Water Protectors On Duty

By now everyone's heard that Trump has "restarted" the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline "shut down" by Obama. I use the scare quotes because what's actually happened is a little less declarative than the Narrative would have it.

Obama didn't actually shut down the pipelines, he deferred final decisions on them to a later time, when he was out of office. Trump has not restarted them, he has picked up the ball where Obama left it, and is considering whether to run with it.

I split hairs like this because what is actually going on in this chaotic situation often varies quite a bit from the Narratives put out by the White House and countered by the media. There are lies and lies and more lies, in a blizzard of falsehood -- coming from all sides -- and it's almost impossible for the Rabble to sort out fact from fiction under the circumstances.

Chaos is the key, and keeping things as chaotic and unpredictable as possible appears to be the way Trump intends to rule until he is deposed.

But he's not the only one who can play that game.

Not by a long shot.

Meanwhile up in frozen North Dakota, the Water Protectors were planning to decamp from Sacred Stone and Oceti Sacowin, packing up and moving away from the Standing Rock reservation and setting up camp again at other reservations by invitation. This was to be a voluntary evacuation, but it was in line with the SRS Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault's repeated requests (orders?) that the Water Protector camps be vacated "for the safety" of the campers. Or something.

His position was that while the Environmental Impact Statement ordered by Obama was being prepared, protection/provocation by Water Protectors was counter productive. The less conflict at the site during the process, the better in his view. There have been recent incidents of violence (by police) against Water Protectors at the Backwater Bridge, a continuous flashpoint at Standing Rock. Archambault said he wanted the bridge reopened,, and that couldn't happen so long as incidents of violence kept happening there.

So he issued another request/order that the Water Protectors leave, and he and the tribal council essentially seized the millions of dollars raised for the Water Protectors and declared it tribal funds to use as the tribal council determined. I don't know what happened to the warehouse full of supplies sent to the camps, but last I heard, the tribe was refusing to release them to the camps.

As a point of reference, there have been widespread Water Protector actions primarily against pipelines all over the country since things calmed a bit at Standing Rock. This is the kind of activism that takes on a life of its own, and by spreading out so much -- rather than being concentrated in one spot -- the Water Protectors are ensuring their survival come what may.

It's not unlike the way Occupy dispersed after the coordinated violent crack down against it in 2011 and 2012. While I haven't got around to updating my Occupy links -- many are dead now -- I am quite aware that Occupy is still around and is still active, though for the most part they keep a low profile. As one of the Occupy mottos says, "You can't kill an idea."


That's pretty much where things stood on Monday. On Tuesday everything changed when Trump signed his pipelines memorandum. Keystone XL and Dakota Access were suddenly placed on the track for eventual approval, regardless it seemed of anything else.

The evacuation of the camps at Standing Rock halted and a call went out for Water Protectors to return -- so long as they were physically able to do so and could be self-sufficient once there.

The call did not go out from Archambault, it was issued by Chad IronEyes, one of the Standing Rock Sioux activists who has stayed on top of the evolving situation there and who has occupied the space between the Tribal Chairman and Council and the Water Protectors.

I haven't checked the activist notices today yet, but after Trump's action, there were demonstrations by Water Protectors and their allies in many cities throughout the country. As the Water Protectors reassemble in North Dakota, the state is preparing to force the issue and prohibit protest in so far as they can by law. They've even come up with some kind of law that legalizes running down protesters who block roads -- as long as it's an "accident."

Yes, well. We've already seen that happen during the actions last year. Sport, dontchaknow.

And there have been violent incidents at the Bridge in which numerous Water Protectors and allies have been injured by rubber bullets, water cannon, and other weapons wielded by the police. They've even set up a missile launcher apparently to shoot down drones flown by Water Protectors in order to document what's going on.

Please understand, this is all a dry run for the eventual suppression of any and all popular revolts and uprisings that might come to pass in the future.

The Indians at Standing Rock know this; many of their allies do too. But the general public remains oblivious.

I've pointed out in other fora that serious protest action in the United States has historically been met with serious and deadly force. Kent State is a well known example, but there were many others in those days and previously. Massacres of Indians, of course, were routine in the 19th Century, but strikers, protesters, and other activists who were perceived as threats by The Powers That Be were frequently subjected to use of deadly force by private guards as well as the National Guard and police, occasionally by the Regular Army.

People who understand this history of suppression of dissent know that the Water Protectors, as some of the most successful activists in recent times, are at severe risk of injury or death at the hands of the authorities, no matter where they are, but particularly so in North Dakota. I don't know how many have been injured so far, but hundreds were injured during the action on November 20-21 when water cannon were first turned on the activists at the Bridge.

This is deadly serious.

I've pointed out that the Water Protectors have been showing the way to effective resistance under the current circumstances. They are rebels, yes, but they are not in the mold of past resistance efforts. They are a step beyond them. First, they are grounded in Native American spirituality, something a lot of Anglos like to play with, but something few of them understand or can relate to. It's a different way of looking at the relationship between the Spirits and the People. It's a much more powerful thing than most Anglos can imagine, and it's part of the reason why so many of the Water Protectors can endure the suppression and the violence unleashed against them by the authorities. It's a reason why the Water Protectors understand they might lose from time to time, and they understand the Dakota Access Pipeline might be completed no matter what they do, but that in the end, they will be vindicated and victorious.

They  have endured so much so far, and the struggle is re-engaged, not only at Standing Rock but all over the country now.

It is part of the emerging struggle against the forces of wealth and power so perfectly expressed through the elevation of Trump and his cronies to run the government of these United States.

Water Protectors have led the way. They are the vanguard.

Where the struggle goes from here, we'll have to wait and see -- unless, of course, we are involved in actions to change the situation for the better.

Censorship

Don't know exactly what's going on, but media documentation of direct action at the pipeline site in North Dakota is being targeted for suppression by law enforcement. There have also been reports of Facebook deleting videos of police action against the demonstrators and media.


Water Protectors Arrested by Militarized Police from Unicorn Riot on Vimeo.

I saw NewsHour's report on the action last night; it was quite a bit better than most mainstream news reports.



Red Warrior Camp maintains a Facebook page and its news is usually better overall. But some of their material has been deleted by Facebook.

Unicorn Riot has done exemplary work, but they have been harassed and arrested.

Sacred Stone Camp is the other primary information source.

It's estimated that 6,000 or more are now gathered to protect the water.

The camps are getting ready to endure through the winter.

Now That The Hillary Hysteria Has Subsided (Somewhat)

[I started this post yesterday but got caught up in other stuff that left me no time to finish it... such is life.]

About 35 Institute of American Indian Arts students have left Santa Fe for the long drive to North Dakota and the Red Warrior Camp where they intend to participate and give strength to the ongoing Water Protector actions against the unnecessary and deeply destructive and dangerous Dakota Access Pipeline.

These IAIA supporters of the action in North Dakota intend to provide arts and cultural activities and enrichment to the children and young people in the camps. I'm sure that some of the IAIA people will also participate in direct action against the pipeline construction which could subject them to felony arrest, as the state of North Dakota and the counties adjacent to the pipeline construction insist on protecting the pipeline at all costs and appear to have no interest in protecting the people, particularly not the people involved in resistance against this private sector pipeline.

Dozens and dozens have been arrested so far, some on felony "interference" (or whatever they are calling it) charges. Police forces have massed in riot gear armed with assault weapons to control the unruly -- and by the way, unarmed -- Natives and their allies. They have made a point of targeting the media and what they regard as leaders of the movement. So far, they have not invaded the camps where up to 6,000 or more Water Protectors and their allies have been praying and socializing for months now, but they are keeping those camps under close surveillance and the National Guard is manning roadway checkpoints, not unlike a certain foreign country under occupation.

It has been claimed that this is the largest gathering of Indian Nations in modern history and that more than 300 tribes and bands are represented. Many of the long time divisions between tribes are being healed through prayer and ceremony and through the need for common action against this more and more lunatic pipeline project and its apparently brain damaged protectors.

Don't know how this will ultimately play out, but the Indians who are in charge of it say that no matter if this pipeline is eventually completed and put into operation the principles and ideals and unity of the protest/protection will continue.

I can only cheer them on from afar.

The Overclass and the Lesser People

What's going on in North Dakota is ultimately the story of America from its earliest episodes with the invaders from Europe to today. It's a microcosm of colonialism and dismissal of the Native Peoples, their interests, their concept of the universe and the place of humanity on the earth. This is pretty serious stuff, and it is the stuff of conflict between Euro-Americans and Native Americans (who we here in New Mexico call Indians as they typically call themselves, but that's another story for another time).

It's a conflict that should never have been.

So often, Natives have had no real issue with Euro-invaders -- so long as they behave in a decent and cooperative manner. The problem has been that so often they don't. It appears that in many ways, they can't.

They think they have to dominate, exploit, destroy or... what? What will happen if they don't? They can't know because so many won't let go of whatever impulse for domination and destruction drives them.

Note, they still call this need, this impulse "Progress."

The Indians say, "No, this is not really 'progress' at all. It's simply a fury of destruction. Why do you do this? What is wrong with you?"

It's customary among "concerned" white people to almost worship Natives as some sort of exemplars of a Paradise Lost. If only whites could be more like the First Peoples in the Americas, how much better we all would be. Yes, that's all well and good but it presumes lack of agency and contemporary ways of life among the multiplicity of Native Peoples throughout the Americas. They are all supposedly driven by their Native Culture(s) -- thought of as a unity -- to be One With Mother Earth, yadda, yadda, in a primitive but righteous understanding of the basic elements of life, elements long forgotten by the Euro-invaders and colonists.

Well, no. This point of view kind of drives me nuts. Indians and Native societies have been so disrupted for so long by the invader-colonists that what the invaders think of as the "primitive" -- permanently primitive, mind you -- righteousness of Indian life and lore is mostly white-folk fantasy of Indians and their cultures and societies.

Indian societies were never perfect by any means, nor did they necessarily live in Paradise(s). The disruption and destruction caused by the invader-colonists -- including genocide -- left a remnant Indian population, one that had fallen so steeply that in the early part of the 20th Century, scholars and politicians and much of the popular media were convinced that the Indian Peoples would shortly become extinct.

Thus an all-out effort was undertaken to "preserve" what could be saved of ancient Indian culture and society for later scholarship and consideration (by Anglo scholars, of course) before all the Indians were gone.

I have friends a few years older or younger than me who believe -- some passionately -- that Indians are a "dying race," that the few pitiful survivors are drunks, drug addicts or criminals, that they all live on reservations where everyone is dirt poor, but where, somehow, the ancient ways and beliefs are preserved intact by medicine men and history preservers, and that those ways and beliefs are -- somehow -- intrinsically superior to those of the invader-colonist-destroyers.

I sometimes try to tell them they believe in a fantasy of Indians, one that has a long history but is basically false.

Indians are not a dying race, for one thing. They reached a low point in population over a century ago and have been on the rebound ever since. Most Indians do not live on reservations, most are not drunks, most are not dirt poor. Quite a few have been de-tribalized, even de-racialized and de-culturalized. They're not quite "white people," but they're not "Indians" in the sense that white people often think of Indians, either. They're somewhere in between.

Indian societies continue relatively intact in isolated pockets where the colonist-invaders were not able to overwhelm and suppress them, but not generally. Some Indians have as much of a fantasy view of their own cultures as many white people do, and some Indians deliberately adopt whatever white folks believe that Indians believe. Other Indians have a deep-seated understanding of their own Native cultures which they cannot and do not share much of with outsiders (not just with Anglos, but with other Indians as well). In other words, the invader-colonists as well as other tribes may never know what these other Indians know. Ever. It's not so much a secret as it's just not shared -- nor is it in some cases sharable.

Much of contemporary Indian society is not traditional or primitive at all. It is in many cases a cobbled together hybrid of limited ancient understandings and a modern (ie: culturally, socially, and economically indistinguishable from the dominant society) way of life. That's probably the way most North American Indians live today.

On the other hand, we have what's going on in North Dakota -- which strikes me as one of the most unifying means of expressing a spiritual understanding of the proper relationship of humans and the earth according to long-held tribal beliefs, beliefs adapted to the contemporary world.

This is not ancient or primitive, this is now.

There are thousands gathered near the pipeline route in North Dakota, Indians and their allies alike, to bring to bear the power and authority of a deeply rooted Native spirituality against the power and authority of crass materialism. Anti-spirituality if you will.

From a practical standpoint, this pipeline is essentially unnecessary and is ultimately a waste of energy and resources. It's dangerous in that it can -- and likely will -- leak oil into water supplies, whether into the Missouri River or elsewhere along its route. A point has been made that this risk is somewhat less than the current method of transporting oil from the Bakken Fields to refineries by rail,  on what are colloquially known as "Bomb Trains," but that diverts attention from the fact that none of this oil needs to be extracted or transported at all. The use of petroleum is declining in the United States. Oil is often sold for less than the cost of production and transportation as it is, and many people have pointed out that it is likely that this oil will be transported and exported, because there is no real need for it in the United States, no market as it were. Consequently, the whole project is in essence a boondoggle, not the first nor the last in the petroleum industry, but one that has reached a kind of absurdity that few have before.

Even the unnecessary KXL pipeline (currently in suspension) was not as absurd as this one.

From a spiritual standpoint, the Dakota Access Pipeline is a form of rape of the Mother, for no other reason than that its makers can do so. Spiritually it's wrong in every conceivable way. In the Judeo-Christian sense, it's a sin. A mortal sin.

Why is this being done? As an assertion of Power? Or is it something else?

This goes back to the origins of the invader-colonial society that became the United States of America (Inc.). Dominance and destruction are the key elements of that society, and when they are challenged or denied, as is the case in North Dakota, then the whole edifice trembles. We see this in the current overreaction of the North Dakota and pipeline authorities to the Water Protectors (love the name) and their actions. The National Guard has been called up. Arrest warrants for journalists and spokes people issued. Checkpoints established along the highways. A tightening protective cordon established around the camps and the pipeline.

Destruction-construction continues despite the denial of permits for construction under the lake that is in the way of pipeline completion. The pipeline will go as close as it can to the Missouri River lake (Oahe) that's in the way until the permits and easements are issued. I don't think anybody doubts that.

It's almost certain that the permits and easements will be issued, it's just a matter of when.

But the actions of the Indians and their allies in North Dakota against the construction or completion of the pipeline have highlighted just how stupid and deleterious the project is. How essentially all of these pipeline projects are idiotic. The overreaction of North Dakota authorities to the actions of the protester/protectors has highlighted how stupid and deleterious the civil authorities have become in their zeal to protect the project at all costs.

This has a cumulative effect, much as civil rights and anti-war actions did back in the day, much as many other forms of activism continue to have.

I suspect that the pipeline will be completed almost on schedule, but the ultimate result will be disastrous for its builders and operators. The shame of it is one thing. The lack of need for it will be something else again. And finally, when it does break or leak, which it will, I suspect it will be quietly shut down, and eventually the Indians will be vindicated. "They were right."

Well, yes.

Isn't that already obvious?

But in the meantime, the Overclass MUST dominate the Lesser People or risk its own extinction. They dare not stop now, oh no. They must continue to the bitter end. It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Debra White Plume Speaks

https://www.facebook.com/peoplesmediaproject/videos/930968280365577/

Sorry for the Facebook link, but as of yesterday, there was no direct link to the video on the peoplesmediaproject YouTube page.

Then the White House Intervenes

and through the Corps of Engineers, tells the pipeline construction company to back the fuck down.

Which... they may or may not do, depending on what they think they can/will get away with. Initial reports were confused, to say the least, as the intervention from On High was not expected once the court denied the temporary restraining order. Obviously, however, the White House and the Corps were prepared with a counter-move should the court deny the request for a halt to construction.

I haven't read the court's order, but reports of what was in it struck me as condescending and deliberately inflammatory. North Dakota's governor probably got a heads up as did the White House and so the National Guard was activated as a back up in case those Indians got more unruly than they already are. The white folks who run things up there are clearly scared to death of the Indians, and they are preparing to do battle, just like in the Old West when it was so necessary for the good of white folks to kill off the savages in their multitudes and to confine whatever remnants that might survive to prison camps called "reservations."

Sigh.

What wasn't expected at all was that the White House, though the Corps, would essentially call a halt to construction until certain unresolved issues could be hashed out. The initial confusion was over just  what had been ordered and what had been requested. Apparently the pipeline route is supposed to tunnel under the Missouri River just north of the present Standing Rock Sioux Reservation boundary. The Corps controls the river access and Lake Oahe at that point. The Corps has apparently been directed to refuse to issue required easements for the pipeline crossing until additional environmental studies are considered (not necessarily undertaken) and Native issues addressed. Then in the fall, the Corps is supposed to convene a meeting or meetings with interested Indian Nations to see how they would like to proceed on these matters -- given current legislation -- and to find out how the Corps can consult with them better in the future.

The Corps has requested that the pipeline company cease construction within 20 miles east and west of the river crossing, but it is powerless to order cessation.

This intervention has nothing at all to do with the cultural sites, burial grounds and so on that are said to be in the path of construction or have already been destroyed by the bulldozers. Apparently the court ruling dismisses those concerns. The environmental issues, however, have been a stronger argument against the pipeline all along, specifically with regard to the potential hazards to drinking water for millions should there be a break in the pipeline in or near the Missouri River.

There are thousands of Indians and allies gathered in the vicinity of the Standing Rock Reservation, and it is clear that the North Dakota authorities simply want them to go away. They are an impediment to the Advance of Civilization. As they have always been since the first White Man set eyes on Dakota Territory.

It appears that the white rulers of North Dakota are unable to get over theit essentially fearful and contemptuous point of view. Indians are still in the way of Progress, regardless of whether that so-called Progress has any utility in the vast eternal scheme and regardless of any ultimate disaster(s) that Progress may cause.

It's not so much a matter of agreeing with the Indians as it is respecting them and their point of view.

Too many white folks in positions of power simply aren't ready to do that or possibly they're not capable of doing that, though in this case, the Indians seem to be doing everything in their power to induce a white Awakening.

It's really been remarkable to watch. The Indians have the high road and they know it. In a way, it doesn't matter what the white rulers do. They're fundamentally in the wrong, and their errors will simply compound if they don't change their ways. The Indians are trying to bring them to consciousness -- nonviolently -- and they know the struggle may be futile, but it must be undertaken.

So we have what we've seen, a huge encampment, growing daily, of Indians and allies from all over North America, engaged in spiritual warfare with an enemy that is basically "unconsciousness." It's not against white people, in other words, as many of the allies encamped in North Dakota are white. It is against the unconsciousness of so many white people (and others, it's not just them) in power.

To my mind, it's a brilliant strategy.

What I've read says that the Indians intend to press this struggle no matter what the eventual outcome
of the pipeline issue. It is bigger than the pipeline and necessary.

So far, they seem to have "awakened" quite a few otherwise somnambulant Americans.

Good.

Call Out The Guard -- Update: The Court Denies Injunction Against the Pipeeline

Powwow in Bismark coming up this weekend, so what does the gov do? Calls up the National Guard to Protect the Pipeline from all those Wild Indians.



This won't end well.

Court denies injunction.

Protests to continue.

Wild Indians

Up in North Dakota there is a huge gathering of Indians and allies who have been camping and protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline for months. They call themselves "Water Protectors" -- among other things -- and their goal is to prevent the construction of this pipline that is supposed to carry crude oil from Montana to Illinois, crossing the Missouri River twice as it does.

The complaint is that oil pipelines can't be secured from leaks and blow outs and water contamination is inevitable if the pipeline is constructed and put in operation. The Indians are trying to preserve and protect the water. Note has also been made of the fact that the route of the pipeline goes through Indian burial grounds, sacred sites and ceremonial grounds, and that already, numerous Indian remains have been destroyed by over enthusiastic bulldozers, including last Saturday when there was a violent confrontation between the protectors of the water and the protectors of the bulldozers. It did not turn out well.

Attack dogs were set upon the crowd by the security guards who'd been hired by the construction company and numerous individuals were bitten -- including a horse.The guards used pepper spray on the protectors. There were reports that a child was bitten by one of the dogs, but a published photo of the purported child victim had actually been taken in 2012, so the incident on Saturday in which a child was bitten was not yet documented as of Saturday.

The guards claimed that four of their number had to be hospitalized (a lie) and that two of their dogs were injured severely enough to be seen by a vet (unknown if true.) The guards claimed that the water protectors attacked them with sticks, flagpoles and horses, but it's clear from video of the incident that the attack came entirely from the guards and their dogs, and that at least one of the dogs actually turned on its handler and attacked her. At least one dog escaped from the leash and went wild in the crowd. In several cases, the protectors tried to defend themselves as best they could against the onslaught of dogs and pepper spray, and in other cases, protectors attempted to defuse the situation.

Story and video from Democracy Now!



Nasty business. Indian Country Today has a good story on the incident and there is more in their news section.

Students at the Institute of American Indian Arts where Ms Ché is studying are collecting food, water and donations to send to North Dakota in support of the action. The campsite is said to host thousands at this point, almost doubling during the weekend after Saturday's violence.

These incidents and protests are becoming more and more common as our neoLibCon overlords insist on exercising their might against any and all popular outcries. This pipeline, like so many others, simply isn't needed, and it is an active danger to water supplies for millions of Americans including the Standing Rock Sioux who are spearheading the protests. Our overlords do not care, and when they are challenged this way, they have a tendency to double down -- until they give up.

Give up they will, but not without any number of incidents like Saturday's.

People have been and are gonna get hurt. It's the way these things play out. But I don't see the Indians and their allies giving up.

It may be a small matter in the vast eternal scheme to stop this madness, but it has to be done.

March in Solidarity, October 6, 2016