London: Standing with #Standing Rock

The Global Day of Action 'No Dakota Access Pipeline' on 1 December was marked in London by a peaceful early morning vigil outside a banking institution in the City of London which is a funder of the oil pipeline. Around 100 people - carrying placards with the messages '#NoDAPL', 'Defund DAPL', 'Water is Life' and 'Standing with Standing Rock'- stood outside the Royal Bank of Scotland Office in Bishopsgate as city workers arrived at their offices. Among them was Josephine Siedlecka of Independent Catholic News and Ellen Teague of Columban JPIC. It was very cold, but participants were informed that there is currently a freezing blizzard at the Standing Rock site in North Dakota where thousands are camped out in sub-zero temperatures.

Speakers highlighted the environmental risks of the project, the lack of respect for indigenous people's concerns and the money being invested in a fossil fuel when the risks of climate change have been scientifically linked with putting pollutive greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Kiaza BigMountain Fillmore, an indigenous Mohawk with relatives at Standing Rock, said she was "sick of seeing oil take precedence over our people and our Earth". Recalling the South Dakota Wounded Knee massacre of Sioux Indians in 1890, she reflected that "genocide and colonialism still take place today but in different forms". Others spoke of the imperative to leave fossil fuels in the ground, the need to review global energy policies, and the need to listen to indigenous perspectives on sustainable development.

For months, the Standing Rock Sioux and their allies have been peacefully protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline project in North Dakota, staying in an array of teepees and tents. Allies include more than 500 faith leaders who gathered at Standing Rock last month for a prayer service. People of faith have also been involved in vigils across the United States in cities such as Denver and Omaha. If it goes ahead, the pipeline will carry more than 400,000 barrels of crude oil a day across ancestral lands and under the Missouri River. Opponents fear that if the pipe leaks or spills, it could dump hundreds of thousands barrels of crude oil in the Missouri River, less than a half mile downstream from the tribe's water supply.

As more people have joined the protests at Standing Rock Camp, construction crews have reacted with aggression and violence. On 20 November the police and National Guard violently attacked peaceful protestors. Police used tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, sound grenades, and sprayed them with water cannons in subfreezing conditions. Hundreds were injured. One woman hit with a grenade may lose her arm. Another protester has been blinded in one eye.

More than 30 banking institutions are involved in funding the proposed Bakken pipeline, which would stretch from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The Dakota Access pipeline is just one part of it, and it is not only US-based oil and gas firms that are backing the project financially. British banks such as Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, and HSBC Bank are involved in providing $10.25 billion in loans and credit facilities directly supporting the companies building the pipeline.

As one protestor wrote '#WaterisLife' on the pavement outside RBS in chalk there was evidence all around of the transition to a low carbon future, albeit slowly. There were three cycles parks outside RBS's front door! There was also evidence of the power of peaceful protest to hold political and financial powers accountable, and the weight of diverse groups when they unite in an international coalition, facilitated by the internet.

There is another vigil at Parliament Square this evening 6-8pm. It is organised by a coalition of groups including the UK Tar Sands Network.

A second Interfaith Day of Peace will take at Standing Rock this Sunday 4 December 2016. For more details see: www.clergyclimateaction.org

See also: ICN 30 November 2016 Exclusive eyewitness report from #Standing Rock www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=31456

See more pictures from today's London vigil on the ICN Facebook page.