SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Why 'There Are No Acceptable Rerouting Options' for Dakota Access
Obama, extortion and what #NoDAPL really means
Nov 04, 2016
As many of you witnessed, the State of North Dakota is getting more violent in its treatment of the Water Protectors on the Standing Rock Reservation. Peace officers are spraying streams of pepper spray in the faces of unarmed, peaceful demonstrators for doing nothing threatening at all other than being Native and vocal.
Still, despite the on-going treaty violations, racism and assaults on Native people that are going on in Standing Rock, President Obama wants to "... let it play out for several more weeks and then determine whether or not this can be resolved in a way that I think is properly attentive to traditions of the first Americans." While the notion of letting on-going treaty violations and violence "play out" seems unconscionable, in fairness, it seems as if Obama is paying some attention to his Native advisors. He told Lawrence O'Donnell, "We're monitoring this closely, and you know I think that as a general rule my view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans. I think that right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline."
That's an understandable approach and acceptable to many. Reroute. In environmental organizing, that's called a "NIMBY" approach--"Not In My Back Yard." It's like harm-reduction in drug counseling; where you know a harmful behavior is going to happen, but you want to reduce the toxicity of that harmful behavior, like a needle exchange program. Even though it is not ideal for the pipeline to be built at all, for many who face the immediate dangers of the Dakota Access Pipeline, it may seem like a reasonable compromise.
Yet, according to Indigenous Environmental Network community organizer Joye Braun (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), President Obama's theoretical attempts to appease Native communities are off-target.
Joye should know. The Indigenous Environmental Network has been organizing around this pipeline since there was still snow on the ground last winter. Her and Wiyaka Eagleman were the first two campers at the campsite. She said the point is not simply to put this ticking timebomb somewhere else to explode. "There are no acceptable rerouting options, there is only one solution: stop this pipeline. Obama's administration is forcing a consultation process on infrastructure projects without recognizing the inherent rights to free, prior, informed consent. This is pure extortion on behalf of a company that has hired guns from the National Guard and different sheriffs departments. We are the eye witnesses to the atrocities happening right now today, but these same atrocities can happen to anyone at anytime."
A NIMBY approach feels good in the short-term. Here, while it deals with the most immediate danger for the most vulnerable, it does not address the larger issue of predatory oil exploration that still, as a matter of empirical data, affects poorer communities disproportionately and destroys the earth. The Standing Rock Sioux Nation absolutely must get this pipeline out of its territory by whatever means necessary. A good leader must above all else protect the citizens and this reroute would do that. Therefore, it is 100% good for Standing Rock to utilize this to get its citizens out of harm's way. Absolutely. But the truth is that Standing Rock Sioux Nation (nor ANY Native nation) should never be placed in this position to begin with; shame on the Army Corps of Engineering, the State of North Dakota and Energy Transfer Partners for forcing this decision, this "pure extortion" as Sister Joye brilliantly points out.
And maybe it's possible, as Joye suggests, to not only stop the Army Corps and Energy Transfer Partners from extorting the Standing Rock Nation, but also to stop this pipeline altogether. The two goals are not at odds.
In fact, they go together.
My guess is that this battle is not going anyplace anytime soon. It seems that every measure that the bureaucrats think of are short-sighted and miss the point completely. What is certain is that all of this is Native land and we need to protect it. As Joye says, "There are no acceptable rerouting options, there is only one solution: stop this pipeline."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Gyasi Ross
Gyasi Ross is lawyer, storytellyer, and citizen of the Blackfeet Nation/Suquamish Territories.
As many of you witnessed, the State of North Dakota is getting more violent in its treatment of the Water Protectors on the Standing Rock Reservation. Peace officers are spraying streams of pepper spray in the faces of unarmed, peaceful demonstrators for doing nothing threatening at all other than being Native and vocal.
Still, despite the on-going treaty violations, racism and assaults on Native people that are going on in Standing Rock, President Obama wants to "... let it play out for several more weeks and then determine whether or not this can be resolved in a way that I think is properly attentive to traditions of the first Americans." While the notion of letting on-going treaty violations and violence "play out" seems unconscionable, in fairness, it seems as if Obama is paying some attention to his Native advisors. He told Lawrence O'Donnell, "We're monitoring this closely, and you know I think that as a general rule my view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans. I think that right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline."
That's an understandable approach and acceptable to many. Reroute. In environmental organizing, that's called a "NIMBY" approach--"Not In My Back Yard." It's like harm-reduction in drug counseling; where you know a harmful behavior is going to happen, but you want to reduce the toxicity of that harmful behavior, like a needle exchange program. Even though it is not ideal for the pipeline to be built at all, for many who face the immediate dangers of the Dakota Access Pipeline, it may seem like a reasonable compromise.
Yet, according to Indigenous Environmental Network community organizer Joye Braun (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), President Obama's theoretical attempts to appease Native communities are off-target.
Joye should know. The Indigenous Environmental Network has been organizing around this pipeline since there was still snow on the ground last winter. Her and Wiyaka Eagleman were the first two campers at the campsite. She said the point is not simply to put this ticking timebomb somewhere else to explode. "There are no acceptable rerouting options, there is only one solution: stop this pipeline. Obama's administration is forcing a consultation process on infrastructure projects without recognizing the inherent rights to free, prior, informed consent. This is pure extortion on behalf of a company that has hired guns from the National Guard and different sheriffs departments. We are the eye witnesses to the atrocities happening right now today, but these same atrocities can happen to anyone at anytime."
A NIMBY approach feels good in the short-term. Here, while it deals with the most immediate danger for the most vulnerable, it does not address the larger issue of predatory oil exploration that still, as a matter of empirical data, affects poorer communities disproportionately and destroys the earth. The Standing Rock Sioux Nation absolutely must get this pipeline out of its territory by whatever means necessary. A good leader must above all else protect the citizens and this reroute would do that. Therefore, it is 100% good for Standing Rock to utilize this to get its citizens out of harm's way. Absolutely. But the truth is that Standing Rock Sioux Nation (nor ANY Native nation) should never be placed in this position to begin with; shame on the Army Corps of Engineering, the State of North Dakota and Energy Transfer Partners for forcing this decision, this "pure extortion" as Sister Joye brilliantly points out.
And maybe it's possible, as Joye suggests, to not only stop the Army Corps and Energy Transfer Partners from extorting the Standing Rock Nation, but also to stop this pipeline altogether. The two goals are not at odds.
In fact, they go together.
My guess is that this battle is not going anyplace anytime soon. It seems that every measure that the bureaucrats think of are short-sighted and miss the point completely. What is certain is that all of this is Native land and we need to protect it. As Joye says, "There are no acceptable rerouting options, there is only one solution: stop this pipeline."
Gyasi Ross
Gyasi Ross is lawyer, storytellyer, and citizen of the Blackfeet Nation/Suquamish Territories.
As many of you witnessed, the State of North Dakota is getting more violent in its treatment of the Water Protectors on the Standing Rock Reservation. Peace officers are spraying streams of pepper spray in the faces of unarmed, peaceful demonstrators for doing nothing threatening at all other than being Native and vocal.
Still, despite the on-going treaty violations, racism and assaults on Native people that are going on in Standing Rock, President Obama wants to "... let it play out for several more weeks and then determine whether or not this can be resolved in a way that I think is properly attentive to traditions of the first Americans." While the notion of letting on-going treaty violations and violence "play out" seems unconscionable, in fairness, it seems as if Obama is paying some attention to his Native advisors. He told Lawrence O'Donnell, "We're monitoring this closely, and you know I think that as a general rule my view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans. I think that right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline."
That's an understandable approach and acceptable to many. Reroute. In environmental organizing, that's called a "NIMBY" approach--"Not In My Back Yard." It's like harm-reduction in drug counseling; where you know a harmful behavior is going to happen, but you want to reduce the toxicity of that harmful behavior, like a needle exchange program. Even though it is not ideal for the pipeline to be built at all, for many who face the immediate dangers of the Dakota Access Pipeline, it may seem like a reasonable compromise.
Yet, according to Indigenous Environmental Network community organizer Joye Braun (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), President Obama's theoretical attempts to appease Native communities are off-target.
Joye should know. The Indigenous Environmental Network has been organizing around this pipeline since there was still snow on the ground last winter. Her and Wiyaka Eagleman were the first two campers at the campsite. She said the point is not simply to put this ticking timebomb somewhere else to explode. "There are no acceptable rerouting options, there is only one solution: stop this pipeline. Obama's administration is forcing a consultation process on infrastructure projects without recognizing the inherent rights to free, prior, informed consent. This is pure extortion on behalf of a company that has hired guns from the National Guard and different sheriffs departments. We are the eye witnesses to the atrocities happening right now today, but these same atrocities can happen to anyone at anytime."
A NIMBY approach feels good in the short-term. Here, while it deals with the most immediate danger for the most vulnerable, it does not address the larger issue of predatory oil exploration that still, as a matter of empirical data, affects poorer communities disproportionately and destroys the earth. The Standing Rock Sioux Nation absolutely must get this pipeline out of its territory by whatever means necessary. A good leader must above all else protect the citizens and this reroute would do that. Therefore, it is 100% good for Standing Rock to utilize this to get its citizens out of harm's way. Absolutely. But the truth is that Standing Rock Sioux Nation (nor ANY Native nation) should never be placed in this position to begin with; shame on the Army Corps of Engineering, the State of North Dakota and Energy Transfer Partners for forcing this decision, this "pure extortion" as Sister Joye brilliantly points out.
And maybe it's possible, as Joye suggests, to not only stop the Army Corps and Energy Transfer Partners from extorting the Standing Rock Nation, but also to stop this pipeline altogether. The two goals are not at odds.
In fact, they go together.
My guess is that this battle is not going anyplace anytime soon. It seems that every measure that the bureaucrats think of are short-sighted and miss the point completely. What is certain is that all of this is Native land and we need to protect it. As Joye says, "There are no acceptable rerouting options, there is only one solution: stop this pipeline."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.