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href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Standing-Rock-Sioux-Issue-Emergency-Proclamation-20161201-0003.html">http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Standing-Rock-Sioux-Issue-Emergency-Proclamation-20161201-0003.html</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Standing Rock Sioux Issue Emergency
Proclamation</h1>
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<p>December 1, 2016<br>
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<p>On Wednesday, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave
Archambault II issued an emergency proclamation calling
on the United Nations and U.S. President Barack Obama to
take “immediate action” to defend the water protectors
at the Oceti Sakowin camp from “retaliatory actions and
practices” by state law enforcement agencies, and to
defend activists' “rights to free speech and peaceable
assembly.” </p>
<p>“This week is the anniversary of the Sand Creek
Massacre. It’s time for the United States to end its
legacy of abuses against Native Americans. We call on
the United Nations and President Barack Obama to take
immediate action to prohibit North Dakota from engaging
in its retaliatory actions and practices,” Archambault
said. “As a tribal nation, we call on the President to
take all the appropriate steps to ensure water
protectors are safe and that their rights to free speech
and peaceful assembly are protected. Gov. Dalrymple had
a chance today to condemn the violence and unlawful acts
of state and local governments, but failed to do so,”
the statement added.</p>
<p>
The statement is the first official response by Chairman
Archambault to the most recent actions by North Dakota
officials, which have threatened the lives and
well-being of the Water Protectors at the Oceti Sakowin
camp who are protesting the construction of the
multi-billion dollar Dakota Access Pipeline that
threatens Indigenous sovereignty, local water sources
and a devastating increase in carbon emissions. </p>
<p>The estimated 3 thousand water protectors gathered at
the Oceti Sakowin camp face increasingly harsh
conditions as winter descends on North Dakota. The
Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council issued a
statement on Monday saying the combination of sub-zero
temperatures and the increasingly violent actions of law
enforcement agencies, including the use of water cannons
and chemical weapons, threatens the health and safety of
thousands at the camp. </p>
<p>On Tuesday, North Dakota law enforcement announced that
essential supplies, including food and building
materials, would be blocked from entering the camp in an
attempt to enforce North Dakota Governor Jack
Dalrymple’s emergency evacuation order issued on Monday.
After outrage at this fundamental attack on the water
protectors' basic human rights, the sheriff's office
later clarified that supplies would not be physically
blocked, but that they would issue US$1,000 fines to any
vehicle attempting to deliver supplies. This echoes
earlier threats by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
which issued an evacuation order last Friday saying that
anyone remaining at the camp after Dec. 5 “may be
subject to citation under federal, state, or local
laws.” </p>
<p>However dire the conditions may be, they have not
dampened the determination of the water protectors.
Madonna Antoine Eagle Hawk, who runs a kitchen at the
camp told Vice News, "We've been here for hundreds of
years. We've survived through hundreds of years of
winters — we're not going anywhere. If they think we're
not prepared for it, they need to think again."</p>
<p>
In defiance of both federal and state evacuation orders,
an estimated 2,000 U.S. Army veterans have pledged to
act as “human shields” to prevent any attempt at
forcible removal of the camp. They are expected to
arrive at Oceti Sakowin Camp on Dec. 4. </p>
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San Francisco, CA 94110
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