A lot of things have changed in the woods since I visited last year. The entrenchment Creek Park trailhead at Wallani People's Park is now basically a massive mud pit, the trees cut down and all the grass gone. Sidewalks and bike paths have all been turned into rubble. As we talked about in the last episode, the police have been increasingly destructive during their more and more frequent raids
on the forest. In the past year, the cops have demolished dozens of treehouses and targeted protesters with escalatory tactics. The last thirteen people who have been arrested near the forest have all been charged with domestic terrorism for their
mere association with the stop Coop City movement. As hard as the cops are making it to continue being in the woods, there is still something undeniably special about being in community in the forest, or else people wouldn't be risking life and legal consequences.
Living in the woods for me was like a dream. I came to the woods because I was homeless and unemployed and was actually living in different woods by myself, and to actually came to the woods for similar reasons. Tort lost their housing in Tallahassee and decided to give this place a try as a place to live.
In the forest, there was always over time just developed like you know, people built coffee shops and like a kitchen people used and places for people to just like I know, and that continued build time. I never stopped, will never stop better and they never stopped making life out better as as comfortable, as comfortable and as welcoming and as a community best as possible. And that's really the best thing I feel like I could I could speak to one.
It is that no matter what was going on, and.
People were always working to make the forest as as welcoming out a spaceh to as many people as possible as they could.
The night of the December thirteenth police raid, Tortuguito went back to the camp in Willani People's Park to start rebuilding after police tore down the encampments and protest infrastructure just hours prior.
I've never experienced such emotional and material security as I have living in the Willauni Forest because there are a community of people that are dedicated to taking care of each other and making sure that we all have our needs met. And that was something that tort and I did for each other, often making sure that we had
enough water and food and rides to places. It's really a wonderful place to live, and I've also deep in my relationship to the earth being there, Like living with the same trees for over a year is a really profound experience. And also it's a really stressful place and people are always butting heads in really interesting ways, but
we're committed to remaining in relationship with each other. As part of the magic, too, is that if you get into a fight with someone at camp, you don't just you know, like move to a different apartment and stop talking to them, like they're still around and there's still a comrade. So we're committed to each other in a way that's it's rare to find in this society.
Here is Cricket talking about the type of support everyone has for each other in the movement and how Torte really embodied that.
I think one of the things I've seen in my experience with the movement is just the tremendous amount of care that everyone has for one another. You don't have to know one another, we don't have to be on a legal name basis, and we still fight for one another. We still protect one another, we still try to save one another, and that is something I saw tort embody regularly, and I'm grateful to everyone who has helped keep me safe. And I always, yeah, I'm always trying to keep everyone
else safe in any capacity that I can. So we've done a lot of safety trainings. Something that Tort was a really big part of was medic medic trainings, making sure that people have access to life saving techniques and skills that are often kept away from really vulnerable folks. So that is something we've been trying to contribute and that we're trying to continue now that tort is no
longer with us. We were supposed to meet yesterday to put together a curriculum of marginalized, vulnerable people who face gun violence both from the state and from right wing neo Nazi fascists, you name it, and will be continuing that work in their name.
When spending time in the Wilani Forest and even for the many peripheral aspects of the movement, people will choose a forest name. It's like a nickname that helps your legal identity and nom de plume. Many chose Tortigita, which is Spanish for little turtle. But it wasn't just chosen for its cute animal association. I'll read from bitter Southerner quote.
It was a nod to the colonial era indigenous military commander of the same name, who led Native American forces to one of their most decisive victories against the then nascent US army in seventeen ninety one. Now, Tort was allegedly apprehensive to share the meaning behind their chosen name with a journalist who was interviewing them, because quote, that does not make us look like peaceful protesters. We are
very peaceful people, I promise unquote. There is a few other quotes attributed to Tort across various articles that seem to espouse a belief in nonviolence as a tactical strategy. Quote, it's incredibly important to continue having popular support. Copcity is incredibly unpopular already. We're very popular. We're cool. We get a lot of support from people who live here, and that's important because we win through non violence. We're not going to beat them at violence, but we can beat
them in public opinion in the courts. Even unquote. Based on frequent phone calls with Tort about forced defense Tortighita's own mother has shared similar sentiments about Towrt's politics, saying they quote carry no malice quote. I'm gonna read one more quote from Torti Ghita about this topic. 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. During my time in Atlanta, I wanted to learn as much as possible about Torta Gita, about who they were as a person, what kind of stuff they enjoyed doing, what they were to the movement, but mostly just listen to people's stories and memories of Torte. Peter met Torte just shortly after they moved to Atlanta.
So I met tort in May of twenty two, around the time when they first got to the forest from Tallahassee. I met them during that week of action, and they were like insanely enthusiastic about being there. We met around a fire and talked about how our enthusiasm for life sometimes offended people. That was something that we had in common. They talked about their mom a lot. I won't say I was a close friend of Tort's, but I was a dear comrade to them, and being in relationship with
them really sharpened my conflict skills. I was in a few different conflict with Tort and also on the sidelines for some conflicts that they had with other people, and I learned a lot about how to be more gentle with my comrades and how to give people more grace in times of high stress.
This is a snippet from my conversation with Cricket on what TORTI Ghita brought to the movement and how they really lived their politics.
Tort was hilarious. They were someone who always brought fun to whatever they were doing. And I'm sure through the folks that you're seeing, the folks that people can see on social media with like the outpour and of support for Tort, that they were involved in so many different groups, like so many different causes, and they were an incredibly dedicated activists, but someone who really felt that resistance could
be fun, could be joyful, could be celebratory. Uh, it was always an opportunity to meet new people, to hug new people. They were a big hugger. They were someone who was always checking in on other people. They were someone who was always there to lend a hand, either literally or or or metaphorically. And they really inspired I think a lot of people, And I think that that was something huge that they contributed to the movement, not just as a person, but also bringing that joyfulness, bringing
that that energy, that passion and excitement. Uh really inspired me and inspired a lot of people.
It's funny, a lot of the people I've talked to were like have have like mentioned just because of the different like you know, affinity groups that they've been in and stuff. There's like a lot of people I've talked to you have talked have mentioned a lot like that they would not like regularly, but like everyone you know, like get into conflicts with toar it like there was there was someone who you would you would sometimes who
there would be just happened to be disagreements with. But despite disagreements, they were like one of the kindest people that they met. Even when they're you know, arguing about something. It's like they would go so far to make sure that other people knew that they were like cared for and would would got just be very open towards like everybody they meet.
Yeah, I think they really tried to live into and walk the walk of abolition and noncarceral conflict of it's okay to disagree, and disagreement doesn't mean that you got to get kicked out. It does not mean that you're a bad person. They allowed for complexity and allowed for processes of working through things, of talking through things, and that's a huge gift. I mean, I think anyone, regardless of their level of activism, can relate to the idea that it's hard to disagree, it's hard to be in
conflicts sometimes. But I do think that they were really committed to building relationships of trust where you could disagree, where you could have different opinions, but that there was still so much love and still so much care, and that those things were not themselves in conflict. Those things were actually very very much related. And yeah, no, it was They're special and yeah, I'm just I'm just sorry, I'm just heartbroken.
Tortighita's partner and a close friend of theirs, recorded a video shortly after the shooting, just talking about who Torteghita was and how they lived in community. I got permission from their partner to use clips from that video in this episode. Tour was always a.
Very welcoming presence. They're always one of the greatest organizers we had out there. They took care of everyone who came through. They always want to make sure everyone was taken care of. They were the ones who would welcome you into the forest and they would make sure you have a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad, attent, whatever you could possibly need. Always making sure people are getting fed, and just kind of like transparent you've ever had.
One of the people I spent with. Noah also talked about how Tortigito was quick to welcome people into the movement a new.
Tour through various actions, center in the forest and doing medical work with them.
I think I think a lot of people have ever good this, but I remember them as being one of.
The kindest and most welcoming people that I ever met working on the forest.
Kind of whenever new people comment, was very like.
Very often kind of like one of the first people to greet them and was always very like open to letting people come and see and be a part of the community that had been established out in the woods.
It was a very it was an extremely welcome in person. They were a very welcome in person.
I was always willing to put there to help somebody out and to do the work it took to make sure that the community was safe out there and that it could continue.
So much of the stuff around the forest, it's all about like the militants in the woods, and toward kind of fell into that category, you know, people who are wearing black lavas camping out in the forest. Most of the people I've interviewed are also more on that side of things, but not everyone feels like they have the ability to put on a ski mask and live in
the woods. One of the people I spoke with was a mother named Karen, who started doing local neighborhood organizing after connecting with Torti Ghita last summer.
So I met tort Less summer and there was like lots of things happening in the park, and you know, I'm a neighbor, and so I was the who really fought for you know, tried to get the city council to vote against it. And so I was interested, you know, curious and interested about all of these events happening at the park. They were all like mostly at night time, and I have a toddler, and so I'm like boring and have a strict bedtime, so I don't, you know,
go out at night time. So I was like trying to find a place for me and like people like me, and oh they're boring, you know, parents. And so I got connected with Tort and we start We started, I guess going during the daytime and I'm taking my toddler over there to the park to explore, and you know, we Tort and I talked a lot about well, at first, they were really excited about all the the idea, like children being at the park. They really wanted it the
park to be for everyone. I'm very much like a neighborhood mom. I was new to activism and I.
Didn't even know.
I was like, you know, I thought we were just like visiting a park, but you know, there's like a whole lot of different things about being in it that Tort really kind of helped me navigate and showed me around.
In my experience, it takes a special kind of person to on board somebody new to this sort of thing. Some anarchists can come off as a bit pompous sometimes or at least hesitant to welcome new people in. Karen spoke on how Tortighita kind of showed them the rope and helped educate on everything from local organizing to security culture.
Well, I didn't have signal before. I was like, okay, I want to reach out to try and make my neighborhood aware. I made flyers and just like put like the environmental effects, you know, and I send it to tort and they were like, okay, yeah, this looks good. And then I was like, should it just be like anonymous or should I you know, like make like Instagram or should I put my name on it and you know all those things? Should I put my number on it?
And they were like, okay, well, get a Google Voice number and you can set up like an email for it, maybe use Proton. Then I was like, should I just like I don't have to put any information on it, but like, what if you know there's people like me in the neighborhood. I guess, like, how do you balance that? And they said no, I think if you got to
like organize a neighborhood group, it would be sick. So yeah, you know, they were conscious of all those things, but also knew where, when and where it was like appropriate, and we just like bounced ideas back and forth. They really helped me like navigate that. I really think it just shows how inclusive they were that they like how they were engaged with me and like you know, an
older neighborhood mom. But they were really supportive and you know, I guess made me feel valued, never made me feel embarrassed at anything. I think it was just like if it wasn't about like the party or I don't know, like being cool or anything. They just really wanted the forest to be for everyone, and just how they were like willing to engage with the community.
My conversations with Karen and others in Atlanta really showed Tort as a person who was always thinking about others and how to support the people around them, not even just focusing on themselves while living in the forest, but working to expand that care outwards.
So, yeah, I made this flyer and Tort called a bunch of other I know if they were people that were in the forest or just people and you know, friends or whatever, but and was like, hey, we're all going to go canvas and I think they slept in that day we met at the park, but me and a couple of neighbors met, like you know, and I was like, I had zero expectations. And they texted me later and was like, I'm so sorry, but we'll do
it again. But yeah, just that, you know, like they were willing to come put flyers door to door and yeah, just like support me in that way.
Karen has continued to do neighborhood organizing since meeting Tort last summer and is a great example of the variety of people involved in the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement. Based on the many local people she's spoken with, Karen says the stop Coppacity proposal is pretty unpopular in the area.
So yeah, we've just been like dropping flyers off and just letting them know the environmental effects. And everyone we've talked to like, you know, no one wants it, and I think lots of people, lots of them called in, you know, to city council. But yeah, I guess Tort and I in our kind of idea was like if we can make a space. It's like, you know, they may not want to go to the forest, but if we can kind of create a space for them in the movement.
Cricket talked about the many projects that Tort had a hand in and it's willingness to just go out there and do things, not just sit around and wait for the world to get better. They lived anarchism in a very active way.
I don't know if anyone mentioned the trans Sanctuary that Tort built and helped built and helped organize. I just wanted to uplift that as just another sort of amazing project that they were involved with. I remember hearing about it. Tort talked about it and they were like, oh, yeah, you know, we're going to have a volunteer day. And then two weeks later we had like another little check in and they were like, oh yeah, no, we like
did it. And I was like, excuse me, Like I just just I don't know, they were just like this this Tasmanian devil of social justice. Like I felt like they were just constantly on the move getting stuff done, supporting people. It's just it was I don't know, like that's just another memory that I keep revisiting of just being like, oh my god, they are not paralyzed like they are living. They were living day to day right,
like they knew that tomorrow could bring another raid. Like they Yeah, they weren't stupid, they were really actually brilliant and they could just they just lived every day so fully and brought everything.
They had a friend of Tortighita's that goes by the name Levitate the Pentagon, which is definitely in the top three force names that I've heard. But they gave a statement to Rolling Stone where they said, quote Tortighita was a proud and fierce anarchist. The struggle for a total liberation came as their first commitment in life. We must honor that commitment.
From a lot of the like none other trends that we did together times out there, they were just really fun, very to make.
People have be like a very common presence during stressful times, and they could make like a jerk really out of like a any situation.
But a lot of I remember like a lot of.
Conversations just about what we were doing in the forest, and there are like reasons for being out there, and they're you know, just kind of outgoing these ideas of combating the you know, the state, and then then the states pushed.
For you know, destroying the forest.
For the effects that would have on the climate, for the increasing ability of the place to militarize and to suppress not just people in Atlanta, but law enforcement agencies across the country.
Coming to train at the facility to better climp down on a presence. Yeah, they were just they're really kind, very tenacious. That's like the two things I can always kind of come back to.
So there was a person towards capacity for wit under high stress situations is something I heard from a lot of different people, including towards friends and their partner.
Just really really like always like had a joke, had like a really like good sharp commentary.
Or would like give you like a cigarette professional ship poster. Yeah, yeah, I mean their mean game on point.
Yeah, and.
Just always like doing a lot of things.
And so they were running around a lot, like getting things for people and then hanging it off to them, and so like, yeah, I think a lot of the times when we would run into like for like oftentimes we run into each other, it'd be like, oh, hey, hi, Hi, Okay, we're doing a thing, and then like okay, I gotta go buy you know, and there's always like.
Yeah, I like that.
Sure, they were super into that.
Oh that smile.
Yeah.
They love fruit snacks, loved them, couldn't get enough of them. And they always helped do the dishes. Can I just say, like that's a big deal. Yeah, Like no one likes doing the dishes. It's like they were always there doing the dishes. They were like, oh my god, running water, hot water, like I'm in like like they're like, oh my god, and just like yeah, that's that's what I want people to know. Fruit snacks and dishes.
Fruit snacks have come up a lot throughout my conversations with people. Tortiquita's partner and friend also talked about how tort tried to balance helping other people with their own self care.
They were always so passionate to it because they want to help people so bad that they would put their all into it. And it took a toll all on them in a lot of ways, but they always were so fucking strong and took on so much more than I ever could. They they're an inspiration to us all.
They also needed to like disappear for like hours or days at a time, and just.
Like rechart, they read a lot.
Oh yeah, I am one of the like one of the things to be sitting in their hammock and our tent near with their tent and just be reading doing whatever it was they were doing, shit and posts and whatever. They get to distress. They were good about taking care of themselves, but they didn't get into some conundrums or they'd get stressed out and then you just see them like go off on their own and then come back in a few days and then they're all good again, have happy, go lucky.
I've heard them described as kind, and they definitely were. I think the word that comes to mind the most is earnest. They were just like incredibly earnest. I think like the earnestness I'm talking about is like they truly live their politics like anyone can talk about like include civity and love and fighting for the future, but they actually, you know, just in how they carried themselves and interacted with me.
They really did that.
And lots of people might be like cynical about it or maybe call them like optimistic or naive, but they actually lived. I feel like love sounds corny, but yeah, just like a love for people and nature in the forest.
What was that piece we were talking about? Revolutionary death? Yes, yes, yeah, they read that this last summer, and it really had a strong impact upon them and they I think you were sharing as.
Well that they had spoken about.
How they knew it was very possible that they were going to have this revolutionary death, and that.
Back to them kind of giving their all. They were prepared and they unfortunately paid the ultimate price. That's said as we all are.
I'm sure.
George Keito, wherever they are now, I was happy to know that they gave they're all all until the end. They were always they were a true revolutionary and gave their all to this movement. And I think now it's our job to take up that banner and carry on his name, their name.
In multiple ways, escalatory actions of police last December led to the current fatal scenario, not just with the domestic terror framing as a pretext for using increased force, but also the physical destruction of treehouses resulting in people being out in more vulnerable positions.
They were very calculated in their risks and they would never have had to be put in this situation if they're home in the trees hadn't been destroyed. They lived in a tree house, and the treehouse that they were really holding down and staying in was bulldozed in the mid December raids.
On November twenty first, two thousand and six, undercover Atlanta Police Department officers executed a no knock warrant on the home of ninety two year old Catherine Johnston in the Bankhead neighborhood of Atlanta. Police claimed to have evidence that crack cocaine was being sold out of the house. Officers in plane clothes cut off the burglar bars to Johnston's home of seventeen years and broke down her door. According to the police, the ninety two year old woman shot
several officers. Multiple cops were treated for a gunshot wounds. Catherine Johnston was shot and killed by the police in her own home, where police then claimed to have found marijuana thanks to an informant who said that they bought drugs at the house, except every single thing the police claimed was a lie. Earlier that day, an officer had found bags of marijuana in the woods. The drugs were planted on a suspected dealer who didn't have any drugs
on him. The officer threatened to arrest the suspected dealer if he didn't give up information, leading to an arrest, the man gave the police an address on a Neil Street and a fake name to buy cocaine with. The APD claimed the police were raiding the house because an informant had bought crack at Johnston's home. It turns out all of the injuries to officers came from friendly fire. They fucked up their own guys. The cops fired a total of thirty nine shots, five or six of which
hit Johnston. As a ninety two year old woman living alone, she owned a rusty revolver for self defense. As these unannounced strangers in plain clothes kicked down her door, Johnston did fire once and missed. Three police officers in Atlanta executed Catherine Johnston as they shot each other with friendly fire. To cover this up, they lied and planted evidence. They ran a smear campaign against Johnston, further victimizing the old woman that they killed and who the cops knew was innocent.
The police in Atlanta have a track record of shooting each other, killing civilians, and lying about it. With that history in mind, this next part might get a little complicated, but I think it's important. A lot of the people who knew tort have talked about how they often advocated for nonviolence in direct action. Many have said the sequence of events put forth by police just doesn't sound like something Torte would do, And I very much understand this reaction.
Police lie all the time, especially when it comes to people the cops have killed. It is very likely that tort really was just murdered by the cops. But I also think there's part of this reaction that's almost like a self preservation mechanism, stemming from a worry that if a certain Pandora's box gets opened, what that would mean for the movement and for the struggle against militarized police
and ecological collapse. More broadly, there's also many scenarios that can lead to a brief exchange of gunfire, especially with the Georgia State patrols relative inexperience conducting raids in the forest. You can spend days just thinking of various possibilities for what could have happened, as I'm sure many people in
Atlanta have. The recently released bodycam makes some things more clear, but also opened up many possibilities to endlessly ruminate about, especially with on the ground chatter indicating cops shot each other. This next person is one of the original Force defenders I interviewed for my previous Defend the Atlanta Forest series from last May.
As their partner stated, as it's friends sated be moved by a piece they did not show, from the idea that they could for the things that they believe, from the idea that they could be murder, from the ideas that they believe in my life.
I went to live.
We should not dismiss the possibility and by people can and maybe even should.
Look at this world, look at the police murdering three or four people.
A day, of a climate catastrophe that we live in, of the rising tide of.
Fascism, of the absolute fucking hell that we fucking live in, and think this can't go on.
And I'm willing to do any of them and pay any of them to make it stop.
We can't dismiss if that is a very real possible grievance. There's a very real, impossible state.
Of mind, and that if that was towards.
Was towards get us, If those cameras, if that was its position, that it is not alone that.
I undoubtedly in our willingness to die for we believe.
In TORTI Ghita both privately and publicly talked about an appreciation for nonviolence as a long term strategy, and the flip side of that is Tort has also been described to me as somebody who acts with intention, acts with great thought, and if they did decide to do something, they would have had a good reason to and they would not have chosen to do something if it had the potential to put fellow forced defenders in unnecessary danger.
Based on some of my conversations, while Tort advocated for the potential of nonviolence as a political strategy, they itself were not solely nonviolent. The Atlanta Police Foundation have lied about every single aspect of this project's development since the start. The GBI said that there was no body cam footage, and the police have than the last year fine tuning their propaganda to frame the Defend the Forest movement as a criminal enterprise and anyone protesting against copp City as
a dangerous terrorist and threat to public safety. But there is a difference between mindlessly believing the police narrative and trying to not retroactively take away somebody's agency, especially if they did make a decision that they thought was the right choice given the circumstance.
Around the ideas. I think a lot of people have been talking a.
Lot about trying to you know, there's a there's there's narrative flaws and the police story about what happened in that road, there's inconsistencies.
We just now photos of the gun that their allegen a legend was.
Used, just like a couple of days ago, and it was days after the GBI's initial evidence final report.
It doesn't all look suspicious that. I think.
The thing that's bothered me is that I would never want to take away agency from someone who cannot speak for themselves for an act that they may have committed. If shot that cop, that was a shot fired in liberation against the state that murders thousands of people and destroys millions more for the car sooo system, the same state that seeks to help the South River flood and to make the soul Tony degrees ladder and to make Atlanta's.
Air quality go down. I would never want to take.
Agency away from my comrade to have done that when they cannot speak for themselves. And I don't think anybody should try and make it seem like make it seem like it would have.
Been an unjustified act.
A shot fired at the police and defense of the forest as a shot fired and self defense. Cops shoot each other all the time, and actually they're terrible with firearms. They're just not good at their jobs. GSP, I think, as a specific agency is sometime.
To be focused on.
I'm more here. I've seen a lot of people kind of wrap up GSP and APD and like the cab PD as these very like just as one agency GSP as Georgia State Patrol is under the direct command of our governor and do not wear body cams as an agency policy.
They were the governor strong troopers.
When he want something done violently and without accountability, that is who he sends.
And you know, my reaction to all of this, whether or not what the events transpired, is that our comrade is that our comrade was murdered by the state, whether or not they allegedly fired on an officer. I think the solidarity and rage that people should show should be the same either way. If it were to come out that that.
Officer wasn't fact shot, I would be so disheartened if people turned their back on our comrade who was slain by the police for what I see as an act of self defense.
With all of the unknown around what happened the day of the shooting, what we do know for sure, I've heard boiled down to two simple points. Tort was killed defending the forest, and they died doing what it loved. The first event type thing I went to in Atlanta was a noise demo outside to Cab County Jail Thursday night for the seven people arrested as a part of the deadly raid, all seven of whom are now facing
domestic terrorism charges for being in the forest. The next day, Friday, the twentieth, there was a large public vigil in Wallawnee People's Park. Last time I was there, it was for the Muscogee Creek Summit near the end of last spring. It was sunny. I was hanging out in the gazebo listening to ecological presentations. There was a large tent kitchen in the grass, and I got to sit around a
table and eat food with people. When I arrived Friday evening for the vigil, the first thing I saw was the destroyed remains of the gazebo, almost on display by the entrance of the torn up parking lot. It was such a clear visual indicator for how things have changed since the start of last summer. Near the tree line, a few hundred people were gathered around a sort of
outdoor shrine. A few large stone slabs, overturned candles, flowers, forest plants, little turtles, pictures, art, cigarettes, and yes fruit snacks forming an orange glowing mound. People gathered and shared memories of Tortuguita. Many spoke of its kindness and solidarity with struggles across the South, from the defense of drag shows in Tennessee to mutual aid work in Florida where they helped build housing in low income communities hit hardest by hurricanes.
I feel like Tortuguita's compassion was something that really shifted the culture in the forest and touched all of the lives of the people that they met. They lived what they believed, which is something that I hope we can
all be inspired by. There are so many stories of people who were just mentioning to tort like, oh, I'm in this situation, or this happened to my friend, and they would just immediately be thinking of ways that community could help them or that they could help them, and someone just shared a story with me that the last time that they saw Tort, they were telling them about how the unhoused folks in their community were getting their tents and sleeping bags like swept and then Tort gave
them two hundred dollars to replace the sleeping bags and tents. And I feel like they were just they had such a sense of kinship with people, even people that they didn't know, they were so connected to like the ways that we are all a part of this web of life, and so committed to living in a way that can bring us all into a better community with each other, whether it be us and our fellow human beings or
us in our forests. And they loved these woods. And I feel like the fact that these woods were where they departed from this realm into the next just makes it that much more important that we protect them and that we make sure that this forest remains intact. I know that that's what Tort would have wanted, That's what
they died doing. And I think that in all of the chaos and desperation and devastation that this loss is bringing our community, I think that one of the things that has been keeping me going is remembering the love that tort had for people and for all living beings, and just feeling really connected to their compassion, and I hope that that's something I know that that's something that is touching, has touched all of us, and the ripples
of it are continuing. The love that Torte brought to this world is still here and is continuing to grow. So I think that there, I think that they're here with us, and I think that they always will be because they brought so much joy and goodness and love into this world, and not something that never goes away, it only grows.
I've gotten permission from a few of the people that spoke that night to share some of their stories of Torti Ghita. One of the small things that stuck with me was how someone described Torte as possessing a playful, rebellious energy.
But tort and I watched this yugoslav film together called My Father the Socialist Pula, which was this joyful Yugoslavian film from the eighties about the transition after World War Two and Yugoslavia to autonomous self rule and breaking apart with the Soviet sphere, and in it uh early on in the film they're they're changing their social customs. If adopted a new way of greeting each other in Yugoslavia
where they they say good morning, death the fascism. And from that time when I would see Tour, always they would that's the fascism, comrade, that's the fascism. And Tour when I first met them, Uh invited me to teach akito in the forest, which is called it's a martial art, that's called the art of peace. And so while we train as warriors, we train as peaceful warriors. But as many people have said, we for instance, did defenses of drag shows Tennessee from assemblies of Nazis and proud boys
who showed up in body armor with assault rifles. And tort was militant, but joyful. Tart took all of the always it was. It was with the utmost gravity and yet with the utmost lightness.
And you know, we we we as well, arranged a.
Weekend of conflict resolution training here where tort rallied and was the one that brought you know, a half a dozen people. Was always rallying people, brought people to the drag defense, brought people to the trainings, brought people to my ikido class, maybe brought two dozen different people through over the course of several dozen classes. They were a peaceful warrior and they were Mike and they got shot dead.
And I'd like to I'd like to lead a chant in that spirit to honor some of towards warrior spirit tonight.
And I know one that they liked.
Is ah Auntie Anti Capitalista. And we could start together, slow and quiet and build together a powerful voice and pierce the night ah Auntie Anti Capitalista, Anti.
Anti.
Throughout the night, many songs were sung alongside screams of rage. Tortogito actually left a tag with a little red sharpie on the guitar being played at the vigil. It's a little doodle of a cat face next to the words all cats are beautiful. Somebody at the vigil read out a few of the messages sent in to the Remember Torte at ProtonMail dot com email address, many of which you can now find collected at stop cop dot city. That's stop cop period city.
One of the things about tort that was really inspirational is that they weren't just against capitalism. They weren't just against the police. They made abolition about what they were fighting for and on the we Remember tort Proton mail. A lot of people have been sending in stories about how they contributed so much to each community that they were in, and I want to read this one that came in from someone in Tallahassee. Everyone in Tallahassee knew Manny.
I'm not even exaggerating. They were a part of almost every single organization they could get their hands on in town. Food Not Bombs, the Plant, Live Oak, Radical Ecology, International Workers of the World, Tallahassee Community Action Committee, Free Dan Baker, Stopping HB one, etc. With every person who was lucky enough to be graced with their presence, they felt safe and free to do whatever they could for the community.
They ran a cold night shelter for the homeless practically on their own when the Kearney Center couldn't do it. They helped do grocery deliveries for those in the south side of town for free. They showed up to almost every single meal share that F and B hosted. And this is only a fraction of the work that they did for the Bond community here in Tallahassee and beyond. Manny, I always watched you from the periphery with Awe. I always wanted to be your close friend. I wish you
could have seen the vigil that we had. You would have been proud.
The large overturned stone by the flowers, candles and fruit snacks at the Wollani vigil had a message written on it that I read when I returned to the park a.
Few days later.
The big boulder reads erected in memory of all whose lives were lived and unjustly lost in Wolani Forest. You live on in the trees, and I remembered by the land. You will never be forgotten until every prison is empty, until every slave is free, until all live without fear, until earth has healed. Our work is not done.
If it's okay, I'll share another of the message that is sent. Manny was a close friend, comrade, and above all constant fighter for working people. I knew them in Tallahassee through the IWW food not bombs and live oak radical ecology, and I will never cease to be amazed by their tireless activism, their extreme empathy, and their ability
to make everyone feel welcomed in radical spaces. They died as they lived, fighting for a better world and defending the forest from destruction in the name of a fascist, militarized police force. I hope their name will not be forgotten and that their killer is brought to justice. But more than anything, I hope the cause that they fought
for is victorious. Now we mourn this great loss to the Tallahassee in Atlantic communities, but tomorrow we will fight back twice as hard against cap in the state, so that Tortughita did not die in vain. This is another one. They were kind and fierce. They were sweet, extraordinarily funny, conscientious, tender, silly, loving and one of the most generous people I have met. And that contagious smile and laugh three exclamation points. I went to bed last night hearing their laughter in my head,
loud and beautiful. They somehow were still there to add levity and joy as I screamed, cried and choked on my own spit all night and they killed you. You were gone, comrade. I missed you. I miss you. They
had a deep understanding of solidarity and struggle. When the cops swept an encampment in my neighborhood without hesitation, they shared their forest funds to get more tents and sleeping bags, because they knew that these are not individual battles, but that these struggles are inherently tied to one another, that they are part of the same struggle. This is a lesson for the movement that must be carried forward, for them, for all of us, for the strength of the fight
to stop cop City. I will miss how we greeted one another and our meager attempts to make it a thing that's a fascism literation.
To all people.
One of the people playing the tortighita tagged guitar at the vigil played a version of Bella Chow and I'm just going to read out the way that they described the song. Bella Chow means goodbye beautiful in Italian. The song was originally about an Italian partisan who goes out to fight the fascists in the mountains during World War Two.
And I like to dedicate this version to somebody who laid their life down to fight against fascism, militarism, and against the expansion of the police and against the destruction of nature. Somebody who lifted up all of the people they were around, knew so many people, was involved in so many communities and was just so funny, so loving, so friendly, and they laid their life down for their community and to stop copsity and to stop militarism and
the destruction of nature. They really believed in what they were doing, and the way we can honor them is by continuing their fight death to fascism. See you on the other side.
The world is waking.
Outside my window, bella chow bela chow bela chow chow chow drags.
My senses into the sunlight. For there are things that I must do. Wish me luck. Now I have to leave you.
Bella chow bela chow, bela chow chow chow with my friends.
Now in the forest, We're gonna shake the gates of hell and.
We will tell them.
You will tell them you bella chow, bella chow, bella chout, shout, show that we lannis not for the franchise in which the bastards dropped down dead.
Next time you see me, I may be smiling.
Obella show, bella chow, bella shout, show shall I'll be in prison or on the TV.
I'll say the forest called me. The world is waken.
I sign my window, bella chow bella chow, bella chow chow chow. Try my senses into the sunlight. Further things that I must do, wish me luck. Now I have to leave you obella chow bella chow, bella chow chow cho Oh, and my friends that in the forest we're gonna shake the gates of hell. And we will tell him, Yeah, we will tell him a bella chow bellow chow, bella chow chow chow, that we lollies not far the franchise which the bastards dropped down.
The next time you see me, I may be smiling.
Bella chow bella chower, bella chow chow, shall be in prison.
We're on the TV. I'll say, the forest call me here. The world is wakened. I simon a bella.
Child, bella chow, bella chow chow chow. Dry my sasses into the sunlight for their things said, I must.
Do almost mean.
Look, well, I gotta leave you a bella chow, bella chow, bella chow chow chow.
With my friends. Now in the forest, we're gonna shake the gates off Hell, and we will tell him. We will tell him.
Bella chow bella chow bella chow chow chowd that wee Lannis not for the franchise and which the bastards dropped dun.
Next time you see me, I might be smiling.
Bella chow bella chow bella chow chow chow.
I'll be in prison or on the TV. I'll say the Forest called me. Next time you see me, I maybe.
Smiling bella chow bella choo, bella choo choo chow. I'll be in prison or on the TV, I'll say the Forest call me.
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