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Struggle escalates against Dakota Access pipeline
Fri, 2016-09-09 10:35
#1
Struggle escalates against Dakota Access pipeline
Fri, 2016-09-09 10:37
#2
Just to be clear. This is the same oil, from the same Bakken field, which killed 47 people in Lac Mégantic.
North Dakota calls in National Guard ahead of Bakken oil pipeline ruling
North Dakota’s governor activated 100 National Guard troops on Thursday ahead of an expected ruling by a federal judge on a Native American tribe’s request to halt construction of a crude oil pipeline that has drawn fierce opposition and protests.
The US$3.7 billion, 1,100-mile (1,770 kilometre) Dakota Access pipeline would carry oil from just north of land owned by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to Illinois, where it would hook up to an existing pipeline and route crude directly to refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The line would be the first to allow movement of crude oil from the Bakken shale, a vast oil formation in North Dakota, Montana and parts of Canada, to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The project has sparked violent clashes between security officers near the construction site and tribe members and other protesters. Opponents say the project will damage burial sites considered sacred to the tribe and pollute the area’s drinking water.
Fri, 2016-09-09 11:13
#3
[url=http://nobakken.com/about//]Bakken Pipeline Resistance Coalition[/url]
We are a coalition of organizations representing landowners, community members, non-profits, and interest groups united to stop the construction of the Bakken Pipeline.
100 Grannies for a Livable Future
Citizens’ Climate Lobby (Ames Chapter & Des Moines Chapter)
Drake Environmental Action League
Des Moines Student Activism Network
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility
Iowa Renewable Energy Association
Iowa State University Sustainable Agriculture Student Association
League of Women Voters of Iowa
Quad Cities Waterkeeper of the Upper Mississippi River
Science & Environmental Health Network
Women, Food & Agriculture Network
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Des Moines
Fri, 2016-09-09 14:03
#4
Canadian banks fund Dakota Access pipeline companies: investigation
Three Canadian banks are among the more than two dozen financial institutions identified as backers of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline and its associated companies. The pipeline has been the focus of intense opposition from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota, who fear that a spill would poison their water supply, as well as from other Native Americans, Indigenous peoples in Canada, and environmentalists....
Fri, 2016-09-09 14:11
#5
Here's a pretty good brief introduction picked up by the G&M from Reuters:
[url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/standing-rock-standoff-how-nor... Rock standoff: How North Dakota’s native protest became an American movement[/url]
Fri, 2016-09-09 14:43
#6
US consulate in Montreal faces anti-Dakota pipeline protest
The Standing Rock Sioux anti-pipeline protests are inspiring Indigenous activists all over the world.
But not everyone can flock to North Dakota, no matter how much they’d like to go.
On Thursday, members of Montreal’s Indigenous community organized a local demonstration to show their solidarity with the Sioux.
Fri, 2016-09-09 16:22
#7
BREAKING NEWS:
1. The court ruled that construction can proceed; BUT
2. The U.S. government then asked the company to voluntary "pause" construction.
[url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/dakota-pipeline-ruling-1.3754964]U.S. government seeks to halt North Dakota pipeline construction[/url]
The departments of Justice, Army and Interior said they are reviewing past decisions on land bordering or under Lake Oahe and that they have asked Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners to stop work within 32 kilometres east or west of the lake.
Meanwhile:
Thousands of protesters have gathered at the pipeline construction site in North Dakota in recent weeks.
Mon, 2016-09-12 13:48
#8
Native American Activist Winona LaDuke at Standing Rock: It's Time to Move On from Fossil Fuels
quote:
WINONA LADUKE: It’s time to end the fossil fuel infrastructure. I mean, these people on this reservation, they don’t have adequate infrastructure for their houses. They don’t have adequate energy infrastructure. They don’t have adequate highway infrastructure. And yet they’re looking at a $3.9 billion pipeline that will not help them. It will only help oil companies. And so that’s why we’re here. You know, we’re here to protect this land.
quote:
AMY GOODMAN: For people who are watching in New York and Louisiana, in California and India, China and South Africa, why does this matter to them?
WINONA LADUKE: This matters because it’s time to move on from fossil fuels. You know, this is the same battle that they have everywhere else. You know, each day or each week, there’s some new leak, there’s some new catastrophe in the fossil fuel industry, as well as the ongoing and growing catastrophe of climate change. The fact that there is no rain in Syria has directly to do with these fossil fuel companies. You know, all of the catastrophes that are happening elsewhere in the world has to do with the fact that North America is retooling its infrastructure and going after the dirtiest oil in the world—the tar sands oil and the oil out of North Dakota, the fracked oil—rather than—you know, they were working with Venezuela’s—it also has to do with crushing Venezuela, because Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. And rather than do business with Venezuela, they were bound and determined to take oil from places that did not want to give it up, and create this filthy infrastructure. So, this carbon—this oil is very heavy in carbon and will add hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 to the environment, if these pipelines are allowed through. So, that is—you know, it affects everybody.
Wed, 2016-09-14 20:42
#9
Vancouver TD bank occupied to protest ties with Dakota Access Pipeline
The movement against the Dakota Access pipeline is spreading to Canada. Just after 9 a.m. PDT this morning, a group of activists occupied a branch of TD Canada Trust in downtown Vancouver.
“We are protecting the same things here — land and water — as Standing Rock is down south. We are coming together to remind everyone that water is life and that we have to take an urgent stand against the devastation that pipeline companies are causing to mother earth. This impacts not only Indigenous communities but all communities,” stated Jerilyn Webster, one of the participants in the TD Bank occupation, in a press release.
Today’s direct action is in response to revelations that TD is one of several Canadian financial institutions backing the DAPL and its associated companies. The pipeline, which is to carry oil from the Bakken Fields to Illinois, has met fierce opposition from the Standing Rock Sioux and a growing alliance led by Indigenous nations.
Close to 2,000 people, including members of over 100 Native American tribes, have converged at a spirit camp near Cannon Ball, North Dakota....
Wed, 2016-09-14 20:46
#10
Palestinians back Standing Rock Sioux in “struggle for all humanity”
Palestinians are expressing support for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in their months-long resistance to the US government’s plan to install an oil pipeline on their land.
“The people of Palestine supports you and all those standing with you right now in North Dakota to protect your tribal lands and resist the desecration and destruction of your sacred burial sites at the hands of the Energy Transfer Partners corporation and the Dakota Access Pipeline they are building,” the Palestinian BDS National Committee said on Friday....
Sat, 2016-09-17 19:16
#11
Arrests After #KeepItInTheGround Activists Occupy Interior Department
More than 40 Indigenous activists, Gulf Coast residents, and other climate leaders have reportedly occupied the U.S. Department of the Interior, demanding no new fossil fuel leases on public lands and waters. Several arrests have also been reported. The protesters entered the lobby of the department chanting, "Keep it in the ground!"
The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that is taking part in the events, said the action represented an escalation of the Keep It In The Ground campaign and continues the message of a demonstration last month in which four people were arrested while protesting fossil fuel lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico.
It is also a gesture of solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux in their resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline....
Sun, 2016-09-18 06:29
#12
Nurses Union Slams AFL-CIO's Endorsement of Dakota Access Pipeline
video
The National Nurses United a member of the AFL-CIO, strongly rebuked the AFL's decision to endorse the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Sun, 2016-09-18 07:46
#13
13 Protestors Removed from Dept. of Interior in Latest Pipeline Protest
video
The action comes as part of the ongoing movement against the North Dakota Access Pipeline
Sun, 2016-09-18 07:57
#14
Federal Judge Dissolves DAPL's Injunction Against Water Protectors
North Dakota U.S. District Court Judge Daniel L. Hovland today dissolved a temporary restraining order against Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II and a number of named and unnamed participants in protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Dakota Access LLP, the consortium building the DAPL, applied for the restraining order on an ex parte basis on August 15, citing demonstrations earlier in August that effectively shut down construction near the Oahe Crossing in North Dakota, where the DAPL is planned to cross the Missouri River and a dammed portion of the river known as Lake Oahe. The federal court granted the ex parte restraining order the following day, enjoining Mr. Archambault and others, including Standing Rock Sioux Tribe members Valerie Wolf Necklace and Clifton Verle Howell, from “unlawfully interfering in any way” with pipeline construction....
Sun, 2016-09-18 13:09
#15
..includes a video
Bernie Sanders Leads Major Rally Against Oil Pipeline Project in Front of the White House
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was one of hundreds who came out in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline yesterday, headlining a rally Tuesday night at the White House. Sanders, Van Jones, Tara Houska and other native leaders from the camp at Standing Rock all spoke at the rally, one of over 100 events taking place nationally as part of a solidarity action with the camp in North Dakota.
"It is vitally important that we show our solidarity with the Native American people of this country," Sanders began after he took the microphone.
Sanders called an end to the exploitation of the Native American people the number-one issue of the day.
"The second issue of global consequence is that we need to understand that the future of energy in this country is not more oil, it is not more pipelines and it's not more carbon emissions," Sanders continued. "It is the transformation of our energy system away from oil and away from pipelines and away from carbon."
Sanders explained why he believes climate change is a global issue that deserves everyone's attention.
"The debate is over," Sanders said. "The scientific community is 100 percent clear, climate change is real and it's caused by human activity and if we don't get our act together, the planet that we will be leaving our children and grandchildren will not be a habitable or a livable planet."
"We must not allow that to happen," Sanders said. He then turned to reasons for stopping the Dakota Access Pipeline.
"The group Oil Change International, which is a group deeply concerned about the future of our planet, found Dakota Access Pipeline will have the same impact on our planet as adding 21 million more cars to our roads. It would have the same impact as adding 30 new coal plants. This is crazy stuff. This pipeline must be stopped," Sanders said...
Sun, 2016-09-18 13:24
#16
The Struggle to Defeat Dakota Access Pipeline Goes Global
Progress on the Dakota Access Pipeline was again disrupted on Tuesday and Wednesday as protestors stood in the way of bulldozers and other equipment, resulting in over 20 arrests. Events on the ground in North Dakota this week converged with Tuesdays Global Day of Action for which demonstrations in Japan, New Zealand, Canada, and across Europe raised awareness to defeat the pipeline....
Mon, 2016-09-19 16:30
#17
At least 40 arrested during pipeline protest near Montrose
More than 150 Dakota Access oil pipeline protesters gathered at the entrance to a work site on Mississippi River Road Saturday afternoon, and about 40 were arrested.
After receiving warnings from private security and Lee County Sheriff deputies, the protesters continued to walk through a line of local law enforcement officers who were blocking the drive. They subsequently were handcuffed and placed inside police vehicles to be taken to jail.
Burlington resident Erica Slough was one of those arrested. She became interested in the pipeline after watching Native American protesters temporarily shut down work on the project in North Dakota.
“Then I found out (the pipeline) was coming through my neck of the woods, through my area where I live. Right under the Mississippi. If that pipeline breaks, that is going to contaminate our water here,” she said.
Slough never was involved with a protest before, and being arrested was a new experience. However, she said protesting the pipeline was worth being arrested.
“I follow quite a few issues, but this one is in my hometown, and I’m not going to let it happen. Not on my watch,” she said....
Wed, 2016-09-21 15:24
#18
Sat, 2016-09-24 19:00
#19
UN wants Dakota Access Pipeline construction halted
The United Nations is getting involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy.
A UN Special Envoy for Indigenous Peoples is formally asking the United States to halt construction on the four-state pipeline.
The UN's Victoria Tauli-Corpuz says the pipeline "poses a significant risk to the drinking water of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe." In a written statement, the envoy says the tribe was denied access to information and excluded from consultations.
Tauli-Corpuz says the federal government should "undertake a thorough review of compliance with international standards" and obtain the tribe's "free and informed consent."
....
Standing Rock Sioux Takes Pipeline Fight to UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe took its fight to stop construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday in a bid to gather international opposition to the project.
Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault II addressed the 49-member Council in a brief two-minute testimony where he called "upon all parties to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline."
Archambault said the U.S. government had failed to abide by signed treaties with the tribe — referring to the 1851 Treaty of Traverse de Sioux and 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, two legally-binding treaties ratified by the U.S. Senate that recognize the Sioux's national sovereignty.
"The oil companies and the government of the United States have failed to respect our sovereign rights," Archambault said....
Sat, 2016-09-24 19:30
#20
UN wants Dakota Access Pipeline construction halted
The United Nations is getting involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy....
...thanks for this...yes this may be a game changer, especially considering that hundreds of Indigenous Nations are engaged now in support...so my first question which ought to be in another thread...why doesn't the Treaty 8 Peoples take up the challenge...is the UBCIC considering this, as Stewart Phillip was at the Dakota protests and made an address!
Surely a call out to the UN Special rapporteur for Indigenous North America to be present at the site C is an urgency?
Sun, 2016-09-25 05:47
#21
A Subzero Winter Is Coming to Standing Rock—Here’s Their Plan
On a Saturday in mid-September, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard ambles through the Sacred Stone Camp, which she founded on her family’s land this spring to stop the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. The camp started small, but as media attention—and support—grew over the summer, it swelled by the end of August beyond its physical capacity into overflow camps. The population of the largest one, Oceti Sakowin, now numbers in the thousands.
Allard, who is the Standing Rock Sioux’s director of Tribal Tourism, a position that covers historic and cultural preservation, is both inspired and overwhelmed by this outpouring, but she’s careful not to let it distract her. Cold weather is rapidly approaching, and if the water protectors, as they call themselves, are going to make it through winter on the northern Plains, they need to prepare.
She sits behind her black SUV, enjoying a moment of tranquility away from people who might want her opinion on the dozens of tasks that need to be completed. She has tasks of her own to do, and on this afternoon she prepares corn by removing the kernels from the cob so that they can dry and be rehydrated months later. “I don’t know why,” she says, “but dehydrated corn is so much sweeter.”
Every year she prepares for the five-month winter as the Lakota have done for thousands of years, but this year is different. She is surrounded by a mountain of bottled water, food, toilet paper, blankets, and other winter clothing. Many people have come and gone as work and other obligations have allowed, but every day Allard is confronted with the overwhelming logistics of building a community from scratch. A recent cold snap only heightened the sense of urgency, and with a recent court decision temporarily halting construction within 20 miles of the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, the enthusiasm is palpable, while much attention has turned to preparing for North Dakota’s legendary winter....
Sun, 2016-09-25 18:50
#22
In an amazing act of solidarity, over 1200 archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and museum directors sent a letter to President Obama, urging the White House administration to halt construction on the Dakota Access pipeline to prevent the destruction of cultural resources.
It is unusual for museums to engage in this type of advocacy, but speaks to the critical natural of this issue. The significance of the cultural artifacts along the proposed route is simply too great to sacrifice for a crude oil pipeline.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is currently suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is the primary federal agency that granted permits needed for the pipeline to be constructed. The focus of the lawsuit is that the Army Corps took an illegally narrow view of its responsibilities to protect and engage the Tribe when it granted the permits. The lawsuit alleges that the Corps violated multiple federal statutes, including the Clean Water Act, National Historic Protection Act, and National Environmental Policy Act, when it issued the permits. Of primary focus for the tribe is the potential destruction of cultural and sacred sites, impacts on the drinking water and overall environmental impacts caused by pipeline construction.
These concerns were validated with the Sept 3rd bulldozing of burial sites by the Dakota Access pipeline company.
We continue to ask for the Obama administration to revoke all permits granted under the authority of the US Army Corps of Engineers permit process titled Nationwide Permit 12. Furthermore we demand the Corps should exercise its discretion to order a full EIS be conducted on the entire project.
The group letter and press release can be read below!...
Tue, 2016-09-27 16:06
#23
Caravan from Standing Rock Shuts Down Two DAPL Constructions Sties
by West Coast Women Warriors Media Cooperative, September 26, 2016
The latest in a series of escalating actions to stop the continued construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline saw hundreds of Indigenous Land Defenders, Water Protectors and Warriors leave camp on Sunday in a 70 car caravan to conduct ceremony on the still active construction sites.
Hundreds gathered to shut down and take over 2 active construction sites, that despite the Obama administration’s previous intervention, hailed as a victory for the encampment, continue to lay down and weld the pipelines on the route. As the warriors approached the first site, singing, drumming and war crying, the private security firm hastily packed up and left the site, allowing the group to conduct a powerful ceremony for the Water and its protection. This ceremony was conducted at both active construction sites, with prayer ties and trees planted in the direct route of the pipeline. The police watched the actions and ceremonies at a distance but no arrests were made as men, women and children witnessed and participated in the prayers.
This latest action and ancient ceremony was a powerful one and called on the spirits of Crazy Horse and Red Cloud, all ancestors were joined as one with the encampment. This display of unity and strength is to show the world that our will is one and that the ongoing construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline will not be accepted by our Peoples. This is a camp of thousands from all four directions united in their power and their strength, in their simple wish to protect their Lands and Waters, to protect all Lands and Waters from the greed and destruction of industry and colonization....
Thu, 2016-09-29 10:48
#24
Military-Style Raid Ends Native Prayer Against Dakota Pipeline
North Dakota police with military-style equipment surrounded Native Americans gathered in prayer against the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline on Wednesday, disrupting their plan to cross sacred and treaty-protected land in protest of a project they fear will destroy their livelihood.
“ND authorities deploy armed personnel with shotguns and assault rifles, military vehicles, and aerial spray on peaceful Water Protectors gathered in prayer,” wrote the Sacred Stone Camp, in a Facebook post.
Officers with military-style armored vehicles and shotguns threatened the protesters, who call themselves “water protectors” for defending the Missouri River from imminent pollution, reported Unicorn Riot. Up to 21 were arrested, the channel reported.
Witnesses filmed the crackdown but said their access their Facebook was blocked. One participant, Thomas H. Joseph II, posted a chilling video narrating the mobilization and his getaway. Helicopters are heard as he says that tear gas is being dropped, and an officer loads his gun as protesters, some on horseback, chant, "We have no guns."....
Mon, 2016-10-03 03:37
#25
Climate justice meets racism: Standing Rock was decades in the making
Attack dogs and waves of arrests by police in riot gear could look like isolated incidents of overreaction to the activism stemming from the Standing Rock reservation. But for the Lakota Sioux who live in these marginalized hillsides, the escalated militarization behind their battle against the Dakota Access pipeline is a situation decades in the making.
North Dakota is not the whitest state in America, but it’s arguably the most segregated. More than 60 percent of its largest minority population, Native Americans, lives on or near reservations. Native men are incarcerated or unemployed at some of the highest rates in the country. Poverty levels for families of the Standing Rock tribe are five times that of residents living in the capital city, Bismarck. In Cannon Ball, the heart of the tribal community, there are rows of weathered government homes, but no grocery store. Tucked behind a lonely highway, this is where mostly white farmers and ranchers shuttle to and from homesteads once belonging to the Sioux.
Add to that a contempt that many Native Americans say they feel from North Dakotans and particularly from police, and many people of Standing Rock are not surprised by the extreme response of law enforcement against activists.
“We’ve run on empty for a number of generations,” said Phyllis Young, a former tribal councilwoman for the Standing Rock Sioux, the community that’s vowed to stop the pipeline in its path. “But now we’re taking a stand. We are reaching a pinnacle, a peak.”....
Tue, 2016-10-04 05:07
#26
1,000 Lakota Sioux Youth to Descend Upon Dakota Pipeline Protest Site
1,000 Young Native Americans from the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe are raising $100,000 to pay for the transport, tents, sleeping bags, and food needed for them to reach the pipeline protest site, according to One Spirit Native Progress.
The Standing Rock Lakota Sioux are taking a stand to protect the water, the land, and their heritage threatened by the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The construction led by Energy Transfer Inc. has already destroyed ancient burial sites, prayer grounds, and sacred artifacts. The Standing Rock Lakota have been joined by members of 280 other tribes, and the youth from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation want to join their elders and stand with them....
Tue, 2016-10-04 08:47
#27
What are the Ties Between Dakota Access Pipeline Company & North Dakota's Attorney General?
quote:
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to shift gears a bit, Lisa. You have been looking at the Koch brothers for quite some time, looking at all the oil politics in this country. Close to a hundred scientists have signed onto a letter decrying inadequate environmental and cultural impact assessments for the Dakota Access pipeline, calling for a halt to construction until such tests have been carried out as requested by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. This is the Dakota Access pipeline, $3.8 billion pipeline, being built in North Dakota that’s being vehemently protested by not only the Standing Rock Sioux of the area, but hundreds of Native American tribes from Latin America, the United States and Canada. What do you know about the politics here and the connection between the private company, the Dakota Access pipeline company, and the government of North Dakota?
LISA GRAVES: Well, what we know is that there is a tremendous amount of influence by oil industry on the Republican Attorneys General Association. And so, what we have disclosed through our open records requests and through other investigations is the incredible role of oil companies, including Exxon, but other companies, in basically getting influence with these attorneys general. The attorney general of North Dakota has been the AG for more than 15 years. He’s the top law enforcement officer of that state, yet he’s been part of a pay-to-play operation that is the Republican Attorneys General Association, where they raise money for this group. The money—this group, RAGA, then helps fund those campaigns of those attorneys general.
Meanwhile, corporations are getting special access to attorneys general to push their agenda. And they’ve used that access in a number of ways. We’ve only been documenting part of it. But this goes back for more than a decade, the role of RAGA and these Republican AGs with these energy industry companies. So, we don’t know the full story yet, but we know undoubtedly that the fossil fuel industry has a disproportionate role within RAGA, and it has used that role, for example, to attack the Clean Power Plan and any other measure that tries to put democratic restraints on oil—on the oil and gas industry.
Tue, 2016-10-04 12:07
#28
Ladonna Bravebull Allard Urges UN to Halt Dakota Access Pipeline
Ladonna Bravebull Allard:
Greetings distinguished representatives,
I greet you with a good heart today. I am Ta Maka Waste Win, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe I am speaking regarding the participation of the over 300 million Indigenous Peoples of Unci Maka Mother Earth. Within the United Nations system, we the Indigenous peoples request that our participation be granted at the highest possible level and that our representatives be legitimate and elected by Indigenous Nations and organizations in each region. This will secure that our participation and contributions on issues that affect us are addressed in a legitimate manner. Lack of this legitimate representation and contributions on issues that affect us are resulting in violations of our equal and inalienable rights as members of the human family. As such is the current and urgent situation of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, my home, where the Dakota Access Pipeline has blatantly violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, ILO 169, the Laramie Treaty of 1868, unresolved Ihunktonwana Land Claim Docket 74A and most importantly our Mother Earth.
The organization hereby invokes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, ILO 169 to be enforced and brought to life to put an immediate stop to the Dakota Access Pipeline. We request that an observer and media team be sent immediately and permanently to Standing Rock until this issue is resolved to protect the water. This situation with Dakota Access has been going on for 6 months now. It has endured Spring, Summer, Fall and heads into Winter as we protect and defend our right to water. We demand immediate assistance and protection for our Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota sisters and brothers. Today we are here to formally denounce terrorism from transnationals agaisnt Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth, as such is our situation in Standing Rock and also the urgent situation of our Indigenous sisters and brothers in the Amazon and many other parts of the world.
The organization remains committed to solving the challenges faced by our generation which is to protect life and clean water for the future generations and so that all that exists can continue to exist. The Indigenous Traditional Knowledge is the only path remaining to heal the unsustainable pattern of production and consumption that is destroying our lives and the world around us. Agenda 2030, without our legitimate representatives and inclusion of Indigenous Peoples Traditional Knowledge will fail. Our knowledge can help heal Mother Earth. Without it, great and irreparable damage will lead us to destruction. We must unite to protect the Water and our Mother Earth. We, the Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth walk to the future in the footprints of our ancestors.
Fri, 2016-10-07 11:07
#29
UN Permanent Forum Rebukes U.S. for Ignoring Standing Rock and Other Tribal Nations
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has agreed with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the nearly 200 other tribes that say the Dakota Access oil pipeline’s route was mapped out without adequate consultation.
“The project was proposed and planned without any consultation with the Standing Rock Sioux or others that will be affected by this major project,” said Chairman Alvaro Pop Ac, in a joint statement with Forum members Dalee Dorough and Chief Edward John.
The U.N. body went on to outline the $3.8 billion project’s parameters and the threat to security and drinking-water access for not only the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe but also for millions of people living downstream from the Missouri River, which the pipeline would cross.
“Given these circumstances, we call on the government of the United States to comply with the provisions recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ensure the right of the Sioux to participate in decision-making, considering that the construction of this pipeline will affect their rights, lives and territory,” the statement said, quoting Article 19 of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. “States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.” .....
Sat, 2016-10-08 14:24
#30
Sat, 2016-10-08 18:47
#31
Early last month, in anticipation of a federal court ruling on the Dakota Access oil pipeline, the governor of North Dakota called up the National Guard. “The Guardsmen will not be going to the actual protest site,” the state National Guard clarified, referring to the Standing Rock encampment, but added that “[t]he governor also placed additional Guardsmen on standby alert in the event they are needed to support law enforcement response efforts.”
The showdown didn’t materialize. The Obama administration, facing heightened pressure to nix the pipeline, requested that the pipeline company stop construction around the burgeoning occupation.
But the governor’s actions raised the specter of a forcible, wide-ranging crackdown, instantly conjuring up memories of National Guard–led repression throughout US history.
One of the most notable instances of such repression came more than eighty years ago, when the National Guard was deployed to the streets of Toledo, Ohio. Like the resisters at Standing Rock, the workers of Toledo sought dignity and sovereignty. Arrayed against them were the National Guard, state and private police, and the forces of exploitation.
quote:
An Ongoing Struggle
Throughout American history, the National Guard has been used to reinforce state and corporate power at the expense of popular democracy. Far from safeguarding the citizenry, the Guard has simply repressed its radical elements.
While the Guard hasn’t marched on Standing Rock, on at least two occasions, private security guards and state law enforcement have stepped in to dragoon and arrest those blocking construction. Protesters have had dogs sicced on them and guns trained on them. Yet the encampment shows no signs of dying out, even with the harsh North Dakota winter ahead and the ever-present threat of state violence.
Throughout the history of colonialism, global capitalism, and neoliberalism, indigenous people have fought efforts to destroy and dispossess. Those resisting in North Dakota are part of that long, ongoing struggle, forcing themselves into a discussion that was designed to leave them out.
Mon, 2016-10-10 04:16
#32
Pipeline protest now a city of 4,000 with a growing infrastructure
As several of us from Chicago approached the camp here that is known now around the world we saw the flags of many Native tribes, tents, tepees, makeshift buildings, horses and motor vehicles spread across a valley near where the Missouri and Cannonball Rivers come together.
The Sacred Stone encampment, as it is called by the thousands protesting here on any given day, is near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.
It is a place where Native tribes from all over the continent have come to join the Standing Rock Sioux in their battle against the Dakota Access pipeline. They fight to protect sacred sites but they fight also to protect water – the Missouri River alone provides all the water needs for millions of Americans.
This struggle has become much more than just another massive civil disobedience action, however. The “water protectors,” as they call themselves (preferring that term to ‘protesters’), have literally constructed what looks like an almost permanent new settlement in North Dakota. With the population each day averaging 4,000, the Sacred Stone Camp is already twice the size of the average North Dakota town.
Signs of the permanence of the settlement include systems to distribute water and cooked meals to thousands, a growing school system, a medical center complete with an ambulance, tents being replaced with makeshift shelters and even elementary construction sites being prepared for buildings that can keep people warm in the winter.
Like any other permanent settlement arrangements have been made for the safety and security of the residents. When we arrived cars lined the southern entrance to the camp waiting to be cleared for entry by members of the voluntary security team. At night the security details are larger than those on duty during the day.
quote:
The Sacred Stone camp is separated from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation by the Cannonball River to its north and west. In addition to food distribution systems there are in place other systems to ensure delivery to residents of, wood, clothing and other supplies. Porta Johns are set up throughout the camp and are cleaned on a regular basis. Trash disposal systems that include recycling and the set-up of compost piles are in place. Teams of volunteers patrol the campsites to make sure they are kept clean.
There is one huge central or “primary” kitchen complete with propane burners. Volunteers cook things like buffalo stew and corn soup and the cooked meals are distributed to people throughout the campsites. Free breakfast, lunch and dinner are made available this way.
The primary kitchen is actually a series of connected canopies attached to wooden structures. Organizers in the kitchen go around making sure volunteers are keeping their hands clean and that they are following proper health protocols while preparing the food. Anyone who has anything to do with handling food in any way is required to use the handwashing stations set up around the primary kitchen....
Mon, 2016-10-10 04:28
#33
Enough is Enough: Indigenous activist's powerful speech becomes internet sensation
Indigenous nations across the USA mobilized to protect Standing Rock. There are thousands of people now standing their grounds, including over a hundred Nations from across the Continent.
Tara Houska, from the Ojibwa Nation, says this gathering of tribal nations at Standing Rock is unprecedented since Wounded Knee in 1973.
Thu, 2016-10-13 00:20
#34
Careful, careful.........
Bolt cutters expose vulnerability of North America’s oil pipeline grid
Protesters said they spent months studying how to safely shut the valves. The ability for them to access the proprietary information necessary to shut a line safely was questioned by experts.
Either way, pipeline specialists said it was lucky there were no leaks. Once the valves are shut, pressure can quickly build up inside pipelines that operate under as much as 1,000 pounds (450 kg) per square inch.
Protesters were taking a chance that a weak spot in a line would not explode, and that employees in operations hubs would spring into action after hearing alarms.
“On the wrong pipeline, in the wrong place (actions like this) could kill people,” said Richard Kuprewicz, president of Accufacts Inc, a pipeline advisory firm. “This is hazardous hot liquid. It’s not something to be terrified of, but it must be respected.”
http://business.financialpost.com/news/energy/bolt-cutters-expose-vulner...
Thu, 2016-10-13 11:47
#35
..and then there's another take on the action. and who is putting people at risk and tresspassing.
Climate Direct Action: Activists Halt Flow of Tar Sands Oil by Shutting Off Valves of Five Pipelines
quote:
AMY GOODMAN: Responding to a request from Democracy Now!, Enbridge, Spectra and Kinder Morgan all condemned the actions. Kinder Morgan stated, quote, "reckless trespassers," unquote, broke into their location, but that they were not operating through the portion of the line that was targeted. Spectra Energy stated, quote, "Tampering with energy infrastructure places both the community and the environment at risk," unquote. They temporarily shut down the section of the Express pipeline that was impacted, and report that it was restarted a few hours later. And Enbridge Energy called the action, quote, "reckless and dangerous," unquote, adding, quote, "These are criminal acts that endanger the public and the environment. We take this very seriously and will support prosecution of all those involved." Jay, how many people got arrested? And what are they being charged with?
JAY O’HARA: Well, I’ll answer that in a second, Amy, but, first, it’s just beautiful to hear the words of those pipeline companies, because that is exactly the words that we need to be using to describe what their corporations and the fossil fuel industry is doing to our planet: reckless endangerment and reckless operation. So, I’m looking forward to being able to read those full statements, so we can really turn them around and republish them as our own words....
Fri, 2016-10-14 02:18
#36
Fri, 2016-10-14 18:20
#37
27 Arrested Resisting Dakota Access Pipeline on Indigenous Peoples' Day
On Monday, protests and actions were held across the country to mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day and to oppose further construction of fossil fuel infrastructure. In North Dakota, hundreds of Native Americans and their allies gathered to resist the construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which 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. At least 27 people were arrested blockading construction at two separate worksites, including Hollywood actress Shailene Woodley.
Police Officer: "Right now you’re being placed under arrest for criminal trespassing, all right?"
Shailene Woodley: "It’s because I have 40,000 people watching. So everybody knows we were going to our vehicle, which they had all surrounded and waiting for me with giant guns and the giant truck behind them, just so they could arrest me, so they knew this would happen. I hope you’re watching, mainstream media."
Fri, 2016-10-14 18:44
#38
Five senators call for halt of Dakota Access pipeline
Letter: 'We will not survive if we continue to destroy nature'
Five U.S. senators sent a letter to President Barack Obama Thursday asking that his administration halt construction of the Dakota Access pipeline proposed in Iowa and three other states until affected tribes are consulted and a full environmental review is conducted.
The letter was signed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, and Democrats Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Dianne Feinstein of California, Ben Cardin of Maryland and Ed Markey of Massachusetts.
“In light of the decision of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reject the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s request for a temporary halt to construction, the project’s current permits should be suspended and all construction stopped until a complete environmental and cultural review has been completed for the entire project,” the senators wrote.
Over the past several weeks, hundreds of Native American tribes have mobilized to draw attention to the pipeline’s encroachment on sacred lands, bringing about a groundswell of opposition to the project.
“Until there has been full and meaningful tribal consultation, all pipeline permits and easements should be revoked or denied,” the senators added in their joint letter....
Fri, 2016-10-14 23:28
#39
i was reading the story above on Amy Goodman and read the bit about the Nigerian oil dictatorship. it twigged me back like a decade or more to mom carrying on about Chevron in Nigeria. you're making me think and learn epaulo. never cared to then.
went on the hunt for info to try and get a fuller picture on the struggles of Indigenous peoples in Nigeria with Chevron.
Nigeria is taking several international oil companies -- including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Eni SpA and Petroleo Brasileiro SA -- to court allegedly for failing to declare more than 57 million barrels of crude exports between 2011 and 2014. The government says the oil was worth about $13 billion, according to the Associated Press. Nigeria’s lower house of parliament said last week it ordered a separate investigation into whether as much as $17 billion of fuel exports were stolen during the period.Petrobras’s next hearing will be on Oct. 10 and Shell’s on Oct. 20, according to court documents. The next hearing for Eni’s Agip is due 31 Oct.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power in May 2015, has said that “mind-boggling” sums of money have disappeared from Nigeria’s oil industry. The economy, battered by crude prices more than halving since 2014, is heading for its first recession this year since 1991, according to the International Monetary Fund.
and even more interesting than happenedl companies allegedly stealing oil and going to court over it happened back in May
Militants attacked a Chevron ... platform in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region late on Wednesday, the U.S. energy company said on Thursday, amid growing fears of a revived militant campaign in the region.It is the latest in a series of attacks on oil facilities in Africa's top oil exporter...
...The same group has said it carried out an attack on a Shell...oil pipeline in February which shut down the 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal.
The militants say they want a greater share of oil revenues. Crude sales account for around 70 percent of national income in Africa's biggest economy.
Pipeline attacks and violence have risen in Nigeria's southern swampland since authorities issued an arrest warrant in January for a former militant leader on corruption charges.
Buhari has extended a multi-million dollar amnesty signed with militants in 2009 but upset them by ending generous pipeline protection contracts.
The militancy is a further challenge for a government faced with an insurgency by the Islamist militant Boko Haram group in the northeast and violent clashes between armed nomadic herdsmen and locals over land use in various parts of the country.
both of these accounts depict a story of what is and what will go on here in Canada imv.
going to look more on other Indigenous peoples in oil producing countries and see what's going on there.
Sat, 2016-10-15 11:20
#40
..txs quizzical. great project you've set out to do. connecting the struggles is important work and is always welcome/needed on babble.
..i continue to believe that we are writing our own story. that the future is imposible to predict unless you are discussing the implications of continuing on our current trajectory. and watching how this dakota pipeline unfolds is setting the basis for our future here on turtle island.
Sat, 2016-10-15 20:20
#41
[url=https://www.thenation.com/article/amy-goodman-is-facing-prison-for-repor... Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota Access Pipeline. That Should Scare Us All.[/url]
This coming Monday, as the sun hits its peak over Mandan, North Dakota, the award-winning journalist, and host of Democracy Now!,Amy Goodman will walk into the Morton County–Mandan Combined Law Enforcement and Corrections Center and turn herself in to the local authorities. Her crime: good, unflinching journalism.Goodman had the audacity to commit this journalism on September 3, when she was in North Dakota covering what she calls “the standoff at Standing Rock”: the months-long protests by thousands of Native Americans against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The $3.8 billion oil pipeline is slated to carry barrel after barrel of Bakken crude through sacred sites and burial grounds of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, and tribe members fear it could pollute the Missouri River, the source not only of their water but of millions of others’, should the pipe ever rupture. Their protests, which began in April and ballooned through the summer months, represent the largest mobilization of Native American activists in more than 40 years—and one of the most vital campaigns for environmental justice in perhaps as long.
[...]
“People have gone through the fence, men, women, and children,” Goodman reported, her voice taut, then rising, louder and more intense. “The bulldozers are still going, and they’re yelling at the men in hard hats. One man in a hard hat threw one of the protesters down…!”
As Goodman narrated, a security contractor, burly in a deep blue shirt, could be seen belly-flopping a man onto the ground. Protesters streamed in to help him, stumbled over mounds of newly churned dirt, faced off with contractors whose faces were hidden behind oversized sunglasses. The scene was full of movement. Overhead, a helicopter hovered, circled, while back on the ground, protesters began to report burning eyes, and dogs—dogs lurching at protesters, dogs straining against their leashes, dogs with mouths open, mouths biting.
“Why are you letting the dog go after the protesters?” Goodman could be heard shouting at a security contractor as a woman screamed in the background. “It’s covered in blood!”
Within hours of the attack, Democracy Now! had turned its footage into a seven-minute video that it released as a web exclusive. Three days later, Goodman followed up with an extensive report—“Dakota Access Pipeline Co. Attacks Native Americans with Dogs and Pepper Spray”—that she broadcast live on her show. The video quickly went viral, pinging across Twitter and Facebook (where it was viewed more than 14 million times) and landing, ultimately, on the same big news stations that, until that moment, hadn’t bothered to cover the protests: CNN, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, NPR.
Goodman’s report created a rare crack in the consensus of silence. And, as Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi writes, the outrage it generated may well have influenced the Obama administration’s decision to halt work on the pipeline several days later. This was journalism that mattered.
Sun, 2016-10-16 09:36
#42
..from trade unions for energy democracy
Standing Rock Solid with the Frackers: Are the Trades Putting Labor’s Head in the Gas Oven?
If anyone were looking for further evidence that the AFL-CIO remains unprepared to accept the science of climate change, and unwilling to join with the effort being made by all of the major labor federations of the world to address the crisis, the fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) provides only the most recent case in point. Taking direction from the newly minted North American Building Trades Unions (NABTU) and the American Petroleum Institute (API), the federation stood against the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribal nations.
In a recent video interview, NABTU president Sean McGarvey dismissed those who oppose the expansion of fossil fuels infrastructure. “There is no way to satisfy them…no way for them to recognize that if we don’t want to lose our place in the world as the economic superpower, then we have to have this infrastructure and the ability to responsibly reap the benefits of what God has given this country in its natural resources.”[i] Although the leaders of NABTU no longer identify with the AFL-CIO and the letterhead does not mention the Federation, the Trades continue to determine the shape the AFL-CIO’s approach to energy and climate. This is despite the fact that a growing number of unions have opposed the DAPL, among them the Amalgamated Transit Union, Communication Workers of America, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Nurses United, New York State Nurses Association, Service Employees International Union (SEIU); SEIU 1199, and the United Electrical Workers. Union locals (branches or chapters) have also opposed the DAPL, among them, GEU UAW Local 6950 and Steelworkers Local 8751.
These unions have been joined by the Labor Coalition for Community Action, which represents well established AFL-CIO constituency groups like LCLAA, APALA, Pride at Work, CBTU, CLUW and the A. Philip Randolph Institute.
Reacting to the progressive unions’ solidarity with Standing Rock Sioux, NABTU’s president Sean McGarvey wrote a scathing letter to AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, copies of which were sent to the principal officers of all of the Federation’s affiliated unions. In a fashion reminiscent of the Keystone XL fight, McGarvey disparaged the unions that opposed DAPL. A day later, on September 15th, the AFL-CIO issued its own already infamous statement supporting DAPL. “Trying to make climate policy by attacking individual construction projects is neither effective nor fair to the workers involved” said the statement. “The AFL-CIO calls on the Obama Administration to allow construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline to continue.”[ii]
Sun, 2016-10-16 18:05
#43
Sun, 2016-10-16 19:02
#44
Who's Banking on the Dakota Access Pipeline? (foodandwaterwatch.org)
RBC -- ROYAL BANK OF CANADA
TD subsidiary TD Securities
Scotiabank
https://ricochet.media/en/1386/canadian-banks-fund-dakota-access-pipelin...
Mon, 2016-10-17 12:18
#45
..good to see democracy now back in nd
Amy Goodman Broadcasts from North Dakota Across from Court Where She Faces Riot Charge Today
Mon, 2016-10-17 20:33
#46
[url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/17/amy-goodman-north-dakota... rejects riot charges for journalist Amy Goodman after oil pipeline protest[/url]
On Monday, judge John Grinsteiner ruled that the state lacked probable cause for the riot charge, blocking prosecutors from moving forward with the controversial prosecution.
“I feel vindicated. Most importantly, journalism is vindicated,” Goodman told reporters and supporters on a live Facebook video Monday afternoon. “We have a right to report. It’s also critical that we are on the front lines. Today, the judge sided with ... freedom of the press.”
Mon, 2016-10-17 20:43
#47
..nurses on the frontlines (ny nurses) began a podcast recently. their very first show was from standing rock. it's about 20 min long but if your going to listen don't miss the very last interview with phyllis young around the 16 min mark. i can almost guaranty you will enjoy it.
Tue, 2016-10-18 18:01
#48
..awesome interview. it seems like we are in the midst of a transformation.
Standing Rock Sioux Pediatrician: Threat from Fracking Chemicals is "Environmental Genocide"
In an extended interview with one of the first people arrested in the resistance movement against the Dakota Access pipeline, Dr. Sara Jumping Eagle explains, "as a physician, I’m very aware of what the health effects could be of a pipeline spill … among our communities." Jumping Eagle is a pediatrician and a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe....
Sat, 2016-10-22 15:55
#49
Officers Withdrawn from North Dakota Following Arrest of Madison Elected Official
Madison Common Council Alderperson Rebecca Kemble speaks out after her arrest while working as a legal observer during the growing resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline
Rebecca Kemble was elected to the Madison Common Council representing District 18 in April, 2015. As an Alder, Rebecca backed the city's Worker Cooperative Development Initiative and currently serves on 12 City of Madison commissions and committees. Rebecca is a worker-owner at Union Cab Cooperative and the past President of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives. She is currently the President of CICOPA North America, the sub-regional body of the worker cooperative sector of the International Cooperative Alliance. She is also the Vice President of CICOPA Americas and serves on the Executive Board of CICOPA worldwide. Rebecca is also a writer for The Progressive magazine, and a founding member and editor at the Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative.
Sat, 2016-10-22 18:03
#50
OMG longer but worth it.
Sun, 2016-10-23 19:56
#51
Road closed, drone shot, 83 arrested at Dakota Access Pipeline protests
Demonstrations against construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline ramped up over the weekend, resulting in dozens of arrests and a highway closure, authorities in North Dakota said.About 300 protesters trespassed Saturday on private property three miles west of State Highway 1806, along the pipeline right of way, the Morton County Sheriff's Department said. Eighty-three were arrested and charged with criminal trespass and engaging in a riot. The protesters "engaged in escalated unlawful tactics and behavior," such as using bicycle locks and makeshift handcuffs to attach themselves to construction equipment and vehicles, the department said. Some cut holes in doors and put their arms through them covered in concrete casts, fusing their arms to the door.
quote:
'This protest is not peaceful or lawful'
Saturday's arrests were the latest examples of an escalating pattern of abuse of power on the part of law enforcement, Standing Rock Chairman Paul Archambault said."The intimidation by militarized police in riot gear and unlawful arrests are an attack on the First Amendment rights of the protectors, and we again ask the Department of Justice to send observers to the area to ensure that constitutional rights are protected."
"Police are also routinely strip searching protesters, even when they have only been charged with a misdemeanor offense. Like days of old, this is a thinly veiled attempt to dehumanize and degrade Native people. Thousands of people have come to Standing Rock in prayerful protest of the pipeline and millions more support the Tribe in our efforts to protect our sacred places and water."
Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said the weekend arrests reflected the latest show of protesters' "escalated unlawful tactics.""Today's situation clearly illustrates what we have been saying for weeks: that this protest is not peaceful or lawful," he said. "This protest was intentionally coordinated and planned by agitators with the specific intent to engage in illegal activities."