It is 6am on Friday morning and Cooper and I have been working about 18 hours a day since we arrived at the Standing Rock and Red Warrior Camps here in North Dakota. Our intentions were to come and plug into the amazing organizing and legal support that has gone on for months and years before our arrival.
Coincidentally, on our flight out we sat across the aisle from Tom Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network—Tom and his organization have been doing amazing media work on behalf of indigenous communities and issues for a long time and have demonstrated incredible support and leadership at Standing Rock. The plane was obviously full of many Native American and other folks wearing their NO DAPL t-shirts heading to the same place as us—the current mecca of US climate injustice—the frontlines of an historic indigenous led movement to demonstrate that we the people can stop corporate profiteers from having their way and destroying the planet and the living things that rely on it for life.
CLDC lawyers Cooper Brinson and Lauren Regan at the Red Owl Legal Collective tent in North Dakota.
Driving to the camp from Bismarck we encountered our first evidence of the attempted police state that has harassed and intimidated water protectors and locals in this area. As we drove up to the military checkpoint, with National Guard soldiers in full combat uniforms scrutinizing us, I tried to keep in mind that these young men were probably relieved to be searching protestors’ cars rather than Afghan families across the world. Their protocols appeared to be similar however, and I quickly spotted numerous surveillance cameras photographing our license plate and us—I look over to Cooper who is doing a pretty good job of looking down in his baseball hat and sunglasses to avoid a direct photo. I also immediately realized that these camps, the organizing around this issue, and the effectiveness of the people who have fought this black snake truly frighten the State and the corporations that will profit off of this dangerous attack upon the public trust—the ability to obtain clean drinking water for life. It is only when campaigns are actually effective in their goals that State and corporate repression reach a frenzied octave—and the amount of State and corporate surveillance, harassment, arrests, and police misconduct going on within this small geographic location is appalling. And of course that does not even take into account the actual destruction of the land, burial grounds, waterways and respect for the indigenous people that has already occurred by DAPL and it’s fellow ecoterrorists.
Once at the camp, we immediately realized that the Red Owl Legal Collective, made up of volunteer lawyers and legal workers to provide legal support for all of the activist protectors, was in major need of some CLDC organizing and support. We immediately went to work creating secure communications and evidence retention systems, protocols to better utilize the efforts of lawyers and legal volunteers arriving at camp every week, and immersed ourselves into the frontlines action organizers to see what we could do for them. We created a new Know Your Rights training specifically geared for the camp and Morton County, and then immediately relieved the tired NonViolent Direct Action trainers of their KYR duties and have been providing several KYRs each day. We also gave a KYR training specifically geared to the media attempting to cover this historic campaign, which included folks operating drones to capture destruction and unlawful surveillance conducted by the State and DAPL.
Roadblocks have been set up in numerous places around the construction site and protest camp.
There have been over 135 arrests of water protectors in the last few months, many of the charges are now being filed as felonies—despite incredibly weak facts to support them and many are just blatantly unlawful and unfounded. For instance, many activists have been charged with attempted riot for “6 or more individuals engaged in tumultuous conduct.” Um, I think that may be the definition of the First Amendment right to assemble and exercise free speech rights, but apparently the collusion by Dakota Access Pipeline and the joint terrorism task force style incident command of cops have forgotten that little detail in their zeal to desecrate sacred sites and imperil beautiful rivers that wind through ancient hills here. Dozens of people have been simply arrested without cause, taken to jail, $250 bail for a bogus trespass charge, and then $450 to have their car released from the impound lot—talk about a money making scam…
CLDC will be taking on several of the police misconduct cases that occur every day here—we are particularly interested in the cases like the 21 people unlawfully arrested as part of a 100 car convoy– where we can help push back against illegalities that practically impair the ability to fight the pipeline, and are clearly intended to chill out of town activists from showing up and throwing down for the cause. I’m also planning a critical lawsuit against the jail here—which recently began stripping female water protectors of their clothing when booked into the jail and then allowing male guards to ogle the women arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience. One young native woman was even made to remain naked all night in her jail cell as an attempt to scare, harass and humiliate her while pathetic guards taunted her. We will not stand idly by in the face of such treatment. CLDC plans to bring criminal charges against any and all individuals responsible. Cooper and I will be submitting our North Dakota bar applications so that we can jump into this and other possible criminal cases. It is my hope that all of these defenders will exercise their right to jury trials and will truly tax the State the full cost of prosecuting activists and enabling ecoterrorists like DAPL to destroy and profit with impunity. Some of the necessary mass defense systems that CLDC is experienced in setting up and implementing were not set up until we arrived. If you are a CLDC member or supporter and have a criminal case in Morton County, ND, please contact us by email so we can help support you by reaching out to your public defender, offering motions and briefing, finding evidence and witnesses to testify at your trial, and maybe even co-counsel your trial if we can raise the travel funds to do so. If you were the victim of police or DAPL harassment or assault we’d also like to ensure that your rights are upheld and the perpetrators are taken to task. We will work with the Red Owl Legal Collective to improve the legal support available to the brave and moral folks who have risked their liberties for a just cause.
I actually feel a little guilty that we were unable to come to Standing Rock and Sacred Stone camps sooner to help the legal collective get things organized sooner. It costs CLDC about $2500 to send Cooper and I here for a week. The conditions are not awesome, but we are proud to be here and have committed to coming back for a week a month until all of the water protectors have had their day in court and the pipeline is stopped. Come winter, the conditions will become even harsher—it is already very cold and windy here, but not nearly as cold as it will get very soon. The camps are stacking firewood and winterizing teepees and army tents as I write this. If you can support our work and contribute to our future travel costs you will ensure that we can do what we do best—defend activists zealously with passion and solidarity. Gotta go—CLDC is giving an encryption training to all of the legal collective and other volunteer NLG lawyers who are supporting the fight against DAPL.
From the frontlines,
Lauren Regan
Executive Director
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