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News > World

DAPL Protestors Start to Move Camp Amid Safety Concerns

  • Teepees dusted in snow at the Oceti Sakowin camp.

    Teepees dusted in snow at the Oceti Sakowin camp. | Photo: Reuters

Published 13 January 2017
Opinion

Many water protectors will relocate to other reservations and continue their fight against the pipeline. 

A harsh winter has prompted water protectors protesting against the North Dakota Access pipeline to relocate the main Oceti Sakowin camp.

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Due to continued arctic-like conditions on the camp, Native American elders have decided to transition the camp located on a floodplain of the Missouri River, where heavy winter snow is expected to submerge the area in water as spring approaches. Leaders have asked occupants to evacuate as soon as possible because of safety reasons.

In an official ceremony, the sacred fire of the Seven Councils was extinguished and the area is to be cleaned up. While a small number of protesters are expected to stay on to camp, possibly moving to Sacred Stone, most will be moving to other Native American reservations and will be spreading their message to others.

“The Oceti Sakowin will then be moving to the various reservations, it'll be like a traveling fire that will go to communities to talk about the spirit and strength of what happened here and how it can be replicated,” said Kandi Mossett, lead organizer of the Indigenous Environmental Network, who are helping in the transition process.

“I think the outcome has already happened, our people in the Western Hemisphere from the south to the north are standing stronger because of NODAPL, the struggle to keep their water and their resources and their land,” said Madonna Thunder Hawk, a Lakota elder from Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Protesters started occupying camps in April 2016 in opposition to the 1,172-mile pipeline, which Native Americans and environmentalists say will cross over sacred land and pollute the local environment and waterways.

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The grassroots protests have gained increasing international attention, particularly through alternative and social media. At one point over 5,000 protesters were thought to have been occupying camps, but recent harsh weather has already seen many evacuate the camps.

The transition of the Oceti Sakowin camp comes as newly-elected North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum said that he believed the US$3.8 billion project would inevitably be built once Donald Trump officially becomes president later this month. Burgum asked those occupying the camps to clean up the areas as floodwaters could create an ecological disaster by washing away leftover material from the camps.

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