Rise Up in Solidarity for National Day of Action Against The Dakota Access Pipeline

by Katherine Sylwester and Garth Hughes-Odgers on thepoliticalrev.org

The ongoing protest against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has generated a great deal of press over the past few months. This Tuesday, November 15th, we, the outraged of the United States will demonstrate our nationwide solidarity with the people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in opposition to this project.

Running from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to southern Illinois, the proposed pipeline would cross beneath the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, as well as part of Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Opposition to the project raised by Indigenous nations, farmers, landowners, and conservation groups has focused on the potential for significant damage to the environment, both during construction and as an ongoing risk once the pipeline is operational. DAPL risks endangering a source of fresh water for the Standing Rock Sioux and 8 million people living downstream. DAPL would also impact many sites that are sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux and other Indigenous nations.

The reaction of the authorities to these concerns has been both dismissive and heavy-handed. North Dakota state troopers, the National Guard, other law enforcement agencies, and private security firms have meted out harsh treatment on protesters, utilizing attack dogs and pepper spray alongside arrests and strip-searches in their attempt to break the people’s opposition to the construction of the pipeline.

This is a call to action for those who care about the rights of Indigenous people to land, about the right to peaceful protest without violent repression, and about protecting our natural environment on which we rely for life.

NOW is the time to act. We have an opportunity to be part of a movement that says NO to corporate greed, violent raids by police, and complacent government.

• We will congregate at the offices of the US Army Corps of Engineers — the body that issued the planning permits and failed to consider the catastrophic environmental damage to land and water.
• We will congregate at banks and places of business who have funded DAPL.
• We will demonstrate that we are united in democratic solidarity with all concerned citizens against the arbitrary will of corporate greed, according to our first amendment right.

We have 65 days until Trump is inaugurated as President of the United States. We must use this time to make a difference.

This Tuesday is the day to act.

Find a location near you.

Find out more about Indigenous led movement to stop the DAPL.

Originally Posted on Thepoliticalrev.org