Water is Life

[Cliffy]

Standing Rock: Unprecedented Unity of Indigenous Nations and People

When opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline galvanized the support of hundreds of U.S. tribes, it became an unprecedented show of Indian Country unity and resolve.


Now, it’s a global indigenous movement. Members of tribal communities from around the world have joined in activism led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. A Sami group from Norway was the latest to arrive on Friday.

This resistance campaign, many say, has emerged as part of a greater global crisis—a united struggle in which indigenous lands, resources, and people are perpetually threatened by corporations and governments often using military force. Integral to this shared narrative is the routine ignoring of treaties.

“There is a tremendous awareness from Indigenous Peoples regarding what’s happening at Standing Rock,” said Elsa Stamatopoulou, director of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Program at Columbia University. “The Native Americans there are struggling and are connected to the whole world and a solidarity of rights.”

It’s an important source of influence and context, according to Chairman Archambault. “If it’s working with the administration, with Congress, with other nations, we have to continue to look at different approaches to reach our end goal,” Archambault said.

“We’re doing everything we can to heighten awareness.”


White Wolf : Standing Rock: Unprecedented Unity of Indigenous Nations and People

 

[Cliffy]

Here's the thing:
Those of us alive today are the first generation of humans to have lived their entire lives surrounded by man made toxins and poisons. Our children may be the last.
Known poisons and toxins are in our food, our medicine, our air, our land and our water. We have encountered them and ingested them every day of our lives. They have become a part of our bodies.
This is not exaggeration. It is fact.
We are the Poisoned Generation.
Is it any wonder that we are also poisoned in mind, and in spirit?
I am 62 years old and there hasn't been a single day since I took my first breath that the US government hasn't been openly or covertly engaged in acts of war somewhere on this sorry planet.
There hasn't been a single day of my life where people were not dying from starvation even though there hasn't been a single day of my life where there wasn't an abundance of food available.
There hasn't been a single day of my life where a handful of wealthy and powerful people were not deciding what the future would be for all of us.
This also is not exaggeration. It is fact.
What's happening at Standing Rock is symbolic of the physical, mental and spiritual poisoning all of us living today have been exposed to, every day of our lives.
A handful of wealthy and powerful people are knowingly, openly, using government power to protect themselves as they make plans to transport oil in pipelines that will leak, and will introduce more poisons and toxins into the air, the land, the water, and our bodies. And that oil comes from land already poisoned by fracking.
Billions of gallons of fresh clean water have been turned into poison, and billions more gallons will be at risk.
To what purpose? For whose benefit?
The failure of this generation is not what we have allowed to happen in the past due to ignorance or complacency or denial or belief. The failure of this generation is what we continue to allow to happen now, when no one can claim ignorance, when complacency requires the suffering of others, when denial has become a rejection of reality, and when belief only chains us to certain suffering and death.
It is a good day to think of these things. Go outside. Feel the Earth under your feet. Breathe the air. Look at the sky. Feel the warmth of the sun. Everything is hurting. The bees are dying. Entire species have been lost. You and your children have been poisoned.
It is a good day to think of all of this.
Then decide. Will you change? Can you change? Will you see, or will you close your eyes? Will you make a stand?
My thoughts and my heart go to the people at Standing Rock, and in Iowa, and in Michigan, and to the people around the world who are rising against what has happened to all of us, every day of our lives. - Lee Burkett‎

 

[Cannuck]

Here's the thing:
Those of us alive today are the first generation of humans to have lived their entire lives surrounded by man made toxins and poisons. Our children may be the last.
Known poisons and toxins are in our food, our medicine, our air, our land and our water. We have encountered them and ingested them every day of our lives. They have become a part of our bodies....
‎

...and we are doing quite well. This silliness from the loony left is akin to the loony right telling us we are in danger because of immigrants. Childish nonsense and nothing more

 

[petros]

Those of us alive today are the first generation of humans to have lived their entire lives surrounded by man made toxins and poisons. Our children may be the last.

Where did you come up with that bowl of copasta smothered in bullsh-t?

You need to eat better.

 

[Cliffy]

 

[petros]

Ohhhh. A Fascistbook injun. That's several steps below a YouTube injun.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Hunh. This is the wisdom. . . (dwamatic pause). . . of my people!

Or not. Why is it ALWAYS the damn eagle-feather headdress? Over 600 f*cking tribes in North America, maybe six of 'em did the eagle-feather headdress thing.

Hunh. Will great chief Iron Eyes Cody save Princess Peach?

 

[petros]

Stereotypical.

The annual ban on injun Halloween costumes is ramping up again this fall.

F-ck, I'll have to return these jeans and AC/DC t-shirt to the rental place.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Stereotypical.

The annual ban on injun Halloween costumes is ramping up again this fall.

F-ck, I'll have to return these jeans and AC/DC t-shirt to the rental place.

Ha-ha! Before I read the last line, I was getting ready to answer "They're banning Nikes, jeans, and band T-shirts?"

Fools seldom differ!

 

[petros]

It was a tough choice between AC/DC and Iron Maiden.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

It was a tough choice between AC/DC and Iron Maiden.

Hunh. It is the heavy metal. . . of my people!

 

[petros]

Run to the hills.

 

[Cliffy]

Award-Winning Filmmaker Arrested Documenting Pipeline Protest

Journalism is not a crime, it is a responsibility. The actions of the North Dakota police force are not just a violation of the climate, but a violation of the constitution.

Arrest of journalists, filmmakers and others witnessing and reporting on citizen protests against fossil fuel infrastructure amid climate change is part of a worrisome, growing pattern. Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now, was arrested last month for covering Native American-led protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The actress Shailene Woodley was arrested and jailed this week while leaving a protest at a construction site for the Dakota Access Pipeline. She was singled out and was told by police that she was arrested because she was well known and has 40,000 people watching her Facebook page.

Award-Winning Filmmaker Arrested Documenting Pipeline Protest

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Nice of the cops to play into the protesters' hands.

 

[Cliffy]

Tug sinks near Bella Bella spilling up to 200,000 litres of diesel

An American tug pushing an empty fuel barge has sunk after running aground near Bella Bella.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says the tug Nathan E. Stewart hit ground on Edge Reef near Athlone Island just after 1 am this morning.
Heiltsuk elected Chief Marilyn Slett says the tug sank completely just before 10 am, and that the Nation’s most recent estimate is that it has spilled more than 200,000 litres of fuel.
Slett says the area is environmentally sensitive, particularly for clam harvesting.
Cleanup delayed

In a statement, owners Texas-based Kirby Corporation says the seven crew members aboard have now been safely transferred to a coast guard vessel.

“Kirby Offshore Marine, owners and managers of the Nathan E. Stewart regret that this incident has occurred and are working to respond and mitigate the impact of this incident.”
​

It says Western Canada Marine Response Corporation has now dispatched vessels with 2,500 feet of boom and crew from a base in Prince Rupert, and that it has also contracted salvage specialists Resolve Marine Group.
Questions directed to Kirby regarding the volume of fuel carried by the tug were not replied to.


Tug sinks near Bella Bella spilling up to 200,000 litres of diesel | News Talk 980 CKNW | Vancouver's News. Vancouver's Talk


Environmentalists and indigenous peoples have been try to stop this tug for years as this incident was inevitable. Now they want to put super tankers in there and say it will be safe. BS!

 

[petros]

Is that diesel to supply Rezes?

 

[MHz]

Do they have an estimate of how much money will be added to the community? The locals should educate themselves in contract law and environmental professions (pipeline inspection) that can clean up spills. Perhaps even have escort vessels and state of the art electronics to the ones on shore have some control of where the boats are and what they are doing.

 

[Cliffy]

AUDIO INTERVIEW with Helen from Wounded Knee, SD. 9/14/16. "I still couldn't sit there and pray freely, until I had to get up, and pick up a gun, and fight for my rights. I fought in Wounded Knee."

http://www.facebook.com/voicesofstandingrock/videos/180718595668033/

From Eryn Wise: Theresa was camped next to the youth council's winter camp and yesterday we were able to speak with her before she left. She told me that in all the years that she's been an activist and arrested for her works, she'd never been treated as roughly in her life as when she was taken to Morton County jail.
She very nearly cried as I stood hugging her telling her that I was sorry for whatever happened and that I would try to take some of that burden and pain from her. She went home yesterday because of the treatment she received at the hands of our oppressors and the immense sadness she feels for the land, water and animals.
This is a grandmother and chanupa carrier that they roughed up, assaulted and tried to break. After they arrested her they pulled on our tipi poles one by one, all still tied at the top, and let them snap as the tobacco ties fell to the ground. I think that these officers forget that this isn't the first time we've had our sacred items destroyed. I think they forget that we still remember watching our tipis, longhouses, wickiups, wigwams and hogans burn. I think that when they point their assault rifles at us, they forget that we still know the sound of Gatling guns. We remember it all and yet here we are, still fighting for their right to clean water too.
We pray for the officers that are now coming from all corners of the country to stand against us. Though we chant this almost every day, it always bears repeating:
"We stand for our brothers and our sisters. We stand for one nation. We stand for water. We stand for life. We stand. We stand. We stand."

 

[Cliffy]

We are Standing Rock. One of the most powerful places in the world. The only place in the United States where the government and local authorities keep caution when approaching. Not because of weapons of violence, because there are none. Instead they fear the camp because of prayer and standing as a place where people from all around the world have come to form a community of love, prayer and protection. We are what corporations fear the most. Free thinking humanity focused on human and civil rights to guide our futures. To protect mother earth, and keep our planet safe. To respect heritage and preserve history. To defend indigenous liberties. Despite what morton county sheriffs try to claim, you have never seen a photo of a protector at an action or at camp with a firearm. Despite what morton county claims, you have never seen a photo of a mutilated animal on a local ranchers farm. The local government is trying to strike fear into the surrounding ranchers, farmers, and community by spreading false information around the community. We encourage you to get to know us. We are standing rock. We will sit no more.
-Redhawk

 

[Cliffy]

Central Coast diesel spill response slow, ineffective, serious damage done: Heiltsuk

Judging by official statements in the aftermath of the ongoing Central Coast diesel fuel spill, the response to the disaster was relatively effective and damage minimized – a PR line largely soaked up by the mainstream media. To the people in whose territory the incident occurred, the Heiltsuk Nation, and local residents who will have to live with the consequences of the spill, nothing could be further from the truth.
“Recent press seems to suggest that containment efforts have been successful. Let me set the record straight: containment has not been successful, and clean-up efforts have barely begun,” says Heiltsuk On-Scene Commander William Housty. “The damage has been done, and the best we can work towards is mitigation.”
A Heiltsuk media statement this morning drives the point home in measurable terms:
Only 6,554 gallons of the 59,924 gallons of diesel onboard the tug were able to be pumped from the vessel before it sank in Heiltsuk Territory on the morning of October 13th. Since then, the sunken vessel has been leaking diesel into an area of enormous ecological, economic, and cultural significance to the Heiltsuk Nation.

Central Coast diesel spill response slow, ineffective, serious damage done: Heiltsuk -The Common Sense CanadianThe Common Sense Canadian

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White privilege & self perceived superiority is being put to test in No. Dak. these days & "white power" is reacting in a very shameful manner as they generally do! Shame, shame, shame on you powers that be in No. Dak. You are reacting with overkill, ignorance of issues & most shameful & disgusting foolery. Is this the best you can show...full military force maned by mindless goons against unarmed, peaceful protectors of the planet & not dangerous rioters as you falsely & ignorantly claim! Why must government & corporate power always profane any attempts at progressive democracy & first amendment rights making the whole system a farce? -
James Buik