Native Women Demand Banks Respect Indigenous Rights and Lands

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Native Women Demand Banks Respect Indigenous Rights and Lands

By WECAN International

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The Indigenous Women's Divestment Delegation, and local and national organizations, took action outside of the Equator Principles (EP) Association annual member meeting in Washington D.C - to demand that the banks respect Indigenous rights and lands, and end their investments in dirty energy.

The Equator Principles Association includes 94 of the largest international banks, who have voluntarily signed-on to due diligence standards that should guide member banks away from supporting projects which endanger the Earth and communities. After human rights violations at Standing Rock, the EP Association promised to review and update the Equator Principles, however EP banks have continued to support dangerous extractive projects including ETP’s Bayou Bridge Pipeline, Enbridge’s Line 3, and TransCanada’s Keystone XL.

During the action, Indigenous women leaders and their allies spoke out with great strength to call on the EP banks to uphold Indigenous rights; align themselves with the scientific facts of accelerating climate change; and update their principles to firmly discourage members from investing in the fossil fuel industry and other extractive projects.

The rally was co-organized by the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, Honor the Earth, Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Market Forces, Sierra Club, and Greenpeace USA - and featured the voices of Indigenous Women's Divestment Delegation members, Wasté Win Yellowlodge Young (Ihunktowanna/Hunkpapa of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Former Tribal Historic Preservation Officer); Jessica Parfait (United Houma Nation, Graduate student at Louisiana State University exploring impacts of oil and gas on Houma tribal communities); Tara Houska (Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe, Tribal attorney, National Campaigns Director of Honor the Earth, and former advisor on Native American affairs to Bernie Sanders); Michelle Cook (Diné, Human rights lawyer, and Founder and Co-Director of the Divest, Invest, Protect campaign); and Leoyla Cowboy (Diné, member of The Red Nation, and community organizer for the Water Protector Legal Collective) - joined by Osprey Orielle Lake (Executive Director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network and Co-Director of the Divest, Invest, Protect campaign).

Watch the action live-stream: facebook.com/WECAN.Intl/videos/2211788935811031/

Learn more about this action: bit.ly/2CQUyLR

Learn more about the Indigenous Women's Divestment Delegation: bit.ly/2yLGoan

#NoLine3 #StopBayouBridgePipeline #NoBBP #NoKXL#DivestInvestProtect

Photos via Teena Pugliese

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Water Protectors just shut down an Energy Transfer Partners shareholders meeting in Dallas

BREAKING: Water Protectors just successfully shut down an Energy Transfer Partners shareholders meeting in Dallas, Texas 

L'eau Est La Vie Camp - No Bayou Bridge

All the shareholders were forced to evacuate!

Kelcy Warren, ETP CEO, fled when frontline leaders Ellen Gerhart, Cherri Foytlin and Waniya Locke spoke out about the gross misconduct of ETP projects on the Mariner East, Bayou Bridge, and Dakota Access pipelines. Cherri and Waniya were arrested.

You can see video of the disruption from inside the shareholders meeting here: http://bit.ly/ETP-Shutdown

While this disruption was happening on the inside, another group of protectors marched into the hotel, while several banners were dropped from adjacent buildings.

More updates coming soon, but please DONATE to help cover the legal costs of this action:http://gofundme.com/nobbp

#StopETP #NoBayouBridge #NoMarinerEast#NoDAPL

Anne White Hat -- 'Energy Transfer Partners tried to kill us in the Atchafalaya'

Anne White Hat --'Energy Transfer Partners tried to kill us in the Atchafalaya'

By Anne White Hat
Published with permission
Censored News

Talk about #BayousOfResistance!! 

(Oct. 17, 2018) The past 72 hours with our L’eau Est La Vie Crew have been nothing less than equal parts prayer, love, Ohitika, raw courage, and badassednessicity - to say the least. Those Energy Transfer Partners Bayou Bridge pipeline security #%!&@! tried to kill us out there in the Atchafalaya basin y’all, but they don’t understand that the swamp, she loves us more than all the hatred they have for us.

She resisted their hatred for her beloved Water Protectors, who love her so much. She reached her long willow branches out to us while our femme captains made life-saving maneuvers in the violent wake left by ETP’s Bayou Bridge security, her strong branches pulling us to shore as our boats sank into the swamp beneath our feet.

Even the gators with their glowing red eyes and the snakes, who hang over the bayou in the trees and those bigass - and I mean bigass, spiders made room for us. Except the armadillos, there were a lot of those guys who passed by at soon after the sun came up.

It was pitch black in the Atchafalaya when ETP tried to kill us. We deployed around 0:00 dark-thirty, with two national media crews on board, everyone coffeed-up, smudged-up and prayed-up. I had our prayer flags ziplocked and tucked away in my bag as we made our way into the darkness and the most spectacular ride through the swamp ever!! Honestly, I wish y’all were there to witness the magnificent beautiful swamplands that we’re protecting from ETP’s destruction.

At one point, we were the lead boat, I was on the bow of the boat, funky flashlight in hand (because I searched all over camp for a flashlight with batteries with George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars’ “Flashlight” in my mind lol) watching for red gator eyes, rougaroux and random branches or logs that might come across our path. The moon was just a sliver and the sky was filled with stars that reflected on the water, which was like glass at times, and an ever so light mist was coming up ahead hanging above the bayou. I had a feeling to bring out our prayer flags, and like they say, always listen to your intuition. So i pulled our prayer flags and waluta out of their waterproof ziplock bag as we moved through the misty bayou, through that powerful spiritual time, that darkness before the dawn, with all of Creation and the spirits of the Atchafalaya, holding the offerings of her Water Protectors for good health, help and protection.

Soon we could see the most obnoxious glow of lights from the Bayou Bridge pipeline construction site. I tucked our prayer flags safely away in my jacket pocket, knowing full well that our Ancestors had our backs.

Media crews were documenting the construction site along the bayou and soon a security patrol boat with a spotlight was coming towards us as we continued our way down the bayou. The ETP security patrol boat created a huge wake as he passed us by and within seconds waves nearly two feet high began crashing down into our boats. Yea y’all, that wreckless hater created life-threatening conditions which i’m sure violate all kinds of maritime law and could have killed a lot of people.

Meanwhile, hats off to our femme Captains who made split-second decisions, and I mean split-second, because we literally had about 3 or 4 seconds with 3-4 bigass waves, and they saved all of our lives out there - omg! I love them!

We’re all safe. No one was hurt. We’re still here to tell the story.

ok, stay tuned for more about how ETP tried to kill us in the Atchafalaya swamplands.

If y’all want to help us recover items we lost, that would be awesome. I, along with most of our crew lost our phones among many thousands of dollars worth of equipment, etc not to mention our camp boats.

I think i’m going to set up a personal gofundme effort. I had to replace my iPhone today which i totally can’t afford aaand I lost a lot of contacts and pretty much everything - except our prayer flags, they were with us the whole time.

#BayousOfResistance
#ProtectWhatYouLove
#StopETP
#NoBayouBridge
#LeauEstLaVie
#WaterIsLife
#MniWiconi

NOBBP.ORG

NO BAYOU BRIDGE

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the very same company behind the notorious Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) , is trying to build a 162 mile crude oil pipeline across Louisiana called the Bayou Bridge Pipeline (BBP).

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Native Women Take On Wall Street 'Divest in Fossil Fuels'

Photos by Erik McGregor and courtesy Waste Win Young.

Read more about the WECAN International delegation, Today they are in Washington D.C.
.https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2018/10/indigenous-women-take-divestment.html?m=0

BAYOU BRIDGE: Water Protectors Rescued after Boats Intentionally Hit with Wave

Twelve people, including a media crew, were rescued on Monday after Bayou Bridge pipeline resisters boats were intentionally sank

L'eau Est La Vie Camp - No Bayou Bridge

ALERT! (10/15):
Early this morning, while two boats carrying water protectors and media were legally observing a bayou bridge pipeline construction site, an Energy Transfer Partners security boat rapidly passing by intentionally caused a large wave that swamped and eventually sunk our boats!

All passengers, including a documentary film crew, narrowly made it to shore before the boats completely sunk.

All are safe, but some are stranded in the swamp. A local Cajun fisherman has offered to help and is preparing to take one of our boat pilots out to do a rescue extraction.

There is an urgent need to repair or replace our boats! Please share and support our fight.

Read more on the resistance to the end of the black snake pipeline, the Dakota Access Pipeline, on the Louisiana Gulf Coast, in today's article in The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/16/dakota-access-pipeline-bayou-bridge-protest-activism?CMP=share_btn_fb

'Opposing the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations at Devil's Lake' by Lisa DeVille

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Photo Lisa DeVille

'Opposing the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations at Devil's Lake' 

By:  Lisa DeVille, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara

Mandaree, North Dakota

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On October 12, 2018 I wrote this public comment on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) proposed in the Devils Lake Region to the North Dakota Department of Health. 

My name is Lisa DeVille.  I am an enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation but my direct lineage is Mandan and Hidatsa.  I have lived my whole life with my family in Mandaree, North Dakota, on Fort Berthold Reservation.  I am writing to oppose the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation that's sited near Devils Lake.  The origins of my people came from Devils Lake region.  It is a rich history of my people who inhabited the area before settler times.  Our roots are from there and the spirits of our ancestors are tied to that sacred land.

“We Mandan people call ourselves "the People of the first Man." The Hidatsa were known as Minnetaree, or Gros Ventre. Hidatsa was formerly the name of a village occupied by these tribes, which has been said to mean "willows." The name Minnetaree, spelled in various ways, means "to cross the water."  https://www.mhanation.com/history/

“One theory is the Mandan moved from the area of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa to the plains in South Dakota about 900 A.D., and slowly migrated north along the Missouri River to North Dakota about 1000 A.D. The Hidatsa moved from central Minnesota to the eastern part of North Dakota near Devils Lake, and moved to join the Mandan at the Missouri River about 1600 A.D. The Mandan and Hidatsa believe they were, created in this area and have always lived here.”     https://www.mhanation.com/history/

“The Awaxawi (meaning "Village on the Hill") tell of living in the earth and climbing to the surface on a vine. They met the Hidatsa-proper near Devils Lake in eastern North Dakota and Awatixa along the Missouri River. The Hidatsa-proper (meaning "People of the Willows") also lived within the earth and came to the surface near Devils Lake in North Dakota. Hidatsa warriors met corn growers along the Missouri River and decided to move there. When they arrived, the Mandan asked them to move north up the river but not so far as to become enemies.”   National Park Service, Knife River Indian Villages

North Dakota prides itself on the rich history of the first inhabitants of this territory, yet we are constantly accosted by large industries that seek to destroy the finite resources that we have left. North Dakotans, like tribal citizens feel that we are stewards of the earth and that we need to care for it so that our future generations will have a viable future.

There are negative impacts from factory farms to local health, quality of life, property values and the air, land and water that is located in and around the place where our people originated.

Factory farm operators make significant short term profits because they externalize their production costs onto the nearby communities.  Local residents end up paying for damaged roads due to heavy semi-trucks, manure spill clean ups, decreased land fertility, fish kills, and increased healthcare cost. It is foolish to believe that a thousand hog farm will not have an impact on the nearby lake and wetlands. Runoff goes downhill and will eventually end up in the lake.

Typical pollutants found in air surrounding CAFOS:

Amonia

Hydrogen Sulfide

Methane

Particulate Matter

North Dakota should take note from Iowa and see what our water quality will be like after a year of mass producing animals.