1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:05,640 Speaker 1: A theme that comes up over and over again if 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:09,399 Speaker 1: you look at environmental protest throughout history is the way 3 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: it often intersects with the fight for indigenous sovereignty and 4 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:18,240 Speaker 1: the way that makes the backlash to protest more severe. 5 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:23,120 Speaker 1: From Ochetti Chakwan people in the US to the Wetsuweten 6 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: in Canada, the link of people in Honduras the Tuhoi 7 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: in New Zealand. Indigenous led efforts to stop environmentally harmful 8 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: projects often help drive wider movements for Native people's rights, 9 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: and when the backlash comes, efforts to repress environmental activism 10 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 1: end up targeting indigenous rights movements too. 11 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 2: This is Nick ASTs I am an assistant professor American 12 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 2: Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota, co founder of 13 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 2: That Nation. I'm also an Enrold member of the Lower 14 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 2: Brules Siu tribe. 15 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: Nick Astes was deeply involved in protests at the Standing 16 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:08,680 Speaker 1: Rocksioux Indian Reservation against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which a 17 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: lot of people pinpoint as a key starting point of 18 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:16,039 Speaker 1: the modern climate movement in the US, and it was 19 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: a really big deal. Thousands of people from all over 20 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 1: the world showed up in North Dakota to protest the 21 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,839 Speaker 1: pipeline and stand up for Indigenous land and water rights. 22 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: There were celebrities there too, politicians. Alexandria Okazio Cortes has 23 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: cited it as the moment that sort of radicalized her 24 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,039 Speaker 1: in the climate fight. People camped out for months, They 25 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:43,759 Speaker 1: participated in multiple direct actions, and the police response was intense. 26 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: There was militarized gear and helicopters, attack dogs, private security 27 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: forces from the pipeline company, and even counter insurgency tactics 28 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,640 Speaker 1: that were being used to try to deter and suppress protest. 29 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 1: Standing Rock protests were also explicitly cited when politicians started 30 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: to pass laws criminalizing protests in the years following it. 31 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: It became a verb people said they didn't want to 32 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:18,360 Speaker 1: get Standing rocked. Despite its significance, Es does sees Standing 33 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,679 Speaker 1: Rock as more of a continuation of a century's long 34 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: battle for indigenous sovereignty. 35 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 2: This country not only exported war, but had been sort 36 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 2: of founded on a longer war called the US Indian 37 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 2: Wars the nineteenth century. I would argue that it continued 38 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 2: very much into the twentieth century, and the manifestations of 39 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 2: which are also very prevalent. In the way that police 40 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 2: agencies throughout the country track, surveil and police Indigenous led movements. 41 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:54,880 Speaker 1: He also sees it as the culmination of a more 42 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: recent fight to protect Native land and water rights that 43 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: have been going on for several years. Before the Standing 44 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: Rock protest began in twenty sixteen. 45 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:11,519 Speaker 2: Back in the early twenty tens, I had been getting 46 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 2: involved in local tribal politics and things that were happening 47 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 2: on the reservations. There were other protests that were going on. 48 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:23,800 Speaker 2: The IRS threatened to seize land from the Crow Creek 49 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 2: Sioux Tribe, and it was in the middle of winter. 50 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 2: I remember Brandon Sazu, who was a tribal chairman at 51 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 2: the time. He later went to Standing Rock. You know, 52 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 2: he was in a trailer by himself in the middle 53 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 2: of a snowstorm, and we used to go and bring 54 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 2: him coffee, and he was on a trailer on that 55 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 2: land that they were supposed to seize. 56 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: Sazu camped out in that trailer to block the IRS 57 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: from seizing the land it was on. And during those 58 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: same years there were various fights over tribal water rights too. 59 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 2: There was always a question around the jurisdiction over the 60 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 2: River control of the river and water rights, especially for 61 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 2: the Lakota To and Dell Khota reservations on Mini Shoche 62 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 2: the Missouri River, and there was a consciousness around it 63 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 2: because the Army corp of Engineers kind of abolished our 64 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 2: jurisdiction and then asserted its own and then sort of 65 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 2: has say over flowage and what kind of erosion prevention 66 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 2: are put on the river. And it may seem like 67 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 2: sort of a mundane kind of thing, but back in 68 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,360 Speaker 2: twenty eleven there was massive flooding in the Missouri River 69 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 2: basin and the Army Coorp of Engineers sort of patted 70 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 2: itself on the back and said, hey, we did a 71 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 2: really good job managing the floods and had it not 72 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 2: been for these dams, we would have lost lives. And 73 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,480 Speaker 2: there were no lives lost. But that's actually not true. 74 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,840 Speaker 2: There were at least half a dozen lives lost in 75 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 2: my reservation because of infrastructure being damaged because of floods. 76 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: So there were these long standing issues between the tribes 77 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: and the US government over water rights. And then in 78 00:04:54,800 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: twenty eleven, the Keystone Excel pipeline united indigenous opponents in 79 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: the US and Canada. 80 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 2: You had tribes coming from our first nations, coming from 81 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:14,560 Speaker 2: Canada and talking about the destruction of their homelands from 82 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 2: Tarzan's extraction that was happening in Alberta, and they signed 83 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 2: a treaty to protect the sacred down in the Hunkdawah 84 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 2: country on the Inkton Reservation, where they all committed, including 85 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,839 Speaker 2: the Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association which our tribe is 86 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:37,840 Speaker 2: Party two, as well to prevent Tarzan's transportation cross a 87 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 2: treaty territories. But that's a pretty bold move. I mean, 88 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 2: there's like very few things in Indian country that unite 89 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 2: grassroots people and tribal chairmans like that we can all 90 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:49,240 Speaker 2: kind of agree on. 91 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:53,680 Speaker 1: That fight was ultimately successful, but it went back and 92 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: forth for a decade. I and just finally canceled the 93 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: permit for the Keystone Excel pipeline in twenty one, and 94 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: of course five years before that, Standing Rock began. 95 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 2: Standing Rock is an interesting case because Standing Rock, you know, 96 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:12,239 Speaker 2: historically has been united in the sense that it allies itself, 97 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:16,039 Speaker 2: The council allies itself with the grassroots people, and so 98 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:19,840 Speaker 2: they were you know, inviting people in. We didn't just 99 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 2: show up uninvited. There was a public invitation and there's 100 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 2: a public sort of hosting of people in this particular space, 101 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 2: and they found land that was belonging to the Core 102 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 2: of Engineers that you know, we we had never formally 103 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:38,839 Speaker 2: ceded to the Core of Engineers. So when we look 104 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:42,920 Speaker 2: at Standing Rock in that in that context, just by 105 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 2: asserting treaty authority, just by asserting our right to exist 106 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 2: and to you know, live by the laws that we 107 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 2: determined for ourselves, not somebody from the outside, that becomes 108 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,680 Speaker 2: a criminal act. It's actually just like criminalizing Deocheti Shakoye 109 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:04,359 Speaker 2: train to make being a water protector in an illegal act. 110 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: The intense push by the fossil fuel industry to criminalize 111 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 1: protest in the wake of Standing Rock was very much 112 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: in line with how the industry has dealt with indigenous 113 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: protests in other countries, so much so that it was 114 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: a topic of conversation around the fire at one of 115 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: the Standing Rock protest camps. 116 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 3: So in twenty sixteen, I visited Standing Rock during the 117 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 3: height of the protests against the Code Access pipeline. 118 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:40,000 Speaker 1: This is Lindsay Ophrius, an anthropologist and documentary filmmaker who's 119 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: making a film about how laws are used to suppress protests. 120 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: She traveled to Standing Rock with two land defenders and 121 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: leaders of the Sequoia people in Ecuador who had been 122 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: fighting first Texaco and then Chevron over oil spilled and 123 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:57,560 Speaker 1: dumped throughout the Amazon there for decades. 124 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 3: So two of those people, Umberto Piaguaffe and Hornman zan Brano. 125 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 3: I went with them to Standing Up in twenty sixteen. 126 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: Part of the idea was for coalition building. 127 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 3: And also trying to think about what is possible outside 128 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 3: or beyond the whole wartex of the law that kind 129 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 3: of sucks everything into it. And so something that I 130 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 3: will always remember is that around the fire went evening 131 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 3: where you know, everybody would come and sider around the 132 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 3: fire and share stories, and Bertha and Carmon gave kind 133 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 3: of like a warning about what they had gone through, 134 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,880 Speaker 3: and you know that it's likely to come to pass 135 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 3: once again now that this RICO precedent has been set. 136 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:49,199 Speaker 1: RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, was created 137 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: to prosecute the mafia in the US. It's been used 138 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: in civil cases too, to go after white collar crime 139 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:02,199 Speaker 1: and prosecute corporate corruption. It had some surprising usage in 140 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:06,719 Speaker 1: legal battles around climate change and protest as well. It 141 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: was used against Umberto and Carmen and their co plaintiffs 142 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: in Ecuador to block them from collecting a settlement after 143 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: they defeated Chevron in court. That case stemmed from a 144 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:23,839 Speaker 1: decades long fight with first Texaco and then Chevron. It 145 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:26,760 Speaker 1: began all the way back in the nineteen sixties when 146 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: the American oil company Texico brought the oil business deep 147 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:35,640 Speaker 1: into the Ecuadorian Amazon, disrupting centuries of indigenous culture and tradition. 148 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 4: The indigenous peoples in the Amazon, the Warani, the Kofar, 149 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 4: and other indigenous peoples. They lived in a pristine rainforest 150 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:51,319 Speaker 4: environment prior to the arrival of Texaco and the oil 151 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 4: boomen in Ecuador in the nineteen sixties and early nineteen seventies. 152 00:09:56,679 --> 00:10:00,920 Speaker 1: This is Marcos Oriana, an international law expert, professor at 153 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:05,599 Speaker 1: American University and the UN Special Rapperture on Toxics and 154 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:06,439 Speaker 1: Human Rights. 155 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:12,079 Speaker 4: The extraction of oil by tex and Petro Ecuador was 156 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:16,160 Speaker 4: without regard to the protection of the environment. It was 157 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 4: without regard to the rights of affected indigenous peoples. First 158 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:23,079 Speaker 4: operated by Texaco as I mentioned, and then taken over 159 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 4: by Petro Ecuador. Oil operations severely impacted indigenous people's traditional lands. 160 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:35,920 Speaker 4: The oil boom in Ecuador has imposed loss of life, health, territory, 161 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 4: and culture. Indigenous peoples have not received reparation for the 162 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:42,840 Speaker 4: violation of their rights. 163 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: When the Sequoia and Kofan tribes banded together with local 164 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:51,599 Speaker 1: farmers to sue Texaco, which later became Chevron, for the 165 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: damage that had been caused in the Amazon, they won, 166 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: and then the oil company immediately accused them of corruption 167 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: and collusion and held up the settlement. In a decades 168 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 1: long RICO case back in the United States, they have 169 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: still not collected that settlement. It turns out Umberto and 170 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:18,040 Speaker 1: Carmen's warning was prescient. Some twenty years after their ordeal began, 171 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: a similar thing happened to Standing Rock protesters. Energy Transfer Partners, 172 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:28,320 Speaker 1: the pipeline company, tried to use RICO against individual water 173 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:31,480 Speaker 1: protectors and nonprofits like Greenpeace. 174 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 5: In August of twenty seventeen, of student was filed by 175 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 5: Energy Transfer, the company behind the Dakota Access pipeline, and 176 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 5: this was for three hundred million dollars for allegedly orchestrating 177 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 5: their resistance at Standing Rock. 178 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: DEEPA. Padmanaba is Deputy General Counsel for Greenpeace USA. 179 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:56,719 Speaker 5: Energy Transfer brought claims under the Federal Racketeer, Influenced and 180 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:01,080 Speaker 5: Corrupt Organizations Act or RICO, and as many no. RICO 181 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 5: was a law that was created to go after the 182 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 5: mafia for organized crime. And what made RICO even more 183 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,319 Speaker 5: dangerous was that it allowed for the recovery of treble damages. 184 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 5: So we were suddenly looking at an almost one billion 185 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 5: dollar lawsuit. An energy Transfer was alleging that our advocacy 186 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:21,800 Speaker 5: worked to uplift Indigenous voices at Standing Rock constituted organized crime. 187 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: But all the court cases and laws that were passed 188 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: in the week of Standing Rock could not stop the 189 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: one thing that oil company executives and right wing politicians 190 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:40,199 Speaker 1: seemed absolutely terrified of Indigenous people and allies of all 191 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,120 Speaker 1: kinds rising up against them. 192 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:50,080 Speaker 2: The subversive nature being a water protector isn't just because 193 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 2: you know, the Ocheti Shakoi was leading this resistance again 194 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:57,760 Speaker 2: against a pipeline, but they were also creating a sort 195 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:02,679 Speaker 2: of universal identity that was grounded in Indigenous values but 196 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:07,120 Speaker 2: didn't necessarily mean it was just for Indigenous people, because 197 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 2: anybody who walked through the gates of you know, o 198 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 2: chet Tischau Coin Camp or Secret Stone Camp, became a 199 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 2: water protector by default. 200 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: Esta says this sort of resistance was prophecied a long 201 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:20,360 Speaker 1: time ago. 202 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 2: The black snake prophecy comes from several sources, but one 203 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,120 Speaker 2: of them it has to do with the mini shoche 204 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:32,679 Speaker 2: the Missouri River, and there were ideas that what they 205 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:36,520 Speaker 2: call it inchegular uti, which are like essentially water monsters, 206 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:40,800 Speaker 2: snakes were kind of banished to the river and then 207 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:44,319 Speaker 2: also sort of promised their return and they would come 208 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:46,439 Speaker 2: back as a black snake. And you know, I don't 209 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 2: think a lot of people really fully understood it. And 210 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 2: but LaDonna brab bol Aller told me is that at 211 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:55,680 Speaker 2: one point people thought it was the Interstates because they 212 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,839 Speaker 2: were using a lot of asphalt. But then when the 213 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 2: oil pipelines are being built, it was like, oh, yeah, 214 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:04,920 Speaker 2: this is like in some ways like dinosaur blood. 215 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 3: You know. 216 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:09,400 Speaker 2: So the prophecy, as it was told during these times, 217 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,199 Speaker 2: would actually unite people in a kind of historic resistance, 218 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:17,240 Speaker 2: and it would unite all people, not just the Ochetti Shakoi. 219 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 2: So as Phyllis Jung said, the Hung Papa oyaate was, 220 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:27,160 Speaker 2: you know, the horn of the buffalo or the horn 221 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 2: of the camp circled the Ochetti shaky, and they would 222 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:32,600 Speaker 2: be sort of the vanguard of the nation. But also 223 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:35,520 Speaker 2: this movement, I think there's you know, some truth to that. 224 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:40,840 Speaker 1: The connection of the pipeline fights to the fight for 225 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: indigenous sovereignty really seemed to supercharge the industry's response, which 226 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 1: makes sense if you look at how entwined the industry's 227 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:54,840 Speaker 1: history has been with colonialism. In his book Anointed by Oil, 228 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 1: historian Darren Dochuk at Notre Dame University chronicled how US 229 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 1: oil mean dealt with indigenous nations both in the US 230 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 1: and when they first started to look beyond the country's 231 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: borders for oil. One key tactic was to connect fossil 232 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: fuel extraction with religion. 233 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 6: These missionaries are pushing into the jungles of the Amazon. 234 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:21,080 Speaker 6: They are coming in direct contact with petroleum geologists, for instance, 235 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 6: the Standard Oil Company, and they are going to collaborate. 236 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 6: They are going to partner in terms of the flow 237 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 6: of information, and the information is going to be about 238 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:32,600 Speaker 6: the environment. It's going to be about the ecology that 239 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 6: they're encountering. It's also going to be anthropological. Both classes 240 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:41,960 Speaker 6: of explorers are going to be deeply invested in trying 241 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 6: to understand the people that they are encountering in these 242 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:47,960 Speaker 6: regions and all with hopes of trying to get information 243 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:50,680 Speaker 6: from them to be able to kind of plumb the 244 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 6: earth in a profitable way. So it really accelerates in 245 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:57,040 Speaker 6: the nineteen twenties and moving into the nineteen fifties in 246 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:01,040 Speaker 6: the Cold War period, this pursuit of gold is going 247 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:04,720 Speaker 6: to be all the more intensified against the backdrop of 248 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:08,120 Speaker 6: the Cold War and the fight with communism, in the 249 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:12,840 Speaker 6: fear that Latin America might lose itself to the great 250 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:17,400 Speaker 6: secular communist threat of the Soviet Union. So oil and 251 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 6: pursuit of souls is going to become all the more important. 252 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 1: Author lawyer and law professor Judith Kimberling documented similar behavior 253 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,479 Speaker 1: in the Ecuadorian Amazon in the nineteen seventies. 254 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,640 Speaker 7: One of the groups the by WAYETI. They had no 255 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:41,240 Speaker 7: contact with the outside world until nineteen seventy, and they 256 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 7: were subjected to a program a forced contact because after 257 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:50,360 Speaker 7: Textco discovered commercial quantities of oil and Lago Lagrio, the 258 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 7: company knew that it. 259 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,600 Speaker 8: Would want to expand its operations into War II territory, 260 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 8: and the war Any who lived in those areas had 261 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 8: no contact with the outside world. The company collaborated with 262 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:07,080 Speaker 8: US missionaries and Nequwar's government to subject the Warani to 263 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:13,960 Speaker 8: a forced contact. The missionaries would get into planes Texico's plans, 264 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:15,639 Speaker 8: they would fly over the forest, they would look for 265 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:19,200 Speaker 8: Warani houses. I've actually heard reports too that they threw 266 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 8: dynamite out of the planes to try to scare the 267 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:27,720 Speaker 8: Warani away. And of course the missionaries wanted the Waronis 268 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,440 Speaker 8: to come live with them in settlements because the Warani 269 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 8: were nomadic semi nomadic people, so the missionaries wanted them 270 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:39,000 Speaker 8: to live in permanent settlements with the missionaries and the 271 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:41,800 Speaker 8: cam Christian Texico just wanted them out of the areas 272 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 8: where they wanted to operate, and you know, the government 273 00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:49,440 Speaker 8: of wanted Texico to be able to find more oil 274 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:50,680 Speaker 8: and extract more oil. 275 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 1: What we've seen from Ecuador to Standing Rock, India, to 276 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia, Nigeria to British Columbia is that when indigenous 277 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 1: peoples fight back against the plundering of their land, the 278 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:11,280 Speaker 1: backlash is swift, often violent, and comes with a huge 279 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 1: side of colonialist entitlement. Today, we're going to travel to 280 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:19,639 Speaker 1: the Brazilian Amazon, where the uru Wahwau people are trying 281 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:24,640 Speaker 1: to defend the last of their territory from agribusiness and logging. 282 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: The excellent team behind the national geographic documentary The Territory 283 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:32,240 Speaker 1: have shared footage with us to help tell that story 284 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:36,760 Speaker 1: that's coming up after this quick break. This has drilled 285 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:41,680 Speaker 1: the real free speech threat. I'm Amy Westervelt. Stay with us. 286 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,240 Speaker 1: In the heart of the Amazon, the urdu Wahwau people 287 00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:59,399 Speaker 1: have seen their community decline from thousands to just around 288 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:03,880 Speaker 1: two hundred people. Those remaining descendants are trying to hold 289 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: onto and protect the tribe's ancestral lands in the Amazon, 290 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:13,120 Speaker 1: which faces increasing threats from the country's large agricultural industry. 291 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,480 Speaker 1: The big agricultural companies know better than to go after 292 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:23,200 Speaker 1: indigenous rights directly. Instead, they pay small farmers to sneak 293 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: into protected territory, slash and burn, and set up homesteads. 294 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,960 Speaker 1: Once they've made inroads, the big companies come in and 295 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:34,160 Speaker 1: take over, clearing large segments of the forest to either 296 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:39,600 Speaker 1: grow soybeans or graze cattle. The documentary The Territory documents 297 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: the fight between farmers and the tribe, particularly under former 298 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: Brazilian president JayR. Bosonato, who made undermining the rights of 299 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:50,280 Speaker 1: indigenous people part of his platform. 300 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:57,159 Speaker 9: Implifies open gen thank to hedge you mis can, It's okay, 301 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,160 Speaker 9: thank you, pog see, thank God, thank you the hubaba 302 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:10,600 Speaker 9: from ahad A Florida, Esta Pushiu and Osarkaso de Hichi Simonte. 303 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:16,520 Speaker 1: This is bita Te, a young Udawawaw leader. He says 304 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:20,400 Speaker 1: non indigenous people always say the same thing, that Indigenous 305 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,000 Speaker 1: people have too much land and that we should clear 306 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:26,399 Speaker 1: the trees and raise cattle. But I don't agree. He says, 307 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,280 Speaker 1: the forest and the rivers are our home. They support us. 308 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 1: Alternating between footage of the Urduwahwau and some of the 309 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 1: settlers and farmers trying to invade their land, the film 310 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:41,720 Speaker 1: highlights themes we see turning up in every environmental fight. 311 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 1: After we hear from Bitaate, we meet Serhio, a farmer 312 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:50,240 Speaker 1: who talks about the forest as prime farmland that shouldn't 313 00:20:50,400 --> 00:21:04,200 Speaker 1: just go to waste, and the indigenous people aren't doing 314 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:07,720 Speaker 1: anything with the land. Sergio says they're not planting, they're 315 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:11,879 Speaker 1: not producing. All they do is live there. Robert Miller, 316 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 1: a citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe and a professor 317 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:19,440 Speaker 1: of Indian law at Arizonia State University, says the tension 318 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:23,680 Speaker 1: between settlers and indigenous people over living in relationship with 319 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:27,119 Speaker 1: the land versus extracting from it has been going on 320 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:28,920 Speaker 1: since colonization began. 321 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,360 Speaker 10: The doctrine of discovery is one of the original international 322 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:36,879 Speaker 10: law doctrines that was developed in the fourteen hundreds to 323 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:42,680 Speaker 10: control the actions of European Christian nations. As Europeans began 324 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 10: to sail outside the site of land, they began to 325 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:50,240 Speaker 10: be interested in acquiring empires in Africa and then into 326 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:55,000 Speaker 10: the Americas and into Asia. They very rarely found lands 327 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:58,200 Speaker 10: that were truly vacant. They were claiming the lands of 328 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:02,800 Speaker 10: indigenous peoples Africa, in the Americas, and in Asia. So 329 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:07,040 Speaker 10: it wasn't finders keepers, losers weeper. Here's a lost piece 330 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 10: of property, I pick it up, I look around, there's 331 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,880 Speaker 10: nobody to claim it, so it's mine. No, they were 332 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:17,120 Speaker 10: mostly claiming settled lands where cultures and nations had lived 333 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 10: for hundreds, if not thousands of years. The justification was 334 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:26,280 Speaker 10: Christianity and civilization, and it's hard to even understand what 335 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 10: that means. But the civilization of Europe was somehow superior 336 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,000 Speaker 10: to that of every other indigenous peoples around the world. 337 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,720 Speaker 10: I mean, today it's ludicrous to even say that, but 338 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:43,399 Speaker 10: those were the justifications. That God wanted European Christians to 339 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 10: own these lands, and that the Christian God intended that, 340 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:51,240 Speaker 10: and somehow Christian Europeans were superior to everyone around the world. 341 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:57,000 Speaker 1: As Europeans began colonizing various places, philosophers like John Locke 342 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:01,440 Speaker 1: also justified the taking of indigenous lands by describing it 343 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 1: as empty land. According to Locke, if land was not 344 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,760 Speaker 1: being farmed or used in some other way, it was empty. 345 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:16,240 Speaker 10: Terranellius is a Latin phrase meaning empty land. That's exactly 346 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 10: what John Locke was writing about. That's exactly what most 347 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 10: Europeans assumed. They assumed the lands around the world was vacant. 348 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:27,440 Speaker 10: They could come here and make it their own by 349 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 10: applying their labor to it. 350 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:35,119 Speaker 1: In the territory, we watch as the udu Wawaw make 351 00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: use of the land too. They fish, they bathe in 352 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: the river, they drink the water. They weave roofs and 353 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:46,360 Speaker 1: baskets out of palm fronds, but the forest remains intact. 354 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,320 Speaker 1: When settlers and farmers come in, they use chainsaws to 355 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:54,119 Speaker 1: chop down trees and light fire to large areas of 356 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: land to clear it. It's really striking to see the 357 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 1: visual contrast between these two opposing views of humanity's relationship 358 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:07,480 Speaker 1: with nature. When farmers illegally farm in protected indigenous regions, 359 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,440 Speaker 1: they claim it's because they are poor and need the land. 360 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:15,600 Speaker 1: But Nadinya, a local environmentalist who fights alongside the Uduwawau 361 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 1: and has for decades, says the farmer stories are not 362 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:21,119 Speaker 1: entirely truthful. 363 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:26,000 Speaker 11: That's well so kid Bragla. 364 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:31,680 Speaker 3: The CPILO cisspsource in the boys. 365 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:35,119 Speaker 1: As a good, but they are often financed by Brazil's 366 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: major agribusiness landowners, so once the small farmers complete the 367 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 1: first invasion into the forest, these large landowners will take 368 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,399 Speaker 1: over and clear the rest. As invasions increase and the 369 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:53,560 Speaker 1: Indigenous Affairs Agency starts telling the news that nothing is happening, 370 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: that the invasions are being made up by the indigenous people, 371 00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:00,879 Speaker 1: the tribe's new young leader beat the they comes up 372 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:06,280 Speaker 1: with a novel idea, perhaps cameras are more powerful than 373 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:11,480 Speaker 1: arrows or machetes. Pulling together a tribal patrol, he sets 374 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:14,920 Speaker 1: out into the forest, using drones to track invasions, and 375 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:19,159 Speaker 1: then documents all the evidence. The patrol finds and arrests 376 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:26,400 Speaker 1: some thirty people that they call invaders that they tells them, 377 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:28,840 Speaker 1: we don't want to hurt you, but you can't be here. 378 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 1: Everyone knows this is indigenous territory. The media picks up 379 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:48,959 Speaker 1: the story and the local group of farmers that had 380 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,520 Speaker 1: been trying to take over part of the territory loses 381 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 1: its political support. They disband. Don't worry. I've left plenty 382 00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: of twists and turns out here because I think everyone 383 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:05,440 Speaker 1: see this film. This part of the documentary chronicles a 384 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,560 Speaker 1: huge win, which you don't always get in these sorts 385 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:12,800 Speaker 1: of stories. Despite that, the udu Wawa's future still feels 386 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:17,920 Speaker 1: pretty precarious. Bolsonaro is out of office now, but Bolsonarismo 387 00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:20,639 Speaker 1: is going strong. At one point in the film, a 388 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,960 Speaker 1: settler references the Bible and his faith that this land 389 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,960 Speaker 1: is his. When his homestead is found and burned down 390 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:34,040 Speaker 1: by Betat's patrol, he vows to keep rebuilding it. Still, 391 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: the country's new president does seem committed to supporting indigenous 392 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:43,080 Speaker 1: rights and stopping deforestation, and so far the numbers are promising. 393 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:46,480 Speaker 1: In President Lula de Silva's first six months in office, 394 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:51,040 Speaker 1: deforestation dropped by more than a third. Will it be enough, 395 00:26:52,119 --> 00:27:00,480 Speaker 1: We'll have to watch and see. Drilled is an original 396 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: Critical Frequency production. Our senior editor for this series is 397 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:09,680 Speaker 1: Allen Brown. Senior producer and sound designer is Martin Saltz Ostwick, 398 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,000 Speaker 1: who also composed much of the music in this episode. 399 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: Additional music composed by Peter Duff, who mixed and mastered 400 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:18,240 Speaker 1: the episode. 401 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:23,400 Speaker 11: Fact checking by Woodan Jan Legal review by James Wheeton. 402 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:27,399 Speaker 1: The show is reported and written by me Amy Westerbolt. 403 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,440 Speaker 11: Our artwork is by Matt Fleming. Our theme song is 404 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,840 Speaker 11: Bird in the Hand by four Known. The show was 405 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:36,480 Speaker 11: created by Amy Westerveldt. 406 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,720 Speaker 1: You can find additional stories and reporting materials related to 407 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,240 Speaker 1: this episode and others in this series on our website 408 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:48,439 Speaker 1: at drill dot Media. 409 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:52,320 Speaker 11: You can also sign up for our newsletter there. If 410 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:54,199 Speaker 11: you'd like to support the show, you can give us 411 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,199 Speaker 11: a rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts. 412 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,800 Speaker 1: It really helps us find new listeners, share. 413 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:03,240 Speaker 11: Links to our stories, or upgrade to a paid newsletter 414 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 11: or podcast subscription for access to add free early release 415 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:08,439 Speaker 11: episodes and bonus content. 416 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:10,960 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.