Solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Water Protectors
Solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Water Protectors
The Dallas-based company Energy Transfer Partners originally planned to build the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) so that it would cross beneath the Missouri River near Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota. When the people of that city protested that an oil spill from the pipeline could contaminate their water, the proposed pipeline route was moved south.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe opposes the new pipeline route, saying that the way in which the project was planned (without their voices) violates treaty obligations. They assert that the new route would endanger their water as well as waters further down the river. They say the plan would endanger their burial sites and sacred lands in violation of US laws and treaties. Thousands of people, including representatives of more than 280 tribes and indigenous people from around the world, have joined the Standing Rock Water Protectors. They are camping, singing, praying, and taking non-violent actions to block construction. Private and public security forces have attacked them with dogs, injured them with water hoses in sub-freezing weather, rubber bullets, tear gas and mace. More than 500 peaceful Water Protectors have been arrested since August.
Pipeline construction is nearly complete, except for the disputed connection under the Missouri River. The Army Corps of Engineers will decide whether to grant permits for completion of the project. Last week they announced that they will arrest anyone who remains camped on federal land starting Dec. 5, and prosecute them for trespassing.
In response to an increasingly strong public outcry, some sheriff departments from around the country are refusing to send personnel and equipment to assist the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. Vets are assembling a peaceful, unarmed militia at Standing Rock on December 4-7 to act as a “human shield,” defending the Protectors from assault and intimidation by a militarized police force and DAPL security.
Suggestions for Actions
Keep up to date on events, e.g., Indian Country Today [http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com]; Sacred Stone Camp [http://sacredstonecamp.org]
Read AFSC’s report, “We are our own Medicine.”
Request accurate and timely coverage from the major networks, newspaper and other media that are giving little or no coverage to Standing Rock. Share information about Standing Rock with friends and others. Too many people know little or nothing about the situation.
Read update on legal actions by the National Lawyers Guild [https://www.nlg.org/water-protector-legal-collective-files-suit-for-excessive-force-against-peaceful-protesters/]
Follow the National Lawyers Guild’s recommendation to call the local and federal agencies below and demand:
1) Immediate end to the construction of the pipeline
2) Immediate cessation and full investigation into law enforcement abuses
3) Dropping felony charges against water protectors from the Oct 27 police raid
4) Permitting the Water Protectors to stay at their current encampment until the DAPL’s application to drill under Lake Oahe and the Missouri River is permanently denied.
• White House Situation Room 202-456-9431
• White House 202-456-1414.
• North Dakota Governor’s Office 701-328-2200
• Morton County Sheriff’s Office 701-667-3330
• Morton County State’s Attorney’s Office 701-667-3330
• Army Corps of Engineers-Bismarck 701-255-0015
Sacred Stone Legal Defense Fund
https://fundrazr.com/d19fAf
Minute in Solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Other Indigenous Peoples in Protecting the Earth
Approved by Boulder Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, October 9, 2016.
Boulder Meeting of Friends supports the sovereign government and people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as they and their supporters wage a nonviolent, legal and moral battle to protect their lands and water against construction of an oil pipeline that violates their treaty rights and endangers their health and their natural resources. We join the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, other Tribes and Indigenous Peoples from around the world as well as numerous organizations in seeking full tribal consultation on a government-to-government basis, as is legally required by treaty and law on any and all matters that relate to or may affect their lands, people, or traditional homelands. Central to the legal argument is the Fort Laramie treaty of 1868 in which the Lakota and Dakota nations were given “absolute and undisturbed use and occupation” of their lands, including all of what is now South Dakota west of the Missouri River.
We urge the President and the federal executive branch agencies to honor the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 and the Federal Trust Responsibility to the Indigenous Peoples of our country. We also urge that immediate steps be taken to protect the safety of the people and to preserve the burials, lands, and resources of the Standing Rock Sioux nation, now and in the future.
We are grateful to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other Indigenous peoples who are on the front line in protecting our earth. We will continue to show our gratitude and support in words and deeds.
