DAPL+Standing+Rock+Sioux+Uprising

=Standing Rock Uprising - The Struggle Against the Dakota Access Pipeline=


 * [[image:Multimedia.png link="@https://www.ted.com/talks/tara_houska_the_standing_rock_resistance_and_our_fight_for_indigenous_rights?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button__2018-04-09"]]The Standing Rock Resistance and Our Fight for Indigenous Rights**.
 * In this TED Talk, tribal attorney and Couchiching First Nation citizen Tara Houska chronicles the history of government claims against native lands

== =Context= Map of route of Dakota Access Pipeline through Standing Rock Sioux Reservation land shown.

(Photo taken from bridge of Highway 1806 of Cannonball River

.Energy Transfer Partners first proposed to build the **Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)** through Bismarck, North Dakota. The pipeline would carry fracked shale oil from the Bakken Oil fields

.Bismarck, a predominantly white city rejected the proposal of Energy Transfer Partners, so the company rerouted it to go through Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation lands

.Based on the conditions of the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty, the land the Dakota Access Pipeline was rerouted to be constructed on was sovereign territory of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation. However, the federal government did not recognize the 1851 Treaty Land and the US Army Corps of Engineers claimed that the land was theirs and that the pipeline could be built through it

.DAPL was proposed to go underneath Lake Oahe - the main source of drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux and a main tributary of the Missouri River. This was what became the rallying cry of the Standing Rock Sioux as they began to mobilize against the pipeline

Mni Wiconi - "Water is Life"
.The Standing Rock Sioux organized various events to try to raise awareness of the struggle against DAPL including a run organized by Sioux youth from Standing Rock Reservation all the way to Washington D.C. to try and get publicity against the fight

.The Standing Rock Nation also tried to delay and stop the pipeline in the courts, but not much progress was made so they put out a call to come to Standing Rock and help them stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline aka "**The Black Snake**":

In Lakota traditions, there is a prophecy of the coming of a **great black snake** that will bring destruction and sorrow and with it. They speak of how this black snake will either bring the people together to restore balance and integrity to life or wreak havoc and bring about the end of the Earth. Not only is the black snake prophecy often seen as a metaphor to describe the effects of our toxic and unsustainable ways of being in modern society, for those Lakota involved in the struggle to stop the transnational Keystone XL oil pipeline, the prophecy of the black snake was used to talk about the severity of the threat it posed to the Earth. Since the veto of the Keystone XL pipeline by President Obama, the Lakota people talked about the **Dakota Access Pipeline** as the **Black Snake**.





.In the Lakota language "**Mni Wiconi**" became the rallying cry of the movement against the DAPL pipeline - it means "**Water is Life**" .Social media went viral with **#NoDAPL** and **#MniWiconi**

//Oceti Sakowin, Sacred Stone, Rosebud-Chicangu// .The Standing Rock Nation map of the main protest camp - **Oceti Sakowin** .**Oceti Sakowin**, **Sacred Stone** and **Rosebud-Cichangu** were the three different protest camps set up by the Nation and populated by Natives and allies who came to the frontlines to help fight against DAPL

.Oceti Sakowin camp means "Camp of the **Seven Council Fires**" -The **Great Sioux Nation** made up of the 7 peoples:

.These peoples refer to themselves as **'****Oceti Sakowin' which means "7 Council Fires" - the 7 tribes that make up the Great Sioux Nation** .At Oceti Sakowin the 7 Council Fires of each of the 7 tribes was lit - the first time since the time of the Great Sioux wars against the US government. This was the unification and coming together of the 7 tribes for the first time in 150 years .**Over 300 different indigenous nations and tribes from all over the world gathered to help the Standing Rock Sioux fight DAPL - it was the largest united front of indigenous peoples fighting together in history**

=Resistance to DAPL=

.The Standing Rock and gathered allies used a variety of nonviolent tactics to resist construction of the pipeline .The "**Water Protectors**" centered resistanc around indigenous led prayer .Tactics used to fight the pipeline: **Direct action, social media, legal fights, lobbying** - the **Standing Rock Sioux Nation brought their case to the United Nations**

//“Prayer is a form of reverence – something greater than just money, profit, status, revenue, and ratings – namely human life. That’s what “**Mni Wiconi**” is all about. Water is life. We stand in prayer as a form of resistance. I call it revolutionary love. Because we are all here – different colors, different genders, different cultures, different sexual orientations, different nations because we have a profound love for the priceless indigenous brothers and sisters and because justice is what love looks like in public…And that’s what brings us together, our commitment to unarmed truth – and the condition of truth is to always allow for suffering to speak. And our commitment to unconditional love – and that love is always connected to a hatred of injustice.” //

//-Cornel West, Ally and Water Protector Speaking at Oceti Sakowin Camp Sacred Fire on December 4th // .Numerous months of direct action brought the construction to a halt by December 8th, 2016, when President Obama and the Army Corps of Engineers denied Energy Transfer Partners the easement needed to start drilling under Lake Oahe to complete pipeline construction .This was a major victory

(Front page photo from Oceti Sakowin website of Water Protectors during an action) (Photo taken from 'Media/Facebook Hill' at Oceti Sakowin Camp. Oceti Sakowin Water protector protest camp at sunrise) (Water Protectors occupy a downtown intersection in Bismarck, North Dakota) Documentaries/Resources on NoDAPL Uprising

"Awake, a Dream from Standing Rock" by Josh Fox and Miron Dewey available on Netflix .[|Role Play/Teaching Material on the Dakota Access Pipeline] from the Zinn Education Project [|"Stand Up"] music video by Taboo [|"Black Snakes"] music video by Prolific Key Questions/Themes of #NoDAPL Struggle .In what ways does the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline resemble continued legacies of oppression toward Native peoples? .Was the fight against DAPL a failure? .What does it mean to support the rights of indigenous peoples in the 21st century? .How did the surveillance of the movement resemble the tactics used in the COINTELPRO program? .What are the implications of the repression of water protectors for free speech and protest? .How does the Standing Rock movement bridge the fight for environmental rights and indigenous rights? .What is the legacy of the fight against DAPL?