Catching Up -- Sort Of

Been feeling pretty run  down lately. Have a doctor's appt. today and more coming up in an effort to get a handle on difficult to control rheumatoid arthritis symptoms that were responding well to medication and now are not. So, we'll see.

Consequently, I haven't been keeping up with events quite as much as I once did, and I haven't got all that much to say about the Chaos swirling around us. There isn't necessarily much we can do about it for all that we might rage at the clouds and such.

I've held up the Water Protectors at Standing Rock as examples of how we might approach what's going on in an effective manner, but the eviction and destruction of the camps and the continued construction of the pipeline belies that, doesn't it? In other words, the effort has failed, hasn't it?

Well, yes and no.

Yes in the immediate cause of preveniting the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline, no in the sense of highlighting the issue and planting the seeds of resistance to the corporate state and its obsession with money and power all over the country.

In fact, Ms Ché is in the preliminary stages of working with some Standing Rock veterans planning an action against a pipeline in Oklahoma that is slated to cross the Trail of Tears. There are similar actions planned and under way all over the country. The Water Protectors are not going to win every struggle -- they know that -- but by keeping the pressure on, through their presence and their determination, they help those of us who can't do what they do see a way forward in the face of an increasingly militarized police state.

That seems to be what our rulers have in store for us now. From appearances, the Trump Regime and their allies in congress are depending on their loyalists in the police state to protect and defend them against the public outrage at their corruption and destruction of a decent society.

When Steve Bannon announced that their aim and goal was the "deconstruction of the administrative state" I took him at his word -- as should everyone. He's actually been rather clear about it for a long time. To most people, a statement like that is just gobbledygook, as the notion of an "administrative state" doesn't mean much of anything to them. Who or what is it?

Of course Bannon is not going to say in detail. He can't without provoking even more unrest and outrage than the Trump regime's actions already have.

The "administrative state" is anything that stands between direct rule by the oligarchy and the Rabble. That was easy.

Another term of art, shorthand, is "Clintonites." Anyone or any institution that tries to interfere with the oligarchic rule, any individual who stands in the way, any interest that does not align with the Trump regime is by definition "Clintonite," and is part of that "administrative state" to be deconstructed.

Whole swaths of the federal and state governments, as well as local and regional governments and compact would be subject to abrupt termination. Others, however, would be enhanced and given nearly free rein to enforce the rule of the oligarchs.

Indeed, that seems to be the plan, starting with the apparent free rein given to ICE and CPB to do as they wilt with regard to visitors, immigrants and deportees. The anecdotal stories coming out of these agencies are horrifying, but that's what's wanted of them. Scare the shit out of anyone who could become a target.

Once that's coordinated, it appears the next stage is to give free rein to the local and state police to do as they wilt with regard to "criminals" in their midst with the full backing of the Department of Justice, no matter how egregious their actions.

Then, of course, the real challenge begins. The coordination of the federal police and security forces completes the process of making serious and effective opposition impossible.

Once that's done, there is nothing to stand in the way of a full on purge and deconstruction of the "administrative state" at every level of government as well as within the private sector.

Ta-da! It would take less than a year and it is already under way.

The result? Not good, but perhaps unavoidable. There may be too much institutional support for taking this path to overcome it.

We'll see.

And Then There Was This

Grandmother...

Urban Warfare Training

It's only just begun.


Militarized Police Evict Water Protectors from #NoDAPL Camp [2/23/17] from Unicorn Riot on Vimeo.

"Wypipo"

Until today, I'd never encountered that term before: "Wypipo" (ie: white people) -- a take on the unawareness of the dominant-colonist society. He he.

Well. It was said in connection with Standing Rock and how crazy the situation is getting there, with the tribal council apparently working with the feds to clear the camps and various elements within the camps being defiant.

Meanwhile, despite diktats from the White House, nobody in the bureaucracy quite knows how to proceed. Because of the EIS order from Obama's regime, the ACoE can't just issue the easement under the river on Trump's say-so. And yet they can't defy it outright. I don't know what they'll do.

Meanwhile, it appears (at least from drone footage) that the Company has proceeded anyway. Whether they've drilled under the river, who knows? I'd say it looks like they've gotten as close to drilling horizontally under the river as they can without being in technical violation of orders to desist, and once the go ahead is given, they expect to complete work within a few days. The statement that the pipeline will be in operation by "next quarter"  -- some time between April and June -- tells me that they expect the EIS process to be carried out but expeditiously. We'll see.

We get periodic but very sketchy reports of what's going on at Standing Rock. I can see now why we didn't get a heads up about the recent raid of the "Last (Lost/Little) Child" resistance camp up on the hill. Initial reports were somewhat overwrought. On the other hand, it seems relatively calm at Standing Rock compared to the chaos in DC and spreading over the country and the world.
-------------------------------------
Things are not going well for the Trumpists, and it won't end well. How it will end, I don't know. A few days ago, I gave this shit-show another month before the plug is pulled, but how that happens, I can't say. There are open calls for a military coup, which is what I thought could happen even before the inauguration. It still might. It depends in part on how out of hand things get in the streets. It also depends on when the OverClass decides they've had enough of this horseshit.

RefuseFascism, RevCom, various anarchist outfits and Black Bloc tactics may be in the vanguard, but the urge to revolution is not yet critical. The hysteria over a "Soros funded Color Revolution" waxes and wanes. The elements are mostly in place, and it could happen in a twinkling. On the other hand, if it does, we cannot expect the results to be all that beneficial to the Rabble.

So far, Trump's dictatorial effusions are causing both laughter and fear. He is attempting to rule as an autocrat, but he's finding out he can't do so, at least not the way he wants. However, I don't think the system of rule as it is can really cope with a would-be dictator like this one without imploding. Things are happening too fast and furiously. The institutional desire is to slow it down, and I don't think that's going to happen. If anything, we're facing a racing, out of control train.

Best to just get out of the way.

The bumpy ride continues...

Battle Lines and Rituals

I have a number of unfinished posts in queue, but things are moving so fast, I may never finish them. The battle lines are being drawn and ritual actions are being taken. We are in for a very bumpy ride indeed.


Yesterday, there was (another) Incident at Standing Rock that encapsulates and clarifies the situation. It wasn't being reported on in domestic media, and I only found out this morning -- first clued to it by someone living in Australia who'd seen the report on BBC.

A camp at Standing Rock was raided by North Dakota police in armored vehicles. 76 people were taken captive (let's call it what it was), their tipis were burned, their things bulldozed and destroyed. A near perfect historical raid on an Indian camp from back in the day -- except there was no massacre.

At first, it appeared that the camp in question was the Oceti Sakowin (Oyate) camp that I was led to believe was being evacuated (slowly) due to the request (order?) of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II and the Tribal Council. But it was not so. In fact, it appears, some of the evacuees had established a satellite camp on high  ground overlooking Oceti, and according to reports, several hundred Water Protectors had assembled there.

Shortly, police assembled en masse and ordered the camp demolished and the Water Protectors to remove themselves or face arrest. It appears that most of the Water Protectors did in fact leave, but a number refused and the police began their assault. The 76 who refused to leave were arrested and the camp was destroyed. The apparent excuse was that the Water Protectors were "trespassing" on private property that just happened to belong to Energy Transfer Partners or one of the other Dakota Access Pipeline companies.

The police were "just doing their jobs" by removing trespassers. You see.

Cowards of the County and the Corporate Republic of North Dakota, LLC.



Well, yes. It is their job, their most important job, to protect "private property" from "trespassers," and in North Dakota, throughout the Water Protector actions since last spring, the North Dakota authorities, along with supplementary "law enforcement" forces from other states and the federal government have been doing just that -- with as much violence and destructiveness as they deem necessary. Hundreds have been injured, some very seriously, and over 700 have been arrested, many facing felony charges.

When it comes to protest actions in this country, the Water Protectors' actions are as serious as they get, at least in recent times. Models include the Occupy actions and Black Lives Matter actions. But there is a long history of resistance actions in Native American society, and those actions, including the AIM occupations of Alcatraz and Wounded Knee in the '70s, are helping to inform the Water Protectors at Standing Rock -- and now around the country.

Defiance of the cowards who rule us is a fundamental aspect of the battle under way. In addition, there must be some vision of the future, but so much of the vision thing is tied up with maintaining systems of rule as they are -- or as they were a few weeks ago.

Trouble is, the systems are under immense strain and are coming apart. I suspect they cannot withstand the strain of the Trump "administration" and the crazy-making he's incapable of controlling.

I give it a month, maybe two, before it all spins into the abyss.

Then what?

We shall see. The battle lines are drawn. The rituals are being performed. And none of us can say nobody warned us.

----------------------------------------------

UPDATE: It appears that the satellite camp that was raided was formed and inaugurated by Chad Iron Eyes, one of the prominent Standing Rock Sioux at odds with the Tribal Council and Chairman Dave Archambault II over how to proceed with the opposition to the pipeline. Chad was arrested along with numerous others in the raid. I understand Chad was charged with inciting a riot and other felonies, though there was no riot, so the charge is bogus, as are most of the charges levied against the Water Protectors.

Ms Ché asked some of the students at IAIA who had been to Standing Rock and who have kept in contact with those on the ground what they knew about the raid. Apparently the tipis were ceremonial and they were not burned. The camp was a symbolic statement by dissidents in the Oceti Oyate (Sakowin) camp who were being forced (requested) to leave before the floods came.

All of which I suspected when the news in the US was all but silent about what was going on.

One of the students Ms Ché talked to said, "Be careful about what you hear and read about the situation at Standing Rock. Some of the people on the ground and in the media are putting out fake news to advance their own agendas."

Well, yes. That's kind of how it goes these days, isn't it?

The Training

Things up at Standing Rock got pretty odd once the Veterans showed up.

Almost immediately, the ACoE denied the easement to drill under Lake Oahe/Missouri River; Dave Archambault II told everyone to go home; a fierce blizzard came up making it effectively impossible for anyone to go home; the camps split over the order; the police hid behind their barricades; Wes Clark, Jr. and a number of other Veterans knelt and apologized for the numerous atrocities and the genocide perpetrated against Natives by their predecessors; many, perhaps, most of the Veterans left the camps; thousands of other Water Protectors and allies also left the camps when the weather permitted; reports surfaced that the Standing Rock Tribal Council was hoarding supplies meant for the camps; Chad Iron Eyes took the opportunity in the chaos to look after the welfare of those remaining in the camps; it turned out that Dave Archambault's sister served in the Obama White House as an advisor on Indian Affairs; there are still reports that Energy Transfer Partners is drilling anyway; an incident in Bismark went viral when an Anglo confronted an Indian at the Mall and demanded that he explain himself, and within minutes, the Indian was assaulted -- as were several others who tried to protect him -- by a masked Anglo Indian hater (who has since they say been arrested).

Meanwhile the Morton County Sheriff continues to fabulate and lie about the Water Protectors.

Ah yes, the training.

Indeed. I've thought all along that the "law enforcement" operations against the Water Protectors -- which have always seemed to be way out of proportion to the needs thereof -- have been a training exercise for the eventual suppression of a more or less general popular uprising.

Why that might be necessary or desirable didn't become clear until the recent (s)election follies. Oh. Right.

Myself, I don't think there is likely to be a general uprising, whether or not Himself is allowed to ascend to the (no doubt by now gold-plated) Throne. No doubt there will be sporadic disturbances, as there always are, but a general uprising is about as likely as a general strike. Not very.

Nevertheless, prudence indicates that "law enforcement" should be ready come what may, and what better training for them than to go against anarchists and Indians in the wilds of North Dakota? I mean really.

So comes now what amounts to a FEMA training manual for the suppression of protest.

It was sent to the "authorities" in North Dakota in September, no doubt to give them courage and fortitude in the face of the raging savages.

Here 'tis. (135 pg PDF, be warned)

When I get a chance today -- or maybe tomorrow -- I'll try to study it in detail.

Meanwhile, after the incident in Bismark, Chris Lemke and Shiye Bidziil got together at the Standing Rock Casino and posted a YouTube appeal to "both sides" to cool it.



The precipitating incident is referenced in the "White Men Behaving Badly" post from December 6.

Interesting.

So many people are so much better than we might believe from the media depictions and narratives.

Without Comment

Asking Forgiveness

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/forgiveness-ceremony-unites-veterans-and-natives-at-standing-rock-casino_us_5845cdbbe4b055b31398b199

Video:

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/05/we-beg-for-your-forgiveness-veterans-join-native-elders-in-celebration-ceremony/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Another:

Basking In the Glow of Victory (Such As It Is...)

The naysaying started immediately, within seconds of the announcement that the Army Corps of Engineers would not approve the easement for the DAPL crossing of the Missouri River at the border of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

"Oh, you savages haven't really won anything! You'll see!"

Yes, well. Noted.

Dave Archambault II, Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council, was asked by a reporter minutes after the announcement if he thought this ruling meant that this fight was over. He gave her a look the way he does and considered for a moment. "Yes," he said, "it's over." Since I know he's not delusional -- no one in the public eye seems more grounded in reality at the moment -- it was obvious to me that he was "making a statement."

The fight that's been going on for months, this fight, is done. Victory to the Water Protectors and their allies around the world. The overall struggle, beyond this phase, in this place, for these ends and objectives, is continuing. And there may well be more struggles over the pipeline at Standing Rock. That's a given.

And of course, forces are marshaled to overturn the ruling denying the easement. Many observers wonder if the pipeline company has gone ahead with their drilling anyway and will announce the completion of the work sooner rather than later. That's as may be. And that would mark a different phase of the struggle or perhaps a different struggle altogether.

What the Water Protectors have won is what they were asking for: a thorough Environmental Impact Statement, consideration of re-routing the pipeline away from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, consultation with the Tribe over any project of its kind, and respect for Treaties and Treaty rights.

All of these things were requested/demanded from the Corps and the regulatory bodies well before the project started construction, as made clear in the recording of the Tribal Council meeting of September 30, 2014 that I posted earlier. There really were no new demands by the Tribe through all the twists and turns of the actions by Water Protectors and the so-called "law enforcement" of the region (supplemented by mercenaries from other areas and private companies.)

What the Tribe wanted was all very clear and was based on the requirements of the laws that were flagrantly ignored by North Dakota, the Army Corps, and by the pipeline companies. At no time were Tribal officials requesting or demanding anything outside the requirements of those laws. They were demanding that the laws be observed.

If those laws were observed and the pipeline went through anyway, the Tribe would still object, but at least the pipeline would be a lawful (if wrong) intrusion -- of which there have been so many over the centuries.

But in this case, North Dakota, the Army Corps, and the pipeline companies appeared to collude in order to circumvent the laws in existence that regulated pipeline routing and construction, and which required close consultation with Tribal interests along any proposed route, required a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement, and required respect for and honoring of Tribal Treaties.

This collusion to circumvent the laws regarding these matters was the core of the objections by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the pipeline. Of course there were many other reasons to object, most of which were highlighted during the campaign by the Water Protectors.

So, after months of campaigning against the pipeline, a campaign that attracted world-wide support, and after hundreds of arrests on bogus charges, after hundreds were injured (some seriously) in police assaults on Water Protectors, and after the pipeline was nearly completed, and after thousands of veterans assembled at Standing Rock to protect the Water Protectors from the pipeline protectors the government in Washington and the Army Corps in (Nebraska?) bestirred themselves to declare: "Ooops, we shoulda done this the right way, shouldn't we? Let's have a do-over, mkay?"

Damb.

It's not too little, too late, it's more like WTF?

But this isn't anything new to the Tribes. They know WTF inside and out.

So. This is an important victory, despite the naysayers. Anything could happen from this point. A spanner has been thrown in the works, and at least temporarily the actual regulations and laws about these things are supposed to be followed.

Nevertheless, the pipeline may still be finished on the current route and even on the current schedule (though that's unlikely -- even if Trump reverses the ruling by the Corps.)

I think everybody involved in the campaign is aware of that, and has been all along.

And the campaign isn't ending.

My understanding is that the camp "Oceti Sakowin" will remain at least until these matters are settled. Some of the veterans will stay on site for the duration; they're not going anywhere. Their assignment and duty is to protect the Water Protectors come what may. The numbers in the camp will fluctuate as they have throughout the campaign to date (I heard that yesterday there were an estimated 16,000 in the camp or more). There is little doubt that the pipeline companies in collusion with the authorities in North Dakota -- but without overt federal support at least until the Trump regime takes power -- will attempt to circumvent law and suppress the Water Protectors as they have been accustomed to do.

This is not naysaying, it's reality, one that the Standing Rock Sioux and the Water Protectors know all too well.

The struggle continues.

Yesterday's victory is gratifying. It gives courage to those of us who seek a better future for us all.

Much gratitude to the Water Protectors who have shown us the way.

And So It Begins [UPDATED: Pipeline Easement Denied!]

Mirrors on the prairie

I've read that there may be as many as 14,000 people in the Oceti Sakowin camp in North Dakota by now, and more are arriving minute by minute. They're coming from all over the country, some from all over the world. Expressions of solidarity and support are nearly universal.

And the dumbfukks of "law enforcement" lie and threaten and fantasize, discrediting and delegitimizing themselves as they hide in their armored cars behind their barricades, cannons at the ready, fearing... something. They always fear... something.

I've been trying to keep up with the progress of the veterans on their way to Standing Rock, but it's been kind of frustrating. There are plenty of stories, some of them based on false narratives developed in news rooms to "clarify" the situation, but for the most part, the mainstream media has avoided the story and really has no idea what's going on or why. To them it's just a bunch of Indians and trouble makers doing what they do to no particular object.

But then some of the news rooms start to see there really is something going on, something profound, and these Indians and trouble makers might actually have a point and are not just pissing into the freezing wind.

When serious and sincere American veterans of all persuasions essentially spontaneously decided to head to Standing Rock in the midst of a bitter winter to protect the Water Protectors from the violence of "law enforcement" it started becoming clear that a tipping point had been reached. A stop would be put to the violence used against the Water Protectors and the militarized response to the objections to the pipeline would be withdrawn... or else.

It's all very symbolic and spiritual. I'm all that worried about physical violence. I doubt there will be any -- at least not in this phase of the action. "Law enforcement" has been shamed and discredited about as thoroughly as I've ever seen it done in this country -- at least since the days of Bull Connor.

It's an epic reversal of fortune.

If the pipeline advocates and protectors have any sense at all, they will give up. It's not clear they do have any sense, but one can always hope.

I'm embedding an hour long recording of a Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council meeting from September of 2014 when DAPL representatives came before the Council to explain the plans and take questions about the pipeline. Kelsey Warren, the CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the construction company for the pipeline, has lied and said there were no objections from the Tribe prior to the start of construction. Construction had not been approved and had not started at the time of the meeting more than two years ago. Though the recording is long, if you listen you will hear one solid objection to the pipeline after another, many of them the very same objections the Water Protectors make today about treaty rights, sacred sites and potentials for water fouling from pipeline leaks. THE SAME OBJECTIONS.

The DAPL reps don't even acknowledge these objections. Perhaps they never passed them on. But the pipeline and its construction next to the boundary of the Standing Rock Reservation and particularly crossing the Missouri River were strenuously objected to by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council throughout this meeting. It is absolutely and demonstrably false that there was no objection from the tribe prior to construction.



That is the underlying falsehood, piled upon so many other falsehoods going back to First Contact that has got us to this point.

Have enough people woken up yet? I don't know.

A Butterfly Effect got going some years back when the Occupy Movement arose. (still flapping its tiny wings, btw. You'd be surprised!) By opening the possibility of direct action in opposition to the malevolent forces surrounding us, by discommoding the comfortable, by shaming the powerful, by taking a stand and holding out against the odds, the neoliberal consensus began to shudder.

It hasn't come crashing down, not yet. But its shaking and shuddering is becoming chaotic. It's not sustainable.

The Indians and their allies in North Dakota and around the world are saying, "This is really where we need to take a stand and stop the madness." They are dealing with the basics, the fundamentals of survival. Water is Life. Mni Wiconi. It couldn't be simpler.

And so it begins.

Prelude: The Dark Reality



UPDATE:

According to news reports, the pipeline easement under the Missouri River has been denied by the Army Corps of Engineers. Word was sent to the Standing Rock Tribal Council this afternoon, and news is just breaking.

Well deserved cheers. But something tells me this ain't over. Not by a long shot.

Much admiration for the strength and solidarity of spirit and purpose of the Water Protectors and their allies around the world. Many thanks to the Veterans who stand with Standing Rock. When duty called, they answered.

Everything I've seen of today's assembly at Oceti Sacowin tells me that it has been a beautiful day. A good day to win.

Ho.

Michael Woods comments on the Twitter Machine:

The Army Corp of Engineers is blocking the Dakota Access Pipeline. We won!  WTF! Done. It's a new day. pic.twitter.com/mr20akdyaU

— Circles of Voices (@JCFaulk_CoV) December 4, 2016

Step one is right. The Army Corps is denying the easement pending further environmental review to find another route. Fight isn't over. Not yet.

The statement.

Shock Doctrine in Reverse? [Updated]

As thousands of US military veterans assemble in North Dakota to protect the Water Protectors from the pipeline protectors, we're witness to a phenomenon I don't think we've seen before, at least not in my lifetime.

Essentially, it's a form of shock being applied to those who have always before been able to shock their adversaries without accountability or consequence. Now, all of a sudden, there will be witnesses who matter in the context of what's colloquially known as "law enforcement." And for once, the adversaries "law enforcement" is facing down -- and perhaps brutalizing as they have brutalized the Water Protectors -- will be their own peers, their own tribe, their own kind.

"Law enforcement" has been trying to squirm out of their self-created dilemma, first by issuing commands and orders for the protesters to leave their camps or face dire consequences; ordering supporters not to deliver essential supplies or they will face fines of $1000 or more; ordering emergency services not to provide emergency services to the camps without prior authorization from "law enforcement;" and so on.

And then, within hours, countermandering their own orders, denying they ever intended them to mean what they say, yadda yadda.

And when the vets started arriving and staring down "law enforcement" on the other side of police barricades (oh, how evocative, but I may not explore that in this post) the sound cannon is used to command a vet with a backpack to separate from the crowd and because "protesters have brought weapons..."

What do the vets do? They turn their backs and walk away.



Issue of the 'backpack' starts about 6:50 but the whole confrontation is worth watching.

Heh.

They turn their backs and walk away.

It was brilliant.

When there are thousands of vets there staring down "law enforcement," I can well imagine that the officers behind their barricades will literally pee their pants.

It would be nice to think that many more of them will quit on the spot and at least some of them will join the vets with the Water Protectors, but that's not likely. Apparently the pipeline protectors are making a lot of money in overtime and other compensation (partly paid by the pipeline company? This isn't entirely clear.) and they can't afford to lose this added income. But we'll see.

Michael Woods and Wes Clark Jr are the instigators of this action, and so far, it seems to be going really well. They've raised about a million dollars to cover their own expenses, more than 3,000 have signed up to protect the Water Protectors, and 2,000 + are expected on scene by tomorrow.

That's apparently the maximum number the Standing Rock tribe thinks they can host at one time.

I'm finding I really like Standing Rock chairman David Archambault II and his steady, calming, and very positive approach to all this. He knows what he's doing and what needs to be done and he's become a wonderful counselor to those who sometimes let their anger or fear run away with them.

Something is definitely coming.

It's probably not what any of us expect.

Ho.

-------------------------------
UPDATE: A delegation from the Veterans group and the various Native groups  met with representatives of "law enforcement" on Backwater Bridge (the scene of the notorious attack on Water Protectors on November 20) and apparently reached a tentative agreement to avoid further police assaults. According to a news conference given by the various sheriffs and the National Guard commander, "law enforcement" agreed to pull back from the north side of the bridge where they have erected their barricades and strung their razor wire in front of their military vehicles to protect the pipeline. They will do this, they say, in the interests of peace and harmony (bless their hearts) so long as the Water Protectors do not pass beyond the south end of the bridge, do not make any "aggressive" moves toward the police lines (wherever they may be), do not try to make a water crossing or pass over the land on either side of the bridge toward the north, and do not fly any drones over or beyond the north end of the bridge.

They are particularly annoyed with the drones that the Water Protectors fly over the scene documenting what's going on below. They've tried to shoot them down. It's really one of the more overtly cowardly responses that "law enforcement" has shown toward the Water Protectors.

Meanwhile Dave Archambault and the Governor of North Dakota (a newcomer named "Dalrymple") have agreed to meet face to face sometime in the future (no date set) to help resolve some of the outstanding issues surrounding the pipeline and the continuing opposition of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe to it.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has bestirred itself from its rather remarkable months-long slumber and is sending "mediators" or "arbitrators" and community policing representatives to the scene to help defuse and deescalate conflict. That's nice. The Water Protectors have been asking DoJ and the White House to intervene for months, but their pleas have gone largely unheeded. Now that the Vet contingent is almost fully assembled, it appears that The Powers That Be have awakened to a new reality.

While the "law enforcement" officials (particularly the sheriffs) tried to puff their chests and strut around like banty roosters, it's clear they are feeling somewhat chastised in the face of the resilience of the resistance, especially after their lies about the November 20 assault on the Water Protectors were revealed within minutes of their statements that night. (One reason they don't want drones or journalists documenting what's going on). The arrival of the Veterans standing with Standing Rock, as well as many, many others in support of the Water Protectors -- in the middle of a growingly harsh winter -- has demonstrated to them better than most anyone could have imagined that they are... wrong.

They've tried to make the Indians and their allies go away, and every time they try out some new brutality, more Indians and allies come. There are now perhaps 10,000 people gathered in the camps and more are arriving by the hour. I saw a report -- can't find it now -- that the women had gone over to Turtle Hill, a sacred site of ancestor burials, which "law enforcement" had been guarding against Indian intrusions. The women had removed the razor wire and other impediments to access and reclaimed the Hill.

Of course Trump has declared that the pipeline should go ahead and be finished as planned. After all, he has investments in it.

That's the important thing, isn't it?

Keeping it Together; Flying Apart; A Gathering of Nations

The Standing Rock resistance actions in North Dakota have been an inspiration to me just as they have been to millions of allies and supporters around the country and the world. We've had friends go up there a number of times, and we wish we could go too, to stand in solidarity with the Water Protectors and Grandmother Earth Defenders, but it's not an option for us at the moment due to age and infirmity in my case and Ms Ché's intensive class schedule in hers.

So we support them how and when we can. It's an obligation on the one hand; a blessing on the other. Part of the inspiration for me is that those on the front lines are sticking together no matter what comes their way. They are strong in spirit and they stand united against the Black Snake; that's the key to their ultimate victory which I'm more convinced that ever will come, regardless of whether the Black Snake eventually tunnels under the Missouri River-Lake Oahe it is poised to violate.

Indigenous resistance around the world has gathered strength from the resistance in North Dakota, but at the same time, the Standing Rock resistance gains strength and power from indigenous resistance movements in the rest of the world. It's a circle, and it is a circle that is spreading ever outwards as the Dominant Society flies apart.

That's what it looks like to me. Many observers have been trying to "make sense of" the rise of Rightist-Racist National-Populism throughout the Euro-American cultural sphere. What's going on? Why is it happening? And why the focus on it, when there are other powerful movements in the rise as well?

To me, it's a sign that the Dominant Euro-American socio-economic and political experiment is coming apart, nearing its end. It's been bankrupt for some time. The opposition to its unfettered continuance has reached a tipping point.  Repent and all that.

I've been seeing more and more commentary that says the EU is dead and cannot be resuscitated. Other commentary suggests the crisis election in the United States will lead to... something, call it an end to the 40 year long experiment in neoLibCon rule and potentially the break up of the US into regionally autonomous units. Self-determination and independence movements are growing and spreading everywhere, and the United Empire (US and (primarily) its European allies) has shown itself to be highly vulnerable to these movements wherever they crop up and regardless of their ideological or religious foundations.

The United Empire has been engaged in -- indeed, has provoked -- what amounts to Endless War against shadows and internalized fears for over fifteen years. It creates its own enemies, fights them, supposedly defeats them, then wonders why they keep coming back. How can that be? Who are these "enemies?" Why are they always there?

They're shadows. They're fears. They don't go away. They can't be defeated, they can only be denied. But by denying them, they are strengthened. It's the most amazing thing.

Fear can be a  useful and normal state of mind in some circumstances. It can goose the adrenalin to enable remarkable bursts of strength and feats of daring. But it can't be maintained over the long term without causing serious physical and psychological damage.

Those who live in fear all the time, as our governments do and as they and their propagandists try to induce the People to do, are crippled in spirit and in strength. The fight or flight mechanism is meant as a temporary expedient, not the central fact of one's existence, but in the Dominant Society, it is becoming the only thing.

It's obvious that since the (s)election Americans have been whipsawed between abject fear and despair, and some sort of wan hope that It (eventually) Gets Better. The efforts to normalize what's happening are ongoing, but the Chaos merely grows -- regardless of what "side" one is on -- and as it grows, the fears take over. As I've said, it's a classic Shock Doctrine tactic for control of the masses, but it's a risky one, too, as its results become less and less manageable and predictable.

This is one reason why positive and active resistance is necessary. The Water Protectors and the Grandmother Earth Defenders are the example of what resistance can and should look like. There are all kinds of other resistance movements, many of which look nothing like the Water Protectors, and they act nothing like them, either. Direct attacks on the Empire generally won't succeed, but a Butterfly Effect can cause the course of Empire to change. Not necessarily for the better, however.

We hear all the time that the Empire is on its last legs, collapsing, yadda yadda, and I've never believed it. With every turn of the screw, the Empire is strengthened. It's doing fine, and it will survive the lot of us. This widespread return to White Rightism/White Supremacy within the Imperial construct is a defense mechanism, deeply ingrained in the psyches of Euro-Americans, that they can never truly escape. They're defending the Empire (of the mind) against the Savage Hordes of Dusky "Mud People" at the gates. It's been that way for thousands of years, and I don't see it changing for the better any time soon.

The Water Defenders in North Dakota include the feared "Savages" -- but they also include a broad cross-section of non-Indian allies on the front lines as well as in every other possible venue they can find in the US and around the world. Soon, a contingent of US military veterans will converge on the Standing Rock Reservation to protect the Water Protectors from the violent repression of the Pipeline Protectors. 

The Vets may number in the hundreds or thousands, who can say. But they will appear like the wild bison appeared during one of the law enforcement "engagements" with the Water Protectors.

Every time this happens, the pipeline protectors lose some of their courage (not that they had much to begin with, they have shown themselves to be cowards through and through) and some more of them leave the fight against phantoms they've been assigned to battle.

Of course should they choose to use "overwhelming force" against their phantom foes, the consequences may be "victory" in the immediate case, just the opposite over time. The Water Protectors are using their spiritual strength to stand firm against the physical violence and repression being used against them to protect the pipeline, but in the end, Power will have to yield. The coward will yield to the brave.

The Standing Rock resistance represents the largest gathering of Indigenous nations in modern history, perhaps ever. The unity of purpose and spirit at Standing Rock is unprecedented though it is inspired by Native Resistance movements everywhere and is part of them.

As long as they stand and stay together, they will succeed.

Standing Rock Is A Microcosm

So far, no new updates from our friends at Standing Rock, but it was gratifying to learn that they are/were safe and that they survived the sheriff's and mercenary attack on Sunday/Monday. The updates I've seen from others indicate that between 200 and 300 were injured -- essentially everyone who was "doused" with water in below freezing temperatures  -- and that some 26 or more were hospitalized with their injuries, including one woman who practically had her arm blown off by an explosive munition and may still lose it to amputation.

The official lies about what happened are never ending, and they change from moment to moment. Nothing like what they say happened is confirmed by the numerous videos taken on scene during and before the police action against the Water Protectors on Backwater Bridge Sunday night and into Monday morning. In fact, nearly everything they say is starkly contradicted by the evidence.

That's the playbook of suppression though. Has been for as long as I've been alive and much longer. The lies are integral, the violence toward critics, dissenters and protesters is typical, the moral failure -- especially in the face of Native resistance -- is built in.

As most of my readers know, I've lived among Native peoples through my wife's family for most of my life. If it hadn't been for them, I'm not sure I'd  be alive to tell about it, so that's something of a foundational matter for me. I can't claim any particular knowledge or understanding of Native culture and society. Although I am a member of certain Native organizations and am considered a welcome guest with others, I'm still a white outsider. That doesn't change. Ms. Ché on the other hand, as a Native with a Blue Card and CIB (tribal citizenship -- Cherokee Nation -- and Certificate of Indian Blood) is fully accepted as a Native everywhere she goes. It's especially true in New Mexico where Indians have perhaps a greater and more important presence than anywhere except Oklahoma and Alaska. And the way Natives are seen here is quite different than they are in those states, in part because of history, in part because of Native assertion of rights that have never been completely overturned or taken away. Even by the Spanish in the worst of times.

What I've learned from my Indian family and the many Indians we know in New Mexico is how ignorant I am. Not just from an academic point of view, but from a cultural and social one too. If I'd been born an Indian, it might have been different -- or it might not. Ignorance in and of itself is not a bad thing; sometimes it's useful, even necessary. On the other hand, "not knowing" can be disabling, too. I try to learn every day, but I'm so far behind, I doubt I'll catch up to my Indian family, friends and colleagues. That's OK, though.

The struggle at Standing Rock is an inspiration for Indigenous Peoples all over the world, and those brave activists standing firm at Standing Rock against the might of the State are showing us all what must be done in the face of Rogue Power. The North Dakota authorities shame themselves every time they attack the Water Protectors. They bring dishonor to themselves and the corporate interests they serve. They are not protecting the people, they are not protecting the water, and they are not protecting lives. They are protecting the private pecuniary interest of a rogue corporation against the interests of the people. Period.

It is obvious as sin.

And they know it.

We're told that dozens of the Pipeline Protectors have turned in their badges, saying "No more of this shit." But there are many more to take their place, eager to engage in Indian Fighting so it would seem. They live in a fantasy of supremacy and power, as if somehow, if they're just strong enough and just bad enough, they can finally defeat the Savage Other that's been tormenting them the entire time the settler/colonists have laid claim to this land.

It's the same theory of Power (White Power, let's call it what it is) that underlies the many overseas wars of aggression the US has engaged in and still does. Conquest of the Brown, Savage Other is so deeply rooted in the Anglo-American subconscious that even some of those who are not Anglo, not white, believe in it implicitly.

The Power must be employed to overcome and defeat the Savage Brown, or.... something something.

The logic of it has never made any sense, and the more it has been employed -- especially lately -- the less sense it makes.

The struggle at Standing Rock becomes a microcosm for the whole enterprise of White Power and its immoral, anti-human, anti-life, and ultimately anti-future underpinnings. They so hate the earth and everything on and in it that they would destroy everything they can without a qualm. It's their nature. It's their identity exposed.

The Sunday/Monday assault on the Water Protectors exposed the fraud of the Pipeline Protectors top to bottom. They may win the immediate struggle, who knows, but they cannot and won't win in the end. I won't call it "the war," because that's not what it is. It's not the moral equivalent of war at all; it's a contest, let's say, between a cult of death and destruction, and a way and understanding of life that has endured for endless generations, and cannot be defeated by the dark forces arrayed against it.

Cannot. Be. Defeated.

Efforts to defeat it in the Americas have been underway since First Contact hundreds of years ago, and they fail, inevitably. The efforts to defeat it overseas failed just as inevitably and miserably, and still the powers of darkness and rage carry on.

I've long asked "What are they so afraid of? What are they really struggling against?"

Why do the Indians scare them so?

In North Dakota, it's very obvious that the settlers are scared witless of this Indian Uprising, though no Indian I'm aware of has threatened the settlers in any way, at least not in this struggle. They don't threaten the militarized might arrayed against them. They don't even threaten the pipeline except from a moral and spiritual plane. In other words, they say the pipeline is wrong and those protecting it are doing wrong, and all that can change. They don't have to do wrong. They can choose to do right.

I think that's what scares the settlers and the pipeline protectors more than anything: deep inside somewhere, they know they're doing wrong, and they know they don't have to. They can choose to do right, and the Water Protectors are offering them a way.

The way is open, the offer is sincere.

And it's terrifying to the settlers and their protectors.

That's what I see happening throughout the Euro-American Imperial Project. It's being confronted with its own immorality and its death-love. The earth is resisting, not just the Indigenous victims.

I doubt we'll have a resolution soon. There are indications that the assault by the Pipeline Protectors was a deliberate distraction from the start of the drilling operation under the Great Missouri, the final stage of the pipeline completion. Could be, I don't know. Otherwise there was no reason for it at all. It was nothing but naked aggression against a non-threat.

Absurd on its face.

But that's where we are.

Freaks

We're pretty upset in the Ché household over what's been going on at the #NoDAPL actions in North Dakota, and we're glad that our friends who went up there on a supply run over the weekend are not only OK but appear to be stronger for their experience so far. They plan to spend the week in spirit, prayer and solidarity with their brothers and sisters and their allies fighting the good fight nonviolently against the marshaled might of the state and its corporate owners.

Freaks these paramilitaries fighting the People are.

And yet, that's America today. That's where we are, and that's where we've been for quite a long time. It's upsetting to me in part because it evokes the same sort of militarized violence used against Occupy and the Ferguson protests, and many others during the last half-decade and more. It's become a ritual, wherein the People in their multitudes rise up over this or that injustice, they discommode the powerful -- by loudly protesting, massing in large numbers or sometimes not so large, marching and carrying signs, blocking roads and highways, subjecting themselves to police brutality and mass arrest, being covered by police snipers (I've seen that too many times to count now) and being subjected to military tactics and use of military equipment designed to intimidate and to inspire fear. And always being lied about. Always.

Somehow I doubt it'll get better any time soon.

What's happening at Standing Rock is a microcosm of what's been happening to The People around the world, but particularly in the Euro-American Imperial sphere, when they confront injustice perpetrated by the global corpro-state. It's the same everywhere you look, sometimes a bit more violence by the police, sometimes with a bit more return violence from the protesters (I'm thinking specifically of the protests against Euro-austerity in Greece, but there have been others like them). It's a ritual which so far the corpro-state has been winning handily. Though their moral suasion fails every time.

Of course. They have the Power. They are still learning how to use it. I've seen the Standing Rock situation, which has been going on for months in a so-called stand off, as a practice run for use of force against the People wherever and whenever they arise for the purpose of protecting the state and the corporations that own it.

Law enforcement agencies from far and wide have been sending their personnel to North Dakota in "mutual aid" of their brothers and sisters in blue (and brown) who are engaged in "riot control" -- good god, the lies never stop -- against the tribes and their allies. They are getting on the job training in what to do and how to do it to suppress nonviolent uprisings. Out there on the cold and windy prairie beside the Great Missouri River, they confront the savage horde once again.

Protecting their white women, are they?

Imagining themselves getting revenge for Custer? Who knows. They're simply freaks. Mercenary freaks for the corpro-state against the People and against their own better nature.

I've heard tell that dozens of these freaks have woken up to the wrong they're doing and have turned in their badges saying, "No, we won't hurt these people any more." Good for them, but there are said to be thousands of other freaks, goons, and badge carriers on scene. More arrive all the time. On the other hand, some of the mutual aid paramilitaries have been withdrawn because the people of the states and cities they come from say "No! No more. We did not approve and we do not approve of what you are doing." Well. That's brave.

It's practice, though. These situations keep arising, and the People require beat downs if they don't obey. That's America as it has been for most of its history. It's hardwired.

And so now a cabal of White Supremacist and White Nationalist freaks is set to grab the levers of power concentrated in Washington DC, the national corprostate, and run it for their own profit, pleasure and amusement. Ah, the mighty-mighty! Some individual corpro-states of the nation are contemplating secession, much as Texas and some of the rest of the Old Confederacy did when That Nigra was put in the White House as president and not shoe shine boy. Which is about all a Nigra is good for in the White Supremacist conception of what's right and what's not.

"America" did not choose this fate, "America" did not elect these freaks. It's happening as a fluke, not  an inevitable consequence of Hillary's bad campaign or whatever.

It's happening because it can, not because it must.

And what of the resistance? The resistance is focused on Standing Rock because these are our Braves, standing up and in some ways standing in for all of us who confront the corpro-state.

They are the focus of world wide attention, world wide support, too, because the People of the world see the Standing Rock activists as standing up for them. And so it is. The actions at Standing Rock are not that large compared to many others. They're taking place on the open prairie in the middle of nowhere, but they are having an emotional and spiritual effect that resonates around the world.

In the now immortal words of Assata Shakur:

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
It is our duty to win.
We must love each other and support each other.
We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

That goes for everyone who stands up to the Power.

There's been a tendency to dismiss and denounce the protests that arise against injustice at home and abroad. At the same time, we are being assured by not-so-radical observers and thinkers that we have entered the Twilight period of neoLibCon rule, ie: the corprostate is shuddering and shall soon -- how soon? -- collapse. According to them, what we're facing is something like the end of the British Empire, perhaps c. 1913. We could see the signs long ago, but now the end is in sight.

Himself, the New Boss, is supposed to be the harbinger of the coming disintegration of neoLibCon authority and rule.

Well, maybe.

Personally, I don't see it. He is surrounding himself with some of the freakiest of neoLibCon freaks and they seem more than interested in pursuing their goals to the max, come what may, full speed ahead.

The Power is there to fulfill practically any dream the freaks have had for decades; the freakiest freaks are being assembled as we read and write and wonder, and there is really very little, maybe nothing, to stand in their way. They will be able to use the Power as they see fit; why shouldn't they use it to fulfill their mad dreams of glory?

No moral suasion works in the face of these madmen and freaks. They see no reason to consider the interests of those who are not loyal and do not obey. Their ideal is simply to crush disobedience and punish disloyalty. It's been done before, but it hasn't been done nearly enough since That Nigra got into the White House --- where he obviously doesn't belong, at least not as President.

I've wondered, of course, about Obama's apparent pledges of loyalty and offers of help and guidance for the New Boss. Oh dear, what fuckery is this? It's not a surprise, no, but it is nevertheless disconcerting. One can maintain the dignity and integrity of the Office without becoming complicit in the fuckery to come, but it  seems that Obama has some other idea in mind, I don't know what. He's got a bolt hole or two on tap, so it is not as if he would necessarily be at risk if he didn't pledge loyalty but remained above the fray as it were. But then he's a careful and calculated player. He's always aware of which side of his bread is buttered.

The Clintons on the other hand had better watch their backs. The long knives are out, and I wouldn't be surprised if they become the political sacrifices to the gods of chaos let loose by events.

They've already been scapegoated for everything under the sun, and there is no sign of their scapegoaters relenting. "Clintoooooons!!!!!!1111" Feh.

Freaks. All of them freaks. And we need to point that out, without let up.

Strength and Solidarity.

"Cowards and Bullies the Lot of Them"

I haven't written much about the Standing Rock actions against the Dakota Access Pipe Line lately. It's a very emotional story in the Ché household, for it shows something about the strength of Indian peoples that we haven't really seen since the AIM uprisings all those many years ago.

Some of those AIM activists are now teaching classes on Native American topics in colleges and universities all over the country, and that's one way activism is co-opted. It usually works. This time, however, the authorities appear to be intent on crushing the Indian rebellion with massive force.

In some ways it's a replay of the First Nations uprising in Canada over pipelines and oil extraction and terrible environmental consequences that affected Native Peoples primarily. We didn't hear a lot about it south of the border, but the protests and other actions (some still ongoing) were constant, widespread, and widely supported in Canada and around the world. They were partially effective, but not without cost to individuals and the tribes. Many were arrested and brutalized by the RCMP, and many still face abuse by authorities for daring to stand up to the power of oil interests.

The First Nations of Canada have been partially successful in forcing governments and private interests to pay attention to the interests and needs of the Native Peoples, and to curb their appetites for unfettered resource extraction above all other considerations. I understand some projects have been canceled, pipelines shut down or rerouted, environmental cleanup begun, water contamination halted here and there, and even some compensation provided to tribes.

It's not enough, but it is something. And it took months and months of constant protest and nonviolent resistance to get even that.

Actions against the Keystone XL pipeline were highlighted in this country, and they also involved a lot of Indian/First Nations activists. Ultimately, those actions were successful in stopping that project -- at least for the time being. The Dakota Access Pipeline seemed to come out of nowhere, and apparently it was fast-tracked by the Corps of Engineers and regulators in order to get done before anybody noticed.

Or something.

The pipeline was originally routed just to the north of Bismark (90% Anglo). The people of Bismark rose up in righteous indignation and insisted the pipeline be re-routed south of their source of drinking water, the Missouri River. So it was done. The pipeline is now routed to cross the Missouri just north of the current boundary of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation near Cannonball, ND. The Standing Rock tribe claims the land on which the pipeline is being built as Treaty Land, part of the original much larger Reservation that was negotiated in the Treaty of Laramie in 1851, lands that were never ceded by the tribe but were essentially confiscated by the US government in periodic seizures in order to give the land to Anglo squatters -- and the Corps of Engineers among other agencies.

The tribe and their allies claim the pipeline is inherently unsafe, and if it breaks under or near the River, it will contaminate drinking water not only for the tribe but for millions of Americans living downstream. They would prefer that the pipeline not be built at all because it is just too dangerous, but they recognize the counter argument that the way the oil from the Bakken Field is being transported now -- by truck and rail -- is even more dangerous; oil transport trains are called "Bomb Trains" for a reason, after all. Pipelines, while marginally safer than rail or road transport of petroleum, are also vulnerable -- as the recent explosion of a gasoline pipeline in Alabama demonstrates.

The obvious answer is to leave the oil in the ground. Given the way oil prices have collapsed, that may be the ultimate resolution to the issue, but we're not there yet.

The tribe and its allies have formed a number of camps on the Reservation and near it, full of Native and allied activists from the Standing Rock Reservation and from Native communities throughout North and South America. It's a wonder to behold. Thousands have gathered periodically and many hundreds have stayed on. There are actions almost every day.

These are genuine Native American encampments that evoke many of the Natives' prior ways. They are highly spiritualized assemblies of peoples, extraordinary in their discipline and determination. They are called together to pray and to protect the water under the banner, "Water is Life."

They are acting in accordance with Native spiritual principles and under a code of non-violence.

Somehow over the years non-violence has been re-defined as "peaceful," but it's not. "Peaceful" implies passive and obedient. Non-violent activism is deliberately disruptive, often loud, and is almost always met with official violence. A non-violent demonstration -- such as the ones taking place almost daily in North Dakota -- will nearly always be met with increasing levels of state violence, including violent arrests and dispersal tactics, and with false accusations of violence by the demonstrators. (Cf: Occupy; BLM)

The militarization of the reaction by North Dakota -- and other -- law enforcement agencies is spectacular overkill, but much the same reaction happened in Canada when the First Nations activists got in the way of private oil interests. We've seen this script play out before, many times.

North Dakota has been bringing in police from as far away as Minnesota and Ohio under "mutual aid" agreements to "help" with controlling the Wild Indians and their allies. They have engaged in extraordinary levels of violence against non-violent activist, with hundreds arrested and many injured by rubber bullets, dog bites, tear gas, pepper spray, truncheons, and other weapons. At least one horse has been killed by police, and others injured by police or dogs (the police call the horses "weapons.") Drones sent up by the Indians to document the atrocities have been shot at by police. Many of those who have been arrested have been brutalized in custody, kept in kennel-like cages, denied medical attention for injuries or chronic conditions, forced to submit to humiliating searches, and had their property confiscated. They've been charged with "riot" when no such thing has taken place -- though police on some of their rampages can be characterized as rioting against the calm determination of the Water Protectors.

Elders and children have been particularly targeted for brutalization, pour encourager les autres.

The militarized response by police would be startling if we hadn't seen it before, particularly in Ferguson, where police behavior and use of military equipment and tactics against non-violent protest was seen by Americans on that scale for perhaps the first time. It was shocking then.

What also characterized the Ferguson response were constant and blatant lies from the authorities about the "violence" of the protesters. It was fairly obvious that in some cases, provocateurs had been seeded in the crowds, and some of the so-called "violence" was perpetrated by those provocateurs (mainly rock and bottle throwing). But in other cases, the police simply lied about being "fired upon" by members of the crowds of demonstrators or about being "assaulted" by them. They lied about "riots" too. In fact there was vandalism and arson and some instances of looting, but what they had to do with the protests, if anything, remains a mystery. This was also true in Baltimore, and more recently in Charlotte.

As some observers have pointed out, at least to some extent these unfortunate actions appear to have been provoked by police. It appears that law enforcement is trying mightily to provoke a violent response by the Water Protectors in North Dakota as well.

This is apparently counter-insurgency doctrine used nearly universally in this country in response to civil unrest, particularly against "peaceful" protest (ie: non-violent, not necessarily "peaceful" at all).

Get them to do something not "peaceful" and almost any level of crackdown violence is justified, no?

And if the activists won't cooperate, lie about them. Provoke, precipitate, seed with provocateurs. Do anything to shut down the activists and interfere with their efforts.

From outside looking in, that appears to be what's been going on as the militarized response to the Water Protectors intensifies.

And the police over and over again are showing themselves to be cowards and bullies, scared to death of these Indians and their allies, and becoming more and more violent and brutal as a result of their fear.

Cowards and bullies, the lot of them.

Yes, well. That's pretty much how America's Imperial Storm Troopers behave around the world. They are so jacked up and fearful of their adversaries and enemies that they routinely slaughter innocents, non-combatants, anyone and everyone who gets in their way or who might do so, and this behavior inevitably leads to blowback and even fiercer resistance by the target population. Inevitably.

Even the British back in the hey-day of their brief Empire knew that such behavior by their own conquering armies and mercenaries and police would inevitably produce the kind of blowback that they ultimately could not resist. Nevertheless, they routinely employed extraordinarily brutal and bloody tactics against their restive colonial subjects -- with inevitable results. The Empire self-immolated and collapsed.

On the other hand, their American descendants seem to have no self-awareness about these things and their inevitable consequences, even when they encounter them at home and abroad. It doesn't seem to occur to them that their cowardly, violent, and bloody behavior toward their "subjects" precipitates the blowback they experience and leads to their defeat due to the resistance and refusal to comply by their targets.

The police in this country seem to have adopted this failed military counter-insurgency doctrine in their repeated efforts to deal with nonviolent civil unrest, activism and protest. It is failing just as the military is failing world wide, and for much the same reason. This cowardly violence against nonviolence driven by irrational fear -- which is induced by training and commanders -- has an inevitable consequence. And it isn't victory for the cowards. Just the opposite.

The Water Protectors in North Dakota have developed a world-wide support network. While there isn't a lot of coverage of what's going on in this country (and much of the coverage there is merely parrots official lies), notice has been taken outside the country and support has been growing exponentially. The Water Protectors have been able to raise millions of dollars through online donations, money that's being used to support the camps and provide legal defense for those who have been arrested. Thousands have assembled in the camps from time to time to engage in both community building and activism against the pipeline and to protect the water for themselves and millions of others. The permanent camps host at least 600 and often more activists, even as North Dakota's fierce winter begins.

A campaign to use Facebook to emphasize support for the Water Protectors led to more a million people signing in to FB with their stated location "Standing Rock" no matter where they were in the world. Go Fund Me efforts have raised millions of dollars to support the Water Protectors.

And now word is circulating that the pipeline may be rerouted away from the Standing Rock Reservation or... maybe... it could be canceled altogether.

That remains to be seen, but at least there is "talk."

Part of the frustration of all this is that the Bundy led armed insurrectionists in Nevada and Oregon seem to be able to get away with their actions against the Big Bad Gubmint, whereas unarmed Native or black protests are met with some of the most ridiculous threats and militarized police responses imaginable -- to protect a corporate owned pipeline. This is an almost perfect example of what cowards and bullies our police have been allowed to become. If their targets are unarmed they feel they can use any level of force they want, and the more intimidating they appear to be (with their MRAPS and LRADS and assault rifles and riot gear and whatnot) and the more violently they suppress the protest the better. Whereas if they are confronting an armed insurrection, they stand back, adopt a modest and nonthreatening posture, they negotiate, they blandish, persuade, take their time, and avoid confrontation at all costs -- at least until they are literally shamed into taking some kind of action to end the standoff. They allow the Bundys to run essentially roughshod over the very concept of law, the very idea of order.

It's been said that the Bundys and other militia types are allowed to get away with their insurrections because they are White. That may be true. I tend to think it's more because they represent a real -- armed -- threat to the authorities, whose prime directive is Force Protection. In other words, as long as the authorities believe they are under no particular threat, they can and will behave as violently as they want against protest and civil unrest. If they detect a real threat, they will back down, retreat, negotiate. Their primary interest is to protect themselves  first, after all.

Standing Rock Water Protectors say they need firewood for the impending winter. Send it if you can, but they will accept money in lieu of goods and services. Log into Facebook, if you use it, stating your location as Standing Rock. A delegation from IAIA in Santa Fe went to North Dakota about a month ago, and another one may be organized shortly. Individuals from New Mexico are frequently going to ND to stand with Standing Rock. They may not be able to stay more than a few days, but it is important to demonstrate solidarity.

And so it goes.

This is an important struggle for all of us. While Ms Ché and I cannot be there physically, we have been there in spirit. We support the activists and the camps.

[I'll add some links in due time, but for now, just Google Standing Rock and see what's going on, both from the Native perspective and from the point of view of the cowards and bullies trying -- and failing -- to suppress the Water Protectors.]

Linkies: Please watch the embedded videos. You will see just what sort of cowards and bullies the brave warriors are up against.

http://sacredstonecamp.org/blog/2016/10/23/141-water-protectors-arrested-as-police-escalate-violent-militarized-response

https://www.laprogressive.com/standing-rock-protesters-attacked

http://sacredstonecamp.org/blog/2016/10/28/police-from-5-states-escalate-violence-shoot-horses-to-clear-1851-treaty-camp

Unicorn Riot has been covering the actions at Standing Rock and elsewhere for many months. Check it out:

http://www.unicornriot.ninja/?p=10600

Cowards:

Police & Military Attack Oceti Sakowin Treaty Camp from Unicorn Riot on Vimeo.

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