Standing Rock

Indigenous people are fighting for us all

| February 1, 2017

In the 1990s, the David Suzuki Foundation embarked on a program to develop community economic projects with coastal First Nations. Between 1998 and 2003, my wife and foundation co-founder, Tara Cullis, established relationships with 11 coastal communities from the tip of Vancouver Island to Haida Gwaii and Alaska, visiting each several times.

She encountered unemployment and a desperate need for jobs and economic development in every community. Then came pressure for pipeline projects and court-mandated consultation with First Nations. Federal and provincial governments began offering huge financial incentives for pipeline approvals. But opposition remained strong because some things are more important than money.

Columnists

'Rise' series documents frontlines of Indigenous movements

Still from "Apache Stronghold. "Image credit: VICE

Rise is a fantastic new series by VICE and APTN that covers a resurgent Indigenous cultural urgency, filmed expertly by Toronto's Christopher Yapp and executive directed by the talented, award-winning Ontario filmmaker Michelle Latimer.

I was able to preview two episodes of the eight-part series (which debuts January 27 on VICELAND): "Apache Stronghold" (Arizona) and "Red Power" (North Dakota). If the rest of the series is just as powerful -- in storytelling, educational components and underlining human stakes -- I would highly recommend watching this series.

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documentary indigenous resistance indigenous land rights no pipelines indigenous activism Dakota Access Pipeline Standing Rock

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Water is life language project

Krystalline Kraus

| December 24, 2016

Back in early December, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself that my ride had fallen through so I missed my chance to team up with the Saami delegation at Standing Rock.

But as I was following this story, I was becoming more and more aware of its global reach -- the Idle No More of 2016 and most likely of 2017.

While the recent activities of law enforcement have ratcheted up the interest in Standing Rock to the point it was getting one million search hits on Facebook.

This gave me the idea that I would love to compile a database of how we can great each other in our mutual solidarity as water protectors.

Breaking: 2016 sucked. But maybe not all of it.

Related rabble.ca story:

Six reasons 2016 wasn't just a giant dumpster fire

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Fire, water, oil and ice: An update on Standing Rock

Krystalline Kraus

| December 20, 2016

Winter has descended on North Dakota, with biting snow and hard winds that buffet the Oceti Sakowin camp -- the main protest camp near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, where the Standing Rock Sioux band, their Indigenous allies and U.S. veterans have been protesting against the 1,885-kilometre Dakota Access Pipeline.

The pipeline project had been complete but for a segment planned to run under Lake Oahe, a reservoir formed by a dam on the Missouri River.

Six reasons 2016 wasn't just a giant dumpster fire

Michael Stewart

| December 20, 2016

Breaking: 2016 sucked. Not in the usual way life sucks, like the way a bowl of rice pudding sucks, a milquetoast, flavourless gruel that masquerades as a dessert while quietly eroding your ability to enjoy even the simplest of life's pleasures.

No, 2016 sucked like cancer. It was a canvas of pimples and boils in the care of an overzealous teenager. We sat helpless as he attacked every pustule with increased ferocity and relentlessness, each one bigger and more putrid than the last. Then someone elected him president.

A recap: The attacks in Paris. Brussels. Lahore. Istanbul. Nice. Istanbul. The hate-crime shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Brexit. Fentanyl. Aleppo. Aleppo. Aleppo.

Columnists

Water protectors celebrate a major victory at Standing Rock

The Dakota Access pipeline has been stopped, at least for now. The Standing Rock Sioux Nation and thousands of native and non-native allies won a remarkable and unexpected victory Sunday. Word came down that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had denied a permit for the pipeline owner, Energy Transfer Partners, to drill underneath the Missouri River, and that a full environmental-impact study would be launched. Grassroots organizing, nonviolent direct action and leadership from frontline Indigenous people succeeded in stopping the $3.8 billion, 1,200-mile pipeline in its tracks. As water protectors celebrated in the frozen camps, one question loomed: What will happen when Donald Trump takes over the presidency in six short weeks?

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indigenous resistance pipeline resistance Dakota Access Pipeline Standing Rock Standing Rock Sioux

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Standing Rock inspires Canadian mobilization against extreme pipelines

Mark D'Arcy

| December 7, 2016

The mobilization at Standing Rock and the conviction to speak out against extreme pipelines is having a profound affect here in Canada.

"More than 10,000 have come here from all over the world", reports BBC's James Cook in his compelling news report from the Standing Rock camp.

From Toronto to Standing Rock: #NoDAPL

Carrie Lester, Mohawk Land Defender and Water Protector, expresses solidarity from Toronto to Standing Rock/Tkarónto to Oceti Sakowin: #NoDAPL, and sings a Water Song in their honour, at the Standing With Standing Rock, #NoDAPL Solidarity March on November 5, 2016.

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Interview: Journalist finds shocking degradation and human rights abuses in Canada's mining industry

Santa Rita Mountains. Flickr/Mike Chapman

Interview with John Dougherty, an investigative filmmaker whose documentary Flin Flon Flim Flam delves into the growing opposition to mines due to human rights abuses.

Related rabble.ca story:

Investigative journalist finds growing opposition to Hudbay mining projects

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mining guatemala Arizona HudBay Minerals Standing Rock

Standing Rock

'Rise' series documents frontlines of Indigenous movements

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Six victories that lighted up a gloomy 2016

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Water protectors celebrate a major victory at Standing Rock

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From Toronto to Standing Rock: #NoDAPL

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Interview: Journalist finds shocking degradation and human rights abuses in Canada's mining industry

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