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Title: Resistance at Standing Rock Author: Wayne Price Date: November 04, 2016 Language: en Topics: Native Americans, Standing Rock, eco-defense Source: http://anarkismo.net/article/29745
The Standing Rock Sioux in the U.S. have been fighting against the
construction of a major gas pipeline which would threaten their water
supply and violate their sacred sites. They have organized popular
direct action against the construction company and the state and
inspired people throughout the country and the world.
For months, thousands of Native Americans and others have attempted to
stop the construction of a monster gas pipeline. They have filed legal
claims and lobbied politicians, but what has been especially impressive
has been the attempted blockade of construction. Throughout the world,
indigenous peoples have played an important role in fighting pipelines,
oil drilling, fracking, and the overall destruction of the environment.
Sometimes allied with local white farmers and workers, the indigenous
have the advantage of legal rights which their white neighbors (and
environmentalists) do not have. They also have special moral claims,
based on centuries of oppression and treaty-breaking.
The Dakota Access Pipeline Project (also called the Bakken Pipeline) is
a project of the Energy Transfer Partners. It plans to run a 30 inch
diameter pipe 1,170 miles from North Dakota to southern Illinois. There
it would join existing pipelines to the Gulf and the East Coast. It
would cost $3.7 billion and come on line at the end of 2016. The
pipeline would cross many sources of water and pass under the Missouri
river a half mile upstream from the reservation of the Standing Rock
Sioux. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers gave the project the go-ahead,
with a cursory pretense of “consulting” affected tribes.
The Standing Rock Sioux have claimed that the pipeline violates their
right to historically sacred land. They also claim that it threatens
their water supply. They call themselves “Water Protectors.” The company
argues that it is (mostly) building on private property which it bought,
not on the reservation. Whatever the legalities of the case, it is well
known how American Indian land became “private property.” The company
also argues that pipes are safer for transporting gas than are railroads
or trucks. This is irrelevant. No method of transport is perfect or can
be without accidents. Sooner or later there will be leaks, minor or
major, which must impact the water supply. (This is one reason there
needs to be national and local programs for a transition to noncarbon,
renewable, energy.)
Besides the Standing Rock Sioux, the project has been opposed locally by
the Bakken Pipeline Resistance Coalition, which is made up of over 30
landowner and environmental associations. Meanwhile thousands of Native
Americans from over 200 tribes have come to the blockade camps to
support the Standing Rock Sioux. Solidarity demonstrations have been
held all across the country, even though the media has tended to bury
the dramatic events. There has been a support delegation from the Black
Lives Matter movement.
Construction continues. So far the Sioux have lost all their legal
challenges. The company’s agents and the police have attacked peaceful
demonstrators with dogs and pepper spray--exposing the lie that the
state is "neutral" between the people and the capitalists. On September
3rd, the police attacked the camp, spraying over 30 people with pepper
spray; at least 6 people were bitten by dogs. This was the anniversary
of the 1963 Whitestone massacre, when soldiers killed over 300
Sioux—which puts things in context. So far over 400 people have been
arrested. They have tried to arrest journalists and photographers also.
Mekasi Horinek, a militant from the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma says that he
asked police officers: “Don’t you drink water too? Don’t your children
drink water? We’re here to protect the water. This isn’t just a Native
issue. We’re here protecting the water; not only for our families and
our children, but for your families and your children. For every ranch
and every farm along the Missouri River.” He adds, “No matter what they
do to us, they’re not going to strip our dignity, our honor. These are
things we hold in our DNA , and we’ll never lose.” (NY Times 11/2/16; p.
A10)
President Obama and his agencies have politely asked the company to
postpone further work for now; the company has refused. Hillary Clinton
has not taken a clear position and of course Donald Trump will not
opposed the pipeline. Bernie Sanders has officially asked Ms. Clinton to
oppose the project, to no avail. The presidential candidate of the Green
Party, Dr. Jill Stein, went to the blockading camp and was fined for
spray-painting a bulldozer.
The president of the building trades section of the AFL-CIO is Sean
McGarvey. He sent out a letter denouncing the demonstrators as
“environmental extremists” and “professional agitators.” Richard Trumka,
president of the AFL-CIO has also publicly endorsed the pipeline.
McGarvey and Trumka have bought into the false opposition of jobs or the
environment. Supporters of the project cite the supposed creation of
jobs, claiming that it would create 12,000 jobs. Others have estimated
that it would only create about 1,500 jobs (mainly for out-of-state
skilled workers who specialize in pipeline work). In any case, like
almost all construction jobs, these would be temporary. Once set up, the
pipeline would only need about 12 to 15 permanent workers! For this,
they would tear up the landscape, poison the water, violate Native
American’s sacred sites, produce more greenhouse gases which would
increase global warming and threaten the survival of civilization. Is
there no need for construction projects to rebuild the nation’s
infrastructure, to create housing, to build renewable energy, to
establish organic family farms, to reforest the countryside? Of course
such projects would not be profitable for most of the ruling class, but
this is all the more reason to demand that they be done publicly,
democratically, and cooperatively.
Opposing this suicidal pro-pipeline and anti-environmental approach is
the Labor Coalition for Community Action. It is an organization of
AFL-CIO constituency groups. The pipeline has also been officially
opposed by the American Postal Workers Union, the Amalgamated Transit
Union, the Communications Workers of America, the National Nurses Union,
and the Service Employees International Union. A rank-and-file workers
group, Labor for Standing Rock, has set itself up at the Standing Rock
campsite.
The confrontation at Standing Rock is far from over. However it comes
out, it is an important point in the struggle for environmental justice.
It has tied together the effort to save the planet with the historic
struggle for justice to American Indians and the overall fight against
white supremacy. It has used popular direct action to counter the forces
of ruthless capitalist profit mongering. The biggest barrier to victory
has been the politicians, especially the Democrats, and the union
bureaucrats, who teach us to rely on the Democrats and to trust the
corporations to provide jobs. The protestors at Standing Rock argue that
we should rely on ourselves and our own resistance.