The Dakota Access Pipeline and the Doctrine of Native Genocide
Tuesday, 06 December 2016 00:00 – By Tim Scott, Truthout | News Analysis
Photo: Water Protectors resist the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, November 18, 2016. (Photo: Lucas Zhao / Oceti Sakowin Camp)
The peaceful Native Water Protectors who have been resisting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) on sacred land belonging to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have succeeded in winning federal accommodations to temporarily halt DAPL construction, but the energy company behind DAPL has pledged to proceed (with state support).
Knowing the enduring historic and structural nature of this modern struggle — a struggle in which the Water Protectors have courageously confronted violent local, state and private militarized forces, inspiring support from thousands of US military veterans — is vital to understanding its significance.
While the origins of the legal doctrine that facilitated conquest, genocide and the structure of settler colonialism in the US is well known to Native people throughout North America (and beyond), they are less known to current generations of white settlers.
