DoomsdaysCW<p>Commentary: <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterProtectors" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WaterProtectors</span></a> on trial again as <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Greenpeace" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Greenpeace</span></a> case begins in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NorthDakota" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NorthDakota</span></a><br> <br>by <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WinonaLaDuke" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WinonaLaDuke</span></a><br>February 24, 2025 </p><p>Excerpt: "North Dakota v. USA</p><p>"In March of last year, I was a federal witness in the North Dakota v. United States of America trial in Bismarck, where North Dakota charged that the United States Army Corps of Engineers had caused the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/StandingRock" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>StandingRock</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/resistance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>resistance</span></a> by issuing a conditional use permit for the flood plain. Attorneys asked if I came to Standing Rock resistance camp because the Army Corps issued a permit. My response: No. I came for the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/water" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>water</span></a>,and I came because <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaDonnaBraveBull" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LaDonnaBraveBull</span></a> Allard asked me to come. I came because <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Enbridge" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Enbridge</span></a>, the Canadian <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pipeline" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>pipeline</span></a> company, had proposed a Sandpiper <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pipeline" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>pipeline</span></a> across our territory in northern Minnesota and we defeated them, only to find that they later financed 28% of the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DakotaAccessPipeline" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DakotaAccessPipeline</span></a>. I came for the water.</p><p>"<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnergyTransfer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EnergyTransfer</span></a> v. <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Greenpeace" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Greenpeace</span></a></p><p>"There’s another big trial starting Monday in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MandanNorthDakota" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MandanNorthDakota</span></a>, too, in Morton County District Court. There, Judge James Gion will preside over a jury trial in the case of Energy Transfer v. Greenpeace. Energy Transfer charges that Greenpeace effectively orchestrated and was a force driving the Standing Rock resistance. That allegation is pretty surprising to the thousands of people who came to Standing Rock without even hearing about Greenpeace being there. That case will be heard behind <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClosedDoors" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ClosedDoors</span></a>, no livestreaming, and yet somehow a judge in a small county without a law clerk will make sure the justice of a jury trial is carried out. The case with a multitude of pretrial motions is described as the largest in North Dakota history, so carrying out justice, well that’s a challenge.</p><p>"'This is a pretty ludicrous accusation,' noted <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DeepaPadmanabha" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DeepaPadmanabha</span></a>, Greenpeace’s senior legal counsel, responding to charges that Greenpeace effectively orchestrated and was a force driving the Standing Rock resistance. 'Standing Rock was one of the largest <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Indigenous" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Indigenous</span></a>-led protests in history. It was a grassroots-led resistance, and the idea that Greenpeace orchestrated it is a <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/racist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>racist</span></a> attempt to erase <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IndigenousHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>IndigenousHistory</span></a>.'</p><p>"But it might be what you’d expect from a company whose CEO once said that protesters who damaged construction equipment should be 'removed from the gene pool.'</p><p>"I’d encourage you to watch the trial online, but unfortunately, Judge Gion has denied a motion to arrange for the trial to be streamed online.</p><p>"As The Wall Street Journal reported in September, 'both sides expect a <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FossilFuel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FossilFuel</span></a> - friendly jury.' Check out the <br>'community' page on the company’s daplpipelinefacts.com website and you’ll understand why. There’s a picture of Mandan town employees appreciatively holding up a giant check representing Energy Transfer’s $3 million donation to upgrade the town’s library and other infrastructure.</p><p>"Energy Transfer is suing Greenpeace for damages, initially proposed at $300 million, in what Greenpeace has called an effort to bankrupt the organization. Greenpeace is the 50-year-old environmental organization which has been part of opposing <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearTesting" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NuclearTesting</span></a> in the Pacific, saving <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/whales" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>whales</span></a> from factory <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/trawlers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>trawlers</span></a>, and challenging <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BigOil" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BigOil</span></a>. That’s something you are not supposed to do in North Dakota, it seems, where oil money slicks through all the systems. In North Dakota, the message seems to be, No one should oppose a pipeline project. No one." </p><p>Read more:<br><a href="https://northdakotamonitor.com/2025/02/24/greenpeace-dakota-access-trial-commentary/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">northdakotamonitor.com/2025/02</span><span class="invisible">/24/greenpeace-dakota-access-trial-commentary/</span></a> <br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/StandWithStandingRock" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>StandWithStandingRock</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoDAPL" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NoDAPL</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/KelcyWarren" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>KelcyWarren</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/StandWithStandingRock" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>StandWithStandingRock</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CorporateColonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CorporateColonialism</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BigOilAndGas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BigOilAndGas</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnvironmentalRacism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EnvironmentalRacism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/StandingRock" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>StandingRock</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SLAPPs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SLAPPs</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoDAPL" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NoDAPL</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SLAPPsLawsuits" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SLAPPsLawsuits</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SilencingDissent" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SilencingDissent</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ACAB" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ACAB</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnergyTransfer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EnergyTransfer</span></a></p>