MARLBORO — Recently, we returned from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and the protest there against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The pipeline is being constructed to carry crude oil from North Dakota southward to Illinois. It would run the oil underneath the Missouri and Cannonball rivers, the main water source for the tribe and millions of people south of this point. The protesters want to stop the pipeline for fear of future spillage destroying both the land and water.
We want to share a few thoughts as we consider this a substantial movement, which is being underreported and poorly reported by the media.
Reporting found there is spotty in accuracy. It seems there is more reporting on the topic by mainstream media overseas than in our own country - one must wonder at times why. So most people are learning about this protest only on social media.
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The four of us - one professor and three students from Marlboro College - made the 32-hour drive out to North Dakota for a week after deciding to go on the spur of the moment.
Within 36 hours, we were able to gather donations and financial support of community members in our area for those camped there, who prefer to call it an action by protectors of the water (mni wiconi, “water is life”), rather than a protest. To everyone who helped, we offer our sincere gratitude.
We delivered 16 sleeping bags, wool blankets, five tents, two camping stoves, camping gear, winter clothes, boots, and over $2,300. We were careful in selecting how we divided up the donations, attempting to be as effective as possible.
Your contributions - greatly appreciated and truly necessary - were given to the medical facility and the school. Some funds were given to the encampment financial officers to direct to where they are most needed.
Your contributions also helped families in need, purchase of tents and tarps, herbalist medical support, and food for the kitchens. They are helping to make a documentary film.
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The encampment is filled with thousands of people from around the world - at times, as many as 7,000 supporters.
We met people from Italy, France, Canada, Japan, Ecuador, Norway, Mexico, Chile, and many other countries.
Among them are representatives from more than 240 indigenous tribes. People come daily as others leave, returning to their homes and jobs.
Many people are determined to stay there, continuing their struggle until the end. Plans are being made to create a winter camp. The North Dakota winters can be as difficult as you can imagine, with cold temperatures amplified by very strong winds.
It is impressive, to say the least, that people there deal with all the inconveniences of camping out to show their values of protecting the Earth and respecting treaty rights.
The community is organized. First and foremost, they regularly talk in defense of the movement staying peaceful. They have set guidelines, including prohibiting weapons, drugs, and alcohol.
Kitchens are working around the clock to serve meals to everyone, even vegan meals (a first we have seen with Native communities).
A school has been set up, and its organizers are working with the state of North Dakota to approve accreditation. They have created medical centers, herbalists, legal aid, and so much more.
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While driving back, we heard the news how the police arrested 21 people after the sheriff said some police saw “protestors with guns.”
We were there at a protest only a day before and watched the protesters thank the police with handshakes and greetings in traditional Lakota fashion. They individually thanked the officers for the work they do, risking their lives to protect our communities.
We cannot say for certain that no protestors have guns. However, the leaders are so clearly and frequently speaking against weapons, violence, and even negative speech that we find it very hard to believe the sheriff's words. The water defenders want to prioritize protecting their reservation and the Earth over the monetary interests of a corporation.
They are doing so in the midst of intimidation.
Three days before we left, we went to photograph the pipeline across the landscape from a main road. We turned down a public dirt road and were immediately pulled over by a police officer.
When we asked if we were doing anything wrong, he responded by saying, “Not yet” and said he just wanted to “check [us] out.”
The police car was not alone. We were boxed in by eight cars, including local police, the sheriff, police from the next county, state troopers, Bureau of Indian Affairs Police, and FBI.
After 10 minutes of being checked out, we were told to leave, even though we were clearly on public property and we were not doing anything illegal.
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We all had an amazing, eye-opening experience. Although we hope they can stop Dakota Access from completing the pipeline, we do not know how likely that will be.
Either way, we believe this issue is larger than the pipeline, and it draws attention to Native American rights as well as those of indigenous peoples throughout the world, to environmentalism, and to injustice similarl to the Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, and anti–Citizens United movements.
This ever-shrinking planet deserves for these movements to find better ways to work together. The time is now for justice for all to triumph over profit for the few.