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Sign on Letter Demands Justice for Forest Defender
Killed by Police near Atlanta
2 May 2023–A sign on letter released on Earth Day (April 22) 2023 and closed on May Day (May 1) 2023 put out by Global Justice Ecology Project demands justice for Manuel Paez Teran, known as Tortuguita, who was killed by police in a hail of gunfire during a protest in a forest near Atlanta on 17 January 2023.
The sign on letter was endorsed by more than 400 people and 62 organizations representing millions of people around the globe. These signatories, coming from more than 30 countries, make the following demands of Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and US Attorney General Merrick Garland:
- Arrest the officers involved in the shooting of Tortuguita and try them for murder.
- Cancel the construction of “Cop City”– the $90 million Atlanta Public Safety Training Center,
- Drop charges of “domestic terrorism” against Stop Cop City activists.
On Wednesday April 19, 2023, the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office released the official autopsy of Manuel Paez Teran, a 26 year old Latin American activist. Teran was killed by police on January 17th, 2023, while in their tent at the Defend Atlanta Forest, Stop Cop City encampment launched to defend the Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta, Georgia from destruction for a huge police training facility. The autopsy revealed that Teran was shot 57 times.
After the killing, Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Director Mike Register said, “The individual who fired upon law enforcement and shot the trooper was killed in an exchange of gunfire,” and claimed that a handgun and shell casings had been found. The autopsy, however, found that there was no gunpowder residue on the hands of Teran. The Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide.
“This evidence indicates that Tortuguita was assassinated by the police for their leadership in the Stop Cop City movement. This may be the most blatant assassination of a radical political activist in the US since the murder of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in December 1969. It is the first known instance of a forest defense activist in the US being shot and killed by police.” –Global Justice Ecology Project letter
“There must also be justice for the African American community adjacent to the proposed Cop City–a community that has been overwhelmingly opposed to it,” added Anne Petermann, Executive Director of Global Justice Ecology Project. “Cop City construction must be cancelled. This is not just justice for Tortuguita, this is justice for this community.”
According to Global Witness, in Latin America between 2012 and 2022, “1733 defenders have been killed trying to protect their land and resources: that’s an average of one defender killed approximately every two days over ten years.”
Before being shot 57 times by police, Teran was quoted in the Bitter Southerner about their commitment to nonviolence, “The right kind of resistance is peaceful, because that’s where we win. We’re not going to beat them at violence. They’re very, very good at violence. We’re not. We win through nonviolence. That’s really the only way we can win. We don’t want more people to die. We don’t want Atlanta to turn into a war zone.”
Organizations signing onto the letter include:
AbibiNsroma Foundation, Ghana
Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation, USA
Athens County’s Future Action Network, USA
Biomass Action Group, Australia
Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project, USA
Brooklyn Greens / Green Party, USA
Burning Books, USA
California Communities Against Toxics, USA
Citizens for Public Schools, USA
Elev8 Soul and Science LLC, USA
Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
Friends of Bell Smith Springs, USA
Front Commun pour la Protection de l’Environnement et des Espaces Protégés, Democratic Republic of the Congo
GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives), Global / USA
GE Free New Zealand in Food and Environment, Aotearoa/ New Zealand
Global Forest Coalition, Canada
Global Justice Ecology Project, USA
Global Women’s Strike, UK
Global Women’s Strike / US, US
GMO/Toxin Free USA, USA
GreenRoots, USA
Hazelwood Urban Ag Team, USA
Heartwood, USA
Institute for Policy Studies Climate Policy Program, USA
Instituto para el Futuro Común Amerindio IFCA, Honduras
Kentucky Heartwood, USA
Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition, USA
Landelijk Netwerk Bos- en Bomenbescherming, The Netherlands
Langelle Photography, USA
Latin America Coalition of Buffalo, USA
Mangrove Action Project, USA
Missao Tabita, Moçambique
North American Climate, Conservation and Environment(NACCE), USA
Orange County Environmental Justice, USA
Our Health Is At Stake, USA
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Pakistan
Payday men’s network / US, USA
Peace & Planet News, USA
Peace Action of WI, USA
Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois, USA
Phunzirani Development Organisation, Malawi
Protect Our Woods, USA
Red de Acción por los Derechos Ambientales RADA, Chile
Réseau québécois des groupes écologistes, Canada
RICH CITY Rides, USA
Rural Advancement of the National Sharecroppers Fund, USA
Rural Coalition, USA
Seeds of Resistance, USA
Shawnee Forest Defense, USA
Smilin’ Trees Disarmament Farm, USA
South East Region Conservation Alliance Inc (SERCA), Australia
Sunflower Alliance, USA
The Corner House, UK
The Enviro Show, USA
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hidalgo County, USA
Water Justice and Gender, Peru
Women of Color/Global Women’s Strike, USA
The sign on letter can be read here
