Speaker 1: As the record high heat wave of one hundred and
Speaker 1: seventeen degrees hit my hometown of Portland, Oregon, in late
Speaker 1: June one, I was facing down baton wielding county sheriffs
Speaker 1: in the forests of Minnesota. Originally I was going out
Speaker 1: of town to attend the twenty twenty one Earth First
Speaker 1: Summer Gathering. I learned about it from some online friends,
Speaker 1: and since I was already deep into research for this
Speaker 1: very podcast, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity
Speaker 1: to learn from people who have been fighting against climate
Speaker 1: change longer than I have been alive. I arrived in
Speaker 1: Minneapolis in the early morning of June and then up
Speaker 1: put someone to make the four hour drive north into
Speaker 1: the lake dense forests of Minnesota. By the time we
Speaker 1: arrived at the earth First camp, who was already dark
Speaker 1: in the mosquito filled woods and it started to rain.
Speaker 1: I could of myself indeed bug spray and scrambled to
Speaker 1: set up my tent and rain flow. I It was
Speaker 1: a long day. My exhaustion coupled with the rain, maybe
Speaker 1: not bother to inflate my sleeping pad, a decision I
Speaker 1: would soon regret. Come morning, I woke up with a moist,
Speaker 1: sore back into the sound of a loud ringing bell
Speaker 1: and someone yelling breakfast for me. That meant it was
Speaker 1: time for morning coffee. I suppose before I get any further,
Speaker 1: it would be useful to explain what exactly Earth First
Speaker 1: is for those who are unfamiliar. Earth First is an
Speaker 1: environmental movement focused on the protection and defense of nature,
Speaker 1: the wilderness, and wildlife. It was sounded in nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: as an alternative to other mainstream environmental organizations that were
Speaker 1: seen as too moderate and willing to sacrifice demands and
Speaker 1: goals to make deals with lawmakers and corporations. Earth First
Speaker 1: invented the slogan no compromise and defensive Mother Earth to
Speaker 1: demonstrate their commitment to their more radical ideals. Some of
Speaker 1: its earliest inspirations were non anthropocentric philosophies such as biocentrism
Speaker 1: and eventually deep ecology. Earth First was also in part
Speaker 1: inspired by Edward Abbey's nineteen seventy five book The Monkey
Speaker 1: Wrench Gang, which follows a small gaggle of radical environmentalists
Speaker 1: as they travel around the Western United States doing various
Speaker 1: tax as, sabotage, attacking the machinery, and infrastructure that are
Speaker 1: harming the planet. The novel became so ubiquitous that the
Speaker 1: word monkey wrenching became a synonym for eco sabotage. A
Speaker 1: few things set earth First apart from other more mainstream
Speaker 1: environmental groups. Its non formal, largely non hierarchical organization structure
Speaker 1: resulted in a loose network of local autonomous groups as
Speaker 1: opposed to a national membership based organization. Its tactics were
Speaker 1: more focused on civil disobedience and direct action rather than
Speaker 1: lobbying and political deal making. Direct Action such as body blockades,
Speaker 1: tree sits, and tree spiking i e. Putting metal rods
Speaker 1: or nails and trees to prevent them from being cut,
Speaker 1: gave earth First national media coverage, which in turn got
Speaker 1: more people involved with actions. Earth First also launched a
Speaker 1: magazine journal, which served as a public face and gave
Speaker 1: earth firsters info and tips on direct action and different
Speaker 1: writings on biocentrism. Around the early nineteen nineties, the organization
Speaker 1: faced some growing pains. Debate between more performative protests and
Speaker 1: get the goods style direct action is common in activist spaces,
Speaker 1: and earth First was no different. After a nine Earth
Speaker 1: First summer gathering, in the UK, some activists, frustrated by
Speaker 1: the increasingly mainstream and more hierarchical version of the Earth
Speaker 1: First organization with an emphasis on civil disobedience over sabotaged,
Speaker 1: formed a spinoff group called the Earth Liberation Front or
Speaker 1: the e LF. Earth First continue operating the journal and
Speaker 1: doing tree sets, blockades, civil disobedience, and occupation style protests.
Speaker 1: While the ELF took credit for tree spiking, fire bombings,
Speaker 1: and more fiery and instructive direct actions. Inevitably, business leaders, politicians,
Speaker 1: law enforcement authorities, and many others would rise up to
Speaker 1: attack these activists. The FBI labeled them the number one
Speaker 1: domestic terrorism threat in two thousand one and began work
Speaker 1: to suppress the entire green movement. This culminated in the
Speaker 1: Green Scare of the two thousands, a federal crackdown and
Speaker 1: mass surveillance project against environmental activism that was also in
Speaker 1: part fueled by the heightened anti terror fervor post and
Speaker 1: eleven and the terrorism enhancements in the Patriot Act. FBI
Speaker 1: investigations and subsequent grand juries broke many of the actives
Speaker 1: communities active at the time and scared more into hiding.
Speaker 1: Many are still imprisoned today, quoting Braun Taylor, a professor
Speaker 1: of environmentalism at the University of California, quote often complimented
Speaker 1: by lawsuits, The radical environmental movement had no small number
Speaker 1: of victories in the nineties, although the victories were often small. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: the perception of the movement's activists were that they were
Speaker 1: losing overall and badly, and moreover, that the government was
Speaker 1: not only corrupt and the cahoots with the industry, but
Speaker 1: increasingly repressive. Such perceptions reinforced an increasingly common view in
Speaker 1: the movement that the time had come to a shoe
Speaker 1: above ground tactics and create an underground resistance movement. By
Speaker 1: the mid ninety nineties, there was a proliferation of such tactics.
Speaker 1: Between then and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Speaker 1: Center two thousand and one, at least twenty activists deployed
Speaker 1: arson as a tactic torturing gas guzzling sports utility vehicles,
Speaker 1: a ski lodge being built in the habitat of a
Speaker 1: threatened species of Canadian links in Colorado, a forced service
Speaker 1: office in Oregon, and trophy homes being built in ecologically
Speaker 1: sensitive areas, to name but a few of these incendiary incidents.
Speaker 1: Welly sorts of tactics have drawn the bulk of the
Speaker 1: media's attention to these movements. Significant environmental victories have been
Speaker 1: won or contributed to by radical environmentalists. In January one,
Speaker 1: for example, the United States Forced Service under President Bill
Speaker 1: Clinton issued the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which protects over
Speaker 1: fifty eight million acres of federal forest lands. Although it
Speaker 1: took more than a decade of legal battles for imponents
Speaker 1: of this rule to exhaust their legal challenges to it,
Speaker 1: it eventually became law of the land. It is inconceivable
Speaker 1: that the government would have issued this important rule in
Speaker 1: the absence of a decade of strong and disruptive resistance
Speaker 1: to the Force Services Timber program bi radical environmentalists. Although
Speaker 1: the rule did not provide everything the radical environmental activists sought,
Speaker 1: it was a significant advance from biodiversity conservation in North America.
Speaker 1: Every day at the Earth First Camp followed a rough
Speaker 1: pattern wake up and breakfast call around seven, then a
Speaker 1: morning circle where folks lay out the plan for the
Speaker 1: day and make announcements. After that, the late morning to
Speaker 1: early afternoon is split up into three time blocks for
Speaker 1: various workshops at different sections of the camp, with lunch
Speaker 1: somewhere in between time slots. Once workshops are done, it's
Speaker 1: dinner time by the lake, and then usually some sort
Speaker 1: of evening activity. The workshops covered a broad range of topics,
Speaker 1: from how to climb a tree to how to do
Speaker 1: comfort resolution. Many were pre planned, but if you had
Speaker 1: a skill you wanted to share, time was set aside
Speaker 1: to do an impromptu workshop. The main workshops were on
Speaker 1: Indigenous solidarity and land Back, the History of Earth First, Slash,
Speaker 1: the Radical Green Movement, and an Overview slash discussion on
Speaker 1: direct action. Direct action is about literally taking direct action
Speaker 1: in hopes of achieving a tangible goal. It's not simply
Speaker 1: a protest march. Direct action means actually getting something done.
Speaker 1: People who call themselves Earth First are usually known for
Speaker 1: doing direct actions that temporarily inconvenience those who wish to
Speaker 1: harm the planet, while also trying to gain positive media
Speaker 1: attention or optics to grow massive support of the overall
Speaker 1: green movement. Examples of these actions include tree sits and lockdowns,
Speaker 1: more permanent and destructive tactics, and direct actions like burning
Speaker 1: down an ecologically distry active ski resort construction site or
Speaker 1: torching high carbon emitting luxury SUVs were more associated with
Speaker 1: the ELF or the Earth Liberation Front. The Direct Action
Speaker 1: workshop went over many examples of direct actions from years
Speaker 1: passed and around the globe. People discussed what goals the
Speaker 1: actions may have had, if the actions achieved that goal,
Speaker 1: the different risks of participating in the action, and what
Speaker 1: the public perception might have been, all of which are
Speaker 1: important things to consider when planning an action. Also discussed
Speaker 1: was slight deception as a useful tool for planning the
Speaker 1: risk and optics of an action. A past protest was
Speaker 1: shown as an example. At that protest, Indigenous folks were
Speaker 1: attached to fake chains so it looks like they were
Speaker 1: locked onto equipment while standing in front of a large
Speaker 1: message banner for media attention and pictures. Meanwhile, white protesters
Speaker 1: behind them were locked down to actual equipment, thus putting
Speaker 1: the indigenous activists at the center of media coverage while
Speaker 1: having white folks bear the brunt of the burden of
Speaker 1: state repression. A green activism classic are body blockades. Generally
Speaker 1: there are two types, hard and soft. Soft blockades are
Speaker 1: just bodies linked together. Hard blockades use lock boxes, typically
Speaker 1: made out of metal or plastic tubes that people attach
Speaker 1: their limbs to on the inside, that are then attached
Speaker 1: around equipment machinery, train tracks, or gates. Other hard blockades
Speaker 1: can use technology like bipods or tripods to suspend people
Speaker 1: up in the air to physically block off a space.
Speaker 1: Innovation and experimentation are key to the success of these devices.
Speaker 1: The state already knows of and how to quickly counter
Speaker 1: most popular lock box designs, though rule policing areas may
Speaker 1: be less trained on how to counter these more militant tactics.
Speaker 1: Having a publicly announced protest march serve as a sort
Speaker 1: of distraction action as other folks can do shenanigans and
Speaker 1: monkey wrenching behind the scenes at other spots was mentioned
Speaker 1: as a useful idea, but one that's rarely utilized. There
Speaker 1: were also discussions of other activism and direct action related concepts,
Speaker 1: such as affinity groups and security culture. An affinity group
Speaker 1: is essentially your specific small crew of people that you
Speaker 1: are with at an action. You all watch out for
Speaker 1: each other and usually have linked goals. Security culture is
Speaker 1: a broader concept that we don't have tons of time
Speaker 1: to get into today, but one aspect of it is
Speaker 1: is that there's information that you, your friends, and especially
Speaker 1: strangers don't need to share or sometimes even know about
Speaker 1: at all. A good security culture habit to get into
Speaker 1: is thinking about if sharing details or even letting it
Speaker 1: be known that you have knowledge of certain things could
Speaker 1: put people at risk before you say anything at all
Speaker 1: to anyone. This includes bragging about things, especially direct actions
Speaker 1: that you may or may not have participated in in
Speaker 1: the past, even if you're telling a quote unquote trusted
Speaker 1: group of friends or on your quote anonymous Twitter account.
Speaker 1: Another big discussion point was risk assessment, knowing what risks
Speaker 1: you can and can't take for whatever reasons, both at
Speaker 1: actions and during the planning process, and then trying to
Speaker 1: plant accordingly to set yourself up for the best possible outcome. This,
Speaker 1: by no means always works out, but it's still a
Speaker 1: good thing to practice and something that may save your skin.
Speaker 1: One method of trying to suss out rough risk levels
Speaker 1: is the stoplight system, which divides actions into green, yellow,
Speaker 1: and red. These are areas of the physical protest space
Speaker 1: and or specific rules linked to different levels of risk.
Speaker 1: Green means that you plan on getting out of the
Speaker 1: protests without getting arrested. This includes stuff like protest theater,
Speaker 1: holding signs and banners, doing legal support work, doing protest
Speaker 1: extraction i e. Going around in a car, picking up
Speaker 1: folks as they're trying to leave an escalating situation, or
Speaker 1: even just standing in a large group to help anonymize
Speaker 1: other folks in the crowd, doing more mischievous actions. Yellow
Speaker 1: means that you'd rather get out of the protests without
Speaker 1: getting arrested, but you may be in scenarios where that's
Speaker 1: slightly more likely to happen. This includes being a part
Speaker 1: of the shield slash umbrella walls, attempting d arrests, perhaps
Speaker 1: throwing a water bottle at an armed man with a badge.
Speaker 1: Being able to move quickly is a really useful skill
Speaker 1: for folks that take up yellow rolls. Red means that
Speaker 1: you plan on being arrested, whether it be for tree
Speaker 1: sitting or locking down to the gate of ice facility
Speaker 1: to temporarily prevent the transportation of immigrants, among other possibilities.
Speaker 1: Also included in this category are people who get arrested
Speaker 1: for optics purposes, although getting arrested solely in hopes of
Speaker 1: getting good media coverage is a point of contention in
Speaker 1: certain activists circles. The stop flight method is by no
Speaker 1: means perfect or applicable in every scenario, but I included
Speaker 1: it here as an example of one way to do
Speaker 1: very basic risk assessment related to organizing practicing split second
Speaker 1: in group decision making was also discussed as a really
Speaker 1: good habit to get into. Things like a D and
Speaker 1: D and role playing games are great ways to do this.
Speaker 1: As an RPG party is very much like an affinity group,
Speaker 1: and in the end, it's important to remember actions have
Speaker 1: the potential to be empowering and achieve measurable change. Sometimes
Speaker 1: you can do both, sometimes just one, and sometimes neither.
Speaker 1: At the end of Earth First Gathering is there's usually
Speaker 1: some sort of project or direct action. As we were
Speaker 1: in northern Minnesota, it was a decent assumption that this
Speaker 1: one would be related to the Line three pipeline currently
Speaker 1: being constructed across the Minnesota wilderness, including underneath lakes, wet
Speaker 1: lands growing sacred wild rice, and the Mississippi River headwaters.
Speaker 1: People from the nearby stop Line three protest camp named
Speaker 1: the may Wog came over to the Earth First Gathering
Speaker 1: a few times, either to hang out or attend workshops.
Speaker 1: A panel of Indigenous folks from the GNU Collective and
Speaker 1: Indigenous Women and Two Spirit led Frontline Resistance group drove
Speaker 1: from the Stop Plane three camp and gave a wonderful
Speaker 1: panel on land back and how to show Indigenous solidarity. Monday, June,
Speaker 1: Day three of the week long gathering, started out like
Speaker 1: any other day thus far. The early morning wake up
Speaker 1: bell that my Pacific time zone brain was slowly adjusting
Speaker 1: to coffee and breakfast, and then morning circle. Today I
Speaker 1: planned on strapping on a harness and doing some tree
Speaker 1: climbing at the training setup they had in camp. But
Speaker 1: during morning circle we had a surprise announcement at the
Speaker 1: Stop Plane three camp near Park Rapids, Minnesota, situated on
Speaker 1: a piece of private property owned by the activists. Mind you,
Speaker 1: the Hubbard County Sheriff's had shown up at six am
Speaker 1: with a piece of paper that said they would be
Speaker 1: blocking off access to the driveway leading to the private property,
Speaker 1: letting us suspicious, obscure and never before enforced land use ordinance,
Speaker 1: saying that the property owners didn't have an official easeman
Speaker 1: to use the driveway. Part of the paper read quote
Speaker 1: the trail will be barricaded beginning on June at ten am.
Speaker 1: Beveagles not be allowed to enter for any reason after
Speaker 1: this time. Beagles driving on this Hubbard County owned trail
Speaker 1: or in violation of the Hubbard County land Use Ordinance
Speaker 1: and enforcement action will be taken by the Hubbard County
Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office unquote. This also meant that vehicles were not
Speaker 1: allowed to leave, effectively trapping people inside with limited cell
Speaker 1: service and supplies. Water has to be hauled in from
Speaker 1: a nearby town into the Nomawag camp and the camp
Speaker 1: property has no utility hookups and it's only accessible via
Speaker 1: this driveway that runs through one fifty foot strip of
Speaker 1: public land owned by Hubbard County. The land use ordinance
Speaker 1: has only been around since two thous and seven, and
Speaker 1: the driveway in question has been around for at least
Speaker 1: over four decades, according to land records and aerial photographs.
Speaker 1: Plus basic property law, use dictates that you can't landlock someone,
Speaker 1: and usually for property to even be sold, it needs
Speaker 1: to have access to a public road. The previous owner
Speaker 1: of the property actually did get a non exclusive eastment
Speaker 1: prior to selling and has given the new owner's permission
Speaker 1: to use their easement as it only expires in the
Speaker 1: vent of non use. To make things even more legally complicated,
Speaker 1: Hubbard Counties blockade of the driveway may actually be in
Speaker 1: violation of treaty law. Quoting an article by Karen Savage,
Speaker 1: an investigative journalist who reports on climate change related litigation
Speaker 1: and environmental justice. Quote Frank B. Bu, executive director of
Speaker 1: the eighteen fifty five Treaty Authority, which represents approximately twenty
Speaker 1: five thousand Chippewa tribal members who are currently beneficiaries of
Speaker 1: the eighteen fifty five Chippewa Treaty with the United States,
Speaker 1: says the matter was settled more than a century ago.
Speaker 1: The eighteen fifty five treaty grants the Chippewa a superior
Speaker 1: federal perpetual conservation easement and the right to access quote
Speaker 1: public lands and public waters using public roads unquote. I'll
Speaker 1: explain how this particular legal issue gets resolved in the
Speaker 1: next episode, but suffice to say sheriff of blocking the
Speaker 1: driveway and probably illegally. A new collective put out a
Speaker 1: call for assistance and requests for people to attempt to
Speaker 1: bring in supplies. So people at the first camp organized
Speaker 1: a caravan of cars with people willing to protect the
Speaker 1: No May Walk camp and bring in food and water.
Speaker 1: Most of our regular plans of the day were postponed
Speaker 1: as about half the Earth First camp decided to go help.
Speaker 1: Jail support forms were filled out and people wrote to
Speaker 1: the jail support numbers on their body and so around
Speaker 1: noon I hopped in a Prius and began the two
Speaker 1: hour drive towards No May Wog. I could tell we
Speaker 1: were getting close by the number of Hubbard County Sheriff's
Speaker 1: vehicles passing us, white pickup trucks emblazoned with sheriffs in
Speaker 1: that cool cop font you know the one. Soon enough,
Speaker 1: the fifteen car long caravan from Earth First past the
Speaker 1: Line three construction site. As we drove by, I stared
Speaker 1: at the miles of pipe on top of overturned soil
Speaker 1: and trees. Near the end of the drive, the car
Speaker 1: I was then lost the vehicle ahead of us that
Speaker 1: we were supposed to be following, So we decided to
Speaker 1: tail one of the cop cars going in the same direction,
Speaker 1: figuring we would all be heading to the same place,
Speaker 1: and we were correct. Once we arrived at the spot,
Speaker 1: we just pulled up behind the rest of the Earth
Speaker 1: First caravan, already multiple cop cards were blocking the entrance
Speaker 1: to the Maywog. While sitting idle and all still inside
Speaker 1: our vehicles, a share S deputy walked by, writing down
Speaker 1: all the license plate numbers and issuing a warning, you
Speaker 1: guys gotta leave or else your vehicles gonna get ton Okay.
Speaker 1: After waiting inside the vehicles for a bit, folks from
Speaker 1: the supply and support caravan and started to trickle out
Speaker 1: and head towards the Maywog and the cops. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of arguing about the driveway in the Eastman situation,
Speaker 1: which allegedly brought the cops out in the first place.
Speaker 1: If you've ever tried arguing with cops in the street before,
Speaker 1: you'll be able to guess that this was a mostly
Speaker 1: pointless affair. We have you guys got off the road
Speaker 1: because we're gonna start moving. Let us give our supplies
Speaker 1: to our friends and then we'll fucking leave. We're not
Speaker 1: you guys. You guys have the abilities handker stuff. It's
Speaker 1: built on county land. It's a fucking driveway. Looking at it,
Speaker 1: you're gonna die on this. Yeah. If this is a
Speaker 1: white driveway for a bunch of this is a driveway
Speaker 1: for a bunch of white people in it and I out.
Speaker 1: You know, you guys, are they all ones? Bring off race?
Speaker 1: You don't have. As the day trigged on, the law
Speaker 1: enforcement presence grew more and more and more schriffs showing up. Um, well,
Speaker 1: cheffs shift deputies, quite a few of them, UM hobably around.
Speaker 1: I don't know twenty is here now, about thirty maybe
Speaker 1: like thirty five protesters, aren't you know? People from the
Speaker 1: nearby nearby First First camp trying to bring supplies to
Speaker 1: the stop the Line three camp about two hours away. Um,
Speaker 1: so some of the people here on the ground are
Speaker 1: are from the stop Line three camp, some are from
Speaker 1: their first camp. UM with about twenty ten fifteen cars
Speaker 1: trying trying to be trying to be surpries as well.
Speaker 1: It's currently being blocked off by the county sheriffs to
Speaker 1: today for the first time today they've they've chosen to
Speaker 1: a block off road access to the city camp. Since
Speaker 1: the comps were blocking off the road, the caravan from
Speaker 1: Earth First couldn't pull into the private property and had
Speaker 1: to park on the side of the county road. As
Speaker 1: we all waited to see how this was going to
Speaker 1: turn out. Soon enough, a tow truck arrived. So we
Speaker 1: have a tow truck just arrived and is starting to
Speaker 1: tow some of the cars that are from the Earth
Speaker 1: First camp who came here to bring supplies UM to
Speaker 1: the stop the Line three camp that since since the
Speaker 1: roadways have been blocked off, so they're unable to transfer
Speaker 1: supply from the road UM to get to the stop
Speaker 1: Line three camp. And right now there is a currently
Speaker 1: it's like the first car being towed and all the
Speaker 1: way into the back. I'm walking over there right now.
Speaker 1: It's about like four sheriffs, sheriff's deputies and some people
Speaker 1: that are obviously not thrilled about getting their cars towed,
Speaker 1: given though we're on like a public road and they're
Speaker 1: just parked because they're trying to get through and the
Speaker 1: cops are blocking them. Stuff's getting because stuffs getting more
Speaker 1: tense by the by the by the tow truck area.
Speaker 1: UM sheriffs are getting pretty obviously piste UM people are
Speaker 1: have vested interest in not getting their vehicles stone but
Speaker 1: trying to bring supplies to a protest camp, especially since
Speaker 1: the roads being blocked by the sheriffs in the first place,
Speaker 1: just causing this traffic. So that's where we're at right now.
Speaker 1: Still the same situation by the by the entrance to
Speaker 1: the Line three camp, walking back to the Toe t Uck.
Speaker 1: That seems a little more tense at the moment. There
Speaker 1: are there are I mean when when when we first
Speaker 1: heard about this in the Earth First camp, they said
Speaker 1: there was like one sheriff's deputy here trying to block
Speaker 1: the entrance to the camp um with his vehicle. And
Speaker 1: since we've arrived, there is like probably twenty at least
Speaker 1: twenty sriff deputies here, possibly more. This is like at
Speaker 1: least like fifteen fifteen sheriff's vehicles, so definitely a larger
Speaker 1: presence than at the beginning of the day. As the
Speaker 1: day continued on and everyone got more antsy arrests and
Speaker 1: state violence seemed less like a possibility and more of
Speaker 1: an inevitability. Looks like they just got a call for
Speaker 1: a jail van um from the sheriff's comms radio. There
Speaker 1: is there's a lot of people here. Um, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of people here. So if they want to rest
Speaker 1: everyone whom we might need multiple vans um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that is the state of this. I'm I'm up at
Speaker 1: the front by the entrance to the camp, there's like
Speaker 1: three different Sheriff's vehicles UM blocking the roadway UM and
Speaker 1: a line of like ten or so vehicles from the
Speaker 1: Earth First camp trying to bring supplies hip. Tis that
Speaker 1: coming out? And I just got told zip ties are
Speaker 1: coming out. None of the sheriff's deputies wanted to say
Speaker 1: much well being recorded, but they did recommend if anyone
Speaker 1: had any questions. They asked County Sheriff Corey A. Yukes.
Speaker 1: When asked how one would get in contact with Sheriff
Speaker 1: at Yukes, A deputy replied, when most of these people
Speaker 1: go to jail, a little good an opportunity to speak
Speaker 1: with him. Under more pressure, the deputy clarified that the
Speaker 1: reason they plan to arrest and charge people public nuisance
Speaker 1: and obstruction of a roadway. They talked like they were
Speaker 1: very concerned that they were cars parked illegally and that
Speaker 1: the roadway was blocked and obstructed, conveniently ignoring the fact
Speaker 1: that at this point the only vehicles blocking the whole
Speaker 1: road were Sheriff's cars and trucks, and that said sheriffess
Speaker 1: vehicles blocking the road was the reason the caravan of
Speaker 1: support cars were pulled over to the side. It looks
Speaker 1: like there are big like patty wagons, big big vans
Speaker 1: to put people who are rested in on each side
Speaker 1: of this road now, um, and people are gonna try
Speaker 1: to avoid this mass mass arrest scenario by trying to
Speaker 1: go into the line three camp up. I'm guessing on
Speaker 1: to three or four or five fifteen vehicles probably get towed. Um. Again,
Speaker 1: the sheriff's the sheriff vehicles are the one blocking the
Speaker 1: road right now. Everyone else is just everyone is just
Speaker 1: parked on the side at the moment. Um, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: slowly kind of make my way into the into the
Speaker 1: area that's slightly safer so I can continue reporting. Um.
Speaker 1: So I am going to be moving in shortly. The
Speaker 1: I was told how do you get I was told
Speaker 1: the sheriff, Um, like, you know, head sheriff man is
Speaker 1: going to be here and we can maybe talk talk
Speaker 1: to him. But he is not here at the moment
Speaker 1: that I know of. Yeah, there's a patty wagon, all right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they definitely got a They've definitely got a fucking wagon out. Um.
Speaker 1: They're absolutely gonna try to rest so many people as possible.
Speaker 1: Since it became obvious that all of the caravan cars
Speaker 1: were gonna be towed. Some folks decided that they weren't
Speaker 1: gonna make it super easy. We have some people who
Speaker 1: decided to park their cars perpendicular on the road, some
Speaker 1: sideways so they're more difficult to tow. Um, we'll see
Speaker 1: what I'm guessing. The law enforcement reaction to this is
Speaker 1: not gonna They're not gonna be pleased. Already blocked people
Speaker 1: are as expected. The comps weren't thrilled with the cars
Speaker 1: now being parked sideways on the road. The detective on
Speaker 1: the scene said, so, not only are all these cars
Speaker 1: gonna get towed at this point in time, I'm going
Speaker 1: to site every owner of the vehicle. And then this
Speaker 1: happened about twenty minutes ago. Have thirty minutes ago Sheriff's
Speaker 1: officer U s Starch deputy took someone by d um
Speaker 1: and they have not given it back up. And it
Speaker 1: looks like that person has since been arrested. They're getting
Speaker 1: dragged away. Yeah, someone someone's been dragged away. It looks
Speaker 1: like we have the first arrest. What didn't take long
Speaker 1: for things to escalate, and a line of Sheriff's in
Speaker 1: sparse riot gear to form a line to oppose the
Speaker 1: stop Lane three and Earth First campers did some lewd chanting.
Speaker 1: After the chanting stopped, the riot line slowly pushed forward,
Speaker 1: forcing people into the driveway. So UM the line of
Speaker 1: Sheriff's deputies uh she dispersal order on the side of
Speaker 1: the road near the entrance UM to the camp. The
Speaker 1: very rough right line was everyone equipped with Exeptize chaser's
Speaker 1: guns however spray etcetera. UM, some habitans or big clubs
Speaker 1: dispelling clubs. UM. They moved towards the road. It looks
Speaker 1: like all of the Line three protesters have moved into
Speaker 1: like the UM driveway of the camp that's currently being
Speaker 1: blocked by the Sheriff's vehicles. UM. So that's where that's
Speaker 1: where most people are right now. There are some other
Speaker 1: UM people here to that came to support and deliver supplies.
Speaker 1: Also the people who live here at the camp on
Speaker 1: the on the other side of the main road, UM,
Speaker 1: the one where the top truck is currently next to
Speaker 1: next to like the main drag that got us. They
Speaker 1: got us to the side road which gets us into
Speaker 1: the road near the camp. There's there's a dozen or
Speaker 1: so maybe like two dozen sheriffs on that side as well. UM,
Speaker 1: a couple of dozen um campers and people that came
Speaker 1: for supplies and uh. One of the one of the
Speaker 1: sheriffs and a detective said that they're dealing with this.
Speaker 1: They said, fitting with this situation, referring to the stuff
Speaker 1: near the entrance first, and then they will deal with
Speaker 1: the dozen or so vehicles that have pulled off onto
Speaker 1: the road. Um after being blocked by the sheriff's cars. UM.
Speaker 1: So we're taking this kind of one step at the
Speaker 1: time here. Unclear how many more rests still be there's
Speaker 1: already been one. UM, just kind of waiting it out
Speaker 1: at the moment. One one guy keeps insisting that if
Speaker 1: everyone moves into the camp, UM, there won't be any arrests.
Speaker 1: Of course, they already arrested somebody who cops also took
Speaker 1: took three d never gave it back for like an hour. UM.
Speaker 1: So that's that is the thing we're dealing with at
Speaker 1: the moment. Another toe truck arrived on the other side
Speaker 1: of the road, closer to the new wage Camp entrance
Speaker 1: and began towing vehicles from this side too, albeit with
Speaker 1: a rough start. Don't truck the struggle, and it's it's
Speaker 1: it's getting pulled back. It's trying to winch the car
Speaker 1: to change this. Granted, ran the toad strugge not it'll go,
Speaker 1: but it's gonna. It's gonna do this. Follow their orders.
Speaker 1: You don't need to tow this van. They're blocking our driveway.
Speaker 1: We need to want to drive the van into the driveway.
Speaker 1: You don't need to tow it. About four minutes in
Speaker 1: it looks like they missed the rant. It's been five minutes.
Speaker 1: They'll get it this next As the tow truck was struggling,
Speaker 1: the sheriffs were struggling to get people to move further
Speaker 1: down the driveway spurs thirty three feet. You're still in it.
Speaker 1: It goes for all of you thirty three feet. Definitely
Speaker 1: further yet okay, just like they're trying to disperse, disperse
Speaker 1: means to disperse, can't do so. You will not be
Speaker 1: the charge. Were arrested who with the crime of public juice.
Speaker 1: It's violation and the awful assembly. That's what dispersed means
Speaker 1: almost dated thing. You're still trying to get the first
Speaker 1: man they might do at this time. Oh maybe it's
Speaker 1: a way. I don't know, quite a bit of damage
Speaker 1: to vot. You have the character entires almost nine minutes
Speaker 1: in almost add eleven minutes into them trying to move
Speaker 1: this span onto I think they'll probably get at this time,
Speaker 1: but they may public tire. This is thrilling Audio content
Speaker 1: and the Toucher company are doing quite a bit of
Speaker 1: damage to the to the public road, which is of
Speaker 1: course I run in because they're here claiming is still
Speaker 1: happening because of the cards walking the road. Those are
Speaker 1: the cars walking um but still threatening arrests for like
Speaker 1: pup muise and stuff. I mean, the froad is gonna
Speaker 1: get so messed up by the time they to the
Speaker 1: rest of like the fifteen cars. It's taken like fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes to get the bat other one might get the faster.
Speaker 1: There's quite a bit of damage about right, oh ship.
Speaker 1: It looks like the toe truck they have just the
Speaker 1: coach are it looks at the toe truck they have
Speaker 1: just got some of the metal in the bottom got
Speaker 1: worked or snapped us. Yeah, yea that they can't be
Speaker 1: good since it's run it's still working. Damn. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of what do you think they took that so
Speaker 1: first been sixteen minutes, so that's sixteen times to get straight.
Speaker 1: Well they got up only I don't know fifteen more ago.
Speaker 1: Shortly after the problematic van was towed, comps grabbed more
Speaker 1: folks just arrested about four people who were walking towards
Speaker 1: the exit of the road carrying blankets chanting waters life um.
Speaker 1: And then as the crowd was missed, the crowd who
Speaker 1: was you know, gathered to watch as the as the
Speaker 1: police they tackle and arrest of them. One person was
Speaker 1: filming and uh like another like a protest per camper
Speaker 1: um was filming and police grabbed them off the road
Speaker 1: and put them into handcuffs. So another arrested. There the
Speaker 1: rough riot line of Sheriff's and now also Park Rapids
Speaker 1: police did a surprise charge into the driveway, tackling and
Speaker 1: arresting five people for no apparent reason. Hurting people after
Speaker 1: the abrupt attack from the cops, folks from no mawag
Speaker 1: and earth first from the very strong and tight shield
Speaker 1: wall on the driveway leading to the private property. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: someone up the road locked themselves onto one of the
Speaker 1: cars to temporarily prevented from being towed. One of the
Speaker 1: main detective guys that's been talking to the group the
Speaker 1: past few hours walked up to the shield wall and said, Um,
Speaker 1: your friend that's like hooked up to the equipment, UM
Speaker 1: needs to needs you need we need you to unhook
Speaker 1: him or we're gonna destroy your car. UM because he's
Speaker 1: climbing that he doesn't know how to remove the lock
Speaker 1: box that's connected to the car. UM crowd said just
Speaker 1: started chanting cops sly and he walked aways like okay, UM,
Speaker 1: So my guess is that they probably will destroy the
Speaker 1: car because like why why wouldn't they right if they're
Speaker 1: going if they have an excuse to do that, of
Speaker 1: course they didn't to it. So I'm guessing they're gonna
Speaker 1: be selling a part of car UM, and then the
Speaker 1: person in the lock box is gonna get arrested. Um,
Speaker 1: they'll probably face some of the harshest charges out of
Speaker 1: everyone that's been the rest of today so far, I've
Speaker 1: counted about ten arrests. UM. Yeah, I think spread around ten.
Speaker 1: Right now. The shield wall has been holding strong for
Speaker 1: almost almost like an hour and a half At this point,
Speaker 1: Um and the Sheriff's haves have not advanced. One of
Speaker 1: them tried to like trespass into private property like part
Speaker 1: part of this land and was called out for it
Speaker 1: and people went over there to film and then he
Speaker 1: left because he's he's obviously breaking the law. There was
Speaker 1: to the cabra's um, he looked, he looked very sad. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, now we're still to set the standstill with
Speaker 1: UM stop Lane three protesters with shields UM trying to
Speaker 1: hold holding their ground against the Sheriff's who marched into
Speaker 1: into the driveway and towards their camp. So that's situation.
Speaker 1: That's the situation right now. It's almost to eleven pm,
Speaker 1: standing around for a while. I don't have a right
Speaker 1: jacket anymore because I believe the I believe it is
Speaker 1: the car I arrived in. UM, I believe it's probably
Speaker 1: towed away and I left my raine jacket inside. So
Speaker 1: I'm not at my regular student spot at this at
Speaker 1: the top Line three camp. I don't have a check
Speaker 1: of I don't have ray jacket, I have some water,
Speaker 1: and then there's you know people here who are who've
Speaker 1: been extremely friendly. UM. So yeah, that's that's the update
Speaker 1: as of ten pm in Hubbard County at the stop
Speaker 1: to Line three protest on the drive here. I saw
Speaker 1: all of the all the equipment, um, all of like
Speaker 1: the line three pipes and stuff laid out in the
Speaker 1: giant field. It was a massive there's a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff, um, and I know they're just
Speaker 1: starting to dig under the Mississippi River to put in
Speaker 1: the line three pipes and stuff. The movement somber when
Speaker 1: as discussions of the pipeline, UM, yeah, a lot of
Speaker 1: it's it's extremely somber. People talking about how this land
Speaker 1: is extremely important to them and um, their indigenous relatives
Speaker 1: and the spirits living in the water and in the trees, um,
Speaker 1: and how the line three of pipes are gonna kill
Speaker 1: so much of this environment and so much of this history.
Speaker 1: But these people know that a movement can't run on grief,
Speaker 1: sorrow and resentment all on its own. That's a people
Speaker 1: cheering on the people cheering on the person that locked
Speaker 1: themselves to one of the vehicles. I believe they just
Speaker 1: got let let into a into one of the jail vans,
Speaker 1: um and they they yelled at the crowd from from
Speaker 1: out on the street, and everyone cheered them on to
Speaker 1: you know, make them to you know. The camaraderie here
Speaker 1: is one of the main driving forces the feeling of community. UM.
Speaker 1: The feeling of you know, putting something at risk, going
Speaker 1: going into the conflict and knowing that you have a
Speaker 1: community to support you, UM and cheer you on and
Speaker 1: UM help you out and no matter what happens. UM.
Speaker 1: And that's that's the that's that's the main driving force
Speaker 1: from all my time at the Earth First conference or gathering.
Speaker 1: That's you know, one of the main things that gets
Speaker 1: talked about, maybe not in those words, that the same,
Speaker 1: that's the same idea, UM is that you know, this
Speaker 1: isn't a movement of individuals, um. This is it only
Speaker 1: works as a movement when everyone's together like this and
Speaker 1: everyone's supporting each other. Almost three hours and to hold
Speaker 1: in the shield wall. At around midnight, someone started playing
Speaker 1: fun the Police on a big speaker and almost on queue.
Speaker 1: That's when the sheriffs and cops decided to pull out.
Speaker 1: The crowd erupted in celebration, and then the absence of
Speaker 1: the cop cars headlights, I could see fireflies in the
Speaker 1: darkened street for the first time in my life. This
Speaker 1: wraps up part one of my two Earth First and
Speaker 1: Stop Line three episodes about my trip to Minnesota. Part
Speaker 1: two will air tomorrow and wrap up this particular small
Speaker 1: section of the stop Line three story. If you want
Speaker 1: to support the Stop Line three movement and people who
Speaker 1: are fighting right now, you can go to Protest Law
Speaker 1: dot org slash line three to donate, and also go
Speaker 1: to Stop Line three Bail Funds dot org to donate
Speaker 1: to bail Funds and to donate to the Canoe Collective.
Speaker 1: You can go to bit dot l y slash stop
Speaker 1: Pipeline three