suspended in her jar
Mainstream media coverage of the Lakota Sioux peoples’ organization to protect their land rights from Dakota Access LLC’s pipeline project has been uneven at best, though smaller media outlets, and social networking, have kept us in touch with the unfolding story. Michael Pezzulo at Steel Magnificat has been writing on it, with particular emphasis on the connection to religious liberty:
Catholics – this should bother you. If it doesn’t bother you- imagine that they are bulldozing St. Peter’s in Rome and the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Because the ethical reasons against doing the later for a quick buck are some of the same ones that apply here. Although the whole history of abusing native peoples and violating treaties with them adds elements of evil that would not be present in my example of what it would be like if they were doing it to us Catholics, instead of to the rightful owners of the land being exploited.
It is ironic that while those who protest racial injustice by refusing to sing the national anthem are accused of being insufficiently patriotic, the Lakota Sioux peoples’ dedication to their land and tradition, even in the face of violence, somehow has slipped below the “all hail patriotism” radar. Of course, acknowledging their sacred connection to the little bit of land left to them could give rise to uncomfortable questions about the legitimacy of patriotism on the part of idolators of the modern nation-state. It could also, of course, as Nick Bernabe, writing for Antimedia points out, lead to less money for the Big Media executives hand in glove with Big Oil:
The second and more obvious reason why mainstream outlets have not focused on the situation in North Dakota is money — oil money, to be exact. The corporate media in the United States is deeply in bed with oil interests. From fracking advertisements on MSNBC to individuals on Big Oil’s payroll literally working for Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, the ties cannot be understated. Why would mainstream media publicize a standoff that could potentially kill an oil pipeline when their own financial interests would be negatively affected? The answer is they wouldn’t.
And there you have it. That’s why right-wing militias pointlessly occupying a wildlife refuge is one of the biggest stories of the century but Native Americans stopping the construction of a multibillion-dollar pipeline isn’t worth a single headline on CNN.
If you’ve been getting your rosy picture of the oil and gas business from big media outlets, you’re being fed a line. You ought to know better: you were fed a line by the tobacco industry, and on the Iraq war, and now – it turns out – by the sugar industry, as well. Argument from Anecdote is not regarded as significant in the world of philosophy, but if you want to know what’s going on in the world, it’s often good to get the eye-witness picture. You need to hear the voices of those affected. You need to see their faces, see their lives, and you need to recognize that a remote utilitarian benefit does not legitimize the overturning and destroying of these lives.
I’m writing from the heart of the Utica Shale country. There was a fracking rig right on the other side of the beautiful green field outside my study window, though the well’s not in operation now, because the companies suddenly found that the cost of drilling was too high after the influx of oil made prices drop. The boom is predicted to return, but unless one has enough land, and mineral rights to the land, this is not likely to benefit the people who live where drilling is happening – where we were all promised jobs and growth, and watched as our infrastructure was torn up by huge equipment from out of state, as pipelines were placed across pristine fields and valleys, as streams were muddied and contaminated, as huge rigs went up creating light and noise pollution for miles, as the person who sold mineral rights to put a well on her land could pocket the earnings and move away, while her neighbor on a small plot of land had to stay and tolerate the hideousness, while our hunting areas were decimated, while our organic gardens were threatened, while out-of-state workers moved in and made all rent prices go up, while ethane cracking plants suddenly sprawled across miles, their flare-off plumes of fire lighting the night like the fires of Mordor. We had a number of spills of fracking liquid, that were never reported to the EPA. In the village nearest to me, a truck overturned and flooded toxic sludge over the yards of everyone along that street, but this item never made it even to the local news. And the amazing jobs? Most of the jobs were given to workers moving in from Texas, Oklahoma, or North Dakota, and suddenly big fancy pickups with out-of-state plates were everywhere. After the boom ended, some of these workers moved on to new jobs. Many found themselves also dumped by the companies.
And here’s the thing: we were fed a line earlier, by the coal companies, that reduced our farmland to semi-reclaimed waste, and turned a prosperous agricultural district into an industrial one, with people torn from their roots, forgetting the old arts of living on the land, depending increasingly on corporations that never gave a damn about them. As in an abusive relationship, it’s hard to say “I was misled.” It’s hard to walk away. People here have been told the oil companies are their friends, and the coal companies, too. “STOP THE WAR ON COAL” signs say. And, creepier, little bumper stickers here and there: “COAL: THE ONLY BLACK THING YOU CAN TRUST.” Right-Wing media has told them that Obama is out to destroy their lives, in spite of the fact that many of us here have health coverage only because of “Obamacare,” and Governor Kasich’s Medicaid expansion.
And, sadly, with the loss of land and tradition, many here do indeed depend on these companies for jobs, now, even as they lose their health, and suffer depression, and fall into patterns of addiction and violence. Families fall apart. If you believe in family values, you must oppose the forces that are destructive to familial well-being.
You need to hear what it’s like, right here where it’s happening, but Big Media won’t give you this.
Now, journalist Amy Goodman was there, right where it was happening, when the protectors of the land were attacked and pepper-sprayed by armed guards operating on behalf of the county and the corporation. And then she was charged with “criminal trespass”:
We were there, filming the guards’ violence. When we released our video of the standoff, it went viral, attracting more than 13 million views on Facebook alone. CNN, CBS, MSNBCand scores of outlets around the world broadcast our footage of one of the attack dogs with blood dripping from its nose and mouth.
Five days after the attack, North Dakota issued the arrest warrant. North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Lindsey Wohl, referencing the “Democracy Now!” video report in a sworn affidavit, states, “Amy Goodman can be seen on the video identifying herself and interviewing protestors about their involvement in the protest.” Precisely the point: doing the constitutionally protected work of a reporter.
“Charging a journalist with criminal trespassing for covering an important environmental story of significant public interest is a direct threat to freedom of the press and is absolutely unacceptable in the country of the First Amendment,” said Delphine Halgand, U.S. director of the global press freedom watchdog group Reporters Without Borders. Carlos Lauria of the Committee to Protect Journalists added: “This arrest warrant is a transparent attempt to intimidate reporters from covering protests of significant public interest. Authorities in North Dakota should stop embarrassing themselves, drop the charges against Amy Goodman and ensure that all reporters are free to do their jobs.”
If you care about justice and freedom of speech – if you want to stand with true patriots, loyal to land and tradition – if you value the integrity and rights of the human person – please add your name to this petition that the charges against Amy Goodman be dropped. Voices of integrity must not be silenced.
image credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing#/media/File:Water_tanks_preparing_for_a_frac_job.JPG. By Joshua Doubek
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