Standing Rock Smoke Signals.

By Jerry Alatalo

eterans for Peace has sent out the call to its membership across the United States to support the water protection efforts at Standing Rock, North Dakota. Thousands of men and women veterans from the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines and Navy have already arrived or are on their way to the camp, where some 11-12,000 people of all races have gathered to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Arrival of the veterans has created in the minds of many images recalling the atrocities of Wounded Knee where hundreds of innocent Native Americans became victims of mass murder by U.S. government/military forces – leading to calls for restraint and caution to avoid any repeat of that or other historic tragedies. The most remarkable and disturbing aspect of the months-long events in Standing Rock has been the excessive use of violence against those opposing the pipeline’s construction, with opposition efforts carried out using Gandhian-style peaceful protest – prayers, unified purpose, wisdom, and non-violent civil disobedience.

The land on which the thousands protesting the pipeline have gathered was promised by treaties made with the U.S. government in the 1800’s to the Lakota Sioux/Standing Rock tribe. The specific language in those treaties said, “for as long as the sun shines…”. The U.S. Congress in 1954, depending on one’s interpretation, either took possession of the land beneath the camp by “eminent domain” or stole it, with the intended purpose of flooding it as part of a hydroelectric dam project. The dam project never materialized.

The standoff will have to become resolved in the courts, and the water protectors are working to avoid unnecessary violence if law enforcement personnel receive the orders on December 6 to clear the camp and its thousands of residents – now, including a large contingent of U.S. military veterans standing in solidarity for support of the environment, morality and legal justice.

While those who call for the pipeline’s construction have told the American people the project will benefit “all” as part of the nation’s drive toward “energy independence”, apparently the project, if completed, would result in 100% of the fossil fuels transported through those pipes being exported to foreign countries for profit. Millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent with law enforcement operations to clear the way for private investors to profit, jeopardizing the environment in the process – in particular the drinking water for millions of citizens whose sole source is the Missouri River and/or massive Oglala Aquifer.

U.S. Marine Corps-Korean War veteran and member of the Lakota Sioux tribe, 80-year old Buzz Nelson, has been closely associated with events at Standing Rock; his grandson is the chairman of the Standing Rock tribe, David Archambault. He recently sat down for an interview with fellow Marine Dan Shea, veteran of the Vietnam War, to share thoughts, concerns, and reasons for optimism surrounding the historic events in North Dakota.

For more thorough, in-depth information on the legal situation in North Dakota and effective ways to support the men and women of Standing Rock, please visit: www.LakotaLaw.org

(Thank you to Jim Lockhart at YouTube)

Jill Stein, Ajamu Baraka Support Standing Rock Protectors.

By Jerry Alatalo

“Water is the principal, or the element, of things.”

– THALES OF MILETUS (640-546 B.C.) Semitic founder of Greek sciences, philosophy

t seemed only natural that the Green Party’s candidates for President and Vice President of the United States, Dr. Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka, would find their way to North Dakota to express their support for those attempting to close down the Dakota Access Pipeline. When your party platform features a proposal calling for a “New Green Deal” and America becoming 100% energy independent with renewable energy by the year 2030, being in solidarity against multi-billion dollar fossil fuel infrastructure that further threatens the environment is simply the obvious choice.

It is uncertain whether the other candidates – Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Gary Johnson – have expressed their opinions one way or another with regard to the Dakota Access Pipeline, but thus far Dr. Stein and Mr. Baraka are the only candidates to travel and join the thousands trying to stop what is now becoming referred to as the “Black Snake”. The events in North Dakota, despite minimal or zero coverage by American corporate media companies, have become a matter of international interest.

Leaders at the historic gathering in North Dakota have made it cleat that their efforts are entirely peaceful and prayerful, reminding many observers of the actions of civil disobedience in India led by Mohandes Gandhi that resulted in that nation’s independence from the British Empire. Ultimately, whether the Dakota Access Pipeline will end or go ahead toward its completion will become argued and decided in the courts.

Putting aside local, regional, national and international laws pertinent to the pipeline, the issue lifts serious questions surrounding the environment, climate change, economic justice, political power and leaving a healthy world for future generations to a higher, much more prominent level. In particular, the “Green New Deal” proposed by Dr. Stein and Mr. Baraka has reached greater status, focus and consideration in light of the North Dakota situation.

People might be wondering how different the reaction might have been had, instead of a fossil fuels pipeline putting at risk the water needed to survive in the region, the project consisted of the same territory being built up with thousands of solar panels and wind towers. Clearly, solar panels and wind turbines pose absolutely zero threat to the environment in contrast. Such a comparison describes the choice, the energy future, offered to American voters by the Stein|Baraka campaign.

Those same American voters have slightly more than 60 days to think about the environment and other major issues, weigh the options, and make their choices. It might help voters in making their decisions to consider what happened in history at Chernobyl, Fukushima, the Gulf of Mexico and other regions of the Earth where environmental disasters produced great harm to all life forms, including men, women and children.

From that standpoint, it’s reasonable to suggest that Standing Rock, North Dakota in September 2016 may represent a major historical turning point for the human race.

(Thank you to Jill2016 at YouTube)