(Letter to the Editor - Graphic Illustration/MetroCreativeConnection)

Manuel Esteban Paez Ter’n, 26, a Venezuelan environmental activist known as “Tortuguita” or “Little Turtle,” was murdered by Georgia police Jan. 18, 2023. Tortuguita was participating in a movement known as Stop Cop City, which aims to prevent the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. Opponents of this facility have decried the increasing militarization of law enforcement, as well as escalating rates of wanton police violence.

According to The Guardian, the forest in which said facility is to be built had been a “key part of efforts to maintain Atlanta’s renowned tree canopy as a buffer against global warming, and to create what would have been the metro area’s largest park.” In 2017, Atlanta formally adopted plans to “preserve the forest and make it a historic public amenity,” but such plans were abandoned to allow for Cop City, thus leading to environmental groups, neighborhood associations, and racial justice groups banding together to oppose construction.

The slaying of Tortuguita, during a SWAT raid on a protest camp, is “unprecedented” in the history of environmental activism, according to experts. It is, however, in keeping with global trends regarding the treatment of environmental defenders — draconian punishments for anti-pipeline activists, the legalization of vehicular manslaughter against climate protesters, and the Kafkaesque abuse of individuals such as attorney Steven Donziger, described as “a literal prisoner of the Chevron corporation.” Last year it was reported that over 1,700 environmentalists worldwide have been murdered over the past decade.

Police have made the dubious claim they were fired on by Tortuguita without warning, and only killed the activist on return fire. However, they have not provided supporting evidence, and crucially do not have any body-camera footage of the shooting. That any kind of operation like this could supposedly take place without the use of body-cams is inexcusable, and is justification for opposing the expansion of militarized police forces.

Fellow protestors have disputed the claim Tortuguita fired at officers, and Tortuguita themself had been quoted as a proponent of nonviolence.

“He was not a violent person,” says Belkis Ter’n, Tortuguita’s mother. “He was a pacifist. … He wouldn’t even kill an animal.”

“I will go to the U.S. to defend Manuel’s memory,” Ter’n also told The Guardian. “I’m convinced that he was assassinated in cold blood.”

Given the ever-increasing rampage of militarized police killings across the country, I’m strongly inclined to agree with her. As the effects of the climate crisis and environmental degradation intensify in years to come, and our government continues to respond to these crises with brute force rather than actual solutions, one recent figure I saw noted that our supposedly “far left” president has requested 18 times more funding for war and policing than he has on the climate.

Be prepared for the reprisals against environmental activists to grow more vicious and shameless.

Those wishing to learn more and to contribute to the efforts of the activists can visit https://defendtheatlantaforest.org/

Aaron Dunbar

Lowell