Solidarity With The Water Protectors.

        The fight goes on to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, the number of determined protesters, "Water Protectors", grows by the day, but now they are heading into the winter, and it will make their defence all that more difficult. They need all the support they can get to win this important struggle against the juggernaut of corporate madness.

       This report from The Freedom Socialist Party

  Patrick Burns and I arrived at Standing Rock this morning after flying in to North Dakota from Seattle. We were very moved by the vast panorama of teepees, tents, yurts, a large white geodesic dome and thousands of people. The energy was thrilling! It is clear that the water protectors are strong in their fight to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline and they aren’t going anywhere!
      While many people at the camp were glad about the recent news of the U.S. Department of Army and Interior calling for a delay on further construction of the pipeline, they know that this may not even slow down the drillers and that the movement must keep up the pressure. Several people were justifiably skeptical after experiencing hundreds of years of broken promises and lies by government officials. The camp is in it for the long haul and is preparing for the bitter winter ahead.
       Today, Patrick used his skills to assist in the assembly of over 25 wood stoves for the campers. I talked with many people who have flooded in from all over the country to provide solidarity. I also helped the support team and saw the leadership role many Native women are playing in getting donations sorted and distributed, orienting volunteers, preparing food, and providing security.
     Standing Rock has broad support. You can see it in the hundreds of flags flying at camp from many tribes and countries, and in the banners and signs from feminist, environmental and labor organizations. People greatly appreciated the concrete help and beautiful banner we brought from Radical Women (RW) and the Freedom Socialist Party (FSP). Today’s massive international day of action raised spirits of those on the ground here, despite continued government repression, arrests and pepper-spray targeting the hundreds of people putting their bodies on the line for safe water and the rights of indigenous peoples.
        We look forward to what else this week will bring!

      Gina Petry, the Organizer of Seattle Radical Women, and Patrick Burns, a union carpenter and activist with the Seattle branch of the Freedom Socialist Party, responded to the urgent call for on-site support to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, which will jeopardize the country's water supply by running toxic oil conduits under the Missouri River. They will be in North Dakota through November 20.
       To contribute to the delegation’s expenses, please donate by clicking here. If donations exceed the $2,000 needed for the trip, additional funds will be sent to the Water Protector Legal Collective, which desperately needs money to cover bail and legal costs for arrestees.
        Please contact Radical Women or FSP, RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com or 206-985-4621 (ask for Doug Barnes), if you would like to interview Gina or Patrick after their return or have them make a presentation to your union or community organization.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

    

An Army Of Homeless Children.

      A human crisis is happening on the US border with Mexico, that doesn't get very much coverage in our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. Thousands of unaccompanied children are crossing into the US and thousands of them are languishing in US detention centres. Figures vary but most estimates put the numbers as high as 60,000 in the past year.

Two young girls watch a World Cup football match on a television from their holding area while others sleep

     The crisis has pushed a simmering debate about immigration into the US back into the spotlight as the US border system creaks under the strain.
The issue has become a political cudgel on both sides as the president and the Republican opposition argue over how to respond and the root causes of the crisis.

      The Freedom Socialist Party, the voice of revolutionary feminism, has an interesting article on the subject:

      Then Obama started deporting nearly half a million people a year. Families trying to put lives back together in a foreign land were re-traumatized and divided by ICE raids on buses, in schools and homes, and at traffic stops. Now there were more orphans on both sides of the border.
In Central America, these kids joined others left without family by criminals, poverty or government policy. They set out from their home countries ready to do whatever they had to do to find a better life. They suffered hunger and abuse on their way north. And it wounded their little psyches to be shoved aside like the Dalits (untouchables) of India once here, after they had endured such an odyssey. But regardless, they were undoing Obama’s mass deportation policy and putting it on its head.
It turned out there is something stronger than U.S. imperialism. It is the children’s hunger for safety, for a roof over their heads and, most of all, for the love of their families. It pushed them across mountains and cities, across deserts and rivers. It’s why they took care of each other.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk