In a display of absolute barbarism, militarized police, in conjunction with the National Guard, brutally repressed the peaceful water protectors at Standing Rock in North Dakota. The fascists subjected the Sioux Nation, along with fellow demonstrators, to beatings, tear gas, sound cannons, and dog attacks. There are also reports of inhumane treatment where protesters were thrown into dog kennels after being arrested.
The Sioux Nation are protesting the North Dakota Access Pipeline on grounds of both treaty and human rights violations. First, the pipeline would cut straight through Sioux territory violating the treaty of Fort Laramie drawn in 1868. Second, the pipeline would devastate the local environment and wildlife including our most precious resource: water.
These events must be taken in the context of America's long history of brutalizing and betraying indigenous peoples. This tradition traces all the way back to America's seventh President Andrew Jackson and beyond. The United States has endlessly violated treaties with indigenous peoples often redrawing them under the threat of violence.
From gentrification in the District to violating the land rights of the Sioux Nation we see the same pattern repeat. Power knows but two modes of response: indifference to the cries for justice and violence for those who resist.
We ask you to stand with the Sioux Nation and with all peoples displaced and dispossessed in the name of profit and Empire!
Begin by learning more and visiting the Sacred Stone Camp website.
Sign a petition calling for an end to the construction of the North Dakota Access Pipeline.
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