Foes of Dakota Access Pipeline explain issues, cite lessons learned
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s recent protests against building the Dakota Access Pipeline under their lands marked another chapter in the long history of struggles Native Americans have faced to protect their property, resources, and way of life, speakers told a Harvard audience Friday. The panel at the Science Center emphasized the importance of bringing historical perspective to the fight over the pipeline in North Dakota, which is to go under an area that provides drinking water, and of linking the protests to such broader themes as national sovereignty, oppression of people, and destruction of the natural environment. “What was clear was that this was about … protecting water supplies, but it was far more about history, about a very long and deep history,” said moderator Lisa McGirr, a Harvard professor of history. McGirr said that during a visit she made this past fall to the main protest camp, Oceti Sakowin, she saw...