Justice … Thoughts on Standing Rock

 

We are a part of Creation; thus, if we break the Laws of Creation, we destroy ourselves…

We, the Original Caretakers of Mother Earth, have no choice but to follow and uphold the Original Instructions, which sustains the continuity of Life. We recognize our umbilical connection to Mother Earth and understand that she is the source of life, not a resource to be exploited. We speak on behalf of all Creation today, to communicate an urgent message that man has gone too far, placing us in the state of survival. Not heeding warnings from both Nature and the People of the Earth keeps us on the path of self-destruction. These self-destructive activities and development continue to cause the deterioration and destruction of sacred places and sacred waters that are vital for Life.

We respect and honor our spiritual relationship with the lifeblood of Mother Earth. One does not sell or contaminate their mother’s blood. These capitalistic actions must stop and we must recover our sacred relationship with the Spirit of Water

In a Sacred Hoop of Life, where there is no ending and no beginning!

Onipiktec’a (that we shall live).

Nac’a (Chief) Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle

Today is the International Vigil for Standing Rock.  Just days after police from several states, together with the National Guard, arrested scores of Native Americans and other protestors who have been facing down DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) workers with their heavy construction equipment clearing the way for the almost 1200 mile long pipeline.  Plans call for it to deliver as many as 570,000 barrels of crude oil a day from North Dakota’s Bakken and Three Forks oil fields to a river port in Illinois.

Many, many Native (and some other) protestors found themselves shoved into dog kennels after they were taken off the buses from Sacred Stone Camp (site of the protest) and had their forearms inscribed with numbers.  Just like, some point out, in Nazi death camps.

For that reason alone this situation demands attention of justice minded human beings.

Instructions for the vigils, intended to be held at many locations around the world:

“Wherever you are, pray on this day for all water protectors who have been injured or imprisoned, and for the horse that was killed by police. The world joins in prayer for HEALING for those at Standing Rock who experienced such intense trauama (sic) on October 27th. We also join in prayer for the men and women police who brutally harmed the water protectors. We also pray for the pipeline workers and those who finance them. May they all be blessed and healed and reconnected with the earth. We pray for everyone as we know that in the end we are one, inseparable human family. In forgiveness, hard truth, courage and faith, we will arise from this hardship.”

Chief Arvol Looking Horse, a man who commands respect in his position as traditional leader of his people, as well as for his wisdom, has called on US President Barack Obama:

“You are ignoring our pleas to use your time as President to move us toward sustainable development as fast as possible, because of our Mother Earth – our Grandmother Earth, is sick and has a fever. We as people that want to do Creator’s work to create these changes and are stuck with using oil, because it is all you have allowed to invest in to transport this country.

It is time you stop this desecration of our sacred sites….”

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/10/28/chief-arvol-looking-horse-obama-keep-your-word-166266

Which all brings a boiling soup of conflicting thoughts to my mind.  As a very long time supporter of sustainable development as well as wise stewardship of our planet, I am a believer in the “keep it in the ground” view of fossil fuel extraction.  Peak oil is a thing of the past, I have read here and there in financial news, with a smile on my face.

The way the oil industry is going at extraction doesn’t necessarily indicate agreement with that view.  I’m not going into a lengthy comment about all this.

Recently I sat in my living room with a young Australian/Persian chemical engineer who had left his oil job in Texas in disgust at corporate practices.  This intelligent fellow has, nonetheless, a genuine belief that oil and gas can be sustainably extracted from the earth using carbon capture techniques.  This is an area where development is urgently needed, and there are jobs for those with appropriate skills.

He pointed out that the world is far from being ready to get along without oil.  That despite rapid progress in wind and solar alternatives, the one technology that rivals fossil fuels in the ability to adequately supply the world’s energy needs is nuclear — a very fraught alternative.  There is the somewhat safer thorium alternative to uranium, which is being used in some Chinese plants.  There are controversies with that, too.

My friend was only reminding me of facts that seem reasonable in other sources, but the timing was good in relation to what is going on right now in North Dakota.

I think that this is more an issue of human rights than of oil production.  Says Chief Looking Horse:

I am not a member of leadership under any political government, I stand in position as the center of our people, the voice of our traditional government, and so this communication is nation to nation, as indicated by our treaties. Additionally, we have over 300 flags of indigenous nations including other countries supporting our stand, because they are suffering as well. 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/10/28/chief-arvol-looking-horse-obama-keep-your-word-166266

As a lifelong Baha’i I have never been a member of a political party, other than for the day that it took once in the 1970s to vote in a particular primary, then immediately switch back to status as an Independent.  Also as a Baha’i I stand up for human rights, always.  Hence I sign petitions to move the pipeline.

My left brain persona understands that is isn’t necessarily racist for DAPL to have moved plans for the pipeline away from Bismark, a population center in the area — but it is very wrong for the thing to be placed where it is now supposed to go, right by the Standing Rock Reservation, where vital water as well as numerous sites held sacred to the People are located.  Given the centuries long genocide against the continent’s indigenous people and their cultures, this matter takes on urgency in today’s horrifyingly divided world.

Moving the pipeline elsewhere — and I do not know the problems with that would be facing planners and engineers — is utterly vital because of this country’s tendency to put unhealthy, polluting operations right up against minority homes, away from more “upscale” areas.

We are sorely tried to find agreement among ourselves in the US this political season.  Issues long simmering beneath the common surface are ready to blow up like a volcano.  Dakota Access is a situation with the potential to expand understanding of one another, as well as of the explosive questions regarding fossil fuels, global warming, jobs, the meaning of justice — and of humanity.

O SON OF SPIRIT! The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.

The Hidden Words