https://socialistaction.org/2017/01/13/standing-with-standing-rock/
Standing with Standing Rock
/ 21 hours ago
jan-2017-standing-rockBy MARTY GOODMAN
More than bitter winter weather lies ahead for hundreds of Native
American nations and their supporters battling hazardous fossil-fuel
pipelines on sacred Sioux land at the Standing Rock camp near
Cannonball, North Dakota. A far more bitter struggle looms for Native
American rights and climate justice with the incoming Trump
administration. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, Trump’s choice for the
Department of Energy, is a climate-change denier and sits on boards of
Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco, two companies involved in the
Dakota Access Pipeline.
Oil company execs are vowing to complete the pipeline despite a Dec. 4
decision by the Obama administration and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers to not give the go-ahead to Dakota Access Pipelines (DAPL) to
dig pipelines under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, a source of
drinking water for the Sioux nation and millions downstream. The
decision instructs the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct an
environmental study with community input, a process that could take one
or two years.
On Dec. 13, the New York Daily News posted a recording it had received
in which Mathew Ramsey, a top exec at Energy Transfer Partners, DAPL’s
parent company, was said to be telling ETP staff, “I’ve got to tell you,
election night changed everything.” Ramsey said on the recording, “We
fully expect as soon as he is inaugurated this team is going to move to
the final approvals, and DAPL will cross the lake.”
Vulture capitalist and President-elect Donald Trump has declared his
support for the pipeline and is personally invested in DAPL for up to $1
million. Also invested are many of the corporations of Trump’s
billionaire pals, such as Chase Morgan bank, the Bank of America, TD
Bank, and Wells Fargo—which alone has invested $467 million. The
pipeline will extend 1170 miles from the Bakken oil fields in North
Dakota through sacred Sioux land to Illinois and ultimately to the Gulf
Coast. The cost is $3.7 billion.
A lawsuit filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Standing Rock Sioux
Tribe contends that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the
National Historic Preservation Act, the National Environmental Policy
Act, and other federal laws in allowing the pipeline to be dug under
Lake Oahe. If the Army Corp’s permission to dig is restored, or if the
federal court in North Dakota accepts DAPL’s arguments, pipeline
construction could resume.
North Dakota’s laws are the strictest when it comes to allowing out of
state public defenders to represent “water protectors” facing charges in
court, now totaling at least 550. The Water Protector Legal Collective
(WPLC) of the National Lawyers Guild provides legal support but is
overwhelmed and urges the state to relax its guidelines. Seventy-five
North Dakota lawyers have been assigned 165 cases, but an additional 264
water protectors remain without lawyers.
The WPLC has also called for the dismissal of State Attorney Ladd
Erickson for his inflammatory comments in court, referring to water
protectors as staging “fake news” and “simply props for videos of stage
events.” The hearings have been postponed, and the Trump
administration’s actions will ultimately determine the continued
relevance of the lawsuit. Whatever happens, the first rule of capitalism
will still apply: ‘laws are meant to be broken’ … if they stand in the
way of profits!
Originally, DAPL was to traverse an area close to the mostly white
Bismarck, some 50 miles distant, but when the plan encountered
opposition, the pipeline was rerouted to Standing Rock. DAPL is in
violation of the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie and the treaty of 1868. In
the 1950s, hundreds of thousands of acres of Sioux land was seized to
make way for a dam, with little or no compensation. In the treaties, the
Sioux agreed to keep the area undeveloped and for hunting, but it is now
ravaged by fossil-fuel polluters.
Demonstrating corporate contempt for the environment, a recent
examination of oil spills in the last 30 years revealed over 8700
pipeline spills. On Dec. 13, two hours from Standing Rock, a pipeline
spilled an estimated 176,000 gallons of crude into the Ash Coulee Creek.
Sunoco Logistics, DAPL’s future operator, has the worst safety record of
all. According to government statistics, it has had over 200 leaks since
2010. Last October, a Sunoco gas pipeline ruptured in Pennsylvania,
spilling 55,000 gallons into the Susquehanna River.
The outrage at Standing Rock is a continuation of 500 years of the rape
of Native American rights through massacres, racism, land theft, and
forced displacement. DAPL is a textbook case of environmental racism and
is in violation of international laws and agreements on the rights of
indigenous peoples.
Veterans arrive in Standing Rock
Many attribute the timing of Obama’s Dec. 4 decision to the president’s
fear of political blowback after 2000 veterans of Vietnam, Iraq, and
Afghanistan arrived at the Oceti Sakowin camp at Standing Rock.
Upon his arrival , U.S. Navy veteran Brandee Paisano said, “I didn’t
think I have to do it here, on this land, so here I am. This is what I
need to be doing.” Army veteran Angie Seacrest said, “We want them to
know that, though they may be feeling like they’re left out there alone,
they’re not.”
The veterans often described themselves as “human shields” between cops
and water protectors. The National Nurses United Union sent $50,000 to
fund the expenses of the “Veterans Stand for Standing Rock.”
On Nov. 1, Obama said that he would let the situation at Standing Rock
“play out” for several weeks—that is, regardless of Native American
rights. Obama’s cynical posture came just days after cops, DAPL’s
private security goons—with links to the notorious security firm
Blackwater—and the National Guard brutalized peaceful water protectors
on Oct. 27, arresting over 100 (see the November Socialist Action).
Dem–o-cratic candidate Hillary Clinton remained silent about the brutality.
Arrests at Standing Rock included the use of rubber bullets capable of
breaking bones, concussion grenades, water cannons in sub-freezing
weather, tear gas, rifle-propelled bean bags, and—shades of Mississippi
in the 1960s—attack dogs. Peaceful water protector Sophia Wilansky may
lose her arm after being hit with a projectile fired by police goons.
In December, vigilantes attempted, KKK style, to silence Native
Americans. In Bismarck, N.D., two white men in masks violently
confronted a car driven by men from Standing Rock. The masked men
threatened to assault them and bragged about sexually assaulting their
wives. Also in December, three indigenous people were chased by white
men in a pickup truck and masked men in snowmobiles. The attackers
chased them at up to 100 mph on dangerously icy and snow-covered roads.
As with other struggles under capitalism, the struggle to stop DAPL will
depend on the fight waged by Native American peoples and their
working-class allies, especially oppressed communities.
Standing with Standing Rock
A movement to divest from DAPL has erupted nationwide. According to the
divestment group #defundDapl, the total divested from DAPL is nearly
$44.5 million from 17 institutions. Some 334 divestment actions took
place in December alone.
On Jan. 1, protesters marched in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena,
Calif. In Minneapolis a giant “Divest NoDAPL” banner was hung from a
scaffold high above a Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings game held at
the U.S. Bank Stadium. U.S. Bank is an investor in DAPL. In Seattle,
Kashama Sawant, a city council person and a socialist, is demanding that
Seattle divest $3 billion from Wells Fargo by December 2018.
It is critical that the struggle to defend Standing Rock include the
demand to free American Indian Movement political prisoner Leonard
Peltier, still in jail since 1976 on frame-up charges of killing two FBI
agents during the 1975 siege at Wounded Knee, S.D. Supporters cite
retracted testimony by one witness who suffered FBI intimidation,
suppressed evidence, and a lack of proof, which even Peltier’s parole
commission admits.
The demand for his freedom is supported by Amnesty International and
human rights supporters worldwide. Supporters called on Obama to pardon
Peltier.
Other Pipeline Struggles
Struggles against gas pipelines have erupted across North America, some
a threat to Native peoples. New Jersey is facing a number of pipeline
projects, including one that would cross the ecologically sensitive
Pinelands area. The Sabal Trail Transmission, a $3.2 billion gas
pipeline, would cut through Alabama, Georgia and Florida. In tiny
Alpine, Texas, protesters are fighting another Energy Transfer Partners
pipeline.
In western Canada, the $6.8 billion Trans Mountain gas pipeline is being
built to carry oil from the Alberta fields to terminals in Vancouver, in
addition to the $7.5 billion Enbridge Line 3 project. Both projects are
enraging Native Canadians.
On Jan. 6 in New York, the “Montrose 9” water protectors were sentenced
in the Cortlandt Town Court by Judge Daniel McCarthy for “trespassing,”
i.e., peacefully blocking access to Spectra Energy’s Algonquin pipeline
construction in November 2015. Each pled “necessary defense,” meaning
that they had exhausted all other avenues to stop the reckless act of
building a gas pipeline near the Indian Point nuclear plant and under
the Hudson River. They described the danger as “imminent.”
The judge dismissed the defense’s request to drop the charges, thus
shielding Spectra’s politically connected corporate criminals. The
Montrose 9’s attorney, Martin Solar, will file an appeal. The Montrose 9
were sentenced to a $250 fine plus a $125 “surcharge” and five hours of
community service. The courtroom was filled with 100 supporters, who
stood silently in solidarity.
Spectra has completed its hazardous 42-inch pipeline through sacred
Ramapough Lenape land; it passes 105 feet from safety facilities of the
Indian Point reactor. If the accident-prone nuke had a Fukashima-style
meltdown, New York City, some 30 miles south, would be in its kill zone.
(Breaking news: Indian Point may close in 2021.)
Spectra’s pipeline has completed one-third of its route up the East
Coast. Spectra pretends that the pipeline is three separate projects for
greater leeway in circumventing regulations.
We say, keep fossil fuels in the ground! Stop Spectra! Victory to
Standing Rock! 100% renewables now! — M.G.
For more information, see Facebook: IndianCountryTodayMediaNetwork,
Labor for Standing Rock, #NoDapl, ResistSpectra or Standing rock.org,
standwithstandingrock.org.
Photo: Stephanie Keith / Reuters
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January 13, 2017 in Environment, Indigenous Rights. Tags: Dakota,
pipeline, Standing Rock
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