Standing Rock Water Protectors in Netherlands, Now Germany

Waste Win Young, Dakota Lakota from Standing Rock, Rachel Heaton, Muckleshoot, Rafael Gonzalez, Dakota, and Nataanii Means, Dine' Lakota, in the Netherlands.

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Standing Rock Water Protectors met with members of Parliament in the Netherlands, and visited four cities in five days. Now they are off to Germany on their 11 country tour, urging divestment in fossil fuels, investing in renewable energy, and standing up for the water.
Waste Win Young, Dakota Lakota, said they have just arrived in Bonn, Germany, and will be first supporting those resisting coal mines.

                                          Photos by Rachel Heaton and Sandra Beckerman

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Rachel Heaton, Muckleshoot, shares the day:

Today we visited a village in the city of Groningen. The people here are effected by man made earthquakes caused by one of the many gas extraction plants located in the middle of their farmlands. They too are fighting the abuse of big corporations looking out for the interest of profits over people and at the expense of lives and land.

The people of this town welcomed us with a beautiful picnic, one side of the street farmers crops, the other side huge mazes of metal pipes leading into the ground and under the land of those that live here, the gas extraction plant.

They shared a meal with us, their stories, allowed us space to share our stories. There was so much beauty today that took place, but in the middle of sadness right there in their back yards. They were eager to learn more about our fights and our struggles as Native People and the fights on our lands.

This trip so far has been even more eye opening that could have imagined. The people we've met, the land we've touched, those we felt connected too, the water we've been gifted, and the awesome group of us that get to travel together. People all over the world are struggling and yet they look to us indigenous people for hope, for guidance, for new ideas, our connection. I'm learning more and more about the beauty in the struggle too.

I say prayers for each and every person that has crossed my path on this journey, those already a part of my journey, and those to come. So many are doing their part to help Mother Earth and so many believe indigenous people such as the Water Protectors I'm with and those we've met are doing just that. I'm so thankful for this day and so thankful for our struggle.

A'ho!

Native American Water Protectors Begin European Tour in Paris

Native American Water Protectors Begin European Tour in Paris

More photos at:

 http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2017/05/photos-standing-rock-water-protectors.html?m=0

In Paris, water protector Juan B. Mancias
Tribal Chairman at 'Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas

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"Yesterday we were welcoming the Water Protectors from USA, Rachel Heaton, Nataanii Means, Wasté Win Young, Rebekah Hinojosa, Juan B. Mancias and Rafael Gonzalez, with some first actions." Photo courtesy Stand Up with Standing Rock.

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Solidarity with Water Protectors in Paris yesterday.

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Rachel Heaton, Muckleshoot

Rachel Heaton, member of the Muckleshoot Nation in Washington State, said of the photo above, "Some of the awesome organizers we get to tour around with.. it is the work of 24 organizations that got us Water Protectors here. Upon arriving in Paris we went right into actions. There is so much organizing going on here in Europe and it's exciting being a part of it." Photo by Rachel Heaton.

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Nataani Means, Dineh

Nataani Means, Dine' from Chinle on the Nation Nation, said, "We're about to hit an eleven city tour in Europe. Doing divestment work, as well as performing music in each city of the tour. We're gonna continue waking people up to what's going on not only with the destruction of Mother Earth but educating about our communities, what we go thru. And what we're still facing on our nations. When I started doing music this is what I wanted to do it for. Educate people about who we are in the 21st century. Prayers to everyone traveling, it's gonna be tough cause I really haven't been home in a minute and we just finished a two month tour here on turtle island. Myself and these beautiful people will do our best to represent in a powerful way."

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 Waste Win Young, Dakota from Standing Rock

has just arrived in Paris. Young was among those camped and resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline.

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Water Protector Rafael Gonzales

Four additional cities are joining the Tour ! Water Protectors will come in Paris, Brussels, the Netherlands, Köln, Geneva, Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, Bologna, Rome and Naples. Be ready friends ! Quatre villes s'ajoutent à la Tournée des Défenseur.e.s de l'eau. Ils passeront donc à Paris, Bruxelles, les Pays-Bas, Cologne, Genève, Barcelone, Madrid, Bilbao, Bologne, Rome et Naples. Soyez prêt.e.s les ami.e.s !

Standing Rock Water Protector European Tour and Schedule

From May 20th till June 14th, some activists of the Standing Rock’s movement will come to Europe for a solidarity tour called “Stand Up With Standing Rock”.

In Standing Rock, North Dakota, United States, the so called “water protectors” fought against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Thanks to months of non-violent resistance gathering people from all over the country and from various backgrounds, they put a stop to the project during the Obama administration. But as Trump got the presidency, he decided to defend his own financial interest by sending the army to evacuate the Oceti Sakowin camp, build in the pipeline route. One month after, the oil was flowing inside the pipeline. But the fight is not over, as the water protectors took care of spreading it all over the Turtle Island (North America) and are now willing to spread it all over the world.

THE HAGUE Alaskan Native Women Confront Shell with Risks of Drilling in Arctic

Breaking: Indigenous Delegates tell Royal Dutch Shell AGM-Extreme Energy Development is a Risk for Investment and the Planet

May 21, 2013 at 2:44pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Extreme Energy development is a risk for investment and the planet, Indigenous delegates tell Royal Dutch Shell shareholders in The Hague, Netherlands
                                                             
Tuesday May 21st, The Hague, Netherlands- Today members of the Native Village of Point Hope, Alaska and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) attended the Royal Dutch Shell AGM to confront the Chairman and Board over Shell's decision to pursue highly risky 'extreme energy' projects without adequate consultation and accommodation of Indigenous communities. Projects such as Arctic off-shore drilling and tar sands will have little long term benefit for the company, and expose it to reputational damage, political and financial risk, including litigation.

Mae Hank, representative of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), attended the AGM to bring forward concerns regarding Shell’s Arctic offshore activities. Litigation, along with several other incidents has helped slow the rush to drill in the Arctic but the Tribal communities remained concerned Shell has not heeded these warnings.

“Shell has stated that despite their current 'pause' in their Arctic offshore Alaska activities, the company is committed to drill there again in the future,” she said. “As an Inupiat Mother and Grandmother, I strongly oppose this plan, as do a majority of Inupiat. There is still no viable spill plan in place not only for cleaning up spills but how the company will compensate our community for the loss of food and food security. I asked the Chairman and the Board to explain how they would compensate our community’s food security and needs when the next major oil spill disaster happens. The Chairman and the board simply danced around the question and did nothing to quell my concerns.”

Despite being plagued with substantial problems throughout and after the drilling season Royal Dutch Shell plans to continue it’s efforts for exploratory drilling in 2014 in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas,pursuing an aggressive plan for offshore drilling extraction in America’s Arctic Ocean. The massive drilling plan projects an estimated 174 exploratory and extraction wells within critical habitats of culturally sensitive marine mammals.  Shell Oil and associated agencies lack huge gaps of information of the harsh conditions, current and tidal systems, ever changing and unpredictable ice, and dangers of the Arctic Ocean; in turn, which could potentially lead to a very large oil spill. An oil spill in the remote Arctic ecosystem would be devastating – currently, there is no effective way to cleanup an oil spill in Arctic conditions, and there is a lack of infrastructure in the region to support an adequately safe drilling or cleanup program. The company has spent $4.5bn securing permits to drill in Arctic waters, however they have been proven incapable of operating in the area. Shell’s experiences should be a cautionary tale as decisions are made about whether to authorize these activities in the future.

Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands states “Shell’s profit driven desire to drill in this fragile yet harsh Arctic environment is senseless when you look at their record of accidents and mishaps this past year already.  It is absurd that they still desire to move forward in the Arctic, while they are absolutely not capable of standard operations in arctic conditions. We attended the Shell AGM to urge shareholders to recognize the serious risks of Shell’s pursuit in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of Alaska. We support a moratorium on offshore drilling in Arctic Waters, due to serious harm and risk to Inupiat subsistence and cultural rights.”


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For More Information:

Alaska

Lily Tuzroyluke, Inupiat, Point Hope, Alaska (907) 602-3424
Faith Gemmill, Executive Director REDOIL (907) 750-0188

In Europe
tel:+31-636-18-44-11
Suzanne Dhaliwal, UK Tar Sands Network
Mae Hank, Inupiat, Point Hope, Alaska
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 REDOIL is a movement of Alaska Natives of the Inupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Tlingit, Eyak, Gwich’in and Denaiana Athabascan Tribes who came together in June 2002 in Cordova, Alaska to form a powerful entity to challenge the fossil fuel and mining industries and demand our rights to a safe and healthy environment conducive to subsistence. REDOIL aims to address the human and ecological health impacts brought on by unsustainable development practices of the fossil fuel and mineral industries, and the ensuing effect of catastrophic climate change.  We strongly support the self-determination right of tribes in Alaska, as well as a just transition from fossil fuel and mineral development to sustainable economies and sustainable development.

The three core focus areas of REDOIL are:
            ~Sovereignty and Subsistence Rights
            ~ Human and Ecological Health
            ~Climate Change and Climate Justice


Mae Hank, Tribal Member of the Native Village of Point Hope speaks at Idle No More Rally, Anchorage, Alaska

'Shell NO!' Indigenous Activists Reach Shell Investor Meeting from Paddle to Seattle

‘Shell No!’ Paddle to Seattle Indigenous Activists Reach Westminster Shell Investor Meeting

Thursday May 21st, 2015

From www.platformlondon.org

LONDON and NETHERLANDS -- Today, under the shadow of Big Ben, a delegation of indigenous women was joined by campaigners to protest Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic. Mae Hank and Faith Gemmill-Fredson travelled to Shell’s Annual General meetings in the Netherlands and London directly after taking action in Seattle last Saturday on a mass “flotilla” where kayaktivists blocked Shell’s Polar Pioneer drilling rig docked at the Port. At the shareholders meeting in London handmade black origami “roses of resistance” were laid at the entrance by UK Tar Sands Network and Platform to demand an end to the expansion of the Canadian tar sands and the exploitation of people in Nigeria plus standing with communities resisting Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic this summer. A box of resistance roses were hand delivered to the Shell board.

“Shell has left a toxic legacy across the globe and continues to ignore the global community who are calling for real action on climate change [1],” said Suzanne Dhaliwal who delivered the ‘roses of resistance’ to Shell. “It is incoherent to be pushing ahead with the Alberta tar sands and exploring the Arctic when the science is clear, we need to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Today I hand-delivered ‘roses of resistance’ to the Shell board in London in solidarity with people from Nigeria, the Arctic and the Tar Sands who are feeling the impacts of Shell’s reckless operations and who are shouting loud and clear to stay out of the Arctic.”

“The Arctic drilling plans of Shell deserve world attention now, we came here to display our resistance to the company’s dirty energy plans for the Chukchi Sea in Westminster, London,” said Gemmil-Fredson. “Indigenous Peoples of Alaska should not have to sacrifice subsistence livelihoods to meet the bottom line of this company that has proven at the shareholder meeting in the Netherlands yesterday, that they are ill equipped to drill in the Arctic. We are concerned about the global climate crisis, our Alaska Native communities are hit hardest by the current climate chaos, which Shell is pushing further into. We oppose Shell’s use of false solutions to climate change like carbon capture storage, carbon trading and REDD, this is simply an attempt to greenwash its destruction of the Arctic and the world [2].”

“Shell’s meeting today in London meeting was only open to shareholders, However, the indigenous people are the major stakeholders in the region,” said Mae Hank, community activist and grandmother of 17. “Shell cannot clean up spilled oil in broken ice conditions, no one can, they want to proceed with their psychotic Arctic drilling plans for the Chukchi Sea despite the fact that there is a 75% chance of disaster. Shell’s plans will impact our food security, it threatens our way of life. The international solidarity that we saw today from the people of the UK helps us to stay motivated as we continue this battle to keep Shell from devastating our way of life and pushing the global community into climate crisis [3].”

“Today we delivered black roses to symbolise mourning and solidarity with the communities in the Niger Delta and Canadian tar sands whose lives are ruined by Shell’s oil drilling,” said Sarah Shoraka from Platform. “20 years after the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa for leading a movement that kicked Shell off their land, the roses demonstrate the resistance that continues in these communities. It’s not too late to stop Shell drilling in the Arctic and leaving a toxic legacy like they have in the Niger Delta and Canadian tar sands [4].”

[1] http://www.no-tar-sands.org/2015/05/shell-fails-to-respond-to-questions-at-annual-general-meeting-about-environmental-and-climate-risks-associated-with-arctic-drilling-and-tar-sands/

[2] http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/16/paddle-in-seattle-shell-arctic-oil-drilling

[3] http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/19/climate-change-shell-annual-meeting-oil-global-warming-resolution-shareholders

[4] http://platformlondon.org/oil-the-arts/asw/

Faith Gemmill-Fredson (Neets’aii Gwich’in, Pit River and Wintu) of Arctic Village, Alaska is the founder and current Executive Director of REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction On Indigenous Lands) REDOIL is a grassroots network that was created by Alaska Natives to share knowledge, experience and strategies to address the detrimental impacts of fossil fuel, mining and climate change in Alaska. Faith is a board member of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) Faith also currently serves as the Vice-President of the California Indian Environmental Alliance.

Mae R. Hank, Inupiat from Point Hope (AKA – Tikigaq), Alaska. Mae is a resident and tribal member of Native Village of Point Hope. Mae previously served as a Native Village of Point Hope Tribal Council member for ten years. Mae is a former employee of the North Slope Borough, and the City of Point Hope, as well as the former Executive Director of the Native Village of Point Hope Tribal Council office. Among her many accomplishments, she also served on the Point Hope Search and Rescue committee. Mae is a mother, and most importantly a grandmother of 17 grandchildren. Mae has been an active and vocal advocate in opposition to offshore development for 38 years. Her primary desire is to ensure the rights of the Inupiat to continue to live their traditional way of life by securing a clean and pure ocean so that the Inupiat whaling culture can continue to thrive in the Arctic. Threats now imposed upon the Inupiat people by Royal Dutch Shell and other multi-national oil companies’ efforts to drill in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas of the Arctic Ocean. This is a direct threat to the Inupiat and their rights to continue to live their traditional whaling culture which the Iñupiat have done for thousands of years.

- See more at: http://platformlondon.org/p-pressreleases/shell-no-paddle-to-seattle-indigenous-activists-reach-westminster-shell-investor-meeting/#sthash.ShVrynlm.dpuf