Breaking Camp
by members of Chapter 27
The eviction of protestors from the Oceti Sacowin Camp in Standing Rock North Dakota earmarked for February 22 is not going smoothly. The powers that be routinely change strategies and the rule of law continues to be abominated.
Four members of Veterans For Peace Chapter 27 in Minneapolis including myself drove to Standing Rock Indian Reservation on February 21 to stand in solidarity with First Nation People, environmental activists and other veterans and help out.
We were met by police at a road block just south of the Oceti Sacowin Camp on HWY 1806 Tuesday afternoon and asked what we we're going to do down the road. I told them that we came to visit some friends and VFP member Barry Riesch mentioned that we also came to work at camp. We were told we couldn't proceed on that public road unless we consented to a vehicle check. Apparently it's against the law in certain North Dakota neighborhoods to drive around with a tent in the trunk.
We soon met veteran Ed Higgins who told us that we'd probably be arrested if we stayed in camp past 2PM on Wednesday even if we were on a peaceful clean-up mission. VFP members Dave Cooley, Tom Bauch and I along with Barry and a another VFP vet named Freeman spent the rest of the afternoon sorting out items and leftover food at an abandoned kitchen site.
An affable fellow from Minnesota who owned a school bus with the words PRESS hand-painted on it said that certain factions of the media would be allowed to stay and work as reporters during the eviction if they had proper press credentials. Community journalists and and those from less prestigious organizations risked being charged with inciting a riot.
On what is called Media Hill or Facebook hill there was a discussion about the possibilities of newly arrested activists being charged with felonies if they'd ever been arrested in Morton County before.
There was also buzz among reporters about spotty wifi coverage in the area and how live video feeds are sometimes interrupted. The owner of the school bus commented that he was still unable to reboot his editing machine. A camp organizer I met later mentioned that the power from his walkie-talkie drained sometimes when low flying planes circled camp. I was unable to download a video on FB until I returned to Minneapolis at three in the morning last night.
On Tuesday the four of helped dismantle a large tent for an activist at the Rosebud Camp located across the Cannonball River from Oceti Sacowin Camp. A camp leader strongly suggested we leave Rosebud that afternoon or risk being charged with felonies.
We took his advise and headed to the Sacred Stone Camp a little further away which is not under such intense pressure to evacuate..so far. We stopped at the new Cheyenne River Camp and met a veteran who was member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) - he was the only vet we saw at that camp.
We met perhaps fifteen other veterans at the Sacred Stone Camp including two women. We were given a warm welcome, coffee, oatmeal with peanut butter and strawberries at the vets tent and invited to participate in a prayer circle with mostly younger veterans. You could feel the edginess.
Four veteran organizations still have a presence at Standing Rock - Veterans For Peace (VFP), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), Veterans Stand for Standing Rock and an outfit called VeteransRespond. We met nearly twenty veterans in all on our trip.
It's hard to predict how many vets are still planning on being part of a human chain that acts as a buffer for water protectors who refuse to leave camp. The odds are not in their favor - we wish them the best.