The Forest Defender Movement and Echos of the January 6th Capitol Attack

This is an episode of Inside the Tent, a podcast going behind the scenes of Campside’s award winning shows.Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.Campside’s most recent show follows Vienna, who travels to the Atlanta forest to protest the construction of a facility critics call “Cop City.” She finds a community, love - and a cause.But over the ensuing months, tensions mount between forest-dwelling activists and a state intent on their removal.Matt and Tommy discuss how you can admire the passion of those willing to move across the country to protest, while also wondering if these are just aimless kids struggling to find direction.And they turn their attention to the purpose of Cop City - better training for police. What does better training mean: More effective deescalation? More highly militarized operations?Matt and Tommy also examine the long process of making We Came to the Forest. When the team unexpectedly received a trove of files near the end of production, it made the final weeks even more chaotic than usual. So they were faced with a choice: weave in the new information or simply allude to it at the end.Last week Matt wrote about the odyssey of trying to access the official Georgia Bureau of Investigation file on the shooting of one of the protesters. That was the start of a journey where the team learned how idealism can dangerously collide with reality.We Came to the Forest is a co-production from Wondery, Campside Media, and Tenderfoot TV.Listen to Inside the Tent on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And let us know what you think: [email protected] hope to see you inside the tent again soon. Subscribe now for updates on all of Campside’s hit shows. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit join.campsidemedia.com