This letter comes just 12 days after the Army Corps announced that it would delay a decision on granting an easement to Energy Transfer Partners after determining that "additional discussion and analysis are warranted in light of the history of the Great Sioux Nation's dispossessions of lands, the importance of Lake Oahe to the Tribe, our government-to-government relationship and the statute governing easements through government property." The $3.8 billion pipeline project is now in its final stretch with more than 80 percent of the pipeline already constructed.
"Army Corps has just written a letter demanding that the main Standing Rock resistance camp to the Dakota Access Pipeline be evacuated by December 5. This is a major act of aggression against basic rights of peaceful assembly and protest in the U.S. and constitutes a violation of treaties as well as the U.S. constitution's guaranteed right to protest and assemble," filmmaker Josh Fox said.
"Oceti Sakowin, the main camp for water protectors, is a beautiful self-organizing community," Fox continued. "It stands as not only the main place for the protest movement to assemble and organize, but it also represents a major leap forward for our combined movements for the environment, indigenous sovereignty and real democracy in America. If the Army Corps tears down this protest camp hundreds more will spring up in its place. A crucial alliance between indigenous values, native
sovereignty and environmental movements has been forged here. We expect that the standing rock movement will find new and creative ways to fight the Dakota Access Pipeline no matter what, and that the Standing Rock movement and its alliances will find many areas of common ground and protest. We will fight fracking. We will fight pipelines."
The eviction notice enforcement date is just one day after more than 600 veterans plan to join the water protectors at Standing Rock to peacefully protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. High-profile veterans including U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and retired Baltimore police officer/whistleblower Michael A. Wood, Jr. plan to attend.
"This country is repressing our people," Wood Jr. told Task & Purpose. "If we're going to be heroes, if we're really going to be those veterans that this country praises, well, then we need to do the things that we actually said we're going to do when we took the oath to defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic."
Hundreds of water protectors were injured at the Standing Rock encampments Sunday evening during a standoff with policy when water protectors used a semi-truck to remove burnt military vehicles that police had chained to concrete barriers weeks ago, blocking traffic on Highway 1806. Law enforcement officers blasted them with water cannons in freezing temperatures. Sophia Wilansky, a water protector from New York, was seriously injured after being shot with a concussion grenade.
"If you spend any time at all at Oceti Sakowin, with it's nightly campfires, music, spirit of camaraderie, protest, generosity and community, you quickly see how empty the mainstream American culture is, with it's constant consumerism and greed and every man for himself competition," Fox said. "The main camp at Standing Rock is a spiritual and political leap forward for us. A thing of beauty and sincerity. It is a testament to what humans can make when love becomes the answer to a crisis. We stand with Standing Rock and we make our protests to protect water for all Americans. We believe in love, prayer and beauty.
"It is unlikely that this news will be taken lightly, there will be a fight for the Standing Rock camp. The fight for American values continues there."
(Article changed on November 26, 2016 at 18:16)
(Article changed on November 26, 2016 at 18:21)
(Article changed on November 27, 2016 at 10:13)
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
4
3
2
