Worth watching: Mni Wiconi, an eight-minute film about the stand at Standing Rock. It was created by Divided Films with support from the WK Kellogg Foundation.
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From NPR: "The Standing Rock Resistance is Unprecedented (It's Also Centuries Old)"
'There are no rights being violated here that haven't been violated before,' said Kim Tallbear, a professor of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, who for years worked on tribal issues as an environmental planner for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. Those violations, she said, have taken two forms: long-term disregard for indigenous land rights and a 'bureaucratic disregard for consultation with indigenous people.'The government wants the camp cleared; both the Army Corps of Engineers and North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple have issued evacuation orders. But 2,000 US veterans are joining the Standing Rock camp in solidarity.
Of note: President-elect Trump has stock holdings in Texas Energy Partners, which owns one-quarter of the pipeline.
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For perspective on how the Standing Rock water defenders have been treated (tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons sprayed in sub-zero temperatures, as well as attack dogs), it's worth remembering the recent armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge:
Armed antigovernment protesters led by Ammon and Ryan Bundy were acquitted Thursday of federal conspiracy and weapons charges stemming from the takeover of a federally owned wildlife sanctuary in Oregon last winter.
The surprise acquittals of all seven defendants in Federal District Court were a blow to government prosecutors, who had argued that the Bundys and five of their followers used force and threats of violence to occupy the reserve. But the jury appeared swayed by the defendants’ contention that they were protesting government overreach and posed no threat to the public.
In a monthlong trial here, the defendants never denied that they had occupied and held the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters for nearly six weeks, demanding that the federal government surrender the 188,000-acre property to local control.NYT, 10/27/2016.
The occupiers had more than 16,000 rounds of ammunition. This was the justification offered for their actions:
Mumford implored the jury not to be fooled by the government — that Bundy was simply at the refuge to reveal injustice, not to impede federal employees from doing their work. “He’s been falsely accused of being a conspirator, Mumford said. “His problem wasn’t with federal employees, it was with their employer.”
Mumford argued in the spirit of his client’s beliefs: that the federal government cannot own land. “Mr. Knight says over and over again, ‘They didn’t belong there.’ Well you know what?” Mumford pointed toward the prosecutors. “Neither did they!”Leah Sottile, The Washington Post, 10/19/2016.
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New York Magazine has links and information about donating supplies, medical aid, and supporting the Standing Rock legal fund.
