Photo/ Indian Country Today |
September 9, 2016
Democratic Socialists of America
(DSA) condemns the ongoing state and corporate violence against the just
resistance of the Dakota Sioux Standing Rock indigenous people to the violation
of their land and treaty rights by the Energy Transfer Partners’ construction
of the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline. Energy Transfer has vengefully
bulldozed a historic tribal burial ground and with state sanction assaulted
peaceful protesters with private security dogs. Both acts represent another
atrocity in the long history of forced removal and genocide against indigenous
peoples by an occupying white power structure. Contrast these brutal tactics
with the cautious treatment of far-right-wing racist white hate groups that
have tried to privatize federal lands. We hope that the federal government’s
recent decision to reconsider the building of the pipeline on native land will
lead to the permanent end to the construction of the pipeline.
Building the pipeline on indigenous land is an
assault by capital, with the assistance of state and local governments, against
the water, land and natural resources of the people of our first nations. Major
banks and financial institutions, including public pension funds, have massive
investment not only in Energy Transfer Partners, but the fossil fuel industry
in general. This resistance by the Dakota Sioux peoples to the irrational and
dangerous pipelines that take fracked shale oil from western North Dakota 1200
miles to Illinois is part of a growing movement against the dangerous
long-distance transport of crude oil that has already led to numerous emergency
situations, including the train derailment that killed 47 people in
Lac-Megantic, Quebec, in July 2013.
We need to further build a
multiracial climate justice movement to reverse the failure of federal and
state governments to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Massive public
investment in sustainable energy, in contrast, would contribute to the fight
against global warming and provide meaningful jobs in regions facing mass
unemployment, including indigenous communities.
Thus, DSA supports the indigenous
people and their allies gathering on
Dakota Sioux land to defend indigenous peoples’ rights. We also call on our
members to support the next national day of protests in solidarity with the
Standing Rock Sioux on Tuesday September 13th. For more information,
see here.
In addition, DSA will mobilize its
members to participate in nationwide protests in support of the Dakota Sioux on
Indigenous People’s Day, October 10th (a.k.a., “Columbus Day”).
Furthermore, we call on our members to express solidarity and give financial
support for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe by going to the website standingrock.org. We also
urge our members to write their elected officials to demand a cessation of the
pipeline construction and to oppose the use of the National Guard and other
government security agencies to repress the peaceful Dakota Sioux protesters.
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