by nick bernabe at theantimedia.org




a small standing rock sioux site in north dakota called the sacred stone camp has been propelled into the national news narrative following their stand against the dakota access pipeline. due in part to independent media coverage of the ongoing standoff, the sacred stone camp has grown into a formidable opposition against the $3.8 billion, 1,200-mile long pipeline.




due to misinformation coming from law-enforcement, political favoritism toward the pipeline builders, and the media<u+2019>s blatant reluctance to report on the pipeline, it<u+2019>s hard to tell truth from fiction. anti-media , along with our partners in the independent media and our embedded journalist at the opposition encampment, have been covering the unfolding standoff continuously. here are five things you need to know.




1. who is opposing the pipeline <u+2014> and why the standing rock sioux tribe is leading the opposition to the dakota access pipeline. they have been joined by the largest tribal coalition in over 100 years in their stand against the pipeline. the coalition is also comprised of activists, allies, and environmentalists, collectively known as <u+201c>water protectors,<u+201d> at the sacred stone camp, an encampment close to the location where the pipeline is planned to cross the missouri river in north dakota. according to the sacred stone camp website , they are opposing the pipeline because <u+201c>[t]he dakota access threatens everything from farming and drinking water to entire ecosystems, wildlife and food sources surrounding the missouri .<u+201d>




the standing rock sioux also say the pipeline is violating treaty land , sioux territory that was established many years ago by the federal government. <u+201c>we will not allow dakota access to trespass on our treaty territory and destroy our medicines and our culture.<u+201d>




the opposition to the pipeline spreads across several states and is not opposed solely by native americans. farmers, ranchers, and landowners are also opposed to the pipeline. many of them have had their land taken from them against their will and given to the pipeline via eminent domain.




2. the u.s. government and the pipeline corporation are continuing a long tradition of disrespecting native americans




the united states has a very bad reputation for treating native americans, the original inhabitants of this land, as less than human. in many instances in the past, the land where native americans lived was deemed to be of higher value than the natives<u+2019> lives.




such has been the case in north dakota <u+2014> not only now, but in the past as well. according to the atlantic :




<u+201c>the land beneath the pipeline was accorded to sioux peoples by the treaty of fort laramie in 1868. eleven years later, the u.s. government incited and won the great sioux war, and <u+2018>renegotiated<u+2019> a new treaty with the sioux under threat of starvation. in that document, the tribe ceded much of the laramie land, including the black hills of south dakota, where many whites believed there to be gold.<u+201d>
5 things you need to know about the dakota access pipeline protests
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