Post Tagged with: "Dakota Access Pipeline"

“We’ll Meet Them Out in the Fields”: Challenging the Pipelines to Nowhere

“We’ll Meet Them Out in the Fields”: Challenging the Pipelines to Nowhere

Recent polls suggest that the bonkers, even barbaric, rhetoric coming from far-right MAGA candidates could be undermining Republicans’ chances of capturing both chambers of Congress in November. Now, the greater danger may lie down-ballot. If extremists win key offices in swing-state governments in 2022, they might manage to award their states’ Electoral College votes to the MAGA presidential candidate, against[Read More…]

by 13/09/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Indigenous-Led Organization Opens New Salvo in Fight for Climate Justice

Indigenous-Led Organization Opens New Salvo in Fight for Climate Justice

NDN Collective, inspired by the Standing Rock Sioux movement, releases a report on Dakota Access Pipeline. Climate justice means something different to everyone but when it brings to mind images of shrinking glaciers, islands of floating garbage, or oil leaking into the soil from a cross-country pipeline, the associations being made are actually examples of climate injustices, according to climate[Read More…]

by 12/07/2022 Comments are Disabled Climate Change
"The ongoing struggle will not go down in the flames at Oceti Sakowin," writes Ladha. (Photo: Stephen Yang/Getty Images)

From The Ashes of Standing Rock, A Beautiful Resistance Is Born

If you’re like me, you are probably feeling a deep sorrow in your heart over the news that oil will soon flow through that black snake of death, the Dakota Access Pipeline. Despite the largest gathering of tribes in over 100 years, despite the prayers and militant resistance, despite hundreds of water protectors facing trumped up felony charges, despite the[Read More…]

Dakota Pipeline: The Best Way Forward!

Dakota Pipeline: The Best Way Forward!

The Lakota, my people in spirit, fighting the Dakota pipeline know. Whatever else is best for us to do as a life aim than to serve helpfulness? Seven generation stewardship is a concept that urges the current generation of humans to live and work for the benefit of the seventh generation into the future.- From Seven generation sustainability – Wikipedia[Read More…]

by 14/03/2017 1 comment Environmental Protection
Veterans, water protectors and the independent media facing riot police. Photo by Rob Wilson.

Water Is Life: The Story of Standing Rock Won’t Go Away

Every day I write rhymes on Twitter. I get a kick out of reducing complicated ideas and events down to 140 characters. So yesterday I wrote: Powers That Be think it’s the end DAPL will now have much money to spend But Standing Rock is a rally cry Rebalance our world before we die And that is the story I[Read More…]

by 25/02/2017 1 comment Environmental Protection
Riot police at the Oceti Sakowin Camp. Photo by Rob Wilson.

As Police Evict Water Protectors, Tribes Vow to Continue the Fight

On Thursday, as North Dakota police moved in with a fleet of bulldozers, Humvees, and armored MRAP vehicles, Gov. Doug Burgum signed into law four bills that would bring harsher punishment for protest-related activity in the state. The bills, his press statement said, were meant to protect landowners’ rights. But for the 46 people arrested that day, their stand was[Read More…]

by 25/02/2017 1 comment Environmental Protection
Chanse Zavalla, 22, left, and O'Shea Spencer, 20, right, stand in front of the remains of a hogan structure, set on fire ahead of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineer's deadline to leave the Oceti Sakowin protest camp on February 22, 2017 in Cannon Ball, North Dakota. (Photo: Stephen Yang/Getty Images)

DAPL Opponents Vow to ‘Rise’ From Ashes of Oceti Sakowin and Keep Fighting

As the Army Corps of Engineers forcibly evicted the last of the remaining water protectors from the Oceti Sakowin protest camp on Thursday, Indigenous opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) made it clear that their expulsion would not be the end of the fight. “Our hearts are not defeated. The closing of the camp is not the end of[Read More…]

Violent Arrests As Police Begin Evacuating Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Camp

Violent Arrests As Police Begin Evacuating Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Camp

Riot police began violently arresting the remaining Dakota Access Pipeline protesters in the Oceti Sakowin Camp, following yesterday’s eviction deadline set by North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. The first arrests occurred a few hours after the 2:00 pm deadline. Police rushed and tackled unarmed protesters and independent journalists, then retreated down the road, only to rush at protesters again. Eric[Read More…]

by 23/02/2017 1 comment Environmental Protection
Ladonna Bravebull Allard. Photo by Adam Alexander Johansson.

How Powerful Could We Be If We Agree To Stand Our Ground On Our Treaty Land

The police came to Last Child Camp in broad daylight, with armored vehicles and guns drawn, to rip our people from our land.  Many water protectors were on prayer walks and in ceremony. We watched from the top of the hill at Oceti Oyate Camp as the troops moved in against them. We sent our prayers to those innocent and[Read More…]

Standing Rock Sioux tribal member Olivia One Feather testifies before the Seattle City Council in favor of divestment from Wells Fargo. Photo by J. Gabriel Ware.

Seattle Just Divested Billions From Wells Fargo Over Dakota Access Pipeline

The movement to stop the controversial Dakota Access pipeline through financial activism took an important step forward today, as the Seattle City Council voted 9-0 to approve a bill that terminates a valuable city contract with Wells Fargo. The bank, one of the largest in the United States, has provided more than $450 million in credit to the companies building the pipeline.

"Our elders," said Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, "told us to focus on praying for the federal agencies and the US government and North Dakota to hear what we were doing and saying: we have to protect the sacredness of the water.” (Photo: Sarah van Gelder)

A Universal Revolution Or End-Of-World Scenario?

In the waning months of 2016, as the Standing Rock Sioux’s protest raged against the Dakota Access Pipeline (NODAPL), an historic Back To The Future journey was begun anew for the entire human race to ponder. This journey wasn’t just about Climate Change and how to more quickly convert the world from fossil fuels to renewable energies. It was about[Read More…]

by 09/02/2017 1 comment Environmental Protection
Dakota Access Pipeline Construction To Proceed

Dakota Access Pipeline Construction To Proceed

On Tuesday, the United States Army Corps of Engineers filed documents with the US District Court in Washington, DC stating that it intends to grant an easement to Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) so that it can move forward with the completion of the Dakota Access pipeline. It also notified the Senate of its filings, stating that construction is expected to[Read More…]

Please Help Sioux In Water And Climate Change Protection!

Please Help Sioux In Water And Climate Change Protection!

When my daughter was five years old, I put three cardboard boxes one day in her bedroom. With a fat marking magic marker, I labeled one “A,” a second one “B,” and a third one “C.” I told her that my doing this task would help her with classification skills about knowing where various items — like toys, clothes, puzzles,[Read More…]

The encampments at Standing Rock worked to keep prayer and nonviolence at the center of their actions. Photo by Joe Zummo.

 A Universal ‘Trump – Style’ Revolution or End of World Scenario?

In the waning months of 2016, as the Standing Rock Sioux’s protest raged against the Dakota Access Pipeline (NODAPL), an arduous, historic Back To The Future journey was begun anew for the entire human race to ponder. This journey wasn’t just about Climate Change and how to more quickly convert the world from fossil fuels to renewable energies. It was[Read More…]

by 04/02/2017 1 comment Environmental Protection
Police, National Guard Raid Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Camp, Arrest 76

Police, National Guard Raid Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Camp, Arrest 76

With assistance from the National Guard, police raided a protest camp in Cannon Ball, North Dakota near the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) site on February 1, evicting and arresting seventy-six protesters opposed to the completion of the pipeline. At about 4 pm, a convoy of bulldozers, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, and Long Range Acoustic Device sound cannons descended upon[Read More…]

Black Snakes On The Move: Pipeline Expansion Out of Control

Black Snakes On The Move: Pipeline Expansion Out of Control

A Lakota prophecy tells of a mythic Black Snake that will move underground and bring destruction to the Earth. The “seventh sign” in Hopi prophecy involves the ocean turning black and bringing death to many sea-dwelling creatures. It doesn’t take an over-active imagination to make a connection between these images and oil pipelines and spills. It’s troubling enough that the[Read More…]

Don’t Let Trump Distract You: Public Comment On DAPL Is Now Open

Don’t Let Trump Distract You: Public Comment On DAPL Is Now Open

It’s been a tumultuous few days for anyone following the ongoing battle against the Dakota Access pipeline. Within the course of just over a week, the project’s backers tried to get a judge to cancel environmental review of the project, environmental review officially began, and, on Jan. 24, President Trump issued a memorandum calling for the Army Corps of Engineers[Read More…]

by 28/01/2017 1 comment Environmental Protection
Trump Executive Orders Approve Dakota, Keystone Pipelines

Trump Executive Orders Approve Dakota, Keystone Pipelines

President Donald Trump has ordered US government agencies to expedite approval of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, running roughshod over opposition by environmentalists and Native American tribes. The Dakota Access Pipe Line (DAPL) has encountered impassioned opposition, with thousands gathering despite the deep freeze of the North Dakota winter to block completion of the 1,200-mile-long pipeline, which is[Read More…]

Photo by Rob Wilson.

The Never-Ending Indian Wars: Spotlight Returns To Standing Rock

The world has been shocked by North Dakota’s violent reaction to the anti-oil pipeline resistance at Standing Rock. For the better part of a year, people have watched via social media, then increasingly on conventional media outlets, as heavily armed law enforcement officers and private contractors attacked unarmed civilians with rubber bullets, mace, tear gas, batons, and water cannons in[Read More…]

The encampments at Standing Rock worked to keep prayer and nonviolence at the center of their actions. Photo by Joe Zummo.

Standing Rock And The Return Of The Nonviolent Campaign

Nonviolent campaigns are often dramatic and catch the attention of millions—think of Standing Rock water protectors resolute in the face of a brutal police force. All the more puzzling that the concept of a “nonviolent campaign” is little known and often ignored when people talk about how to mobilize power, for example, to prevent Donald Trump from erasing gains made[Read More…]

by 09/01/2017 1 comment Environmental Protection
 The Standing Rock DAPL Protest: 2016’s Arduous Journey Back To The Future

 The Standing Rock DAPL Protest: 2016’s Arduous Journey Back To The Future

Before the Standing Rock Sioux’s historic protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline (NODAPL) fades from the world’s collective memory – and the next tumultuous phase begins for the world to continue to address Climate Change and how to more quickly convert from fossil fuels to renewable energies – it’s essential to pause and reconsider what exactly happened during the closing[Read More…]

by 03/01/2017 1 comment Environmental Protection
Standing Rock: A Template For Resistance

Standing Rock: A Template For Resistance

A little after Thanksgiving break, I got a message from my friend Deborah Duguid-May, who is a priest at Trinity Episcopal Church here in Rochester, NY. She wanted to know if I’d join her and eight other Episcopalians (a group including three priests and two teenagers) on a trip to Standing Rock, North Dakota. We would leave on Sunday December[Read More…]

by 03/01/2017 1 comment Environmental Protection
20 Photos: My Seven Months Of Living At Standing Rock

20 Photos: My Seven Months Of Living At Standing Rock

The life that we have built here has taught many how to live a large-scale sustainable, decolonized, anticapitalist lifestyle. I arrived at Standing Rock in the very last days of May, alongside some comrades, at the request of Wiyaka Eagleman, the first firekeeper at Camp of the Sacred Stones and a founding member of the Keystone XL campaign. He had[Read More…]

"DAPL was supposed to be so easy." (Photo via The Leap)

Black Snake Bleeding Out: How DAPL Is Duping Investors

The Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) is yet another violent variable in the equation of environmental racism that plagues the United States, and the world—to the peril of Indigenous and low-wealth communities of color everywhere. Native lands, water, sacred sites, and sovereignty have been sacrificed to “spare” majority white areas north of Bismarck, North Dakota from the myriad risks of this[Read More…]

Photo by Peg Hunter / Flickr.

Seattle Takes Steps To Divest $3 Billion From Wells Fargo Over Standing Rock

Over the past few months activists opposed to the Dakota Access pipeline have ramped up pressure on the pipeline company’s financiers, and now the city of Seattle is showing what kind of weight a large municipality can add as it looks at taking $3 billion in city business away from Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo is one of 38 banks offering[Read More…]

by 17/12/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
Three volunteers at Winona’s Kitchen. All photos by Michael Running Wolf.

At Standing Rock, No One Goes Hungry: The Kitchen That Serves Traditional Lakota Food And Values

Hundreds of water protectors gathered in a solar-powered 200-foot geodesic dome nestled on the plains amid tipis and waited three hours to join a traditional Lakota dinner on Thanksgiving. Ancient tradition guided a solemn dinner initiated by prayer and a small offering of food to the spirits. Traditional Lakota protocols guide how food is prepared and served. Elders eat first,[Read More…]

by 17/12/2016 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
Photo by John Duffey / Flickr.

How Standing Rock’s Divest Campaign Can Stop Future Pipelines

Sasja Beslik, head of sustainable finance at Nordea, one of the largest banks in Europe, recently traveled to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on a fact-finding mission. Originally from Bosnia, Beslik has seen his share of war and says that the Oceti Sakowin Camp reminded him of a war zone. Beslik says Nordea’s customers pressured the bank to investigate the[Read More…]

by 17/12/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
Indigenous Rights And The Fight For Life At Standing Rock

Indigenous Rights And The Fight For Life At Standing Rock

by Frank Barat & Vidal Cuervo With the announcement that the Dakota Access Pipeline will be re-routed, the water protectors at Standing Rock might have won a battle but they have not yet won the war. Despite blizzards and deadly temperatures, they are still at the camp and many more are pouring in to help. In this interview, Eryn Wise,[Read More…]

by 13/12/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
The events at Standing Rock have been transformative, and these victories are not ones that Energy Transfer Partners or even President-elect Trump can take away. (Photo: Oceti Sakowin/flickr/cc)

How Standing Rock Has Changed Us

At the Oceti Sakowin camp there were celebrations into the night when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision was announced. Fireworks lit up the sky, which is normally dominated by police searchlights, and there were songs, prayers, and dance. And tears. The decision to halt work on the Dakota Access pipeline may be the victory that the Standing Rock[Read More…]

America’s Final Solution For The Sioux: It Was A Close Call!

America’s Final Solution For The Sioux: It Was A Close Call!

Before the NODAPL Sioux Protest passes into the next phase of America squarely addressing the larger issue of Climate Change and how to more quickly convert from fossil fuels to renewable energies, it’s important to reflect upon what exactly happened over the past several months that the NODAPL Protest raged. President Obama is being widely-applauded for finally showing the courage[Read More…]

by 09/12/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
Veterans Help #NoDAPL Resistance Achieve Significant Victory

Veterans Help #NoDAPL Resistance Achieve Significant Victory

Over the past eight months, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North Dakota have been joined by more than 200 allied tribes and tens of thousands of non-Native activists for a nonviolent resistance campaign against Energy Transfer Partners’ (ETP) $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The pipeline, which has been projected to transport at least 470,000 barrels of oil per[Read More…]

by 09/12/2016 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
A message of hope earlier this summer at Standing Rock. Photo by Josue Rivas.

The Numbers That Tell The Story Of This Standing Rock Victory

The federal government on Sunday denied the easement needed to complete the Dakota Access pipeline’s route under the Missouri River. The announcement by the Army Corps of Engineers came as veterans streamed into the camps over the weekend in cars and buses to offer their support to the tribe in its months-long battle. The veterans event had raised more than[Read More…]

People celebrate at the news of the permit. All photos taken today by Kevin Zeese/Popular Resistance.

#NoDAPL Scores Major Victory: No Final Permit For Pipeline

Co-Written by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers Cannon Ball, North Dakota (Oceti Sakowin or Council of the Seven Fires Camp) – Today, the people won a major victory in the fight to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The US Army Corps of Engineers sided with the Water Protectors and refused the final permit that would have allowed Energy Transfer Partners[Read More…]

by 05/12/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
Singular Sentiments On The Standing Rock Victory

Singular Sentiments On The Standing Rock Victory

Co-Written by Rachel Olivia O’Connor and Richard Martin Oxman We won’t state the obvious points about what was accomplished, or anything concerning who should be praised. Rather, below, I give you sentiments not being discussed much, if at all, related to the work to be done now that a monumental victory as been won in North Dakota at Standing Rock.[Read More…]

Victory At Standing Rock: Dakota Access Pipeline Permit Denied

Victory At Standing Rock: Dakota Access Pipeline Permit Denied

In a long-awaited victory for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has denied a permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline, tribal leadership announced late Sunday. The agency will not allow the pipeline to be built under Lake Oahe, a reservoir near the tribal reservation, without a full environmental impact assessment that examines alternative routes for[Read More…]

by 05/12/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
Author and activist Naomi Klein and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) are traveling to North Dakota to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. (Photos: Joe Mabel, U.S. Pacific Fleet/flickr/cc)

Naomi Klein, Tulsi Gabbard Travel To Standing Rock Alongside Thousands Of Veterans

The number of veterans traveling to North Dakota to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in its stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline has swollen to over 3,000, an astonishing show of solidarity that aims to shield the water protectors from police violence. Fellow veteran and prominent progressive Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) traveled to join the peaceful action late Friday,[Read More…]

by 04/12/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
Trump Declares Support For Dakota Access Pipeline Ahead Of Evacuation Order Against Protesters

Trump Declares Support For Dakota Access Pipeline Ahead Of Evacuation Order Against Protesters

US president-elect Donald Trump expressed his support for the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) ahead of an evacuation order, due to go into effect on Monday, against thousands of people protesting the oil pipeline project. Trump’s transition team released a statement reaffirming his support for the $3.8 billion project and claiming that this position is not related to[Read More…]

Veterans Arrive At Standing Rock To Act As ‘Human Shields’ For Water Protectors

Veterans Arrive At Standing Rock To Act As ‘Human Shields’ For Water Protectors

As tensions grow in North Dakota, with multiple eviction orders facing the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in their battle against the Dakota Access Pipeline, U.S. military veterans on Friday began arriving at the Oceti Sakowin protest camp. The 2,000 veterans, which include Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), plan to act as an unarmed militia and peaceful human shields to protect the[Read More…]

by 03/12/2016 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
Photo by Lori Panico.

The Many Ways to Help Standing Rock

Even if you can’t show up at the wintry encampments, you can join water protectors in other ways: from calling the North Dakota governor to breaking up with your bank. The timing couldn’t have been more awful. The day after Thanksgiving, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told the Standing Rock Sioux tribe that people camped at the Oceti Sakowin[Read More…]

by 03/12/2016 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
Standing Rock Stand From A Distance

Standing Rock Stand From A Distance

At the very end of an interview on RT News focused on the two thousand military vets who are slated to act as human shields for the protesters at Standing Rock this coming week, Erick Lizandro Marroquin, organizer of the vets’ movement in solidarity, responds to the interviewer’s question about whether the vets have a Plan B in case the militarized police[Read More…]

by 03/12/2016 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
The Standing Rock front lines. Photo by Rob Wilson.

“My Whole Heart Is With You Tonight”: A Letter To The Dakota Access Front Line

I write these words on what’s a cold night in my city, and a much colder night where my heart is—with my friends in Standing Rock. My writing, which typically centers movements, often sways between news and analysis. My coverage of #NoDAPL has been no exception. But this piece is neither news nor analysis, because these words are for you,[Read More…]

by 03/12/2016 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
Water, History, And Finance Converge As Sioux Nation Mounts Storied Battle Over Oil Pipeline

Water, History, And Finance Converge As Sioux Nation Mounts Storied Battle Over Oil Pipeline

Dakota Access pipeline could be stranded asset in the making. Heavy snow and winter cold settled this month on thousands of Native Americans and their supporters encamped on the banks of the Cannonball River, some 30 miles south of Bismarck, North Dakota. Nearby, the Missouri River slipped past. The river’s clean waters serve as the wellspring in what has steadily[Read More…]

by 03/12/2016 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
Moving Slowly And Deliberately At Standing Rock: A Report On Life In The Camp

Moving Slowly And Deliberately At Standing Rock: A Report On Life In The Camp

In this report, I will try to give you a sense of what being at Standing Rock is like. Tonight completes my third day here. The weather has been mostly cold but very sunny. The colors, the sky, but most of all the people are startlingly calm and beautiful. The Standing Rock encampment is defined as a prayer site, a[Read More…]

by 02/12/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
The Beginning Is Near: The Deep North, Evictions And Pipeline Deadlines

The Beginning Is Near: The Deep North, Evictions And Pipeline Deadlines

Standing Rock is an unpredicted history lesson for all of us. More than any moment I recall since Wounded Knee, the Vietnam War, or the time of Martin Luther King, this moment stands as a crossroads in the battle for social justice. It is also an economic issue, in a time of economic system transformation, and profoundly a question of[Read More…]

#NoDAPL, The Sioux And America’s Real Story: An Old Sad Tale Retold Ad Infinitum

#NoDAPL, The Sioux And America’s Real Story: An Old Sad Tale Retold Ad Infinitum

The underbelly of America’s story of empire, greed and expansion, at the constant expense of Indians, Mexicans, former Black slaves and poor whites, is the same ol’, same ol’ constant in 2016 as it was at its birth in 1776 or at any point in-between then and now. To put it more succinctly, America’s real story is an ugly tale[Read More…]

by 30/11/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
Standing Rock Eviction Countdown: Will You Keep Fighting With Us?

Standing Rock Eviction Countdown: Will You Keep Fighting With Us?

Update Nov. 28: North Dakota Gov. Dalrymple late Monday issued an immediate order for the removal of thousands of water protectors camped at #OcetiSakowin, which is on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land. This came less than a day after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it “has no plans for forcible removal.… Those who remain will be considered unauthorized[Read More…]

by 29/11/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
Police Attack On Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Results In 300 Injuries

Police Attack On Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Results In 300 Injuries

Another violent clash between Dakota Access Pipeline protesters and police late Sunday night led to approximately 300 injuries among the protesters, 26 of whom required professional medical attention. Some of the cases include a woman with a serious eye injury after being shot in the face by a rubber bullet, a tribe elder who lost consciousness and was revived on[Read More…]

During Sunday night’s confrontation with police. Photo by Rob Wilson.

Four Ways To Look At Standing Rock: An Indigenous Perspective

A couple of weeks ago, as I stood before climate scientists, advocates, and world policy leaders at the COP22 in Morocco, I felt the increased importance of my message as climate denier Donald Trump was voted into office. My perspective as a young Native woman living on the Navajo reservation and studying both renewable energy engineering and Diné studies had[Read More…]

A volunteer paints the side of one of the cabins reassembled at the Standing Rock encampment from southwestern Oregon. Photo by Roger Peet.

From Across The Country, Gifts of Tiny Houses Arrive for Standing Rock

Eleven days ago, when Matt Musselwhite pulled into an encampment at Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in a 5-ton flatbed truck, he had no idea how he would unload the three tiny houses he had just hauled 1,500 miles from southwestern Oregon. Almost immediately volunteers emerged from the throngs of mostly Native Americans. Within hours, teams of 10 people were starting[Read More…]

by 24/11/2016 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
Water protectors stand tall and remain peaceful while law enforcement soaks them with water cannons in below-freezing temperatures. (Photo: Tara Houska/Twitter)

#DAPL: A Thanksgiving Day 2016 Open Letter To President Barack Obama

Mr. President I am writing to you on this sad day of Thanksgiving in response to the despicable, un-American conduct of Governor Jack Dalrymple of North Dakota, North Dakota’s state police, the United States representatives for the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, North Dakota’s National Guard, your administration and you personally, as well, sir for what all is[Read More…]

Water protectors stand tall and remain peaceful while law enforcement soaks them with water cannons in below-freezing temperatures. (Photo: Tara Houska/Twitter)

Police Blast #NoDAPL Activists With Water Cannons in Sub-Freezing Temps

Law enforcement unleashed percussion grenades, rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannons in sub-freezing temperatures on peaceful water protectors battling the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota late Sunday. An activist’s drone captured the onslaught: Drone footage showing water cannons being used on water protectors At the end of the clip, they try to shoot drone w/ water cannon#NoDAPL[Read More…]

by 22/11/2016 2 comments Environmental Protection
'The best part of the work we do is that it’s not what we’re fighting against but what we’re fighting for.' (Photo:  Indigenous Environmental Network/Facebook)

Sioux Already Battling On The Front Lines: Why Is The Rest Of America Still AWOL or MIA?

As each precious day goes by, the intensity of the confrontation grows ever more feverish and grave between the peaceful, weaponless Sioux and their allies now pitted against the imposing military forces of North Dakota & the United States Government who take their orders from Corporate America & Wall Street. As you read these words, the scandalous abuse by the[Read More…]

by 20/11/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
#NoDAPL :The Battle Cry For A New America

#NoDAPL :The Battle Cry For A New America

44 years ago this ExPat fled to Canada in search of emotional, spiritual and political solace following the election of Richard Milhous Nixon as America’s 37th President. The shocking election of Donald Trump, eight Presidents later, has once more thrust into conscious memory the many reasons why this writer chose Canada as the closest, most logical place of safety away[Read More…]

by 16/11/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
On The Knife-Edge of Western Globalization: A Stint At Standing Rock

On The Knife-Edge of Western Globalization: A Stint At Standing Rock

Armed men in jackboots, some masked and toting assault rifles, stand mockingly, defiantly, heavily on the mound of graves – a sacred indigenous burial ground.  A site non-natives can understand as similar to Arlington National Cemetery.  How US nationalists would feel if the situation were reversed, and people were occupying or plowing up Arlington to bury a pipeline that will[Read More…]

 Redwood Valley community meeting discusses DAPL  photo credit:  David Smith-Ferri

Standing Rock Sioux Protest: Something To Teach Us About Living Well

  As efforts to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline grow, communities across the country are hearing from activists on their return from North Dakota and sending off fresh teams to lend support. The author believes that part of the support for the Standing Rock protests is a dawning consciousness that Native people have something important to teach us about living[Read More…]

Mia Sage Stevens traveled to Standing Rock in September. Photo by Rob Wilson Photography.

What the Trump Victory Means For Standing Rock

Less than 12 hours after Donald Trump walked onto a New York City stage as the newly elected president, the stock price for Energy Transfer Equity shot up 15 percent. Among that company’s holdings is Energy Transfer Partners, operator of the controversial Dakota Access pipeline. Protesters near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation continue to fight completion of the $3.8 billion[Read More…]

by 13/11/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
"Our elders," said Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, "told us to focus on praying for the federal agencies and the US government and North Dakota to hear what we were doing and saying: we have to protect the sacredness of the water.” (Photo: Sarah van Gelder)

U.S. Election: The Only Choice Isn’t Just Between The Evil Of Two Lessers

The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election has all but come and gone and the predictable outcome has been limited to a choice between the evil of two lesser candidates, but it needn’t have been or still could be. There actually are/were highly-principled candidates who ran for the presidency but, for all intents and purposes, they remained virtually unknown if not totally[Read More…]

by 08/11/2016 1 comment World
"Our elders," said Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, "told us to focus on praying for the federal agencies and the US government and North Dakota to hear what we were doing and saying: we have to protect the sacredness of the water.” (Photo: Sarah van Gelder)

Turning Point At Standing Rock? Resistance And Renewed Hope Against Dakota Access

Is this the turning point for the Dakota Access Pipeline? Word spread through the camp on Friday of a discussion between the Army Corps of Engineers and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe that could mean a breakthrough. “This proves that our prayers are really strong from the Oceti Sakowin camp,” Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network told[Read More…]

Armed Police Descend On Water Protectors At DAPL Site

Armed Police Descend On Water Protectors At DAPL Site

Police descended on water protectors in North Dakota on Wednesday, as images on social media showed a dramatic standoff along a creek that borders a construction site for the long-opposed Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Jordan Chariton, a political reporter with The Young Turks network, posted this video dispatch after covering events just east of the main camp, where Standing Rock[Read More…]

Report From Standing Rock—Fierce Resilience As The Black Snake Approaches The River

Report From Standing Rock—Fierce Resilience As The Black Snake Approaches The River

The camp is a hive of activity, people splitting firewood, erecting a giant geodesic dome, patrolling on horseback, cooking food over wood heated stoves. At the same time, the camp is struggling to recover from trauma resulting from last Thursday’s action by a multi-state armored police force. Elders who went out to pray were hit with rubber bullets, bean bag[Read More…]

All photos by Adam Alexander Johansson.

Why Police From 7 Different States Invaded A Standing Rock Camp—And Other Questions

On Thursday, scores of law enforcement officers from seven different states showed up with riot gear, armored vehicles, and military weaponry to clear away Standing Rock’s newest camp, the “1851 Treaty Camp.” The camp stands directly in the path of the Dakota Access pipeline. Tipis and sweat lodges were destroyed. Vehicles were set ablaze. More than 140 protesters were arrested.[Read More…]

by 02/11/2016 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
Indian Treaties, Oil Pipelines, Climate Change And Election Double-Talk

Indian Treaties, Oil Pipelines, Climate Change And Election Double-Talk

It’s high time to amplify the emotional and spiritual perspective of the Native Voice as it might speak to the American Voter about the woeful Indian treaty history of the United States, and all the doubletalk of its former Presidents and the next one about to be elected. What lies behind the reasons why various disparate issues in American culture[Read More…]

Over 300 police officers in riot gear, eight ATVs, five armored vehicles, two helicopters, and military humvees showed up north of the treaty camp just east of Highway 1806. Photo by Jonathan Klett

The Injustice At Standing Rock Is An American Story

This morning, politics is crowded out by injustice. Every preposterous and painful image from North Dakota is another reminder of injustice: The massive military-style police occupation of Standing Rock treaty lands, the rush to protect the frantic construction schedule for the Dakota Access pipeline, and the brutal law enforcement march against people who are fighting for the simple idea that water[Read More…]

by 29/10/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
Armed With Riot Gear, Militarized Police Begin Forcibly Clearing DAPL Protest Camp

Armed With Riot Gear, Militarized Police Begin Forcibly Clearing DAPL Protest Camp

Arrests have begun at the recently erected frontline camp in the path of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), as police and military move in on Indigenous water protectors and their allies in North Dakota. With law enforcement seemingly interfering with cell signal, it is difficult to get a live feed from the ground. Some social media users were able to[Read More…]

Filmmaker Faces 45 Years In Prison For Reporting On Dakota Access Protests

Filmmaker Faces 45 Years In Prison For Reporting On Dakota Access Protests

In an ominous sign for press freedom, documentary filmmaker and journalist Deia Schlosberg was arrested and charged with felonies carrying a whopping maximum sentence of up to 45 years in prison—simply for reporting on the ongoing Indigenous protests against fossil fuel infrastructure. Schlosberg was arrested in Walhalla, North Dakota on Tuesday for filming activists shutting down a tar sands pipeline,[Read More…]

by 17/10/2016 2 comments Environmental Protection
Mia Sage Stevens traveled to Standing Rock in September. Photo by Rob Wilson Photography.

The Secret Strength of Standing Rock

On a hill overlooking the Sacred Stone Camp, Lakota artist Charles Rencountre has worked from sunup to sundown over the past month. His sculpture “Not Afraid to Look,” the origins of which can be traced back to early 19th century pipestone carvings, watches over the encampments bustling below. From this perch above the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers,[Read More…]

Kandi Mossett on a hill overlooking the Oceti Sakowin Camp. (Photo: Sarah Jaffe for BillMoyers.com)

Standing Firm At Standing Rock: Why The Struggle Is Bigger Than One Pipeline

The first sign that not everything is normal as you drive down Highway 1806 toward the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota is a checkpoint manned by camouflage-clad National Guard troops. The inspection on Sept. 13 was perfunctory; they simply asked if we knew “what was going on down the road” and then waved us through, even though the car[Read More…]

by 29/09/2016 2 comments Environmental Protection
The Dakota Access Pipleline: A David & Goliath, Good Vs Evil Story

The Dakota Access Pipleline: A David & Goliath, Good Vs Evil Story

  As the eve of the 2016 US presidential election draws nearer, and the world inches that much closer to the edge of their seats, wondering who the winner will be to lay claim to the world’s most powerful seat for committing acts of good or evil, there is yet another David & Goliath story unfolding. It’s yet one more[Read More…]

Sunrise on the Cannonball River and the Oceti Sakowin camp, Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Photo by Thane Maxwell.

How You Can Support Standing Rock

I am a settler on this land but have spent the past couple of years supporting indigenous battles against new oil pipelines. These are the front lines of the struggle to end the desecration of Mother Earth, the catastrophes of climate change, and the ongoing genocidal occupation of Indigenous lands that makes that all possible. Across the continent, Big Oil[Read More…]

Chasing away pipeline security trucks. Photo by Dell Hambleton.

Why Standing Rock Needs To Be A Two-Front War—Against Big Oil And Big Banks

Most Americans live far from the path of the Dakota Access pipeline—they won’t be able to visit the encampments on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation where representatives of more than 200 tribes have come together in the most dramatic show of force of this environmental moment. They won’t be able to participate in the daily nonviolent battle along the Missouri[Read More…]

LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, founder of the Sacred Stone Camp at Standing Rock. Photo by Sara Lafleur-Vetter.

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[Read More…]

Winter Is Coming – Standing Rock Digs In For The Long Haul

Winter Is Coming – Standing Rock Digs In For The Long Haul

There are still seasons in Standing Rock – for now. The contrast with Southern California, where I live, couldn’t be starker. The grass is green and lush, the air is fresh, the smell of rain never too far away, and the river winds through the meadows and between the hills full and with great purpose. The nights are growing cold[Read More…]

Frybread making with Osh Johnson from Black Mesa, Navajo Nation. Photo by Desiree Kane.

At Standing Rock, A Sense Of Purpose: “This Is How We Should Be Living”

Drive from Bismarck, North Dakota, to the Standing Rock encampment, and the sign that something unusual is happening is abrupt: a checkpoint staffed by the National Guard. Continue south, past rolling grasslands with an occasional farmhouse, until there is nothing but open space. Catch a glimpse of the Missouri River meandering back and forth, and a flock of white pelicans[Read More…]

by 22/09/2016 2 comments World
Edward Snowden, The CIA And Sioux Indian Converge In Man’s Life

Edward Snowden, The CIA And Sioux Indian Converge In Man’s Life

The premiere of Oliver Stone’s film Snowden Live brilliantly depicts the intellectual and emotional underpinning that motivated Edward Snowden to first enter into and then defect from the CIA with the revelatory files that have since become a fundamental game-changer in not only American but World History. The convergence of this film with the Standing Rock Sioux Indians defiance of[Read More…]

by 21/09/2016 1 comment Life/Philosophy
Peace Pipes, Not Oil Pipes

Peace Pipes, Not Oil Pipes

Cowboys and Indians are at it again. Americans who don’t live in the West may think that the historic clash of Native Americans and pioneering settlers is long past because the Indians were, after all, defeated and now drive cars, watch television, and shop at Walmart.  Not so.  That classic American narrative is back big time, only the Indians are[Read More…]

by 21/09/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
A Pilgrimage Among The Crow Creek Sioux And Ancient Missouri River

A Pilgrimage Among The Crow Creek Sioux And Ancient Missouri River

As fate would have it, the pilgrimage’s odyssey across Turtle Island first began as a one year sojourn among the Hunkpatina people on the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation, located near the Big Bend of the Missouri River at Fort Thompson, South Dakota. The Hunkpatina at Crow Creek were the descendants of Chief Long Crow and his people who had been[Read More…]

The Native American, The Palestinian: A Spirited Fight For Justice

The Native American, The Palestinian: A Spirited Fight For Justice

Thousands of Native Americans resurrected the fighting spirit of their forefathers as they stood in unprecedented unity to contest an oil company’s desecration of their sacred land in North Dakota. Considering its burdened historical context, this has been one of the most moving events in recent memory. The standoff, involving 5,000-strong Native American protesters, including representatives of 200 tribes and environmental[Read More…]

'The best part of the work we do is that it’s not what we’re fighting against but what we’re fighting for.' (Photo:  Indigenous Environmental Network/Facebook)

The Big Difference At Standing Rock Is Native Leadership All Around

This year’s massive buildup of resistance to the Dakota Access pipeline follows closely on the heels of the victory over Keystone XL pipeline, something often credited to feverish organizing by 350.org. But years before 350’s involvement, there was the Indigenous Environmental Network, which launched that movement and its “Keep It In the Ground” messaging. This time, with nearly 200 tribes[Read More…]

Wall Street’s Destruction Of Sacred Sioux Indian Burial Grounds

Wall Street’s Destruction Of Sacred Sioux Indian Burial Grounds

Major kudos go out to the Texas-based, crude oil Energy Transfer Partners and their multitude of Wall Street financiers that reads like a lineup of who’s-who from the financial world (Sunoco, Bank of America, HSBC, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, US Bank, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Bank of Nova Scotia, Citibank, Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Canada, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley,[Read More…]

by 11/09/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
Arrest Warrant Issued For Amy Goodman In North Dakota After Covering Pipeline Protest

Arrest Warrant Issued For Amy Goodman In North Dakota After Covering Pipeline Protest

An arrest warrant has been issued in North Dakota for Democracy Now! host and executive producer Amy Goodman. Goodman was charged with criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor offense. A team from Democracy Now! was in North Dakota last week to cover the Native American-led protests against the Dakota Access pipeline. On Sept. 3, Democracy Now! filmed security guards working for the[Read More…]

by 11/09/2016 2 comments Environmental Protection
US Government Steps In After Judge Rules Against Standing Rock Sioux

US Government Steps In After Judge Rules Against Standing Rock Sioux

A series of “game-changing” developments impacting the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) battle on Friday afternoon were testament to the power of organizing. Striking a blow to the vibrant, Indigenous-led resistance movement that has sprung up against the four-state oil pipeline, a federal judge on Friday denied the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s attempt to halt its construction. Shortly afterward, however, the[Read More…]

by 10/09/2016 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
In Photos: Northwest Canoe Tribes Arrive At Historic Gathering At Standing Rock

In Photos: Northwest Canoe Tribes Arrive At Historic Gathering At Standing Rock

At Cannonball, North Dakota, the people keep coming. The occupation to stop construction of the Dakota Access pipeline has become the largest gathering of the nation’s tribes in more than 100 years. It’s the first time all seven bands of the Sioux Nation have come together since the Battle of Little Bighorn. On Thursday, dozens of tribal families from throughout[Read More…]