I haven’t posted a Standing Rock Update in a while for a few reasons…the harsh winter conditions including snowfalls ranging 3-8′ and high winds with sub-zero temperatures of -20 and below have slowed things to a crawl and made the most basic tasks of daily living both challenging and exhausting.
This is the update posted from Oceti Oyate (All Nations) on December 25th, 2016:
“This was camp earlier this afternoon around 4:30. At that time visibility was at about a mile. An hour later about 100 yards. People were busy working hard all day. It was beautiful. Crew checking on each other. Making sure everyone had wood and water. Cooks got people fed. Security were clearing roads. We helped out with the snowplow truck. Tonight most are settling indoors. Now there is a thunderstorm. Complete with lighting and rain. Visibility is at about 20 yards. I am putting food out for the spirits. Sending corn soup and gabubu bread for them. They are blessing us even now.”
When the movement to support Standing Rock reached the magic number (3.5% rule) towards the end of November 2016, there was a significant shift.
Banks, businesses, state agencies, and individuals divested millions in resources and funding for the project.
The White House was forced to respond.
The Army Corps. backed off.
Tribal Politician Dave Archambault called it a solid victory to be finalized in the courts, and told everyone to go home.
The Water Protectors announced that the battle was just beginning, that they would not be leaving, and that anyone who could safely function under severe winter conditions would be welcomed and cared for.
And ETP announced, again, they would do exactly as they pleased regardless of these decisions.
Many people were aware, at that time, that the “real war”, the psychological war, had just truly begun.
And they were correct.
The immediate fallout from this shift was obvious- mass confusion, mass doubt, and mass suspicion.
FB groups originally providing support for Standing Rock were over run with disinformation and fear- mongering, some began raising funds for supporting themselves, and others declared themselves “Leaders of the Global Movement” and began giving press conferences and making public speeches.
There are NO reliable FB Groups supporting Standing Rock at the time of this writing (see information links below).
Thousands of websites, scamming money from the good-hearted in hundreds of ways appeared virtually overnight. And so did every conceivable style of propaganda, from shopped photos of riots and burning vehicles to accusation-based “news” stories about shamed and abused veterans, to rumors of misappropriated contributions, to intimidation, shaming, and discrediting tactics used against long-time members of the independent media teams covering Standing Rock.
ETP “security” and local “law enforcement” have continued a campaign of harassment against water protectors who use public roads to conduct business and transport goods.
In addition, the state legal system is being used, with increasing severity, as a weapon, both physically and psychologically.
Water protectors and their allies are being arrested, questioned, and detained without due process, and are being inadequately represented, and in many cases not represented at all, against a vast array of highly questionable charges that, as always, involve massive filings, fees, fines, and every other kind of bureaucratic grift and graft.
While some of these tactics have been effective in turning away some supporters, and there have been significant costs and life-altering sacrifices among individual protectors and allies, these divide and conquer tactics have, for the most part, failed miserably.
Photo: Standing Rock, New Year’s Eve, 2016 -LaDonna Brave Bull Allard
Amnesty International and the ACLU have both documented numerous human rights violations in the treatment of water protectors both in the field and throughout the corrections and legal processes.
Between the end of November and the beginning of 2017, the incredible winter storms and the season of “peace on earth, good will toward men” created the needed space for real leadership to show itself, for the camps to breathe quietly the simple work of daily living and protecting one another, for the wind to blow away the chaff and see what remains, to watch for ETP’s next move. To unify and prepare.
The much larger fight is still to come.
As of January 1st, 2017, investors in the Dakota Access Pipeline have the option to re-negotiate their investment contracts.
It’s big money’s move.
For supporters of Standing Rock-
The information and links below are vetted and up-to-date as of this writing. Unfortunately, the most reliable, daily updates on Standing Rock come through FB. That said, I’ve listed as many outside links as possible. Below are the people and pages where reliable information can be found:
Chase Iron Eyes
This warrior’s clarity, integrity, and limitless spirit illustrate the deep heart of leadership.
https://www.facebook.com/chase.ironeyes.3
LaDonna Tamakawastewin Allard
Respect and admiration for this Founding Member and Guardian of the Sacred Stone Camp
https://www.facebook.com/earthw7
Sacred Stone Camp
https://www.facebook.com/CampOfTheSacredStone/
Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council
https://www.facebook.com/MedicHealerCouncil/
http://medichealercouncil.com/
🗽 Water Protector Legal Collective
👉 If you are able to donate, this is an area of critical need as of Jan. 1st, 2017 ✌
https://waterprotectorlegal.org/
https://www.facebook.com/WaterProtectorLegal/
Independent Media
Digital Smoke Signals- Independent, Indigenous Media
One of the original sources for consistently incredible on-the-ground coverage of Standing Rock from drone footage to live stream documentation of the harassment and intimidation of water protectors. Real journalism. Much respect.
https://www.facebook.com/DigitalSmokeSignals/
https://www.gofundme.com/waterissacred
Unicorn Riot
One of the original sources for reliable, high quality, independent media coverage.
Thank you, Unicorn Riot.
https://www.facebook.com/unicornriot.ninja/
Last Real Indians (Chase Iron Eyes)
https://www.facebook.com/lastrealindians/
💜 ✨ Awesome Warrior Woman Vanessa ✨
🏩 If you are able to donate, this is an area of critical need as of Jan. 1st, 2017 ✌
National Nurses United tells the story of Vanessa, the Warrior Woman and Water Protector, who was critically injured at the Backwater Bridge on Nov. 20th, 2016.
The shameful behavior she encountered from “law enforcement” and “healthcare professionals” in the State of North Dakota is documented in this video.
Sophia Wilansky, who was also critically injured on the Backwater Bridge, had harsh words for a system that refused timely treatment to a critically injured patient and asks anyone who is able to please support Vanessa’s efforts to regain her sight.
https://www.gofundme.com/medical-fund-for-vanessa?ssid=815334280&pos=1
*Article originally appeared at Minds.
