'Dreamers and Warriors' Unite For Global Day of Protest Against Dakota Access

Amid the outpouring of solidarity, protectors on the frontlines continue to put their bodies on the line to stop constru

by

Lauren McCauley, staff writer

People across the nation—and world—on Tuesday are taking to the streets in an outpouring of solidarity for the tribal fight against the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL).

With more than 100 events planned for the#NoDAPL Day of Action—from Kyoto to London, from the seat of power in Washington, D.C. to Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) headquarters in Houston—tribal members, environmentalists, and supporters worldwide are joining together to call on U.S. President Barack Obama to cancel the pipeline's permits once and for all.

Meanwhile, on the ground, tribal members and their allies continued to put their bodies on the line to halt construction of the 1,172-mile conduit. On Tuesday, activists once again lockedthemselves to machinery to make clear that construction "has never really stopped."

And despite the Obama administration's   motionlast week to suspend construction on land controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers, and request for ETP to follow suit, the pipeline parent company   said Tuesday it would continue to "move forward with the project." 

Tuesday's developments made the Day of Action all the more crucial, as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is scheduled to speak at the D.C. rally Tuesday evening, pointed out on social media, writing: "The fight continues."

Solidarity and protest came in all forms on Tuesday.

In Vermont, activists expressed support by blocking construction of a natural gas pipeline near the town of Hines, while supporters in London dropped a banner over Westminster Bridge.

Among dozens of other actions, plans include a protest outside the contentious Dominion Power company headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, a march in downtown Boulder, Colorado, and a peaceful sit-in at a church in Northampton, Mass.And just as

 Indigenous people were the first to join the Standing Rock Sioux in their battle against the pipeline, expressions of solidarity continue to come from tribes across the U.S. and beyond.

Resistance to the pipeline has brought "unprecedented unity" to tribal nations across North America, Clayton Thomas-Muller, a member of Manitoba's Treaty 6 Mathias Colomb Cree Nation and campaigner for 350.org, told Canada's National Observer.

"When we did some of the biggest protests ever in the history of the climate movement in relationship to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline," he explained, "that set up a circumstance that we have today, where Indigenous peoples are the leaders of this new climate movement, standing there at the front line with other communities of color and challenging power in really beautiful way."

"It's only a beginning but it's a spectacular beginning and a reminder that sometimes the future is made by dreamers and warriors who come together unexpectedly."
- Rebecca SolnitAs author Rebecca Solnit, who spent a number of days at the Red Warrior Camp, observed: "What's happening at Standing Rock feels like a new civil rights movement that takes place at the confluence of environmental and human rights and grows from the last 60 years of lived experience in popular power and changing the world."

"There is nothing guaranteed about the outcome for the DAPL, the larger movement that the uprising at Standing Rock has begun, and the connections it strengthens," she continued. "It's only a beginning but it's a spectacular beginning and a reminder that sometimes the future is made by dreamers and warriors who come together unexpectedly."

Images and information from the solidarity events are being shared on social media under the hashtag #NoDAPL.

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http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/09/13/dreamers-and-warriors-unite-global-day-protest-against-dakota-access