Carl:
Amy Goodman appears regularly in The Albuquerque Journal paper (and I
read it) and on the local TV (and I am trying to watch and listen to
same regularly).
Richard
On 8/23/2016 9:14 AM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
This morning(Tuesday), Amy Goodman interviews several of the
protesters. Well worth the listen.
www.democracynow.org
Carl Jarvis
On 8/23/16, S. Kashdan <skashdan@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Lakota Lead Native Americans, Ranchers and Farmers in Fight Against Dakota
Access Pipeline
By Jason Coppola
Truthout, Saturday, August 13, 2016
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/37222-lakota-lead-native-americans-ranchers-and-farmers-in-fight-against-dakota-access-pipeline?tmpl=component&print=1
Amidst the cries of "protect our water, protect our land, protect our
peoples," Native Americans, ranchers and farmers are standing their ground
along a highway in North Dakota. They are blocking the crews of Energy
Transfer Partners--a Dallas-based company whose workers are protected by
both police and armed, private security personnel--from accessing the site
of the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The roughly 1,200-mile-long pipeline would transfer about a half million
barrels of oil a day from North Dakota to Illinois. Opponents of its
construction worry that a leak or rupture would spell disaster for not only
the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, but for all communities along the
Missouri River that depend on it for drinking and agriculture.
"THE MISSOURI RIVER GIVES DRINKING WATER TO 10 MILLION PEOPLE. WE ARE
PROTECTING EVERYONE. WE ARE STANDING FOR EVERYONE."
At least 10 arrests have been made. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier
told the Bismarck Tribune that those arrested "were not staying within
bounds set by law enforcement and getting in the way of surveyors working on
the pipeline." The arrests included a pediatrician and a grandmother who
allegedly crossed the highway to check on a buffalo pasture.
As reported by Truthout in May of this year, Lakota youth, protesting the
proposed construction of the pipeline, began a relay race from their Spirit
Camp in Cannonball, North Dakota, to the office of the Army Corps of
Engineers in Omaha, Nebraska, to deliver a petition against the pipeline.
The Corps later decided to grant the necessary permits and green light the
pipeline's construction.
The runners decided to then continue their relay all the way to Washington,
DC. As they did, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed for both a permanent
and preliminary injunction to block the pipeline's construction. The case
for the preliminary injunction, filed on August 4 to halt construction
immediately, is set to be heard on August 24.
As the tribe prepared for the case, they were issued a 48-hour work notice
that informed them construction was set to begin on the Dakota Access
Pipeline on the morning of August 10.
That's when the "Camp of Sacred Stones" was set up in Cannonball, North
Dakota, along the Missouri River. LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, the historic
preservation officer for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, put the call out to
land defenders to come to the camp to peacefully resist through prayer and
solidarity.
"When I first started this I thought, wow, I'm probably going to stand all
by myself," Brave Bull Allard told Truthout. "And now people are coming from
everywhere. What [the company is] trying to do is get as much pipe in the
ground before the government can issue a stop-work order. They are trying to
start construction before they go to court."
Brave Bull Allard explained to Truthout how the protesters turned the
initial construction crews back. They returned soon after with more law
enforcement personnel.
"They blocked the crew's access to the site with teepees and prayer circles.
When the crew tried to access it through a different route they were blocked
there as well. Police, highway patrol and sheriffs were all there," she
explained. Brave Bull Allard noted that the object of their protest is not
the individuals building the pipeline, but the project itself, and the
violations it represents.
"Our goal is to not do any harm because the work crews are just people
trying to make a living. Our job is to stand here in prayer," she says.
Stressing their nonviolent intentions, Waniya Locke, also of the Standing
Rock Sioux Tribe, told Truthout how organizers checked protesters for
weapons when arriving. "We are asking everybody to come stand with us in
prayer. We are asking that people don't bring weapons. We want nothing but
prayer. We have a lot of people from everywhere here and we still need
more," Locke said.
Moreover, she emphasized that the actions are meant to defend a broad range
of people who have long depended on the river.
"The Missouri River is over 12,000 years old," Locke said. "The Missouri
River gives drinking water to 10 million people. We are protecting everyone.
We are standing for everyone."
In particular, Locke noted, the Dakota Access Pipeline plan violates the
treaty rights of the Great Sioux Nation, of which the Standing Rock Sioux
Tribe is a part.
"All permits have been granted," she said. "It really shows that the
government can be bought out. They are not acknowledging that this is treaty
land and it belongs to the Lakota/Dakota People according to the 1868 Fort
Laramie Treaty."
"WE NEED PEOPLE TO STAND UP BECAUSE THAT'S THE ONLY WAY THE GOVERNMENT IS
GOING TO LISTEN TO US. THAT'S THE ONLY WAY THEY ARE GOING TO REVOKE THESE
PERMITS," LOCKE EXPLAINED.
The Fort Laramie Treaty, signed on April 29, 1868, and bound by the US
Constitution, guarantees the Great Sioux Nation absolute and undisturbed
access of the Black Hills and lands spanning multiple US states, including
the site of the pipeline construction on which they now make their stand.
"They are violating not only my people of Standing Rock, but they are
violating ranchers and farmers and everybody else who lives along this
river," Locke said.
"We need people to stand up because that's the only way the government is
going to listen to us. That's the only way they are going to revoke these
permits," Locke explained.
The call to stop the pipeline is being heard far and wide. During a stop in
New York City's Union Square, the "People Over Pipelines" runners held a
rally to educate people about the pipeline's consequences. Documentary
filmmaker Josh Fox (Gasland) and actresses Shailene Woodley and Rosario
Dawson lent their support.
Dawson, through a megaphone, issued a clear message for those who gathered
to listen to the group of Lakota runners, some wrapped in their tribal
flags.
"When we look at what's going on in Flint [Michigan], that's not an anomaly.
These are problems that are happening across our planet," Dawson declared.
"As long as we think it's someone else's problem, they're going to continue
proliferating.... This water is not just their water, it's our water. We are
going to recognize that water is more valuable than gold. This is a tipping
point. We need to take advantage of it, and do something about it."
"THIS IS NOT ABOUT JUST A PIPELINE. IT'S ABOUT SAVING THE WATER. IT'S ABOUT
EVERY COMMUNITY THAT LIVES ALONG THIS RIVER."
Standing side by side with Lakota runner Bobbi Jean Three Legs and others,
Dawson spoke to the urgency of the times. "At the moment they don't have any
choice. But sooner or later you'll all realize that none of us actually have
a choice in this. We have to stand up and fight together.... When we do
that, we get the chance to say that we were the generation that said enough
is enough. So please, keep spreading the message that water is life."
Woodley arrived at the construction site in North Dakota in time to watch
some of her good friends being carried away in handcuffs. These events only
seeming to solidify her resolve.
Locke, originally from Wakpala, South Dakota, grew up swimming and playing
in the Missouri River and drinking its water. Her relationship to the river
is as personal to her as it was for her ancestors who thrived along its
banks.
It's the same for Brave Bull Allard, whose land now houses the Sacred Stone
Camp. When asked what might happen if the pipeline's construction goes
through, Brave Bull Allard held a long pause as if confused by the question.
"I think maybe you're talking to the wrong person," she replied. "This is
not about just a pipeline. It's about saving the water. It's about every
community that lives along this river. We are going to win."
Jason Coppola is a writer and producer of the upcoming documentary film
Operation: Manifest Destiny. Coppola has worked unembedded in occupied Iraq
and on the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Indian Reservations. His stories
for Truthout and Al Jazeera English have won awards from the Native American
Journalism Association.
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