Moccasins on the Ground at Takini on the Cheyenne River Reservation
by Owe Aku International Justice Project
July 1, 2013 In
our effort to be true to our principal objective to preserve sacred
water and protect Ina Maka for future generations, working within the
protocol of our traditions and responsibilities must always be our first
priority. While journeying through the land after the Cheyenne River
Moccasins on the Ground training, Obama made indications that he will
not approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. That would be a great victory.
However, our victory does not come until all sacred water is protected
from tarsands, uranium mining, coal extraction and the myriad ways fat
takers destroy Ina Maka.
The
Moccasins on the Ground Tour of Resistance, in conjunction with many
allies and relatives, was on the move again with more non-violent direct
action training on the Cheyenne River territory of the Lakota Nation
from June 14th through 16th.
These educational and informative gatherings are designed to prepare
people to protect water and their communities in opposition to the
Keystone XL Pipeline (“KXL”) proposed by Transcanada currently under
review by the Obama administration (the first application was denied in
January 2012).
The
Pipeline’s construction is in itself dangerous to communities along the
route and the slurrying process is known to be hazardous to ground and
surface water. Dozens of “man camps” will be set up to house the
thousands of Union workers imported to run the enormous equipment used
to claw holes in the Earth. These camps are reputed to bring
prostitution, trafficking of women and children, violence, and deaths
from equipment/truck drivers not experienced in operating big haul
trucks in isolated areas. If the KXL becomes operational, the bitumen,
which is what the tarsands oil is called, must be heated to over 150
degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in the KXL pipes being 16 more times
likely to rupture than regular crude oil lines. This is no ordinary
oil. It contains dozens of toxic chemicals that are not only used in
extracting oil from the rock but also in melting the bitumen to force it
through the pipes. It is not a question of whether or not the Pipeline
will leak but rather when, where and how much will be leaked. Tantoo
Cardinal, who was introduced by Debra White Plume and is on the
frontline of resistance in her own homeland, talked personally about it:
“I
am from the area around the Tarsands mine and I’m here to tell you the
water is contaminated for at least 100 kilometers all around the mine
site. We are like the polar bears who are also being threatened by
climate change because the ice flows they depend on get smaller and
smaller; our territory shrinks from government and corporate assaults by
the fattakers and we are left with less and less.” (Tantoo Cardinal)
The
oil spill in Mayflower, Arkansas consisted of tarsands bitumen and to
hide the destruction from the public and media, a news blackout was
enforced by militarized police and national guard while a no-fly zone
was enforced to make sure no photographs of the devastation were
released. This is just one of dozens of leaks that has happened.
The
Moccasins on the Ground training in Bridger was on the traditional 1851
and 1868 treaty territory of the Lakota Oyate (called the Sioux Nation
by the uninitiated). Treaty status is recognized under international
law as well as by the United States, although the US government is
famous for the ongoing violations to all the treaties it has made with
Red Nations as well as with other nations around the world. The
treaties identify the inherently sovereign land of the Lakota people and
preserve that land for Lakota people to exercise a responsibility for
protecting sacred water for future generations. This is Lakota law and
tradition.
“I’m
in South Dakota today, sort of a ground zero for the XL Keystone
Pipeline, that pipeline, owned by a Canadian Corporation which will
export tar sands oil to the rest of the world. This is the heart of the
North American continent here. Bwaan Akiing is what we call this
land-Land of the Lakota. There are no pipelines across it, and beneath
it is the Oglalla Aquifer wherein lies the vast majority of the water
for this region. The Lakota understand that water is life, and that
there is no new water. It turns out, tar sands carrying pipelines are
sixteen times more likely to break than a conventional pipeline, and it
seems that some ranchers and Native people, in a new Cowboy and Indian
Alliance, are intent upon protecting that water.” (Militarizing Fossil Fuels in the East, Winona LaDuke with Frank Molley, see http://westcoastnativenews.com/when-drones-guard-the-pipeline/.)
The
Pipeline will cross the territory of the Lakota Oyate for hundreds of
miles. Not only does it pass over the Oglala Aquifer, it crosses the
Mni Wiconi Project which supplies drinking water to the Cheyenne River,
Rosebud, and Pine Ridge Indian Reservations.
“Our
people are suffering way beyond their age. Illnesses caused by
poisoned water and the weight of the trauma from generations of
suffering lie under the sicknesses that plague us. This Pipeline is
just one more step in their attempts to remove us from the land.” (Nina
Washtay, Idle No More).
Non-violent
direct action, the right to assembly and the right to free speech are
all principles being employed by Owe Aku and its allies in an attempt to
take action to protect sacred water which goes beyond proclamations,
petitions and resolutions. At Moccasins on the Ground a National
Lawyer’s Guild attorney explained that rights normally reserved under
the U.S. Constitution are not only threatened but have been virtually
annihilated. Under the Patriot Act any interference with state, local
or national policy is considered an act of terror.
“Twenty
years ago this region was determined to be a national sacrifice area.
You cannot regulate the Pipeline. All you can do is stop it but
protection under traditional law or treaty law will not be from the
courts. It’s easy to define legal rights [for participants] in non-violent direct action: there are none left.”
As
evidenced by the tarsands spill in Arkansas and the bombing in Boston,
the militarized police force of the United States does not hesitate to
use police-state policies to protect the corporations. The training of
Moccasins on the Ground is designed to instill discipline and a sense of
responsibility in strategies for stopping the pipeline through the
return of traditional values and decolonization. The balance between
speakers and hands-on training is what makes Moccasins on the Ground so
effective. As explained by several of the elders present, this is a
spiritual movement based in the ancient Lakota tradition of
relationships between human beings, plants, animals, water and rock. In
talking about a ceremony that closed the three-day training, Rocky
Afraid of Hawk explained that:
“We
are not allies. We are relatives. Allies may be together, but still
apart. In the Lakota way, relatives are with us. The Hunka ceremony (the making of relatives) is not about individuals but about tiyospaye (the extended family).
This is the way we should think about what we are doing and how we
should conduct ourselves to always be good relatives with each other and
the water.”
Representatives
of many Red Nations including the Nakota, Dakota, and Lakota peoples,
Northern Cheyenne, Dine, Anishinabe, Cree, along with representatives
from Protecting the Sacred, Tar Sands Blockade, Tar Sands Resistance
Movement, Utah Tarsands Resistance, Lakota Media Project, Prairie Dust
Films, Idle No More, and Colorado AIM, Barrio Warriors, and many other
organizations, all participated in the event as well as the Hunka
ceremony.
A
water ceremony was held along the Cheyenne River, Lakota families from
the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe made their vow to protect their water and
their people from the KXL.
For more information or interviews with the principles, please contact:
Kent Lebsock
Owe Aku International Justice Project
