The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe started protesting months ago at the site where the pipeline was set to be constructed under the lake. Other protests have joined them at a steady rate and a small town formed at the site. The protesters were prepared to stay through the difficult winter months in North Dakota, most in tepees and tents. Other protests occurred nation wide in support of the Sioux tribe. An example of the nation wide protests, occurred at a 'lay down' protest in Philadelphia, right in Center City at 17th and Market, a few blocks west of City Hall.
The action that may have tipped the scale, was the arrival of many hundreds, over a thousand, former armed forces members. The bulk of these arrivals started on Thanksgiving weekend and continued throughout the past week. Local & North Dakota state police were starting to take actions to remove the protesters at the protest site, There was some violence including shock grenades, water cannons and rubber bullets. The goal of the former armed forces members was to place themselves between the protesters and those that would attempt to remove them, thereby forming a human barrier. These men and women held true to the oath they took when entering the armed forces; to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic". In this case a domestic threat to ".....the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" (first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, 1791). A great debt is owed by all Americans to these brave veterans and in fact to all of the protesters involved. They have stood for nothing less than the Constitution and ultimately the stewardship of our planet.
Please know that this is a battle that has been won, but not the 'war'. The Army Corps of Engineers is re-opening the investigation to identify an alternate site for this pipeline to proceed under the Missouri River. Furthermore, trump is on record as recently as last week, as favoring the completion of this pipeline. Note that the company constructing this pipeline is Energy Transfer Partners, and as reported by the New York Times, "[m]r. [t]rump owns stock in the company building the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners, but he has said that his support has nothing to do with his investment" (horse shit!).
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/04/us/federal-officials-to-explore-different-route-for-dakota-pipeline.html?_r=0
As was noted by Dalas Goldtooth (lead organizer for The Indigenous Environmental Network), "We are asking our supporters to keep up the pressure, because while President Obama has granted us a victory today, that victory isn't guaranteed in the next administration." This blog whole heartedly agrees with this way of approaching protests on all fronts as trump becomes the lead U.S. administrator; keep up the pressure!
No comments:
Post a Comment