Police Kill IWW Eco-Activist in Atlanta

On January 18, 2023 eco-activist and Fellow Worker Tortuguita was murdered by the police. Tortuguita died in defense of the working class and the earth. They carried no weapon but their will, kept no home but a tent, felt no desire but to save Atlanta’s Weelaunee Forest from destruction. Their reward was shameless brutality.

Tortuguita’s stand was not against any ordinary industrial destruction, but a bulldozing to make way for a heinous police training facility aptly nicknamed “Cop City.” This project is another step in the ruling class’s plan to strip even more common folk of healthcare, education, childcare, public transit, food, free speech and free movement. 

We have the same choice now as before: to take this violence lying down or to create a new society of peace. This society must be organized by you, by me, by all of us together. There is no replacement for the daily work of building it up. We all have the responsibility to grow this solidarity movement wherever we are right now.

Mourning is natural for those who lose someone they love. For the working class at large, we must take these events for what they are: an impetus for us all to take up anew the struggle that fate has placed before us. What is our response to repression? To organize against it. To organize for better. This is what keeps every victim of capitalism from having died in vain.

Rest in power, Fellow Worker Tortuguita.

May their family, friends, and comrades find peace. To the rest of us: don’t let Tortuguita’s death be in vain. Don’t waste any time mourning— organize!

For more information on FW Tortuguita and the fight against “Cop City,” please see these resources:

Official GoFundMe

Defend the Atlanta Forest

Join our friends and allies holding vigil for our fallen Fellow Worker: 
Akron: 

Solidarity vigil for Tortuguita

1/24 5:30-7:30pm

People’s Park 760 Elma St Akron 44310

Cleveland:

Rhizome House

2174 Lee Rd. Cleveland Heights 44118

1/24 7pm – January 24

Please bring materials to help build a memorial to our fallen, if you are able. Wear black, wear a mask, and feel free to bring offerings for the dead.

(Image courtesy of Serve the People Akron.)