It could be the last stand for those who have braved the freezing winter to remain at the Oceti Sakowin camp, near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. Earlier this month, the Army Corp of engineers issued an evacuation order with a deadline of February 22. The camp sits on a flood plain and authorities say the possibility of camp flooding could be dangerous for Oceti residents and cited the ecological impact on the nearby Cannonball and Missouri rivers. On Wednesday, Feb. 15, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum escalated tensions at the camp when he issued an emergency evacuation order.
As the governor’s press conference was taking place, Morton county police moved closer to the camp’s south gate and set up a roadblock. Oceti Sakowin was on high alert for hours. “They don’t understand people are willing to die here,”a 90-year-old woman told The Intercept. “They don’t understand we will not back down. We have our ancestors with us and we are in prayer that Tunkashila (Great Spirit in Lakota) will guide us in our freedom.”
The following day, officials from the Army Corp of Engineers met with Oceti residents about assisting in cleanup and the pending February 22 evacuation deadline. “The goal here is that we work together to clean the camp and then everyone leave the area peacefully and go some place safe,” said one of the officials.
Camp leaders and residents challenged the officials about their intentions. Although many did not want the Army Corp inside the camp, they were allowed in with members of Oceti’s security personal.
By Friday, tribal police set up a check point. As we tried to enter, we were interrogated about bringing supplies into camp, including food.
Throughout the day, there were multiple incidents of harassment from the authorities. At one point, the South Dakota state patrol drove into the main roadway in front of camp and exited their vehicles with non-lethal weapons. After a tense standoff, the police moved back to their side of the barricade.
That night, Oceti residents packed into one of the main kitchen halls to discuss the possibility of a violent raid and whether people should evacuate. After the meeting, loud drumming resounded throughout the camp. Spiritual leaders went into ceremony as young Natives drummed and sang sacred songs all night. Calls on the camp radio requested Oceti’s residents to remain in prayer, reminding all those who have chosen to stay that they will not back down.
Drone video courtesy of Standing Rock Tattoo.
i understand the pipeline was to originally be near bismark nd but when the citizens complained they moved it to the sacred grounds of the native americans, their water and rights are unimportant to our govt and nothing has changed since america first removed native americans from their land. all of us as citizens should be ashamed for what we did and are still doing to the only real americans from sea to shining sea.
Violent arrests as police begin evacuating Dakota Access Pipeline protest camp
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/23/dapl-f23.html
1) And as usual, “The Media/Press” will not cover any of this.
2) Not all White Folk are jerks.
3) But all haters of the Standing Rock protests are White Nationalist jerks.
White American guys are seriously such fucking losers. Standing on hills staring them down? Seriously? Nothing but cheap thugs.
Maybe when the feds round them up, they can send them to the Ukraine to protest the pipelines connecting Western Europe.
You white folk (not ALL white folk) and the “discover and colonialism” has been and still is the scourge of mankind! Worst than the “Black Plauge” which killed nearly 1 billion people, has killed 10 times as many people and is and still destroying the lives and cultures of every people on the planet!
When will you admit it is and was”bombastic failure of epic perportion!”
Now y’all are looking to go out into space to “discover and colonialism” (the same destructive mind set) life on other planets in the universe. lf I were a Alien or other Life, I would be hiding from your asses too.
I believe those other forms of life are probably saying, “under NO circumstances are we to be found by those sick SOB “discover colonialism” white folk looking to find us! Look what they’ve done to the planet earth and the innocent people on earth who trusted them!” From the Aztec to the Inca, y’all actually extincted a people! But you gloss over it as though they were like Dodo birds! Shameful!
You guys are a horrifying Sci-fi Reality Show!
And the peoples who you so-called Discovered and forced Colonialism upon, the only thing they discoverd, is that Y’all are some sick bastards and not to be trusted!
Please Repent!
Holy shit. “Back in the U.S.S.R.” – Beatles, 1968. Brutality in America cannot stand. No matter what the reason.
Unfortunately it seems to have stayed standing very well – and impervious to challenge – for ages, at least against minorities and peaceniks.
Thank you for your report. I stand with my people. The police and other government officials need to leave our land.
Looks like the oil industry reps have hijacked this thread to spread their propaganda. So sick of these so-called Americans.
The protesters only want some money from the pipeline contractors. All this nonsense is to enhance their bargaining position. If the pipeline route is canceled and whatever money that was given taken back, the protesters will protest the scrapping of the project. Very crooked fellows, almost as crooked as Hillary and her Paki aide.
Are you a complete ignorant fool? Seriously. Your drivel is wasting time and space. You’re not even real. And bring in Hillary? I’m embarrassed I was a republican years ago just to even be slightly associated with any idiots that have ruined America like you.
Haven’t heard that demand from any of the protestors themselves. What I have heard is that they don’t want a for-profit pipeline to pollute their water source, they don’t want the pipeline construction to destroy their barrier sites, and they want the government to honor the terms of the treaty.
Gen. Hercubonehead, You are the “great proof”, idiots do exist!
Let a fool continue to speak, and he will easily without effort show you his foolishness!
You have no clue, these people just want an unpolluted environment to live that has been stolen from them several times , pick up a real history book and read, and do try to comprehend.
Although the long term environmental impact of the Dakota access pipeline is extremely important, the claim of tribal ownership rights to the land in question was/is the only viable legal impediment to its construction. Although lawyers for the tribe have claimed in court that the Standing Rock Sioux have, at least, a legal right to be “consulted” as the land in contest purportedly has/had demonstrable religious and cultural significance to the tribe, much of the evidence of the claim has been purportedly destroyed while the court dragged its feet in issuing an injunction to halt construction. Absent a claim of ownership to the land itself, it is hard to believe that tribal opposition will prevail.
The fact that the Standing Rock Sioux are being employed as a proxy force by climate activists in their global war on the production and consumption of fossil fuels seems to have had little bearing on the legal outcome of this particular debate – beyond the cost associated with construction delays themselves.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/09/dapl-dakota-sitting-rock-sioux/499178/
What can be done to help the fight at Standing Rock?
Interesting articles on pollution… Cars versus ship pollution…
http://www.industrytap.com/worlds-15-biggest-ships-create-more-pollution-than-all-the-cars-in-the-world/8182
Followup article, more optimistic but see comments after it…
https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-the-15-biggest-ships-in-the-world-produce-more-pollution-than-all-the-cars
shipping industry down worldwide – The biggest source of pollution is aerosol geoengineering http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org
To: Mary Hollowell
You make an excellent point. I have sent numerous requests to the Intercept and Glenn to cover Geoengineering such as below, but they seem very much uninterested even with Naomi Klein now on the staff.
Glenn:
Could you assign someone to report on a subject that seems to be taboo to report on for whatever reason that subject being “What are they really doing to our sky”?
If an organization that serves the truth as The Intercept does reports that there is nothing to it, regarding geoengineering, fine, but if there is something to it we are counting on you and your team. Please consider reporting on the matter. Thank you for your consideration.
See: GeoengineeringWatch.org
To: wayoutwest
You are obviously an oil troll.
Thanks Jihan. On one hand, ACE has a feigned concern that camp debris at Oceti Sakowin that might pollute the Cannonball River when the river eventually thaws. At the same time ACE is forcing a halt to ongoing cleanup action at the camp by forcing its abandonment–the opposite of their supposed concern.
On the other hand, the ACE has halted its ongoing EIS study and peremptorily granted the permit for an oil pipeline across the Missouri River downstream. This is again completely inconsistent behavior by the Corps. If pollution were the real concern, the ACE would not drill the Lake Oahe crossing until their EIS was complete.
I expect (and hope) the ACE’s behavior here will land them in court for NEPA non-compliance.
the THIEVES of WALLSTREET in nyc see the country as a place to be mined, a resource. What they dont see is people. Life on the ground. To them, we are the help or, too expensive or in their way. They and their profits come first, we are expendable. They are the brits, the torries, the king’s delegates and we are the bluecoats.
End of fourth paragraph, personnel not personal.
You might add a question mark at the end of that headline since your first sentence says that it may be their last stand, not that it is.
It’s time to show some restraint and wisdom by preparing everyone in the camp for an organized retreat to some other camp on tribal or private land. If there is resistance and violence then the people who were demonstrators become hostiles and will be treated harshly.
Too many commenters throughout these threads have seemed to desire seeing dead bloody Indians in the snow treating this as theater where someone else’s injury or death feeds their agendas.
This was a lost cause a Ghost Dance from the beginning because the needs of modern industrial civilization are primary while individual group’s needs or desires are secondary and always have been. nearly everyone in the US has already voted on this issue, they want/need more gasoline and they will have it.
Lies, lies, lies. The US doesn’t need or want more gasoline, there’s a supply glut and the owners of the Bakken oilfields (from Hillary Clinton boosters like Warren Buffett to Trump boosters like Kelcy Warren) want to use the pipeline to facilitate export of North Dakota crude to foreign markets, a move facilitated by Barak Obama working with Republicans to lift the oil export ban in 2015.
This is due to the rising popularity of electric vehicles, and the replacement of gas-hungry SUVs by hybrids, which will continue to cut into oil demand.
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-ev-oil-crisis/
So is there any need for more oil pipelines? No, there isn’t. And it should be obvious by now that Trump’s idiotic 1950’s era-energy policy is a recipe for economic and environmental disaster across the board, not that the corporate media (also owned by banks with long fossil fuel investments) will discuss this either, for all their angst over Trump.
Do you know how much oil it took for you to type this…hm?
No need to spew accusations based on ignorance PS. The US consumer used more gasoline this past year than any time in history which is driving demand. The US is also producing more of our oil needs from plays such as the Bakken and Eagle Forde. You’re confusing Bakken high gasoline content oil going to refineries in Illinois with Canadian dilbit heading to Louisiana refineries. Even with the large amount of oil products and the small amount of crude we export we still need to import about 4 million barrels a day to meet our needs.
These battery fables you seem to believe remind me of the many other technological wonders we have been promised, unfulfilled. Electric vehicles account for about one percent of our transportation and I think that includes busses so there is plenty of room for growth. The batteries Bloomberg is reporting on are todays technology which don’t have the storage capacity to match gasoline or diesel vehicles and they may never.
Crude oil world market prices are what drive exploration and production not Trump’s lifting of minor regulations. There is not going to be any new oil drilling boom in the US with low prices even though there is a huge new play in the Permian Basin four times larger than the Bakken.
The 900,000 barrels produced daily from the Bakken needs to move to the refineries and right now much of it is transported by Warren Buffet’s exploding trains, the pipeline will soon replace that more expensive transportation.
You are quite correct to point out how very dependent we have become on oil. The real crux, however, is this: should we be? As PS says, this is becoming outdated technology, and the only thing that seems to keep us dependent on oil is the unwillingness to explore other alternatives. As you say, today’s car batteries, don’t have the storage capacity to match gas or diesel, but how will tomorrow’s technology ever come into being with the oil and fossil fuel companies maintaining a stranglehold on it? To suggest that alternative sources of power will never match the effectiveness of oil defeats us before we start and is precisely the attitude that they want us to take. And we have to start, given the state of our planet-or is that another argument for another day that you’re just not buying?
To: wayoutwest
“…because the needs of modern industrial civilization are primary” – You have got to be kidding as that need is going in the almost unstoppable direction of utter environmental catastrophe.
And as far as your statement “nearly everyone in the US has already voted on this issue, they want/need more gasoline and they will have it.”, are you referring to the senators, including 17 democrats, which voted on an amendment to a bill recently showing their approval for the Keystone XL Pipeline that had received an average of $489,000 each in transparent oil campaign contributions”?
The way these campaign contribution numbers are used it makes it seem these political parasites get to keep the money instead of it being part of the system they operate under. It’s almost impossible to tell if the politico adored the oil industry before becoming a politician or is a recent convert. It really doesn’t matter because these crude oil products are needed whether for diesel in Europe or paving material for our infrastructure rebuilding projects.
The fantasy projection of the ‘environmental catastrophe’ is attractive to some authoritarian minds because fear can motivate some people to follow blindly especially if the alternate vision is utopian. I saw environmental catastrophe when I was a child when the creek behind my house ran red with blood from an unregulated slaughter house.
The environmental catastrophe sloganeering by the sages of warming is a handy tool to help them sell their snake oil remedies to this problem promising the rubes who follow them will avoiding any sacrifice. All will be clean and green and the costs financial and environmental can be offshored or ignored.
If you are being genuine in your concern-and I will question that-I appreciate it but also disagree. As the article states, they are in there for the duration. It is their right to be, and any “desire seeing dead bloody Indians in the snow” would likely feed the corporate agenda who will tell everyone “we gave them a chance.” As far as the demonstrators becoming” hostiles’ who will be “treated harshly”-day late here. They’re already regarded as such, though the true hostility, as shown in violence, came from the goons hired by law enforcement at the behest of the company, and the vigilantes. I’m not sure “everyone” agrees with wanting or needing more gasoline. That kind of suggests that a majority of the country refuses to see the existence of climate change, when the opposite is likely to be true.
The only violence at these demonstrations has been when demonstrators, some of them using violence, trespassed on private property, which is not a protected action. The Cavalry could have raided the camps on public or private land but they didn’t. The embedded reporting from some of these actions told one side of the story and portrayed the demonstrators as victims. The action against the private guards protecting equipment was an attack onto private land by over 100 demonstrators some carrying wood poles against at most a couple dozen guards. The blood shown on the dogs mouths was dog blood from being beaten with the poles,some dogs and guards required medical treatment after this attack.
Demonstrators burned vehicles threw rocks and one woman emptied a gun at the cops so this wasn’t all peaceful demonstrating. The larger prayer circles in the camps were nonviolent but the warrior groups came to fight and garner media attention with friendly media spinning their victim stories.
I supported the camps and attention to the Indian’s concerns but not the media frenzy and violence theater created by some activists.
I’m not one of the ‘everybody’ I reduce my gasoline consumption but the majority has not so they are feeding the demand for more gas. The majority who seem to be ignoring GW may be doing so because they believe the snake oil salesman who tell them we can fix GW with big corporate Green technology and continue to live our overconsuming lifestyle.
Video proof of your statements on the protesters? Because what you say runs counter to what was caught on camera. Not sure where you get your info, but am not sure I buy it. I agree, many have not reduced gas consumption, but we have to look at this in the context of what is out there: because of the massive oil lobby and overwhelming political influence they wield, what government agency would be willing or able to fund further research to look into green alternatives? They might throw pennies, but not the substantial dollars needed. Lip service, that’s all, really. Green technology, frankly, is what we have open to us at this time to “fix” read: slow down, climate change. And you’re right on the money on this: our over-consuming lifestyles have to go.
Videos of incidents can show some of the truth but they can also be edited to draw emotional responses and manipulated to serve an agenda. I read everything I can find on important stories including this one and the local reports of the incidents balanced out the sensationalism of much of the other reporting.
The Indians came looking for a fight and found one. I admire their bravery but they knew what the response would be so the sob stories seem contrived. The cops were a nasty bunch but that’s true pretty much everywhere. Some of these cops probably dislike Indians profoundly and looked at those coming towards them as the great-great grandchildren of the squaw that skinned alive their great-great uncle.
There is no green alternative to gasoline because even electric cars will use coal/gas derived electricity for the foreseeable future. Research on microbe produced fuels has been pursued for decades and with no viable results. Some things are not going to happen just because we throw money at them and wish. Very few people seem willing to face the reality that the only way to even slow GW is to stop using so much energy and stop consuming so many things made with that energy.
Here’s something from the a very old playbook: whenever you witness violence amidst what is largely a peaceful and highly organized and focused demonstration, generally, the violence is due to “plants” who are brought there in order to incite riots and discredit the movement. Old stuff, dating back at least to the Vietnam War, even earlier. There is no green alternative because our government insists on kissing big oil’s collective behind. Look at who is our new Sec. of State. How, in the face of that, could any alternative, however effective, be allowed to encroach on their bottom line? Not possible. To consider that the “Indians” were “looking for a fight” does nothing but trivialize their struggle. Their struggle, really, is our struggle. Just because it’s not in our own backyards-yet-doesn’t mean the presence of another pipeline won’t impact millions of people. It will. Science tells us these things leak. It’s not “if” but “when.” The cops are a nasty bunch-yes, indeed, and that’s an understatement, but they’re only doing the bidder of their minders. There’s no excuse for the violence they visited on the protesters-yes, that’s what they did. I’d sooner believe the non-mainstream news sources than anything else. You seem to be someone who comes to these kinds of websites and tries to test the waters to see if your ideas float. I also seem to be the only one having a “dialogue” with you and I can see it’s a waste of time. I will, however, strongly agree with your one point: given the environmentally-destroying sources we have today, energy use, as much as possible, should be monitored and decreased when possible. Best to you.
You’re fantasizing JB, the players in this drama are known and documented. My information on the aggressive warrior societies comes from Indian news reports where the peaceful older leaders of the prayer circles were admonishing the warrior clans for their violence and the danger it brought. No agreement was reached so the elders evacuated the children from the camps to move them out of harms way.
The peaceful majority stayed at their camps and prayer circles while the aggressive young warriors marched to conflict on private property. That is the facts according to Indian news and it shows their, not my, playbook.
The possible water contamination is an important factor in this or any industrial project and some kind of fund could be set up for cleanup but we live in a cost/benefit regime. The rejected more northern crossing site would possibly have contaminated the whole lake with a leak while this site is near the end of the lake.
I think that discussing these issues is important even if we don’t agree. I just hope to encourage people to take off their Manichean blinders and look at a more complete story based on facts. The big problem we do agree about, consumption, dwarfs any of these incidental things, but I do hope the closing of the camp today is peaceful. Cheers
There has to be a better way than stealing the land again we whites have stolen enough from the Real Americans NATIVE AMERICAN’S We should be looking for cleaner more efficient fuel sources.
The more witnesses/cameras/reporters there are present on the ground when the empire decides to drop the hammer on these brave souls, the better. Go there now or donate or go there afterwards to assist in relief of what may be a harsh overreaction to peaceful protest. Trump has been frothing to let some of his dogs hunt and everyone knows that the timing of this crisis could not be worse.
February 20, 2017 LAW ENFORCEMENT IS SYSTEMATICALLY DEHUMANIZING STANDING ROCK WATER PROTECTORS TO JUSTIFY VIOLENCE – PART 2
North Dakota is the keeper of the runner up title for state with most hate crimes and has held that title since 2012 according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Well – except for 2013 when North Dakota won the title and wore the crown of most criminal haters in the country.
http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/law-enforcement-systematically-dehumanizing-standing-rock-water-protectors-justify-violence-part-2/
North Dakota has always been first at under age binge drinking.
No one believes the protestations about flooding or worries about water pollution (really?), and ‘sincere’ concern for the camp’s inhabitants. All a PR campaign.
The oil defenders will one day pay. The Army Corps of Engineers is an institution that works for the oil, dredging, barge and corporate ag industries. The government of North Dakota is owned by the fracking industry. The police are their guard dogs, to protect and serve them.
Nothing will change until these institutions are removed.
Today Feb 21, please phone Army Corps Engineers 202-761-8700,
Gov Burghum 701-328-2200 to ask for an extension, and restraint on the part of Morton Co. Sheriff’s dept.
one of the sites needing donations for legal support is http://www.lakotalaw,org
I also phoned my Senators and Congressperson, though Congress is in recess.
That means you can talk to them in person. Why not have ago at it? Ask them about healthcare and infrastructure while you are at it.
Do they know about the Mosler plan?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGuNpqYBkZk
I support yall. Wished I could do something to help. But I dont know what I can do. My prayers to yall that you will pevail. If I can do anything to help just email me and I will try. Sincerely apologize for all the wrong doings that has bestowed on your people. Gods grace stand strong.
It is a desperate situation … but there are desperate situations and desperate situations. The UN has just declared a famine in South Sudan, centered right smack dab on top of the Block 5A oil filed. Ostensibly, the Nuers and the Dinkas are fighting over it – but there is a Sudan pipeline and a rival Ethiopian pipeline, and companies like Lundin have been accused of fomenting similar things for decades. There was actually another famine there in 1998 for the same reason.
But I don’t mean to put down the Standing Rock defenders in this comparison, because they’re fighting to stop what South Sudan has – a big long oil pipeline leading away to the sea, which is where all that oil money for all that oil fighting will come from in any Third World country, whether in Africa or in North America.
This is a lost cause. Couldn’t we have a few articles on the healthcare debate?
What’s Ms. Klein up to? How about an interview with Warren Mosler on his healthcare proposal?
I like his medical debit card idea.
http://moslereconomics.com/2009/03/02/mosler-health-care-proposal/
This is not a lost cause, it is a microcosm of how this whole country is being run; by large oil corporations and the pipelines, exporting oil. Trans-Pecos Pipeline in Texas by same owner, Energy Transfer Partners; Sabl pipeline in Florida; one in Pennsylvania; another in New Jersey, and in New York. The new president invested in the Dakota Access Pipeline, and overturned and cancelled the EIS, Environmental Impact Statement, by the Army Corps of Engineers, that would have studied water rights, and treaty rights. Standing Rock’s Water Protectors have given us all, allies, environmentalists, as well as 300 odd Tribal Nations across the country, inspiration and renewed hope for justice.
If this is a lost cause, when will humans realize what is going on?
Life on Earth, but for how much longer?:
We ignore James Lovelock’s apocalyptic vision of the future, The Revenge of Gaia, at our peril, says Robin McKie
That article was published in 2006 and the destruction of the environment continues. And with Trumpism it will get worse.
This looks more like a cult with a Masada Complex. When the cavalry shows up, run away.
http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Opinion/The-Masada-complex
So if the roadways are blocked, does that mean that reporters can’t get in?
thanks for the coverage.
reporters can get in, come up from the south on route 6, and do not have any building supplies in your car. Go to Cheyenne River camp and Sacred Stone camp south of the Cannon Ball River.
Reporters can get in, there are check points; come up from the south, route 6, 24 (?). Go to Cheyenne River camp, and go to FB page of Sacred Stone camp, south of the main camp Oceti Oyate/Sakowin. Don’t have building materials in your car.
Thank you! :)
I have felt for months that people will be murdered at Standing Rock.
400 years of an occupying power has been endured so far, so it is expected that the Native Americans will remain until something violent happens.
But this time the world is watching.
Water is a major political actor. The most important actor in politics for the last 30 years is the environment.
From the French polymath, Bruno Latour a couple of months ago an article published in LeMonde and LA Review of books about politics, Trump and the earth.
This is the abstract – Europe Alone is the title because now the US has gone rogue under trump.
Europe alone—only Europe
Shades of Waco. I smell a bloodbath coming followed by unintended consequences via the ghosts of Custer. Hoping I’m wrong.