Sioux protesters ‘attacked’ by security dogs, pepper-sprayed at Dakota pipeline site [Archive]

blindpig

09-06-2016, 02:48 PM

Dakota Access fires back at tribes and #NoDAPL movement ahead of hearing in federal court
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

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Hundreds of #NoDAPL resisters marched peacefully on September 4, 2016, to protest the destruction of sacred sites and burial grounds in the path of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Photo by Dallas Goldtooth

A major showdown is brewing in federal court as the backers of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline insist they haven't destroyed any sacred sites or burial grounds.
Attorneys for the pipeline partnership are instead accusing leaders of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of encouraging "illegal conduct" among the thousands who have gathered at the #NoDAPL encampment in North Dakota. A court filing on Monday cited broken fences, incidents of trespass and "horrible threats of physical violence" against construction workers and other employees.
"After failing at every turn to follow the process prescribed by law and declining repeated invitations to consult, plaintiffs cannot now stop or delay this project by violating the law, engaging in guerilla legal tactics, and/or attempting to do what they should have done two years ago," Dakota Access wrote in response to the tribes' requests for temporary restraining orders.
As for the work that occurred over the Labor Day weekend, which led to a violent confrontation between Dakota Access security guards and #NoDAPL resisters on Saturday, the company is attempting to link it to Indian Country for supposed lawlessness. The filing states that "local law enforcement" raised concerns about the large number of people expected at the United Tribes Technical College this week and weekend in Bismarck.
Even though Bismarck is more than an hour away from the #NoDAPL encampment -- a distance made longer due to a roadblock put in place by the North Dakota Highway Patrol -- Dakota Access appears to suggest that "Pow Wow" attendees might want to cause trouble for the pipeline.
"As a result of (1) those concerns, (2) to help ensure the safety of the workers in light of Plaintiffs’ complete disregard for the law, (3) intelligence from the field that the number of protesters seemed to have abated, and (4) to ensure that all work that can be done in advance of the Pow Wow, DA altered its construction schedule weeks ago to complete the grading on portions of the right-of-way in close proximity to Lake Oahe," the filing states.

The attorneys do not say who from "local law enforcement" raised concerns about the 20th annual Tribal Leader’s Summit and the 40th annual International Powwow. But the filing includes a press release from Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, who has made unsubstantiated claims about violence in the #NoDAPL camps and has accused resisters of breaking the law even though he has failed to arrest anyone for major crimes.
The city of Bismarck, on the other hand, has extended a warm welcome to the estimated 20,000 people who are expected at the UTTC summit , which begins on Tuesday, and the powwow, which begins on Friday and runs through Sunday. Bismarck is located in neighboring Burleigh County.
In addition to casting aspersions on Indian Country, Dakota Access is trying to undermine Tim Mentz Sr., the former longtime historic preservation officer for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. He surveyed private property near the path of the pipeline last week and reported several extraordinary finds, including stone features and grave sites.
Despite his highly-regarded reputation -- Mentz was the first certified tribal historic preservation officer in the nation -- the pipeline partnership argues he is too biased to be trusted. The filing claims his finds were based on "subjective or religious assessment" rather than study by "qualified archeologists."
At any rate, the firm is rejecting the need for a restraining order because it says all of the work in question is occurring on private property.
"Plaintiffs cite no legal authority whatsoever that would authorize any kind of order, much less a temporary restraining order, that would extend 20 miles from the banks of the Missouri River and would prevent private use of private land," the attorneys wrote. "The land in question, and everything on it and under it belongs to the landowner."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, however, is supporting a restraining order, either as a matter of public interest or as a matter of public safety. The agency is the named defendant in the lawsuit -- Dakota Access was allowed to intervene as a defendant as well.

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Arguments in Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are being heard in federal court in Washington, D.C., on September 6, 2016.

The heated arguments will be aired before Judge James E. Boasberg on Tuesday afternoon. After receiving the tribal motions for the restraining orders on Sunday, he issued an order on Monday -- despite it being a federal holiday -- and scheduled the hearing.
The hearing will take place at 3pm in Courtroom 19 of the federal courthouse in Washington D.C., the same place where the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe asked for the preliminary injunction less than two weeks ago. Hundreds gathered in support of the #NoDAPL movement at the time.
"Today, as we remain peaceful and prayerful, I feel we are turning the corner! As the injustices implemented on our indigenous rights and lands start to surface, eventually, this great nation will do the right thing and stop the pipeline from crossing our water!" Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II said on Facebook on Tuesday morning.
The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, which was allowed to intervene as a plaintiff, will be participating in the hearing via telephone, according to an order granted on Tuesday.

http://www.indianz.com/News/2016/09/06/dakota-access-fires-back-at-tribes-ahead.asp?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Dhalgren

09-06-2016, 07:18 PM

Ah, dogs, they can't use em on black folks anymore but I wonder if those shitheads ever even heard of de Soto..

These redneck settler-assholes are counting on the Natives backing down. I don't think they will this time.

blindpig

09-07-2016, 02:44 PM

Sioux tribe wins partial halt to Dakota pipeline in federal court
by worker
https://www.rt.com/usa/358459-judge-grants-dakota-restraining-order/

Published time: 6 Sep, 2016 23:58Edited time: 6 Sep, 2016 23:58
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Protesters hold signs outside the U.S. District Court in Washington, where a hearing was being held to decide whether to halt construction of an oil pipeline in parts of North Dakota where a Native American tribe says it has ancient burial and prayer sites, September 6, 2016. © Kevin Lamarque
Protesters hold signs outside the U.S. District Court in Washington, where a hearing was being held to decide whether to halt construction of an oil pipeline in parts of North Dakota where a Native American tribe says it has ancient burial and prayer sites, September 6, 2016. © Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s request for a temporary stop work order on the Dakota Access Pipeline has been granted by a federal judge. Sacred sites in North Dakota were bulldozed over the weekend, a day after the tribe identified them in court papers.
Energy Transfer Partners is trying to construct a 1,200-mile Dakota Access pipeline.

Work on the pipeline will cease for a limited time between State Highway 1806 and 20 miles east of Lake Oahe, US District Judge James Boasberg ruled Tuesday in Washington DC. The project is allowed to continue west of the highway, because the judge viewed the US Army Corps of Engineers as lacking jurisdiction on private land.

The tribe, however, was not pleased, as they had sought a total shutdown of the project.

When the stoppage will be lifted remains to be seen.

The order came as a result of an emergency hearing called by Judge Boasberg after the Standing Rock Sioux tribe filed a temporary restraining order over the weekend. Dakota Access construction crews had just used bulldozers to remove topsoil across a 150-foot-wide, two-mile stretch of area near the confluence of the Cannonball River and the Missouri River.

The work destroyed stone features, including prayer rings and cairns used to mark burial grounds, according to the tribe.

“I surveyed this land and we confirmed multiple graves and specific prayers sites,” Tim Mentz, Sr., the tribe’s former longtime historic preservation officer said in a statement Saturday, according to Indianz.com “Portion and possibly complete sites, have been taken out entirely.”

The destruction led to a confrontation between #NoDAPL protesters and construction workers, where security guards used dogs and pepper spray against protesters.

Attorneys for Energy Transfer Partners filed court documents on Monday denying that workers destroyed any cultural sites but cited broken fences, incidents of trespass and “horrible threats of physical violence” against construction workers and other employees.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman David Archambault II complained: “They did this on a holiday weekend, one day after we filed court papers identifying these sacred sites. The desecration of these ancient places has already caused the Standing Rock Sioux irreparable harm. We’re asking the court to halt this path of destruction.”

The request is in addition to the tribe’s other challenge to the Army Corp of Engineers’ decision to fast-track grant permits to the operator of the four-state pipeline. Boasberg said he expected to issue a full opinion on that lawsuit on September 9.

Since April, citizens of Standing Rock Sioux have camped on the edge of the reservation to protect their grounds, water and sacred sites. The tribe claims the Army Corps of Engineers fast-tracked approval for the pipeline without properly consulting them.

“As the Chairman of my Tribe, I sent numerous letters to the Corps, requesting consultation and expressing out concerns that the proposed pipeline would threaten our lands and contaminate our water,” Archambault said. “Our concerns were ignored.”

Thousands of people from more than 200 native tribes have joined the Standing Rock Sioux’s effort to protect their lands, waters and sacred sites.

A new investigation by Little Sis, a research outlet, found a plethora of Wall Street banks are backing the Dakota Access Pipeline. It shows that the six top US banks have extended a $3.75 billion credit line to Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access.

The author of the report, Hugh MacMillan, a senior researcher with Food & Water Watch, told RT it is important to shine a light on how this process is happening across the sector.

“This is just a small example (while it is a large project) of how this system is working, or failing us collectively. Just six banks alone – Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citibank – hold over $2 billion in oil and gas industry loans. What I’ve discovered in looking at the funding for the Energy Transfer family of companies, and specifically for the Dakota Access pipeline, is that many more banks are involved.”

MacMillan said Citibank is “running the books and beating the bushes” to get several hundred million from over 2,000 banks.

“I think it is important for the activists there, protecting their land at the confluence of Cannonball River and the Missouri River, to know the powers who they are speaking their truth to,” MacMillan said. “Otherwise they are behind the scenes and it seems like one company when it is not. This is a long list of banks all aiming to get paid back through widespread drilling and fracking for decades.”

Other banks include The Royal Bank of Scotland, Community Trust Bank, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse.

On Tuesday morning, pipeline workers showing up at the construction site were met by protesters. As around 350 protesters gathered at the site, workers left without incident. Presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party spray painted the blade of a bulldozer used by a construction crew. Two other pieces were also spray painted.

KXNET reported a woman from Pine Ridge had attached herself to a piece of equipment.

The 30-inch-diameter pipeline is expected to carry about 450,000 barrels per day, with a capacity of up to 570,000 barrels per day. The route will begin in the Bakken oil fields near Stanley, North Dakota and end at Patoka, Illinois, where the oil can be transported via another pipeline to the Gulf Coast or shipped to other markets.

The project also has faced protest and controversy in South Dakota. Some see the pipeline as Keystone XL 2.0, named after the Canada-to-Texas tar sands pipeline that was eventually blocked by the Obama administration.

blindpig

09-09-2016, 03:39 PM

Court denies Sioux tribe request to halt Dakota Access pipeline construction
Published time: 9 Sep, 2016 19:00
Edited time: 9 Sep, 2016 19:14

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Protesters demonstrate against the Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S. September 9, 2016 © Andrew Cullen / Reuters

A federal judge has denied the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s request for a temporary injunction to halt the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.

In a one-page ruling issued by US District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, DC on Friday, described the government’s relationship with the tribes as being “contentious and tragic.”

The judge said the Army Corp of Engineers “has likely complied with the NHPA (National Historic Preservation Act) and that the Tribe has not shown it will suffer injury that would be prevented by any injunction."

Judge Boasberg ordered the parties to appear for a status conference on September 16, according to the Associated Press.

In its lawsuit filed in August, the tribe had challenged the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to grant permits at more than 200 water crossings for Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners' $3.8 billion pipeline.

They argued the projected violated several federal laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act, and will harm water supplies. The tribe also says ancient sacred sites have been disturbed.

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The ruling said that "this Court does not lightly countenance any depredation of lands that hold significance to the Standing Rock Sioux" and that, given the federal government's history with the tribe, "the Court scrutinizes the permitting process here with particular care. Having done so, the Court must nonetheless conclude that the Tribe has not demonstrated that an injunction is warranted here."

A lawyer for the tribe says the ruling will be appealed.

The Standing Rock Sioux's tribal historian told AP the judge’s decision to deny a temporary stop of construction on the pipeline gives her “a great amount of grief.”

LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, who also has been a part of the protests which began in April near the North Dakota reservation, told AP that the tribe will "continue to stand" and "look for legal resources," as well as continue to protest peacefully.

https://www.rt.com/usa/358846-dakota-pipeline-judge-ruling/

Meanwhile.....

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I remember Pompey's legionaries......

blindpig

09-10-2016, 10:10 AM

Erased By False Victory: Obama Hasn’t Stopped DAPL
SEPTEMBER 10, 2016 ~ KELLY HAYES

https://transformativespacesdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/14067704_1246845795349461_128050987172044891_n.jpg?w=656
NoDAPL protesters gather for a boat action in Standing Rock on August 20. (Photo: Kelly Hayes)

All Native struggles in the United States are a struggle against erasure. The poisoning of our land, the theft of our children, the state violence committed against us — we are forced to not only live in opposition to these ills, but also to live in opposition to the fact that they are often erased from public view and public discourse, outside of Indian Country. The truth of our history and our struggle does not match the myth of American exceptionalism, and thus, we are frequently boxed out of the narrative.

The struggle at Standing Rock, North Dakota, has been no exception, with Water Protectors fighting tooth and nail for visibility, ever since the Sacred Stone prayer encampment began on April 1.

For months, major news outlets have ignored what’s become the largest convergence of Native peoples in more than a century. But with growing social media amplification and independent news coverage, the corporate media had finally begun to take notice. National attention was paid. Solidarity protests were announced in cities around the country. The National Guard was activated in North Dakota.

The old chant, “The whole world is watching!” seemed on the verge of accuracy in Standing Rock.

And then came today’s ruling, with a federal judge finding against the Standing Rock Sioux, and declaring that construction of the pipeline could legally continue. It was the ruling I expected, but it still stung. I felt the sadness, anger and disappointment that rattled many of us as we received the news. But then something happened. Headlines like, “Obama administration orders ND pipeline construction to stop” and “The Obama Administration Steps In to Block the Dakota Access Pipeline” began to fill my newsfeed, with comments like, “Thank God for Obama!” attached to them.

Clearly, a major plot twist has occurred. But it’s not the one that’s being sold.

To understand that this isn’t the victory it’s being billed as, you have to read the fine print in the presently lauded joint statement from the Department of Justice, the Department of the Army and the Department of the Interior:

“The Army will not authorize constructing the Dakota Access pipeline on Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe until it can determine whether it will need to reconsider any of its previous decisions regarding the Lake Oahe site under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or other federal laws.”

Note what’s actually being said here, what’s being promised and what isn’t.

What is actually being guaranteed?

Further consideration.

But this next section is a little more promising, right?

“Therefore, construction of the pipeline on Army Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe will not go forward at this time. The Army will move expeditiously to make this determination, as everyone involved — including the pipeline company and its workers — deserves a clear and timely resolution. In the interim, we request that the pipeline company voluntarily pause all construction activity within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahu.”

So things are on hold at Lake Oahe until the powers that be think it through some more — with no assurances about how they’ll feel when it’s all said and done. The rest is a voluntary ask being extended to the company.

Let’s reflect on that for a moment: A company that recently sicced dogs on Water Protectors, including families, who stepped onto a sacred site to prevent its destruction, is being asked to voluntarily do the right thing.

But the thing is, they probably will. For a moment. Because what’s being asked of them isn’t an actual reroute. Right now, all that’s being asked is that they play their part in a short term political performance aimed at letting the air out of a movement’s tires.

Presidential contender Hillary Clinton was beginning to take a bit of heat for her silence on the Standing Rock struggle. Between Jill Stein’s participation in a lockdown action, broadening social media support for the cause, and the beginnings of substantial media coverage, #NoDAPL was on the verge of being a real thorn in Clinton’s side. And with more than 3,000 Natives gathered in an unprecedented act of collective resistance, an unpredictable and possibly transformational force was menacing a whole lot of powerful agendas.

So what did the federal government do? Probably the smartest thing they could have: They gave us the illusion of victory.

As someone who organizes against state violence, I know the patterns of pacification in times of unrest all too well. When a Black or Brown person is murdered by the police, typically without consequence, and public outrage ensues, one of the pacifications we are offered is that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will investigate the shooting. It’s a deescalation tactic on the part of the state. It helps transition away from moments when rage and despair collide, creating a cooling off period for the public. “Justice” is still possible, we are told. We are asked to be patient as this very serious matter is investigated at the highest level of government, and given all due consideration.

The reality, of course, is that the vast majority of investigations taken up by the DOJ Civil Rights Division end in dismissal – a batting average that’s pretty much inverse to that of other federal investigations. But by the time a case gets tossed at the federal level, it’s probably not front page news anymore, and any accumulated organizing momentum behind the issue may have been lost — because to many people, the mere announcement of a federal investigation means that the system is working. Someone is looking into this, they’re assured. Something is being done. Important people have expressed that they care, and thus there is hope.

So how is this similar to what’s happening with Standing Rock?

It’s the same old con game.

Federal authorities are going to give a very serious matter very serious consideration, and then… we’ll see.

The formula couldn’t be clearer.

As the joint statement says, “this case has highlighted the need for a serious discussion on whether there should be nationwide reform with respect to considering tribes’ views on these types of infrastructure projects.”

Discussion.

How many times have marginalized people been offered further discussion when what they needed was substantive action? And how often has the mere promise of conversation born fruit for those in a state of protest?

But this is a great moment for the Democrats. A political landmine has been swept out of Hillary Clinton’s path and Obama will be celebrated as having “stopped a pipeline” when the project has, at best, been paused. After all, an actual pause in construction, outside of the Lake Oahe area, assumes the cooperation of a relentless, violent corporation, that has already proven it’s wiling to let dogs loose on children to keep its project on track.

But Dakota Access, LLC probably will turn off its machines — for a (very) little while. They’ll wait for the media traction that’s been gained to dissipate, and for the #NoDAPL hashtag to get quieter. They’ll wait until the political moment is less fraught, and their opposition is less amped. And then they will get back to work — if we allow it.

Here’s the real story: This fight has neither been won nor lost. Our people are rising and they are strong. But the illusion of victory is a dangerous thing. Some embrace it because they don’t know better, some because they need to. We all want happy endings. Hell, I long for them, and I get tired waiting. But if you raise a glass to Obama and declare this battle won, you are erasing a battle that isn’t over yet. And by erasing an ongoing struggle, you’re helping to build a pipeline.

https://transformativespaces.org/2016/09/10/erased-by-false-victory-obama-hasnt-stopped-dapl/

Bolding added. Spot on.

blindpig

09-13-2016, 03:42 PM

Black Solidarity With First Nations Is Complicated, Sacred and Necessary

We can write a new history in which the people whose very bodies were the down payment on one of the most devastating empires in human history stood in solidarity with the people whose homes and lands were stolen, burned and poisoned for the settler-colonial project that birthed that same empire.

BY: AARON GOGGANS
Posted: September 12, 2016

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Members of Black Lives Matter
BLACKLIVESMATTER.COM

I was born and raised as a descendant of enslaved Africans on Ute, Cheyenne and Arapaho land. I was born on the front range of the Rocky Mountains where Pike’s Peak’s massive snowcapped summit caused the sun to set 20 minutes earlier. Raised on a small family ranch with pigs, sheep and llamas, I grew up emotionally connected and physically tethered to a land that was not my people’s.

At school, we learned about the First Nation tribes that originally settled the lands my family’s ranch rested on hundreds of years before my people were taken to this continent. We learned about the water crises of the Wild West when American settlers stole key positions along the Colorado River from First Nation peoples. We learned how, decades later, California and Nevada would fight with my home state of Colorado over the rights to that stolen water. We learned about the Trail of Tears and the Sand Creek Massacre.

Water, land and forced migration are central themes in Southwestern public education, though we seem to forget that when tribal governments assert their rights to their water. My white teachers generally taught this history as if it were a relic of a bygone era of time when “Indians” still walked the land and men were men. Obviously, any narrative that acknowledged ongoing complicity in oppression was rare and frowned upon by the conservative administration.

It was also frowned upon by my father, who refused to allow us to side with the European settlers in history class. My father took my siblings and me to the Black American West Museum in Denver when I was in elementary school. There I learned about the Exodusters and the buffalo soldiers. We learned about how our ancestors fled west hoping for freedom and autonomy.

My father told us other stories about buffalo soldiers refusing to fire upon wounded Indigenous soldiers. We learned that the term “buffalo soldier” was a term of respect and mutual admiration, and I learned to hold the term in personal reverence. After that visit as a young child, when my friends would play “cowboys and Indians,” I would play the part of the stoic and honorable buffalo soldier.

In many ways, my father’s counternarrative was not much more accurate than the version I was taught in school. Nor did my desire to side with my dark-skinned brethren make playing “cowboys and Indians” any less problematic. In reality, the buffalo soldiers’ legacy was less cut-and-dried in the genocidal “Indian wars” that consumed the American West after the Civil War. Black men sought to get ahead by proving our people’s loyalty to the newly reformed Union by participating in the most hallowed of American traditions: accumulation by dispossession. Similarly, members of the Cherokee nation attempted assimilation by owning slaves in the South. Our ancestors were not the clear-cut heroes we often think of when we are children.

The truth is, the relationship between Africans and the indigenous population of this continent has always been complicated. When Europeans first came to this continent, they enslaved much of the portion of the indigenous population they didn’t outright kill. Thus, by the time the first enslaved Africans reached the shores of Virginia in 1619, they were not the only unpaid and brutalized labor enriching the ruling class.

Though rarely mentioned in our public discourse about race, the reality is that black people’s place on the bottom of America’s caste system has always been contingent on the whims and material realities of white landowning America. Our modern formation of anti-blackness wasn’t automatic, and it wasn’t always a foregone conclusion. For instance, once the transcontinental railroad was completed, it simply became more expedient to white supremacist capitalism to deport Chinese and other Asian Pacific Islander workers and assimilate white ethnics than to expel black and Chicano workers who were still crucial to Southern and Southwestern agriculture, respectively. Our First Nation family was simply written out of modern history books and culturally erased while broken treaties, forced removals and “Indian schools” together facilitated a new era in American genocide.

I grew up wondering what would have happened if my enslaved ancestors had built more lasting common cause with our First Nation family. How might history been different if, during Bacon’s Rebellion, enslaved Africans and indentured servants had united with the Doeg tribe instead of against it? What would have happened if the buffalo soldiers had joined with the tribes at war with the Union or refused to fight in their genocidal wars? It is in this complicated, bloody context that I watch the historic resistance being mounted at Standing Rock.

As a prairie child in the age of global warming, I am well aware of how precious and finite fresh water is. I remember how fortunate we were to have well water during the droughts that devastated the Southwest in the early 2000s. I am reminded in this moment, as we are still struggling with poisoned water in Flint, Mich., and high lead levels in schools in my new home in Washington, D.C., the precarious nature of my people’s water supply.

Because my family could no longer afford my childhood home after the Great Recession, I am well aware of the displacement and broken promises that come when our economic security is placed in the hands of giant corporations. As the state and corporate power respond to peaceful protest with tear gas, I can only assume it is the same companies that provided the tools for repression in Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore, Milwaukee and Gaza. Living in D.C., with gentrification being heralded by bars called “homestead,” I cannot help noticing how black inner cities have become America’s new frontier land.

As I struggle against displacement in the former Chocolate City, I am forced to remember to whose land my home belongs. I am reminded of the violence of private property itself. As a black child of the land emotionally and physically, I yearn to find common cause with the only Americans who still have a spiritual connection to this land. Perhaps most poignantly, as tribal elders and youths come together to protect sacred sites on Sioux land, I am reminded that our generation is called to heal the wounds of ancestors. I am reminded, as I so often am recently, of my sister Mary Hook’s mandate:

The mandate for black people in this time is to avenge the suffering of our ancestors! To earn the respect of future generations! And be willing to be transformed in the service of the work!

#NoDAPL and the Red Warrior Camp present my people, black people, with a chance to build a legacy of which our descendants will be proud. We have an opportunity, in this moment, to write a story of resistance in which the dispossessed take back their land. We can write a new history in which the people whose ancestors worked this land—whose very bodies were the down payment on one of the most devastating empires in human history—stood in solidarity with the people whose homes and lands were stolen, burned and poisoned for the settler-colonial project that birthed that same empire.

We have a unique opportunity to reap the seeds of freedom that were sowed in the American Indian Movement and black liberation movements of the ’60s and ’70s. As dispossessed people on this continent, we have a sacred duty and blessed opportunity to connect to the land through solidarity with the Red Warrior Camp and bring new meaning to the red, black and green of our national flag. The blood, sweat and tears we shed in solidarity can consecrate this land for our descendants who will someday be able to pray to ancestors that found common cause against neocolonial exploitation, capitalistic privatization and state violence.

We can be the freedom fighters that our ancestors dreamed of, and the maroons our descendants will be inspired by.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/09/black-solidarity-first-nations-standing-rock/?utm_content=bufferf36b5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

blindpig

09-29-2016, 02:58 PM

21 Arrested Resisting Construction of Dakota Access Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016HEADLINES

https://www.democracynow.org/images/headlines/55/33155/quarter_hd/H15_Standing_Rock_Hands_Up.jpg
And in North Dakota, 21 people were arrested Wednesday by police in riot gear, while the group was conducting Native American ceremonies to block construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. The pipeline has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and members of hundreds of other tribes from across the U.S., Canada and Latin America. Land defenders say police carrying assault rifles responded to the ceremonies with armored vehicles, tear gas and helicopters. This is a Sicangu Lakota grandmother.

Land defender: "We had a really nice ceremony. And then we looked, and over that way, and the police—there was a few police. And the next thing I knew, there were like 40 police, and they were all dressed in riot gear. We did exactly what we were told to do, except the ones who were in the road, just to tell everybody, 'Keep moving. Keep moving. Keep moving.' And I’ve never in my life seen a gun in real life. And I’ve never had a gun pointed at me. And we all went—I went into shock."

TOPICS:Dakota Access PipelineNative AmericanNatural Gas & Oil DrillingEnvironment
MORE HEADLINES
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016WATCH HEADLINES
San Diego: Protests Continue over Police Killing of Alfred Olango
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016HEADLINES
H1 san diego protest
Protests continued Wednesday in the San Diego, California, suburb of El Cajon, where police shot and killed an unarmed African-American man Tuesday after his sister called 911 to report her brother was having a mental health emergency. Eyewitnesses in El Cajon said Alfred Olango was holding his hands up when he was tased by one police officer and then fired upon five times by another officer. Police initially said they fired when Olango pulled out an object. On Wednesday, the police admitted that this object was, in fact, an e-cigarette. This is protester Asaac Ali.

Asaac Ali: "It’s not just about how I’m feeling about it. It is about how America feel about it, because police are terrorizing America, each and every state. They’re killing people each and every corner. This is a time for America to look into it. This is not ISIS in the Middle East. We have one here: Police are a terrorist, killing people more than ISIS. That’s what we need to look at it, really careful."

This comes as questions are being raised about El Cajon police officer Richard Gonsalves, one of the officers involved in Olango’s shooting. Last year, Gonsalves was sued for sexual harassment after making lewd propositions and texting explicit photos to his subordinate officer. He was demoted to officer from sergeant. Gonsalves was just served with a second suit in August of this year, after the harassment continued. We’ll go to San Diego for more, after headlines.

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/29/headlines/21_arrested_resisting_construction_of_dakota_access_pipeline

blindpig

10-10-2016, 01:11 PM

Court Refuses to Halt Dakota Pipeline, but the Fight Continues

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Dakota Access Pipeline protesters square off against police between the Standing Rock Reservation and the pipeline route outside the little town of Saint Anthony, North Dakota, U.S., Oct. 5, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Despite the federal court’s ruling, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe says it will continue its resistance movement.
An hour before the start of Sunday's U.S. presidential debates, a federal court rejected an appeal from Indigenous activists to suspend construction on the hotly-contested Dakota Access Pipeline.

The two-page ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied the request to grant a permanent injunction to block the behemoth US$3.7 billion 1,170-mile pipeline that, when completed, will transport 470,000 barrels of crude oil across 4 states. The pipeline would also snake through half a mile of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation, which straddles the border between North and South Dakota.

The court, in essence, refused to extend a temporary injunction issued in late August, suspending pipeline construction near the tribe’s main water source. In doing so, the court opened the door for Energy Transfer Partners — the Dallas company that is funding the project — to move forward with the project.

Attorneys for Dakota Access, the coalition of activists battling against the pipeline, said last Wednesday that company attorneys have made it clear to them that is exactly what they intend to do.

Despite this setback, the tribe and their supporting allies say they are determined to continue.

Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II called the ruling "disappointing," but told NBC News, "We aren't done with this fight."

Thousands have joined protests led by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe including 300 other tribes at Cannon Ball, North Dakota, the site of the Oceti Sakowin Camp, to protest the pipeline. In winning the temporary injunction in August, the tribe successfully sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has jurisdiction over the land. Standing Rock Sioux argued that it did not adequately consult with them when they granted approval for the pipeline’s construction, as is required under the National Historic Preservation Act.

As such, the three-judge panel Sunday said it "can only hope that the spirit" of the act "may yet prevail”, adding that the ruling is "not the final word," noting that the final decision lies with the Corps of Engineers.

Archambault said this notes that the court is signalling "to not proceed" with the project.

"It seems they are coming to the same conclusion as the federal government in acknowledging there is something wrong with the approvals for the pipeline," he said. "We see this as an encouraging sign.”

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Court-Refuses-to-Halt-Dakota-Pipeline-but-the-Fight-Continues-20161010-0008.html

Videos at link

Extra Police Ready to Crack Down on Dakota Pipeline Protesters

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1475868296858/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/10/07/2016-09-07t233807z_1387471638_tm3ec971fhq01_rtrmadp_3_usa-pipeline-nativeamericans_crop.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Protestors are continuing their fight against the US$3.7 billion pipeline | Photo: Reuters
Published 7 October 2016

Police and security forces have been cracking down on pipeline protest sites and arrested a number of peaceful protesters.
Officers from outside states are on standby to assist the policing of the ongoing protests against the North Dakota Access Pipeline project, police officials said Thursday.

“There’s a lot of expertise out there across this nation with the sheriffs, and if they can in somehow bring their expertise and their resources here to assist the sheriff, that’s what we need to do,” said Danny Glick, Laramie County Sheriff, Western States Sheriffs’ Association President in the joint press conference. “When we get a call from Sheriff Kirchmeier, we will be ready to assist.”

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier made the request to the National Sheriffs’ Association for assistance after a request for federal reinforcements was rejected. Kirchmeier is attempting to take a more direct approach to handling the swelling number of “water protectors,” who say that the pipeline will ruin sacred burial grounds and pollute local water supplies.

Kirchmeier stated that the new approach would include more patrols and sending officers to speak to local farmers fearful of protesters trespassing on their property. Kirchmeier stated that he would continue blocking roads to construction sites if protesters intended to halt construction.

The county sheriff estimated that the Sacred Stone Camp had 2,000 to 2,500 people living on the site, saying that his force has reached its capacity to be able to control the protests.

“The protest has grown outside I think of what the intentions of the Standing Rock people wanted to occur. This was all about the water, and the pipeline, and the easement going to the core, not a pipeline being put out in the middle of the prairie,” he said.

Nearly a thousand Native American youth from the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe are undertaking a fundraiser to join their elders in the protests which have been described as the largest Native American mobilizations in decades.

Police and private security personnel have been more aggressively cracking down on the peaceful protests of late.

Last week North Dakota police armed with shotguns, assault rifles and armored vehicles broke up a group of Native Americans gathered in prayer. Witnesses filmed the crackdown but said their access to Facebook was blocked. Up to 21 people were arrested according to Unicorn Riot.

Unleashed attack dogs bit protesters, including a pregnant woman and child from contracted private security film Frost Kennels during a nonviolent direct action.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Extra-Police-Ready-to-Crack-Down-on-Dakota-Pipeline-Protesters--20161007-0013.html

Please, not 'Unicorn Riot'.

blindpig

10-13-2016, 12:05 PM

Ecuador's Indigenous Leader Fighting Chevron Visits Dakota Camp

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1476318000409/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/10/12/chevron_afp.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Humberto Piaguaje, representative of Ecuadorean people affected by Chevron during a press conference in Quito, Nov. 13, 2013 | Photo: AFP

Published 12 October 2016

“We don’t want what happened to us to happen to the people in Dakota,” Piaguaje told teleSUR.
Indigenous groups affected by the contamination of Chevron in Ecuador—led by Humberto Piaguaje—joined the Native Americans protesting the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline in the state of North Dakota in the U.S.

Piaguaje, from the Siekopai nation and representative of those affected by the Chevron Corporation in the Amazon, said in an interview with teleSUR that he visited the Dakota camp to bring a message of solidarity, unity and strength.

“It was impressive, it was not only about taking my message but also finding the fighting spirit, finding spirituality among all Indigenous people from every country,” said Piaguaje. “It was a fraternal moment, a moment of reflection.”

According to Piaguaje about 200,000 people have joined the Dakota protests, with more than 3,000 living in the camps including Indigenous people from Africa, Australia, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, Peru, among others.

“I felt I wasn't alone, that we were all connected although from different countries, but together we are strong as a rock, strong as the earth,” said Piaguaje.

“By joining this struggle we will spread the struggle around the world,” Piaguaje added.

Known as one of the world’s largest environmental disasters, Chevron’s oil dumping in Ecuador has impacted as many as 30,000 people, mostly Indigenous residents.

While drilling in Ecuador from 1964 to 1992, Chevron, then Texaco, deliberately dumped 16 billion gallons of toxic waste in the oil-rich area of Ecuador’s Amazon. Based on thousands of pages of evidence, Ecuador’s supreme court ordered Chevron to pay US$9.5 billion in damages and cleanup costs in 2013, but the oil giant has refused to comply, dragging out the lengthy court battle.

“We don’t want what happened to us to happen to the people in Dakota,” said Piaguaje. “We shouldn’t attack the main source of life which is water.” He concluded that it was the love of land, water and nature that united Indigenous people throughout the world.

A U.S. federal appeals court rejected a request from Indigenous activists to suspend construction on the hotly-contested Dakota Access pipeline. The US$3.7 billion 1,170-mile pipeline, when completed, would transport 470,000 barrels of crude oil across 4 states. The pipeline would also snake through half a mile of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s land, which straddles the border between North and South Dakota.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuadors-Indigenous-Leader-Fighting-Chevron-Visits-Dakota-Camp-20161012-0024.html

Videos at link.

##############################3

Ecuadoreans Go to Canada to Collect Billions from Chevron

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1473701719502/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/09/12/ecuador_protest_chevron_oil.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Ecuadoreans protest against Chevron's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations trial in New York, Oct. 15, 2013. | Photo: Reuters

Published 12 September 2016

Chevron left behind billions of gallons of toxic sludge in Ecuador's Amazon 23 years ago, impacting as many as 30,000 people in rural and Indigenous communities.
Ecuadorean Indigenous groups’ years-long court battle to force oil giant Chevron Corp. to pay US$9.5 billion in damages for the environmental disaster known as “Amazon Chernobyl” began a new phase Monday, this time in Canada.

Plaintiffs from Ecuador have been attempting for years to collect damages it won in its 2011 lawsuit against Chevron in a court in Ecuador, where the multinational oil giant no longer has assets that can be seized.

In a pretrial hearing in a Toronto court this week, Ecuadorean representatives will make the case that Canadian subsidiaries are liable for for the damages, which would allow the lawsuit to proceed. Chevron, formerly Texaco, will argue that its Canadian business operations have no connection with affairs in Ecuador, legal experts say.

“The Indigenous peoples of Ecuador deserve full access to justice and a healthy environment so that we and our Amazonian neighbors can live with dignity," said Humberto Piaguaje, president of the Union of Affected Communities in Ecuador and a leading activist in the fight against Chevron, said in a statement ahead of the hearing.

On Monday, the plaintiffs’ attorney, Alan Lenczner, warned that Chevron has set a precedent of strategically covering up facts and falsifying documents, warranting scrutiny. He argued that Chevron has requested too much information without adequate authorization while the company, on the other hand, has released heavily redacted documents, failing to disclose pertinent details to the case.

Chevron pushed for the case to be thrown out, arguing that Chevron Canada cannot be held liable for an international ruling against Chevron Corp. in Ecuadorean courts. Plaintiffs believe that Canadian courts in the province of Ontario have jurisdiction to rule on the lawsuit.

The much-awaited hearing comes after a U.S. federal appeals court ruled last month that Ecuadorean plaintiffs cannot seize Chevron’s assets in the United States. But that decision did not impact the group’s ability to collect damages in other countries where Chevron has significant holdings, including Canada.

"We are urging Canada's courts to move quickly because many people, including children, are sick and dying from the contamination Chevron left behind on our ancestral lands and the company continues to disrespect legal rulings," Carlos Guaman, president of the Amazon Defense Coalition representing some 80 affected communities, said in a statement. “Chevron's strategy for over two decades has been to throw sand into the gears of the judicial process by forum shopping and manipulating evidence, which we are prepared to show Canadian courts.”

Ahead of the hearing, 14 Canadian organizations focused on human rights, Indigenous, environmental, and labor issues released an open letter condemning Chevron’s bid to evade justice for environmental destruction. The organizations also urged the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to block Chevron from selling off assets in the country before the trial concludes and called on Canadians to “stay vigilant” in support of affected communities.

While drilling in Ecuador from 1964 to 1992, Chevron, then Texaco, deliberately dumped 16 billion gallons of toxic waste in the oil-rich area of Lago Agrio in Ecuador’s Amazon. The company also left behind 1,000 unremediated waste pits that continue to leak sludge into surrounding water sources and soil. Based on thousands of pages of evidence, Ecuador’s Supreme Court ordered Chevron in 2013 to pay US$9.5 billion in damages and cleanup costs, but the oil giant has refused to comply, dragging out the lengthy court battle.

Known as one of the world’s largest environmental disasters, Chevron’s oil dumping in Ecuador has impacted as many as 30,000 people, mostly Indigenous residents.

In a recent interview with teleSUR’s Abby Martin, Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Guillaume Long argued that the Chevron case is a prime example of how restrictions on national sovereignty through imperialism and corporate domination in a country like Ecuador make communities easy targets of exploitation.

“The Chevron-Texaco abuse is one of the greatest examples in our region of the kind of abuses you can be a victim of, and the kind of predatory behaviour that can suddenly destroy whole communities and indeed the ecosystems of whole regions,” Long said.

Ecuadorean groups have also sought to enforce the ruling for Chevron to pay US$9.5 billion in damages in Argentina and Brazil, where the company also has significant holdings.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuadoreans-Go-to-Canada-to-Collect-Billions-from-Chevron-20160912-0017.html

Videos at link

blindpig

10-25-2016, 01:16 PM

126 People Arrested Over Weekend in Dakota Pipeline Protests

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1477264561831/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/10/23/83_people_tear_gassedx_arrested_in_dakota_pipeline_protest0.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Protesters are confronted by police near the Dakota Access pipeline at a construction site in North Dakota, Oct. 22, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 24 October 2016

Local police officers used tear gas as hundreds of protesters tried to halt the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock.
The ongoing resistance to the Dakota Access pipeline has continued to smolder, with 126 protesters arrested over the weekend in a series of clashes with police and sheriff's deputies in ongoing demonstrations at the contested construction site in North Dakota. In addition to the arrests, the local sheriff's department admitting to using tear gas against the protesters where hundreds of Native American nations have been gathering for months to demand the project’s cancellation.

On Saturday, 83 protesters were arrested on numerous charges ranging from assault on a peace officer to rioting and criminal trespass, the Morton County Sheriff's department said in a statement.

Cody Hall, Red Warrior Camp spokesman, noted that the police tactics used on Saturday were reminiscent of the 1973 Occupation of Wounded Knee. "They're trying to provoke a response, they're trying to provoke violence from our side. We have to deal with the militarized mindset of Morton County and North Dakota officials," Hall stated to local Fox affiliate KFYR.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, reports on social media also said that more than 800 protesters from various tribes blocked the main highway at Standing Rock, which would amount to almost the entire encampment.

The protesters used cars and their own bodies to block the highway. Police round-ups of peaceful protesters added to a weekend total of 126 arrests on charges ranging from reckless endangerment to criminal trespass, engaging in a riot, assault on a peace officer and resisting arrest.

On Saturday morning, police responded to a report about an SUV on private property near the pipeline construction site and found that four men had attached themselves to the vehicle. Police removed the men from the SUV before arresting them.

Kellie Berns, a protester who hung back behind a fence at the scene, told the local Bismarck Tribune people were being pepper-sprayed and thrown to the ground and added that law enforcement was more aggressive than in past confrontations.

"People came back very distressed," she said of those who returned to the fence following the demonstration. "The pipeline is getting a lot closer, so the stakes are getting higher."

The demonstration closed a section of a local highway, but it was reopened on Saturday afternoon.

“This protest was intentionally coordinated and planned by agitators with the specific intent to engage in illegal activities," Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said in a statement, defending the use of force in removing and arresting the protesters.

The sheriff's office also claimed that arrows were launched at a helicopter, and that the same helicopter was forced to engage in evasive maneuvers after a civilian drone was deployed by one of the protest camps. The pilot and a passenger claimed that the “drone came after us” and that they were "in fear of their lives," while independent media collective Unicorn Riot posted video showing two officers firing at the drone with live weaponry.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and environmental activists have been protesting construction of the 1,100-mile pipeline in North Dakota for several months, saying it threatens the water supply and sacred sites.

The action against the pipeline has attracted more than 300 Native American tribes from across the United States as their cause secures national and international support.

Last month Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux nation, spoke at the United Nations in Geneva, calling on the U.N.’s Human Rights Council to intervene to stop the construction of the pipeline while complaining that U.S. courts had failed his people.

More than 1,200 archaeologists, anthropologists, curators, museum officials and academics signed a letter in support of the protests against the Dakota Access pipeline and calling on the U.S. government and its agencies to put an end to the construction of the oil facility.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/83-People-Tear-Gassed-Arrested-in-Dakota-Pipeline-Protest-20161023-0010.html

blindpig

10-28-2016, 08:06 AM

Dhalgren

10-28-2016, 10:59 AM

blob:http://www.facebook.com/696338ee-8490-459c-a6c2-175d5030751a

IGD: BARRICADES SET AFLAME AS POLICE MOVE ON OCETI SAKOWIN October 27, 2016

https://itsgoingdown.org/igd-barricades-set-aflame-police-move-oceti-sakowin/

Videos at link

Edit: So the video didn't 'take'. Go look. Fucking pigs.

"Fucking pigs." This is from a tweet at the site, from "Chief Agitator":

The sole purpose of policing is to serve & protect the interests of capital, to understand this one must look no further than #StandingRock.

Getting clearer and clearer every day.

blindpig

10-28-2016, 12:33 PM

Legal Defense Fund for Sacred Stone Spirit Camp

$625,730 raised
83% of $750k goal
11240 contributors
80 days running
Contribute

by The Freshet Collective
Organization campaign Keep it all Minneapolis, US
Support the legal defense of warriors protecting land, water, and human rights. The Camp of the Sacred Stones is a spiritual and cultural camp on the Standing Rock Reservation resisting the Dakota Access oil pipeline thru non-violent direct action. More ...
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Pipe is already in the ground and the company is preparing to drill a tunnel 92 feet below the bed of the Missouri River, over a mile in length, to install the Dakota Access pipeline. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has filed a lawsuit and a request for a Temporary Restraining Order against the company after an illegal federal permitting process…but the courts have not filed the paperwork yet, and are allowing construction to begin. This must be stopped.

The Sacred Stone Camp was established April 1, 2016 as a center of spiritual and cultural opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline, and is determined to stop construction through prayer and non*violent direct action until adequate tribal consultation and environmental review are conducted. The spirit camp is located in between the pipeline’s proposed crossing of the Missouri River and the water intake valves for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, just over a mile downstream. The camp has an active facebook page and a crowdfunding page for general operating costs, but urgently needs separate legal defense funds to support the warriors resisting active construction. Funds raised on this page will only be used for the legal support for those involved in direct action. (To save us money on processing fees, send donation via paypal to freshetcollective@gmail.com)

https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/d19fAf

blindpig

10-28-2016, 02:03 PM

Clear Evidence Emerges of Outrageous Militarized Police Collaboration With Oil Companies at Standing Rock Against Protectors
Police departments around the country are sending reinforcements to North Dakota to support mining companies.
By Sarah Lazare / AlterNet October 27, 2016

http://www.alternet.org/files/styles/story_image/public/story_images/standing_rock.jpg
Photo Credit: Cempoalli Twenny/Screenshot

Today’s militarized crackdown on water protectors in Cannonball, North Dakota stems from high levels of coordination between the extractive industry, state officials and police departments. It was waged against a frontline camp seeking to block the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which would cross beneath the Standing Rock Sioux reservation's main drinking water source and bisect the community's burial grounds. The attack took place under cover of a media blackout, with reports emerging that police were disrupting cellular phone reception.

Water protectors have already endured dog attacks, military-style checkpoints, low-flying surveillance planes, invasive strip searches, national guard deployments, and mass arrests. “What’s happening today is a travesty on the human rights of Indigenous people,” Tom Goldtooth, the executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, told AlterNet. “I see this as glaring evidence that the law enforcement of this county and state is more concerned about protecting corporate rights of the extractive industry than tribal nations.”

There is evidence of close coordination between the companies backing the $3.8 billion crude-oil Dakota Access Pipeline and police departments. Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company for Dakota Access LLC, said Tuesday it intends to work with police to forcibly clear a frontlines water protectors’ camp. Energy Transfer Partners threatened that “in coordination with local law enforcement and county/state officials, all trespassers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and removed from the land.”

Challenging the company's charges of trespassing, the frontline Sacred Stone Camp says it is taking back “unceded territory affirmed in the 1851 Treaty of Ft. Laramie as sovereign land under the control of the Oceti Sakowin.”

“We have never ceded this land,” Joye Braun, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, said in a press statement. “If DAPL can go through and claim eminent domain on landowners and Native peoples on their own land, then we as sovereign nations can then declare eminent domain on our own aboriginal homeland.”

Today’s events indicate that Energy Transfer Partners is not bluffing when it says police are siding with the company. In fact, law enforcement has vocally rallied behind the pipeline, which is backed by Enbridge. “At some point the rule of law has to be enforced," Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. "We could go down there at any time. We're trying not to."

The companies backing the pipeline already have private security under their employ. Dakota Access LLC confirmed to AlterNet in September that it had hired the notorious multinational security firm G4S during a period that overlapped with the protests, but would not state where its forces were located. Attorneys representing the Standing Rock encampments identified the companies behind the Dakota Access company’s brutal dog attacks, captured on video, as private security firm 10-Code Security, LLC and attack dog contractor Frost Kennels.

But according to Peter Kraska, professor and author of Militarizing The American Criminal Justice System: The Changing Roles of the Armed Forces and Police, the extractive industry also has taxpayer-funded security, in the form of police.

“We have romantic notions of the relationships between government and the private sector and tend to think the old days of police supporting owners of capital—the railroad companies instead of the workers—are from a bygone era,” Kraska told AlterNet. “Situations like these show that corporations and energy interests are exercising a monopoly on violence to continue the fossil fuel industry unabated.”

Steven Salaita, professor and author of the forthcoming book Inter/Nationalism: Decolonizing Native America and Palestine, put it this way: “The current buildup of tremendous force at Standing Rock should be understood as a military invasion of a sovereign nation on behalf of a foreign oil company."

The heavy-handed response does not stem from local coordination alone. The Morton County Sheriff’s Department said in a press statement released Sunday that, “Due to escalated unlawful tactics by individuals protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, Morton County has requested additional law enforcement assistance from other states. The state of North Dakota made an Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) request to states for assistance on October 7th.”

Remarkably, the EMAC program is supposed to be used to allow “states to send personnel, equipment, and commodities to help disaster relief efforts in other states.”

According to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department, “Several states have responded and have arrived or will be arriving to support Morton County. States that are currently assisting Morton County are: Wisconsin, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Indiana and Nebraska.” AlterNet could not immediately reach Morton County for comment.

In Minneapolis, news that local law enforcement officers were being sent to Standing Rock sparked protests on Wednesday. The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office confirmed that, “At the request of the State of North Dakota, and as approved by the State of Minnesota, on Sunday, Minnesota Sheriff’s Deputies from the Hennepin, Anoka, and Washington Counties’ Sheriff’s Offices were deployed to assist in Morton County, North Dakota.”

Those counties cover the bulk of the Twin Cities area, where local police been accused of placing protesters in danger, through a far-reaching culture of incitement against the Black Lives Matter movement. In one incident, St. Paul police officer Jeff Rothecker was forced to resign in February after he was caught encouraging drivers to run over Black Lives Matter protesters slated to gather for a Martin Luther King Day mobilization. Lt. Bob Kroll, the head of the Minneapolis Police Officer’s Federation who has ties to a white-power-linked biker gang, has repeatedly referred to protesters as "terrorists."

As police departments around the country send reinforcements to North Dakota, the appeals of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe for federal protection from law enforcement violence appear to have had no effect. In a letter sent to Attorney General Loretta Lynch earlier this week, the water protectors asked the Department of Justice to intervene.

“To many people, the military tactics being used in North Dakota are reminiscent of the tactics used against protesters during the civil rights movement some 50 years ago,” the letter states. “But to us, there is an additional collective memory that comes to mind. This country has a long and sad history of using military force against indigenous people—including the Sioux Nation.”

http://www.alternet.org/environment/clear-evidence-emerges-outrageous-militarized-police-collaboration-mining-companies

blindpig

10-30-2016, 07:55 AM

‘Dakota pipeline is about big money, not indigenous people rights’

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/364576-protests-north-dakota-natives-pipeline/

Published time: 28 Oct, 2016 15:47

https://img.rt.com/files/2016.10/original/58130b4dc46188653d8b4658.jpg
Protesters against the Dakota Access Pipeline stand-off with police in this aerial photo of Highway 1806 and County Road 134 near the town of Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S., October 27, 2016. © Morton County Sheriff’s Office / Reuters

When it comes to the rights of people of color in the US, government officials often side with corporations and Wall Street, said Solomon Comissiong, founder of the Your World News’ Media Collective. The same is happening with North Dakota protests, he added.

At least 141 Native Americans and other protesters were arrested in North Dakota in a clash with heavily armed US police officers. Demonstrators were camping on private grounds in an effort to halt the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department said pepper spray and armored vehicles were used to scatter the protesters.

The demonstrations against the construction of the pipeline have been going on for months, and at times have been dealt with violently by police. However, the issue has received little media attention. RT asked analysts why that could be.

“When it comes to people’s rights, especially indigenous rights, and rights of people of color in this country, the rights of poor people, that the government – whether it’s local governments, state governments, or the national government – often times they side with corporations, with finance capital, Wall Street. So I think that is what’s going on right now. They are siding with this large company, this corporation,” said Solomon Comissiong, founder of Your World News’ Media Collective.

Authorities are “marginalizing” rights of indigenous people “whose land it is” and it was theirs in the first place before it “was ripped away from them, when this country was stolen from them.”

“It comes down to big money – it doesn’t come down to their rights. It’s par for the course when it comes to the government, government officials, and the non-action that they are taking in terms of not protecting the rights of these indigenous people in the first place,” Comissiong told RT.

Native American resistance growing stronger

The Dakota Access pipeline protest was largely ignored by the mainstream media because “it conflicts with the dominant narrative of the media, which likes to present this false allegation that Native Americans have been extinguished in this country,” said historian Gerald Horne.

However, he said, Native American resistance is growing stronger by the day.

“One of the striking characteristics of what’s happening in North Dakota is that not only has the Standing Rock Sioux nation rallied to this cause, but Native Americans from the Atlantic to the Pacific have all descended upon North Dakota in order to express solidarity. This is a very important political development that the mainstream media would prefer to ignore,” Horne added.

Police used equipment same to that in Iraq, Afghanistan

William Griffin, of the Veterans for Peace organization, visited Standing Rocks a week before the protests broke out.

“The protests have been going on more than a week, for months now. They all have been nonviolent; peaceful prayer ceremonies showing nonviolent direct action against this pipeline. I was there for 11 days; I just got back a week ago. Never did I see any weapons, never did I see any drugs; everyone called each other ‘brother’ or ‘sister’,” he told RT.

Police in riot gear used pepper spray and armored vehicles while dispersing protesters at Standing Rock.

“This is a part of the national problem we have in the US – the militarization of police forces. Me being an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, I recognize a lot of the same equipment that I used in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is built and made for combat zones – when you’re fighting an armed enemy. Now, again these people were peaceful, nonviolent, they have no guns on them – I see MRAPs – Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles out there; I see officers with military grade body armor, rifles,” Griffin said.

The campaign headquarters of Hillary Clinton in Brooklyn, New York, was taken over Thursday by protesters against the Dakota Access pipeline who demanded the Democratic presidential candidate openly takes a position on the matter.

“There’ve been very few leaders in this country to abide and respect the wishes and lawful treaties of the Native Americans. And I would love to see Hillary Clinton and I call her out to speak about this issue; even visit and speak with the Natives. But I think we all know that it is highly doubtful that she will even mention this and anything anytime soon,” Griffin told RT.

Chance for Obama to leave a better legacy

What is needed to address the situation “is real leadership,” said Elizabeth Murray, veteran intelligence professional, writer and activist. Now that Obama is leaving office soon and is concerned about his legacy, this would be an opportunity for his administration to step up and cancel the pipeline project, she added.

“The chief of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe issued a very comprehensive media statement just today. The press release said that they continue to pray for peace; that they want the state officials to ensure that peace and justice prevail,” said Murray.

Murray said that the statement repeated its call on President Barack Obama to send observers from the Department of Justice to the Dakota Access pipeline friction areas “to make sure that people’s First Amendment rights are being respected, and to make sure that no harm is done to the people who are protecting the water for their future generations.”

“If harm comes to any of the people who have traveled from all around the world to join them in solidarity there against the Dakota Access pipeline that it would be on Obama’s watch that this happens. And that is absolutely right,” she said.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

http://houstoncommunistparty.com/dakota-pipeline-is-about-big-money-not-indigenous-people-rights/

blindpig

11-01-2016, 02:30 PM

PFLP salutes Native and Indigenous struggle at Standing Rock #NoDAPL
Statement by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine | October 29, 2016

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Oct. 29, 2016 statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine extends its strongest support and solidarity to the indigenous resistance at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the settler colonial project of genocide and plunder in North America.

“It is no surprise that the United States and Canada, built on the genocide of indigenous peoples and the plunder of their land and resources, are today the strongest settler colonial partners of the Zionist state engaged in its own settler colonial project of destruction in Palestine,” said Palestinian leftist writer Khaled Barakat in an interview with the PFLP media office.

“The indigenous strugglers at Standing Rock are defending indigenous land and water, the resources that have been confiscated and polluted for centuries by a settler colonial capitalist project that has ravaged indigenous lives, land and resources. They are defending the very existence of their people with their valiant resistance. As a Palestinian national liberation movement, we salute these indigenous strugglers and all who stand alongside them at Standing Rock confronting the militarized forces of the settler colonial state and their privatized agents,” said Barakat.

“It is also no surprise that G4S has been involved in providing private security for the construction of the destructive, invasive pipeline through indigenous land, threatening the water and the safety of the Standing Rock Sioux and the rights of indigenous nations. This same corporation is involved in providing security to the Canadian mining corporations that plunder indigenous land for mineral wealth around the world and destroy indigenous land for the so-called ‘tar sands’ that threaten the future of the land itself. It is the same corporation that sells equipment and security services to the Israel Prison Services that imprison over 7,000 Palestinians in the service of the Zionist settler colonial project, and the same company involved in the mass incarceration of children and youth – especially youth of color – in the US, and in the deportation of migrants in the UK, Australia, US and elsewhere,” said Barakat.

“The hundreds of indigenous nations – including Palestinian participants – coming together in Standing Rock exemplify an unceasing history of hundreds of years of resistance in the face of a genocidal project,” said Barakat. “Today’s U.S. empire that bombs and threatens the lives of people around the world, especially in the Arab world, Asia, Africa and Latin America, was built on settler colonialism, the genocide of indigenous people, and the enslavement and genocide aganst Black people. Throughout its history, it has been confronted by fierce resistance.”

In the face of settler colonial genocide and destruction, the land and water defenders at Standing Rock are defending all of us. We see them reflected in the Palestinian mothers holding tight to their olive trees targeted for settler destruction; in the Palestinian farmers who resist in the so-called “buffer zones,” and the fishers who brave warship fire to preserve Palestinian fishery, in the land and water defenders of the world who resist the vicious onslaughts of settler colonial capitalism. The PFLP salutes these land and water defenders on the front line for all of our struggles around the world.

“There have been hundreds of arrests, the use of massive military equipment and the force of the state in order to enforce the Dakota Access Pipeline through sacred burial grounds and attempt to force indigenous land and water defenders from their land. The use of mass arrests and incarceration as a mechanism to confiscate land and resources and suppress liberation movements is of course not surprising. It is a technique that we see used in Palestine, keeping thousands of Palestinian political prisoners behind bars for struggling for the freedom of their people and their land,” said Barakat. “In fact, many aspects of Zionist settler colonialism in Palestine were developed in light of the colonial techniques used in the US and Canada.”

The PFLP extends its revolutionary greetings and salutes to all of the Native and indigenous peoples defending their land and water, affirming their existence and resistance over centuries of struggle. We express our strongest solidarity with Native and indigenous struggles for self-determination and liberation. We encourage all Palestinians, especially the Palestinian community in the United States, to continue to develop and build upon the efforts of Palestinian youth in support, solidarity and participation in the Standing Rock camps of struggle, and in developing long-term, sustainable, mutual joint struggle and solidarity with Native liberation movements.

We also encourage and call upon the Palestine solidarity movement to build upon the caravans to Standing Rock and cross-country actions and protests to deepen its involvement in the struggle to defend indigenous land, and note in particular the protests in New York and elsewhere linking the struggle of Palestinian prisoners and the call to boycott G4S with the defense of Standing Rock against arrests, attacks and privatized and state repressive power. It is necessary to thoroughly confront US imperialism and settler colonialism as part and parcel of standing with the struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation and return. There is a long history of connections and common struggle between our liberation struggles, together in the global movement to defeat settler colonialism, Zionism and imperialism, that we must nurture and build upon until victory and liberation.

http://www.fightbacknews.org/2016/10/29/pflp-salutes-native-and-indigenous-struggle-standing-rock-nodapl

blindpig

11-04-2016, 09:29 AM

La Riva: Solidarity with Standing Rock

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The Gloria La Riva for President Campaign stands in solidarity with the water protectors at Standing Rock and calls for an end to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. La Riva calls for freedom for all those who have been arrested at Standing Rock including the 141 people arrested on Oct. 27; all charges should be dropped. Millions of people witnessed the arrests over social media; the police have exposed themselves as protectors of private property and the oil companies, and as agents of ongoing colonialism.

October 27 started out normally in the camps surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline and Standing Rock Sioux tribal lands. People had begun morning prayers and activities but police began to converge on an area outside of the main camp known as Treaty Camp or bridge 1806.

By 11 am the police were reinforced with light armored vehicles and riot police. As resistance increased, the police attacked the people with concussion grenades, bean bag rounds, rubber bullets, and other weaponry. .

Police actions included attacking people in a sweat lodge at gunpoint and shooting at horseback riders via ATV. This resulted in a horse being so severely injured it had to be put down.

As protectors continue to stand up for clean water and energy, the voices of Native people have been heard across the world. The UN has called for the United States to end the Dakota Access Pipeline and people in many major cities are gathering in support of the NO DAPL stance of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. We can’t drink oil, keep it in the soil!

http://www.glorialariva4president.com/la_riva_solidarity_with_standing_rock

blindpig

11-07-2016, 04:03 PM

Why You Should Be Talking About Standing Rock on the Eve of the Election
Monday, 07 November 2016 00:00
By Kelly Hayes, Truthout | Op-Ed

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Protectors were attacked by police with tear gas and rubber bullets last Wednesday, but held their ground in extremely cold waters. (Photo: Johnny Dangers)

Last week, I made my third trip to Standing Rock since the movement's first camp sprung up last spring to resist construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. Since then, the struggle in Standing Rock has grown and reshaped itself numerous times. With multiple camps holding space for months now -- one of which was recently, violently dismantled by police -- the on-the-ground population of the camps has risen, fallen and risen again. The core communities of #NoDAPL remain intact. But many Protectors are impermanent residents at the camps, who make the journey, stay for a week or a weekend, and move on. In my experience, a day at Standing Rock can feel much faster or longer than the normal grind of life elsewhere, with more action and community building in a day than I am accustomed to experiencing in a month, despite my city's bustling organizing scene. All the while, the camps' media narrative continues to compete with the bombast of an election cycle, which mercifully comes to a close tomorrow.

As we have seen with other movements, an acceleration in political action can exhaust even the most energetic, dynamic organizers, but such people often labor on, because the outcome is a matter of survival, and therefore non negotiable. The core community of #NoDAPL is no exception, despite the stunning resilience of its members.

For more original Truthout election coverage, check out our election section, "Beyond the Sound Bites: Election 2016."

During my most recent stay, I received word of President Barack Obama's hollow promise to watch the situation closely for a few weeks, stating that he "generally" believes that projects like DAPL can be reconciled with the needs of Native populations. This statement, of course, implies that there is some significant precedent on which to rest such conclusions, or that Obama himself is willing to make a bold move that would prove his supposed "general rule." But as anyone familiar with the history of environmental racism in this country knows, there is no encouraging precedent that could inform such an assertion, and Obama does not seem at all poised to set one.

While many have cited Obama's eventual role in stopping the Keystone XL pipeline as evidence that the president can be moved, it must be noted that the movement against Keystone XL was not, first and foremost, one that centered Native survival. When examining the history of the United States government's negotiations with Natives, in matters affecting our well-being, political triumphs are hard to come by, because our survival has always been at worst a hindrance to "progress," and at best a non-issue to officials.

Having stared down Morton County law enforcement in Standing Rock, and having been harassed by the constant noise of low-flying planes and the buzzing of drones -- in the only state that has legalized the use of weaponized drones against human beings -- I stand firm in my belief that the state has as little regard for our humanity as ever, and that its violent armed forces still view us as less than human, or at the very least, much less than themselves.

When I arrived at Standing Rock, numbers had dwindled from the time of my last visit. I imagined the chilly approach of a North Dakota winter and recent, brutal attacks by law enforcement had driven many Water Protectors away. But in truth, it's likely that many simply had to return to their lives, after giving every day, week or period of months that they could to the struggle. More people were arriving, my friends assured me. Things were on an upswing. The UN had sent a delegation to observe conditions on the ground, and according to one of my friends, "The planes fly over us less when they're here." But the fatigue in the camps was evident, and the air was cold. I believed in my people, unwaveringly, but I could feel the strain of the moment in the air. Something had changed, and those present needed a surge of strength.

Surrounded on all sides by water and Highway 1806, the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires camp, is located near the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers. It is the largest camp in the #NoDAPL struggle, and is in a standoff position with law enforcement. Beaten back from all attempts to push into the path of the pipeline, Water Protectors have held the line at Oceti Sakowin, crossing cold waters by boat, and revisiting the bridge on 1806 where they recently made a courageous stand to halt advancing police, who, having violently evicted one camp, attacking both its community and supporters, were pushing towards the Oceti Sakowin camp and those who had come to support it. As vulnerable individuals were moved from the camp, a group of Protectors, largely led by Native military veterans, held back police, going so far as to set stationary fires to block the road. The Protectors who defended that bridge were faced with a small army of police. Law enforcement officers were firing rubber bullets and chemicals at the crowd and using sound cannons against the Protectors, but the Protectors were unmoved, and a great many people were spared the violent advance of police.

There was something profoundly transformative about that moment. Native veterans, chronically betrayed by the state they've served, turned their tactical knowledge around on government forces. They brought police to a standstill not with a physical attack, but with a burning line declaring that police would not further assault Indigenous peoples that day.

As with a number of actions at Standing Rock, it was a symbol of the extremity of the moment, and the level of colonial violence that peaceful Protectors have been forced to resist.

While not everyone at Standing Rock subscribes to such tactics, both those who call themselves Water Warriors and those who would not adopt such language stand in a common identity. They are all Water Protectors, and like those who held the bridge last week, they all believe that a line must be drawn that mustn't be crossed. As an "urban Indian," I rarely find myself in a Native space so diverse in political perspective and experience. From elders and spiritual leaders, to warriors who have served in the military, to warriors who have opposed the state throughout their adult lives, to the two-spirit camp, which provides the kind of community space we don't see often enough in any context, this is a true convergence of Native backgrounds and perspectives. It is also a convergence of Native movements from around the country, and in some cases, from around the world. From night to night, one might encounter a circle dance around the sacred fire, or a tense watch for police attacks, or both.

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Water Protectors take to the water on Sunday. (Photo: Johnny Dangers)

The existence of such a space is, in itself, a triumph against colonialism. It is a world unto itself, beyond the cellphone reception of most community members, with an atmosphere that Native people have never seen in modern times, if at all.

It is also a community under siege.

Heading in any direction in the main camp, one either encounters icy waters or Highway 1806. If one turns left on 1806, upon exiting the camp, they are faced with police checkpoints and facial recognition software. To the right, they are faced with a road shutdown and heavily fortified police position. With an advancing pipeline that threatens their survival, and with law enforcement looming at every turn, the Natives at Standing Rock are a people reliving history. Those in power want to take a resource, and while the white residents of Bismarck were allowed to reject the risks of a pipeline, the lives of the Standing Rock Sioux have been deemed expendable.

Once again, our cries for justice have been met with the armed enforcement of capitalist expansion. Such endeavors, while often unseen by many, have never dissipated. But in this space, the movements that oppose them and the larger violence of colonialism, have joined a chorus of resistance. They have demanded that the cycle of violence against them be broken, and they have demanded that they be seen. Joined by delegations of tribes that were once sworn enemies, Black Lives delegations, and other allies from around the country and the world, Natives in Standing Rock have inarguably harnessed the power of a remarkable moment.

In between my trips to Standing Rock, I have tried to bring awareness of the struggle to Chicago -- my own city -- and to the larger public through my written work, but those efforts have never felt sufficient. I, like many Natives, felt a constant pull towards the front lines. It wasn't "a fight" that I was longing for, as I do not romanticize state repression. It was the chance to show up with love and to do whatever labor I could to support the movement. On my third trip, that at times meant leading workshops, and at other times meant sorting through donations, to ease the workload of volunteers who are often overwhelmed by the task of organizing car and truckloads of donated items -- some usable, and some not. Surrounded by friends who were immersed in the logistical and tactical elements of maintaining the space, I felt the weight that some of those closest to me were carrying. Their disciplined hope remained intact, but freezing nights and repressive days had taken a visible toll.

However, that toll did not stifle the determination of Protectors, some of whom built an actual bridge at Cantapeta Creek that would allow Natives to cross onto Army Corps land to hold a prayer ceremony. The action was a symbolic one, as the Protectors were making no attempt to secure a space or encampment on the shoreline. But police reprisal was nonetheless swift and as violent as one might expect, given the violence that DAPL security and local police have already unleashed. Police, who like DAPL security, have defended the DAPL project by any means necessary, once again released clouds of tear gas and sprayed rubber bullets at the crowd, this time driving Protectors backwards into freezing icy waters. There is perhaps no clearer representation of this fight than the Protectors, faced with a massive, violent line of police, while standing firm in the water they hold sacred. As more protectors called out supportively from the opposite shore, facing the police line, the movement was manifest in a single moment.

The violence of police had harsh consequences, but those outcomes could have easily been much worse. Law enforcement was clearly risking the lives of those whose prayers it aimed to halt. In addition to the harmful effects of the chemicals unleashed on Protectors, a teenage boy was also shot in the chest with a rubber bullet, causing him to cough up blood. A journalist was also hit with a rubber bullet during the police attack. But despite the violence repression at hand, I felt an invigoration during and after that standoff, where spirituality and a love of the water held firm against the dehumanizing violence of the state.

Far from broken, our spirits were lifted, and our heels dug in further.

In the days that followed, our numbers continued to grow, and the days felt a bit warmer. When I left on Friday, I sensed that more action was on the horizon, and that those present were rallying their energies to face what was to come.

As construction lights illuminated the round-the-clock momentum of the pipeline's advance, the timeline couldn't be clearer. Despite Obama's empty statement, which conveyed that he "thought" that the Army Corps was looking at alternative routes for the pipeline, and that federal officials would monitor the situation for a "few more weeks," those at Standing Rock could have no doubt that, without continued action by the Protectors, this struggle would never last that long. Once again, Obama had simply kicked the matter down the road. Having done this once before, to significant liberal accolades (in spite of the noncommittal nature of his so-called intervention), Obama was clearly not to be believed. Fortunately, it seems that many around the country are refusing to be fooled twice.

While I was at Standing Rock last week, #NoDAPL protests sprung up in cities around the country. From Los Angeles to Chicago and New York, people were holding space, shutting down banks and hitting the streets the week before a presidential election week. Democrats would no doubt prefer to turn the down the heat around this issue. Even though a Clinton victory is all but certain, disenchantment over issues like #NoDAPL could cause fewer leftists to show up at the polls on Tuesday, which could hurt Democrats in down-ticket races. Amid that climate, it was reported yesterday by Levi Rickert, on Native News Online, that the Army Corps had apologized for allowing Morton County police to attack the Protectors on their land, and assured the Protectors that they would halt construction near the river while they further reviewed the situation.

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A Native youth wears a gas mask to guard against chemicals deployed by police. (Photo: Johnny Dangers)

While a delay could also be of great importance to Protectors right now, the political context is not encouraging. All of Obama's efforts have thus far been mere PR gestures. The promise of a delay, right now, on the eve of an election, is probably the best card the government could play. Creating a false sense of victory is a tactic the government has already employed to temper the momentum of the protests, and this is a critical moment for the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton's coronation has been a long time coming for the liberal left, but Clinton has repeatedly faced criticism by those who who say that the ascension of the first woman president cannot be celebrated as a victory for all women, when Clinton has consistently advanced policies that have harmed Indigenous peoples and Black communities.

In short, cries of "where is Clinton?" with respect to #NoDAPL have come at a decidedly inconvenient time for the Democratic Party.

Given the history of the Dakota Access pipeline, and the government's previous tactics of dismissal, violence and political misdirection, one can only reasonably assume that the Army Corps will conclude its deliberations, "regretfully" deciding that the project should continue, and promising greater Native consultation in the future. Some may even call that stipulation a victory.

While many may hold hopes to the contrary, we should all expect construction to resume apace once still-pending electoral concerns have been neutralized.

I don't say this to diminish what could be a turning point on the front lines. While DAPL crews have been allowed to work during supposed legal interruptions in the past, an actual work stoppage near the river, or even a work slowdown, could give our people time to build numbers and continue the fight. But since no talk of delays can be trusted, and any stoppage will likely be fleeting at best, there is no room for even a moment's complacency.

So to those who are wrapped up in the election frenzy, I would ask that you take a look at the electoral math and recognize that it's not Hillary Clinton who desperately needs to be lifted up on the eve of the presidential election, but Standing Rock. Our people on the front lines need everyone who supports their cause to push government officials to actually bring DAPL construction to a halt.

As a Native person, I am asking each and every one of you to help give my people time, and to continue to raise the profile of this fight. Leverage this political moment to bring this movement to the forefront of public discourse. Confront the fact that neither major presidential candidate has substantively addressed this issue. With Clinton's only statement failing to rise to room temperature, we have a duty to use this moment to demand Native visibility. We have a duty to rise, with the pipeline having barreled within days of the river, and to give this fight all we can.

In moments such as these, we must decide who we are and what part each of us will play in the course of history. If you have ever shaken your head at the atrocities against Native peoples that you've seen in movies and history books, this is your chance to do more than empathize. You can help shift the course of a brutal history. One hundred million Natives have died for the sake of this nation's expansion and wealth, and countless more have suffered unspeakable abuse and the violence of forced relocation. This is a time for all of us to help turn a page. It won't happen because our leaders care. It will only happen if the momentum of resistance is greater than the momentum of capitalist greed.

So, if you have been thinking about heading to Standing Rock, get there, and soon. As the pipeline inches closer to the river, every hour counts, so don't waste even one. Raise your voices for our people today and tomorrow, and flex this moment of political vulnerability for all it's worth. And once that moment is over, keep on fighting.

If you can't join the front lines physically, continue to raise the alarm about this crisis, online and everywhere you go. Take action and shut down the banks that are funding DAPL. Target any vulnerable politician who has supported this pipeline. Hold Hillary Clinton accountable, not after the election, but here and now.

Lift up our history and our right to a better future.

Don't allow our calls for justice to be drowned out by the noise of an electoral circus. Because as frightening as the specter of Donald Trump may be, the election is a story whose ending has already been written. The end of our story at Standing Rock has not.

This chapter of our history doesn't have to end in tragedy, like so many before it. But we must remember that DAPL is forged from the same trappings of greed, racism and white supremacy as every atrocity that we have experienced under colonial rule. The only distinction is that we are all living this chapter, in real time, and one day, we will all be accountable for what we did and did not do about it.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/38281-why-you-should-be-talking-about-standing-rock-on-the-eve-of-the-election

Yeah, and you should be talking about prison slavery, and you should be talking about Yemen &Syria & Iraq & Afghanistan & capitalism & fascism &.........

Dhalgren

11-08-2016, 09:47 AM

Yeah, and you should be talking about prison slavery, and you should be talking about Yemen &Syria & Iraq & Afghanistan & capitalism & fascism &.........

Right. It is all of a piece.

blindpig

11-12-2016, 09:02 AM

Standing Rock: New Arrests as Key Obama Admin Decision Looms

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1478932141284/sites/telesur/img/2016/11/05/dapl_pic.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Protesters lock arms during a standoff with a police car along the pipeline route during a protest against the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in St. Anthony, North Dakota, U.S. November 11, 2016. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith | Photo: Retuers

Published 12 November 2016

40 new arrests Friday as preparations begin for national #NoDAPL solidarity rallies and rumored Obama approval of the pipeline project.
On Friday the Morton County Sheriff's Department arrested 40 Water Protectors at the Standing Rock land defense action in North Dakota as Energy Transfer Partners, whose CEO Kelcy Warren was a major supporter of Donald Trump's election campaign, pledged to continue construction of the USD$3.7 billion pipeline project despite lacking the proper permits.

The arrests came on the same day as the Army Corps of Engineers, which has jurisdiction over construction projects on lands claimed by the U.S. government, said it would release its decision on the future of the project early next week. Army Corps representatives also issued a statement saying, "any work must adhere to federal regulations,” and “failure to comply can bring legal action. Construction without proper permits or easements in place can result in fines and legal action."

Over 400 people have been violently arrested since the land and water defense action, led by Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Water Protectors and supported by thousands of Indigenous activists from across the Americas, began last April.

Sources told Politico on Friday that President Obama is expected to formally approve the pipeline on Standing Rock Sioux land despite earlier suggesting that the project could be re-routed due to concerns about water contamination and the destruction of sacred sites. A recent report said that the original environmental assessment of the project was “seriously deficient” and failed to properly assess the risks posed by pipeline leaks.

Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, David Archambault, said in a statement, “the only possible path forward for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is a decision that denies the easement or subjects it to a full environmental impact statement and tribal consultation.” He continued, “the only urgency here arises from DAPL’s reckless decision to build to either side of the Missouri River without a permit."

In the lead up to Tuesday´s national day of action in solidarity with Standing Rock, Chairman Archambault said, “We thank all of the people around the world that have joined us in urging President Obama to do the right thing.” He added, “we ask everyone to join us in peaceful and prayerful opposition as we await this important decision.”

The pipeline project was originally slated to be built close to Bismarck, North Dakota, but was re-routed to cross Standing Rock Sioux territory after the largely white residents of Bismarck raised concerns about potential spills.

While some are hopeful that President Obama will choose to respect Indigenous land and treaty rights by rerouting the pipeline, others are calling on Obama to cancel the project entirely given the grave risks the project poses to the climate.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Standing-Rock-New-Arrests-as-Key-Obama-Admin-Decision-Looms-20161112-0001.html

Video at link.

blindpig

11-21-2016, 12:54 PM

Dakota Access Company Won't Reroute, Even Though It Already Did

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Demonstrators march against the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, Nov. 18, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 20 November 2016 (23 hours 34 minutes ago)

The Dakota Access pipeline was slated to go through the majority-white city of Bismarck before it was rerouted to the lands of the Standing Rock Sioux.
The company behind the hotly contested Dakota Access pipeline is not backing down despite historic uprising against the project, maintaining that the pipeline will not be rerouted away from the heart of resistance near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation — even though it’s planned path has already been changed once.

Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren told the Associated Press in an interview published Friday that the pipeline’s route is not up for negotiation. President Barack Obama said earlier this month that a possible reroute was under consideration.

The pipeline project has faced months of resistance led by Indigenous groups, forcing a delay in the project as federal regulators undertake further review before giving the green light to the completion of the project. If approved, the pipeline is set to tunnel under Lake Oahe, which has been at the heart of opposition to the project as an important water source in the area.

The US$3.8 billion and 1,172 mile pipeline is planned to transport oil from North Dakota’s Bakken shale area to Patoka, Illinois, as part of a system headed south to the Gulf of Mexico.

The pipeline was already rerouted once in a move slammed as environmental racism. The proposed project was initially slated to cut across the Missouri River near Bismarck, North Dakota, but water quality and other health concerns in the majority-white city led authorities to change the course of the pipeline to near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.

Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, Dave Archambault, has blasted federal regulators and the pipeline developers for racial bias.

“This pipeline was rerouted towards our tribal nations when other citizens of North Dakota rightfully rejected it in the interests of protecting their communities and water,” he said in a statement three weeks ago. “We seek the same consideration as those citizens.”

Warren’s announcement that Energy Transfer Partners will not reroute the pipeline came after the CEO directed disparaging comments at the demonstrators, who call themselves “water protectors,” maintaining resistance camps against the project. Warren accused them of leading “not a peaceful protest” and called the water protectors “naive” for thinking they could stop the pipeline.

The CEO also claimed that the pipeline route does not go through Native American but private lands. Native Americans claim to be the rightful owners of the lands, historically occupied by their people for thousands of years, under a 1981 treaty with the U.S. government. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe claims sacred sites have already been desecrated by the construction.

Warren donated more than US$100,000 to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. The president-elect is expected to ramp up fossil fuels development and push through the Dakota Access pipeline even if it continues to stall during Obama’s last months in office.

The pipeline developer has already been amassing equipment on the edge of Lake Oahe to plow ahead with construction, pending further review.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Dakota-Access-Company-Wont-Reroute-Even-Though-It-Already-Did-20161120-0008.html

Video at link

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UN Condemns 'Inhumane' Abuse of Standing Rock Water Protectors

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Police mace protesters during a demonstration against the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota, November 15, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 18 November 2016

The U.N. special rapporteur says treatment of water protectors is “inhumane and degrading” and a violation of fundamental human rights.
On Tuesday, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association Maini Kiai issued a blistering condemnation of the militarized response to the Standing Rock water protectors' peaceful protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

RELATED:
Sanders' Indigenous Advisor Kept in Dog Kennel at Dakota Demo

“Marking people with numbers and detaining them in overcrowded cages, on the bare concrete floor, without being provided with medical care, amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment,” said Kia. “The right to freedom of peaceful assembly is an individual right, and it cannot be taken away indiscriminately or en masse.”

Kai suggested that the use of less-lethal munitions such as “rubber bullets, tear gas, mace, compression grenades and bean-bag rounds” against peaceful protestors who are “expressing concerns over environmental impact and trying to protect burial grounds and other sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe” is enough reason to halt the pipeline’s construction.

“I call on the Pipeline Company to pause all construction activity within 20 miles east and west of Lake Oahe,” said Kai.

The land defense action at Standing Rock continues as the Army Corps of Engineers announced that it needs more time to study and consult with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe before making a final decision about granting crucial easement permits which would allow construction of the pipeline to continue.

Kai's report was issued on the same day as hundreds of protests – including demonstrations and blockades of related pipeline infrastructure – took place across the U.S. in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Over 400 arrests have been made since the beginning of the land and water defense action began last April.

“This is a troubling response to people who are taking action to protect natural resources and ancestral territory in the face of profit-seeking activity,” Kiai continued. “The excessive use of State security apparatus to suppress protest against corporate activities that are alleged to violate human rights is wrong and contrary to the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.”

Kelcey Warren, who is the CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the company in charge of the project, said he is “100 percent” confident that construction will continue. Warren was a major donor to the campaign of President-elect Donald Trump, who himself has significant investments in the project.

Kai’s report was endorsed by other high-ranking U.N. officials, including special rapporteurs on drinking water, the environment, free speech, cultural rights and the rights of indigenous peoples.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/UN-Condemns-Inhumane-Abuse-of-Standing-Rock-Water-Protectors-20161118-0003.html

Videos at link

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Dakota Access Pipeline CEO Calls Water Protectors 'Naive'

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Protesters block a highway during a protest against the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, North Dakota, U.S. Nov. 15, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 17 November 2016

Energy Transfer Partners’ chief said the pipeline did not pass through sacred lands of Standing Rock nation adding that it will be done despite protests.
Emboldened by the elections of Donald Trump, the company behind the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline will seek to complete the project even if protests against its construction continue, its chief executive told the PBS NewsHour television news program late Wednesday.

"This is not a peaceful protest," said Kelcy Warren of Energy Transfer Partners. "If they want to stick around and continue to do what they’re doing, great, but we’re building the pipeline."

Warren further called the protesters “naive” and said that they would not stop the project. He further claimed that the pipeline does not go through lands that belong to the Native American Standing Rock tribe. “We’re not on any Indian property at all, no Native American property. We’re on private lands.”

He further dismissed concerns over leaks and damage to the local water source by the protests and water protectors.

“Number two, this pipeline is new steel pipe. We’re boring underneath Lake Oahe. It’s going to go 90 feet to 150 feet below the lake’s surface. It’s thick wall pipe, extra thick, by the way, more so than just the normal pipe that we lay.

Warren, a known supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, said he expects the project to go ahead as soon as the real estate billionaire takes officer in January by allowing “the rules, procedures and laws."

Kelcy Warren, the top executive at Energy Transfer, donated more than US$100,000 to the Trump campaign. The Obama administration temporarily halted the construction of the US$3.8 billion pipeline in September amid protests and initiated a review.

Last week, Army Corps of Engineers issued a statement saying it needs more time to study the Dakota Access and will seek “additional discussion” with the Standing Rock Sioux nation.

Warren also told PBS the company wants to reimburse the state and Morton County for the money spent on handling the protests. But authorities have yet to accept the offer.

His comments came just days after protests swept North America to mark the day of action against the Dakota Access pipeline and in support of the Standing Rock tribe. On the same day, Energy Transfer asked a federal court for permission to complete it.

The action against the pipeline has ignited local and international solidarity and attracted more than 300 Native American tribes from across the U.S. in a show of unity that is being called historic.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Dakota-Access-Pipeline-CEO-Calls-Water-Protectors-Naive-20161117-0034.html

Videos at link

blindpig

11-21-2016, 01:42 PM

POLICE LAUNCH HOURS-LONG ATTACK ON DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE RESISTANCE, INJURE OVER HUNDRED

21 NOV 2016

https://shadowproof.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Screen-shot-2016-11-21-at-10.49.21-AM.png
Tear gas clouds envelop water protectors on a bridge on Highway 1806 at 7:55 PM on November 20. Photo by Unicorn Riot. Tear gas clouds envelop water protectors on a bridge on Highway 1806 at 7:55 PM on November 20. Photo by Unicorn Riot.

Police in North Dakota surrounded hundreds of water protectors fighting construction of the Dakota Access pipeline on a highway bridge and fired a water cannon, tear gas, concussion grenades, and rubber bullets. During the assault, which lasted for hours, the police also threatened the group with a long-range acoustic device to further disorient them. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s emergency medical services deployed to treat dozens of individuals with injuries.

For months, protests, including nonviolent direct action, have taken place with indigenous people, who will suffer the worst impact, at the forefront. An encampment called Sacred Stone Camp near the Standing Rock reservation has stood as a grand example of resistance.

On November 20, according to a press statement from the Sacred Stone Camp, water protectors attempted to remove “burnt military vehicles” that police “chained to barriers weeks ago,” which were blocking traffic on Highway 1806. The effort was undertaken with a semi-truck, and water protectors hoped to “clear the road to improve access to the camp for emergency services.”

Police responded with an incredible show of force, using multiple so-called “non-lethal” tools in their arsenal to pummel water protectors. Particularly unsettling was the blasting of water at water protectors when the temperature dropped to 26 degrees Fahrenheit. There were multiple complaints of people suffering from the early onset of hypothermia.

Tara Houska, the national campaigns director for Honor the Earth, reacted, “For weeks, the main highway to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation has been cut off, with no movement by the state to address a public safety risk. Attempting to clear the road was met with police spraying people with water cannons in 26 degree weather.”

“That’s deadly force. It’s freezing outside. They want to kill people for clearing a road? When will our cries be heard? Stop the Dakota Access pipeline. Respect the rights of indigenous people, of all peoples.”

The director of the Sacred Stone Camp, LaDonna Allard, responded, “All I can say is why? We are asking for clean water, we are asking for the right to live, we are asking for our children to live. Instead they attack us, because they protect oil. Morton county and DAPL security are inhuman. What is wrong with their hearts?”

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department, which responded to the water protectors’ move to clear the highway, put out a statement on Facebook that was taken by outlets, such as NBC News and CNN, as the frame for understand the “clashes” that unfolded.

“Law enforcement is currently involved in an ongoing riot on the Backwater Bridge, north of a protest camp in Morton County. Protesters in mass amounts, estimated to be around 400, are on the bridge and attempting to breach the bridge to go north on highway 1806. Protesters have started a dozen fires near the bridge,” the Department alleged.

The Sacred Stone Camp reported flares were shot by law enforcement. Those flares ignited “grass fires.” However, the water cannon was not specifically used to extinguish the fires. The water cannon was directed at water protectors.

https://shadowproof.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Screen-shot-2016-11-21-at-10.30.26-AM-300x198.png
Drone footage captures police spraying Dakota Access Pipeline protesters with a water cannon.

Video shows the water cannon as police directed it at nonviolent water protectors. The video, shot with a drone, was at one point shot at with a water cannon presumably to knock it out of the air. The camp indicated police “shot down three media drones and targeted journalists with less lethal rounds.”

Unicorn Riot, a volunteer-operated collective of multimedia artists and journalists that has been on the ground documenting Standing Rock resistance for months, reported on the scale of the force used against water protectors as well as the impact on protectors.

The collective indicated there were serious injuries, including “one person who was badly injured after being shot in the head with a rubber bullet.” A girl, who is 13 years-old, was reportedly shot in the face and suffered lung and eye irritation from the tear gas. There were multiple reports of cardiac arrest. One of Unicorn Riot’s reporters “had their press badge shot off when shot in the abdomen by a rubber bullet.” Multiple individuals suffered seizures. At least 150 water protectors suffered injuries.

As Unicorn Riot reported, police “formed a line with armored vehicles, concrete barriers, and razor wire.” The police unleashed a plume of water on hundreds of people for hours, who chose to stand their ground but also in a sense were trapped because of how the police established a perimeter limiting where they could disperse.

For hours, Kevin Gilbertt live streamed the incredible use of force by police. His stream eventually climbed to 50,000-plus viewers as cable news networks like CNN stuck to regularly scheduled programming and refused to offer viewers a news break covering what was happening.

Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network declared, “Tribal EMS are stepping up and providing services that should be the responsibility of Morton County, this is ridiculous. Because of the police enforced roadblock, ambulances now have an extra 30 minutes to get to the hospital. Those are life and death numbers right there, and Morton County and the State of North Dakota will be responsible for the tally.”

Police maintained their barricade around the encampment throughout the night and into the morning, according to Navajo and Yankton Dakota writer Jacqueline Keeler. This obstructed EMTs from being able to get to the camp.

In an interview with Goldtooth, Angela Bibens of the Red Owl Legal Collective, indicated 20 mace canisters were fired in a period of five minutes at one point. This resulted in a number of individuals losing control of their bowel functions. “One elder went into cardiac arrest and was revived through CPR at the front line by medics.” The police also fired mace canisters at medics.

Yet, despite the assault, Bibens described the response of people nearby as “calm.” They maintained their resolve and rushed blankets to the front line. They provided forms of immediate medical aid, and some even chose to stay at the front line to help others hold their ground against the assault. Multiple water protectors donned gas masks and grabbed shields to face down the police.

There was one reported arrest, but why that person was arrested was not immediately clear.

Rob Keller, a spokesman for the Morton County Sheriff’s Department, parsed language and maintained no water cannon was used and water was only deployed to put out the fires that were set by water protectors. This is only accurate if one ignores the hours of video footage showing water shot directly at water protectors or if one calls what was turned against water protectors a hose instead of a cannon.

Apparently, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department previously expressed concern about hypothermia at the encampments, as winter approaches. But on November 20, Morton County police had no second thoughts about dousing water protectors with water for hours, even if it meant they might end up needing emergency medical attention.

Last week, Energy Transfer Partners LP Chief Executive Officer Kelcy Warren said the pipeline will not be rerouted despite concerns expressed by indigenous Americans. The Army Corps of Engineers has examined possible changes to the route so the pipeline does not violate sacred Native American land.

Energy Transfer Partners announced on November 8 it would start the “final phase” of construction around November 22 and ignore the requests of federal agencies to suspend construction until a new assessment could be completed.

In September, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, called for the construction to end and cited “serious risks to drinking water and potential destruction of the tribe’s lands.” She also acknowledged indigenous people were denied access to information and excluded from consultations during planning.

The Standing Medic and Healer Council declared in a statement: “We call on the Morton County Sheriff’s office to immediately stop the potentially lethal use of these confrontational methods against people peacefully assembled. We request media support, medical support, and observers to the area immediately.”

https://shadowproof.com/2016/11/21/police-launch-hours-long-attack-on-dakota-access-pipeline-resistance-injure-dozens/

screen shot at link.

blindpig

11-22-2016, 10:34 AM

The protester who had her arm blown off by our democratic government has a gofundme page to help with medical costs

https://www.gofundme.com/30aezxs

Dhalgren

11-22-2016, 10:36 AM

The protester who had her arm blown off by our democratic government has a gofundme page to help with medical costs

https://www.gofundme.com/30aezxs

Yeah, liberals are way better than conservatives...

blindpig

11-22-2016, 07:44 PM

300 Injured At Standing Rock: “He just smiled and shot both my kneecaps”

Andy Rowell, November 22, 2016

http://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2016/11/water-cannon-3-300x222.jpg
C: @bluefancyshawl on Twitter

The dying days of President Obama’s administration are being deeply shamed by the actions of the authorities against the First Nations and others fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline.

And the extreme violence from the authorities seems to be deteriorating by the day.

There is growing outrage and condemnation as more and more first-hand accounts and footage emerge of water cannons, rubber bullets, tear gas and even stun grenades being used against some 400 water protectors on Sunday night and early yesterday morning.

Some 300 people were hurt after being hit by either water, gas, grenade or rubber bullet. An estimated 27 needed hospital treatment. Reports from legal observers suggest that several people were unconscious having been hit by rubber bullets. There were so many casualties that the local school gymnasium had to be opened for emergency relief.

There are graphic photos online of serious injuries incurred by the protectors. If you want to see the extent of some injuries go here, but the images are distressing.

In freezing temperatures, police fired cold water to prevent the protectors removing blockades on the Backwater Bridge on Highway 1806, near the camps they have been occupying for months. In response, activists lit fires to try and keep their soaking companions warm. This seems to have further inflamed tensions.

Dallas Goldtooth, one of the organisers, said: “Folks have a right to be on a public road. It’s absurd that people who’ve been trying to take down the barricade now have their lives at risk.” He called the Police tactics “an excessive and potentially deadly use of force”.

Indeed, there were harrowing reports of violence against the water protectors:

One activist from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, Black Elk said, “All of a sudden there were these bright, blinding spotlights, so you could see each other, but you couldn’t see [the police]. Every once in awhile you could hear someone scream who had been hit by a rubber bullet.”

“I was tear gassed over 15 times, which made it hard to breathe and left my face burning for hours,” recalls Cheyenne, a young native woman from Michigan. “I got hosed down with a water cannon in freezing temperatures leaving me hypothermic, and I was slammed into a barbed wire barricade out of panic caused by the police after a flash grenade was thrown and caught fire to a field.”

Another young native man from the Ojibwe nation said “He shot me with a rubber bullet right in the belly button, and when I showed him that he had hurt me, he just smiled and shot both my kneecaps”.

On Sunday night, the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council called on authorities to stop using water cannons against the protesters, saying the below-freezing weather could cause hypothermia and criticizing the “potentially lethal use of these controversial methods against people peacefully assembled.”

A surgeon with the Healing Council, Jesse Lopez, from Kansas City said: “We are standing back in a state of disbelief. I maybe could see pepper spray, maybe rubber bullets, maybe tear gas, but water cannons? That’s done to inflict deliberate, severe, life-threatening harm.”

As usual, the local sheriff’s office spun a total different story that shows what misinformation the authorities are releasing: “We have not received any reports that can be verified of protesters that were injured.”

http://priceofoil.org/2016/11/22/300-injured-at-standing-rock-he-just-smiled-and-shot-both-my-kneecaps/?utm_content=buffer367e6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

blindpig

11-25-2016, 09:36 AM

Drone Wars: North Dakota Land Battle Moves to the Skies

The largest Native American uprising in at least 150 years — unfolding now in North Dakota against a billion-dollar pipeline that would cross sacred Indigenous land — has been met with a law enforcement counter-offensive that has reached national proportions.

As the Dakota Access pipeline protests continue to broaden their critique of the project from its environmental and cultural impacts to increasing state militarization, they may turn their eyes to this fast-accelerating drone industry booming just a few counties east.

What started as a “spirit camp” by the local Standing Rock tribe in April spiraled into an international standoff, with both sides pounding at the door of the White House with every successive military-style raid of the multiplying campgrounds. Video accounts of snipers, armored vehicles and dogs unleashed on the protesters — self-dubbed “water protectors” for defending the Missouri River which lies in the “Black Snake’s” path — have fed outrage from sympathizers across the web. Meanwhile, police officers and their allies have made the case for rebuffing their arsenal as they catch protesters committing what they call “violent acts.”

The tribes are fighting on the grounds that the U.S. government has historically snatched their land from them, and they are simply reclaiming what was theirs since before the nation was founded. They evoke the symbolic and spiritual value of the land and the water, soon to be polluted by sure-to-come leaks in the pipeline. The imagery has concentrated on a 40-mile stretch of land from Lake Oahe — named after a mission founded to convert the Sioux people but originally meaning “ a place to stand on" in the Indigenous Dakota language — but misses one key space slowly conquered by the state: the skies.

A bit more than a four-hour drive away, North Dakota is fast at work in developing what it has proudly embraced as the “Silicon Valley of drones.” The state economy has long relied on corn, soybeans, wheat and oil — but with oil prices in near free fall and the billion-dollar deficit ushering in historic spending cuts, the state has been desperate for a new revenue opening. Cue in the drone industry, which has changed from being a relatively obscure human rights buzzword connected to strikes in Pakistan and Yemen to one of the most sought-after technologies on the market.

Drones caused a brief uproar at the North Dakota campsites when three were shot down for allegedly flying too close to a sheriff’s helicopter surveying the area. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier later said the pilots were “in fear of their lives” while one of the drone’s owners, Dean Dedman Jr., said “the helicopter was not even close.” His drone’s footage had been used to prove that pipeline construction is nearing the Missouri River, which was blocked off by three federal agencies in September, and the other two drones were recording for an Indigenous-run documentary company.

To settle the issue, the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, declared a no-fly zone over Cannonball — not to put an end to all drone usage, but to ensure law enforcement had a monopoly over the skies. The restriction was in effect until Thursday, but drones brought in by Morton County’s tactical operations center surveilled the area for three weeks, until last week, to snap photos of trouble makers.

“It’s everything except what they say it is — peaceful protests,” said Alan Frazier, who sent the drones from the other corner of the state. He said the camera caught “water protectors” throwing Molotov cocktails and “striking troopers” — the exact line of argument that got the county access to emergency federal funds through a state of emergency.

Frazier, a retired police officer-turned-professor, did not expect to be a world pioneer in police drone deployment. “It was just a coincidence — I didn’t know or care a thing about unmanned aircrafts,” he told teleSUR.

Now a part-time deputy sheriff and drone pilot, Frazier dedicated over a third of his career to flying helicopters for Glendale, Calif. police. When he moved to North Dakota for an associate professor position at the University of North Dakota’s department of aviation, he reached out to local sheriff’s departments to continue his work with helicopters. Unlike California, North Dakota is primarily rural, and its departments can’t afford hefty airborne equipment. So Frazier began looking into unmanned systems.

For four years, Frazier partnered with four nearby police and sheriff’s departments to pilot drones in 18 surrounding counties and develop research on how drones could best assist their operations. They hovered over homicides, officer-involved shootings, responded to disaster scenes and “searched both bad guys and good guys,” according to Frazier. The money mostly came from the state, and the drones came from the Canadian Draganfly — owned by Trace Systems, which has supported Iraq and Afghanistan operations for both the U.S. army and NATO — and the California-based AeroVironment, the largest drone supplier to the Pentagon and “dozens of allied nations,” according to its website.

The research ended this August with 22 articles and ongoing feedback to the suppliers, who are adapting their systems to market them internationally. One of the main findings was that while drones could only conduct about 35 to 40 percent of the work that manned missions could, they came at less than 1 to 3 percent of the cost — ranging from US$2,000 to US$91,000.

The partnership, though, is far from over. Frazier said that he received 125 inquiries from as far as the Netherlands and traveled state to state to train and share his findings with law enforcement agencies. Frazier’s 19-member drone unit, mostly made up of current and former officers, is still intact and became the first to win blanket approval from the FAA to fly nationally, upon “requests for assistance from any public safety agency,” according to a statement from Grand Forks Sheriff Robert Rost, who leads the group. Since they started in 2012, the unit has completed 134 missions, said Frazier, and completed “well over 1,000 flights.”

North Dakota raised mild alarm when word spread that it became the first state to authorize non-lethal weapons on drones, anywhere from tear gas to tasers. The Daily Beast ran an article last year pointing out that the law was originally meant to require warrants, but that a lobbyist added a ban on lethal weapons, making non-lethal weapons fair game.

Frazier told teleSUR the story was “very erroneous,” an “absurd exaggeration” and a “quantum leap of logic.” He expressed a desire to “wrap it into a really tight ball and put a lighter to it.” Only 20 states have laws that relate to drones, he said, and only six of them mention the use of force. When teleSUR asked if his unit only uses drones for imaging, he asked what else they could possibly be used for. None of them are armed, he added.

“One of most sacred things we do (as sworn officers) is utilize force — it’s our lawful right,” he said. “To try to make the decision to use force based upon video, come upon from a drone, is not adequate.”

He acknowledged that other officers, potentially ones he has personally trained, may disagree.

Another point he was adamant about was that none of the missions his unit operated had warrants. He had told the Daily Beast that warrants should be obtained once enough evidence is collected by the drone, and that further restrictions on their flight would have a “chilling effect” on the development of the state’s pet industry.

North Dakota has already invested over US$36 million in nursing a hub of drone research and business development in the northeast corner of the state. The governor said the state is “taking a very aggressive attitude toward this, and we are moving things along faster than anyone imagined possible,” with the eventual goal “to contribute to integrating drones into the national airspace system,” Brian Opp, who leads aerospace business development at the North Dakota Department of Commerce, told teleSUR.

The various state-funded initiatives are both meant to propel in-state research by federal departments — from NASA to Homeland Security and especially the Department of Defense — and to boost local businesses. Grand Forks, which hosts the drone unit, built the country’s first unmanned aircraft business park. It’s next door to an air force base that houses the North Dakota National Guard, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and Customs and Border Protection.

Of the 38 drone-related businesses that lease space — including hangers, shop space, data centers and offices — the biggest tenants are the major defense contractors Northrop Grumman and General Atomics. They’re working on the Global Hawk and the Reaper, respectively: the former known for its superior surveillance capabilities, and the latter for being the first hunter-killer drone. Both were heavily used in Iraq and Afghanistan, and both are considered "the most accident-prone aircraft in the Air Force fleet," according to Bloomberg.

While some local businesses are exploring drone use in their respective industries, from monitoring crop health and inspecting electrical grids and pipelines to enhancing real estate and insurance research, a big chunk of those attracted to Grand Forks are from abroad. FAA restrictions on airspace mean that U.S. companies are reluctant to touch drones, while more mature businesses from countries that lack restrictions are eager to install themselves in the U.S. before the FAA loosens up.

“They see the U.S. as the last big marketplace for their systems, so they come in early as airspace issues get resolved,” said Terry Sando of the county’s Economic Development Corporation to teleSUR.

It’s only a matter of time until the FAA lifts restrictions, said Sando, a retired intelligence officer and Air National Guard colonel. In the meantime, North Dakota’s strategy is to “leapfrog ahead” with advanced drone models from Israel, Norway and Finland. He’s especially excited about the US$2 million Hermes 450, an Israeli-made unmanned system that weighs 1,200 pounds and can fly for over 20 hours at a time. The British used it in Afghanistan — and North Dakota is using it for crops.

Hermes’s manufacturer, the Haifa-based Elbit Systems, founded an arm in the U.S. with a satellite in North Dakota. The office isn’t listed on its website and Elbit said after multiple requests for an interview that it does not speak with media. The company had dedicated itself solely to military drones until North Dakota made a request to match a university research grant dollar for dollar. Elbit forked up US$700,000: half to the University of North Dakota, the other half to North Dakota State University.

John Nowatzki, who leads NDSU’s research on drone use in agriculture, told teleSUR that the end product ends up the commercial property of Elbit Systems of America.

“We’re just interested in learning (about) and demonstrating the feasibility for farmers,” he said. Students have applied the technology to a wide gamut of uses for farming, from detecting nitrogen deficiencies in corn to finding anomalies in crop yield during the summertime. The high-grade drones can capture 8 centimeters per pixel, allowing for detailed data gathering for 1,000-acre corn and wheat fields. He said he does not know how much the drone they use costs — maybe US$1 million, he quipped — nor how much farmers would have to pay for the images and data analysis.

The University of North Dakota, where Frazier teaches and sought research money, started the country’s first drone degree program for both undergraduates and graduates. Titled “Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations,” the course incorporates a business curriculum so that students can pitch their products to drone companies at the end of the school year. It has even drawn interest among non-students, who have pleaded for a non-degree program.

Matt Dunlevy, who co-teaches the class, estimates that 100,000 jobs connected to the drone industry will be created within the next five to seven years. North Dakota is hoping to claim most of those jobs, be it in agriculture or high-resolution surveillance.

As the Dakota Access pipeline protests continue to broaden their critique of the project from its environmental and cultural impacts to increasing state militarization, they may be forced to turn their eyes to the fast-accelerating drone industry booming just a few counties east. By the time they brace for that battle, though, the sheriffs and businessmen leading the drive will long have their sights on other states and, soon enough, other countries.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Drone-Wars-North-Dakota-Land-Battle-Moves-to-the-Skies-20161123-0062.html

Videos at link.

Dhalgren

11-26-2016, 10:25 AM

The US Army Corps of Engineers announced it will close the portion of federal land on which water protectors are camping in North Dakota by December 5, to protect the public amid violent confrontations between protesters and law enforcement.

https://cdn.rt.com/files/2016.11/original/5838be3fc3618870798b4573.JPG

Dakota Access Pipeline
The Army Corps of Engineers said it is “closing the portion of the Corps-managed federal property north of the Cannonball River to all public use and access effective December 5, 2016,” according to a statement tweeted by the Young Turks' Jordan Chariton.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CyJAqF4UAAAgo-b.jpg

“This decision is necessary to protect the general public from the violent confrontation between protestors and law enforcement officials that have occurred in this area, and to prevent death, illness, or serious injury to inhabitants of encampments due to the harsh North Dakota winter conditions.”

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p280x280/15134661_1447136618647937_6154128596256978439_n.jpg?oh=fe0b2fcf1ce7f89461264b11986df32f&oe=58CC3243

The notice said the Corps of Engineers had established “a free speech zone on land south of the Cannoball River for anyone wished to peaceably protest the Dakota Access pipeline project.”
The notice said anyone found on the Corps’ land north of the Cannonball River after December 5 “will be considered trespassing and may be subject to prosecution under federal, state, and local laws.”* It also said anyone staying on the lands would do so “at their own risk, and assume any and all corresponding liabilities for their unlawful presence and occupations of such lands.”

Possible conflict of interest: Trump owns shares in Dakota Access pipeline parent company
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe responded to the notice expressing how "deeply disappointed" they were.

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p403x403/15170961_1447136611981271_3495853759441889980_n.jpg?oh=35ec3bee0fd3e83a95b23294e357090f&oe=58CD6273

The notice comes a week after 26 people were injured and taken to hospital during classes at the pipeline site last Sunday and more than 200 were reportedly treated for hypothermia after Morton County Sheriff’s Department deployed water cannon in below-freezing temperatures.
Since the Spring, protesters have been standing in opposition the $3.7 billion Dakota Access Pipeline by setting up camps and blocking roads in North Dakota to block the completion of the pipeline. *

Among the injured was Sophia Wilansky, who*nearly lost her arm when a law enforcement officer threw a grenade at her that exploded.
The North Dakota Highway Patrol said law enforcement officers were not responsible for Wilansky’s injury.
“We are aware of the information about the woman on social media who has claimed she sustained injuries to her arm due to law enforcement tactics. The injuries sustained are inconsistent with any resources utilized by law enforcement and are not a direct result of any tools or weapons used by law enforcement,” according to North Dakota Highway Patrol Lieutenant Tom Iverson. “This incident remains under investigation by the North Dakota BCI and ATF. Additional details will be released as the investigation progresses.”
Another woman, Vanessa Dundon, an Apache woman, was injured during the confrontation on November 20 at the Backwater Bridge when she was shot in the eye with a tear gas canister by the Sheriff’s* Department. She suffered a detached retina and needs surgery to ensure her vision according to a*GoFundMe appeal set up for her medical fund.

http://youtu.be/VHAKmDUl9fY

The Army Corps of Engineers decision to declare some land off limits to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is the latest move in centuries of treaty violations, according to the Standing Rock Sioux.
For over 150 years the federal government has taken land from Lakota and Dakota people according to tribal leaders, beginning with the seizure of land in the Black Hills of South Dakota after the discovery of gold in the 1870s “to the construction of dams in the Missouri River that flooded villages, timber land and farmland in the Dakotas in the 1950s.”
“This government honors international treaties like they are the Holy Grail, but within our own homeland they find a way to break,” Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault told the Denver Post. Under the treaties and American law,*Archambault is the head of a domestic sovereign nation.
“The best way to protect people during the winter, and reduce the risk of conflict between water protectors and militarized police, is to deny the easement for the Oahe crossing, and deny it now,” Archambault said*in a Friday statement. “We ask that everyone who can appeal to President Obama and the Army Corps of Engineers to consider the future of our people and rescind all permits, and deny the easement to cross the Missouri River just north of our Reservation and straight through our treaty lands. When the Dakota Access Pipeline chose this route, they did not consider our strong opposition. Our concerns were clearly articulated directly to them in a tribal council meeting held on Sept. 30, 2014, where DAPL and the ND Public Service Commission came to us with this route.”

https://www.rt.com/usa/368213-standing-rock-camp-closing/

blindpig

11-28-2016, 01:07 PM

Army Corps Retracts: DAPL Protesters Won’t Be Forcibly Removed

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1480349856765/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/11/28/u.s._retracts_dapl_protesters_wonxt_be_forcibly_removed.jpg_1718483346.jpg
People march in Oceti Sakowin camp during a protest against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. | Photo: Reuters

Published 28 November 2016

While they will not be leave, protesters will be considered unauthorized and will not be provided with adequate emergency services.
As the standoff at Standing Rock, the site of the Dakota Access pipeline between Indigenous land stewards and their allies, and law enforcement authorities escalates, U.S. officials have come out to say that no forcible removal of protesters will take place.

Despite telling demonstrators to leave by Dec. 5, and Friday’s announcement from President Obama’s administration stating that access to a campsite where water protectors have been demonstrating would be curtailed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement Sunday that it had "no plans for forcible removal" of protesters.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Army-Corps-Retracts-DAPL-Protesters-Wont-Be-Forcibly-Removed--20161128-0007.html

Video at link

Not so benign neglect.

Dhalgren

11-28-2016, 02:48 PM

I wonder what "no plans for forcible removal" means.

blindpig

11-28-2016, 03:27 PM

I wonder what "no plans for forcible removal" means.

Might establish an embargo and let General Winter do their work.

Dhalgren

11-28-2016, 03:38 PM

Might establish an embargo and let General Winter do their work.

Damn! That sounds like just what those fuckers will do.

blindpig

12-03-2016, 11:04 AM

Standing Rock Tribes File Complaint as Obama Sends Monitors

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1480750645015/sites/telesur/img/2016/11/27/tribes_complaint_2.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, waits to address UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland in September. | Photo: Reuters

Published 3 December 2016 (8 hours 26 minutes ago)

Tribes filed an official complaint Friday with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as Justice Department sends monitors to North Dakota.
On Friday, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Yankton Sioux Tribe filed an official complaint to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about the “serious and urgent risks of irreparable harm” posed both by the construction of the pipeline and the recent attacks by state police.

Later the same day U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that the Justice Department would send monitors to North Dakota in an effort to “reduce tensions and foster dialogue.”

The Tribes’ 345-page filing called on the Commission to demand that the U.S. government take precautionary measures to prevent “ongoing and escalating violence and harassment of peaceful protesters by state and local police forces, and private security guards.”

“Endangering human and water security is a violation of international human rights. Our treaties are international law and are entitled to respect as such. Beyond that, we are constantly under corporate attack on our cultural and natural resources and spiritual lifeways. We are being robbed of treaty lands and it must be stopped,” wrote Faith Spotted Eagle, Chair of the Ihanktonwan Treaty Steering Committee.

The statement raised concerns about grave human rights violations at the historic gathering of Indigenous tribes to prevent the construction of the multi-billion dollar Dakota Access Pipeline. The statement highlighted the “continued failure of the United States to ensure the safety of the protesters” as well as the Obama administration’s failure to protect “the Tribes’ and others’ rights to life, liberty and personal security, health, peaceable assembly, association, and protection from arbitrary arrest.”

The IACHR is an independent body of the Organization of American States whose mission is to promote and protect human rights in the American hemisphere.

Hours after the filing U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch finally responded to multiple calls on the Justice Department to intervene to stop attacks on water protectors by state law enforcement. In a videotaped statement released on the Justice Department Facebook page, she said she was “closely monitoring” the situation at Standing Rock and that she expected “everyone involved to exercise restraint, to refrain from violence and to express their views peacefully.” She added that she has offered “community policing resources to local law enforcement in North Dakota.”

Many immediately condemned Lynch’s implication that the violence at the Oceti Sakowin camp was in any way caused by the unarmed peaceful protesters, and denounced her expressed concern for the safety of law enforcement.

“If she was monitoring the situation, then why didn't she save that poor woman from losing her arm? Why didn't she stop the horrible oppression?” wrote one commenter. Another wrote, “So DOJ and President are aware of the ND police violating human, civil, religious and constitutional rights of unarmed American Indians and their allies peacefully standing up for clean water. Absolutely disgraceful!”

The Tribes have not yet officially responded to Lynch’s announcement.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Standing-Rock-Tribes-File-Complaint-as-Obama-Sends-Monitors--20161203-0002.html

Videos at link.

Mother Jones

12-04-2016, 06:37 AM

When protests at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation began in April, there were only a handful of activists camping out in defiance of the Dakota Access Pipeline project. As their numbers have grown into the thousands, so too has the police presence confronting them. Police departments from 24 counties and 16 cities in 10 different states (including North Dakota) have poured into Standing Rock, according to the Morton County Sheriff's Department (http://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/how-many-law-enforcement-agencies-does-it-take-subdue-peaceful-protest), the local law enforcement agency.
It's rare for police forces to cross state lines to handle problems in neighboring places, much less travel more than 1,500 miles to respond to protests, as the St. Charles Parish (Louisiana) Sheriff's Department has. So why is Standing Rock teeming with cops from across the country? The answer lies in an obscure federal law that's usually deployed to help states deal with environmental disasters.
In 1996, then-President Bill Clinton signed the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (https://www.congress.gov/104/plaws/publ321/PLAW-104publ321.pdf) (EMAC). The statute was created in response to Hurricane Andrew, which wrought an estimated $25 billion in damages when it hit Louisiana and Florida in 1992, necessitating large-scale, interstate relief coordination. EMAC, an agreement eventually entered into by all 50 states, allows for states to share resources and coordinate emergency personnel in case of a crisis. The good-neighbor style lawwas invoked for disaster relief for Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and, more recently, Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
Governors have almost always employed EMAC in the wake of natural disasters, but the bill contains a stipulation that makes it applicable during other types of emergencies including "community disorders, insurgency, or enemy attack." On August 19 (http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/governor-issues-emergency-declaration-in-response-to-pipeline-protests/article_6b189499-0d39-5223-93a4-5f10e53e735c.html), when North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple declared a state of emergency at Standing Rock, he relied on this language to issue an EMAC request.
Standing Rock is one of the few times that EMAC has been called upon to respond to social activism. In April 2015, during Black Lives Matter protests in Baltimore in the wake of Freddie Gray's death while in police custody, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (http://governor.maryland.gov/2015/04/27/governor-larry-hogan-signs-executive-order-declaring-state-of-emergency-activating-national-guard/) declared a state of emergency and sent out an EMAC request. About three hundred state troopers (http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/04/state_troopers_heading_to_balt.html) from Pennsylvania and another 150 from New Jersey (http://www.njsp.org/news/2015/20150429.shtml) responded. The city racked up an estimated $20 million (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-unrest-cost-20150526-story.html) in extra policing costs.
Since the state issuing the EMAC request is on hook for the tab, that means North Dakota taxpayers will pay for the out-of-state officers at Standing Rock. This will include (http://www.nwitimes.com/news/crime-and-court/local-officers-deployed-to-north-dakota-pipeline-protests/article_0475e2e4-f0ad-53a1-813f-df80a351dde3.html) wages, overtime costs, meals, lodging, and mileage reimbursement. On November 2 (http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2016/11/01/latest-north-dakota-borrows-4m-more-police-protests/93132598/), North Dakota officials agreed to borrow $4 million to cover escalating policing costs and extend the state's line of credit for emergency law enforcement to $10 million. (The state was already staring down a $1 billion (http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/north-dakota-tax-revenues-fall-short-of-lower-forecast-again/article_01b4be29-b797-5e6b-b188-cc574c3711f7.html) revenue shortfall in 2016.) Governor Jack Dalrymple said state officials have asked for contributions from the federal government, the pipeline company, "and any entity we can think of," though the federal government has thus far declined to pitch in. North Dakota Emergency Services spokesperson Cecily Fong told the Associated Press (http://www.sj-r.com/news/20161122/cost-of-pipeline-protests-continues-to-grow) that total state law enforcement costs for the protests had reached $10.9 million as of November 22, while Morton County had spent an additional $8 million. Meanwhile, local courts and jails have struggled to process around 575 arrests.
The increased law enforcement presence at Standing Rock has coincided with mounting concerns over police brutality. The deployment of military-grade equipment (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/standing-rock-protests-pipeline-police-tasers-teargas), including landmine-resistant trucks and armored personnel carriers, as well as the use of pepper spray, rubber bullets, and alleged strip searches led Standing Rock Sioux tribal chairman Dave Archambault II (http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/10/25/call-justice-dept-act-dapl-civil-rights-abuses-166205) to ask the Justice Department to investigate civil rights abuses. "Local and state law enforcement have increasingly taken steps to militarize their presence, to intimidate participants who are lawfully expressing their views, and to escalate tensions and promote fear," Archambault wrote in his letter (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3189653-Lltr-to-AG-Lynch-Re-Dakota-Access-10-24-16-Pdf-1.html).
Some of the police details that have arrived in Standing Rock are among the largest recipients of military transfers from the federal government, according to an In These Times (http://inthesetimes.com/article/19586/police-are-still-getting-surplus-military-gearand-theyre-using-it-to-crack)investigation. The South Dakota Highway Patrol has received $2 million worth of military equipment since 2006. The Lake County Sheriff's Office in Northwest Indiana obtained $1.5 million worth of military equipment over the same time period. The Pennington County Sheriff's office in South Dakota, the Anoka County Sheriff's office in Minnesota, and the Griffith Indiana Police Department have all received assault rifles through military equipment transfer programs as well.
Police departments answer EMAC requests on a voluntary basis. Some forces, like Minnesota's Hennepin County Sheriff's Department, have been deployed to North Dakota amid objections (http://www.swcbulletin.com/news/government/4154638-sheriffs-law-enforcement-catch-flak-sending-officers-pipeline-protest) from their local communities. Others are withdrawing from the action. A phone-banking and email-writing effort led Montana's Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin (http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/sheriffs-refuse-to-send-troops-to-standing-rock-as-public-outrage-and-costs-mount-20161123) to turn his detail around before they even arrived at Standing Rock. Gootkin told Yes Magazine (http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/sheriffs-refuse-to-send-troops-to-standing-rock-as-public-outrage-and-costs-mount-20161123) that people who contacted his department expressed concern that EMAC was meant to address natural disasters and catastrophic events, not for protecting a corporation's pipeline construction. Sheriff Dave Mahoney (http://m.bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/sheriff-in-wisconsin-pulls-deputies-back-from-north-dakota-pipeline/article_c0378e3a-8e57-59f1-9975-781c35bf1ee1.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share) from Wisconsin's Dane County, who withdrew his force after one week, said he did so after talking with "a wide cross-section of the community who all share the opinion that our deputies should not be involved in this situation," he said. "We have enough priorities here in our community to address."
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/motherjones/main/~4/TCk8cXqsOOo

More... (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/motherjones/main/~3/TCk8cXqsOOo/standing-rock-police-militarized-emergency-management-assistance-compact-north-dakota)

Dhalgren

12-04-2016, 03:10 PM

It was always a means of providing additional troops against citizens where and when needed. Now, you aren't just a "lawful" cop in Alabama, you also are legal in Arizona or Washington state. A Chicago cop can come down to Charleston and bust heads with impunity. It's what the bourgeoisie call a "free country"...

blindpig

12-05-2016, 09:40 AM

North Dakota Demonstrators Celebrate Victory, Remain Vigilant

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1480932500586/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/12/05/standig_rock_victory.jpg_1718483346.jpg
North Dakota Indigenous demonstrator raises his fist in victory. | Photo: Reuters

Published 5 December 2016

Demonstrators are full of momentum and are preparing themselves for any challenges an upcoming Trump administration may present.
Opponents of the North Dakota Access pipeline are remaining vigilant after their recent triumph in blocking the project, with some suggesting the victory would be useful in court if the incoming Trump administration were to challenge it.

On Sunday, the Army Corps of Engineers announced that they were denying access for the 1,172-mile pipeline and would instead be looking for alternate routes. This marked a huge victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and the thousands of Indigenous and non-Indigenous demonstrators who showed up in solidarity over the last few months from all over the world. Now, many are focusing on the next steps, particularly as the incoming Trump administration looms.

"If the incoming administration tries to undo this and jam the pipeline through despite the need for an analysis of alternatives, we will certainly be prepared to challenge that in court," Jan Hasselman, an Earthjustice staff attorney representing the Standing Rock Sioux tribe told CNN. "It's not so simple for one government administration to simply reverse the decisions of the former one."

Though U.S. President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t yet reacted to Sunday’s news, he has in the past openly championed pipelines and conventional fossil fuel exploitation, apart from calling global warming a "hoax."

What’s more, Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics Partners – the ones building the pipeline – blasted the U.S. Army’s decision Sunday night, calling it a “pure political action” and vowing to go ahead with the project.

“(Energy Transfer Partners) and (Sunoco Logistics Partners) are fully committed to ensuring that this vital project is brought to completion and fully expect to complete construction of the pipeline without any additional rerouting in and around Lake Oahe,” the statement read. “Nothing this Administration has done today changes that in any way.”

Though cautious, protesters are standing strong, suggesting that the momentum from North Dakota will not be so easily rolled back.

"The fight against Dakota Access has fired up a resistance movement that is ready to take on any fossil fuel project the Trump administration tries to approve,” May Boeve, executive director of the environmental group 350.org told CNN. “On Dakota Access and every other pipeline: If he tries to build it, we will come."

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/North-Dakota-Demonstrators-Celebrate-Victory-Remain-Vigilant-20161205-0003.html

Videos at link.

People been saying that Tele Sur (Eng) has been drifting a bit from the mothership's leftist stance and this seems to be proofs of that. How could they not mention that the motivation for this reversal was the arrival of the first hundreds of 2000 US military veterans in support of the action? A big-time game changer, a PR nightmare for any administration, however reactionary, fascists bastards clubbing, hosing, gassing and firing rubber bullets at vets along side of native Americans. So Obama punted, a big 'fuckyou' to all involved.

Far from over, time for digging in and winter quarters.

Dhalgren

12-05-2016, 10:04 AM

People been saying that Tele Sur (Eng) has been drifting a bit from the mothership's leftist stance and this seems to be proofs of that. How could they not mention that the motivation for this reversal was the arrival of the first hundreds of 2000 US military veterans in support of the action? A big-time game changer, a PR nightmare for any administration, however reactionary, fascists bastards clubbing, hosing, gassing and firing rubber bullets at vets along side of native Americans. So Obama punted, a big 'fuckyou' to all involved.

Far from over, time for digging in and winter quarters.

Correct. Last night my son called and was excited by the news. Hang on, wait and see. Those vets will make a difference, even if Trump, himself, has no respect for them, many, many do. Time to start packing in supplies up there at Standing Rock.

Dhalgren

12-05-2016, 11:00 PM

According to the Bismacrk Tribune, nearly 90% of the North Dakota part of the DAPL has been completed. The overall project is slated to cross 4 states and cost just under 4 billion dollars (of course there is always overruns). I cannot find exact figures for how much has actually been spent on the pipeline so far, but at 4 billion for 4 states you can guess that the North Dakota part would have been slotted for near 1 billion dollars; and at 90% complete that is very likely between 500 and 750 million dollars spent so far. The state of North Dakota has already spent nearly 6 million dollars on "policing" the protests and is trying to borrow more, but the interest payments are problematic.

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/nearly-million-spent-in-response-to-protest-movement/article_95e04639-52ce-5f6c-ba07-ccdc962fa079.html

Now the questions that arise from all this are plenty. Just a few might be:

There are two major rivers to tunnel under - the Missouri and the Mississippi and several lesser streams. What will be the levels of resistance at each of these vital waterways? Are the governments of the states and the Feds and the companies involved all prepared to pay the costs associated with these protests - especially now that it is understood that they work?

If they go ahead with the pipeline (which seems likely considering the costs involved and the profits anticipated), what will that look like and how can they spin it to maintain appearances? Neither the various governments or the corporations involved like to look bad.

There is a lot of talk about how much "pipeline technologies" have improved over the last few years. How pipelines are safer than any other mode of oil transportation. Of course, "safer than any other" is not actually saying much. What happens when a pipeline breaks? (Not if, but when).

The tribal spokesman said that everyone could go home, the crisis was over. Does anyone believe this to be true?

Here's the link to the tribal spokesman's statement: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/standing-rock-sioux-chair-protesters-can-go-home-hopes-for-trump-meeting/ar-AAlaN2O?ocid=spartanntp

blindpig

12-06-2016, 03:16 PM

Veterans at Standing Rock Take Solidarity to Flint Water Crisis

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1481047988023/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/12/06/veterans_dakota_access_pipeline.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Veterans march with activists just outside of the Oceti Sakowin camp as water protectors continue to protest the Dakota Access pipeline, Dec. 5, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 6 December 2016 (1 hours 34 minutes ago)

Both the struggle against the Dakota Access pipeline and the Flint water crisis have been described as emblematic cases of environmental racism.
Hundreds of U.S. veterans that joined the historic uprising at Standing Rock at a pivotal moment ahead of a key victory are turning attention to their next act of solidarity, this time to stand with communities suffering from the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

One of the main organizers who brought together more than 2,000 veterans to form a human shield around water protectors at Standing Rock in the face of an anticipated violent crackdown, U.S. Army veteran Wesley Clark Jr., said that while details of the trip to Flint aren’t finalized, the move is on the agenda.

“We don't know when we are going to be there,” Clark, who is the son of retired U.S. Army General and former Democratic presidential nomination hopeful Wesley Clark Sr., told the Flint Journal, “but we will be heading to Flint."

“This problem is all over the country,” he added. “It's got to be more than veterans. People have been treated wrong in this county for a long time."

Local residents told the Flint Journal that they hope a visit from the veterans could help bring much-needed media attention to the water crisis, which has fallen out of the news spotlight in recent months even though thousands of homes left with contaminated pipes still don’t have guaranteed access to safe drinking water.

Both the struggle against the US$3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline and the Flint water crisis have been described as emblematic cases of environmental racism.

The months-long struggle spearheaded by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota — met with brutal repression including the use of dogs, pepper spray, rubber bullets, water cannons in freezing temperatures and other military equipment — scored a victory Sunday when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied a final permit for developers to tunnel under Lake Oahe to complete the pipeline on its current path. Although Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault II has encouraged water protectors to head home for the winter after the win, many have decided to stay at the resistance camps, bracing for more battles against the contentious project, which could be reapproved on an alternate route.

The 1,172-mile pipeline was already rerouted once from its original path near the majority-white town of Bismarck, North Dakota, to pass instead through treatied Native land and sacred Indigenous burial sites near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.

In Flint, the water crisis was sparked in April 2014 when an unelected emergency manager switched the city’s water source from Lake Huron to the long-contaminated and corrosive Flint River. Complaints about water quality surfaced within months, but it wasn’t until October 2015 that Flint’s water was switched back, leaving a massive infrastructure problem of heavily corroded pipes and lead contamination. According to local media, an estimated 550 homes have had their lead-contaminated pipes swapped for new ones in the town of nearly 100,000 people.

Some have drawn parallels between the racial dimensions of the threat the Dakota Access pipeline poses to the Standing Rock Sioux’ water supply and the water contamination impacting mostly Black residents in Flint. In both cases, authorities have been slow to take the concerns of the affected racialized communities seriously and act on their demands.

"These are people who have been just as oppressed and in some other forms more oppressed than Black folks,” Flint resident and veteran George F. Grundy told the Flint Journal in reference to the struggle at Standing Rock, adding that shows of solidarity have made him believe that “the human spirit is larger than any corporate entity.”

Before the veterans head to Flint, Clark and a group of his fellow veterans offered a powerful show of historical reckoning with Native Americans in North Dakota on Monday.

In front of Indigenous leaders, some of the veterans recognized the history of genocide against Native Americans and asked for forgiveness for the military’s role in war crimes and violent attempted extermination that targeted tribes. Sioux tribe spokesperson Leksi Leonard Crow Dog accepted the apology.

The fight against the Dakota Access pipeline has brought together some 200 Native American tribes in support of the water protectors and garnered solidarity from hundreds more environmental, human rights and Indigenous groups.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Veterans-at-Standing-Rock-Take-Solidarity-to-Flint-Water-Crisis-20161206-0008.html

Videos at link

A win, however temporary. And there can be no doubt that the money ain't done. No doubt in my mind that the vets were the catalyst of the reversal, remains to be seen if this is more than an 'one-off'. The presence of Wesley Clark Jr gives pause, mebbe he's OK, mebbe he's Kerry. Whether these guys have the presence and cajoles of the VietNam Veterans Against the War remains to be seen.

blindpig

12-29-2016, 12:46 PM

125 Years Ago Today the Government Declared Victory in Its “Race War” Against Native AmericansLacey McLaughlin | December 28, 2015
The Lakota are still seeking justice for the atrocities committed at Wounded Knee.

http://usuncut.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/woundedknee.jpg

December 29th marks the 125th anniversary of when U.S. soldiers surrounded a band of Indians at Wounded Knee creek, seized their weapons and slaughtered at least 150—many of them women and children.

The 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre isn’t given much attention in history books, but it’s an uglier part of our country’s past that arguably contradicted the second amendment—giving citizens the rights to bear arms— violated human rights while designating 20 soldiers heroes by awarding them with the Army’s Medal of Honor.

The massacre was the result of the U.S. government’s desire to seize land and move indigenous people from their homelands. This bubbled to the surface in 1890 as Indians at the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota took part in the Ghost Dance Spiritual Movement—a practice to reject the ways of the white man with the belief that God would create the world anew.

On Dec. 29 the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry surrounded a band of ghost dancers near Wounded Knee Creek and Col. James W. Forsyth demanded they surrender their weapons and told them they’d be relocated to another camp.

A fight between a soldier and a deaf Indian named Black Coyote resulted in a shot being fired—though it remains unclear who fired the weapon first. U.S. Soldiers began shooting at the unarmed group and managed to kill as many as 300 Indians—many of them women and children. The soldiers were aided by cannon rounds from Hotchkiss guns.

Prior to the attack, women and men had been separated. Despite this, the soldiers took no effort to spare their lives. As women began running, the soldiers hunted them down.

Eye-witness accounts were recorded in by the 1891 Commissioner of Indian Affairs and gave a chilling synopsis of the ways women and their children died at the hands of the soldiers:

“Right near the flag of truce a mother was shot down with her infant; the child not knowing that its mother was dead was still nursing, and that especially was a very sad sight. The women as they were fleeing with their babes were killed together, shot right through, and the women who were very heavy with child were also killed.”

The account continues on, stating that small boys who had emerged from hiding thinking it was safe were also butchered by soldiers.

A woman who survived lost her daughter and baby boy. According to her account, one shot passed through the baby’s body and hit her elbow, causing him to drop to the ground. She was also hit twice in the back.

Several days later, government authorities dug a mass grave for 146 bodies of children, women and men. They stripped the bodies naked and piled them on top of each other in the frozen ground.

The U.S. Army suffered 25 causalities in the fight and 20 members were awarded the Army’s Medal of Honor—it’s highest commendation. More soldiers received the Medal of Honor in Wounded Knee than the 64,000 South Dakotans who fought for four years of World War II. According to author David Grua, the US government considered Wounded Knee the final chapter of a “race war” between whites and Native Americans.

In the years after 1890, the U.S. Army made Wounded Knee a central event in American public memory, awarding 20 Medals of Honor to the Seventh Cavalry and erecting a monument to the soldiers killed in the engagement. Wounded Knee was heralded as the final victory in the 400 year “race war” between civilization and savagery, the event that laid the foundation for the American nation’s subsequent prosperity.

Native American activists have long called for the medals to be withdrawn and in 2001 the National Congress of American Indians passed two resolutions condemning the awards. Despite years of petitions, Congress has failed to rescind the medals. Today, the Lakota tribe continues to fight to have their perspective of events included in the US Government’s “official memory” of the massacre, as well as seek reparations for the descendants of Wounded Knee victims.

http://usuncut.com/resistance/wounded-knee-massacre-race-war/

I have not seen any reports from N Dakota in a couple weeks. 'Winter Quarters', I guess.

blindpig

12-31-2016, 01:02 PM

HOW TO TALK ABOUT #NODAPL: A NATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Wrong Kind of Green Nov 08, 2016 Whiteness & Aversive Racism
Transformative Spaces

October 27, 2016

by Kelly Hayes

http://i2.wp.com/www.wrongkindofgreen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/14247963_10154406248820309_1976289082_o.jpg?w=1024
Water Protectors gather after a day of prayer and direct action. (Photo: Desiree Kane)
This piece is very personal because, as an Indigenous woman, my analysis is very personal, as is the analysis that my friends on the frontlines have shared with me. We obviously can’t speak for everyone involved, as Native beliefs and perspectives are as diverse as the convictions of any people. But as my friends hold strong on the frontlines of Standing Rock, and I watch, transfixed with both pride and worry, we feel the need to say a few things.

I’ve been in and out of communication with my friends at Standing Rock all day. As you might imagine, as much as they don’t want me to worry, it’s pretty hard for them to stay in touch. I asked if there was anything they wanted me to convey on social media, as most of them are maintaining a very limited presence on such platforms. The following is my best effort to summarize what they had to say, and to chime in with a few corresponding thoughts of my own.

It is crucial that people recognize that Standing Rock is part of an ongoing struggle against colonial violence. #NoDAPL is a front of struggle in a long-erased war against Native peoples — a war that has been active since first contact, and waged without interruption. Our efforts to survive the conditions of this anti-Native society have gone largely unnoticed because white supremacy is the law of the land, and because we, as Native people, have been pushed beyond the limits of public consciousness.

The fact that we are more likely to be killed by law enforcement than any other group speaks to the fact that Native erasure is ubiquitous, both culturally and literally, but pushed from public view. Our struggles intersect with numerous others, but are perpetrated with different motives and intentions. Anti-Black violence, for example, is publicly performed for the sake of social and economic control, whereas the violence against us has always had one pragmatic aim: our total erasure.

The struggle at Standing Rock is an effort to prevent the construction of a deadly, destructive mechanism, created by greed-driven people with no regard for our lives. It has always been this way. We die, and have died, for the sake of expansion and white wealth, and for the maintenance of both.

The harms committed against us have long been relegated to the history books. This erasure has occurred for the sake of both white supremacy and US mythology, such as American exceptionalism. It has also been perpetuated to sustain the comfort of those who benefit from harms committed against us. Our struggles have been kept both out of sight and out of mind — easily forgotten by those who aren’t directly impacted.

It should be clear to everyone that we are not simply here in those rare moments when others bear witness.

To reiterate (what should be obvious): We are not simply here when you see us.

We have always been here, fighting for our lives, surviving colonization, and that reality is rarely acknowledged. Even people who believe in freedom frequently overlook our issues, as well as the intersections of their issues with our own. It matters that more of the world is bearing witness in this historic moment, but we feel the need to point out that the dialogue around #NoDAPL has become extremely climate oriented. Yes, there is an undeniable connectivity between this front of struggle and the larger fight to combat climate change. We fully recognize that all of humanity is at risk of extinction, whether they realize it or not. But intersectionality does not mean focusing exclusively on the intersections of our respective work.

It sometimes means taking a journey well outside the bounds of those intersections.

In discussing #NoDAPL, too few people have started from a place of naming that we have a right to defend our water and our lives, simply because we have a natural right to defend ourselves and our communities. When “climate justice”, in a very broad sense, becomes the center of conversation, our fronts of struggle are often reduced to a staging ground for the messaging of NGOs.

This is happening far too frequently in public discussion of #NoDAPL.

Yes, everyone should be talking about climate change, but you should also be talking about the fact that Native communities deserve to survive, because our lives are worth defending in their own right — not simply because “this affects us all.”

So when you talk about Standing Rock, please begin by acknowledging that this pipeline was redirected from an area where it was most likely to impact white people. And please remind people that our people are struggling to survive the violence of colonization on many fronts, and that people shouldn’t simply engage with or retweet such stories when they see a concrete connection to their own issues — or a jumping off point to discuss their own issues. Our friends, allies and accomplices should be fighting alongside us because they value our humanity and right to live, in addition to whatever else they believe in.

Every Native at Standing Rock — every Native on this continent — has survived the genocide of a hundred million of our people. That means that every Indigenous child born is a victory against colonialism, but we are all born into a fight for our very existence. We need that to be named and centered, which is a courtesy we are rarely afforded.

This message is not a condemnation. It’s an ask.

We are asking that you help ensure that dialogue around this issue begins with and centers a discussion of anti-Native violence and policies, no matter what other connections you might ultimately make, because those discussions simply don’t happen in this country. There obviously aren’t enough people talking about climate change, but there are even fewer people — and let’s be real, far fewer people — discussing the various forms of violence we are up against, and acting in solidarity with us. And while such discussions have always been deserved, we are living in a moment when Native Water Protectors and Water Warriors have more than earned both acknowledgement and solidarity.

So if you have been with us in this fight, we appreciate you, but we are reaching out, right now, in these brave days for our people, and asking that you keep the aforementioned truths front and center as you discuss this effort. This moment is, first and foremost, about Native liberation, self determination and Native survival. That needs to be centered and celebrated.

Thanks,

K and friends

http://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2016/11/08/how-to-talk-about-nodapl-a-native-perspective/?utm_source=ReviveOldPost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost

blindpig

01-14-2017, 12:29 PM

Motorist liability introduced in response to pipeline protests
NICK SMITH Bismarck Tribune Jan 11, 2017
A bill introduced by an oil patch lawmaker would provide an exemption for the driver of a motor vehicle if they unintentionally injured or killed a pedestrian obstructing traffic on a public road or highway.

“It’s shifting the burden of proof from the motor vehicle driver to the pedestrian,” said Rep. Keith Kempenich, R-Bowman, who admitted the bill is in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in southern Morton County.

He said a response, in the form of House Bill 1203, was needed after groups of protesters blocked or gathered close to roadways and caused problems as motorists tried to drive by.

“They’re not there for the protesters,” said Kempenich of public roadways as a staging point. “They’re intentionally putting themselves in danger."

Kempenich said his mother-in-law, on a few occasions, was traveling south of Mandan and came upon groups of protesters gathered on and near roadways.

He said, on one occasion, about 100 cars were parked along a road in Morton County and his mother-in-law was passing through and slowed down. He said at one point an individual jumped out in front of the vehicle and was waving a sign.

Kempenich said one should consider what might happen if someone panics when coming upon a group of people gathered along a public roadway. He said an unintentional tragedy may occur “if they’d have punched the accelerator rather than the brakes.”

No committee hearing has yet been set for HB1203. Kempenich said some adjustments may be needed to clarify language but called the bill a reasonable move even if it may rarely, if ever, be applicable to occurrences outside of the protests.

“Our involvement in this would be very minimal and limited,” North Dakota Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Iverson said of the agency’s involvement with HB1203.

Iverson said the highway patrol could provide information to the committee when HB1203 is heard, such as how frequently pedestrians are struck by motor vehicles on public roads and highways.

He didn’t have numbers readily available but estimated that the number of instances of pedestrians obstructing traffic on record likely was much less “prior to Dakota Access.”

House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo, said he wasn’t involved in HB1203 but lawmakers do need to weigh making potential changes in law enforcement capabilities in response to things such as the protests.

“The role of the Legislature is to work with the professionals,” Carlson said. “We won’t violate the right to peaceful protest."

http://m.bismarcktribune.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/motorist-liability-introduced-in-response-to-pipeline-protests/article_27bfbbe1-40b3-53ab-a620-3b6e0225fb59.html

There really is no separating the hatred of indigenous peoples and the mandates of capital and it is personified in the settler.

Dhalgren

01-14-2017, 01:07 PM

There really is no separating the hatred of indigenous peoples and the mandates of capital and it is personified in the settler.

Yep, it's all of a piece.

blindpig

01-17-2017, 12:03 PM

‘The Supreme Law of the Land’: Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline

https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/1851-Treaty-Lands-and-the-Dakota-Access-Pipeline-Route.jpg

Shouldn’t the US obey the Constitution?
Jeffrey Ostler and Nick Estes • January 16, 2017

On December 4, opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) won a major victory when the Army Corps of Engineers announced it would not grant an easement for the pipeline to be built under Lake Oahe on the Missouri River. The Water Protectors, who have heroically resisted the pipeline for months, celebrated this decision, but they realized that the Corps’ decision did not mean the Black Snake was dead. The Corps stated that it would pursue further review and analysis through an Environmental Impact Statement. But the Corps could still grant an easement at some future date. Donald Trump’s presidency has enhanced a sense that the fight is not over. Not only has Trump held financial interest in the pipeline (and likely still does), he is a friend of the fossil fuel industry and has never shown respect for the sovereignty of American Indian nations.

Although Trump himself has said little about Dakota Access Pipeline, pipeline advocates have challenged the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s contention that the pipeline is being constructed across lands recognized by the U.S. as Sioux territory in the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty. Just days after the Corps’ decision not to grant an easement, outgoing North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple wrote an op-ed piece stating that “the pipeline’s permitted route never crosses tribal land. Those opponents who cite the 1851 Treaty of Ft. Laramie to dispute who owns the lands conveniently ignore the later treaty of 1868.” A close look at the record, however, shows that Standing Rock and the Sioux Nation did not cede the 1851 Treaty lands under the 1868 Treaty or any other treaty. Furthermore, Standing Rock retains water rights from the 1851 Treaty and subsequent treaties. These water rights give the tribe jurisdiction over the Missouri River at the point of DAPL’s proposed crossing.

There is no question about the accuracy of Standing Rock’s contention that the pipeline is being constructed across lands recognized as Sioux territory under the 1851 Treaty. That treaty stated that the northern boundary for Sioux territory was at the Heart River, north of the Dakota Access Pipeline route. At first glance, it may seem as though the Sioux ceded these lands under the 1868 Treaty. Article 2 of the 1868 Treaty established a “permanent reservation” for the Sioux with a northern boundary at the current border between the states of North and South Dakota, in other words, south of the Dakota Access Pipeline route. However, under Article 16 of the 1868 Treaty, lands north of the permanent reservation were designated as “unceded Indian territory.” According to the Indian Claims Commission (ICC), in a 1978 decision, the northern boundary of the unceded Article 16 lands was the Heart River—the same boundary recognized in the 1851 Treaty.

Did the Sioux ever cede the Article 16 lands? The answer clearly is no. After a military expedition commanded by George Armstrong Custer discovered gold in the Black Hills in 1874, the U.S. coerced a minority of Sioux chiefs and headmen into signing an agreement in 1876 that ceded the Black Hills along with the 1868 Treaty’s Article 16 lands. But the 1876 agreement violated a provision in the 1868 Treaty that any future land cession must “be signed by at least three-fourths of all the adult male” tribal members. After decades of litigation, the ICC ruled in 1974 that the 1876 agreement was an unconstitutional taking under the Fifth Amendment. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ICC’s decision, observing that, “A more ripe and rank case of dishonorable dealing will never, in all probability, be found in our history.” Although the Supreme Court’s decision focused on the illegal taking of the Black Hills, the decision also applied to the 1876 Agreement’s abrogation of the 1868 Treaty’s Article 16 unceded lands, the territory currently in question.

Under U.S. law, the federal government does not have authority to return lands illegally taken, and so the courts remedied the taking of the Black Hills and the Article 16 lands by awarding monetary compensation. The Sioux Nation, however, has consistently rejected monetary compensation for the stolen lands and has instead argued for the return of the majority of Black Hills lands that are under federal ownership. (Private property would remain in private hands). Although Standing Rock would have a legitimate moral claim to lands south of the Heart River—across which the Dakota Access Pipeline is being constructed—the tribe is not arguing for the return of those lands. Nonetheless, the tribe’s position that the pipeline is being built across 1851 Treaty lands and that these lands have never been legitimately ceded is historically accurate and legally sound.

Standing Rock has strongly opposed the pipeline’s current route since 2014, arguing that the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing the Missouri River would negatively impact the tribe’s water supply and violate its water rights. Once again, the tribe’s position is supported by treaties now codified within Sioux Nation tribal constitutions. The 1851 Treaty described Sioux territory as extending as far east as the Missouri River, a boundary designated by Article 2 of the 1868 Treaty as the “low-water mark” on the river’s east bank. The Standing Rock constitution, however, delineates reservation boundaries and jurisdiction according to the 1889 Sioux Agreement. Section 3 of the Agreement puts Standing Rock’s eastern frontier as “Beginning at a point in the center of the main channel of the Missouri River, opposite the mouth of the Cannon Ball River,” a location just south of the larger anti-pipeline encampment. Both the encampment and the Dakota Access Pipeline Missouri River crossing site are technically outside reservation limits, but they are still on unceded treaty lands.

The Standing Rock constitution was drafted with incredible foresight to protect tribal water; it reserves jurisdiction over “all rights-of-way, waterways, watercourses[,] and streams running through any part of the Reservation.” In spite of this, just months after the constitution’s adoption in 1959, the Corps completed construction of the Oahe Dam. As a result, fifty-six thousand acres of Standing Rock river lands were flooded and destroyed, hundreds of families dislocated, and the Corps assumed primary jurisdiction over the Missouri River and its shoreline without Standing Rock’s consent. Congress authorized Oahe Dam under the 1944 Flood Control Act (alternatively known as the Pick-Sloan Plan), which also authorized the construction of five more dams on the Missouri’s main stem, all disproportionately flooding Native lands. Pick-Sloan dams set into motion what the late Standing Rock Sioux scholar, Vine Deloria Jr., characterized as “the single most destructive act ever perpetrated on any tribe by the United States.” In total, 550 square miles of Native lands (half the size of Rhode Island) were destroyed and more than 900 Native families were dislocated. The Sioux were deracinated from their river.

Did the Corps overstep its authority? Certainly, it did. The Flood Control Act only authorized the Corps to construct dams—not to expunge tribal jurisdiction. Its less than precise language in Section 4 opened the river for “public use” and “recreational purposes.” It did not strip any tribe of its authority or jurisdiction over the Missouri River. Still, the Corps condemned lands under “eminent domain” and Congress awarded compensation in the 1958 Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Act. Yet, neither the Flood Control Act, which took the land, nor the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Act, which awarded compensation for taking the land, explicitly extinguished tribal jurisdiction; and neither authorized or provided any compensation for the Corps taking the river itself from the tribes.

The Sioux Nation has since contended that the Missouri River and its shoreline were never legally ceded, and they are right. The Corps altering the flow of the river contravenes a 1908 Supreme Court decision known as the Winters Doctrine. The doctrine holds that however diminished current reservation boundaries may be, tribes retain senior, reserved rights to water flowing through the originally defined boundaries established by treaty, statute, or executive order. Whether by dam or by ruptured oil pipeline, altering the flow of the Missouri River or any river within Sioux treaty territory violates the spirit of the Winters Doctrine. But the Sioux Nation has yet to legally invoke the doctrine because of rightful fear that any quantification of water rights, as history has shown, would likely result in endless constraints and the diminishment of tribal sovereignty. Nevertheless, Standing Rock and the Sioux Nation maintain a legitimate moral claim to the river.

As we await the Environmental Impact Statement as to whether or not the Corps should grant Dakota Access Pipeline an easement to cross the Missouri River, Standing Rock’s argument for treaty rights alone is compelling. This does not diminish other grievances such as the pipeline company’s brazen defilement of tribal burial and cultural sites or North Dakota’s copious use of violence against unarmed Water Protectors. For those who argue Native treaties are archaic documents that are no longer valid, a certain document older than the treaties—the U.S. Constitution itself— regards them as “the supreme law of the land.” Are we to blame Standing Rock for asking the U.S. to obey its own Constitution?

Nick Estes is Kul Wicasa from the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, a doctoral candidate in American Studies at the University of New Mexico, and an Andrew W. Mellon Dissertation Fellow. His forthcoming book Mni Wiconi: Water is Life, Death, and Liberation will be published by Verso in 2017. Estes co-founded The Red Nation.

https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/opinions/supreme-law-land-standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline/

Dhalgren

01-17-2017, 12:24 PM

Are we to blame Standing Rock for asking the U.S. to obey its own Constitution?

This may be an area where Trump flexes his dictator power. With this much profit in the wind, it is going to be hard going for the Protectors.

blindpig

01-18-2017, 09:55 AM

Indigenous-Led Pipeline Resistance Camps Spread Across the USA
JANUARY 15, 2017

Direct opposition to fossil fuel extraction projects continues to spread throughout the USA. Resistance camps mirroring the #NoDAPL encampments opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) have sprung up to resist the Sabal Trail, Trans-Pecos, Comanche, AIM, and Pilgrim Pipelines.

Water protectors are concerned about the threats to the environment posed by the fracking process and the boring that occurs when pipelines are constructed underneath waterways.

TRANS-PECOS PIPELINE – TEXAS

Like DAPL, the Trans-Pecos Pipeline (TPPL) project in West Texas is being built by a coalition led by Energy Transfer Partners (ETP). Trans-Pecos is a 148 mile, 42 inch diameter, natural gas “intrastate pipeline designed to transport 1.4 billion cubic feet per day of clean-burning natural gas as part of an agreement with Comisión Federal de Electricidad, Mexico’s federal electricity commission.”

https://i2.wp.com/www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/waha_transpecos_county_maps_overview-low-res-.jpg?resize=597%2C393
Picture from Trans-Pecos Pipeline Project

Proponents of the pipeline say that bringing Mexico natural gas will help with the air pollution in Texas as Mexico will be able to close its coal power plants. Some also hope that the natural gas pipeline will ensure that their towns will get natural gas, as they use propane for heat.

In the Environment tab on TransPecosPipelineFacts.com, a statement made by Energy Transfer Partners, among headers of Dark Skies and Restoration, reads that:

“During the initial conception stage of the pipeline and its proposed route, we selected a route that avoided and minimized the crossing of sensitive environmental resources as our base routing guideline. This, coupled with avoidance of residences, defines the route initially and then the entire route is field verified by civil, environmental and cultural survey studies that further identify sensitive areas for the project to avoid.“
Since 2015, dozens of archaeologists, landowners, ranchers, anarchists, and other concerned citizens have organized groups like the Big Bend Conservation Alliance, which is now called Big Bend Defense Coalition, to oppose the Trans-Pecos Pipeline. Issues from this pipeline have even had conservative ranchers asking the federal government to intervene to prevent construction.

TPPL is paid for by Mexico, and Mexico decided the pipeline’s route. Energy Transfer Partners is listed as a “common carrier” in Texas, so they have “a great deal of leeway to override individuals’ property rights“. This gives ETP the ability to use eminent domain and/or cheaply buy-off citizen’s land to construct the pipeline.

In direct opposition to TPPL, direct actions, prayer, and ceremonies took place in Texas in late November. Just before the new 2017 calendar year, on December 30th, Two Rivers Camp in West Texas was formed.

Water protectors from the Society of Native Nations, and the Big Bend Defense Coalition founded the Indigenous-led Two Rivers Camp, or La Junta de los Rios, in Presidio County, Texas, to prevent the completion of the Trans-Pecos Pipeline. A statement released by Two Rivers Camp explain their decision to begin a direct action campaign:

“The Trans Pecos Pipeline (TPPL) is owned by Kelcy Warren, billionaire and CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the same company that owns the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. The TPPL is a fracked gas pipeline that is being built through west Texas. It will go under The Rio Grande River into Mexico where the gas will be exported to various foreign countries. One hundred and forty three (143) miles of this pipeline is considered “intra-state,” which means it requires NO environmental, archaeological, socioeconomic, safety, routing or other studies or impact assessments have to be done or taken into consideration.

The TPPL will:

1) Go through the Chihuahuan Desert, which is one of the three most biologically diverse arid regions in the world.

2) Will destroy the delicate ecology on both sides of the border.

3) Go under the Rio Grande. In the event of a leak or an explosion, the methane from the gas could infiltrate the water aquifer that sits just 50 feet below the Rio Grande.

4) IF completed, FRACKING will begin to take place and this will bring on a whole new set of water contamination issues to a water source that is already scarce to the area.

5) The pressure testing of the pipeline ALONE is also going to use millions of gallons of water.

Energy Transfer Partners (company also behind DAPL) has forcibly taken land from 34 local landowners in the name of eminent domain, a legal process that should only be used to benefit the public. NO ONE in the United States will benefit from this pipeline but Kelcy Warren and his billionaire cronies.“
On January 7th, a week after the camp was founded, two water protectors were arrested for locking down to construction excavators in a direct action that stopped construction for the day. In a video from the Jan. 7th action Two Rivers Camp organizer Frankie Orona states:

“People are coming in from other states, people are coming down from North Dakota, the momentum’s growing and its growing here in Texas and that’s what we need. All the fracking that’s going to be happening here that’s gonna be contaminating not just the water, the land, the air, but sacred sites and land that’s owned by people who have lived here for generations and they’re feeling like they’re getting bullied.” – Frankie Orona
Another action involving lockdowns to construction equipment occurred during Saturday, January 15th. Two people who called themselves Earth Protectors, were arrested, one of whom was charged with felony criminal mischief as well as felony interference with a state machine.

COMANCHE TRAIL – TEXAS

Comanche Trail Pipeline is another Energy Transfer Partners pipeline project that, like the TPPL, originates from the “Waha Hub outside Fort Stockton, Texas in northern Pecos County”, and like the TPPL, goes to the Mexican border attaching to another pipeline with the sole purpose of bringing natural gas to Mexico. Comanche Trail is a 195 mile natural gas pipeline slated for a January 2017 completion date.

https://i1.wp.com/www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/etc_comanchetrail_county_ams_20150714-r1-1600x395.png?resize=600%2C395
Picture from Comanche Trail Pipeline Project

This pipeline had recently been halted by the federal government with a temporary restraining order in late 2016 due to lawsuits, border issues, and construction damages such as collapsing creeks and canals.

A couple of weeks ago, in late December, the official go-ahead to resume the project was granted, and a new round of direct opposition to, and direct actions against, the Comanche Trail Pipeline’s construction completion have begun.

In San Eli, Texas, on Wednesday, January 12th, 2017, two water protectors targeted Pumpco construction equipment, owned by ETP’s CEO Kelcy Warren, in attempts to stop work. One person locked down to the backhoe and another locked themselves underneath it.

With the newly created US-Mexico Energy Business Council (May 2016), pipeline projects such as the Trans-Pecos and the Comanche Trail will continue to grow in number, often endowed with an ability to supersede local laws and regulations.

SABAL TRAIL TRANSMISSION – FLORIDA

The Sabal Trail Transmission is a three-state, $3 billion natural gas pipeline project that is due to be completed by June 2017. Partners in this joint ‘Sabal Trail’ project which starts in Alabama, goes through Georgia, and ends in Florida, are Spectra Energy Corp., with 59.5% ownership, NextEra Energy, Inc. with 33%, and Duke Energy with 7.5%.

https://i2.wp.com/www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/sabaltrail.png?resize=514%2C370
Picture from Sabal Trail Transmission

Spectra Energy, the main owner of the Sabal Trail Pipeline, has a history of pipeline accidents, with a single pipeline (the Texas Eastern Transmission pipeline) causing over twelve million dollars in property damage in the last decade.

On Sabal Trail’s website, it’s written that the “underground pipeline will bring additional affordable, clean natural gas supplies to Florida“. Many opponents believe that it presents too many environmental risks. Some of those opponents, in late 2016, initiated the Springs not Pipelines action camp in an attempt to stop the Sabal Trial Pipeline.

In a report-back from the direct action camp, Panagioti Tsolkas states:

“There is a bounty of reasons to oppose this project, from the regional threats our waterways and wild lands to the global impacts of climate change. For a few examples, the project is slated to impact 4,370 acres of forests, 1,958 wetland systems and 699 waterbodies; it will emit greenhouse gas and toxic pollutants through its compressor stations, not to mention the impacts from power plants that will burn the fuel for electricity and the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals that will process and store the fuel. Add to that the utter disregard for low-income/minority “environmental justice communities”—the Environmental Impacts Statement (EIS) acknowledged that 83.7% of the Project would cross or be within one mile of environmental justice populations, including 135 environmental justice communities. That is to say nothing of ongoing eminent domain proceedings and the potential impacts of leaks and combustion.” – Panagioti Tsolkas
Fourteen people were arrested in November for blocking equipment needed to continue construction at the site of the Santa Fe River. Resistance has continued through the winter and is growing. On January 12th, there was a die-in at the Florida State Capitol building in Tallahassee protesting the Sabal Trail Pipeline.

A January 14 press release by Stop Sabal Trail states that four camps, dubbed the “heartland camps” have now been created. A call-out for mass civil disobedience to stop the Suwannee River crossing construction took place on Saturday, January 14th, as hundreds of people marched and came together in a festive gathering in attempts to shut down the construction areas near Suwannee River.

With claims of the Sabal Trail being built through indigenous burial grounds and the continued concerns about the pipeline’s safety, this struggle will likely continue to become a focal point in the Southeast region of the United States of America.

DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE – ILLINOIS

The historic autonomous #NoDAPL encampments continue near Cannonball, North Dakota, on 1851 treaty land, to preserve the Missouri River and prevent pipeline construction. As they move through the harsh winter conditions into mid-January of 2017, construction continues away from Lake Oahe, where the Army’s Dec. 4th denial of the Lake Oahe easement has prevented full boring under the Missouri River.

https://i0.wp.com/www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Bakken-News-Map_14522672256805-300x300-noup.jpg?resize=267%2C300
Dakota Access Pipeline Route (in Red), up to Patoka, Illinois – pic via The Bakken Magazine
Two states away, in southern Illinois, a prayer action on December 18th, in which two people were arrested,brought to light that DAPL construction has yet to be fully completed.

A press release by Illinois water protectors, states that they have observed several active DAPL construction sites across southern Illinois. They stated that after noticing ongoing construction,

“Water protectors from different communities across the state of Illinois, led by Lakota activists, met for a rally in Effingham, IL and then caravanned to conduct a water ceremony at the Kaskaskia River crossing.” – Illinois water protectors
In their statement from the Dec. 18th action, they detail how they were “met with an authoritarian presence; dozens of police and private unmarked security vehicles that followed our caravan.” Both of the two arrested water protectors have since had their charges dropped.

In response to the police endeavors, Laura, from the Illinois Water Protectors spoke to Unicorn Riot about their upcoming call-in action, dated for January 18th, the day of the original court date for the two arrests in December:

“We demand accountability of our government officials to do their jobs. We are telling them to stop serving the interests of filling their own campaign contribution funds. Stop forcing the police to work against the communities they are supposed to protect. Finally, show some overdue respect to the people of this land who are entitled to the freedoms of speech, religion, and assembly, as well as having clean air, water, and earth in every community, and not just some communities. We are not going to stand for politicians to sit idle or to actively assist in the mass poisoning of human beings.” – Laura Doligosa
For further context on what is propelling these water protectors’ actions in Illinois, Indigenous activist Janie Pochel told Unicorn Riot:

“Construction of DAPL in Illinois is not complete, and once again we see that police continue to work on behalf of ETCO, using intimidation and repression against water protectors. We will continue to fight them. There are many ways to fight: construction is not complete, permits can still be challenged and rescinded, the divestment campaign is still mounting, and we have found that DAPL has disturbed several Indigenous burial sites along the pipeline route. We call on communities across Illinois to commit to stopping this and all other pipelines, and to upholding the sovereignty and self-determination of native peoples across Turtle Island.

No more repression against native peoples and water protectors!

I have this radical idea that all this land is Native land. We have the right to pray on our lands, and water, just like we’ve done for thousands of years, but we have no freedom to practice our right.” – Janie Pochel
Recent changes in the political scene bringing a pipeline-friendly Trump administration make it likely that things will ‘heat up’ in the continuing resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

PILGRIM PIPELINE / AIM PIPELINE EXPANSION – NEW JERSEY

Pilgrim Pipeline, in the Northeast region of the USA, is being constructed by Pilgrim Holdings, LLC. to move oil through the region. “The 178-mile parallel underground pipelines will run between supply and distribution terminals in Albany and Linden, New Jersey.”

https://i2.wp.com/www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Pilgrim-Pipeline-map.jpg?resize=450%2C600
Pilgrim Pipeline route (pic via QuenchNJ article)

The Ramapough Lenape Nation, a tribe recognized by the states of New Jersey and New York, but not the federal government, are still trying to clean up from years of toxic contamination of its lands by a Ford plant decades ago. Now they’re dealing with the new Pilgrim Pipeline and the expansion of the AIM pipeline.

https://i2.wp.com/www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/map-AIM.png?resize=800%2C328
Map of the Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Project

In efforts to protect their land from AIM and Pilgrim, a month or two ago, the Ramapough erected teepees and tents on their land and have had prayer gatherings and ceremonies at Split Rock Sweet Water Camp.

Mahwah, New Jersey officials have attempted to challenge the tribes erecting of the teepees saying that they need zoning permits and on December 29th, the Township of Mahwah “issued a Notice and Order of Penalty and Notice of Violation and Order to Terminate to the Ramapough Tribe regarding the Split Rock Sweet Water Camp. The Town of Mahwah is ordering the Ramapough Tribe to pay a total of $2,000 per week in penalties related to Split Rock Sweet Water. Other alleged violations carry a fine of up to $1,500 and 90 days in jail.“

This resistance against these pipelines has been ongoing, as The ‘Montrose 9’, arrested for blockading the Spectra’s AIM pipeline in November of 2015, were recently (Friday, January 6th) sentenced to community service after being convicted of disorderly conduct.

This new map below, by acclaimed Indigenous mapmaker Aaron Carapella, entitled “Proposed Pipelines in Tribal Homelands“, shows all of the proposed and partially built pipelines going through tribal lands in North America and Mexico.

https://i1.wp.com/www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/pipi.jpg?resize=536%2C615

http://www.unicornriot.ninja/?p=12222

Video at link.

blindpig

01-19-2017, 11:36 AM

Backwater Bridge 3

http://www.facebook.com/81e47d0d-7004-4dba-958a-b6059a736fcf

Cops attack in last few minutes. They would certainly massacre everyone if they thought they could get away with it and perhaps that time is soon, with or without Trump.

This is from last night. In that weather, faced with those savages, unarmed, this is bravery. And ya wonder why Leonard Peltier didn't get commuted.

blindpig

01-24-2017, 03:26 PM

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have asked water protectors to leave camp. Following a unanimous vote from the tribal council, hundreds of people must all clear out from the Cannon Ball district by Jan. 30. The order affects all three protest camps in the district: Oceti Sakowin, Rosebud, and Sacred Stone.
The council highlighted the danger of spring snowmelt, as the camps all sit in a flood zone.

The Sioux have also experienced mounting economic pressure from the continued blockage of Backwater Bridge on Highway 1806, the district’s primary road to work and the local hospital.

“Moving forward, our ultimate objective is best served by our elected officials, navigating strategically through the administrative and legal processes,” the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe wrote in a statement.

If the camps fail to clear, the Cannon Ball District will request help from federal law enforcement to remove anyone who attempts to stay in the camps, according to district representative Cody Two Bears. LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, the founder of Sacred Stone camp, reportedly has no plans to close her camp, and did not attend the council meeting announcing the Jan. 30 evacuation date.

While Trump just signed an executive order to green-light Dakota Access and Keystone XL, opposition remains fierce.

http://grist.org/briefly/trump-moved-to-push-through-the-keystone-xl-and-dakota-access-pipelines-but-its-not-a-done-deal/

Given the timing that reason for evacuation is proly bullshit. The tribal council wishes to avoid bloodshed, at best, and I'll not speculate beyond that.

Many will leave, some will not.

Dhalgren

01-24-2017, 09:21 PM

Given the timing that reason for evacuation is proly bullshit. The tribal council wishes to avoid bloodshed, at best, and I'll not speculate beyond that.

Many will leave, some will not.

The Sioux are trying to play chess with the Feds and the only pieces the Sioux got are pawns. The Feds and the State will shoot down anyone who is in their way - their itching to, the Sioux probably know this. Folks willing to face the bayonets need to have some idea of the consequences of their actions. If they get shot down on the prairie what will be the outcome of their sacrifice? How many cops have done time for murdering unarmed black men and women and children in the streets?

I don't know, without organization and solidarity on strong footing, how many killed will be too many?

Dhalgren

01-25-2017, 10:30 AM

I changed channels off and on to see if I could find any mention of the Sioux Tribal Council's order to clear the camps at the Protector sites. There was coverage of Trump's Presidential Orders to restart the Dakota pipeline and for Canada to reapply for Keystone. Trump said something to the effect that both projects should restart immediately. CBS had on some reporter who was supposed to be at one of the camps and he talked all about how the Protectors were reacting to Trump's actions and what they intended to do. The "news" persons in the studio asked all kinds of questions that made Trump look bad (very easy) and made the Protectors look good (even easier), but they never mentioned the Council's order. I guess it would have made the issues too complicated: Trump an inhuman monster and Indians with tears in their eyes over litter. I am not belittling what the Protectors are doing or what they have and are going through, but the "news" organs are belittling them. They are making them into caricatures, cardboard foils for the evil Trump. And once the Protectors are forced out of their camps and sent to jail, the "news" will discard them like used tissue. I am appalled on a regular basis by how venal and corrupt the "media" is - even when I am fully aware of it, going in!

blindpig

01-30-2017, 03:21 PM

With more than 1,000 water crossings, 'extra large' fight possible with Keystone XL pipeline
Seth Tupper Journal staff Jan 29, 2017 Updated 3 hrs ago 9

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/with-more-than-water-crossings-extra-large-fight-possible-with/article_06e0b530-7229-5a51-9a69-7d83d14cb9be.html
Craig Hudson, Journal staff
Elizabeth Lone Eagle, her husband, Bud Lone Eagle Sr., three of her children, Tatanka Itancan Lone Eagle, MerleJohn Lone Eagle and Zora Lone Eagle, and granddaughter Sakura Cook pose for a portrait near the Cheyenne River outside their hometown of Bridger. Elizabeth said the Dakota Access protest camp in North Dakota has emboldened and unified anti-pipeline activists who may turn their attention to the Keystone XL, which would cross under the Cheyenne River near Bridger.

The small town of Bridger is several miles from the crossing of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline under the Cheyenne River.
November 2011
Associated Press
Demonstrators march with a replica of a pipeline during a November 2011 protest to demand a stop to the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline outside the White House in Washington.
As its name implies, everything about the Keystone XL crude-oil pipeline could be “extra large,” including the level of outrage aimed at the 1,073 waterways it would cross in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.

A separate project, the Dakota Access pipeline, has attracted more attention in recent months while it has been blocked by protesters who call themselves water protectors. Most of the Dakota Access pipeline is already built, except for a planned crossing under the Missouri River in southern North Dakota where protesters inspired by Native American activists are encamped.

Both pipeline projects vaulted into the news last week when newly sworn-in President Donald Trump issued memorandums supporting their completion. The Dakota Access pipeline, by virtue of being nearly finished, might continue to be the more controversial of the two in the short term.

But in the long run, if water crossings remain the focus of anti-pipeline activism, any controversy over the proposed $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline holds the potential to make the Dakota Access fight seem like a warm-up exercise. And it could bring protests to western South Dakota, where the Keystone XL route includes 333 water crossings.

Keystone XL opponent Elizabeth Lone Eagle lives in the tiny Cheyenne River Indian Reservation community of Bridger, near a spot where the Keystone XL would cross the Cheyenne River. Lone Eagle said the Dakota Access protest camp has emboldened and unified anti-pipeline activists.

“In South Dakota, in certain areas, it’s not going to be a protest,” she said. “It’s going to be a shutdown.”

Anti-pipeline groups such as the Indigenous Environmental Network, which has been active in the Dakota Access protest, are also promising a bigger fight.

“If Trump does not pull back from implementing these orders,” said a release from the network, “it will only result in more massive mobilization and civil disobedience on a scale never seen of a newly seated President of the United States.”

Earlier start for protests

Part of what makes the Keystone XL (the "XL" actually stands for "export limited") so ripe for large-scale protests is the head start that activists have on it. Large-scale opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline arose late in the regulatory process as construction was beginning, and now the only segment left to oppose along the 1,172-mile route from the North Dakota oilfields to an Illinois distribution center is the crossing under the Missouri River, next to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

In other words, the Dakota Access fight, while symbolizing a broader opposition to society’s dependence on oil, essentially hinges on one crossing under one waterway near one Native American reservation.

Conversely, Keystone XL presents activists with an opportunity to organize before the pipeline is built. The 1,179-mile route would stretch from the Canadian oil sands in Alberta, through eastern Montana and western South Dakota, to an existing pipeline connection at Steele City, Neb., for transport to Gulf Coast refineries (an existing Keystone pipeline already stretches through eastern South Dakota to Steele City and on to Illinois).

Along the way, the 36-inch wide Keystone XL pipeline would cross more than 1,000 bodies of water in the United States (after crossing an untold number of waterbodies in Canada) and weave between about a dozen U.S. Native American reservations within 100 miles of the route. None of the reservations would actually be crossed by the pipeline, but two of them — the Fort Peck reservation in Montana and the Cheyenne River reservation in South Dakota — would be skirted by just a few miles while several other reservations would be within 50 miles.

A possible epicenter for Keystone XL protests is the proposed crossing under the Missouri River in Montana, a spot that is similar to the contested Dakota Access crossing. Both sites involve the mighty and symbolic Missouri, the lifeblood of the Great Plains, and both are next door to Native American reservations that draw water from the river — the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota, and the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana. The Fort Peck reservation’s Assiniboine and Sioux tribes, which draw water downstream from the proposed crossing, adopted a resolution opposing the Keystone XL pipeline in 2015.

Besides the Missouri River crossing in Montana, there are hundreds of places where protesters could try to block a Keystone XL water crossing. The pipeline would make a total of 1,073 water crossings in three states, including dry stream beds that fill only during periods of heavy precipitation, irrigation ditches, small tributary creeks and well-known rivers used for drinking water, irrigation and recreation.

The Keystone XL would cross 333 waterways in South Dakota, including notables such as the Little Missouri, Cheyenne, Bad and White rivers; 459 waterways in Montana, including the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers; and 281 waterways in Nebraska, including the Niobrara and Platte rivers.

Additionally, the Keystone XL would cross some water pipelines, including a pipeline managed by the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. The Keystone XL would also pass above some underground water resources including the vast Ogallala Aquifer, which is said to supply water for more than 2 million people in the Great Plains.

Activists ready to pounce

Fear of a pipeline leak polluting water resources has motivated Paula Antoine, of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in south-central South Dakota, to watch Keystone XL news closely. She has spent time at the protest camp in North Dakota and was previously involved in a smaller and lesser-known protest camp near the South Dakota town of Ideal, in the potential path of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Ideal camp formed in 2014 and swelled to as many as several hundred people, Antoine said, but it disbanded in November 2015 after then-President Barack Obama announced his rejection of a presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline to cross into the United States from Canada. Antoine said the Ideal camp helped inspire the North Dakota camp, which was founded last spring and swelled to thousands of protesters over the summer before dwindling to several hundred this winter.

Antoine does not know whether or where another protest camp might arise in opposition to the Keystone XL; however, she said, “I don’t discount the fact that there probably will be a camp.”

Lone Eagle, of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, is convinced that large-scale protests against the Keystone XL are inevitable. Her remote community of Bridger consists of a cluster of homes in the extreme southwest corner of the Cheyenne River Reservation, built into the bluffs that rise above the Cheyenne River.

The spot where the Keystone XL pipeline would cross under the river is about five miles southwest of Bridger as the crow flies. Lone Eagle worries not only about pollution if the pipeline were to leak, but also about potential disruptions to the winding river’s path from pipeline construction. Lone Eagle said there are already erosion problems in the area from natural and human-caused changes to the river’s course, and she worries about resulting changes to the floodplain.

“They’re going to kill our community,” Lone Eagle said.

A spokesman for TransCanada, the company proposing the Keystone XL pipeline, declined an interview request. But the company issued a release Thursday when it re-applied for a presidential permit to bring the pipeline across the border into the United States.

The release said, among other things, that the pipeline would be built with "enhanced standards" and "the most advanced technology" to ensure its safe operation, and that construction of the pipeline would "support tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs" while contributing about $3.4 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product.

Water-crossing details

Fourteen major waterway crossings along the Keystone XL route, including the Cheyenne River crossing, would be achieved with a technique called horizontal directional drilling. As described in the Keystone XL’s federal environmental impact statement, the technique involves drilling a pilot hole under the waterway and its banks, and then enlarging the hole with progressively larger bits until the hole is large enough to accommodate a pre-welded segment of pipe.

Regulatory documents maintained by the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission say the pipe under the Cheyenne River would arc down to 50 feet below the river bottom (as opposed to standard depths of 3 to 4 feet where no water is present, depending on soil conditions) to protect the river from a potential pipeline leak. The pipe would begin its descent well back of the river and its ascent well beyond it, so that the horizontal distance from the beginning to the end of the arc would be 2,491 feet — much wider than the river itself.

Similar techniques would be used to cross under other major rivers, with the depth of the pipe dependent on site-specific conditions. The pipe under the White River in South Dakota, for example, would be 70 feet under the river bed, according to PUC documents.

Minor waterways, including small creeks, dry stream beds and drainage ditches, would be crossed with other methods, according to the Keystone XL's federal environmental impact statement.

For channels where no flow is present, workers could simply dig an open trench across the channel, put the pipeline in it and cover it up. If a small amount of water is present, a similar method could be used, with the trench simply excavated through the flowing water. For other streams with higher flows, dams with flumes or pumps and hoses could be installed to temporarily divert the flow around the construction area while a trench is dug and the pipeline is installed.

Whether the Keystone XL pipeline gets built, and whether the Dakota Access pipeline gets finished, remains to be seen. Trump’s memorandum on the Dakota Access pipeline ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to quickly consider approval of the contested Missouri River crossing, but that issue is tied up in litigation and the Corps said last week that it was studying Trump’s memorandum.

Trump’s memorandum on the Keystone XL pipeline invited the TransCanada Corp. to resubmit its application for a presidential border-crossing permit (which the company did Thursday), and Trump also ordered federal agencies to make a decision on the application within 60 days. But environmental groups have threatened litigation seeking a comprehensive new review of the project, rather than reliance on the review conducted by the Obama administration.

At the state level, the Keystone XL project already has approval from Montana and South Dakota but lacks approval from Nebraska. In that state, a diverse and highly organized coalition concerned in part about potential pollution of the Ogallala Aquifer has rallied the staunchest opposition to the Keystone XL so far.

Antoine, the veteran of two protest camps, said activists will anxiously await further developments.

“It’s like a suspense show,” she said, “just waiting for something to happen.”

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/with-more-than-water-crossings-extra-large-fight-possible-with/article_06e0b530-7229-5a51-9a69-7d83d14cb9be.html

blindpig

02-07-2017, 01:41 PM

Terrible news from Standing Rock:They need VETERANS and MEDIA in Standing Rock NOW!
by worker
If you can get there to help, please start making preparations to leave right now.

From a reliable and experienced activist on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1835196253435181&id=100008344717252

This is very disturbing and just another manifestation of the growing fascism in our country.
Please read this latest, sad update from Standing Rock volunteer, Deborah MacKay - Warning: It's not pleasant. But you need to know this, and share:

Friends, I have returned from Standing Rock with my mind blown, my heart broken and my spirit troubled with foreboding of a deepening tragedy. Volunteering as a legal observer with the Water Protector Legal Collective I witnessed several confrontations between Water Protectors (WP) and law enforcement: national guard, sheriffs and private security (LE).

On 1/18/17 - 1/19/17 I observed WP with their hands in the air chanting “hands up don’t shoot” being fired upon at a range of 10 to 15 feet. Tear gas canisters and rubber bullets ( rubber bullets are regular bullets covered in rubber) were used against unarmed WP who had been singing and praying. I observed national guard chasing WP off the Backwater bridge, firing at people running away. I heard people choking and gagging from tear gas. I saw access to the WP medic vehicles being blocked. I spoke with medics and WP who described bullets penetrating flesh and causing terrible injuries, including to one media person who nearly lost his finger when his camera was targeted.

I talked with a media person and was told of 4 media people on the bridge that night, 3 had their recording devices shot and the 4th, his hand. I saw a photo of a sheriff aiming a rifle directly at a media woman who was standing apart from the crowd. I heard testimony of the back of the medic pickup truck being awash in blood after evacuating wounded.

I watched, and then, inadvertently became a part of, WP being forced off the bridge by national guard who were hiding behind WP vehicles parked along the road and firing rubber bullets at fleeing people. Many people were shot in the back, the neck, the head. When LE fired at people at close range, many were shot in the genitals or in the face. I received information about DAPL security breaching the short wave radio channels of the WP with taunts such as ”come out and fight like men you faggots or we will come to Camp and fuck your women.”

There are some young warriors, who, without the support of their elders, many who want the camps cleared to mitigate the economic and social damage being suffered by the local community in having the bridge closed, have vowed to not leave the camps or to let the last section of pipeline be built.

Driving away from the area on Monday I saw a convoy of construction vehicles heading to the drill pad. Last night an indigenous website live streamed reports of drilling and construction noises coming from the drill pad.

Without the eyes of a free press these attacks and trespasses continue, with the human rights and sovereignty of indigenous peoples denied. The UN Committee on Transnational Corporations and Human Right Abuses was in Standing Rock this week to take testimony of the many transgressions against people: crop dusters spraying poison pesticides and fertilizers on the camps; hair samples indicating the presence of these chemicals; people who have been injured, beat up, arrested, strip searched; media and medics being targeted by snipers; (one medic told me he stopped wearing his Red Cross vest due to medics being targeted); praying people being attacked and the refusal of DAPL and our government to abide by the Rule of Law.

The vets who came in Dec to stand down against these crimes need to be on the ground there now, right now. We need to stand up for our brothers and our sisters, for their way of life and, I believe, for our social contract as a democracy which is now threatened.

Please share this so word gets out what is happening, thank you.

Deborah MacKay

This is copy-pasted. If you choose to share, please do the same.

Dhalgren

02-07-2017, 03:38 PM

Without the eyes of a free press these attacks and trespasses continue, with the human rights and sovereignty of indigenous peoples denied. The UN Committee on Transnational Corporations and Human Right Abuses was in Standing Rock this week to take testimony of the many transgressions against people: crop dusters spraying poison pesticides and fertilizers on the camps; hair samples indicating the presence of these chemicals; people who have been injured, beat up, arrested, strip searched; media and medics being targeted by snipers; (one medic told me he stopped wearing his Red Cross vest due to medics being targeted); praying people being attacked and the refusal of DAPL and our government to abide by the Rule of Law.

At this stage, this has to be the reaction and the focus, but there needs to be more. There needs to be an understanding that the UN has zero power; that poisoning people for profit and gain is not something new to the bourgeoisie - it is SOP; that injuring people, throwing people in jail, and demeaning their dignity is also SOP; that media, medics and praying people are legitimate targets in this class war and the sooner this is recognized the better. And, finally, the government of the US has no use for the "Rule of Law" unless it is as a cudgel to use against their enemies, the working class.

The lack of awareness (or open acknowledgement) of the class war by all working class peoples has got to change and change now.

blindpig

02-07-2017, 04:17 PM

At this stage, this has to be the reaction and the focus, but there needs to be more. There needs to be an understanding that the UN has zero power; that poisoning people for profit and gain is not something new to the bourgeoisie - it is SOP; that injuring people, throwing people in jail, and demeaning their dignity is also SOP; that media, medics and praying people are legitimate targets in this class war and the sooner this is recognized the better. And, finally, the government of the US has no use for the "Rule of Law" unless it is as a cudgel to use against their enemies, the working class.

The lack of awareness (or open acknowledgement) of the class war by all working class peoples has got to change and change now.

One thing about the Trumpster, expectations of decency will be grossly diminished. It is our job to see that Trump is understood to be the rule, not the exception.

blindpig

02-09-2017, 07:59 AM

Dakota Access Pipeline Company Says It Will Resume Construction

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1486606486360/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/02/08/us_dakota_construction.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Protesters block a highway during a protest in Mandan against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, North Dakota. | Photo: Reuters

Published 8 February 2017

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners said it only needs three months to complete that section, nearly finishing up the entire pipeline.
The Dakota Access pipeline company said Wednesday that it will resume construction immediately under Lake Oahe, the segment of the path that had been blocked after months of international protests to protect tribal sacred lands and the drinking water of local residents.

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners said it only needs three months to complete that section, nearly finishing up the entire pipeline. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the final easement for construction Tuesday after President Donald Trump overturned an order to halt construction under the reservoir, which is a part of the Missouri River.

Tribes and environmentalists argued that the river provides drinking water for millions and that it is only a matter of time until the pipeline leaks and contaminates the surrounding water and land.

In December, under the watch of former President Barack Obama, the Army Corps had previously stated they would undertake a further environmental review of the project.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, whose reservation is adjacent to the line's route, said last week they will fight the decision, arguing that the Army Corps cannot circumvent a scheduled environmental impact study that was ordered in January.

About 50 protests erupted Wednesday in response to the final easement in what the Standing Rock tribe dubbed a “Last Stand,” in reference to Custer’s Last Stand in the Great Sioux War of 1876. Several were arrested.

The Seattle City Council voted Tuesday to divest US$3 billion in city funds from Wells Fargo bank, one of the major funders of the Dakota Access pipeline by a vote of 9-0.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Dakota-Access-Pipeline-Company-Says-It-Will-Resume-Construction-20170208-0038.html

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New Chair of Indian Affairs Loves Dakota Pipeline Crackdown

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1483831405482/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/01/07/us_dakota_affairs.jpg_1718483346.jpg
A log adorned with colorful decorations remains at a Dakota Access Pipeline protest encampment as construction work continues on the pipeline near the town of Cannon Ball, North Dakota. | Photo: Reuters

Published 7 January 2017

Senator John Hoeven, former governor of North Dakota, has regularly supported the oil industry at the expense of tribal sovereignty.
The new chair of the Indian Affairs committee in the Senate, John Hoeven, is an active supporter of the Dakota Access Pipeline and other energy projects that threaten tribal land.

Hoeven, who was elected chairman on Thursday, previously said that the Dakota Access Pipeline “has met or exceeded all environmental standards set forth by four states and the Army Corps of Engineers."

He also co-sponsored a bill to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, which also drew international activism to protect Indigenous lands and prevent environmental damage.

His top contributions come from the oil and gas industry, which donated over US$350,000 to his campaign committee, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, with the mining industry coming in a close fourth.

As former governor of North Dakota, he also leads the Dakota PAC, which has received funds from Lockheed Martin and the Duke Energy Corporation. Hoeven is also on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which decides how private actors use public land, including oil and gas, timber and mining companies.

Hoeven responded to his election saying that he is “honored” to work to “improve the lives of people across Indian Country.”

As a senator from North Dakota, Hoeven has addressed Native American issues on multiple occasions.

He co-sponsored legislation to promote Native American heritage and tourism but also to encourage tribes to develop their own energy programs and exclude them from the Labor Relations Act.

Hoeven was also a proponent of the aggressive repression against the protesters at the Standing Rock camp, requesting federal forces and leading an effort to increase Homeland Security funding. He is also co-sponsoring acts to designate a National Police Week and a National Day of the American Cowboy.

The vice chair of the Indian Affairs committee, Tom Udall, has received most of his funding from the League of Conservation Voters, but the oil and gas industry places high — higher that the environment sector — in industry donations.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/New-Chair-of-Indian-Affairs-Loves-Dakota-Pipeline-Crackdown-20170107-0015.html

'Divestiture' as a tactic against capitalist projects is not only a distraction but futile as the system is so awash in money(however 'funny'..) looking for a profitable home that other investors are easily found, even at a slightly lesser rate.

blindpig

02-11-2017, 09:37 AM

Some Standing Rock protesters resolve to stay put even as tribe shifts focus

By Jenni Monet / February 10, 2017

https://www.revealnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/photo-from-jenni-587x440.jpeg

It took a night for the reality to sink in – that in a sweeping chain of events the Dakota Access pipeline had been approved for completion. But for the foot soldiers behind the protests, the battle isn’t over.

“We’re not done yet,” said Joye Braun, the Cheyenne River Sioux woman who was the first to erect a teepee at the Sacred Stone Camp last April.

What’s hardest for Braun is accepting the fact that drilling has already begun. Her yurt is set up directly across the Missouri River from the pipeline drill pad.

“I could literally feel the vibrations in the ground,” she said.

A spokesperson for Energy Transfer Partners, the operator of the pipeline, confirmed that Braun was correct: work had resumed.

The $3.8 billion dollar pipeline is two-miles from reaching the Missouri River and its reservoir, Lake Oahe – the primary drinking source of the Standing Rock Sioux and and thousands of others downstream, many of them Native Americans.

The original route of the pipeline veered farther north across the river, near municipal water wells in Bismarck, North Dakota. But concerns about contamination that arose early in the planning process rerouted the pipeline about half a mile from the Standing Rock reservation’s boundary, stirring up accusations of environmental racism.

Braun, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, has been a strong voice throughout the protest. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granting of the easement needed to move ahead felt like a personal defeat.

“It’s heartbreaking,” she said, lifting up her glasses to stop tears from streaming down her face.

At the protest’s peak in early December, as many as 14,000 people gathered at the network of encampments sprawled across the borderlands of the reservation. The movement became an historic example of unity for indigenous people, as well as for individuals of all backgrounds, motivated by many different causes.

That momentum began to dwindle after an additional environmental review delayed construction and winter storms hit. Today, about 500 or fewer people remain camped out on federal lands that the Army Corps has ordered closed on Feb. 22. The stated concern of the agency, the tribe and state leaders is the danger of spring flooding.

The tribe has turned its attention to other targets, filing its preliminary injunction on Thursday calling for a halt in construction, and promoting its Native Nations March on Washington on March 10.

Still some protesters resolve to stay put.

“I received a calling from the Earth Mother to those lands,” said Tiffanie Pieper, 31, and environmentalist from San Diego who arrived in December. “I mean no disrespect to the tribe, but I’m not going anywhere.”

Tania Aubid declared a hunger strike on Jan. 31 and has started to feel the effects of malnutrition.

“A few days ago, I started feeling a tingling in my arms,” said Aubid, from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota

This is her first hunger strike, but the 48-year-old is a seasoned activist, who has protested numerous pipeline battles in the past. She intends to maintain her liquid-only regimen. She says she’s willing to die for this cause.

“Because when that pipeline breaks, it’s just going to decimate whatever’s in that river,” she said. “And it’s not if it’s going to break, it’s… when.”

https://www.revealnews.org/blog/some-standing-rock-protesters-resolve-to-stay-put-even-as-tribe-shifts-focus/

Dhalgren

02-11-2017, 02:14 PM

Still some protesters resolve to stay put.

“I received a calling from the Earth Mother to those lands,” said Tiffanie Pieper, 31, and environmentalist from San Diego who arrived in December. “I mean no disrespect to the tribe, but I’m not going anywhere.”

Tania Aubid declared a hunger strike on Jan. 31 and has started to feel the effects of malnutrition.

“A few days ago, I started feeling a tingling in my arms,” said Aubid, from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota

This is her first hunger strike, but the 48-year-old is a seasoned activist, who has protested numerous pipeline battles in the past. She intends to maintain her liquid-only regimen. She says she’s willing to die for this cause.

“Because when that pipeline breaks, it’s just going to decimate whatever’s in that river,” she said. “And it’s not if it’s going to break, it’s… when.”

*Sigh*. The new age tweebs who talk to "Mother Earth" seem ubiquitous as do those who think that the system will balk at someone dying for their beliefs. I am afraid that the time has passed when the government or its ruling class bosses gave two shits about anyone dying, period. DO these guys think that it is just black folks whom the government will murder with impunity? The ruling class is in beast mode right now. They will stomp the living shit out of you and anybody else that gets in their way. How are people missing this? The time for hunger strikes and passive resistance is over. The 20-teens are the 1880s on steroids. What will it take to get a little old fashioned class consciousness through the miasma of trendy slogans and celebrity shout-outs? There is a massacre coming that will dwarf the Haymarket; will it make a difference?

blindpig

02-11-2017, 02:46 PM

*Sigh*. The new age tweebs who talk to "Mother Earth" seem ubiquitous as do those who think that the system will balk at someone dying for their beliefs. I am afraid that the time has passed when the government or its ruling class bosses gave two shits about anyone dying, period. DO these guys think that it is just black folks whom the government will murder with impunity? The ruling class is in beast mode right now. They will stomp the living shit out of you and anybody else that gets in their way. How are people missing this? The time for hunger strikes and passive resistance is over. The 20-teens are the 1880s on steroids. What will it take to get a little old fashioned class consciousness through the miasma of trendy slogans and celebrity shout-outs? There is a massacre coming that will dwarf the Haymarket; will it make a difference?

Yeah, then ya got those vets, do they gotta fly that goddamn flag?

Our pat answer is 'conditions', but so far the bosses been able to fudge that with cheap carbs and cheaper electrons, how long that can go on I don't know. The presence of a fighting communist party might affect things....and outside influences might come into play as the Amateur in Chief sticks his dick into the well honed machinery of imperialism.

Dhalgren

02-12-2017, 09:20 AM

Yeah, then ya got those vets, do they gotta fly that goddamn flag?

Our pat answer is 'conditions', but so far the bosses been able to fudge that with cheap carbs and cheaper electrons, how long that can go on I don't know. The presence of a fighting communist party might affect things....and outside influences might come into play as the Amateur in Chief sticks his dick into the well honed machinery of imperialism.

Yeah, but we can't count on the stupidity at the top. A real commie party would be a huge step.

blindpig

02-14-2017, 07:49 AM

Judge Denies Tribes' Request to Block DAPL, Legal Options Narrow

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1487022343554/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/02/13/judge_denies_tribes_request_to_block_daplx_legal_options_narrow.jpg_1718483346.jpg
People protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's order to permit the Dakota Access pipeline at the White House in Washington, D.C. | Photo: Reuters

Published 13 February 2017 (15 hours 10 minutes ago)

“We’re disappointed with today’s ruling denying a temporary restraining order against the Dakota Access pipeline, but we are not surprised," said a spokesman for the tribe.
A U.S. federal judge denied a request by Native American tribes seeking a halt to construction of the final link in the Dakota Access pipeline Monday, the controversial project that was revived by U.S. President Donald Trump after it was suspended by the previous administration following months of protests by hundreds of Indigenous and environmental activists.

Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., rejected the request from the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux nations, who had argued that the project will prevent them from practicing religious ceremonies at a lake they say is surrounded by sacred ground.

With this decision, the legal options for the tribes continue to narrow, as construction on the final uncompleted stretch is currently proceeding.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week granted a final easement to Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the US$3.8-billion Dakota Access pipeline after Trump issued an executive order to advance the pipeline days after he took office in January.

Lawyers for the Cheyenne River Sioux and the Standing Rock Sioux wanted Judge Boasberg to block construction with a temporary restraining order, saying that the line would obstruct the free exercise of their religious practices.

“We’re disappointed with today’s ruling denying a temporary restraining order against the Dakota Access pipeline, but we are not surprised," Chase Iron Eyes, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, said in a statement.

He added that the tribe has not yet given up on the legal process and will be seeking an injunction against the pipeline itself that will also be heard in Boasberg's court.

They also are continuing to push for a full environmental impact statement that was ordered in the last days of the Obama administration. "We continue to believe that both the tribes and the public should have meaningful input and participation in that process," he said.

Last year, thousands of tribe members and environmental activists calling themselves water protectors protested the pipeline setting up camps at Standing Rock Indian reservation. At least 300 Native American tribes from North, Central and South America joined the action against the oil project which attracted both national and international solidarity.

Trump also revived the Keystone pipeline which was rejected by former President Obama following major protests by environmentalists. Obama had said Keystone would benefit Canada more than the U.S. while also damaging the nearby environment.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Judge-Denies-Tribes-Request-to-Block-DAPL-Legal-Options-Narrow-20170213-0016.html

Videos at link.

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Women Are 'Backbone' of Native Actions Against Dakota Pipeline

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Native American women at Standing Rock as they continue their protest against the Dakota Access pipeline. | Photo: teleSUR

Published 16 January 2017

Several Native American women spoke with teleSUR about their role in the protests against the oil project in North Dakota.
The actions and protests against the Dakota Access pipeline could not have yielded success if it had not been for the participation of the Native American women water protectors as they took on a leadership role in the months-long protests in North Dakota against the oil project.

“Our people always believe that the women are the backbone and with our warriors back in the day, the women would meet first, then the guys would act on our meeting,” Char bad Cob, a member of the Lakota people and a water protector, told teleSUR from the encampment at Standing Rock.

“It is more important than ever that we stay and we stand and prevent the Dakota Access pipeline from going through.” Cob said, adding that what pushed her to join the action is half a millennia of “oppression and genocide” against the Indigenous people in North America.

She has been there since the beginning of the protests back in August but when people ask her how long she has been in North Dakota she proudly responds, “I've been here for 500 years through every ancestor who has suffered. This can't happen no more. Things have got to change.”

For Bernie Lafferty, a Lakota elder, the role of women against the pipeline is just as important as it used to be hundreds of years ago. “Like if the men went out and if they didn't come back, then the women had to defend your camps, you had to defend your children and the elders. And to me, that's how we are here.”

Women are the foundation of the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline, Catawba water protector Linda Black Elk told TeleSUR, echoing Lafferty’s sentiment, and adding that water protectors are there to protect the environment for future generations.

The action against the US$3.8 billion pipeline has attracted more than 300 Native American tribes from across the United States in a show of unity that is being called historic.

They said the project will damage burial sites considered sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and pollute the area's drinking water.

“In our blood memory, when something happens to the earth, when she's being dug into and extracted from, we physically feel that pain within our own bodies,” Kendi Mosset, a Lead Organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, told teleSUR, as protesters brave harsh winter conditions.

“So standing there watching them dig, as they did on Sept. 3 and Sept. 4 when they destroyed sacred sites. We couldn't just stand there and watch, we had to break down the fences and run out into the fields and stop them.”

The water protectors scored a victory in December when the Corps of Engineers decided to deny the route for the Dakota Access pipeline.

“I am from Standing Rock. As a child, I used to play along the Missouri River. It is 12,000 years old, and 17 million people benefit from it,” Waniya Locke, a Lakota water protector, said speaking her native language. “We are standing in opposition to the fossil fuel industry to protect the drinking water of 10 million people.”

After the victory, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe then called on those who are not locals to leave because it was hard for the tribe to accommodate the thousands of people who were there.

However, many worry that President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office in a few days, will reverse the decision and push for the completion of the project. The tribe asked people to come back after his inauguration in order to keep up the pressure.

Lafferty concluded by calling on people to keep supporting the Indigenous and native nations in their fight.

“Because we're not gonna give up. We're gonna stay here, even if it comes down to just a few of us, we are gonna still be here. And I just would hope everybody out there believes in what we're doing and supports us and prays for us, I guess that is all we would ask.”

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Women-Are-Backbone-of-Native-Actions-Against-Dakota-Pipeline-20170116-0028.html

Videos at link.

Dhalgren

02-14-2017, 09:15 AM

Judge Denies Tribes' Request to Block DAPL, Legal Options Narrow

Well, this was expected. You can rarely use bourgeois law against bourgeois interests - even if successful, it will only be temporary. What is their next step? I hope it isn't throwing themselves in front on machines and laying down in the road and such - they will be imprisoned and killed and the pipeline will go through. It isn't just "legal options" that are "narrowing", all others are getting slim, too. One option, of course, remains wide open...

blindpig

02-14-2017, 05:21 PM

Department of the Army Gives Notice of Intention to Clear NoDAPL Camps

In a letter sent to Chase Iron Eyes dated 2/3/17, Colonel John Henderson states the Army Corps of Engineers intention to began clearing the NoDAPL camps located along the Cannonball River.
Citing concern over flooding and other reasons, the Colonel states that they plan to give owners of personal property until Feb 22nd to retrieve personal belongings.
After which time, “all remaining unauthorized structures will be removed.” Further, “all remaining vehicles will be removed and impounded.”
Read full letter here
http://lastrealindians.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Doc-Feb-14-2017-11-10-AM.pdf
On April 1, 2016 the Sacred Stone Camp was first erected to oppose the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. By, mid-August the Rosebud Camp and Oceti Sakowin Camp were erected to oppose the pipeline.

http://lastrealindians.com/department-of-the-army-gives-notice-of-intention-to-clear-nodapl-camps/

blindpig

02-23-2017, 03:18 PM

Ceremonial Fires Engulf Standing Rock Camp Amid Police Eviction

IN PICTURES: A dramatic escalation of repression aimed to quell Indigenous resistance while ceremonial fires engulfed the camp's structures.
Native American water protectors at the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota burned their riverside encampments in ceremonial fires as police and sheriffs moved in Wednesday to enforce an eviction order against the camp. The move comes after months of Indigenous resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Violent "snatch-and-grab" arrests of water protectors and journalists accompanied dramatic scenes of the Oceti Sakowin camp's Navajo-style structures being consumed by flames.

In an interview with Indigenous Rising media, water protector and organizer Darren Begay noted that elders determined that past patterns of abuse by law enforcement typically entailed reckless disregard for sacred objects and dwellings. In a sign of respect, the elders determined, it would be best to show respect for the sacrifices of past months that the structures represented — as well as the prayers and unity they engendered — by setting them alight, "send(ing) their smoke up like prayers ... ensur(ing) these structures go out in dignity."

Water protectors have faced repression from authorities several times since last August, with over 700 arrests tallied.

Chase Iron Eyes, a Standing Rock Sioux member, said that the camp's closure could never diminish the resolve of anti-DAPL resisters.

"You can't arrest a movement. You can't arrest a spiritual revolution," he said.

teleSUR takes a look at the latest violation of Native sovereignty for the sake of extractivist policies in the U.S. in a struggle that — despite the eviction of water protectors from Oceti Sakowin — by no means has reached its end.

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A water protector watches a building burn after it was set alight by protesters preparing to evacuate the main opposition camp against the pipeline near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, Feb. 22, 2017.

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A water protector watches a building burn after it was set alight by protesters preparing to evacuate the main opposition camp against the pipeline near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, Feb. 22, 2017.

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The encampment has stood since August on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property at the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, about 40 miles south of Bismarck, the state capital.

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1487865142775/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/02/23/01_2017-02-23t004606z_1_lynxmped1m02l_rtroptp_4_north-dakota-pipeline.jpg
Protesters march, with a structure burning in the background, on the outskirts of the main opposition camp against the Dakota Access oil pipeline near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, Feb. 22, 2017.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/multimedia/Ceremonial-Fires-Engulf-Standing-Rock-Camp-Amid-Police-Eviction-20170223-0006.html?utm_content=buffer3d452&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Other photos at link.

blindpig

02-24-2017, 10:44 AM

POLICE & MILITARY CLEAR DAPL PROTEST CAMP, DOZENS ARRESTED, PROTESTERS START FIRES (PHOTO & VIDEO)
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Police, backed up by members of the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Guard, has raided and cleared the Oceti Sakowin camp of DAPL protesters.

Police detain a protester against the Dakota Access oil pipeline, North Dakota, US, February 23, 2017 (Photo: Reuters / Terray Sylvester)
The Oceti Sakowin camp near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota was raided and cleared by policemen, who also arrested dozens of protesters against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Some part of activists, who refused to leave peacefully, set fire to their makeshift housing.

As the Reuters news agency reported, citing the Morton County Sheriff’s Department, the camp was completely emptied shortly after 2:00 pm local time (8:00pm GMT).

According to spokeswoman for the department, Maxine Herr, at least 47 people were arrested by 50 policemen in riot gear, backed up by members of the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Guard.

On February 23, bulldozers, military vehicles and police come into the Oceti Sakowin camp in order to clear it from the remaining DAPL protesters. While some activists decided to leave the camp peacefully, after the Wednesday’s deadline for evacuation was announced at the order of the governor of North Dakota, others, about 100 people, had remained in the camp and set the wooden constructions on fire.

As the AP news agency reported, citing the Morton County Public Information Office in Bismarck, North Dakota, protesters set around 20 fires and burned one vehicle. Reportedly, there also were at least two explosions, and a seven-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl were taken to a hospital with burns.

“It’s really hard being here right now but we know we need to be here because we know that they are wrong and we are right,” one of the protester told Reuters.
One of the camp leaders, Phyllis Young, told AP that the protests will continue.

“Freedom is in our DNA, and we have no choice but to continue the struggle,” she said.
Meanwhile, the spokeswoman for the Morton County Sheriff’s Department noted that “things went very smoothly. We are very happy with the operations.” She also added that about 200 law enforcement officials took part in the operation.

http://youtu.be/fL9W93BWIbU

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Police detain a protester against the Dakota Access oil pipeline, North Dakota, US, February 23, 2017 (Photo: Reuters / Terray Sylvester)

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Police form a line to push back protesters, North Dakota, US, February 23, 2017 (Photo: Reuters / Stephen Yang)

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Police detain a protester against the Dakota Access oil pipeline, North Dakota, US, February 23, 2017 (Photo: Reuters / Terray Sylvester)

https://southfront.org/police-military-clear-dapl-protest-camp-dozens-arrested-protesters-start-fires-photo-video/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Other images at link.

Reports from DAPL have been scarce, why is that?

blindpig

02-27-2017, 03:02 PM

Governor wants new powers to prepare for Keystone XL protests

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A police officer subdues a man participating in a protest of the Dakota Access pipeline northwest of Cannon Ball, N.D., in December. South Dakota lawmakers are considering a bill to widen law enforcement abilities to react to similar protests that may occur in the state.

PIERRE | As the protest camp along the route of the Dakota Access pipeline emptied out last week in North Dakota, legislators in South Dakota began considering a potential state law aimed at punishing possible protesters over another oil pipeline.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard wants temporary powers to stop people from assembling in South Dakota, in places that would be designated as public safety zones by the governor.

The governor wants a new criminal charge called aggravated criminal trespass to be created for people who defy orders to stay out of public safety zones, and the authority for judges to put offenders in jail for up to a year for first offenses, and in prison for two years for second or subsequent offenses.

One part of the proposed law would punish protesters who block highways. It specifically allows prohibiting people from standing outside vehicles on a highway in a public safety zone.

Clearly, showdown time must be coming. The mood was tense in the Capitol meeting room Wednesday morning as senators considered the governor’s proposed wording.

One of the governor’s aides, Matt Konenkamp, who repeatedly referred to outside agitators in his remarks to senators, drew a distinction with accepting peaceful protests.

The law, if the Legislature passes it, would automatically be repealed July 1, 2020. The project at issue is the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline. The law is intended to cover construction of Keystone XL.

Last month President Donald Trump invited TransCanada to resubmit its federal application to pierce the Canada-U.S. border. Within two days TransCanada did. That set a 60-day clock running for a decision.

The state Public Utilities Commission has already granted permission and set conditions for construction and operation of Keystone XL through western and south-central South Dakota.

The senators Wednesday heard arguments and allegations from the perspectives of tribal members who supported the North Dakota protest against the Dakota Access pipeline. And they heard how extremely limited law enforcement is in the extremely rural counties where the Keystone XL pipeline would be laid in South Dakota.

TransCanada’s route for Keystone XL avoids the Native American reservations of western and central South Dakota. But it comes within a few miles of Bridger along the Cheyenne River, at the southwestern corner of the Cheyenne River reservation.

The Cheyenne River is one of the main tributaries of the Missouri River. The Cheyenne flows the width of western South Dakota, from the Black Hills into the Oahe reservoir upstream of Pierre.

Much like the North Dakota crossing for Dakota Access upstream from a drinking water system for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the Keystone XL crossing on the Cheyenne River would be upstream from public water systems that rely on the Missouri River.

Keystone XL would cross other small waterways throughout western and southern South Dakota. It would cross several major highways that are essential to east-west traffic, such as S.D. 34, U.S. 14, U.S. 18, U.S. 212, U.S. 85 and Interstate 90.

The governor’s proposed law would allow him to designate any of those places as public safety zones. The legislation already is stirring hard feelings that could last generations. A return to ugly times waits just ahead.

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/legislature/governor-wants-new-powers-to-prepare-for-keystone-xl-protests/article_bb46c894-616f-58bd-8533-310c36433fd8.html?platform=hootsuite

blindpig

03-10-2017, 11:16 AM

Native Nations March on DC: 'This is a Standing Rock Moment'

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Matthew Black Eagle Man of the Sioux Long Plains First Nation protests in front of the U.S. Capitol, against the Keystone XL pipeline in April 2014. | Photo: Reuters

Published 10 March 2017

The Standing Rock movement marches on Washington to "defend our inherent right to protect Mother Earth and our water."
On Friday thousands of Indigenous peoples from hundreds of nations will march on Washington, D.C. along with their allies as part of "the call set forth by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to defend our inherent rights to protect Mother Earth and our water."

Organized by the Native Nations Rise Committee, the march caps off almost a week of actions in the U.S. capital originally called to continue the fight of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for recognition of their treaty rights and their call to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Organizers, however, have made it clear that Friday's action is about more than just one pipeline fight.

"The Standing Rock movement has evolved into a powerful global phenomenon highlighting the necessity to respect Indigenous Nations and their right to protect their homelands, environment and future generations," said Native Nations Rise in a statement.

"We are here in D.C. to remind the Trump administration and Congress that this is a Standing Rock moment," said Judith LeBlanc, director of Native Organizers Alliance, in a press conference ahead of Friday's March.

"We are going to be standing against the desecration of Mother Earth. We are calling upon the people and our allies across the country, to stand with us in our fight to Tribal sovereignty and our fight for consent, not consultation. That is the only way we'll be able to protect Mother Earth. That is the only way we'll be able to save all of the people who live on this planet," she added.

The march on Washington, which starts at 10 a.m., was called by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe back in late January after President Donald Trump ordered the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline project, which violates the tribe's treaty rights.

Organized in collaboration with the Indigenous Environmental Network and the Native Organizers Alliance — who both played key roles in organizing the 10-month-long Oceti Sakowin camp action against the Dakota Access Pipeline — the march in D.C. is the first officially endorsed Standing Rock Sioux Tribe action, and is expected to be mirrored by solidarity actions in cities across the country.

Veterans for Peace, one of the allied groups marching on Friday, said in a statement on Thursday, "We continue to stand in solidarity with the resistance at Standing Rock. As veterans, we see the connections between greed, racism, violence, and environmental destruction in our own communities, and war and militarism abroad."

Throughout the week activists have been meeting with policymakers demanding a recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and "consent and not just consultation" when it comes to the various "dirty energy" projects approved by the Trump administration.

In a meeting with march organizers on Thursday, Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders said "I think the American people, the average American, does not want to see (these kinds of projects). Your job, my job, is to bring those people together and say to Trump and his corporate friends that he can't do this."

"We have thousands and thousands of native peoples and allies descending upon Washington, D.C. to demand the Trump administration recognize Indigenous rights," said march organizer Dallas Goldtooth. "It's essential for us as Native peoples to rise up together, to speak out against the tyranny that is right now the White house administration."

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Native-Nations-March-on-DC-This-is-a-Standing-Rock-Moment-20170310-0003.html

Videos at link.

Wonder if they'll roll out the Park Police like in the old days....

blindpig

04-03-2017, 08:05 AM

Pipeline continues to leak oil months after rupture in North Dakota
FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 2017

The Belle Fourche Pipeline has spilled about 530,000 gallons of oil crude oil into Ash Coulee Creek, a tributary of the Missouri River, in North Dakota. Photo courtesy North Dakota Department of Health

An ongoing oil spill in North Dakota is considered among the worst in state history.
The Belle Fourche Pipeline spilled about 530,000 gallons of crude oil into Ash Coulee Creek, a tributary of the Missouri River, according to a March 23 update to a state incident report. That's far larger than the original estimate of about 176,400 gallons.
But the new figure doesn't include an ongoing leak into the hillside near the pipeline, The Williston Herald reported. Although the spill has been contained, oil continues to leak in that area, more than three months after it began, the paper said.
"It is now believed that the pipeline was bent and ruptured due to hillside collapse and slumping, possibly aided by heavy snowfall, when it was shut down for maintenance on November 30, 2016," the operators wrote in the update. "Belle Fourche restarted the pipeline on December 1, 2016, and it is believed the leak began at that time. Belle Fourche Pipeline is now estimating that the total volume released is 12,615 barrels of crude oil."

The operators of the Belle Fourche Pipeline revised the oil spill amount in a March 23, 2017, update. Source: North Dakota Department of Health

The conditions prompted the Office of Pipeline Safety at the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to maintain corrective measures at the operation, The Associated Press reported. A top official, in a written March 24 decision, expressed concerns about future spills.
“The facility is or would be hazardous to life, property or the environment without corrective measures,” the official wrote, the AP reported.
The Belle Fourche incident occurred about 173 driving miles west of the #NoDAPL encampment in North Dakota, where tens thousands of people gathered in 2016 to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline. Opponents were concerned about spills into the Missouri, whose watershed is home to more than 12 million people.
Read More on the Story:
Feds retain many post-pipeline spill corrective actions (AP 3/30)
Agency: Undetected Belle Fourche leaks possible (The Williston Herald 3/30)
North Dakota pipeline spill larger than previously thought (The Christian Science Monitor 3/26)
Pipeline rupture caused by slumping (The Williston Herald 3/25)
Related Stories:
North Dakota pipeline spill occurred near Missouri River system (12/14)
Pipeline in North Dakota spills more than 176K gallons of crude oil (12/13)

https://www.indianz.com/News/2017/03/31/pipeline-continues-to-leak-oil-months-af.asp

blindpig

05-13-2017, 07:40 AM

Feds Block DAPL Builder From New Drilling After Ohio Spill

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Cleanup after Energy Transfer Partners spilled 2 million gallons of drilling lubricant. | Photo: Ohio EPA

Published 12 May 2017 (11 hours 38 minutes ago)

Last month, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline spilled 2 million gallons of drilling lubricant into Ohio wetlands.

Energy Transfer Partners, ETP, the infamous Texas company responsible for the Dakota Access Pipeline, DAPL, has been blocked by federal regulators from undertaking any new drilling projects on an Ohio natural gas pipeline.

The measure, announced by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, came into force Wednesday, almost a month after ETP spilled 2 million gallons of drilling lubricant into wetlands. Now the company must address environmental concerns before it resumes its US$4.2 billion dollar project.

Ohio's Energy Protection Agency, EPA, announced that it will consider fining ETP after the company completes its cleanup efforts.

ETP faces fines of up to US$10,000 daily for each violation and, according to The Columbus Dispatch, the company received a US$431,000 fine on May 4 related to a series of Rover pipeline related infractions throughout Ohio.

James Lee, Ohio's EPA spokesperson, said that “the action taken on Wednesday by the FERC is a step in the right direction,” adding that the spill could kill fish and plants in the region. The agency concluded that the spill covered some 500,000 square feet and was caused by excessive pressure during drilling.

Meanwhile, Jenn Miller, director of the Sierra Club of Ohio, warned that one-third of Ohio's endangered species rely on wetlands for habitat and survival.

Rover pipeline's promise of more jobs in traditionally-conservative Ohio, a state where more than 112,000 workers lost their jobs in 2015, was well received by residents. However, a growing number of people are rallying against the idea of a pipeline running through their backyards. This public awareness is mainly the result of Indigenous resistance at Standing Rock.

According to Indian Country Today, tribal objections to the DAPL project near the Standing Rock Reservation spurred an unprecedented global social movement resisting pipelines and the emblematic reliance on fossil fuels.

From April 2016 until February 2017, the Standing Rock Sioux and Indigenous peoples from across North America led a resistance against the construction of the DAPL, a pipeline that went through the heart of an Indigenous burial ground and sacred land.

“The events at Standing Rock helped build public awareness about the corporate power behind pipelines that often disregards community and environmental safety,” said Guy Jones, a Hunkpapa Lakota from the Standing Rock Reservation.

“I've been saying for a long time that Standing Rock is more than a place. It's a spiritual awakening for people to care for our land and our water,” he added.

Indigenous people have also warned that the construction of DAPL would contaminate the Missouri River. Hence, Indigenous women leading the resistance against the insatiable appetite of oil companies and their pipelines began calling themselves “water protectors.”

Joy Braun, a Cheyenne River Lakota and one of the main organizers of the water protector camp, stated that the intent of Standing Rock was for people to spread the message, “Mni Wiconi” (Water is Life) beyond North Dakota and the United States.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Feds-Block-DAPL-Builder-From-New-Drilling-After-Ohio-Spill-20170512-0017.html

gee, didn't hear about this on NPR......

blindpig

05-27-2017, 01:50 PM

Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used At Standing Rock To "Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies"

A SHADOWY INTERNATIONAL mercenary and security firm known as TigerSwan targeted the movement opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline with military-style counterterrorism measures, collaborating closely with police in at least five states, according to internal documents obtained by The Intercept. The documents provide the first detailed picture of how TigerSwan, which originated as a U.S. military and State Department contractor helping to execute the global war on terror, worked at the behest of its client Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, to respond to the indigenous-led movement that sought to stop the project.

Internal TigerSwan communications describe the movement as “an ideologically driven insurgency with a strong religious component” and compare the anti-pipeline water protectors to jihadist fighters. One report, dated February 27, 2017, states that since the movement “generally followed the jihadist insurgency model while active, we can expect the individuals who fought for and supported it to follow a post-insurgency model after its collapse.” Drawing comparisons with post-Soviet Afghanistan, the report warns, “While we can expect to see the continued spread of the anti-DAPL diaspora … aggressive intelligence preparation of the battlefield and active coordination between intelligence and security elements are now a proven method of defeating pipeline insurgencies.”

More than 100 internal documents leaked to The Intercept by a TigerSwan contractor, as well as a set of over 1,000 documents obtained via public records requests, reveal that TigerSwan spearheaded a multifaceted private security operation characterized by sweeping and invasive surveillance of protesters.

As policing continues to be militarized and state legislatures around the country pass laws criminalizing protest, the fact that a private security firm retained by a Fortune 500 oil and gas company coordinated its efforts with local, state, and federal law enforcement to undermine the protest movement has profoundly anti-democratic implications. The leaked materials not only highlight TigerSwan’s militaristic approach to protecting its client’s interests but also the company’s profit-driven imperative to portray the nonviolent water protector movement as unpredictable and menacing enough to justify the continued need for extraordinary security measures. Energy Transfer Partners has continued to retain TigerSwan long after most of the anti-pipeline campers left North Dakota, and the most recent TigerSwan reports emphasize the threat of growing activism around other pipeline projects across the country.

The leaked documents include situation reports prepared by TigerSwan operatives in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and Texas between September 2016 and May 2017, and delivered to Energy Transfer Partners. They offer a daily snapshot of the security firm’s activities, including detailed summaries of the previous day’s surveillance targeting pipeline opponents, intelligence on upcoming protests, and information harvested from social media. The documents also provide extensive evidence of aerial surveillance and radio eavesdropping, as well as infiltration of camps and activist circles.

TigerSwan did not respond to a request for comment. Energy Transfer Partners declined to comment, telling The Intercept in an email that it does not “discuss details of our security efforts.”

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A screen shot taken from one of the “daily intelligence updates” developed by TigerSwan that were shared with members of law enforcement. Photo: PowerPoint screen grab

Additional documents, obtained via public records requests, consist of communications among agents from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Justice Department, the Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as state and local police. The “Intel Group,” as its members refer to it, closely monitored anti-Dakota Access protests in real time, scooped up information on the water protectors from social media, and shared intelligence.

Included among the documents obtained via public records requests were “daily intelligence updates” developed by TigerSwan that were shared with law enforcement officers, thus contributing to a broad public-private intelligence dragnet. In the internal situation reports, TigerSwan operatives comment frequently about their routine coordination and intelligence sharing with law enforcement. The intel group went so far as to use a live video feed from a private Dakota Access security helicopter to monitor protesters’ movements. In one report, TigerSwan discusses meeting with investigators from North Dakota’s Attorney General’s Office.

North Dakota’s Attorney General’s Office declined to comment.

TigerSwan’s internal reports and the intelligence briefings shared with law enforcement name dozens of DAPL opponents. Some of those named are well-known activists, while others have minimal public affiliation with the water protector movement. The reports’ authors often comment on camp dynamics, including protester morale and infighting, and speculate about violent or illegal actions specific individuals might take and weapons they might carry. The documents reveal the existence of a “persons of interest” list as well as other databases that included identifying information such as photographs and license plate numbers.

The situation reports also suggest that TigerSwan attempted a counterinformation campaign by creating and distributing content critical of the protests on social media.

The Intercept is publishing a first set of TigerSwan’s situation reports from September 2016, which describe the company’s initial operations. We are also publishing two additional situation reports dated October 16 and November 5, along with PowerPoint presentations shared with law enforcement that correspond to the same dates. The names of private individuals whose actions are not already in the public record, or whose authorization we did not obtain, have been redacted to protect their privacy. The Intercept will publish the remaining situation reports in the coming weeks.

In addition, The Intercept is publishing a selection of communications, obtained by public records requests, detailing coordination between a wide range of local, state, and federal agencies, which confirm that the FBI participated in core Dakota Access-related law enforcement operations starting soon after protests began last summer. Finally, we are publishing two additional documents, also in the public record, that detail TigerSwan’s role spearheading Energy Transfer Partner’s multipronged security operation.

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.

https://prod01-cdn07.cdn.firstlook.org/wp-uploads/sites/1/2017/05/dakota-pipeline-DAPL-protest-standing-rocok-tigerswan-1495817927.jpgAFP/Getty Images)
Police guard a bridge near Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation outside Cannon Ball, N.D., on Dec. 3, 2016. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
A Public-Private Partnership

Beginning in April of last year, indigenous activists calling themselves water protectors and their allies spent months attempting to block construction of the 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline, which runs near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota and traverses three other states. DAPL opponents were met with a heavily militarized police apparatus including local and out of state police and sheriff’s deputies, as well as Bureau of Indian Affairs police and National Guard troops. The police became notorious for their use of so-called less than lethal weapons against demonstrators, including rubber bullets, bean bag pellets, LRAD sound devices, and water cannons.

But it was the brutality of private security officers that first provoked widespread outrage concerning the pipeline project. On Labor Day weekend of 2016, Democracy Now! captured footage of pipeline security guards attacking peaceful protesters with dogs.

In the aftermath of that incident, Energy Transfer Partners turned to TigerSwan — a company with a deep background in counterterrorism operations — to oversee the work of the other security companies contracted to protect the pipeline. Other security firms working along the pipeline included Silverton, Russell Group of Texas, 10 Code LLC, Per Mar, SRC, OnPoint, and Leighton, documents show.

Based in Apex, North Carolina, TigerSwan was created by retired Army Col. James Reese during the height of the war in Iraq. Reese, a former commander in the elite Army special operations unit known as Delta, entered into the exploding private security and intelligence industry hoping to compete with Blackwater, then the most successful of the private military companies supporting U.S. war efforts in the Middle East and Afghanistan. TigerSwan has an estimated 350 employees and maintains offices in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, India, Latin America, and Japan.

Records from the North Dakota Private Investigation and Security Board show that TigerSwan has operated without a license in North Dakota for the entirety of the pipeline security operation, claiming in a communication with the board, “We are doing management and IT consulting for our client and doing no security work.” In September, the licensing board learned about the company’s position as a Dakota Access contractor and wrote a letter to its North Carolina headquarters requesting that it submit a license application.

TigerSwan then did so, but the board denied the application on December 19. After James Reese wrote a letter objecting to the decision, the security board’s executive director responded on January 10 that “one reason for the denial concerns your failure to respond to the Board’s request for information as to TigerSwan’s and James Reese’s activities within the State of North Dakota.” Neither TigerSwan nor the board responded to questions regarding the current status of the company’s license.

The leaked situation reports indicate that during the company’s first weeks working on the pipeline, TigerSwan operatives met with law enforcement in Iowa and North Dakota, including Sheriff Dean Danzeisen of Mercer County, North Dakota, who “agreed to sharing of information.” (In the report, TigerSwan misspells the sheriff’s name as “Denzinger.”) By September 13, the documents indicate, TigerSwan had placed a liaison inside the law enforcement “joint operation command” in North Dakota. The fusion of public and private intelligence operations targeting water protectors was underway.

One of TigerSwan’s lines of communication with law enforcement was via intelligence briefings that echo the company’s internal situation reports. The briefings obtained by The Intercept were sent by TigerSwan’s deputy security director Al Ornoski to a variety of recipients, including the Gmail account of Sheriff Danzeisen. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, who was regularly involved in policing the protests, also received at least one of the TigerSwan briefings.

Danzeisen did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Morton County Sheriff’s Department wrote in an email to The Intercept that the department “did maintain communication with TigerSwan security in order to understand when and where DAPL construction activities were taking place. This gave law enforcement situational awareness in order to monitor and respond to illegal protest activity.”

TigerSwan also aided prosecutors in building cases against pipeline opponents. According to an October 16 document obtained via a records request, the security team’s responsibilities included collecting “information of an evidentiary level” that would ultimately “aid in prosecution” of protesters.

A leaked report dated September 14, 2016, indicates that TigerSwan met with the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation “regarding video and still photo evidence collected for prosecution.” The same document describes plans to “continue building Person of Interest (POI) folders and coordination with [law enforcement] intelligence.” TigerSwan’s situation reports also describe conversations between the company’s operatives and FBI agents on at least four occasions.

Activists on the ground were tracked by a Dakota Access helicopter that provided live video coverage to their observers in police agencies, according to an October 12 email thread that included officers from the FBI, DHS, BIA, state, and local police. In one email, National Security Intelligence Specialist Terry Van Horn of the U.S. attorney’s office acknowledged his direct access to the helicopter video feed, which was tracking protesters’ movements during a demonstration. “Watching a live feed from DAPL Helicopter, pending arrival at site(s),” he wrote. Cecily Fong, a spokesperson for law enforcement throughout the protests, acknowledged that an operations center in Bismarck had access to the feed, stating in an email to The Intercept that “the video was provided as a courtesy so we had eyes on the situation.”

Asked about the intel group, Fong replied, “The Intelligence Group was formed from virtually the beginning. It involved personnel from our [State and Local Intelligence Center], the BIA, FBI, and Justice” consisting of “around 7 people who monitored social media in particular, in this case, because that was the medium most if not all of the protestors were using.”

“I’m honored that they felt that we were a big enough threat to go to this level of intervention,” Ed Fallon, an activist mentioned several times in the TigerSwan documents, told The Intercept.

As the water protector movement expanded from North Dakota to other states, so did the surveillance. A report dated March 29, for instance, points to a meeting between TigerSwan and “the Des Moines Field Office of the FBI, with the Omaha and Sioux Falls offices joining by conference call. Also in attendance were representatives of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Department of Homeland Security, Iowa Department of Emergency Services, Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Iowa Department of Wildlife. Topics covered included the current threat assessment of the pipeline, the layout of current security assets and persons of interest. The FBI seemed were [sic] very receptive to the information presented to them, and follow-up meetings with individuals will be scheduled soon.”

TigerSwan’s relationship with public police agencies was not always harmonious. The situation reports describe TigerSwan’s frustration with the amount of leeway some law enforcement gave protesters in Iowa and the company’s efforts to convince officers to use more punitive tactics.

In a situation report dated October 16, TigerSwan applauds a recent increase in bail in Lee County, Iowa, calling it “significant because this may impede protestors from risking arrest due to the high cost to be released from bail.” The document contrasts that county’s tactics to those used by others. “Calhoun, Boone and Webster county law enforcement are not supportive of DAPL Security’s mission” the report says, noting those agencies’ “reluctance to arrest or cite trespassing individuals.”

“We need to work closer with Calhoun, Boone, and Webster county [law enforcement] to ensure future protestors will at least be fined, if not arrested,” the analyst notes. “Alternatively, we could request Lee County LE speak to other counties about tactics that are working.”

Contacted for comment, recently elected Lee County Sheriff Stacy Weber said he hadn’t discussed TigerSwan with the previous sheriff. “As far as I knew, the protest stuff was over with, and we haven’t had any protests since,” he said. In fact, Weber hadn’t heard of the company until earlier this week, when a TigerSwan program manager named Don Felt stopped by the office. “He dropped his card off and said he wanted to say hello,” Weber said.

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TigerSwan.com

Find, Fix, Eliminate

TigerSwan’s internal files describe its utilization of aerial surveillance, including use of helicopters and drones to photograph and monitor the pipeline opponents. The September 12 situation report notes that an operation by construction workers was “over-watched by a predator on loan to the JEJOC from Oklahoma.” The TigerSwan contractor who provided the Intercept with the situation reports said he did not believe the company ever operated a predator drone, but metadata in images he shared pointed to a camera used by a commercially available Phantom 4 drone. One of the daily intelligence updates notes plans to obtain night-vision goggles, LRADs, body armor, and FLIR (forward looking infrared) cameras.

The reports also reveal a widespread and sustained campaign of infiltration of protest camps and activist circles. Throughout the leaked documents, TigerSwan makes reference to its intelligence-gathering teams, which infiltrated protest camps and activist groups in various states. TigerSwan agents using false names and identities regularly sought to obtain the trust of protesters, which they used to gather information they reported back to their employer, according to the TigerSwan contractor.

The September documents make numerous references to Silverton personnel, who were overseen by TigerSwan, attending protests in Iowa. Silverton did not respond to a request for comment.

Covert operations are implicit in many of the other situation reports, which are filled with details that only individuals with close and consistent access to the protesters’ communities could have gathered. On a few occasions, however, the reports make that presence more explicit, for instance by referring to “sources in the camp.”

For example, the November 5 situation report describes the “exploitation of documents found at Camp 1.” Apparently, they didn’t contain much revealing material. “Of most concern,” the situation report says, “were the ‘Earth First’ magazines found on the camp. These magazines promote and provide TTP’s [tactics, techniques, and procedures] for violent activity.”

In an October 3 report, TigerSwan discusses how to use its knowledge of internal camp dynamics: “Exploitation of ongoing native versus non-native rifts, and tribal rifts between peaceful and violent elements is critical in our effort to delegitimize the anti-DAPL movement.” On February 19, TigerSwan makes explicit its plans to infiltrate a Chicago protest group. “TigerSwan collections team will make contact with event organizers to embed within the structure of the demonstration to develop a trusted agent status to be cultivated for future collection efforts,” the report notes, later repeating its intent to “covertly make contact with event organizers.”

“At every action I went to, they had their own people walking around with a video camera getting in people’s faces,” Ian Souter, a protester who was described as a “person of interest” in a TigerSwan report, told The Intercept.

Perhaps one of the most striking revelations of the documents is the level of hostility displayed by TigerSwan toward the water protectors. TigerSwan consistently describes the peaceful demonstrators using military and tactical language more appropriate for counterterrorism operations in an armed conflict zone. At times, the military language verges on parody, as when agents write of protesters “stockpiling signs” or when they discuss the “caliber” of paintball pellets. More often, however, the way TigerSwan discusses protesters as “terrorists,” their direct actions as “attacks,” and the camps as a “battlefield,” reveals how the protesters’ dissent was not only criminalized but treated as a national security threat. A March 1 report states that protesters’ “operational weakness allows TS elements to further develop and dictate the battlespace.”

In one internal report dated May 4, a TigerSwan operative describes an effort to amass digital and ground intelligence that would allow the company to “find, fix, and eliminate” threats to the pipeline — an eerie echo of “find, fix, finish,” a military term used by special forces in the U.S. government’s assassination campaign against terrorist targets.

TigerSwan pays particular attention to protesters of Middle Eastern descent. A September 22 situation report argues that “the presence of additional Palestinians in the camp, and the movement’s involvement with Islamic individuals is a dynamic that requires further examination.” The report acknowledges that “currently there is no information to suggest terrorist type tactics or operations,” but nonetheless warns that “with the current limitation on information flow out of the camp, it cannot be ruled out.”

Haithem El-Zabri, a Palestinian-American activist singled out in the reports, was shocked to hear his name mentioned in that context. “As indigenous people, Palestinians stand in solidarity with other indigenous people and their right to land, water, and sovereignty,” he told The Intercept. “To insinuate that our assumed faith is a red flag for terrorist tactics is another example of willful ignorance and the establishment’s continued attempts to criminalize nonviolent protest and justify violence against it.”

Such ethnic and religious profiling of protesters was not unusual. An October 12 email thread shared among members of the intel group provides a striking example of how TigerSwan was able to cast suspicion on specific individuals and communicate it to law enforcement officials. Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy Tonya Jahner emailed several other officers, including two FBI agents, with an overview of information provided by “company intel.” The information pertained to a woman whom Jahner labeled as a “strong Shia Islamic” with a “strong female Shia following.” The woman had “made several trips overseas,” Jahner wrote.

TigerSwan agents also regularly tracked individuals’ movements across state lines.

On November 4, according to one of TigerSwan’s internal documents, a white SUV pulled up to a pipeline valve site in South Dakota. Approached by a security guard, the driver introduced himself as Gary Tomlin and informed the official that he was a freelance reporter covering the pipeline. In an interview, 63-year-old Tomlin, who covers the local school board for the Galesburg, Illinois, Register-Mail, said he had set out to travel the length of the pipeline and write a story about it as a freelancer. “I had time and the ability to do it, and I thought, well, I’ll go look at that sucker,” he said.

A situation report from that day notes, “This is the same individual identified in the SITREP a few days ago in Illinois and Iowa.” The security company, OnPoint, quickly contacted TigerSwan Intel “for an assessment of Gary Tomlin” and notified the guard in the next “sector” that Tomlin was on his way. “Movement of Spread Team 6 was conducted so as to intercept and/or observe Gary Tomlin’s movement throughout the South Dakota Sector,” the document states. “It is my belief,” the analyst adds, “that Gary Tomlin is hiding his true intentions and that he has a plethora of information to provide to the protesters. It is estimated that he will arrive in North Dakota on the evening of the 4th or morning of the 5th.”

Tomlin laughed at the notion that he was working with protesters. When he arrived at the camps in North Dakota, few people would talk openly with him. “They were highly aware of infiltrators,” he said. “I fit the profile of those security people — I’m a white old man.”

Cody Hall, a prominent native activist whose movements are tracked closely in the TigerSwan reports, told The Intercept he knew he was being followed whenever he left the camp.

“It was obvious, they were driving in trucks, SUVs, they would be right behind me, right next to me … it was like, damn, man, it’s like you’re getting an escort,” he said. “That was always the scary thing: How did they know that I was coming?”

(Video at link)

Robert Rice hosted a series of videos critical of the pipeline protest movement without disclosing that he was working for TigerSwan. The videos, which were posted on two Facebook pages, were taken down after The Intercept reached out to the firm for comment.

Social Engagement Plan

A document dated October 16, obtained via a public records request, lays out the mission of the TigerSwan-led security team working in North Dakota: In addition to protecting the pipeline workers, machinery, and construction material, the company was also expected to “protect the reputation of DAPL.” The public relations mission quickly became a priority for the firm, documents show. As a leaked situation report from early September puts it, success would require “strategic messaging from the client that drives the message that we are the good guys, tell the real story and address the negative messaging with good counter messaging.”

On numerous occasions, TigerSwan agents stressed the need to change the public narrative established by protestors and to swing public support in favor of the pipeline. As accounts of protest repression garnered nationwide support for the NoDAPL movement, the firm’s agents painstakingly collected and analyzed media coverage, warning their client about how certain incidents might be received by the public.

“This article is only in the Huffington post, but the expansion of the tribe’s narrative outside of the Native American community media outlets is of concern,” an October 3 report notes. TigerSwan agents regularly describe protesters’ accounts of events as “propaganda.”

But TigerSwan personnel did not limit themselves to monitoring the narrative — they also tried to change it.

In a report dated September 7, TigerSwan agents discuss the need for a “Social Engagement Plan.” On September 22, they discuss the development of an information operations campaign run by the company’s North Carolina-based intel team and Robert Rice, who without disclosing his TigerSwan affiliation posed as “Allen Rice” in a series of amateurish videos in which he provided commentary critical of the protests. The videos, posted on the Facebook pages “Defend Iowa” and “Netizens for Progress and Justice,” were removed after The Intercept contacted TigerSwan, Rice, and the pages’ administrators for comment. None responded.

With the Dakota Access Pipeline construction nearing completion, TigerSwan might have found itself out of a lucrative contract. But in the months leading up to the first oil delivery through the pipeline, the company made sure to stress the continued need for security.

“Everyone must be concerned of the lone wolf,” a TigerSwan operative wrote in a March 7 report. “Should we slip from that conscience, we may all be amiss. I cannot afford this in my duties, nor will We/I allow or accept this. I cannot thank everyone for enough for their support during this entire process, However, the movement continues, and We/I will not stop. That’s not in my vocabulary. We will always over-watch as the protectors what is in the best interest for ETP, as we are the guardians.”

In recent weeks, the company’s role has expanded to include the surveillance of activist networks marginally related to the pipeline, with TigerSwan agents monitoring “anti-Trump” protests from Chicago to Washington, D.C., as well as warning its client of growing dissent around other pipelines across the country.

In a March 24 report discussing the likely revival of protests as summer approaches, TigerSwan writes, “Much like Afghanistan and Iraq, the ‘Fighting Season’ will soon be here with the coming warming temperatures.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/05/27/leaked-documents-reveal-security-firms-counterterrorism-tactics-at-standing-rock-to-defeat-pipeline-insurgencies/

And how exactly does this 'Tigerswan' differ from the feds?

Intercept is dodgy, libertarian I think, but this is useful.