NoDAPL Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Kit O'Connell: Approximately 8,000 Words

#NoDAPL Spills Over: Musicians Boycott Dakota Access Pipeline CEO’s Record Label & Festival

A rally against the Dakota Access Pipeline in Phoenix Arizona on November 12, 2016. (Flickr / Paulann Egelhoff)

November 9, 2016

Kit

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#NoDAPL Spills Over: Musicians Boycott Dakota Access Pipeline CEO’s Record Label & Festival

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

When it comes to the Dakota Access pipeline, musicians want to stop the music.

Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the corporation building the controversial $3.8 billion pipeline, also owns Music Road Records, a small record label which presents the annual Cherokee Creek Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

The Indigo Girls announced in September that they would not be playing at the next festival, slated for May 2017.

Reaffirming their support for “Standing Rock, the Standing Rock Sioux, their friends and allies in protecting their sacred land and water by stopping the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline and all pipelines that carry dirty oil and threaten massive ecosystems,” the folk rock duo also encouraged other musicians to cancel their plans to perform at the festival.

On U.S. Empire Building And Fascism (Black Tower Radio Interview)

A bulldozer provided to France under the post-WWII Marshall Plan. (Wikimedia Commons / U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, PD)

November 2, 2016

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On U.S. Empire Building And Fascism (Black Tower Radio Interview)

Posted in Audio, Journalism, and MintPress News

In a recent history lecture published by actTVism Munich, Noam Chomsky revealed that the U.S. was quite supportive of fascism before we went to war with Hitler and Mussolini. After World War II, America deployed a plan to dominate a “grand area” of the globe, essentially a plot for world domination that reverberates to this day. This “grand area” scheme led directly to the Vietnam War, and can still be seen in the influence of “humanitarian” multinational organizations like the International Monetary Fund.

Over 100 Arrested In Brutal Police Crackdown On Standing Rock ‘Water Protectors’

Activists rally at Minneapolis City Hall to support the 'water protectors' blocking the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. October 25, 2016. (Flickr / Fibonacci Blue)

October 28, 2016

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Over 100 Arrested In Brutal Police Crackdown On Standing Rock ‘Water Protectors’

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Law enforcement commenced a violent crackdown on Native American activists blocking construction on the Dakota Access pipeline on Thursday, resulting in over 100 arrests and multiple injuries.

At least 107 people were arrested and both Native American “water protectors” and members of the media were harmed when hundreds of militarized riot police, accompanied by armored vehicles and the National Guard, stormed a blockade on North Dakota Highway 1806 and an accompanying encampment.

Among the injured was Derrick Broze, an independent journalist reporting for MintPress News from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation this week. He was shot with pepper spray and shocked with a “less-lethal” taser. Police also took his smartphone, which he had been using to document the day’s events via Facebook Live.

North Dakota ‘Water Protectors’ Reclaim Land, Build New Camps To Block Dakota Access Pipeline

A banner reads "Leave It In The Ground" as Minneapolis activists protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. October 25, 2016. (Flickr / Fibonacci Blue)

October 25, 2016

Kit

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North Dakota ‘Water Protectors’ Reclaim Land, Build New Camps To Block Dakota Access Pipeline

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

In response to the fast pace of pipeline construction and mounting pressure from an increasingly violent police presence, activists opposed to the Dakota Access pipeline are expanding their efforts to block construction in North Dakota.

More than 125 “water protectors” were arrested over the weekend during multiple nonviolent direct actions aimed at halting construction of the 1,100-mile pipeline which is slated to run through four states.

Armored riot police attacked a march on Saturday with tear gas and arrested 83 people on charges ranging from assault on a peace officer to rioting and criminal trespass. Police also shot down two camera drones operated by Native American journalists.

North Dakota Police ‘Out Of Control’ In Crackdown On Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

Native American "water protectors" drum in solidarity with anti-pipeline activists in North Dakota. September 16, 2016. (Flickr / John Duffy)

October 22, 2016

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North Dakota Police ‘Out Of Control’ In Crackdown On Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

As reports of police abuse at Dakota Access Pipeline protests accumulate, a civil liberties NGO warns that activists’ constitutional rights are under attack.

“In Standing Rock, the cops are out of control,” warned Cooper Brinson, staff attorney at Civil Liberties Defense Center, in a report published on Thursday.

Citing reports of humiliation, beatings by police, and unnecessary strip-searches of arrestees, Brinson wrote:

Journalists Risk Legal Battles & Prison Time For Covering Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

A NoDAPL sign at a rally in solidarity with Native American "water protectors" in North Dakota. (Flickr / Paulann Egelhoff)

October 20, 2016

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Journalists Risk Legal Battles & Prison Time For Covering Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Although charges were recently dropped against prominent progressive journalist Amy Goodman, multiple reporters still face serious charges for covering protests against the Dakota Access pipeline.

Among them is Deia Schlosberg, an Emmy-winning documentarian who was recording nonviolent protests against the Dakota Access pipeline for an upcoming film. She’s currently up against three felony charges which carry a maximum combined sentence of 45 years in prison.

On Monday, a judge in North Dakota threw out the case against Goodman, an award-winning journalist and host of Democracy Now! North Dakota State’s Attorney Ladd R. Erickson had initially filed charges of criminal trespass against Goodman on Sept. 8, just days after a Democracy Now! video showing pipeline security attacking Native American activists with dogs went viral. On Oct. 14, the trespass charge was dropped and replaced with a misdemeanor charge of rioting.