STANDING ROCK
At the Cross Roads
Do we sell our souls to the devil, or think very carefully, about which road we are traveling on?
So many threads of the fabric that is the plasticized, brutalized and ignorant America we are all tangled in are represented at STANDING ROCK. It is indeed our perfect storm and a PEARL HARBOR for our new century.
First and foremost "we" and by "we" I mean American corporations, American Consumers, and the few politically savvy have too long acquiesced and are now awash in the wide spread pollution of our country and our planet.
It would not have been easy, to do otherwise and complacency, inertia and economic necessity have compelled many who are aware, to simply avert their eyes. The problem however has reached a CRISIS. Our climate and the very sustainability of life on our planet is in CRISIS.
Let's tick off the list of major issues raised by STANDING ROCK.
1 CORPORATE OVER REACH
2 CLIMATE CHANGE
3 CLASS & RACIAL ECONOMIC DISPARITIES
4 ENVIRONMENT INTEGRITY /QUALITY REDUCTION
5 ESCALATING CREEPING CRIMINALIZATION
6 ENERGY POLICY
7 ETHNIC CLEANSING
8 FIRST NATIONS TREATY OBLIGATIONS
9 MEDIA ACQUIESCENCE OF THE CORPORATISTS AGENDA
10 MEDIA COMPLICITY/ SILENCE
11 MILITARIZATION OF POLICE
12 POLICE OVER REACH
13 POLICE DISREGARD FOR HUMAN AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
14 POLICE BRUTALITY
15 POLICE & MEDIA ANTAGONISM
16 POLITICAL CORRUPTION
17 RACISM
18 REGULATORY CAPTURE by CORPORATIONS
19 WESTERN LAND USE & FEDERAL LAND POLICY
Look at the miracle that had to happen before adequate pressure was applied to accomplish what we have achieved so far. Let's be careful however not to overstate our success at this point. It is not set in stone exactly what kind of obstacle has been placed in the path of the "black snake". Are we seeing only a temporary stutter and restful pause for the nearly completed pipeline. Will we see what happens far too often in these environmental stand offs. The corporation decides, court ruling and "modest fine" notwithstanding, they will simply go ahead, pay a token fine and even more often (BP - I'm looking at you) end up by writing off the fine as a tax expense. That must stop.
But my case is simply this. Standing ROCK, can be the cornerstone of a new awakening of political, judicial environmental and political power. We must like those brave WATER PROTECTORS and those wonder VETERAN HUMAN SHIELDS and the many of all tribes who joined them STAND TOGETHER. We must hunker down, because we face a long implacable winter. We will need to STAND TOGETHER- this was only a skirmish in the long war ahead.
PNN
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