by Deep Green Resistance News Service | Nov 21, 2016 | Obstruction & Occupation, Repression at Home
by Indigenous Environmental Network
Cannon Ball – On November 20th at approximately 6PM CST over 100 Water Protectors from the Oceti Sakowin and Sacred Stone Camps mobilized to a nearby bridge to remove a barricade that was built by the Morton County Sheriff’s Department and the State of North Dakota. This barricade, built after law enforcement raided the 1851 treaty camp, not only restricts North Dakota residents from using the 1806 freely but also puts the community of Cannon Ball, the camps, and the Standing Rock Tribe at risk as emergency services are unable to use that highway.
Water Protectors used a semi-truck to remove two burnt military trucks from the road and were successful at removing one truck from the bridge before police began to attack Water Protectors with tear gas, water canons, mace, rubber bullets, and sound cannons.
At 1:30am CST the Indigenous Rising Media team acquired an update from the Oceti Sakowin Medic team that nearly 200 people were injured, 12 people were hospitalized for head injuries, and one elder went into cardiac arrest at the front lines. At this time, law enforcement was still firing rubber bullets and the water cannon at Water Protectors. About 500 Water protectors gathered at the peak of the non-violent direct action.
The following is a statement from the Indigenous Environmental Network:
“The North Dakota law enforcement are cowards. Those who are hired to protect citizens attacked peaceful water protectors with water cannons in freezing temperatures and targeted their weapons at people’s faces and heads.
“The Morton County Sheriff’s Department, the North Dakota State Patrol, and the Governor of North Dakota are committing crimes against humanity. They are accomplices with the Dakota Access Pipeline LLC and its parent company Energy Transfer Partners in a conspiracy to protect the corporation’s illegal activities.
“Anyone investing and bankrolling these companies are accomplices. If President Obama does nothing to stop this inhumane treatment of this country’s original inhabitants, he will become an accomplice. And there is no doubt that President Elect Donald Trump is already an accomplice as he is invested in DAPL”.
by Deep Green Resistance News Service | Nov 19, 2016 | Strategy & Analysis
This is the first installment in a multi-part series. Browse the Protective Use of Force index to read more.
Via Deep Green Resistance UK
2016 is predicted to be the hottest year since records began and environmental devastation is increasing. With so little time left and the whole world at stake, are the radical changes to halt climate change and ecocide being made? The simple answer is no, based on species extinction and the continuing global extraction and burning of fossil fuels.
Resistance movements need to be strategic to be effective. This involves selecting appropriate tactics to use and if a tactic is not effective, then choosing another. Nonviolent direct action (NVDA) is important to our struggle to stop environmental destruction, but it is only one tactic. I have found discussions about the appropriate uses of nonviolence, force, and violence unclear and often confusing, which led me to research the topic in greater depth.
Within activist communities and broader society, there are two widely-held perspectives on nonviolence. Some choose NVDA for strategic reasons. They may also see the importance of using force in some situations, if appropriate, but may or may not ever use force themselves. There are also those people who oppose the use of force no matter the circumstances. Any criticism in my articles is directed at the latter perspective as those who hold this perspective routinely mandate nonviolence across whole movements, and categorically reject the use of force or militant resistance, even in self defense. I will refer to people from this perspective as “nonviolence fundamentalists.”
In future articles I will explore what thinkers of the last 150 years have about these ideas, starting with violence. For now I will list those on either side of the debate that I have studied. There are of course others.
Nonviolence fundamentalists include:
Those that support NVDA and the use of force/militant resistance include:
I would also add that most of the people that have written about violence, nonviolence, the use of force or militant resistance are men. I extensively researched women’s contribution to these topics and included everything relevant, without shoehorning them in to appear right on. Women have been very active in struggles using force and nonviolence tactics but it is mainly men that have written about it. This is consistent with men’s dominance in most areas of life. If I have overlooked anyone, I apologise and do set me straight. Some of the amazing women that have been so important to past struggles include Harriet Tubman, Blanca Canales, Angela Davis, Kathleen Neal Cleaver, Emmeline Pankhurst, Christabel Pankhurst, Ulrike Meinhof, Ida Wells-Barnett, and Sojourner Truth.
Featured image: Nonviolent Direct Action at Livermore Lab, byJames Heddle/EON
This is the first installment in a multi-part series. Browse the Protective Use of Force index to read more.
To repost this or other DGR original writings, please contact newsservice@deepgreenresistance.org
by Deep Green Resistance News Service | Nov 14, 2016 | Lobbying
by Cultural Survival
“We call upon all member states, to condemn the destruction of our sacred places and to support our nation’s efforts to ensure that our sovereign rights are respected. We ask that you call upon all parties to stop the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline and to protect the environment, our nation’s future, our culture and our way of life.”
– Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II
The International Indigenous Peoples`Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) condemns the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline and stands in solidarity with our sisters and brothers of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and all Water Protectors in opposition to this project.
Human Rights and the Indigenous Rights Perspective
The Dakota Access pipeline is being built on the un-ceded treaty lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, without their free, prior and informed consent, as is described in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Articles 18, 19, and 32. The pipeline is also being constructed through sacred areas and ancestral burial grounds of the Standing Rock Sioux and other Indigenous Peoples of the area. This massive construction project does not respect the Standing Rock Sioux’s Treaty rights, sovereignty, or their right to self-determination. It is an outright violation of their rights over their lands and resources as Indigenous Peoples, and does not respect the human rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Climate Perspective
The Dakota Access pipeline will transport 470 000 – 570 000 barrels of oil every day, which will release emissions of 101,4 million tonnes CO2, as much as 30 American coal power plants, every year. This is not consistent with the State Parties’ obligations and commitments under the Paris Agreement or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The continued production of fossil fuels only assures that global temperature will rise well above 2°C in the immediate future and threaten the lives and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples around the world. The potential for a major oil spill from the Dakota Access pipeline is immediate. The pipeline is scheduled to cross underneath the Missouri River, which is the main source for drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and for millions of people who live downstream. Sunoco Logistics, the operating company of the pipeline, alone has experienced over 200 oil spills in 6 years, and the US had in total over 3300 leaks since 2010, polluting rivers, ground waters, land and air, and both human lives, health and livelihoods has been lost.
The IIPFCC calls upon the US to halt the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline and to enter into serious consultations with the Standing Rock Sioux, and other tribes affected by this project, respecting the right of the Tribes to free, prior and informed consent.
The state owned Norwegian Oil Fund is heavily invested in the pipeline. The IIPFCC calls upon Norway to divest from the Dakota Access pipeline Project.
We also call on all States to ensure the protection of Indigenous Peoples´ territories across the world as a critical action in the implementation of the Paris Agreement and in achieving the SDGs.
Featured image by A. Golden/Flickr.
by Deep Green Resistance News Service | Nov 12, 2016 | Protests & Symbolic Acts
by Brett Spencer / Intercontinental Cry
On Monday, November 7th, the day after Nicaragua’s primary elections, supporters of the Miskito indigenous party, Yapti Tasba Masraka Nanih Aslatakanka, or Sons of Mother Earth (YATAMA), took to the streets of Puerto Cabezas to celebrate a regional victory for Indigenous Peoples. It had just been announced that Brooklyn Rivera, the leader of YATAMA, had won political office.
Supporters of YATAMA celebrate news of victory during a speech by Brooklyn Rivera. Photo: Brett Spencer
Local polls concluded that YATAMA had secured the victory despite numerous allegations of electoral fraud. Nine out of twelve people IC interviewed at four polling stations in Puerto Cabezas reported the fraud in favor of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), led by Nicaragua’s current president, Daniel Ortega.
“There is serious doubt about the transparency, the cleanliness and the purity of this process,” said Mr. Rivera. Other than YATAMA, “there is no real opposition” and “no international observation of the elections,” he concluded.
Despite these allegations, YATAMA supporters planned to march across the town at 2:00 pm. However, it was learned around that time that the victory would not be acknowledged until the vote was recounted in Managua, without the presence of YATAMA officials.
The announcement created a sense of unease as the streets filled with Miskito of all demographics in support of Brooklyn Rivera’s re-election as a deputy in the National Assembly.
Mr. Rivera was ousted from office in September of 2015, following a rise in violence over an endemic land conflict between the Miskito and Sandinista settlers known to the Miskito as colonos.
Puerto Cabezas reacts to news of a YATAMA victory. Photo: Brett Spencer
The indigenous population swelled the streets with gracious enthusiasm following an optimistic speech by Mr. Rivera. However, shortly after the start of the march, police began to line the main street in riot gear, preventing the march from continuing.
Miskito youth began throwing stones at the officers and the police began firing rubber bullets into the crowd, provoking more outrage. A group of YATAMA supporters overtook the governor’s office, removing office equipment including computers. The crowd began to compile makeshift weapons to fend off the police, who began using tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd.
Many of the women and children took safety in a bar overlooking the conflict, only to have tear gas thrown at them by the police officers.
Police fire rubber bullets at Miskito youth: Brett Spencer
“This was suppose to be a peaceful march, but the police started instigating,” said Walt, who works at the bar where we took safety. “But the people have to march to get results around here, otherwise the result would not be the same.”
YATAMA’s supporters eventually overtook the police around 6:00 pm, who retreated to the police station. After the sun had set, a group of Miskito youth, angry with the police for stopping the march, broke into several shops owned by Sandinista supporters.
Photo: Brett Spencer
The following morning, the local Sandinista radio station, Bilwi Stereo, blamed the conflict on the participation of foreigners, discrediting the power and agency of YATAMA’s wide support base. Puerto Cabezas became militarized overnight, with trucks of heavily armed soldiers patrolling the empty streets.
The streets remained calm but ill at ease, as relations between the Miskito and the Sandinista government continue to deteriorate. “We need something better for our people,” said Hector Williams, the Wihta Tara, or “Great Judge” of the Miskito separatist movement. “This is La Moskitia, it is not Nicaragua.”
by Deep Green Resistance News Service | Nov 3, 2016 | Obstruction & Occupation
by Nic Bowcut / Direct Action Spokane
SPOKANE- An estimated 50 individuals braved cooling temperatures and the threat of arrest to show their support for stopping the transportation of coal and oil by rail in Spokane, WA. The rally, drawing individuals from as far away as Montana, highlighted the growing resentment toward large corporation’s desire to use rail systems to transport potential dangerous materials across the country, along with the hazardous and potentially lethal precedent set in the continued use of fossil fuels.
Thomas Schmidt, a local activist, stated: “I know that our culture, based on consumerism, economic exploitation, material accumulation and profit, is exhausting our natural and human resources. Therefore I have decided I must nonviolently take direct action, placing my body in the way to stop their behavior and sincerely to engage them or whoever else will pay attention.”
Schmidt, along with others, stood tall, facing potential arrest as they blocked the rail way. Police from both the United Pacific and Burlington Northern Rail companies arrived roughly ten minutes into the rally. In the end, no arrests were made.
This rally was just one of a growing number nationwide, especially in the Pacific Northwest, drawing attention to an issue that has seen opposition growing on two fronts: public safety and environmental exploitation.
The rally was highlighted by several speakers, including Standing Rock protester Rusty Nelson, Spokane artist and activist Jacob Johns, Dr. Gunnar Holmquist, and “Raging Granny” and recent coal and oil train blockade arrestee Margie Heller.
by Deep Green Resistance News Service | Oct 27, 2016 | Lobbying, Protests & Symbolic Acts
Solidarity Rallies at all eight of Senator Chuck Schumer’s Offices as New Yorkers from Across the State Call for a Halt to Spectra’s AIM pipeline
by ResistAIM
New York City – Today at 9:00 AM, New Yorkers rallied to demand action from Senator Charles Schumer to stop the construction of a high pressure, fracked-gas pipeline that poses a major threat to more than 20 million people. Two hundred and fifty people gathered and heard from health professionals, indigenous leaders and residents of the Hudson Valley where the pipeline is being built. Fifteen people were arrested after refusing to leave unless Senator Schumer took action. Allied organizations held solidarity actions at Senator Schumer’s offices in Peekskill, Rochester, Binghamton, Albany, Long Island, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Washington DC. Groups in Massachusetts, where the pipeline is also being built, gathered to pressure Senators Markey and Warren.
Several groups read a statement from Courtney Williams, a Peekskill resident whose home and children’s school is in the blast radius of the pipeline. “Senator Schumer, I speak on behalf of the HUNDREDS of people at every one of your offices in New York and the millions threatened by this pipeline: You must stop making excuses for your inaction. Spectra’s AIM Pipeline is a man-made and entirely avoidable disaster in the making and YOU have the power to stop it!” Leigha Eyster, a born-and-raised resident of Yorktown Heights where another section of the pipeline is being built, was present at the rally as well: “I’m here to take a stand against the AIM Pipeline project. It’s a great risk to my community and to New York City as well. We’re here because we need Senator Schumer to act. We need him to go to FERC Commissioner Norman Bay, we need him to go to President Obama, and we need to see action, not just words.”
Spectra Energy’s AIM project is a 42” gas pipeline that is only 105 feet from Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant’s safety infrastructure and 400 feet from an elementary school. The pipeline would bring fracked gas from Pennsylvania to New England, despite a report from the Massachusetts Attorney General that shows no need for this gas. Pipelines are prone to accidents; according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), there were roughly six pipeline incidents every week in the United States in 2015, and the number of pipeline incidents is increasing with newer pipelines. Spectra’s AIM Pipeline poses a serious threat to public health and safety, not only to those who live in the immediate area, but to all New Yorkers. As Peekskill resident Nancy Vann said, “There is simply no safe way to put this pipeline into operation next to Indian Point.”
Furthermore, this project locks us into more fossil fuel use at a time when we must move toward renewable energy for the sake of our climate. Senator Schumer has filed his opposition to this project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), but FERC still has not halted construction. Resist Spectra and allies from across the state are demanding that Senator Schumer go to President Obama, go to FERC Chairperson Norman Bay, and ask his colleagues in the Senate to oppose this project. They are also demanding that Schumer meet with Senators in other states and conduct a press conference demanding that FERC issue a “stop work” order NOW.
Peekskill is not the only part of the state that is being overrun by fracked gas infrastructure. Rallies in other parts of the state called on the Senator to be a voice for those who have been shut out of the process, and for communities where gas projects are being built against the communities’ wishes. “The Spectra Pipeline Project must be stopped if our children are to inherit a planet with clean water, clean air, and a livable climate,” said Renee Scholz from Mothers Out Front in Rochester. “I live in Rochester and recognize that this is an emergency not only for the 20 million people within the evacuation zone, but also for our state, country and planet. Senator Schumer is in a position to demand FERC issue a stop work order permit so this project is halted immediately, and I beg him to do so, now, before it is too late.”
In Binghampton, Lisa Marshall from Mothers Out Front spoke at a solidarity rally. “As a scientist and as a mom, I have no choice but to get on my knees and beg Senator Schumer to stop this project.” Diane Folk from Corning, NY, agreed: “As a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, I have to take a stand to improve the environment of our nation.”
In Buffalo, 35 people gathered at Senator Schumer’s Buffalo office, where David Reilly Ph.D Professor at Niagara University spoke. “We—the people—need to learn from Standing Rock. We need to reject the impulse to push our risks to another neighborhood, to another location. We need to say NO to the idea that these fossil fuels should ever leave the ground. We need to be unified in our message—from the Spectra opposition to the Northern Access Pipeline to the Dakota Pipeline—that we refuse to give in to the pressure from fossil fuel industries.”
In Peekskill, 40 people gathered, sang and rallied outside Schumer’s Peekskill office, where Erik Lindberg of Peekskill spoke. “Senator Schumer has never held a press conference on this issue that threatens millions of his constituents. This is a man who has held press conferences and introduced legislation on everything from dish detergent pods to powdered caffeine to robo calls interrupting family dinner. Yet, he has never had a press conference on the risks of the AIM pipeline.”
“We fought Kinder Morgan’s pipeline that was slated to cross Rensselaer and Albany counties – and we won. Now we are supporting other New York communities that are fighting pipelines. Our climate demands that we take action. Senator Schumer, we need to you to take immediate action to stop the Spectra AIM Pipeline,” said Ruth Foster, member of Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline, a group from the Capital Region that held a rally in Albany.
Andra Leimanis spoke in Syracuse: “We ask that Senator Schumer step up his opposition to the Spectra AIM Pipeline before it’s too late. It’s time to GO BIG: call President Obama, hold press conferences alongside others in congress who have constituents endangered by FERC’s reckless pipeline approvals. Building more pipelines when we need to be rapidly reducing the amount of carbon and methane released into the atmosphere is dangerous. Building a pipeline next to an aging nuclear facility is insanity.”
Concerned New Yorkers gathered at Schumer’s Long Island office in Melville as well. “Schumer has spoken out against this pipeline and has written a letter to FERC but we need more action. We need him to actually stop this. He keeps telling us that he’s done what he can but that’s not acceptable. He needs to do more. It’s ridiculous to think otherwise.” Kevin O’Keeffe, Long Island resident involved in stopping the Port Ambrose LNG facility in 2015.
Finally, allies in Massachusetts rallied at the offices of Senator Warren and Senator Markey. “We here in Central Mass opposing the Northeast Access project know it’s time to join together across pipeline projects to say no to these projects that hurt local communities and us all while making money for the fossil fuel industry” said Michelle Wenderlich, local organizer for Food & Water Watch.
The people have spoken. The time is NOW for Senator Chuck Schumer to lead on this issue to protect all New Yorkers.
