2nd July, New Orleans USA
via: Scenes From the Atlanta Forest
“In the wee hours of July 2, with the near-full moon shining, we sabotaged the Bayou Oaks golf course in City Park, New Orleans. We filled holes with concrete, dug into the greens, destroyed golf course property, and left messages of rebellion. We intend this action as direct solidarity with forest defenders in Weelaunee. All power to the forest defenders! Stop Cop City! Stop Cop City everywhere!
The redevelopment of the Bayou Oaks golf course in the aftermath of Katrina was unpopular for many reasons, chief among them the callous destruction of fallow park area, a last vestige for native animals already squeezed by aggressive citywide development. A decade of rewilding since the storm offered a glimpse of a world that has continued to exist in spite of 300 years of apocalypse. We honor the forest defenders who mobilized back in 2015. Although the struggle to defend this wild area inevitably was defeated, we have not forgotten. Like the owls, coyotes and alligators, the cypress, palmettos and oaks, we are part of that world, we are nature defending itself.
Golf courses are abominations against nature, and symbolize our current predicament well: frat bros guzzle cold beers on manufactured turf while our unhoused neighbors stroke out under bridges from ever-intensifying heat waves. To anyone considering similar actions, we will say this: a simple jumped fence was all that stood in our way, and the whole course was ours for the taking. Check your local targets for cameras and find good in/out routes, and that’s it! It was cathartic to be out among the possums and cats, the birds, and the impenetrable swamp waters. We fight for a world that embraces the wild. Fuck the police! Smash fortress USA! From NOLA to ATL, Stop Cop City!”
