A PIPELINE FIGHT AND AMERICA’S DARK PAST

[Naga_Fireball]

Dakota Access pipeline work resumes near site of protest

By BLAKE NICHOLSON Associated Press 48 min ago (0)

Dakota Access pipeline work to resume near large protest

Tom Stromme



Law enforcement officers, left, drag a person from a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline, near the town of St. Anthony in rural Morton County, N.D., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won't yet authorize construction of the $3.8 billion, four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline on federal land in southern North Dakota, it said Monday, along with reiterating its earlier request that the pipeline company voluntarily stop work on private land in the area. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)



A person with a hand drum paces between law enforcement officers and a line of protesters along North Dakota Highway 6, south of St. Anthony, N.D., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won't yet authorize construction of the $3.8 billion, four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline on federal land in southern North Dakota, it said Monday, along with reiterating its earlier request that the pipeline company voluntarily stop work on private land in the area. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune)



Actress Shailene Woodley is led to a transport vehicle by a Morton County Sheriff's deputy after being arrested at a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline near St. Anthony, N.D., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won't yet authorize construction of the $3.8 billion, four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline on federal land in southern North Dakota, it said Monday, along with reiterating its earlier request that the pipeline company voluntarily stop work on private land in the area. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)



A Morton County Sheriff's deputy officer arrests actress Shailene Woodley at a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline near St. Anthony, N.D., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won't yet authorize construction of the $3.8 billion, four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline on federal land in southern North Dakota, it said Monday, along with reiterating its earlier request that the pipeline company voluntarily stop work on private land in the area. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)


...


ST. ANTHONY, N.D. (AP) — Construction on the four-state Dakota Access pipeline resumed Tuesday on private land in North Dakota that's near a camp where thousands of protesters supporting tribal rights have gathered for months.

In turn, protesters said they're discussing nonviolent opposition measures, including chaining themselves to equipment. And at least eight people were arrested Tuesday attempting to shut down pipelines in other states as a show of solidarity with the Dakota Access protesters.

Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners resumed digging trenches and laying pipe, Morton County Sheriff's Office spokesman Rob Keller said, a move that comes in light of Sunday's federal appeals court ruling that allowed construction to resume within 20 miles of Lake Oahe. That Missouri River reservoir that is the water supply for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation.

"We reiterate our commitment to protect cultural resources, the environment and public safety," the company said in a statement earlier Tuesday. The $3.8 million, 1,200-mile pipeline from North Dakota to Illinois is otherwise largely complete.

The work area is about 20 miles from the so-called Red Warrior Camp where scores of protesters have gathered in recent months.

Energy Transfer Partners still needs approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to work on a separate parcel of federal land bordering and under Lake Oahe, which the agency manages. The Corps said Monday it was not ready to give that approval because it is still reviewing whether reforms are needed in the way tribal views are considered for such projects.

The Standing Rock Sioux wants construction halted because of concerns about potential contamination of its water supply and says the pipeline will encroach on tribal burial sites and other cultural artifacts.

A state archaeologist's inspection found no such artifacts on the private land where construction will resume. The tribe disputes that, and is still appealing a lower-court ruling from September that allowed work on the entire pipeline to proceed.

Protesters will discuss nonviolent measures to oppose the resumption of construction, camp spokesman Cody Hall said Tuesday. Methods might include chaining themselves to equipment, as they have done in the past, but nothing had been decided early Tuesday, he said.

"The people are going to stay vigilant. They're going to fight this pipeline to the very end," he said.

In early September, tribal officials accused construction crews of bulldozing several sites of "significant cultural and historic value," leading to a clash between protesters and private security guards hired by the pipeline company. No one was arrested, and at least 30 people were pepper-sprayed.

Thousands of people have joined the protest in support of the tribe, and dozens have been arrested at construction sites, including actress Shailene Woodley and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.

The eight who were arrested Tuesday in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and Washington state were targeting pipelines that move oil from Canada to the United States, according to Jay O'Hara, a spokesman for the environmental activism group Climate Disobedience Center.

"We are joining in support and in solidarity with those folks who are on the front lines in Cannonball, North Dakota," he said.

Pipeline company officials confirmed attempts in Minnesota and Montana, while the attempts in the other two states could not be immediately verified.

Officials with Spectra Energy's Express pipeline in Coal Banks Landing, Montana, say they received 20 minutes' warning from protesters and shut down the line. The pipeline had not been re-started as of late Tuesday morning and it was not immediately clear when it would begin flowing again, company spokesman Creighton Welch said.

A Kinder Morgan spokeswoman says they're "looking into things" regarding its Trans-Mountain pipeline in Anacortes, Washington.

And Enbridge spokeswoman Lorraine Little said protesters used bolt cutters to cut chains off a valve site on the company's pipeline in Leonard, Minnesota, leading the company to temporarily shut it down. She said it won't affect deliveries to customers.

Associated Press writers Dave Kolpack in Fargo, North Dakota, Matt Volz in Helena, Montana, and Phuong Le in Seattle contributed to this report. Follow Blake Nicholson on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/NicholsonBlake" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Naga_Fireball]

P.s. very strange :

St. Anthony

Anthony's fame spread through Portuguese evangelization, and he has been known as the most celebrated of the followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. He is the patron saint of Padua and many places in Portugal and in the countries of the former Portuguese Empire.[12]

He is especially invoked and venerated all over the world as the patron saint for the recovery of lost items, and is credited with many miracles involving lost people, lost things and even lost spiritual goods.[12][13]

[Naga_Fireball]

St Anthony, i humbly invoke your name and ask that you intercede for the precious people of standing rock.

Please do not let their property, heritage, hope, or persons be lost.

I ask that you move the hearts of those able to decisively end this conflict in favor of the native people who have the legal right to preserve the integrity of their land.

Thank you for selflessly interceding for the poor and downtrodden in spite of having known wealth.

Truly you are like Christ and Buddha in the way that you teach by serving the most humble.

In Jesus name i pray asking for the power also of the holy spirit, amen.

[Spiritwind]

The Surveillance State Descends on the Dakota Access Pipeline Spirit Camp

In an effort to intimidate indigenous people protesting an oil pipeline, North Dakota has militarized its response.

By Sabrina King, Policy Director of the ACLU of Wyoming, and Will Munger, Water Protector (note - please go to link to see images)

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


For the past six months, at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers, history has been made at one of the largest international gatherings of indigenous people in recent history. Representatives from well over 100 indigenous nations and thousands of people have camped, prayed, and taken action in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on and near the tribe’s sovereign land in North Dakota.

And for the past six weeks, history has repeated itself as the Morton County Sheriff’s Office has dramatically increased its surveillance of the gathering, militarized the county, and taken action to suppress the religious expression of the indigenous people gathered at Sacred Stone.

The use of surveillance, military-style force, and religious oppression against indigenous people has a long history in this country. Today, on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and at a moment of surging indigenous power and strength, we bring light to the ongoing repression of the indigenous nations by Morton County and the state of North Dakota.

A (Brief) History of the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Water Protectors

Dakota Access, or DAPL, is a 1,168-mile pipeline, owned by Energy Transfer Partners. If finished, the pipeline would carry oil from North Dakota’s Bakken Oil Field through South Dakota and Iowa before ending in Illinois for refining. Proposed over two years ago, DAPL originally crossed the Missouri River north of Bismarck, North Dakota, but was re-routed due to concerns over Bismarck’s water supply. The new route placed the Missouri River crossing a half-mile north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, avoiding “official” reservation land but endangering the water supply for an entire sovereign nation if the pipeline leaked or burst.

When construction on the pipeline began earlier this year, members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and allies gathered at Sacred Stone and began a permanent spirit camp to pray and bring attention to the injustice of DAPL’s route and the risks it poses to land, water, and cultural resources. Over the summer, the camp grew, eventually spilling over into an overflow camp, known as the Oceti Sakowin camp, as well as several others in the same area. The camps have held, at times, thousands of people who come to pray and stand together in solidarity.

Starting around the beginning of August, and continuing today, many actions, direct and otherwise, have occurred along the pipeline route, mainly in Morton County. Participants in these actions — ranging from prayers and round dances in public areas to physical lock-downs on construction equipment — refer to themselves as “water protectors,” in deference to the core reason for the existence of the camp in the first place: to protect the water threatened by the Dakota Access Pipeline.


Peaceful water protectors demonstrate in front of a police roadblock preventing them from driving on public roads to pray at one of the Dakota Access construction sites on October 3.

Ramping Up: Surveillance and Militarization in Morton County

At the front of the Oceti Sakowin camp entrance, a sign reads: “We Are Unarmed.” The same cannot be said for the government reaction to the indigenous nations’ protest. In response to ongoing peaceful actions, the Morton County Sheriff’s Office has activated the one of the most militant responses ever in North Dakota’s history.

In mid-August, Gov. Jack Dalrymple declared a state of emergency for southwest and central south North Dakota in response to actions taken by the water protectors. Despite the governor’s and the local sheriff’s verbal commitment to allowing constitutionally protected lawful protest, the result of the state of emergency has been a vast suppression of the right to protest and a dramatic increase in police surveillance around — and above — the camp.

Surveillance starts early every morning with near-constant low overflights of the camp by both plane and helicopter. One morning alone, on October 2, surveillance flights were recorded at 7:15 a.m., 7:45 a.m., and again at 11:25 a.m. These surveillance flights continue if there is any perceived action coming out of the camp. Water protectors are followed on county roads by both state and private security helicopters as they drive on public roads in Morton County.

Private contractor helicopter flies over water protector vehicles as they drive along public county roads in North Dakota on October 4.

Police have set up numerous road blocks and check points around Morton County. As many as six to eight police vehicles are stationed around the clock south of the camp, and a permanent police operations station is set up less than a quarter mile from the camp itself. Additional police vehicles are stationed at the turnoffs on various roads leading to pipeline construction sites. It is now common to see 20 or more police vehicles within a 10-mile radius of the camp.

Police have used the roadblocks as an excuse for unwarranted stops to ask drivers and passengers where they are staying, why they are on the road, and where they are going. They also regularly check IDs and license plates of anyone driving through one of the roadblocks — people in Morton County can expect to be stopped for simply driving down a public road.

And they aren’t just bringing out police cars.

Military vehicles are being used at roadblocks and at checkpoints and are regularly brought out during peaceful actions to intimidate water protectors. A BearCat and an MRAP have appeared at nearly every action over the past two weeks, despite water protector’s public position of nonviolent direct action. Early in September, Gov. Darlymple activated the National Guard, and they have been recorded driving out the riot squad to nonviolent direct actions taken by water protectors.

In addition to on-going surveillance, harassment, and regular ID checks, water protectors who have been arrested report a series of civil liberties violations. The right to counsel and the right to free association don’t go away under a state of emergency. Despite that fact, protectors report being interrogated — without a lawyer present — by a gang intelligence unit from the North Dakota Department of Corrections and asked questions about where they are camped and with whom they are associated.

The situation in Morton County is tense enough with the presence of local, state, and national police and military force. But to make matters worse, the state militarization is supplemented by the presence of G4S, the notorious private “security” organization that profits off of private prisons around the world. G4S has been hired by Energy Transfer Partners as a private contractor, but their employees have blocked people on public roads, hit horses with their trucks, and appear to be working with government forces to coordinate against water protectors when they come out of camp, flying a helicopter to surveil cars as they drive along public roads near construction sites.

All of this comes at the same time the Morton County is increasing chargeson water protectors and the sheriff is heating up his rhetoric in the press. At a press conference on October 6, Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier announced he would request help from sheriff’s offices around the country and practically encouraged local ranchers to keep firearms with them at all times. The sheriff’s office regularly accuses people at the camp of harassing and intimidating ranchers, breaking windows, and cutting fences. These accusations are not backed by evidence, but they are being made to sway public opinion against people at the camp and to stoke tensions between water protectors and those who live in Morton County. This is a classic example of trial by media, an attempt to convict peaceful water protectors of things for which they are not guilty in the court of public opinion.

Religious Oppression: Denying Indigenous People the Right to Pray

The mobilization of military-style force against indigenous people in this country has a long and terrible history. So, too, has the history of religious oppression of those same people. And while in North Dakota history repeats itself with military force, so too is it repeating itself with religion.

The Sacred Stone camp started and maintains itself as a spirit camp. Prayer is the starting point for all opposition to the pipeline, and many — if not most — of the actions occurring around construction sites are occurring in public spaces and are prayers. The spiritual nature of the camp and DAPL resistance has been at best ignored by Morton County and, at worst, has been suppressed before it can even begin.

Police and a water protector film each other at a peaceful protest in front of a police roadblock in St. Anthony, North Dakota. (See image at link)

On September 27, five people were arrested at an action at which the majority of people were on the side of the road praying. On October 3, a group of water protectors left camp to travel to the site of pipeline construction with the intent to pray. At the small town of St. Anthony, the cars were greeted not with an open public road but a police roadblock with over 30 police in riot gear, armored military vehicles, and police surveillance. Ironically, the sheriff’s office reported blocking the road out of fear that emergency vehicles would not be able to get through to St. Anthony because of the water protectors driving through. But what prevented any emergency vehicles from getting through wasn’t the protectors — they stood on the side of the road — but the police roadblock itself.

Jennifer Cook, policy director for the ACLU of North Dakota, stated in an Inforum article that “It’s highly problematic and is not a proper use of law enforcement resources. … Additionally, the use of militarized armored vehicles, riot gear, and tactics by law enforcement at protests that consist of peaceful prayer and nonviolent direct actions is a blatant misuse of these tools and will likely encourage police to use force against citizens when force is not necessary for the situation.”

The Time to Demilitarize Is Now

The Sacred Stone Camp and the water protectors are peaceful, nonviolent, and led and directed by indigenous people who for too long have experienced oppression by government agencies, both state and local. The time for demilitarization is now — before the heated rhetoric of the sheriff’s office and the on-going police presence create a situation that ends in violence.

Our country has a long way to go in our relations with indigenous nations. We can start now in North Dakota by demilitarizing, ending the surveillance of the camp and water protectors, and starting to listen to the prayers of those who are protecting the water for us all.

We are calling on the state of North Dakota to stop its suppression of the right to protest and to demilitarize Morton County. Sign our petition hereand learn more about Sacred Stone Camp and how you can help here.

[Christine]

Standoff at Standing Rock

http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/1 ... nding_rock









We took a left at Bismark and left behind our notional idea of a free country. We approached a machine gun guarded Warsaw Ghetto-like border with every terrifying high-tech modern update awarded by the Patriot Act. Stingray intelligence gathering, License Plate scanning, photographing every car and occupant for some sort of terrifying compilation into some arcane database and telephone signal jamming and wifi jamming all started here. I witnessed LRADs ,MRAPS and military assault vehicles as well as a large number of anonymous government support vehicles and a large portion of Morton County Sheriff’s fleet of SUVs racing towards the camp border. The checkpoint of cement barricades, set out on a public US freeway, rivals anything you might see in a Middle Eastern firebase set in enemy territory. We were approached by a National Guard kid with an automatic rifle who politely questioned what we were doing here and where we were going and looked as if he was somewhat embarrassed to be following these particular orders, especially when he was offered coffee and thanked for his service by the people in the vehicle as we were passed through.

And then everything changed.

We crept across some sort of DMZ and passed the bulldozed graveyard of the past inhabitants of this area surrounded by a vigil of protectors, the only difference between this and Arlington National Cemetery being that it was not marked in plain English by government issued gravestones, as that is not the tribe’s tradition or language. As we passed this area, the palpable fear lifted and we passed into The United Native Nations that has sprung to life quite organically and fully formed to protect the water and lifeways. The fearfulness was blown away by a strong North Dakota wind and a sense of unprecedented Sisterhood and Brotherhood of international indigenous people and allies on the right side of history. The coalition of people includes North and South American tribes that may have been enemies historically , and people fighting harrowing, and real life and death battles in Honduras, Venezuela, Columbia, Europe, Canada and other countries throughout the world.

There are a moving average of 3,000 to 5,000 occupants of the camp. Foremost on everyone’s mind is surviving an impending and extremely daunting North Dakota winter with what amounts to a new small city intent on following the old traditions and shelter systems and this has the camp thinking hard about infrastructure and survival for all the members of the camp.

All of this community has sprung from a youth run and a woman’s prayerful communion asking their creator and ancestors for help in discerning the right path to achieve their aim to save their people. The answer came as a relentlessly peaceful and open-hearted speaking of truth to power. This attitude of spiritual and prayerful faith was palpable in all of my experiences throughout the camp. Personally, I was often introduced as someone trying to protect the bees and pollinators, and working towards that in positive ways, so I was granted access and membership to this struggle. This is only pertinent because this brings up the fact that there are EPA protected and endangered species on the land being threatened by the pipeline construction area and its inevitable fallout. These include the Dakota Skipper (Hesperia Decotae), a butterfly pollinator, The Powersheik Skipperling butterfly, the Least Tern, The Pallid Sturgeon, a resident since the dinosaurs, The Whooping Crane, the Western Prairie Fringed Orchid, The Piping Plover, The Red Knot Bird, The Northern Long Eared Bat, the Gray Wolf, and the Blackfooted Ferret which are all listed as either as endangerd or threatened species. The breadth of the list itself is sickening, and even more so when you add the Dakotah tribe to the list and the 17,000,000 people who utilize this aquifer, along with endangerment of journalism, free speech and dissent.

The full force of an Orwellian and disproportionate and dystopian corporate fascism has swung into action opposing this organic and prairie-grassroots peaceful protest. The astroturfing ProDAPL websites have been set up with anonymizing proxies to try to sway public opinion and circulate claims of terrorism coming from this pacifistic movement. Journalists , such as Amy Goodman are being threatened by extending arrest warrants to chill the access to covering this story. Dogs have been set loose by Frost Kennels, a sub-contractor of GS4, which is itself a private mecenary and security company used in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Columbian pipeline projects and a competitor of Blackwater. These thousands of Water Protectors are being corralled into those FEMA camps everyone was so worried about, put behind bars, attacked by dogs, threatened with shotguns aimed at their heads, surveilled and harrassed by helicopters and goaded to try to make them do something wrong. Civil rights are being systematically violated including my own freedom of expression which was temporarily suspended while I visited a certain zone of the country.

I have never thought I would see this level of authoritarianism within my own country and this was a wakeup call as to how we are projecting our “freedom” to other parts of the world. What is being done in the name of corporate interest should give us all pause as to where all of us really stand in relation to the concentration of corporate power and money and the militarization against any form of dissent

Me, I am shaken, but still standing with humanity and Standing Rock.

[Naga_Fireball]

Good god

Thank you for sharing. Before i read what they are going thru in the article, i was gonna say, Dakota looks a LOT like Mongolia. As many of you know, Mongolia has been pretty much raped and cut to bits by the Chinese mining industry.

I would really hate to see that happen on our own soil.

Thanks to all of you who have been there or tried to support by telling the news.

[Phil]

What a great write up, wonderful description of the scene.

I came up from the south, during a lull in all the overt presence, so did not immediately get that "security state" vibe til iI settled in a bit. The "unsanctioned" action with the crop duster and shotguns happened the day before arrival (I think Sept 28), the Red Warrior camp (which organizes and trains for the nonviolent protest actions) claimed they had no idea who rallied the squad that ended up getting I think it was 21 arrested on dumb trespassing charges...and they were NOT happy about the elders there that were shaking hands with and engaging with the police and security forces.

They tend to take their time and make sure they have the numbers to have the most productive outcomes...while disaster was averted that Wednesday, it could have been real bad, a black eye to the water protecters had it gotten (more) violent. But it is understandable, they move at "Indian pace", and people that came out itchy for real action don't tend to have their patience.

Speaking of which, it seems that the urgency increased the day we left (Oct 2 or 3), I went on an extremely successful "action" where the caravan of 120+ cars scared off work for the day without even having to get out...the workers were gone before we arrived at the site. That is the type of stuff they are hoping for, not dramatic sensational standoffs with outrageous media reports...just practical moves to interrupt work. If they can cost them enough of their sweet sweet $$$$....maybe it can make it a bad investment and the madness can end.

As it stands, the presence desribed at the roadblock is as accurate as it is terrifying to the clueless average joe that happens upon the "information stop" as they call it. I took a Utah native up to Bismark for an emergency room visit (his tribe was unrecognized so the local clinic wouldn't take him) and experienced it for myself...the fully armed and cammo-ed up troops definitely felt sheepish and embarrassed to have to tell peeps "we are just letting everyone know there's heavy pedestrian activity down south (30 miles away), have a nice day".

So while I saw a lot of law enforcement trolling up and down the highway my few days there, it was no where near like what is being described since by what i consider reliable sources. It seems that they started having actions every day, which I think is wise considering the colder it gets, the less support is gonna be able to stick around. And the urgency is up, the work is waaaaaaay past the camp now, and every time they are not prevented from working it gets closer to where the black snake is to slide under the Missouri.

All of the media nonsense, the distortion and blackout, makes me wonder out the "Bundy ranch" thing in Eastern Oregon. I wonder if that one got so much national coverage because it was a bunch entitled land owning ranchers bitching about the gun-mint's land grab, a lot of angry white energy just waiting for the spark to start a riot. Kudos if that was the case and they didn't bite, if the reason the coverage faded away was that they couldn't get invoked into looking like terrorists.

But the native presence at Standing Rock has consistently kept the focus on protecting the water and supporting the water protecters in a totaly peaceful manner. An example is being set on how a giant diversity can work together for the good of humanity. It is a convergence where all of the life-centered agendas like permaculture and sustainable community ideas and theories can be put to a practical test, where the individual efforts and passions and energy can be focused into something REAL that can lead to a "greater good".

[Christine]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_l9YztCjNc[/youtube]