Standing Rock, November 25
Today, at a mall in Bismarck, approximately 15-20 water protectors were arrested for "standing in a circle" at the mall (= trespassing, according to cops). Kandi Mossett of the Indigenous Environmental Network provides this firsthand look at the arrests (approx. 30 mins but there's a lot of repetition). The cops and one white guy she interviewed are hostile, and she maintains her composure throughout.
https://www.facebook.com/ienearth/videos/10154168674560642/
For some needed positive energy, watch this 1-minute Maori haka in snowy North Dakota https://www.facebook.com/marcus.lloyd.754/videos/1101799976606387/
Actions
Black Star Surplus is offering discounts on subzero sleeping bags and free shipping if you order them for Standing Rock.
It has been reported that Sunoco has merged with Energy Transfer Partners, the owner of the DAPL. We are being asked to boycott Sunoco. Please let them know.
Information
At the Turtle Island action yesterday (image below), there was one non-Native man who spoke repeatedly and passionately to the cops and mercenaries on the other side. It turns out he is John Bolenbaugh, who is known as the Enbridge whistleblower. Here's a great article.
Read the story of Thanksgiving, not the myth we've all been fed, but the history.
Here is a firsthand report on the night of November 20, the night of the water cannons.
At 6:10 PM, the bridge is filled with people. And, everything changes again.The police, without warning, deploy a barrage of tear gas, targeting everyone on the bridge, front to back. I can’t count the number of shots, but the gas hits almost everyone there.
Remember, it’s a bridge; there’s only one way to get out. They launch tear gas all the way at the end of the bridge. No escape. Screams of panic and pain, the sound of people throwing up and uncontrollably coughing, grows louder, as rubber bullets fire at the crowd in the front.
The rubber bullets keep coming, the water cannon never stops. I go back to taking pictures. I want to capture it all.
Prayer circles are formed. Songs are sung in different Native languages, sometimes accompanied by drums.
The water cannon never stopped.
Comments
Talk about being on the wrong side of history
The cops involved at Standing Rock are going to have a lot of explaining to do to their grandchildren.
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
Excuses will be made by these persecutors in the name of Oil
just like in post-WW2 Germany, there was nary a Nazi to be found because all those still living were "anti-Nazi" humanitarians who hated Hitler and love the Jews. So, while I have heretofore never referred to police as pigs, I do so about the Dakota thugs-with-badges deliberately hurting peaceful protestors. Will gutless Obama intervene? Hell, no. He is a petrobot through and through. He could have done lots of good things in his eight years but chose not to do so.
Glad to see John Bolenbaugh mentioned, a heroic whistleblower
John has become The People's Expert on pipeline leaks and thefraud practiced by oil companies when they have to do a 'cleanup' of a spill.
I spent a good part of Thanksgiving Day watching You Tubes about Standing Rock and kept noticing this guy showing up in videos on the side of the page. Watched a TYT interview of him, then watched some of his other vids. About ten years ago, John (a Union guy working for Enbridge on pipelines) was called on to go to SW Michigan to lead the response to a pipeline leaking into the Kankakee River. (I grew up about 30-50 miles south of that area; there's an entire huge region of S MI/NW IN that rests on the enormous Kankakee Watershed; in Colonial days the French Hunter/trappers traveled that whole area in canoes, and even after the Watershed underwent disastrous 'improvements' about a century ago (canals cut throughout the territory to drain land and control water), in my lifetime my home town's water table was just inches below the surface of residential and manufacturing zones.
During the Kankakee pipeline cleanup, john heard of spilled oil being covered with sand or dirt instead of being actually cleaned up, removed and disposed 'appropriately'. He made videos of himself (some by local media) lifting a spadeful of water-covered sand which ran of the shovel black and viscous. He would step into an area covered with iight snow and a layer of loose soil and sink nearly waist-deep in black goo composed of oil, soil, and water. The riverbank had many houses on or near it for several miles up and downstream; John made it his job to visit as many of those homes as possible, to inform the residents about the oil their homes were standing on. He asked about illnesses and almost every home held a story of strange illnesses or deaths.
John reported the Federal-regulation-breaking coverup of oil on the project to his employers, was called home and fired the next day -- his reward for responsibly blowing the whistle to, not on, his employers. During the last ten years, John has been gathering documentation and video (some by local media) to inform people about how pipelines leak and how oil-related industries profit on every aspect of leak management. John feels that the struggles at Standing Rock have created a 'teachable moment' and is really itching to make his movie,and is hoping to crowd-source funds and expertise that will make his movie possible.John has created an organization (HELPPA (..org, IIRC) and has several YouTube videos available -- including the TYT interview, which is a good place to start to learn about John and his work.
Yes, that John Bolenbaugh video is pretty incredible
and very damning of the Oilcos and their curtain of lies about frequency and devastation of spills.
https://youtu.be/yVPKKNLb1N8
I hope he gets enough donations to make the movie of Standing Rock and this struggle against Oilcos and these Fascist Police Terrorists.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
Army Corps of Engineers to clear out Oceti Sakowin
Dec. 5 is the day. They'll "allow" a "free-speech zone" out of the way of construction.
Obama...crickets
Barack "Martin Van Buren" Obama
Do nothing, say nothing, let the atrocities roll on unchecked.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
And Yet Another petition on FB, my response:
Am I just tired or trying to guide from below? I have always seen FB as an information-gathering spot for entities bigger than one human to gather as bits and bytes and massage however they want. And that may bite many. My FB avatar pic is me and my daughter (pre-wedding), facial recognition can map us both. I am having a paranoid moment. I drink and slow-breathe through times like this.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Veterans in the thousands to come to Standing Rock
Veterans to occupy Standing Rock
Let's hope they peacefully encircle the bullies oppressing First Americans and all others at Standing Rock.
A boycott of North Dakota should be instated, although that state has precious little to sell except oil.
We need to destroy Thanksgiving & Black Friday
Thanksgiving is a lie and due to Black Friday BS, it's almost dead anyways.
Replace it with a Day of Thanks... and Giving. Not Gluttony based on lies and massacre.
This thanksgiving was No Thanks, No Giving. The irony of this stand down is oblivious to the pathetic.
Obama... what has he done? He pardoned some fucking turkeys.
I live in Oregon. Fucking Bundy Clan from out of state took over a beautiful wildlife refuge center, stole and destroyed artifacts, set up booby traps, tore down fences, set up road blocks... all while armed. And they just freed.
Our people are protecting sacred land and water and they are being treated like terrorists.
Time for Americans to decide where they stand. With Standing Rock and the Planet or with the Elite Greedy, Lying Politicians and their Pigs.
I'm done with Rs and Ds. They are all the same.
"Love One Another" ~ George Harrison