After months of Native American water protectors gathering in peace, prayer and solidarity to protect their sacred lands, the Obama administration announced on Dec. 4 that it's sided with the Standing Rock Sioux and halted the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
A battle was won. But with a Trump administration looming, the fight isn't over.
The president-elect has pledged to remove constraints on fossil fuel projects, and it's likely he'll try to reverse this decision once he takes office. But there's something you can do to help stand up for life and for justice.
The controversial pipeline would be 1,170 miles long and cost $3.7 billion. A project of that scale doesn't build itself. Behind the lead investor, Energy Transfer Partners, stand heavily armed police forces, sound-cannon trucks, water cannons, tear gas and attack dogs – and 38 banks funding it all.
That's why the Institute for Policy Studies, where we work, is pulling its money from one of these banks – SunTrust – and switching to a more socially responsible institution. Banks that fund the planet-destroying fossil fuel economy and undermine Native American land rights aren't the ones we should be doing business with.
For 150 years, the U.S. government has been taking land from the Lakota and Dakota people, and violating Native sovereignty and treaty rights. So for the Standing Rock Sioux, this is not a new struggle.
And the militarized police response to peaceful protest isn't so new either. Water protectors have been arrested and strip-searched and shot at with rubber bullets. On Nov. 28, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple issued an executive order demanding protesters leave, citing "harsh winter conditions."
But as the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe David Archambault II pointed out, "The most dangerous thing we can do is force well-situated campers from their shelters and into the cold."
The very reason the Sioux were willing to face the elements is because the pipeline endangers their livelihood. The pipeline would transport more than 500,000 barrels of crude oil every day, right through the Missouri River and under their sacred Lake Oahe. If the pipe were to leak, as pipelines are prone to do, it would devastate the tribe's drinking water.
None of these atrocities would be possible without the loans and credit lines from individuals and organizations banking with institutions like SunTrust, Wells Fargo, Citibank or PNC. The list goes on.
Instead, there are many mid-size alternatives that are actually investing in positive, main-street priorities like affordable housing and good local jobs. At breakupwithyourmegabank.org, the group Green America even has a directory that can help you find a small, locally based bank or credit union that isn't funding the Dakota Access pipeline.*
By John Cavanagh and Domenica Ghanem
CHICCHAN
Kin 105: Red Magnetic Serpent
I unify in order to survive
Attracting instinct
I seal the store of life force
With the magnetic tone of purpose
I am guided by my own power doubled.
Only when your learn to control your thought-waves will you experience what is called "abiding in the real."*
*Star Traveler's 13 Moon Almanac of Synchronicity, Galactic Research Institute, Law of Time Press, Ashland, Oregon, 2016-2017.
The Sacred Tzolk'in
Anahata Chakra (Silio Plasma)
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