On Sunday night, militarized police attacked the Standing Rock camp — yet again — this time in a vicious water cannon assault in sub-freezing temperatures. Hundreds of people — unarmed people — were injured in the attack. As a report from the camp notes:
“The attacks came as water protectors used a semi-truck to remove burnt military vehicles that police had chained to concrete barriers weeks ago, blocking traffic on Highway 1806. Water protectors’ efforts to clear the road and improve access to the camp for emergency services were met with tear gas, an LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device), stinger grenades, rubber bullets, and indiscriminate use of a water cannon with an air temperature of 26 degrees Fahrenheit. Some flares shot by law enforcement started grass fires which were ignored by the water cannons and had to be extinguished by water protectors. Law enforcement also shot down three media drones and targeted journalists with less lethal rounds.”
The pipeline is being built on unceded Indian land. It was originally due to run near Bismarck, but officials there rightly concluded it was too dangerous for the water table, and would put the lives and health of many people at undue risk. So it was rerouted through sovereign Sioux territory instead; the lives and health of ‘those people’ don’t matter. And so a huge armed and armored force of law officers — as well as strong complement of armed corporate mercenaries — has been sent in to enforce this illegal action on behalf of corporate profit.
Standing Rock now the site of one of the largest, longest-running peaceful demonstrations in US history — and is being almost entirely ignored by the US press. In fact, journalists have been arrested there for trying to cover the story; just last night, police shot down three media drones trying to get pictures of the water cannon attack (in sub-freezing temperatures). Every tweet of the twerp in his fake golden tower is front-page news; but the historic protest at Standing Rock is not even worth a mention.
Meanwhile, those great progressives, Barack Obama and Loretta Lynch, do nothing. Jeff Sessions might as well be in the Attorney General’s chair already; he could hardly be less scornful of the mass violations of civil rights, legal rights, treaty rights and human rights going on at Standing Rock than Lynch and Obama.
