Women's Earth & Climate Action Network (WECAN) issued a press release on Nov. 21, 2017:  "Norwegian Oil Fund Recommends Divesting $37 Billion from Oil and Gas Industry After Meeting Standing Rock Activists in Ongoing Global Divestment Push."

​The press release contains quotes from many Native American women leaders including LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, Tara Houska, Osprey Orielle Lake and more:

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, Calif. (November 21, 2017) – "In the same week the Keystone Pipeline spilled 210,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota, the trillion-dollar Norwegian Oil Fund urged the government of Norway to divest from oil and gas companies - affecting $37 billion worth of investments. This news alone drove energy stocks lower, as the Fund owns on average 1.3% of every publicly traded company in the world. The announcement comes after two delegations of Indigenous women met with the Oil Fund in Oslo to give direct testimony of human and Indigenous rights abuses at Standing Rock. This advocacy work followed other Indigenous frontline communities directly affected by and engaging with the Oil Fund on its fossil fuel investments, including the Indigenous Sami people."

Click here for press release. 

WECAN's Facebook page

From the statement about Indigenous Peoples Community Day by the International Indigenous Youth Council (IIYC): 

Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations recently stated:

“Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind. Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger? Know that you yourself are essential to this world. Understand both the blessing and the burden of that. You yourself are desperately needed to save the soul of this world. Did you think you were put here for something less? In a Sacred Hoop of Life, there is no beginning and no ending.”

To read more about the International Indigenous Youth Council (IIYC), see IIYC Facebook page.

By Phil McKenna
Nov 13, 2017

From InsideClimate News: In his first interview since losing re-election, Dave Archambault II speaks candidly about the Dakota Access Pipeline protests and threats to tribal sovereignty. Quote from the article:

ICN: What was the significance of the DAPL fight in terms of native sovereignty and environmental justice?

Archambault: It was of huge significance, especially for environmental justice, because when you look at these infrastructure projects, you have to take a look at the route, and when you look at the route, it follows the highest areas of poverty, and in this nation, the highest areas of poverty are Indian Country. The 10 poorest counties of this nation, over half of them are tribal nations. What tribes are doing is saying, we have value, we have worth, we're still here, and that is exercising your sovereignty.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Chase Iron Eyes <info@lakotalaw.org>
Date: Thu, Nov 9, 2017 at 6:30 PM
Subject: A legal breakthrough at Standing Rock! Please share call to action.

Standing Rock raised the stakes for the global environmental and indigenous rights movements. Now, another victory. A North Dakota judge has ruled that my legal team is entitled to substantially more evidence from the North Dakota State Prosecutor’s office than has been forthcoming in other water protector cases. We will be able to take sworn testimony and demand documents from Energy Transfer Partners and their private, militarized security firm, TigerSwan.

The timing on this ruling is important for all environmental protectors. 84 members of Congress—nearly all Republicans—recently sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions encouraging him to invoke the domestic terrorism statute to prosecute fossil fuel protesters. These attacks on our fundamental constitutional rights, spearheaded by Donald Trump and parroted by congressional shills of Big Oil, should deeply concern all citizens who value our right to speak freely and demonstrate.

Our team has produced a new video that explains how I was singled out and targeted—and the justification for our bold legal strategy to expose the illegal and immoral wedding of the fossil fuel industry, law enforcement, and militarized private security forces. You’ll see why I took action on behalf of my people, millions of others downstream, and Unci Maka—Grandmother Earth. Please watch it, and share it widely.

Don’t lose sight of what Standing Rock means. My tribe—one of the poorest communities in the nation—won’t stop leading the struggles to protect the earth and freedom of expression. Continue to stand with me, my courageous fellow defendant HolyElk Lafferty, and hundreds of others being represented by our ally organization, the Water Protector Legal Collective. Our fight is your fight—and it is nothing less than the movement to protect freedom and the earth for future generations.

Wopila—I thank you.

Chase Iron Eyes
Lakota People’s Law Project Lead Counsel

P.S. Help us reach 60,000 petition signatures. Please share our video with your network and together we will pressure North Dakota’s legal authorities to do the right thing and #DropDAPLCharges. In the coming weeks, we will hand-deliver petitions to the state’s attorney. More than 45,000 have already signed. Help us free the water protectors!


Lakota People's Law Project
547 South 7th Street #149
Bismarck, ND 58504-5859
United States