The DAPL protest camp in North Dakota, where thousands have stood with the Standing Rock Sioux for six months, was dismantled & set afire by protesters yesterday as part of a leaving ceremony. They had been given an eviction notice by the Army Corp of Engineers to comply with Trump’s executive order since the camp was on federal lands.

The protesters would have been raided & assaulted, not for the first time, so the anticipated spring flooding is the more likely reason they pulled up stakes & razed the camp.

Trump can issue executive orders till the cows come home. That does not preempt national sovereignty for the Standing Rock tribe & by no means ends opposition & protests against DAPL. North Dakota is only the beginning of the pipeline project. It has 1,200 miles more to go across North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, ending at a terminal in Illinois to be processed for distribution.

Using eminent domain for land grabs, the route will pass near municipal water sources, residential areas, Indian reservations (defying tribal sovereignty & sacred burial grounds), wetlands, nearly 350 miles of farmland in Iowa, & will be tunneled under the Missouri & Mississippi Rivers.

The movement to stop DAPL has just begun. There will be some scuffles. There will be some setbacks. The government will maneuver & try to outsmart the movement & when that doesn’t work will use excessive force because billions are invested in this project. Tough noogies. Indian tribes, farmers, residents of those states, environmentalists, should have been consulted beforehand so the resounding opposition could have saved investors all their money & time.

The struggle continues.

(Photo of DAPL camp being dismantled yesterday by Terray Sylvester/Reuters)