Join US Veterans in active support of Standing Rock

Over 1000 veterans are expected to ‘deploy’ to South Dakota on Dec. 4th to support the water protectors at Standing Rock. This comes at a critical time for our country, and in the ongoing resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline. As ADPSR made clear in demanding AIA adopt a human rights Ethics Rule, and the AIA acknowledged, these times demand we are explicit in demarcating what is and is not acceptable in our treatment of each other. The same is true in relation to our treatment of the natural world. If we stand on the sidelines, if we act as if business as usual can continue without this focused attention and action, we are complicit with injustice. These veterans are showing all professionals what solidarity means.

There are many ways to act. ADPSR includes a short list of timely actions below.

If you have not been following the #NoDAPL struggle at Standing Rock this brief timeline goes up to November 20th when protectors were blasted by police with water cannons and rubber bullets in subzero temperatures. On November 26ththe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers notified the Standing Rock Protectors that on Dec 5th the Corps would close contested treaty lands on which Oceti Sakowincamp is located. The Corps urged the protectors to move to a “free speech zone” south of the Cannonball river. In a 11/26 statement and in a11/27 press conference, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman David Archambault II and other leaders made it clear that they would not move and would continue their nonviolent action against the pipeline.

The water protectors are asking for support to get the Corps and Obama administration to deny the easement to cross the Missouri River and stop the Dakota Access Pipeline now. It is also time to jam the phones with demands to stop the militarized police response to peaceful protestors.

Timely Actions

1.Sign the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s petition to Obama and the ACLU petition to the DOJ

2.Call or email the DOJ’s “peacemaker”, the Community Relations Service. Request mediation between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, The Army Corps of Engineers & the Morton County police. Frame the excessive use of force against the water protectors as a racial conflict in need of their attention. Email: Askcrs@usdoj.gov or call Federal office: (202) 305-2935, or regional office: (303) 844-2973

3.Take further action as suggested by Sacred Stone Camp such as joining a local solidarity action or calling Sherriff departments to withdraw from Standing Rock.

4.Email nodapl@adpsr.org if interested in working with a small group on industry-specific solidarity efforts.

"If the true concern is for public safety than the Governor should clear the blockade and the county law enforcement should cease all use of flash grenades, high-pressure water cannons in freezing temperatures, dog kennels for temporary human jails, and any harmful weaponry against human beings." -Chairman Archambault II