Shailene Woodley explains her North Dakota oil pipeline protest
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Version 0 of 1. Shailene Woodley has given her side of the story following her recent arrest for protesting against an oil pipeline being built in North Dakota, and urged fans to join her in fighting its construction. Writing in Time magazine, Woodley explained her motivation for protesting against the Dakota Access Pipeline, a $3.7bn construction project designed to transport fracked oil across North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. Protests led by the local Standing Rock Sioux tribe have been taking place for months, and have drawn help from indigenous groups across the US and other supporters. The Standing Rock Sioux fear the project will damage sacred sites and could affect their water supply. A group of more than 1,200 archaeologists, museum directors and historians wrote a letter to the Obama administration saying the construction work had destroyed “ancient burial sites, places of prayer and other significant cultural artefacts sacred to the Lakota and Dakota people”. Woodley was arrested along with 26 others after protests on 10 October, the day after a federal appeals court lifted a temporary injunction against construction of the pipeline. Woodley, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal trespassing and engaging in a riot, defended her decision to protest. “It took me, a white non-native woman being arrested … to bring this cause to many people’s attention,” she wrote. “When the Dakota Access Pipeline breaks (and we know that too many pipelines do), millions of people will have crude-oil-contaminated water … don’t let the automatic sink faucets in your homes fool you – that water comes from somewhere, and the second its source is contaminated, so is your bathtub, and your sink, and your drinking liquid. We must not take for granted the severity of this truth.” Woodley also urged her supporters to pay more attention to the rights of indigenous peoples, saying society is “allowing Native American voices to be swallowed by the white noise of distraction.” “Treaties are broken,” she wrote. “Land is stolen. Dams are built. Reservations are flooded. People are displaced. Yet we fail to notice.” Woodley is scheduled to appear in court on 24 October. If convicted, she could face up to 60 days in jail and a $3,000 fine. |