A RESOLUTION proclaiming the City of Seattle’s Support for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Opposition to the Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
For adoption of other resolutions. Resolution number 31709 proclaiming the City of Seattle support for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe's opposition to the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. Thank you very much, Councilmember Juarez. Thank you very much. Before I begin, I just want to thank the tribal leadership and community that showed up here today. It really means a lot to all of us who've worked hard on this. I want to thank you, President Harrell, for helping me and assisting me early on. Like to thank Councilmember Sawant and Councilmember Herbold for their. Comments and their additions to make this a stronger. Resolution. I want to end with just a few words, and I promise I won't be more than 2 minutes. I want to start with the statement that we believe in Indian Country, that the sacred is the sacred. We can go back and forth about the National Historic Preservation Act, which was passed in 1966. We can go around and around about the Clean Water Act, which was passed in 1948 and 19, 1972. We can go around and around about the Rivers and Harbors Act, which was passed in 1899, oldest federal environmental law in the United States. But we also know that the Standing Rock Sioux people were signatories to two treaties, the treaties of Fort Laramie in 1851 and the treaty in 1868. We also know that after over 200 years of federal law, Indian law jurisprudence, that treaties are the supreme law of the land. So I want to end with this. Tribes, Native Americans, indigenous people, my people have been here since time immemorial. And the passage of this resolution and the support by this community in the city of Seattle in support of the Standing Rock and Standing Rock Sioux tribe, is immense. So again, I want to end with this. The sacred is the sacred. And thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Suarez. Councilmember so watch. Thank you, president haaland. Thank you so much, Councilmember Suarez, for your comments. Since April, despite a longstanding media blackout that actually council member Suarez mentioned this morning. We have seen explosive growth in the movement against the Dakota Access pipeline. In many ways, the fight against a good access pipeline is reminiscent of the struggle that activists waged against Keystone XL and related struggles against pipelines by tribes and environmentalists in Canada. But where the Keystone XL struggle took years of organization, mobilization and resource resistance to see results, the No Dakota Access Pipeline movement has broken through to the mainstream in just a matter of months, and it's a reflection of the times that we live in. We live in times of social movements. In part, this breakthrough is also due to the recent organizational experience that we have gained tribes, environmentalists, young and old activists over the last few years. We've seen a broader level of engagement and an overwhelming and historic display of unity between tribes and communities rooted along the pipeline. Nearly 200 Indian nations, numerous environmental organizations and thousands of other activists have turned out to stand with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe against the pipeline, both at the Sacred Stone camp and around the country. Hundreds of the nonviolent demonstrators at the Sacred Stone camp have faced severe intimidation and repression, including state authorities in North Dakota, cutting off water and medical access to campers, the issuing of warrants and the arrests and of activists and journalists. The physical attacks on activists by attack dogs and pepper sprayed by the multinational paramilitary private security firm G4 as hired by the pipeline's corporate backers. Despite the Department of Justice's action last week, the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline is far from over. As we know, we need to continue to build solidarity, national and international and demand nothing less than an end to the pipeline itself. State and local authorities must drop all charges against the tens of tribe members and organizers with warrants, particularly the dozens who have already been arrested or charged. Among those charged are Democracy Now! Journalist Amy Goodman and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. The tribes and environmentalists and socialists on the ground know that allowing new pipelines to be built is a massive step in the wrong direction in the fight against climate change. It's a massively wrong step for our entire planet. Young people, children know it. Hundreds of millions of people around the world understand it. Then why does this keep happening? It keeps happening. Because the control of these resources is in the hands of oil corporations who are driven blindly by private profits and short term gains. And it's not like they don't have the IQ to understand the problem. They don't have the incentives to support the solutions. And that is why this is a question of political control. We cannot let the oil executives, the 1%, the multibillionaires, continue to drive climate change in their pursuit of profits. We cannot let the capitalists burn through every last extractable barrel, destroying our planet and destroying the rights, the basic rights of our indigenous communities. We need to organize independent of those corporate forces. We need to win this fight. And to win this fight, we will need to continue to wage defensive struggles like this one. But sisters and brothers, that is only the beginning. We need to take the fight to the very doorstep of those who profit from the perpetuation of this fossil fuel economy. And for that for that, we need to continue to build our mass movements, not only fighting these defensive struggles, but really fighting to move away from fossil fuels and going towards an economy that provides a path away from fossil fuels, towards renewable energy for living wage jobs, unionized jobs, education, health care and social services. But all of this depends on developing those mass movements that unite with one another across race and across ethnicities, ethnicities, but being clear that the 1% is not on our side. And for this, we also need the development of an independent party of the 99% that refuses to take money from big oil, a party that would promote and unabashedly socialist platform that can bring about a sustainable, economy, wide societal change we need. I wanted to thank Matt Rumley for authoring the first draft of this resolution. Gabe Galindo, Molly Kennedy, and everybody from our local community who weighed in on this. I especially wanted to thank Councilmember Juarez and everybody in her office who played a leadership role to work on this resolution. I'm very proud sisters and brothers to stand with the Standing Rock Sioux in this fight, and I thank them most of all for declaring their opposition and resistance to this pipeline. We will. We can and we will defeat the Dakota Access pipeline. And we can. And we will continue to build a mass movement necessary to win a just, sustainable and socialist economy for all. Council member Bagshaw. I believe you have your hand up. Thank you. I'm not going to be anywhere near as specific as council members want, but I do want to say thank all of you that are in the audience today. Something that Councilmember Suarez said this morning that really resonated with me is that we are here to protect the. Resources. And that's what you are doing today. And I want to recognize the tribal nations that are here together, also those that have been fighting this North Dakota pipeline. But recognizing that it's really our opportunity in response to protect the earth and protect the water and protect each other. Thank you for this. I will, of course, be supporting it. And I want to say thanks to my holy mountain sister. Thank you. Thank you. Council Councilmember O'Brien. Thank you. I want to thank my colleagues for their work on this. If I can get untangled here, this is a great step today. And I want to just share a couple of comments that I heard over the weekend about what was happening back in North Dakota and why we need to continue, why this resolution is still relevant today and it's going to require a lot of work going forward. I had a chance to hear from Tom Goldtooth, who's a Native American activist and executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, who had been out there last week. And it was appalling to hear the swiftness with which that pipeline company moved when they heard that the challenges were going to come on that land. Unfortunately, it's not altogether surprising, but within a day they completely demobilized and re mobilized on the site to commence the destruction of the habitat and the sacred lands as soon as possible to try to avert the type of challenge and that we have. Corporations that are willing to not just do evil, but to accelerate their evil is just it's unforgivable. And the stories Mr. Goldtooth told of other activists and the physical scars they had from when the dogs were unleashed on them, they will be with them for the rest of their lives. It was great to hear. Well, it was awful to hear that the judge ruling. It was great to hear how swiftly the Obama administration moved with their Justice Department and Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider that. That was a victory, a short term victory for a couple dozen miles of the pipeline. But there are almost a thousand miles of pipeline that are not affected by that. And all of this needs to be changed. Thank you for your leadership in bringing this to. Councilmember member. Whereas you we're going to we're going to take it home here. I want to hear that drum beating in a little bit here. But I see a hand and it comes over. HERBAL Thank you. I just wanted to say a bit about the fact that the protest of members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, hundreds of other Native people and their supporters, has sparked the need for national reform. Thanks to your sacrifice, the federal government has signaled its intent to really get serious about the enforcement of Article 32 of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, requiring that governments consult with indigenous people, and I quote, in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories or other resource. The Obama administration's Justice Department, in its joint statement with the Army and the Department of the Interior, also in very, very importantly, said this case highlights the need for a serious discussion about nationwide reforms with respect to considering the tribe's view on these types of infrastructure projects moving forward. I believe it's really important to support your efforts to organize as part of that nationwide reform so that the disregard for the rights of Native people that occurred at the Dakota Access Pipeline Project does not reoccur. And thank you, Councilmember Suarez, for your leadership on this issue. You're welcome. Councilmember words. Would you just like say a brief closing? We've heard some very inspirational words from our colleagues. I. As Indian people were not raised to say I in me. So I had to learn. To transition, to say I in me. But I think today when I say I and me, I think you all know I mean you as well. We like to end with a story. And my story is very short. I could go over the three big briefs I read and. All the information. There, but that would be boring. When I worked. For a particular governor. Governor Lowry. One of my very. First staffing was with a major tribe, the accommodation and the tribes on the Columbia River. And a huge, huge hydropower source on the Columbia River. And I remember was. One of my first or second staff ins. And I remember the tribes opened by prayer and calling the Columbia River the giver of life. And I remember the power company started out with calling it the hydro. Power source. And I remember. Governor Lowery pulling. Me. Aside and going, What the hell? And I said, yes. This is the world. I walk in, the giver of life and a hydropower source. And somewhere in between we have to find a way to do the right thing for all of us. And as Indian people, we've done it through prayer. And we also know as Native American people. We've done it. So the power of pulling together. And recognizing that this world isn't ours, that this universe isn't ours. And it's been difficult for me sometimes in this job to to behave and speak differently. But I hope that I have served you well. And I. Want to thank all of you. Particularly tribal leadership, for being here, because I know my colleagues. Were anxious to hear from you. So it's good to see my brothers and sisters and aunties out there. Thank you. Thank you, President. Thank you very much for being with us. I'm simply going to say what a beautiful native community we have. And it's our honor to support you and fight with you. Thank you very much. Those in favor of adopting the resolution vote i. I. Those oppose vote no. The motion carries. The resolution is adopted and the chair will excitingly sign it. Thank you very much. Oh. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Now for something less dramatic. Oh, sorry, customer. I was just. Let's move back to agenda item, I believe. 24 please read that, that agenda item into the record.