Australian controlled media remain silent as international concern to government inflicted brutality at Standing Rock Dakota being meted upon the largest gathering of protesting American Indian Nations in recent history.
People power is the virus that destroys government indulging in people control and corruption.
Today Japan has offered solidarity with the Indian Nations adding further international support as some 2000 supporting US military veterans move into Standing Rock.
Originally the oil pipeline direction was through the town Bismark North Dakota with a white population of some 57,000 objected due to possible pollution from the pipeline. Redirected through disputed Sioux land per the treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851, the pipeline must now be tunneled UNDER the Missouri River, [not required over the original route] escalating the Bismark concern of an environmental disaster now includes water supply.
Following this protest unfold for some time observing North Dakota governor Jack Dalrymple engineer this fiasco, may well see him follow General Custer into a career threatening Indian ambush.
Mal Davies – Singapore.
The reasons for protests at Standing Rock are complicated, morally-nuanced and steeped in history.
By Cresta Lee – SOS-NEWS
In 2014, Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) proposed a 1,134-mile underground pipeline that would take newly- tapped oil from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to a terminal in Illinois where it could be shipped to refineries and processed as usable fuel. Routing the oil underground rather than by train is far more cost efficient and arguably more environmentally friendly than other forms of transportation, according to the oil companies.
The problem is the pipeline crosses close to the sovereign land of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and underneath a stretch of the Missouri River near the tribe’s water supply. The tribe claims construction of the pipeline will destroy their sacred grounds and put the safety of their water supply at risk. They say they were not consulted in the investigation phase of the pipeline’s approval and that their complaints were dismissed by the Army Corps of Engineers responsible for approving projects like the pipeline.
Understanding the tribe’s side to the story necessitates understanding their status as a sovereign nation. In response to the horrendous treatment of Native American tribes in the United States’ history the government has recognized the sovereignty of these tribes and their land in specifically designated areas. Key in this is not that the government has “given” them sovereignty but rather acknowledged these groups of people as being a separately existing nation within the United States. To that end, tribes like the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe theoretically have the same status as a foreign country, and therein lies the problem.
Making things even more complicated, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe claim the land in question did originally belong to them via a treaty made in 1851 that has since been routinely violated by the federal government. The Sioux claim they have never ceded the land in question but have had it taken from them against their will.
Private security groups and law enforcement have been responsible for increasingly violent clashes with water protectors camped out on the land.
The Standing Rock Sioux are a sovereign nation of historically abused people who are protesting the annexation and profiteering of their own land, and in return are experiencing particularly brutal forms of police suppression. On September 3 a protest over a construction site that was believed to be inactive led to a clash between security personnel and water protectors.
On October 27, mace, rubber bullets and water cannons were used against 200 protesters. In November water cannons were again used against water protectors in freezing weather, leading to 26 people being hospitalized for broken bones and hypothermia and 141 people being arrested. Police claim they were using the water cannons to put out fires, while the water protectors claim the fires were started after the cannons to keep people warm.
The fallout from the actions of security personnel and law enforcement in November has served to bolster the resolve of water protectors and led to veterans of the US Armed Forces organising as a group to travel to Standing Rock to defend the safety of those peacefully assembled against future brutality.
This video below presents interview and footage from events at Standing Rock from November 20th – 21st 2016. The medic in this interview speaks to the violence that occurred last night as the riot police and the national guard used a spray cannon to drench the “Water Protector Defenders” for 9 hours in freezing temperatures. Tear gas canisters were launched at us one after another. Rubber bullets were fired at us, as well as sand bags. The Protectors stood strong, stayed calm and maintained good spirits, holding the bridge until at least 1:30 am.
This is all a load of garbage. The pipeline will not contaminate the water supply. The protests are funded by Warren Buffet who bought Burlington Railway in order to rail the oil – a deal done with Obama as a kick-back for his donations to the Democratic Party. By having a monopoly he can make another few billion. America is so corrupt it isn’t funny.