Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20170704 : comparemela.

The dakota pipeline. Into something that is going to come back and haunt if not us today, but the future. Amy we will speak with the chair in south dakota. Plus, we speak with the grandson of former Vice President Henry Wallace, who spoke against fascism in america more than 70 years ago. The Wallace Global Fund recently sioux 1tanding rock million for wind and Solar Renewable Energy projects. All of that and more coming up. This is democracynow, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. I am amy goodman. Today, in this holiday special, we begin with the words of frederick douglass. Born into slavery around 1818, douglass would escape, head north and become a key leader of the abolition movement. On july 5th, 1852, in rochester, new york, 165 years ago, douglass gave one of his most famous speeches, the meaning of july fourth for the negro. He was addressing the rochester ladies antislavery society. This is actor James Earl Jones reading douglasss historic address during a performance of the late, great historian Howard Howard zinns voices of a peoples history of the United States. At the time, James Earl Jones was introduced by howard zinn. Howard zinn frederick douglass, once a slave, became a brilliant and powerful leader of the antislavery movement. In 1852, he was asked to speak in celebration of the fourth of july. Frederick douglass [read by James Earl Jones] fellow citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am i called upon to speak here today . What h have o or those ii represent, to do with h your national indndendence . Are the great principles of Political Freedom and ofof natul justice, embodied d that declaration of independence, extended to us . And am i, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us . I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This fourth of july is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, i must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today . Bq. What, to the american slave, is your fourth of july . I answer a day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy thin veil to cover up crimes that would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour. At a time like this, scorching irony, not c convincing argumen, is needed. O had i the ability, and could reach the nations ear, i would, today, pour forth a stream, a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind,d, the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscienence f the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and the crimes against god and man must be proclaimed and denounced. [applause] amy James Earl Jones, reading Frederick Douglasss famous 1852 Independence Day address in rochester, new york. It was part of a performance of howard zinns voices of a peoples history of the United States. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman, as we turn now to the battle over the Dakota Access pipeline. The Standing Rock sioux tribe won a major legal victory in federal court in june, which may have the power to force the shutdown of the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. U. S. District judge James Boasberg ruled the Trump Administration failed to conduct an adequate Environmental Review of the pipeline, after President Trump ordered the army corps to fasttrack and greenlight its approval. The judge requested additional briefings on whether the pipeline should be shut off until the completion of a full review of a potential Oil Spills Impacts on fishing and hunting rights, as well as environmental justice. The pipeline faced months of massive resistance from the Standing Rock sioux tribe, members of hundreds of other indigenous tribes from across the americas, as well as nonnative allies. Speaking at a rally, President Trump said, a few weeks ago, he signed the memo greenlighting the Dakota Access pipeline with his eyes closed. President trump im pleased to announce that the dakota acceses pipeline, which i just mentioned, is now officially open for business, a 3. 8 billion investment in american and nobody thought any politician would havave the gugs to apppprove that final leg. And i just closed my eyes and said, do it. You know, when i approved it. Its up. Its running. Its beautiful. Its great. Everybodys happy. The sun is still shihining. The water is clean. But, you know, when i approved it, i thought id take a lot of heat. And i took none, actually none. People respected that i approved it. But i take so much heat for nonsense that it probably overerrode it probably overre the other. [laughter] [applause] pres. Trump its like a decoy. Amy well,l, i recenently spokeh Standing Rock sioux chair Dave Archambault when he was here in new york. He was joined by nick tilsen, executive director of the Thunder Valley community devevelopment corporation and a citizen of the Oglala Lakota nation on Pine Ridge Reservation in south dakota. I asked Standing Rock sioux chair Dave Archambault about the tribes lawsuit challenging the Dakota Access pipeline. Dave archambault ii from the very beginning, we asked the corps of engineers, what impact will this pipeline have on our people . And the corps of engineers never could answer that. Their response is, were doing an environmental assessment, and were going to see what impact it will have on the environment. And theres no impact. Thats their thats what they state. So when we say, well, we need to do a further look and see whwhat really happens whenen infrastrucucture projects have n impact o on our peoplele and e experienced many Infrastructure Projects in the past, such as a Railroad System. The Railroad System facilitated the nearextinction of buffalo herds. When we were at 70 million buffalo in 1800, by 1889 were down to less than a hundred. And it was the Railroad Track system that did that. Theres interstates. Theres telecommunications. Theres dams. All these Infrastructure Projects have a Significant Impact on us. So thats the question we asked. And to get the answer, it required a f full, indepth Environmental Impact statement. So, we were able to, with the past administration, say, lets at least do the Environmental Impactct statement. With this adadministration, the ea theres not going to be any impact to you or to your people, which we know is if or when t this pipeline breaks, we will be the first impacted. Amy there were leaks even before it went operational . Dave yes, there were. Amy can you explain what that means . It wasnt operational, so how were there leaks . Dave yeah, they started putting pipeline, like, where the valves to test the valves, they put oil through the pipelines. And it leaked significant amounts, even though it was a test. So, we understood and we knew that there were going to be leaks. It wasnt even fully operational, and they were already experiencing leaks and getting fined for 200,000 gallons of oil being leaked. And so, and then they said, well clean it up, and we fixed it. Its ok now. But, you know, that just goes to show that this pipeline is not clean. Its not pretty. Its not a beautiful thing. Its something thats going to come back and haunt not us, maybe not us today, but the future. Amy Dave Archambault, can you respond to what President Trump said . He just closed his eyes and signed it. Dave yeah, when President Trump comes out with statements like that, it just is revealing his true character. It tells america what kind of person he is, when we all know that his first agenda was to sign this president ial memorandum. He was actually calling it an executive order, and then they switched it to a president ial memorandum. But its because he has his own interest in thisis pipeline. He was sponsored, with his campaign, by kelcy warren. He had shares for Energy Transfer partners. He had political interests. All ththe people who support h m are saying this has to be done. So, for him to say, i blindly did this, its a complete lie, and it tells what kind of character this man really has. Amy nick tilsen, your response when you heard President Trump say he did this with his eyes closed, signing off on the final permit to allow the Dakota Access pipeline to be built under the missouri river, and then that there was no response afterwards . Nick tilsen yeah, i mean, i think that the reality of him signing with his eyes closed, thats probably the truth. Its probably what he did do. I mean, hes been a hes been a prop of the energy companies, who are having their heyday. And thats just the reality. I meanan, weve seen, youou kno, one of the biggest oututcries in protest in decades, and historical amounts of protest, in Dakota Access. And for him to fofor him to y that there was that it was met with no response is a total lie. Thats one of his another alternative facts that he has, when the reality is, you know, tens of thousands of people sacrificed. We sacrificed our freedoms to protect this water. We sacrificed everything that we had. And it was women and children and families, and Indigenous People with our allies from all over the country and all over the world. People around the world understand what happened at Standing Rock. And i think this is a constant sort of pr thing that says, oh, nobody cares. But the reality is, people do care and that, now, you know, theres an established movement in this country. Theres an established indigenous rights movementnt. Its starting to converge with these other movements. And hes not going to be able to say you know, hes going to be able to say those things all he wants, but theres a growing Movement Across this country, and pepeople are outut crying in mamany different wayays. And so, i think, you know, the president , trump, saying these kinds of things is not true, and theres millions of people who know its not true. Bubut we have to c continue to e our voices be e the loudest ones in the room. Amy i i wanted to ask about an explosive new investigation that by the intercept that reveals how International Private Security Firm tigerswan targeted Dakota Access water protectors with militarystyle counterterrorism measures. Tigerswan began as a u. S. Military and state department contractor, hired by Energy Transfer partners, the Company Behind the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. The investigation based on leaked internal documents, which show how tigerswan collaborated closely with law enforcecement agencies to surveille and target the nonviolent indigenousled movement. In the documents, tigerswan also repeatedly calls the water protectors insurgents and the movement an ideologically driven insurgency, even uses words like jihadi. Chairman Dave Archambault . Dave you know, it just goes to show who Law Enforcement is going to listen to. And Law Enforcement listens to the political leaders. And the political leaders are bought by corporations. So, in north dakota, we have a senator who has interests in the oil fields. We have a amy who is that . Dave senator hoeven. He has an interest in the wells, that he owns. We have senator cramer and senator, or, congressman cramer and senator heitkamp. They receive some of the largest amounts of contributions from the fossil fuel indudustry. We have a governor at that time, governor dalrymple, who had some intermixings with china oil. And so, this whole Political Leadership in north dakota will say, we have e to have ththis pipeline go in. And because theyre saying this, theyre only going to listen to the corporation and the company. And theyre going to give direction to the Law Enforcement. And its frustrating to me, because we had countless meetings with Law Enforcement. And we let them know that theres infiltrators. This is not all the demonstrators who are creating this. We dont know who all the people are. All along, theyre listening to the companys security, private Security Firms. Theyre working hand in hand with the companys private Security Firms. Theyre having daily meetings, daily briefifings, with the companys Security Firms and ignoring completely tribal leadership. And all we were doing is trying to make sure that safety was the number one priority, where these guys, if the reports from from tigerswan on tigerswan are true, they werentthey werent looking out for safety. They were looking to incite and to harm. And thats disturbing. Amy when we were there labor day weekend, when i first met you out there at the camps, you know, we could see the planes. S. And whenever i would point them out and ask, people would say, oh, theyre just surveilling us. It became business as usual. And, nick, i was wondering if you could talk about this and the significance of when you have these private paramilitary firms tigerswan founded by a delta force member, former delta force memberwhere you have these companies, as chairman dave was just describing, working with local Law Enforcement and the effect it has. I mean, then id like to go into your own personal history and your remarkable family history. But what this means . Nick i mean, i dont think anybody is surprised, so anyany water protectors that were out there. These reports that are coming out basically prove they prove that this is the this is the modern form of cointelpro. Thats what it is. Amy the countererintelligence program of the fbi nick absolutely. Amy that targeted black panthers and people of color for years under hoover. Nick this is a modern, contracted version of it, whos designed in using basically all of the lessons that they have been building off of fighting terrorism, but using it on their own peoplele. And this is this is real. Like, in thehe camp and all the organizing and all the stuff that we did, we knew that this was happening. We couldnt prove that it was happening, but we knew that, to an element, it was happening. We would show up at these protests. Wed have Security Officers and police who knew us by first name, who knew where we came from, who knew where in the camp we were staying. There was all kinds of stuff that happened during that time. And i think the reality is, like the American Public needs to realize that, you know, when we were organizing the camp, we were not allowed to fly our own planes over. We were not allowed to have our own observations. And we thought about doing