the Mainline Podcast

This episode is a recording of the Abolitionist Media and the Atlanta Way panel discussion presented by Mainline and Community Movement Builders in Atlanta on November 13, 2023, during the Stop Cop City week of action. Some of the topics of discussion were:

• The difference between corporate media and abolitionist media

• What is “the Atlanta Way” and how does it affect the media landscape surrounding projects like Cop City

• How mainstream media narratives around the Palestinian genocide and Stop Cop City are used to manufacture consent

Abolitionist filmmaker and Los Angeles native Matthew Solomon joins Aja Arnold (@ajajeanarnold) to chat about his documentary Reimagining Safety, screening in Atlanta on Nov. 8 as part of Stop Cop City’s Week of Action. They discuss the inspiration behind the film, copaganda in popular media, and how art and abolition overlap.

Through interviews with abolitionist organizers, scholars, and members of law enforcement in the LA County area, Solomon aims to sway holdouts and bridge the gap between those who know there’s a better way and the people creating it. What started out as a master’s thesis about policing and incarceration has been endorsed by the Black Panther Party of California and added to its curriculum.

See Reimagining Safety and hear from community leaders Mary Hooks (M4BL), Jasmine Burnett (Community Movement Builders), Noelle Adams (@myculpability), and Solomon at Park Ave Baptist Church on Wed., Nov. 8, 6-9 p.m.

Resources:

In this episode, we speak with Washington D.C.-based journalist and student of international affairs Dorgham Abusalim and Atlanta-based organizer Jasmine Burnett about the situation currently unfolding in the Gaza Strip.

Since the recent escalation in the Israeli-Palestine conflict on Oct. 7, Palestinian citizens have been facing a relentless genocide and numerous war crimes by Israel. Mainstream media has failed to correctly cover the conflict and ongoing genocide, leaving out very important history and context for viewers; effectively shaping ideologies that manufacture consent for the genocide, or in the least, civil disengagement from what is happening.

Dorgham brings his personal experience as a Gaza native with family members currently in the strip to speak to recent events, history that brought us here, and the journalistic malpractice that has occurred in response. Jasmine speaks to Black liberation movements' solidarity to Palestinians, currently and historically, as well as what this means for those still fighting to stop Cop City and all related issues in Atlanta.

Dorgham's writing has been featured in BBC, Washington Post, the Washington Blade, and the New York Times. Sources below.

Music: "Lenses" by Split Diopter.

On Sept. 5, Georgia prosecutors charged 61 Stop Cop City protesters with RICO charges. On Sept. 11, the City of Atlanta denied 116,000 Atlanta voters their right to a verification process to place Cop City on the ballot. With repression of free speech and political protest coming from all sides, people in Atlanta have come together with an invitation for a mass nonviolent demonstration this upcoming November.

In this episode, Aja interviews legal experts Alex Joseph, Steven Donziger, and Kurt Kastorf to better understand the RICO charges and what happened in Atlanta City Hall for the vote to Stop Cop City.

Music by Aja Arnold and the Stop Cop City Choir in Atlanta