CALL THE ARMY CORPS BEFORE 2:00 PM CENTRAL TIME TO EXPRESS YOUR DISAPPROVAL OF THE STANDING ROCK EVICTION. THEY CAN GIVE THE WORD TO STOP THE ARRESTS. 202-761-8700.
You may not know this because the media is not reporting on it, but at the behest of our current president, due to the subsequent going-along-with-it by the Army Corps of Engineers, today law enforcement will undertake the eviction of the Water Protectors at the Oceti Sakown camp that has been protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline for months. As of about a half hour ago, they stopped letting people leave the camp. At 2:00 p.m. CST they will begin arresting anyone who is still there.
There are peaceful folks there. Unarmed. In prayer. Grandmothers and grandfathers who have given up their entire lives for nearly a year to protest the ravaging of their treaty lands and the endangerment of their water by oil companies with huge budgets who are bound and determined to make profits on the backs of those whose only recourse was to protest peacefully.
Hundreds have been arrested. Probably thousands have been wounded by brutal violence from police. Millions across the world have voiced their support for what the Water Protectors are doing. Many have divested their money from banks that are invested in the projects.
But Donald Trump decided that the oil companies have more rights than the indigenous people who have borne the brunt of capitalist greed for hundreds of years. And so it goes.
You probably won’t see much coverage of today’s events unless you look for it: the police have made it clear that they’ll be targeting press at the camp, and those who are arrested won’t be able to get the word out about what’s happening. #NoDAPL isn’t even trending on Facebook or Twitter. The big media companies have turned their backs on this movement for who-knows-what reason. But please, don’t turn YOUR backs.
The Water Protectors aren’t just there for themselves. They’re out there for all of us, trying to show the world that oil interests and fossil fuel profits are not more important than our water, our land, our environment, our dignity, and our future. They are showing us that they will stand up for their sovereignty which, by law, should be protected. They are telling the world that we don’t need more pipelines. We need renewable energy. We need to protect the valuable resources we have instead of selling them off to the highest bidder.
Please don’t turn away. Keep track of what happens today. Remember it. This is history being made, and once again, it’s moving in the wrong direction.
CALL THE ARMY CORPS BEFORE 2:00 PM CENTRAL TIME TO EXPRESS YOUR DISAPPROVAL. THEY CAN GIVE THE WORD TO STOP THE ARRESTS. 202-761-8700. There’s a script you can use here: http://yearsoflivingdangerously.com/action/make-call-200-pm/