What we can learn from Standing Rock—Part One

Standing Rock, North Dakota, December, 2016. Author: Alice LoCicero

by Alice LoCicero

North Dakota: At the daily meetings, anyone who wishes to speak can do so, for any length of time, on any topic. Others listen carefully, patiently, and respectfully, in order to learn from those who do, and those who do not, initially look like they have a lot to teach.

For non-natives, noticing the patience and listening attentively is the first lesson: That there is a different way to engage—that unwavering focus with determination to meet a known goal is not the only—and not always the best–approach. That pushing someone to get to the point might lead you to miss the point entirely.

The wisdom the speaker has to share might come in the first sentence or the last paragraph, or throughout the comments. You cannot know in advance. You must remain engaged.

In the meetings I attended, some who spoke had traveled—some by foot– hundreds of miles to share their experiences and their hard-won wisdom—from other actions in other times.

Grandmothers led the communal prayers that began each meeting, and ended it, and their prayers of gratitude, of memory, of humble request, and of hope, were enhanced by drumming and singing, done by men—usually young men. Those prayers reminded us we were all in this together now—indigenous people, immigrants—voluntary and forced–and the descendants of immigrants. All races and ethnicities.

We all share this one, beautiful, earth. And every meeting left me in hope and awe, as I watched privileged young men and women—the descendants of colonizers–who had opted to learn, for now, from their indigenous relatives, rather than from their college professors.  And oppressed young men and women who had committed themselves to stand up and lead others in non-violent actions to protect the earth.

Everyone there was ready to stand with all willing relatives—we are all relatives–putting our bodies and souls on the line to protect the water for future generations.

This experiment in democracy, sustainability, justice, egalitarianism and community was not viewed favorably by the larger community. It was viewed with suspicion, hatred, and condemnation. And the response of the authorities in the nearby non-native communities, with the support of non-native community members, was unbridled, unjustified, absurd levels of violence, both direct and indirect. Violence toward the water protectors and toward the water itself.

Indeed, for hundreds of years, the democratic, egalitarian, spiritual, communal societies of indigenous western hemisphere natives have been viewed by non-natives with fear and hatred.

Natives have consistently been treated with absurd levels of violence, because, for all this time, the settler/colonizers did not—and probably could not–see the indigenous groups as human.  If they had, it would have posed a challenge to the colonizers’ values and way of life, with its central assumption that it is normal for humans to be driven by greed, competition, and individualism. With such values, respect is given not to those who share, but to those who own land, animals, and people.

Respect Action Principles, Standing Rock, North Dakota, December, 2016. Author: Alice LoCicero.

Dr. Alice LoCicero is currently a visiting scholar at The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California, and president-elect of the Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict (Division 48 of the American Psychological Association.) Dr. LoCicero was the first president of the Society for Terrorism Research. She is author of two books and several peer-reviewed articles on terrorism. Her recent scholarship has documented the costs of the US counterterrorism policies, focusing on the flawed Countering Violent Extremism programs, and the American Psychological Association’s actions that supported torture of detainees at Guantanamo and other sites. Dr. LoCicero was shocked to see water protectors at Standing Rock, who were committed to non-violence, being treated as if they posed a threat equivalent to terrorists.

 

Nonviolence: The powerful antidote to youth recruitment to gangs, terrorists, and the US Military

bYoung people protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. File is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Pax Ahimsa Gethen.

by Alice LoCicero

Terrorists, gangs, and the US military recruit youth and train them to be violent. Each time a young person is recruited to violence, one or more adults benefit, but the youth and their families pay the price.[1]

The US military, for example, recruits in high schools—typically high schools serving poor families. The myth perpetrated is that the youth have no other options—or that this is their best option.

However, even the distant benefits that may accrue after the youth have put themselves in harm’s way with one or more deployments to one of the current wars, the rosy picture presented by recruiters is often not fulfilled. About 21% of those discharged from the military in recent years did not receive honorable discharges[2], leaving them at risk of not getting all of the veterans’ benefits expected.[3]

Many communities and organizations work against youth being recruited to violence.[4] While these organizations hold a moral high ground in their respect and advocacy for youth, they lack the power and financial resources of the US military. That power and those resources enhance recruitment through formal advertising and informal infiltration of schools, video games, and community events– including family and sports events.[5]

Perhaps the most powerful antidote to recruitment to violence is not resisting recruitment, but instead welcoming recruitment to non-violence. This became clear to me recently during several days at the Standing Rock encampment.

Hearing young people speak about their experiences there, I reflected on the power of nonviolence in a variety of 20th and 21st century movements: The US civil rights and anti-war movements, the nonviolent civil disobedience by Gandhi and his followers, and now the nonviolent actions at Standing Rock.

To fully understand this alternative, one must realize that nonviolence is not simply the absence of violence, which might seem to be associated with weakness. Rather nonviolence is a positive approach, requiring strength, training, and discipline based on a positive philosophy of resistance to injustice and insistence on change.

What would it be like if non-Native communities in the US followed the lead of the Water Protectors at Standing Rock?

 What if there were groups recruiting youth to set things right with society through active non-violence? Surely there are youth all over this country who are well-aware of the injustices in their own communities. What if there were elders from those communities who were prepared to lead resistance groups?

Let’s start a discussion about this.

References

[1] LoCicero, A. (2010) The hidden economics of youth violence. The New Renaissance.

[2] http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/09/29/54696/minor-infractions-in-uniform-keep-thousands-of-vet/

[3] https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1039945/dod-announces-new-outreach-efforts-to-veterans-regarding-discharges-and-militar (The Department of Defense has recently recognized that some of the veterans who received less than honorable discharges had behavioral infractions associated with PTSD, and has proactively reached out to those veterans and others to inform them of the possibility of review of status.)

[4] For example, the American Friends Service Committee and the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth.

[5] LoCicero, A. (2016) Resisting Recruitment, Unpublished presentation to the American Psychological Assocation.

THE STANDING ROCK PROTEST: GENOCIDE, ECOCIDE, & CHANGE, Part 3

People protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline stand in the street with signs and banners. 15 November 2016 Author: Pax Ahimsa Gethen This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

by Anthony J. Marsella, November 26, 2016

JUSTICE VERSUS THE POLITICAL-ELITE SYSTEM

Standing Rock is more than a protest of an indigenous population struggling to claim and reclaim its rights to exist. It is a confrontation between good and evil!  Harsh words? No! Constructing an oil pipeline across Native American Indian lands will have tragic consequences for people, land, and nation.  “Fracked” oil and tar-sands oil from Canada will be transported across thousands of miles, a portion transported under the Missouri River and tributaries, all of it at risk of pipeline ruptures from faulty technology and protests. And when a rupture occurs . . . .

Where are the self-righteous voices who supported either of the corrupt political parties in our election; these political parties made a mockery of governance, the USA Constitution and our treasured Bill of Rights! Neither of you were respected or wanted. The events at Standing Rock happened on your watch! Do you get it? You made it happen! You, the corporate-government-military complex! Standing Rock is about justice! Standing Rock is about retribution. Standing Rock is about resurrection! Woe to you elite, choosing to demean Standing Rock’s consequences.

To the current USA political elites, cabals, and global-order members (e.g., Davos Factions, Bilderbergs, National Banks), I say, how dare you claim moral authority? How dare you claim wisdom as you engage in self interests

Standing Rock and the Dakota Pipeline happened on your watch. You did nothing! We were all betrayed by your endless condemnations of political opponents, attacking one another with foolish blather. You are the opponents of life! You have no right to impose your will and interests upon the world’s citizens. Your concentration of wealth, power, and position, carefully calculated to insure exploitation is a crime!

Will “Big Oil” fund your libraries, philanthropies, and luxurious houses? Will you gather at Davos, Bilderberg, Bohemian Grove, Skull & Bone reunions, and celebrity events honoring one another? Will any of you gather at Standing Rock, protest signs in your hands, taking blows from truncheons and pepper spray? No! Because you benefits from the oppression occurring at Standing Rock!

Standing Rock will endure with honor and dignity. It will be recalled a hundred years from now, if our nation and our land exist. Standing Rock will be treasured by those who saw through the lies of the political elite and their sycophants. Historians will write Standing Rock was the pivotal point in USA history when a few Native American Indians and their supporters, stood against the corporate-government-military Leviathan, claiming justice, denying genocidal efforts to eliminate them, and ultimately, at great cost, won a victory for humanity.

The actions of the political elite, their lies, propaganda, deceit, betrayal, smiling faces, cannot escape history’s judgment.  You had the opportunity, and you chose betrayal. None of your faces will be carved on Mount Rushmore. Your libraries will be maintained by your minions, but your stature will be demeaned because you represented special interests at the cost of the people of the world. Your money can no longer guarantee your image.  You could have helped but you did not!

AN UNFOLDING STORY . . .

And so, the Standing Rock protest will continue until a wave of public criticism and outrage rises across the land in support of Standing Rock as more than a specific event, but in support of the timeless values of justice, peace, honor, dignity, and morality. Standing Rock will enter history books and classrooms as an example of “people power,” but more important it will enter history books, classrooms, board rooms, think tanks, as an ignored iconic event that changed the course of USA history.

Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., a  member of the TRANSCEND Network, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii, and past director of the World Health Organization Psychiatric Research Center in Honolulu. He is known nationally and internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry. In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 15 edited books, and more than 250 articles, chapters, book reviews, and popular pieces. He can be reached at marsella@hawaii.edu.

 

Getting it right

People protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline march past San Francisco City Hall. 15 November 2016. Author: Pax Ahimsa Gethen. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

by Kathleen Malley-Morrison

Now is the winter of our discontent, this woeful election year. Unhappiness with the government, frustrations over corruption of democratic processes, fears regarding increasing economic inequality, anger at the multiplying restrictions on prospects and possibilities, and rage at the unfairness of it all have been rife. But today, on this Thanksgiving Day, Americans (most of whom are descendants of  immigrants from other lands) have a chance to get things right.

And many people are doing just that. I give particular thanks to all the Americans, of all hues, who are standing by the Native protestors and their supporters at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota.

The nonviolent resistance of the Standing Rock protestors to the planned Dakota Access pipeline, slated to pass through sources of drinking water and sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, is a noteworthy and admirable example of nonviolently standing up against greed, unbridled capitalism, the militarization of civil society agencies, the unwarranted exercise of power by fossil fuel goliaths within the military industrial complex, the rape of the land, racist disregard for human lives, disrespect for laws (including in this case, yet another violation of a treaty), and violation of human rights including the rights of indigenous peoples . Moreover, the protestors are praiseworthy not only for standing up for clean drinking water and human rights but also for promoting the viability of this continent and the planet on which the survival of all peoples is dependent.

Among the groups to which we should be thankful for getting things right and taking risks to do so are:

Veterans Stand for Standing Rock, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, People Demanding Action, Ecowatch, and Code Pink.

I will be thanking all these groups at my dinner today.