“We have a shot at stopping some pretty extreme behavior at the end of the cannibal or the 'wendigo' economy. And that is, in my estimation, a great spiritual opportunity for us all.” -- Winona LaDuke
In the past week there was another confrontation near the pipeline construction area on Beech Plain Road in Sandisfield between police and protesters in which three more arrests were made. One woman, Karla Colon-Aponte, was thrown down and pinned to the ground by a Massachusetts State Trooper hired as security for the pipeline project. A video captured that incident.
At the Lower Spectacle Pond picnic area, about 80 people gathered at 10 a.m. to not only protest the pipeline but support "the need for solidarity against fossil fuel infrastructure across the country," said a Sugar Shack Alliance spokesperson.
"This is obviously fear of a trial. We want our day in court to talk about both the immorality and illegality of what's going on ... we want a trial."
--- Vivienne Simon of the Sugar Shack Alliance
Superior Court Judge John Agostini had ruled that federal law trumps state law in such cases and applied eminent domain, allowing Tennessee Gas to have the easement in Otis State Forest, despite Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution, that protects old-growth forests from development.
Filmmaker Fidel Moreno has been to the protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation several times and witnessed the gathering of people to form a community united by the commitment to protect water resources and the Missouri River
“Trump doesn’t like to lose. If he doesn’t make renewables a priority, he will lose to the countries that are working to be clean energy leaders.”
-- Maya van Rossum, head of Delaware Riverkeeper Network
The Standing Rock benefit will include speakers Jeremy Stanton, who recently fed Thanksgiving dinner to more than 2,000 people at Standing Rock, and spiritual peace activist and filmmaker Fidel Moreno, who is just returning from his second visit to the reservation.
