Dakota Access Pipeline protest movement now focuses on the money
It’s been a tough few months for opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). First Donald Trump officially approved the $3.8 billion project. Then indigenous people were forced to clear out of the Oceti Sakowin and Sacred Stone protest camps. And with construction done, oil has now begun flowing from North Dakota to Illinois.
But the opposition has not faded away.
In fact, it's entering a new phase by moving from the plains of North Dakota into city councils and corporate boardrooms. And its indigenous leaders are scoring big victories. They’ve convinced cities to divest billions of dollars in their portfolios from Wells Fargo, which is financing about 5 percent of Dakota Access. Several major European banks have also dropped investments in the project.
SEE ALSO:9-year-old girl seeks clean air for her generation, sues Indian government over pollutionThe protest camps at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation “planted seeds in thousands upon thousands of people’s moral sensibilities,” said Jackie Fielder, a 22-year-old indigenous activist.
She’s now fighting to get San Francisco to divest: “I don’t think [the DAPL opposition] is nearly over. It’s multiplying.”
The DAPL divestment movement may foreshadow similar protests to come against the Keystone XL Pipeline project, which President Trump also green-lit, and other infrastructure that would increase planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
Fielder was born and raised in Long Beach, California. But she has deep ancestral ties to the land and water Standing Rock protesters are fighting to protect. She’s an enrolled member of North Dakota’s Three Affiliated Tribes – and is also descended from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, a key leader in the Dakota Access opposition.
Dakota Access Pipeline demonstrators outside the White House on March 10, 2017.Credit: AP/REX/ShutterstockFielder traveled to the Sacred Stone camp last December. “When I left I decided I wanted to do something,” she said. “It wasn’t clear what that was going to be.”
The answer came to her in early February. That was when Seattle’s City Council decided to cut its $3 billion worth of financial ties to Wells Fargo. “We are taking a bold policy step today,” saidCouncilmember Lorena Gonzalez. It was the result of a campaign led by Matt Remle, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, along with other activists.
Seattle was then followed by the cities of Davis and Santa Monica, California, which together pledged to withdrawmore than $1.1 billion from Wells Fargo.
Fielder was watching all this unfold in San Francisco, where she had recently graduated from Stanford University. “I was like, ‘we gotta do this,’” she said.
Fielder made inquiries among local indigenous groups. Were any of them running divestment campaigns? Did they have any interest in starting one? But many of the groups seemed too busy to take it on. So she decided to create her own.
“With the energy and time I have as a young person,” she said, “it seemed like I could actually take this up.” With the blessing of older activists, Fielder contacted people across the Bay Area on social media. And in late February, several dozen activists made the casefor divestment at a San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting. On March 14 Fielder’s “Defund DAPL” coalition won its first victory. The Board passed a resolutionpledging to explore the feasibility of divesting from companies with ties to Dakota Access.
It was a promising start. Fielder and her fellow activists are now pushing the city to officially drop its $1.2 billion in pipeline-related investments. One way San Francisco might do that is by formingits own municipal bank.
In the meantime, other activists are pressuring city councils in Los Angeles, Raleigh, New York, Chicago, Bellingham, Albuquerque, and Portland to take action. The Dutch financial giant ING and the Norwegian pension fund KLPhave soldoff their investments in Dakota Access, and were followedearlier this month by the French bank BNP Paribas SA.
City Council member Kshama Sawant, center, speaks in favor of Wells Fargo divestment during a committee meeting on Feb. 1, 2017.Credit: AP/REX/ShutterstockA coalition of investors worth $653 billion is standing in solidaritywith the Standing Rock protesters. And a social media campaign to get individuals to pull their savings from banks financing the pipeline has so far added$79 million to divestment efforts.
In late April, Fielder and other indigenous activists took their case directly to Wells Fargo’s annual shareholder’s meeting in Florida. “I’m the product of what happens when you protect the water,” she said, before being escorted outby security.
Yet none of the activities has had a discernible financial impact on Dakota Access or the banks still funding the project. The company building it, Energy Transfer Partners, expects the pipeline to eventually be transportingup to 570,000 barrels of oil per day.
With the Trump administration doing all it can to support the pipeline, and the courts seemingly
reluctantto stand in favor of indigenous rights, Fielder acknowledges that the odds are stacked against the Dakota Access divestment movement. Yet she sees it as a way for regular people across the U.S. and the world to communicate a wider message of protest.
“Divestment is a people-powered intervention in the market,” Fielder said. “It’s actually willing into existence a new world where we don’t depend on fossil fuels.” She sees this as her way of fighting back against the centuries of repression that indigenous peoples have suffered from the U.S. government.
“This is not just a financial stance but also moral stance. It’s hard to put a dollar price on living up to your morals."
Featured Video For You
TopicsActivism
(责任编辑:行业动态)
- Slot extends perfect Liverpool start
- Klarna CEO reveals plan to reduce workforce by 50% and replace it with AI
- “新丰味”喜获中国首届县域品牌擂台赛十大营销创新品牌
- Apple Watch bands: 5 favorites to consider as Apple Watch 10 looms
- A Barbie flip phone is here from HMD
- 11 Places to See Tiny Trains
- 'Hyundai Way': Auto giant's W121tr plan aims to seize mobility market lead
- Apple finally sends out payments for MacBook's butterfly keyboard settlement
- 'Please find her': Man dies amid 25
- Top 10 Tech Pranks
- Sinkhole swallows up car, injuring 2 in Seoul
- 科创筑梦树立远大志向 蓄势赋能培养科技人才
- Netanyahu’s Inferno
-
Carbon neutrality law violates basic rights: Constitutional Court
South Korea's carbon neutrality law does not conform with the Constitution because the absence ...[详细] -
8月26日,市委书记夏凤俭在雅与四川建安工业有限责任公司董事长耿海波一行座谈。双方分别介绍了雅安经济社会发展情况和企业生产经营情况,围绕推动企业科技创新、扩大投资布局、做强产业集群、开拓市场空间等方面 ...[详细]
-
'Hyundai Way': Auto giant's W121tr plan aims to seize mobility market lead
Hyundai Motor Company President and CEO Chang Jae-hoon introduces the 10-year "Hyundai Way" strategy ...[详细] -
We Cannot Live Without Cryptography!
You're about to wind up your day and use your smartphone to check what's in your smart fridge to dec ...[详细] -
评论丨农事运动会:一场农民的盛会、新农人风采展现的盛会、城乡双向奔赴的盛会
评论丨农事运动会:一场农民的盛会、新农人风采展现的盛会、城乡双向奔赴的盛会_南方+_南方plus广东省农事运动会火了,周末两天5场农事活动,场场都成为热搜话题。青瓦村屋旁、乡土大地上,来自广东各地的城 ...[详细] -
Google has announced that Gemini, its AI tool that rivals ChatGPT, now supports AI-generated images ...[详细]
-
优化广东优质农产品产销资源对接!“农友圈”又有新动作_南方+_南方plus2023年10月,广东省农业农村厅依托“粤农技”微信小程序建成并运营了农业技术需求精准对接服务公益性平台——“农友圈”。截至7 ...[详细]
-
Apple to start manufacturing iPhone Pro in India, report claims
The first iPhone Pro models to be made in India could be coming as soon as September or October this ...[详细] -
Bernie Sanders’ DNC speech sounded like everyone else’s. That’s astonishing.
So far, the Democratic National Convention has been filled with era-marking oratory. The first night ...[详细] -
Google Search tries new tactics for limiting explicit deepfakes
The explosion of nonconsensual deepfake imagery online in the past year, particularly of female cele ...[详细]
- Listeners encouraged to go wild with Le Sserafim's 4th EP
- 'Hyundai Way': Auto giant's W121tr plan aims to seize mobility market lead
- Prime exclusive deal: $50 off Govee floor lamp
- Best Home Depot Labor Day sale deals
- How to watch 'Kinds of Kindness': When is it streaming?
- CPUs Don't Matter For 4K Gaming... Wrong!
- How much will PCB's Champions Cup mentors be paid?