Urgent Support is Necessary to Defend Arrested Water Protectors and Intervene to Protect Indigenous Sovereignty and Climate
(Albuquerque, San Francisco, New York) Following a week-long solidarity delegation to Indigenous-led resistance camps along the construction path of Line 3, Indigenous and Arab organizers representing The Red Nation, the Arab Resource & Organizing Center, and the Center for Constitutional Rights issue the following appeal:
We join our Anishinaabe and Indigenous relatives in their vehement and principled opposition to the Line 3 pipeline, one of the largest tar sands infrastructure projects in North America. A project of Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline company, Line 3 will transport nearly one million barrels of tar sands crude oil per day from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin and produce more carbon emissions than all emissions in the state of Minnesota combined. Even without oil running through Line 3, there have already been 28 documented frac-out cases. In a region suffering ongoing, historic drought, Line 3 will only exacerbate the ecologic and economic harms. Oil spills are inevitable; Line 3 threatens over 200 water ecosystems and violates treaty rights and Indigenous sovereignty over land and water with a devastating impact on the Anishinaabe people’s wild rice economy.
Our delegation of Indigenous and Arab organizers, scholars and advocates was built on long-standing relationships and a shared political commitment to decolonization and self-determination for Indigenous peoples from Turtle Island to Palestine. We recognize in the Indigenous-led struggle to stop Line 3 a righteous expression of Indigenous sovereignty and know that averting climate crisis is only possible by following the leadership of Indigenous people. According to the Indigenous Environmental Network, Indigenous people of Turtle Island are challenging a quarter of all carbon emissions from the United States and Canada, two of the world’s largest per capita emitters. Land Defenders and Water Protectors are fighting for a world where all can live in a dignified relationship to the earth.
Although Enbridge claims the pipeline is nearing completion, the fight is not over. President Biden and Democratic leaders have declared a “code red” for climate emergency but have done little to nothing in terms of stopping Line 3. We can’t wait for corporate politicians to have a change of heart this far into climate chaos. Urgent efforts and a wide-range of tactics must be pursued now to defend the land and water, to seek justice for harm already done, including sexual violence committed by pipeline workers, and to protect those on the frontline. Over 800 people have already been arrested during direct actions against Line 3, which is more than were arrested in the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock. The most urgent need identified by the Giniw Collective, an Indigenous women and Two-Spirit led collective organizing frontline resistance, is raising legal defense and bail funds to ensure that all frontline activists are protected. We are asking comrades, relatives, friends, and all who stand with these Water Protectors to contribute to their legal defense. They continue to fight on the frontlines on our behalf and for future generations. We condemn the tired tactic of the state to criminalize the defense of human rights and attempt to silence protest for the world we all deserve.
To learn more, follow the Giniw Collective, visit StopLine3.org, and listen to The Red Nation podcast episode “Line 3 Ain’t Over” with Tara Houska, founder of the Giniw Collective.
