We speak with the filmmakers behind “RISE,” a new Viceland series that examines indigenous resistance past and present. See our conversation with filmmaker Michelle Latimer and host of the series Sarain Carson-Fox ⟶
Democracy Now! is an independent, daily global news hour anchored by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan González. We air live weekdays 8-9AM ET and rebroadcast throughout the day on nearly 1,400 TV & radio stations in 43 countries. Here we post excerpts from our interviews and key moments from our daily show.
Until the project has ended, we are not planning to go anywhere. This is similar to some of the struggles we encounter in Arizona. On our reservation, we’re surrounded by six coal-fired plants. And that’s not by accident; that’s by design. And so, again, we have natural resources and indigenous cultures, and the corporations that profit from it. It is because of our coal on our reservation that we made progress possible. We provide electricity in not only Arizona, but Nevada, but also somewhat of Southern California, as well. And so, again, we make progress possible, yet we don’t get to participate in it. Some of our elders don’t have running water or have electricity in some areas of our reservation. And so, that is something that brought me here to Standing Rock, because it is a different location, but it’s the same fight, because, ultimately, when you look at this, it is all indigenous land. And so, I saw this as the natural transition to come here and offer what I could in service of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Remy, a Navy veteran and member of the Navajo Nation. Remy has been at Standing Rock for the past five-and-a-half months and is a member of the Indigenous Veterans Council at Standing Rock. Read more about the veterans gathering at Standing Rock here →
What you get is intergenerational trauma, is what it is known as, historic trauma. And other people have it. But you have a genetic memory, and you look out there, and you see—every day you wake up, and you see that your land was flooded. And that big power line that runs through this land, that doesn’t benefit you. You still have to—you know, everything that is out here was done at your expense, but you still have to pay for it. And every day you go out there, and some—you know, you got a roadblock, that the white people put up, coming into your reservation. And every day you go out there, and you look at your houses, and you see that you’ve got crumbling infrastructure, and nobody cares about it. And you’ve got a meth epidemic, and you’ve got the highest suicide rates in the country, but nobody pays attention. You know, and so you just try to survive. That’s what you’re trying to do. Like 90 percent of my community, generally, I would say, is just trying to survive.
Activist Winona LaDuke on PTSD among Native Americans. We spoke with LaDuke outside of Red Warrior Camp in North Dakota. Full interview: Native American Activist Winona LaDuke at Standing Rock: It’s Time to Move On from Fossil Fuels
Tara Houska, national campaigns director for Honor the Earth, describes how she was “arrested for criminal trespass as I was leaving a peaceful demonstration and getting into my car on a public road.” Read more →
While Democracy Now! was covering the standoff at Standing Rock, we spoke to longtime Lakota water and land rights activist Debra White Plume, who was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and lives along the banks of Wounded Knee Creek. She is executive director of Owe Aku. She described what the Dakota Access pipeline means to her.
Video footage has emerged of a Dakota Access security contractor holding a rifle, with his face covered by a bandana, apparently attempting to infiltrate a group of water protectors. We interviewed Dallas Goldtooth, organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, who was on the ground during Thursday’s events. See the full interview.
Dakota Access profits do not come over the safety and well-being of the people.
Tara Houska, national campaigns director for Honor the Earth on Dakota Access pipeline resistance and pipeline construction. Read the full interview: North Dakota: Water Protectors Erect New Frontline Camp Directly in Path of Dakota Access Pipeline.
On Saturday in North Dakota, security guards working for the Dakota Access pipeline company attacked Native Americans with dogs and pepper spray as they resisted the $3.8 billion pipeline’s construction. Democracy Now! was on the ground, and we bring you this exclusive report. Watch and read the coverage: Dakota Access Pipeline Co. Attacks Native Americans with Dogs & Pepper Spray
Today we remember Honduran indigenous and environmental organizer Berta Cáceres, who was assassinated in her home in Honduras yesterday. She was one of the leading organizers for indigenous land rights in Honduras, standing up to mining and dam projects that threatened to destroy her community. Last year, Cáceres won the Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s largest environmental award.
A 2015 report by the group Global Witness found that Honduras is one of the deadliest countries for environmentalists. Between 2010 and 2014, 101 environmental campaigners were killed in the country.
Today we broadcast footage of Cáceres and spoke with her nephew Silvio Carillo and her longtime friend Beverly Bell.
According to a new report by Global Witness, at least 116 environmentalists were killed last year — more than two a week. Three-quarters of the deaths occurred in Latin America. Watch this special Earth Day coverage on Democracy Now! today.