We have received
this report from Standing Rock. We believe it to be true but cannot verify it
at the moment. A crushing defeat at Standing Rock could take the wind out of
the sails of the Resistance Movement for a time. If this report is correct it
shows that the Trump forces are determined and are out for the kill here. It
shows that they will try and force through their agenda at just about any
costs. Of course it will be much more difficult in the cities and if there are
millions on the streets. FFWP Admin.
Report from Standing
Rock:
Harrowing news out of Standing Rock from volunteer, Deborah MacKay - Warning: It's not pleasant and may be upsetting. But you need to know this, and share:
"Friends, I
have returned from Standing Rock with my mind blown, my heart broken and my
spirit troubled with foreboding of a deepening tragedy. Volunteering as a legal
observer with the Water Protector Legal Collective I witnessed several
confrontations between Water Protectors (WP) and law enforcement: national
guard, sheriffs and private security (LE).
On 1/18/17 - 1/19/17
I observed WP with their hands in the air chanting "hands up don't
shoot" being
fired upon at a range of 10 to 15 feet. Tear gas canisters and rubber bullets (
rubber bullets are regular bullets covered in rubber) were used against unarmed
WP who had been singing and praying. I observed national guard chasing WP off
the Backwater bridge, firing at people running away. I heard people choking and
gagging from tear gas. I saw access to the WP medic vehicles being blocked. I
spoke with medics and WP who described bullets penetrating flesh and causing
terrible injuries, including to one media person who nearly lost his finger
when his camera was targeted.
I talked with a
media person and was told of 4 media people on the bridge that night, 3 had
their recording devices shot and the 4th, his hand. I saw a photo of a sheriff
aiming a rifle directly at a media woman who was standing apart from the crowd.
I heard testimony of the back of the medic pickup truck being awash in blood
after evacuating wounded.
I watched, and then,
inadvertently became a part of, WP being forced off the bridge by national
guard who were hiding behind WP vehicles parked along the road and firing
rubber bullets at fleeing people. Many people were shot in the back, the neck,
the head. When LE fired at people at close range, many were shot in the
genitals or in the face. I received information about DAPL security breaching the
short wave radio channels of the WP with taunts such as "come out and
fight like men you faggots or we will come to Camp and fuck your women."
There are some young
warriors, who, without the support of their elders, many who want the camps
cleared to mitigate the economic and social damage being suffered by the local
community in having the bridge closed, have vowed to not leave the camps or to
let the last section of pipeline be built.
Driving away from
the area on Monday I saw a convoy of construction vehicles heading to the drill
pad. Last night an indigenous website live streamed reports of drilling and
construction noises coming from the drill pad.
Without the eyes of
a free press these attacks and trespasses continue, with the human rights and
sovereignty of indigenous peoples denied. The UN Committee on Transnational
Corporations and Human Right Abuses was in Standing Rock this week to take
testimony of the many transgressions against people: crop dusters spraying
poison pesticides and fertilizers on the camps; hair samples indicating the
presence of these chemicals; people who have been injured, beat up, arrested,
strip searched; media and medics being targeted by snipers; (one medic told me
he stopped wearing his Red Cross vest due to medics being targeted); praying
people being attacked and the refusal of DAPL and our government to abide by
the Rule of Law.
The vets who came in
Dec to stand down against these crimes need to be on the ground there now,
right now. We need to stand up for our brothers and our sisters, for their way
of life and, I believe, for our social contract as a democracy which is now
threatened."
Please share this so word gets out what is happening, thank you.
Deborah MacKay
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