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.
