Since we last featured the #NoDAPL occupation in What We’re Reading, thousands more have traveled to North Dakota to join the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in the struggle to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. On Thursday, heavily armed law enforcement attacked the encampment with armored trucks, sound cannons, and bulldozers, arresting over 140 people.
Here’s what we’re reading to learn more:
Police arrest hundreds in massive assault on anti-DAPL protest camp, by Rafi Schwartz via Fusion
“Dave Archambault II, Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, released a statement on Thursday’s assault, calling it ‘a disproportionate response from law enforcement to water protectors’ nonviolent exercise of their constitutional rights.’
Archambault also called for the Justice Department to send observers to the protest site to ‘ensure the protection of First Amendment rights’ and ‘hold the state of North Dakota and Morton County accountable for their acts of violence against innocent, prayerful people.’”
How to talk about #NoDAPL: A Native perspective, by Kelly Hayes via Truthout
“It is crucial that people recognize that Standing Rock is part of an ongoing struggle against colonial violence. The Dakota Access pipeline (#NoDAPL) is a front of struggle in a long-erased war against Native peoples -- a war that has been active since first contact, and waged without interruption. Our efforts to survive the conditions of this anti-Native society have gone largely unnoticed because white supremacy is the law of the land, and because we, as Native people, have been pushed beyond the limits of public consciousness.”
Fighting for our lives: #NoDAPL in historical context, by Nick Estes via Indian Country Today
“The Oceti Sakowin has vigorously opposed these bald imperialistic maneuvers to usurp our self-determining authority over our lives and lands. Settler society entreated the Oceti Sakowin for the 1854 and 1868 agreements, not the other way around. We entered these relationships with the understanding that both parties respected a common humanity with the people and the lands. In our view, the settler state lost its humanity when it violated the treaties. Every act on our part to recover and reclaim our lives and land and to resist elimination is an attempt to recuperate that lost humanity — humanity this settler state refuses and denies even to its own.”
How to contact the 17 banks funding the Dakota Access Pipeline, by Emily Fuller via YES! Magazine
“Researchers with the nonprofit Food & Water Watch found that 38 banking institutions are involved in funding the proposed Bakken pipeline, which would stretch from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. A section of this project is the Dakota Access pipeline, where the Standing Rock Sioux and thousands of allies have physically put themselves in the path of the pipeline to protect their reservation and a stretch of the Missouri River.”
"A Shameful Moment for This Country": Report back on militarized police raid of DAPL resistance camp, via Democracy Now!
Looking for more resources? Check out the Standing Rock Syllabus from the NYC Stands with Standing Rock Collective for historical context and current analysis. Want to get involved? Here are some suggestions from the Oceti Sakwoin Camp.
"What We’re Reading" is a weekly feature on AFSC’s News and Commentary blog, where we share a curated collection of recent articles on timely issues. "What We're Reading" is meant to spark discussion, debate, and knowledge sharing, and the articles we highlight do not necessarily reflect the official organizational positions of AFSC. We encourage you to tell us what you're reading on these issues in the comments below.