and Narrative Control: The risk of outside powers (state, capital, sensationalist media) defining the story; movement participants must stamp their own ending and integrate lessons.

Memorable Quotes & Insights

| Time | Speaker/Quote | |---|---| | 03:20 | “Something that set the movement in Atlanta apart was the genuine belief that this fight was actually winnable, as opposed to the many lofty aspirations of other anti police, anarchist or leftist struggles.” – Garrison Davis | | 06:35 | “Early stages of the movement were very intentionally defined by lots of sabotage and unapologetic militancy... This is what we're doing, this is what we're about...” – Anonymous Atlanta Anarchist | | 23:59 | “While we understand our own fear, I think people often fall into the trap of not understanding that the state is also afraid of them. Because the state feels like this monolithic machine... It is made up of people with flaws and emotions who have the same cortisol response to being threatened that you or I do.” – Anonymous Atlanta anarchist | | 39:55 | “What’s happening in Atlanta is a vision of the future. This is a test run of a repressive playbook that authorities on many different levels are experimenting with to discover what they can get away with.” – Marlon Kratz, Atlanta Solidarity Fund | | 46:38 | “Militant anarchism as a daily practice. Understanding your adversary not just as this thing that you meet on the field for 20 minutes of action and then you both go home... you are being like hunted for sport and you have to evade and maneuver constantly.” – Anonymous Atlanta anarchist | | 61:00 | “We need to close the book on it ourselves. We need to rubber stamp it ourselves. No other entity can do that for us. It would be disastrous if they did.” – Anonymous Atlanta anarchist |

Important Timestamps

• 03:20 – Movement origins and the belief that “we will win”
• 06:00–12:00 – Early tactics: sabotage, occupation, and police paralysis
• 15:00–20:00 – Escalation to direct action and retaliatory police raids
• 23:59–30:00 – Psychological warfare, fear and counter-fear; shift from collective power to state dominance
• 34:00–45:00 – Nationwide implications, new laws, surveillance rise, and militarized policing
• 46:38–50:00 – Movement lessons: militancy, security culture, the danger of atrophy and “zombie” activism
• 55:00–61:00 – Legal update: RICO charges, ongoing trials, movement legacy and narrative battle

Conclusion

“Requiem for Stop Cop City” is both a somber eulogy and a call to carry forward the knowledge won at great cost. The movement against Cop City, even in defeat, offered the police state a template—and offered organizers hard-won lessons on adaptation, militancy, security, and the necessity of defining one's own narrative. As police tactics and surveillance escalate nationally, Davis argues that activists must internalize and spread the lessons from Atlanta, close the book on this chapter, and prepare for the ongoing, ever-evolving struggle against authoritarianism.

End of summary