The Racketeer-Influenced Corrupt Organizations or RICO Act has had a long and sordid history as a tool of state repression in the United States. Originally intended to dismantle large organized crime groups like the Mafia, this set of laws criminalizing membership in organizations engaged in “racketeering activity” has been applied to groups as diverse as the Black Liberation Army, the Puerto Rican independence movement, Donald Trump, and Atlanta elementary schoolteachers.
By levying trumped up charges and attempting to hold the entire movement culpable for specific actions, proponents of Cop City had hoped to divide and conquer by separating the more militant segments of the movement from their broader base of support. But thanks to the steadfast solidarity of the Stop Cop City movement, this has so far been unsuccessful.
As the first 61 RICO defendants are arraigned, the movement holds its breath. Public support is needed now more than ever. There’s still time to join the Block Cop City gathering in Atlanta from Nov 10 through 13, or organize an autonomous solidarity action near you.
Cop City will never be built.
Check out blockcopcity.org/ for more info.
This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
