Yesterday, at about 3pm, despite private security macing them and attacking them with dogs, the water protectors in North Dakota stopped construction on the Dakota Access pipeline, again. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now was there:
Here's some more grassroots footage.
For more details on what happened yesterday, see the Red Warrior Camp press release.
The pipeline, intended to carry fracked oil from North Dakota’s Bakken region to Illinois, was originally planned to go under the Missouri River near majority-white Bismarck, but was rerouted to instead do so just upstream of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. With woefully insufficient consultation with the tribe, and against the advice of three other federal agencies, the Army Corps of Engineers has gone ahead with approving it. So now thousands of people, from many dozens of tribes (among other allies) have joined the Standing Rock Sioux at the Camp of the Sacred Stones in peaceful prayer and sometimes civil disobedience to stop the pipeline.
What can we do?
One thing is to contact the local sheriff (more pics & news there too) to ask them to do their job and protect the protectors. And of course keep spreading the word, contacting your representatives, etc.
Most importantly, there is a call now to organize solidarity actions wherever you live, now through Sept 17, against the banksters funding this pipeline. By then we will know if the judge in the Standing Rock Sioux' lawsuit against the Corps will issue preliminary injunction to stop construction while the trial proceeds. (Background: Standing Rock Sioux tribe FAQ, legal team Earthjustice's FAQ)