Northern Lights over Sacred Stone, Sept. 2, 2016. Credit: Joe Brusky.

We have absolutely no control over how many people are charged, request an attorney, or are found eligible.

The mass amounts of #NoDAPL protesters being arrested has put further strain on North Dakota's public defense system, forcing it to drop longstanding ethics guidelines so everyone can have their Constitutionally guaranteed right to a lawyer.
↩︎ Rapid City Journal
Nov 26, 2016

The Bureau of Indian Affairs police arrive from the south, disarm the DAPL security guard, and arrest him. They leave everyone else untouched and head back south. For us anarchists, this is a mind-boggling event. 

Skirmishes at Dakota Access border on surreal—yes, a herd of buffalo showed up—and of course the anarchists have all the good stories.
↩︎ CrimethInc
Nov 3, 2016

Dakota Warming

Ironically, the Dakota Access Pipeline stretches across a state where people are acting on climate by adapting to it. North Dakota is warming faster than anywhere else in the contiguous United States, and hasn't had an above-average number of cold days in winter since 1980. Farmers have adapted by planting corn instead of wheat, though belief is widespread that this is just a natural cycle rather than an anthropogenic shift

Sep 13, 2016

In a touch of epic derp that would be funny if it didn’t actually reveal how people of color are assumed to be violent, when the Lakota invited relatives to pack their peace pipes and gather with them in solidarity, the (white) county sheriff thought they meant pipe bombs.

Some Native Americans see pipeline protests as a way to cure white men of their sickness.
↩︎ Outside
Sep 13, 2016

The Dakota Access Pipeline has been blocked for a total review from the White House. A leak or spill could contaminate the Missouri River, the only source of water for tribes living in North Dakota; even if that violates their rights, it's been known since the selection of the pipeline route. But Obama stepped in after tribal lawyers brought forward dramatic accusations that officials had destroyed cultural artifacts while casing the pipeline route.

Sep 11, 2016

“The women joined arms, and we started saying ‘Water is life!’ A dog came up and bit my leg, and right after that a man came up to us and maced the whole front line,” Young Bear said. 

Journalist Amy Goodman was arrested for criminal trespassing after filming standoff at Native American grave site being dug up by pipeline company.
↩︎ Indian Country Today
Sep 11, 2016

Amidst the Hollywood-heavy PR against the pipeline, mainstream media depict Sioux resistance as quaint and novel, but "the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline is part of a centuries-long indigenous struggle against dispossession and capitalist expansionism."

A six-month investigation found that the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is supposed to protect Native interests during negotatiations for use of tribal land, made concessions worth $5 billion to corporations for pittances to families living on the affected land.

Sep 11, 2016
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