Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

A Native-Led Fight Against Pipeline Construction Has Begun in Minnesota

Native water protectors in Minnesota are waging a battle against the Line 3 pipeline construction which violates their treaties and threatens the environment.

Samuel Karlin

June 15, 2021
Facebook Twitter Share
Protesters in Minnesota march and hold signs in protest of the Line 3 pipeline.
Photo: Ellen Schmidt/MPR News

A native-led battle for the environment is being waged in Minnesota. On June 7, water protectors from the territories of the Anishinaabe tribes — which include members of the Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Oji-Cree, Saulteaux, and Algonquin peoples — and their allies set up blockades to delay the construction of the Line 3 tar sands pipeline currently being built from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin.

These protesters are pitted against Enbridge, a multinational Canadian oil company with a long history of building  pipelines that have caused environmental destruction with spills. The current pipeline construction cuts through native lands protected by treaties signed in the 1800s.

Enbridge plans to use the pipeline to carry tar sands oil, one of the dirtiest types of fossil fuels. A Line 3 spill would threaten sensitive watersheds and traditional rice habitats in the region. Even without that environmental threat, however, the construction has already been terrorizing native communities: with the advent of construction camps and their workers, there has been an increase in sexual violence against the local native women.

The water protectors’ actions on June 7 and the days since have been peaceful, but the activists are uncompromising in their defense of the land. Several hundred people showed up on the first day of protests and blocked public roads with their own bodies, even placing a boat in one road leading to a construction site. Dozens of protesters also locked themselves to the boat and to Enbridge equipment at the construction site. It took the cops two days to “free” the equipment of protesters.

Many local police departments are coordinating their efforts to shut down the protests. These cops receive most of their funding directly from Enbridge, a perfect example of the real role of the police as an institution that exists to protect capital. 

At first, the cops were somewhat passive in their repression, not having expected and prepared for so many protesters. But it did not take the cops long to become more aggressive. More than 100 protesters were arrested in the first few days of actions. At certain points cops used sonic weapons against the protesters, and a Department of Homeland Security helicopter flew close to the ground and swarmed protesters with clouds of dirt.

This violence succeeded at scuttling some of the more militant resistance to the pipeline, but the fight is far from over. Thousands of protesters have set up an encampment (Camp Fire Light) at a location near where the pipeline is slated to cross the Mississippi River sometime during its construction.

Though the Biden administration claims to take seriously the threat of fossil fuels, it has thus far ignored the protesters’ calls for an end to the pipeline construction. This should not be a surprise. The most famous native-led pipeline protest in recent history was the one at Standing Rock in North Dakota, which took place during the Obama/Biden administration. The Democrats in the White House then took no stand to defend the protesters, even when riot cops sprayed them with freezing water cannons, tear gas, and various other “less-than-lethal” munitions. Some activists involved in the protests now have cancer, possibly from the use of a crop duster at the protests, which sprayed activists with chemicals.

The water protectors in Minnesota likely have a long and difficult battle ahead. Their protests matter far beyond the native communities. All workers are affected by the destruction of the environment through capitalism’s extraction of fossil fuels. 

Those seeking to shut down Line 3 before further destruction can be done deserve our full solidarity.

Facebook Twitter Share

Samuel Karlin

Samuel Karlin is a socialist with a background in journalism. He mainly writes for Left Voice about U.S. imperialism and international class struggle.

United States

Former president Donald Trump standing at a podium in front of American flags.

To Stop Trump, We Need Much More Democracy, Not Less

Democrats have been trying to kick Trump off the ballot as an "insurrectionist." Liberals say we have to restrict democracy in order to save it. As socialists, we think they have it backwards: to beat the Far Right, we need a mass movement fighting for radical democracy.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 18, 2024

New Jersey Democrats Attack the Public’s Right to Government Records

The New Jersey state assembly, led by the Democratic Party, just tried to fast-track a bill that would have gutted the Open Public Records Act. This is a reminder that their party is an obstacle, not an ally, in the fight to preserve democracy.

Samuel Karlin

March 15, 2024
President Biden giving his State of the Union speech at a podium in March, 2024.

Biden’s State of the Union: Hyper-Nationalism and Eroding Legitimacy

President Biden’s hyper-nationalistic State of the Union speech focused on selling himself as a defender of democracy at home and abroad. But it’s not enough to solve his — and the whole U.S. regime’s — crisis of legitimacy.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 14, 2024

Super Tuesday Confirms Trump, Biden Faceoff in November

As predicted, Biden and Trump won big on Super Tuesday, all but guaranteeing their nominations. However, even these primary results show a presidential campaign marked with contradictions.

Tristan Taylor

March 7, 2024

MOST RECENT

Declaration: End Imperialist Intervention in Haiti, Solidarity with the Haitian People

The “Multinational Security Support Mission” announced by the United States marks a new imperialist-colonial intervention in Haiti by the United States, the UN, and their allies.

“Poor Things” Floats Like a Butterfly and Stings Like a Butterfly

Poor Things is a fantastical comedy with beautiful set design and costumes and an Oscar-winning performance from Emma Stone. So why did it leave me feeling so empty? Despite juggling feminist and socialist ideas, the film is ideologically muddled and often self-contradictory.

Basil Rozlaban

March 16, 2024

Berlin Police Attack an Anti-Imperialist Feminist Demonstration on March 8

On International Women's Day, there were numerous demonstrations in Berlin, including: a union demonstration, an anti-imperialist demonstration, and a supposedly "leftist" demonstration in solidarity with Israel. As you would expect, police only attacked one of the three.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 14, 2024

At a Meeting in Paris, 1,200 People Put Revolution Back on the Agenda

Last Wednesday, 1,200 people attended a meeting of Révolution Permanente, the sister site of Left Voice in France. The group has been playing an important role in the fight against neoliberal reforms and the Far Right, while showing that a world beyond capitalism is more possible than ever.

Feargal McGovern

March 12, 2024