Share This:

twitter

facebook

A report from Atlanta on the past few days of #OccupyICE activity, as well as an analysis on where we can expect things to go in the coming terrain.

It has become an urgent necessity, as the storms of revolt and refusal are once again sweeping up the angry and desperate everywhere, to catalogue reflections, lessons, and insights. The movements are continuously racing forward. In most movements, it is the radically inexperienced who constitute the super majority. They are alone or with their friends and family, they do not come with a plan or an ideology, they represent no organization or institution, and they have only their intuition and passions to direct their gestures and interventions. Revolutionaries should dedicate time and focus to connecting to and learning from these forces because they are without ideological or factionalist loyalties. Alternately, those of us who have learned a thing or two from the time when we were inexperienced or directionless would do well to share the lessons we learned in the preceding periods.

BUILDING THE BLOCKADE (Day 1)

On Saturday, the 30th of June, large demonstrations took play all over the country under the innocuous banner “Keep Families Together,” in reference to the draconian practice of seperating families at the border in instances of illegal crossings and following raids and round ups of undocumented immigrants more broadly. Following the demonstration in Atlanta, autonomous and informally organized crews and groups initiated a march to the detention center in south downtown. As CrimethInc. reported:

“After the rally was dismissed, a large banner reading “ICE BREAKERS: Chinga La Migra” was stretched across the street accompanied by chanting and drums. Several hundred joined, despite liberal protest marshals attempting to discourage them from doing so. Together, they marched back to the jail, holding the streets the whole way. Peachtree Street was blocked outside the jail as hundreds chanted and waved to those locked up inside. Cops drove motorcycles through the crowd, but the crowd did not back down; soon, a couch appeared in the streets and people began to set up tents. The atmosphere was festive, with many dancing to music or playing soccer. As the day wore on, the cops slowly began to encroach on the occupation, forcing people to clear the street, confiscating the couch and tents, and violently arresting one person.”

Following this arrest, the occupation was still determined to maintain a protracted presence outside of the facility, and a few dozen people slept on sleeping bags and mats.

We made it through the first day.

WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE (Day 2)

The second day of the short-lived occupation was rich with collaborations, experiments, and refusals. Across the city and country, images and stories circulated about what was taking place in Atlanta.

In the morning assembly, it was determined that taking decisive actions was necessary, even if the encampment was crushed as a result. Throughout the day, the autonomous group All Out Atlanta initiated a call from inside of the occupation to converge on the detention center at night and to have a noise demonstration for inmates and detainees.

Roughly 100 demonstrators gathered with drums and signs outside of the jail and mingled while preparations were made for the march. The crowd was diverse in many ways, but was predominatly comprised of young people. Without a speech, the crowd walked directly into the streets chanting anti-border and anti-nationalist slogans as well as slogans against ICE and fascism. “No Borders, No Nations, Stop Deportations” and “Somos Todas Antifascistas” bounced off the walls of the Greyhound Station, while someone on a megaphone announced to the crowd that Greyhound has become infamous for facilitating ICE detentions on their routes and allowing police to search their buses.

In a short time, the crowd arrived at the ICE Field Office. Demonstrators marched around the building and began yelling at an officer standing behind a wrought-iron fence. Someone in a mask began shooting a roman candle at him, forcing him to retreat from the gate, while many others cheered. Demonstrators blocked a police car until a large black smoke bomb was ignited, sending thick plumes of smoke into the street and allowing the crowd to safely continue without a police tail. Once back to the occupation, tents and tarps were immediately erected. In less than five minutes, Atlanta Police were already walking over to dismantle them. Storm clouds hovered in the sky as the sun set behind the train station across the street.

The police were unable to seize the tents because the crowd refused to make concessions, collectively held onto the structure, screaming “Cops go home,” and protecting one another from arrest. The atmosphere became electric with many chanting “that was fun, that was fun.” More police arrived and the crowd became tense. From behind a large banner, everyone linked arms, forming cordons and chanting for the police to leave. For 30 minutes, shoving matches and clashes between protestors and police took place in full view of hundreds of inmates who were banging on their windows and flickering their lights. Police groped and attacked women and femmes, and did their best to break the morale of the crowd with infantile hazing and joking. All in all, the police failed after three total attempts to clear the encampment, which was quickly rebuilt with tarps and couches. Only one person was arrested, despite countless foiled attempts by the police.

As we have seen countless times in the past, only creative refusal can create the possibility of safety , while compliance tends to empower the police to take further liberties against us.

SEND IN THE DOGS (Day 3)

On the morning of the 2nd, the third day of the occupation, the city council was scheduled to discuss ICE and the situation with the protests. Some activists went to the meeting and signed up to speak. Meanwhile, a hundred police officers in riot gear and on bicycles marched down Peachtree Street and methodically destroyed the encampment. Those present did not feel capable of responding proportionally. After they made a mess, the jail forced inmates to clean up the remains while officers established a chain-link perimeter.

Overwhelming police force now. They will use any means to shut down our camp, but they can't stop us from coming back! pic.twitter.com/wfEzjq23gK — AllOutATL (@AllOutAtlanta) July 2, 2018