Thirty Pieces of Silver

Thirty Pieces of Silver

Annie and I were returning to our hotel Saturday afternoon, after having been at the Bayshore Mall, when without preamble, we found ourselves face-to-face with a spirited protest. More than a hundred people were gathered at the intersection just one block over from the civic center, carrying signs that declared solidarity with those at Standing Rock.

We honked at the protestors as we went through the intersection, and went straight to our room, but instead of the nap I had been planning to take, while Annie shopped, I asked her to drop me off as close to the protesters as she could, so that I could go check it out.

I wrote a piece last September, 

(“Business as Usual,” http://markyswrite.blogspot.com/2016/09/business-as-usual.html ) , in which I denounced Big Business, especially oil, and expressed the opinion that what was going on in North Dakota, was reprehensible. Those putting everything on the line to protest Big Business, and protect the water, deserved support.

Though the media has been directed to keep this news on the back burner, social media has more than made up for the slack, magnifying once again, how thoroughly Corporate ‘Merica controls the press.

My knee-jerk reaction to the protest in Eureka was one of pride, that there were so many people in the immediate area, who were willing to put their time and energy on the line, to show their support for those in North Dakota.

If even for only a short time, I desired to immerse myself in what it was like to be a part of such a powerful statement. I wanted to feel the energy of those assembled, because I know these exact same spontaneous protests are happening everywhere.

Water Protectors is one of many labels attached to these protestors, because the pipeline being installed has a long and sordid history of impacting our nation’s water tributaries, in the most negative manner imaginable.

The route the pipeline follows, goes though scared burial grounds of those who were here long before Europeans invaded, and took over lands belonging to native peoples. There is a meme on face/book, which suggests that was is being done in North Dakota, would be akin to putting a pipeline through Arlington National Cemetery.

What I cannot set aside, is the irony which pervades this political hot potato. Native people from many nations have gathered and taken a last stand, as it were, to defend their lands against the inexorable encroachment, which has gone on for five hundred years.

This time, however, it’s more than the land; it’s the water which flows over the land, and serves millions of people. The battle is about environmental rights, because the track record of these pipelines is abysmal.

There is so much arrogance involved on the part of Corporate ‘Merica, that it is enough to piss off the pope. With a military presence rivaling that of Afghanistan, Standing Rock looks as though it belongs right there in the Middle East.

And the people of Eureka are pissed off too. Native people were there in force, yesterday, but so were folks of all creeds and cultures. It’s not a battle that interests Native people only; it is a battle that involves us all.

What do we have to do, as a nation, to get Corporate ‘Merica to back the fuck up, and quit destroying that, which does not belong to it in the first place? I’ll tell you what we need to do-we need to support those at Standing Rock, because they are it, right now. They are the last bastion of protest.

These people are telling Corporate ‘Merica to STOP!, and the rest of us need to join in, because we are all fighting a common enemy, one that will destroy us all for thirty pieces of silver.