After months of a heated standoff, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have won the most immediate battle in their fight against the construction of an oil pipeline through their native lands. After a federal judge ruled that construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline would be allowed to proceed, federal agencies ordered a halt on construction in one area of importance to the Tribe.
However, there can be no doubt that as this saga continues there must be international solidarity with these protestors against this environmental tyranny. There must be a resounding declaration of “NO” against Energy Transfer Partners, the company that aims to build the pipeline. A company must not be permitted to construct an oil pipeline that endangers the sacred sites and water security of Native American tribes.
Furthermore, these protests must further facilitate the death rattle of the oil industry, which must occur if we intend to secure a habitable planet for the human race.
Though the tribe has won this immediate victory, we should reflect in horror at the methods employed by Energy Transfer Partners against these protestors. The company contracted a private security firm that used attack dogs and mace against women and children at the protests. I saw a photo of a young girl at the protests, who had had her face chewed by one of the dogs.
Such depravity and ruthlessness gives these events a political layer that goes beyond the environment, racism, clean water, and fracking. These protests signify the increasing emergence of a corporate police state. One that suppresses protesting children with snarling animals and Gestapo tactics.
Another important part of solidarity includes exposing the flow of cash from the oil and gas industry to our political figures. Unsurprisingly, these companies’ fingerprints can be found here in Indiana as well as at the national level. Sen. Evan Bayh has received $759,795 from the energy industry throughout his career. Todd Young, Bayh’s opponent in the ongoing Indiana Senate race, has cuddled up to the energy industry to the tune of $517,115 in his career.
As for the Presidential race, a recent Forbes article shows that Hillary Clinton raises “twice as much” from the oil industry as Donald Trump. At the end of the most recent fundraising cycle, Clinton raised $525,000 from the oil industry, while Trump only managed $149,000.
While no one should be shocked to learn that Hillary Clinton is not a beacon of environmentalism, her servitude to the oil industry ensures that a Clinton presidency will empower the oppression of Native Americans and the destruction of our planet at the hand of insane oil tycoons.
The mainstream media has essentially mandated a blackout on the struggles of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. This makes sense seeing that this country will probably never come to terms with the monstrous genocide committed against the natives of this continent upon European colonization. Also, the topic of this atrocity, the resultant forced migration and land grabs by the government is what drove the remaining Native American population to places like North Dakota in the first place, and they now struggle to hold onto even these lands.
Though preventing the Dakota Access Pipeline will not atone for the treatment of this continent’s natives – I don’t believe anything ever will--halting construction of the pipeline must be done for them and for our planet.
