Standing Rock: the power of peace

Hupa fisherman. Photo by Edward Curtis, 1923, via wikimedia

Hupa spear-fisherman. Photo by Edward Curtis, 1923, via wikimedia

“There’s power in peace, and I will serve that” says wounded US Marine, Catcher-Cuts-the-Rope, who is standing with those at Standing Rock to protect the water supply for the reservation, and those living downstream.  He was wounded at the battle of Falujah, Iraq, and is now standing up non-violently to invite vets from across the land to confront the Police State which would enforce actions violating a treaty made by our nation in 1851, as detailed in this video.  This can’t be happening!  

Catcher’ is calling for vets to arrive at Standing Rock before December 4.  Here is a brave man, calling upon other brave folks to do the right thing.  (If the video is being blocked, try searching for it in Canada, or on youtube.)  Those who might be frustrated that they can’t protest in person could consider calling President Obama, urging him to send in the National Guard to protect the peaceful water-keepers, and the peacekeepers in blue.   (Some people will do anything to generate excitement; others have a conscience and just need a job and a paycheck, but mostly do what they are told.)  Contact the White House at 202-456-1414, or by email. Obama can defuse this standoff, if he so chooses.  

“The decision to run the so-called Dakota Access Pipeline through Sioux sacred lands, some of it formerly awarded to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe by US treaty, but later stolen from them, stands in stark contrast to an earlier decision to reroute it from a planned Missouri River crossing point near North Dakota’s capital city of Bismarck. There, protests by the local (white, middle-class) public forced a rethink by the companies behind the pipeline, and the US Army Corps of Engineers. They decided to alter the planned route to run it through Indian territory instead.” ~Counterpunch, 11/25

The Huffington Post article containing the video may still be visible under this title:  Iraq War Veteran’s New Battle Is Fighting Dakota Access Pipeline.  

(The author of this blog served honorably, and was awarded the Navy Achievement medal — individually, not as a member of a unit.)

 

3 thoughts on “Standing Rock: the power of peace

  1. I’m not sure any bit of this blue ball is more sacred than any other, although there are some people who approach my personal definition of “holy” more closely than others. People who command extraction industries are not even on the list, for all that’s worth.
    I think the ultimate arbiter of this will be money, in which they find that, when it’s all said and done, the whole thing will prove to not be profitable, and we, all of us, will be stuck with the tab, while the people who initiated this will continue to stash the money that other people worked for, in the Caymans, which will be submerged but continue to exist as legal entities in which people continue to hold accounts.
    I hope I live to see the day that they realize that no one can eat money, nor drink oil. I don’t hope to live a whole lot longer, as there won’t be much left to eat or drink when that comes to pass. Viva la cucaracha

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