Standing Rock Sioux Victory over Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)

with
Jeffrey Haas, who has an extensive background in mass defense
from his days as a lawyer for Black Panthers and co-founder of the
People’s Law Office, a Chicago lawyers’ collective that rose up to
meet its historical moment—the defense of hundreds of Vietnam War
protesters in the aftermath of the 1968 Chicago Democratic Party
convention. The People’s Law Office would go on to challenge police
brutality and prisoner torture, achieving significant victories and key
vindications. Haas as well authored The Assassination of Fred
Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black
Panther

We’ll celebrate the victory of the denial of the easement for
installation of the Dakota Access Pipeline by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers. 

Jeffrey Haas, civil rights attorney who joined the legal team at the

Standing Rock Camp in North Dakota, where Native Americans and

others have been protesting to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline joins us

to talk about the momentous occurrence, and why the struggle isn’t over

and the ligation that remains over the violence perpetrated against the

protectors.   

The  pipeline demonstrators injured by rubber bullets, water cannons
and tear gas canisters during the wintry nighttime standoff with police two
weeks ago have filed a class-action lawsuit against the sheriff of the North
Dakota county involved. The suit describes in new detail the evening of
November.20, when more than 200 people protesting the Dakota Access
oil pipeline were injured by “less-than-lethal” weapons.  The lawsuit alleges
that sheriff’s deputies and police officers used excessive force when they
deployed impact munitions,like rubber bullets, as well as explosive tear
gas grenades and water cannons against protesters. It argues that the
tactics were retaliatory, punishing those involved for exercising free

speech rights.

Plus
"We beg for your forgiveness": 
Veterans join Native elders in celebration ceremony
Wes Clark Jr., the son of retired U.S. Army general and former supreme

commander at NATO Wesley Clark Sr., was part of a group of veterans at

Standing Rock one day after the Army Corps announcement. The veterans

joined Native American tribal elders in a ceremony celebrating the Dakota

Access Pipeline easement denial. Lakota spiritual leader and medicine

man Chief Leonard Crow Dog and Standing Rock Sioux spokeswoman

Phyllis Young were among several Native elders who spoke, thanking the

veterans for standing in solidarity during the protests.

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“Like A Tree That Standing By The Water We Will Not Be Moved”: Fighting on All Fronts Lawyers Declare Victory In Defense of the Camp Sacred Stone Water Protectors as Federal Judge Dissolves Injunction
with
Jeff Haas, National Lawyers Guild attorney

Even before the Dakota Access’s pipeline security turned violent activists faced harsh responses as Governor Dalrymple, who declared a state of emergency, removing water and sanitation resources from the reservation, and the police have set up roadblocks around the reservation. Dozens of protesters have already been arrested, and police have spread false rumors of violence from the peaceful protectors.  But, as the struggle continues there’s been an important victory on the legal front as U.S. District Court Judge Daniel L. Hovland dissolved a temporary restraining order against Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II and other participants in the protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).  “Although the judge went out of his way to show his disdain for many of the water protectors, he also became aware that this was a political controversy that he likely could not control and the mechanism of an injunction was unwieldy and likely ineffective in light of the determination of those resisting the pipeline construction over sacred sites and threatening the water supply,” said attorney Jeff Haas.  Attorney Hass discusses the lifting of federal court prohibition on protests against the pipeline and  the legal challenges as local authorities and the criminal courts are now charging as felonies, nonviolent actions of protesters including peacefully locking themselves to stationary earth movers
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Who's Banking on the Dakota Access Pipeline?
with
Hugh MacMillan, senior researcher on water, energy and climate issues at Food & Water Watch. 

Hugh recently wrote the report which states: "Powerful oil and gas companies are taking appalling steps to override the Sioux’s Indians objections, using their immense financial resources to push for building the Dakota Access Pipeline, which will further line their pockets.  Behind the companies building the pipeline is a set of even more powerful Wall Street corporations that might give you flashbacks to the 2007 financial crisis." Among the companies funding the project are Citibank, Wells Fargo, UBS, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, SunTrust, Credit Suisse and TD Securities. We’ll discuss the financial institutions that are fostering widespread drilling and fracking to increase our disastrous dependence on fossil fuels.

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