Water Protector Climbs Into Line 3 Pipeline Trench To Stop Work

cross-posted from Camp Miigizi

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 18, 2021
Contact: message Camp Migizi on Facebook

Water Protector Climbs Into Line 3 Pipeline Trench To Stop Work

(Fond Du Lac, MN) Monday morning, Nia Zekan, a water protector, climbed into a pipe trench along the Line 3 Pipeline easement, shutting down work for approximately four hours. Nia halted construction at this Enbridge worksite while dozens more stood around in support of Nia and resistance to Line 3.

The site is located on the Fond Du Lac reservation in so-called northern Minnesota, right next to Camp Migizi, a recently-opened space for water protectors. Continue reading

Why 2021 needs more direct action

BOSTON, MA: June 3, 2020: Thousands take part in a Black Lives Matter march and rally on the Boston Common in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff photo by Nicolaus Czarnecki/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)

cross-posted from Medium

by Scott Parkin

Back in the first week of June, 2020, soon after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin, I found myself once again in the streets marching in the streets of Oakland, CA and taking action for black lives. I’d been here many times before after the murders of Michael Brown, Philandro Castile and Alton Sterling. Beyond that, I’ve been organized and partaken in campaigns, direct actions and mass protests on a myriad of issues from the war in Iraq to knocking Wall Street banks for their financing of fossil fuels to the Indigenous uprising around Standing Rock for decades.

But that night felt different. The crowd has a ferocious energy. It trashed corporate banks and retail outlets. It tossed back teargas canisters launched by the Oakland police. It stood its ground as the police shot flashbangs. We established a temporary “cop free” zone at 14th and Broadway. When I returned home that night, I saw social media reports coming in from all over the country with similar images. I realized the ferocity was not unique to the Bay Area. A full scale uprising had erupted against various versions of the state — the police state, the corporate state and the federal state, particularly the malignant policies of the Trump Administration. Continue reading

Water Protectors Lock Down Inside Line 3 Pipeline

pics via Giniw Collective

cross-posted from the Giniw Collective

(Backus, MN) Thursday morning, water protectors locked to each other inside a Line 3 pipe segment, halting construction at an Enbridge worksite as dozens more held space.

The site is a few miles from a large Enbridge man camp operating in the township of Backus, Minnesota. Enbridge is working 24 hours per day at several worksites, as a pending injunction to halt work while tribally-led lawsuits are heard has yet to be decided.

According to several cultural site maps, numerous sacred and significant sites lie in the path of the Line 3 project.

Water Protector Abby Hornberger said, “After moving to Minnesota to attend college and study environmental science, I was excited to be in a place where people valued protecting the earth and finding a viable future. What I found, however, was a state that had formed “ambitious” climate goals yet endorsed one of the dirtiest fossil fuels, tar sands oil. I realized that indigenous ways of knowing and practicing harmony with the environment are continuously ignored. The Line 3 pipeline far outweighs all clean energy initiatives and progress being made in renewable energies. Line 3 will destroy Minnesota’s essential clean water resources for future generations and will ultimately drive us into climate doom. Education and spreading awareness is no longer enough to create meaningful change for me.”
Hornberger continued, “Enbridge’s last ditch effort to build fossil fuel infrastructure is killing people and the planet. I refuse to be complicit in settler colonialist practices, and feel that I have to put my body on the line to protect indigenous communities’ sovereignty and all of our futures. This is not just an issue relevant to some, it affects each of us on a deeper level that goes beyond our daily lives. It determines if we will have a livable future.” Continue reading

They let them in

The hypocrisy displayed today is not surprising but is too much to stomach. Chuds, fascists, and maga losers didn’t “storm” the Capitol, they were let in.

The armed takeover of the Capitol was explicitly white supremacist, violent, and not based in any truth or justice. Their sense of entitlement has been seeded by the disproportionate response they continuously get from the state, the police, the right, and the left establishment. This is just another reminder that in this settler, corporate-owned “democracy”, people in power will do nothing in the face of white supremacist violence and the disintegration of our collective social structures. If this was #BlackLivesMatter… There has already been so much violence towards our comrades for so much less — like literally walking down the street and being Black.

Republicans are reacting with surprise after decades of anti-Black racial agitation and Biden is feebly responding with empty messages of “unity”. We do not want unity without accountability and we do not want peace if there is no justice.

There’s going to be lots of bullshit coming in the next few days. White supremacists and fascists will be more emboldened. People in power and veneered talking heads will point blame and try to justify what happened. The establishment democrats will put out toothless and aesthetic responses and limply hold people accountable. That’s why we need to keep building and mobilizing our power to get everyone free by continuing to root our work in anti-racist principles and collective liberation and chasing fascists the f**k out of town.

Biden said today, “This is not America”… But this is EXACTLY what America is: White supremacy colonizes and reigns. The democratic establishment is not interested in justice. And the state will never protect or respond in the interest of the people.

Our communities and comrades keep us safe. We keep us safe.

Please support any or all of these D.C. groups doing the work to build, mobilize, and protect communities against racism and fascism in the U.S.:

If you can’t donate and have social media, please follow the accounts above and amplify their messages.

Lastly, Cori Bush just put up a petition demanding the resignation of the Republicans who supported the attempted coup today. Who knows what will happen, but it may be worth adding your name to the chorus of people demanding accountability. Keep in mind that Cori Bush and her coalition will send you emails after you sign it.

Here for the fight always, Rising Tide North America

PS: If you’re at a State House or a demo, reply to this email with anything you want us to amplify on our social media channels.