by Rajie Kabli, Collective Evolution
A situation is unfolding as you read this. A live feed with currently 60k people watching, 56k comments and 80k shares (and growing) is being shown on Facebook. Kevin Gilbert seems to be the only LIVE feed coming from Standing Rock at a police blockade on a bridge on HWY 1806. They are using extreme force on unarmed, peaceful water protectors. It is sub-zero temperatures right now at Standing Rock and police are using water cannons to spray the protectors. Tear-gas is also being used. In the LIVE feed, Kevin interviews a friend who was on the front lines providing blankets to people when she was heavily tear gassed and as a result, she vomited and peed herself.
According to UnicornRiot, this all started when protectors attempted to remove the blockade on the bridge to open up the HWY. There were also mentions of Dakota Access bringing in drills under the cover of night.
These are people that just want to protect the land and the water they drink. It could be your friend, brother, sister, mom, dad, uncle, aunt, niece… out there on the front lines. Thousands of people watching LIVE are referring to this as torture. Honestly, I’m having a hard time understanding how this could be considered anything but torture.
Where is senior leadership and mainstream media in all of this? These are the most common questions asked by people in the comments. Myself and a couple other CE journalists just returned from Standing Rock and believe me when I tell you, what is happening at Standing Rock goes beyond simple morals or “right versus wrong.” There is a serious injustice taking place and it affects every single person living on this planet, not just the Indigenous people living at Standing Rock. When will we stand up to corporations that run around doing whatever they want, whenever they want? Now is the time.
The authorities are siding with and protecting Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access, while the people are left to defend themselves, demanding to be heard.
The cell service is not great there. There are reports of police jamming signals as well, so the LIVE is choppy. Watch here. And for new live feeds just go straight to his Facebook page.
By the time I finished writing this article, the video already had over 2 million views and Kevin had just mentioned that he thinks the blockage was being removed from the bridge, but he was uncertain.
See for yourself. Share the feed and spread awareness!
It’s interesting to note that while this torture takes place, the American Music Awards (AMAs) are currently airing. As numerous people all over the world tune in to watch this award show live, a significantly more important LIVE feed is taking place. This begs the question: was the timing of this attack at Standing Rock strategically planned around the AMAs? As millions of people are distracted by celebrities, police are taking the opportunity to attack innocent water protectors. This wouldn’t be the first time mainstream media used this angle. For example, check out our article on 3 Things That Happened (That Actually Matter) While the World Obsessed Over Kim Kardashian.
Do yourself a favour: turn off your TV, stop whatever you’re doing, and take a moment to view the footage at Standing Rock. The future of our planet lies in your hands, what will you do?
