It Could Happen Here - Part One: Welcome to the Ecological Resistance

Episode Date: August 31, 2021

Garrison travels to Northern Minnesota to attend an Earth Firsth! gathering in the woods to learn about the history of green resistance. While there they end up tagging along with a support caravan to a nearby StopLine3 camp under attack from the cops. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You should probably keep your lights on for Nocturnal Tales from the Shadowbride. Join me, Danny Trejo, and step into the flames of fright. An anthology podcast of modern-day horror stories inspired by the most terrifying legends and lore of Latin America. Listen to Nocturnal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jacqueline Thomas, the host of a brand new

Black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while running errands or at the end of a busy day.

From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Listen to Black Lit on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. AT&T., connecting changes everything. As the record high heat wave of 117 degrees hit my hometown of Portland, Oregon in late June 2021, I was facing down baton-wielding county sheriffs in the forests of Minnesota. Originally, I was going out of town to attend the 2021 Earth First Summer Gathering. I learned about it from some online friends, and since I was already deep into research for this very podcast, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to learn from people who have been fighting against climate change longer than I've been alive. I arrived in Minneapolis in the early morning of June 25th, and met up with someone to make the four-hour drive north, into the lake-dense forests of Minnesota. By the time we arrived at

the Earth-first camp, it was already dark in the mosquito-filled woods. And it started to rain. I coated myself in DEET bug spray and scrambled to set up my tent and rainfly. It was a long day. My exhaustion coupled with the rain made me not bother to inflate my sleeping pad, a decision I would soon regret come morning. I woke up with a moist, sore back and to the sound of a loud ringing bell. And someone yelling, BREAKFAST! For me, that meant it was time for morning coffee.

I suppose before I get any further, it would be useful to explain what exactly Earth First is for those who are unfamiliar. Earth First is an environmental movement focused on the protection and defense of nature, the wilderness, and wildlife. It was founded in 1980 as an alternative to other mainstream environmental organizations that were seen as too moderate and willing to sacrifice demands and goals to make deals with lawmakers and corporations. Earth First invented the slogan, No Compromise in Defense of Mother Earth, to demonstrate their commitment to their more radical ideals. Some of its earliest inspirations were non-anthropocentric philosophies such as biocentrism and eventually deep ecology. Earth First was also in part inspired by Edward Abbey's 1975 book, The Monkey Wrench Gang,

which follows a small gaggle of radical environmentalists as they travel around the western United States doing various acts of sabotage, attacking the machinery and infrastructure that are harming the planet. The novel became so ubiquitous that the word monkey-wrenching became a synonym for eco-sabotage. A few things set Earth First apart from other, more mainstream environmental groups. Its non-formal, largely non-hierarchical organization structure resulted in a loose network of local autonomous groups, as opposed to a national membership-based organization. Its tactics were more focused on civil disobedience and direct action,

rather than lobbying and political deal-making. Direct action such as body blockades, tree sits, and tree spiking, i.e. putting metal rods or nails in trees to prevent them from being cut, gave Earth First national media coverage, which in turn got more people involved with actions. Earth First also launched a magazine journal, which served as a public face and gave Earth Firsters info and tips on direct action, and different writings on biocentrism. Around the early 1990s, the organization faced some growing pains. Debate between more performative protests and

get-the-goods-style direct action is common in activist spaces, and Earth First was no different. After a 1992 Earth First summer gathering in the UK, some activists, frustrated by the increasingly mainstream and more hierarchical version of the Earth First organization, with an emphasis on civil disobedience over-sabotaged, formed a spin-off group called the Earth Liberation Front, or the ELF. Earth First continued operating the journal and doing tree-sits, blockades, civil disobedience, and occupation-style protests, while the ELF took credit for tree spiking, fire bombings, and more fiery and destructive direct actions. Inevitably, business leaders, politicians,

law enforcement authorities, and many others would rise up to attack these activists. The FBI labeled them the number one domestic terrorism threat in 2001, and began work to suppress the entire Green Movement. This culminated in the Green Scare of the 2000s, a federal crackdown and mass surveillance project against environmental activism. That was also in part fueled by the heightened anti-terror fervor post-911, and the terrorism enhancements in the Patriot Act. FBI investigations and subsequent grand juries broke many of the activist communities active at the time and scared more into hiding. Many are still in prison today. Quoting Bron Taylor,

a professor of environmentalism at the University of California, quote, Often complimented by lawsuits, the radical environmental movement had no small number of victories in the 1990s, although the victories were often small. Nevertheless, the perception of the movement's activists were that victories were often small. Nevertheless, the perception of the movement's activists were that they were losing overall and badly, and moreover, that the government was not only corrupt and in cahoots with the industry, but increasingly repressive. Such perceptions reinforced an increasingly common view in the movement, that the time had come to eschew above-ground tactics and create an underground resistance movement. By the mid-1990s,

there was a proliferation of such tactics. Between then and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, at least 20 activists deployed arson as a tactic, torching gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles, a ski lodge being built in the habitat of a threatened species of Canadian lynx in Colorado, a forced service office in Oregon, and trophy homes being built in ecologically sensitive areas, to name but a few of these incendiary incidents. While these sorts of tactics have drawn the bulk of the media's attention to these movements, significant environmental victories have been won or contributed to by radical environmentalists. In January 2001, for example, the United States Forest Service, under President Bill Clinton,

issued the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which protected over 58 million acres of federal forest lands. Although it took more than a decade of legal battles for opponents of this rule to exhaust their legal challenges to it, it eventually became law of the land. It is inconceivable that the government would have issued this important rule in the absence of a decade of strong and disruptive resistance to the Forest Service's timber program by radical environmentalists. Although the rule did not provide everything the radical environmental activists sought, it was a significant advance for biodiversity conservation in North America. Welcome, I'm Danny Trejo.

Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows, presented by iHeart and Sonora. An anthology of modern-day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. I know you.

Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of my Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into how tech's elite

has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel-winning economists to leading journalists in the field, and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming

and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough. So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com.

On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba. He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian.

Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story,

as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Parenti. And I'm Jimei Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, the early career podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. One of the most exciting things about having your first real job is that first real paycheck.

You're probably thinking, yay, I can finally buy a new phone. But you also have a lot of questions like, how should I be investing this money? I mean, how much do I save? And what about my 401k? Well, we're talking with finance expert Vivian Tu, aka Your Rich BFF, to break it all down. I always get roasted on the internet when I say this out loud, but I'm like, every single year you need to be asking for a raise of somewhere between 10 to 15%. I'm not saying you're going to get 15% every single year,

but if you ask for 10 to 15 and you end up getting eight, that is actually a true raise. Listen to this week's episode of Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. you get your podcasts. Every day at the Earth First Camp followed a rough pattern. Wake up and breakfast call around 7, then

a morning circle where folks lay out the plan for the day and make announcements. After that, the late morning to early afternoon is split up into three time blocks for various workshops at different sections of the camp, with lunch somewhere in between time slots. various workshops at different sections of the camp, with lunch somewhere in between time slots. Once workshops are done, it's dinner time by the lake, and then usually some sort of evening activity. The workshops covered a broad range of topics,

from how to climb a tree to how to do conflict resolution. Many were pre-planned, but if you had a skill you wanted to share, time was set aside to do an impromptu workshop. The main workshops were on indigenous solidarity and land back, the history of Earth First slash the radical green movement, and an overview slash discussion on direct action. Direct action is about literally taking direct action in hopes of achieving a tangible goal. It's not simply a protest march. Direct action means actually getting something done. People who call themselves Earth-first are usually known for doing direct actions that temporarily inconvenience those who wish to harm the planet, while also trying to gain positive media attention or optics to grow massive support of the overall green movement. Examples of these actions include tree sits and lockdowns. More permanent and destructive tactics in direct actions,

like burning down an ecologically destructive ski resort construction site or torching high-carbon-emitting luxury SUVs, were more associated with the ELF, or the Earth Liberation Front. The Direct Action Workshop went over many examples of direct actions from years past and around the globe. People discussed what goals the actions may have had, if the actions achieved that goal, the different risks of participating in the action, and what the public perception might have been. All of which are important things to consider when planning an action.

Also discussed was slight deception as a useful tool for planning the risk and optics of an action. A past protest was shown as an example. At that protest, indigenous folks were attached to fake chains so it looks like they were locked onto equipment while standing in front of a large message banner for media attention and pictures. Meanwhile, white protesters behind them were locked down to actual equipment, thus putting the indigenous activists at the center of media coverage, while having white folks bear the brunt of the burden of state repression. A green activism classic are body blockades. Generally, there are two types, hard and soft. Soft blockades are just bodies linked together. Hard blockades use lockboxes, typically made out of metal or plastic tubes that people attach their

limbs to on the inside, that are then attached around equipment, machinery, train tracks, or gates. Other hard blockades can use technology like bipods or tripods to suspend people up in the air to physically block off a space. Innovation and experimentation are key to the success of these devices. The state already knows of and how to quickly counter most popular lockbox designs, though rural policing areas may be less trained on how to counter these more militant tactics. Having a publicly announced protest march serve as a sort of distraction action, as other folks can do shenanigans and monkey wrenching behind the scenes at other spots, was mentioned as a useful idea but one that's

rarely utilized. There were also discussions of other activism and direct action-related concepts, such as affinity groups and security culture. An affinity group is essentially your specific small crew of people that you are with at an action. You all watch out for each other and usually have linked goals. Security culture is a broader concept that we don't have tons of time to get into today, but one aspect of it is, is that there's information that you, your friends, and especially strangers, don't need to share or sometimes even know about at all. A good security culture habit to get into is thinking about if sharing details or even letting it be known that you have knowledge of certain things could put people at risk before you say anything

at all to anyone. This includes bragging about things, especially direct actions that you may or may not have participated in in the past, even if you're telling a quote-unquote trusted group of friends or on your quote anonymous Twitter account. Another big discussion point was risk assessment, knowing what risks you can and can't take for whatever reasons, both at actions and during the planning process, and then trying to plan accordingly to set yourself up for the best possible outcome. This by no means always works out, but it's still a good thing to practice and something that may save your skin. One method of trying to suss out rough risk levels is the stoplight system, which divides actions into green, yellow, and red.

These are areas of the physical protest space and or specific roles linked to different levels of risk. Green means that you plan on getting out of the protest without getting arrested. This includes stuff like protest theater, holding signs and banners, doing legal support work, doing protest extraction, i.e. going around in a car picking up folks as they're trying to leave an escalating situation, or even just standing in a large group to help anonymize other folks in the crowd doing more mischievous actions. Yellow means that you'd rather get out of the protest without getting arrested, but you may be in scenarios where that's slightly more likely to happen. This includes being a part of the shield-slash-umbrella walls, attempting de-arrests, perhaps throwing a water bottle at an armed man

with a badge. Being able to move quickly is a really useful skill for folks that take up yellow roles. Red means that you plan on being arrested, whether that be for tree-sitting or locking down to the gate of an ICE facility to temporarily prevent the transportation of immigrants, among other possibilities. Also included in this category are people who get arrested for optics purposes, although getting arrested solely in hopes of getting good media coverage is a point of contention in certain activist circles. The stoplight method is by no means perfect or applicable in every scenario, but I included it here as an example of one way to do very basic risk assessment related to organizing. Practicing split-second group decision-making was also discussed as a really good habit to get into. Things like D&D and role-playing games are great

ways to do this, as an RPG party is very much like an affinity group. And in the end, it's important to remember, actions have the potential to be empowering and achieve measurable change. Sometimes you can do both, sometimes just one, and sometimes neither. Welcome, I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter? I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter? Nocturnum, Tales from the Shadows, presented by iHeart and Sonora. An anthology of modern-day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures.

I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of my Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season

digging into how Tex Elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel winning economists to leading journalists in the field. And I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God, things can change if we're loud enough. So join me every week to understand what's happening in

the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. On Thanksgiving Day 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba. He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez.

Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that

your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Parente. And I'm Jimei Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, the early career podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. One of the most exciting things about having your first real job is that first real paycheck.

You're probably thinking, yay, I can finally buy a new phone. But you also have a lot of questions like, how should I be investing this money? I mean, how much do I save? And what about my 401k? Well, we're talking with finance expert Vivian Tu, aka Your Rich BFF, to break it all down. I always get roasted on the internet when I say this out loud, but I'm like, every single year, you need to be asking for a raise of somewhere between 10 to 15%. I'm not saying you're going to get 15% every single year, but if you ask for 10 to 15 and you end up getting

eight, that is actually a true raise. Listen to this week's episode of Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. At the end of Earth First gatherings, there's usually some sort of project or direct action. As we were in northern Minnesota, it was a decent assumption that this one would be related to the Line 3 pipeline currently being constructed across the Minnesota wilderness, including underneath lakes, wetlands growing sacred wild rice, and the Mississippi River headwaters. People from the nearby Stop Line 3 protest camp, named Namaywag, came over to the Earth First gathering a few times, either to hang

out or attend workshops. A panel of indigenous folks from the Gnu Collective, an indigenous women and two-spirit-led frontline resistance group, drove from the Stop Line 3 camp and gave a wonderful panel on land back and how to show Indigenous solidarity. Monday June 28th, day three of the week-long gathering, started out like any other day thus far. The early morning wake-up bell that my Pacific time zone brain was slowly adjusting to, coffee and breakfast, and then morning circle. Today I planned on strapping on a harness and doing some tree climbing at the training setup

they had in camp, but during Morning Circle, we had a surprise announcement. At the Stop Line 3 camp near Park Rapids, Minnesota, situated on a piece of private property owned by the activists, mind you, the Hubbard County sheriffs had shown up at 6 a.m. with a piece of paper that said they would be blocking off access to the driveway leading to the private property, citing a suspicious, obscure, and never-before-enforced land use ordinance saying that the property owners didn't have an official easement to use the driveway. Part of the paper read, quote, the trail will be barricaded beginning on June 28, 2021 at 10 a.m. Vehicles will not be allowed to enter for any reason after this time. Vehicles driving on this Hubbard County-owned trail

are in violation of the Hubbard County Land Use Ordinance, and enforcement action will be taken by the Hubbard County Sheriff's Office. Unquote. This also meant that vehicles were not allowed to leave, effectively trapping people inside with limited cell service and supplies. Water has to be hauled in from a nearby town into the Nomewag camp, and the camp property has no utility hookups and is only accessible via this driveway that runs through a 150-foot strip of public land owned by Hubbard County. The land use ordinance has only been around since 2007, and the driveway

in question has been around for at least over four decades, according to land records and aerial photographs. Plus, basic property law use dictates that you can't landlock someone, and usually for property to even be sold, it needs to have access to a public road. The previous owner of the property actually did get a non-exclusive easement prior to selling, and has given the new owners permission to use their easement as it only expires in the event of non-use. To make things even more legally complicated, Hubbard County's blockade of the driveway may actually be in violation of treaty law. Quoting an article by Karen Savage, an investigative journalist who reports on climate change-related litigation and environmental justice. Quote, Frank Beebew, executive director of the 1855 Treaty Authority, which represents approximately 25,000 Chippewa tribal members who are currently beneficiaries

of the 1855 Chippewa Treaty with the United States, says the matter was settled more than a century ago. The 1855 Treaty grants the Chippewa a superior federal perpetual conservation easement, and the right to access, quote, public lands and public waters using public roads, unquote. I'll explain how this particular legal issue gets resolved in the next episode, but suffice to say, sheriffs are blocking the driveway, and probably illegally. Gnu Collective put out a call for assistance and requests for people to attempt to bring in supplies, so people at the Earth First Camp organized a caravan of cars with people willing to protect the Nomewog Camp

and bring in food and water. Most of our regular plans for the day were postponed, as about half the Earth First Camp decided to go help. Jail support forms were filled out, and people wrote the jail support numbers on their body. And so around noon, I hopped in a Prius and began the two-hour drive towards Namaywag. I could tell we were getting close by the number of Hubbard County Sheriff's vehicles passing us. White pickup trucks emblazoned with sheriffs in that cool cop font. You know the one. Soon enough,

the 15-car-long caravan from Earth First passed the Line 3 construction site. As we drove by, I stared at the miles of pipe on top of overturned soil and trees. Near the end of the drive, the car I was in lost the vehicle ahead of us that we were supposed to be following, so we decided to tail one of the cop cars going in the same direction, figuring we would all be heading to the same place.

And we were correct. Once we arrived at the spot, we just pulled up behind the rest of the Earth First Caravan. Already multiple cop cars were blocking the entrance to Mnumaywog. While sitting idle and all still inside our vehicles, a sheriff's deputy walked by, writing down all the license plate numbers and issuing a warning. You guys gotta leave or else your vehicle's gonna get towed, okay? After waiting inside the vehicles for a bit, folks from the supply and support caravan started to trickle out

and head towards Nemehwag and the cops. There was a lot of arguing about the driveway and the easement situation, which allegedly brought the cops out in the first place. If you've ever tried arguing with cops in the street before, you'd be able to guess that friends. Yes, you are. This isn't a driveway. You guys have the abilities to hand carry stuff. It's built on county land.

It's a fucking driveway. Look at it. Look at that. It's not a driveway to where we live. This is the hill you're going to die on. This is the one. 150 feet of county land. Oh, that's all this is for? Yeah. Yeah. As the day dragged on, the law enforcement presence grew. More and more sheriffs showing up.

Well, sheriff's deputies, quite a few of them. Probably around, I don't know, or people from the nearby reverse camp trying to bring supplies to the Stop the Line 3 camp about two hours away. Some of the people here on the ground are from the Stop the Line 3 camp, some are from the reverse camp, with about 20, 10, 15 cars trying to bring supplies as well. It's currently being blocked off by the county sheriffs. For the first time today, they've chosen to block off road access to the camp. Since the cops were blocking off the road, the caravan from Earth

First couldn't pull into the private property and had to park on the side of the county road, as we all waited to see how this was going to turn out. Soon enough, a tow truck arrived. So we have a tow truck just arrived, and is starting to tow some of the cars that are from the Earth First camp, who came here to bring supplies

to the Stop the Line 3 camp that, since the roadways have been blocked off, so they're unable to transfer supplies from the road to get to the Stop the Line 3 camp. And right now, there is currently, looks like the first car being towed, and all the way into the back.

I'm walking over there right now. It's about like four sheriffs, sheriff's deputies, and some people that are obviously not thrilled about getting their cars towed, even though we're on like a public road, and they're just parked because they're trying to get through, and the cops are blocking them. Stuff's getting more tense by the tow truck area. Sheriffs are getting pretty obviously pissed.

People have vested interest in not getting their vehicles down for trying to bring supplies to a protest camp. Especially since the road's being blocked by the sheriffs in the first place. Just causing this traffic. So, that's where we're at right now. Still the same situation

by the entrance to the Line 3 camp, walking back to the tow truck. That seems a little more tense at the moment. There are, I mean, when we first heard about this in the Earth First camp, they said there was, like, one sheriff's deputy here trying to block

the entrance to the camp with his vehicle. And since we've arrived, there is, like, trying to block the entrance to the camp with his vehicle. And since we've arrived, there is like probably 20, at least 20 sheriff's deputies here, possibly more. There's like at least like 15 sheriff's vehicles. So definitely a larger presence than in the beginning of the day. As the day continued on and everyone got more antsy, arrests and state violence seemed less like a possibility and more of an inevitability. Looks like they just got a call for a jail van from the Sheriff's Comms radio.

There is a lot of people here. There's a lot of people here. So if they want to arrest everyone We might need multiple vans But yeah That is the state of this I'm up at the front By the entrance to the camp There's like three different sheriff's vehicles

Blocking the roadway And a line of like Ten or so vehicles From the Earth First camp trying to bring supplies. Zip ties are coming out. And I just got told zip ties are coming out. None of the sheriff's deputies wanted to say much while being recorded, but they did recommend if anyone had any questions, they asked County Sheriff Corey A. Ukes.

When asked how one would get in contact with Sheriff A. Ukes, a deputy replied, when most of these people go to jail, they'll get an opportunity to speak with him. Under more pressure, the deputy clarified the reason they planned to arrest and charge people, public nuisance and obstruction of a roadway. They talked that they were very concerned that there were cars parked illegally, and that the roadway was blocked and obstructed, conveniently ignoring the fact that at this point, the only vehicles blocking the whole road were Sheriff's cars and trucks, and that said sheriff's vehicles blocking the road was the reason the caravan of support cars were pulled over to the side.

Looks like there are big, like, paddy wagons, big, big vans to put people who are arrested in on each side of this road now, and people are going to try to avoid this mass arrest scenario by trying to go into the Line 3 camp. I'm guessing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15 vehicles are probably going to get towed. Again, the sheriff's vehicle is the one blocking the road right now. Everyone else is just parked on the side at the moment. I'm going to slowly kind of make my way into the area that's slightly safer so I can continue reporting.

So I am going to be moving in shortly. I was told... Hattie Wagon in route! The, I was told, uh... PADDY WAGON IN ROOM! I was told the, uh, sheriff, um, like, you know, head sheriff man is going to be here. And we can maybe, uh, talk to him. But he is not here at the moment that I know of. Yeah, there's a paddy wagon. Alright.

Yeah, they definitely got a, uh, definitely got a fucking wagon out. Um, they're absolutely going to try to arrest as many people as possible. Since it became obvious that all of the caravan cars were going to be towed, some folks decided that they weren't going to make it super easy. We have some, uh,

people who decided to park their cars perpendicular on the road, so sideways, so that they're more difficult to tow. We'll see what... I'm guessing the law enforcement reaction to this is not going to... They're not going to be pleased. Since the road's already blocked, people are... As expected, the cops weren't thrilled with the cars now being parked sideways on the road.

The detective on the scene said, So not only are all these cars going to get towed at this point in time, I'm going to cite every owner of the vehicle. And then this happened. About 20 minutes ago, 30 minutes ago, a sheriff's officer, a sheriff's deputy, took someone's ID, and they have not given it back yet. And it looks like that person has since been arrested.

They're getting dragged away. Hey, get off the property! Get off the property! Get off the property! Someone's been dragged away. It looks like we have the first arrest. Didn't take long for things to escalate and a line of sheriffs in sparse riot gear to form a line.

To oppose, the stop line 3 and Earth First campers did some lewd chanting. Cops don't come! Cops don't come! Cops don't come! Cops don't come! After the chanting stopped, the riot line slowly pushed forward, forcing people into the driveway. So, the line of sheriff's deputies issued a dispersal order on the side of the road near the entrance to the camp. The very rough riot line with everyone equipped with zip ties,

tasers, guns, pepper spray, etc. Some have batons, or big clubs, billy clubs. They moved towards the road. It looks like all of the Line 3 protesters have moved into the driveway of the camp that's currently being blocked by the sheriff's

vehicles. So that's where most people are right now. There are some other people here that came to support and deliver supplies, also the people who live here at the camp on the other side of the main road, the one where the tow truck is currently next to the main drag that got us to the side road, which gets us into the road near the camp. There's a dozen or so, maybe like two dozen sheriffs on that side as well, a couple dozen campers and people that came for supplies.

And one of the sheriffs, I think a detective, said that they're dealing with this situation, referring to the stuff near the entrance first, and then they will deal with the dozen or so vehicles that have pulled off onto the road after being blocked by the sheriff's cars. So we're taking this kind of one step at a time here. Unclear how many more arrests there'll be. There's already been one. Just kind of waiting it out at the moment.

One guy keeps insisting that if everyone moves into the camp, there won't be any arrests. But of course, they already arrested somebody who cops also took their ID and never gave it back for like an hour. So that is the thing we're dealing with at the moment. Another tow truck arrived on the other side of the road closer to the Nomewag camp entrance, and began towing vehicles from this side too, albeit with a rough start. The truck is struggling. It's getting pulled back when it's trying to winch the car out. Looks like we need to change this now. The ramp is digging into the road. The tow truck is not doing well.

It'll probably get in the way, but it's gonna... You don't need to do this! You don't need to follow their orders! You don't need to tow this van. They're blocking our driveway. We just want to drive the van into the driveway. You don't need to tow it. They're about four minutes in.

You know what I told? Well, it looks like they missed the ramp. All right, I'll keep it. Good morning, Jerry. It's been five minutes. We'll get it this next time. As the tow truck was struggling, the sheriffs were struggling to get people to move further down the driveway.

This first, 33 feet, you're still in it. Goes for all of you. 33 feet. Can you tell us where at 33 feet is it? Definitely further yet. Okay. It's like they're trying to... Disperse. Disperse means disperse.

Do so and you will not be charged or arrested with the crime of public nuisance violation. All right? And unlawful assembly. That's what disperse means. Almost 8 minutes in. They're still trying to get the first van onto the ramp. Looks like they might do it this time. Oh. Oh.

Maybe. Oh. It's a whale. Oh. I don't know. Ooh, quite a bit of damage to this vehicle. Both the undercarriage and the tires. Almost nine minutes in. Almost at eleven minutes into them trying to move this van onto the tow truck. I think they'll probably get it this time.

But they may publicize it. This is thrilling audio content. And the Totra company are doing quite a bit of damage to the public road, which is, of course, ironic, because they're here claiming this is all happening because of, uh, Totra's cars blocking the road. Those are the cars blocking the entrance right now.

They just don't remember driving on it. But, I mean, they're threatening arrests for, like, public nuisance stuff. I mean, the road's gonna get so messed up by the time they tow the rest of, like, nuisance stuff. I mean, the road's going to get so messed up by the time they tow the rest of like the 15 cars. It's taken like 15 minutes for them to get in the van. The other ones might be faster or lighter. There's quite a bit of damage on the road right now.

Oh, shit! Holy shit! Oh no! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! It looks like the tow truck may have just uh... Oh the tow truck's fucked! It looks like the tow truck may have just got... Some of the metal in the bottom got warped or snapped. Oh my god!

Oh yeah! That can't be good for the truck. Ah, it's still working. There's a lot of flex in that hole. How long do you think it took that? So far it's been 16 minutes. So that's 16 times. Well, they got it up. Only, I don't know, 15 more to go. Shortly after the problematic van was towed, cops grabbed more folks. Just arrested about four people who were walking towards the exit of the road,

carrying blankets, chanting, water is life. And then as the crowd, it was most of the crowd who was gathered to watch, as the police tackled and arrested them, one person was filming, and another, like a protester or a camper, And another, like a protester or a camper was filming, and police grabbed them off the road and put them into handcuffs. So that's another arrest there. The rough riot line of sheriffs, and now also Park Rapids police,

did a surprise charge into the driveway, tackling and arresting five people for no apparent reason. Oh, why are you saying shit? Why are you arresting people? You're literally hurting people! Stop hurting them! What are you arresting them for? You're fucking disabled, you fucking kids! After the abrupt attack from the cops,

folks from Nomewag and Earth First formed a very strong and tight shield wall on the driveway leading to the private property. Meanwhile, someone up the road locked themselves onto one of the cars to temporarily prevent it from being towed. One of the main detective guys that's been talking to the group the past

few hours walked up to the shield wall and said, your friend that's hooked up to the equipment needs to, we need you to unhook him or we're going to destroy your car. Because he's claiming that he doesn't know how to remove the lockbox that's connected to the car. Crowd just started chanting cop's lie and he walked away. He's like, okay. So my guess is that they probably will destroy the

car because why wouldn't they? If they have an excuse to do that, of course they're gonna do it. So I'm guessing they're gonna be sawing apart a car, um, and then the person in the lockbox is gonna get arrested. Um, they'll probably face some of the harshest charges out of everyone that's been arrested today. So far I've counted about ten arrests. Um, yeah, I think we're at around ten right now. The shield wall's been holding strong for almost an hour and a half at this point. And the

sheriffs have not advanced. One of them tried to trespass into private property, part of this land, and was called out for it, and people went over there to film and then he left. Because he's obviously breaking the law. There was tons of cameras. He looked very sad.

But yeah, now we're still at the standstill with Stop the Line 3 protesters with shields, trying to hold their ground against the sheriffs who marched into the driveway and towards their camp. So, that's the situation right now. It's almost 11pm. I've been standing around for a while. I don't have a rain jacket anymore, because I believe the car I arrived in is probably towed away,. I left my rain jacket inside. I'm not at my regular sleeping spot at the Stop Line 3 camp.

I don't have a tent. I don't have a rain jacket. I have some water. And there's people here who have been extremely friendly. So yeah, that's the update as of 10.49pm in Hubbard County at the Stop the Line 3 protest.

On the drive here, I saw all of the equipment. All of the Line 3 pipes and stuff laid out in a giant field. It was massive. It was a lot of stuff. And I know they're just starting to dig under the Mississippi River to put in the Line 3 pipes and stuff. The movie's a bit somber when there's discussions of the pipeline. Yeah, a lot of... it's extremely somber.

People talking about how this land is extremely important to them and their indigenous relatives and the spirits living in the water and in the trees, and how the Line 3 pipes are going to kill so much of this environment and so much of this history. But these people know that a movement can't run on grief, sorrow, and resentment all on its own. That's people cheering on the person that locked themselves to one of the vehicles. We got your back!

We got your back! We got your back! I believe they just got let into one of the jail vans. And they yelled at the crowd from out on the street, And they yelled at the crowd from out on the street, and everyone cheered them on to, you know, make them... The camaraderie here is one of the main driving forces. The feeling of community. The feeling of putting something at risk,

going into the conflict, and knowing that you have a community to support you, and cheer you on and help you out no matter what happens and that's the main driving force from all my time at the Earth First conference or gathering

that's one of the main things that gets talked about, maybe not in those words but it's the same idea is that this isn't a movement of individuals. It only works as a movement when everyone's together like this, and everyone's supporting each other. Almost three hours into holding the shield wall, at around midnight, someone started playing Fuck the Police on a big speaker. And almost on cue, that's when the sheriffs and cops decided to pull out. The crowd erupted in celebration, and in the absence of the

cop car's headlights, I could see fireflies in the darkened street for the first time in my life. This wraps up part one of my two Earth First and Stop Line 3 episodes about my trip to Minnesota. Part two will air tomorrow and wrap up this particular small section of the Stop Line 3 story. If you want to support the Stop Line 3 movement and people who are fighting right now, you can go to protestlaw.org slash line3 to donate, and also go to stopline3bailfunds.org to donate to bail funds, You should probably keep your lights on for Nocturnal Tales from the Shadow. Join me, Danny Trails, and step into the flames of right. An anthology podcast of modern day horror stories inspired by the most terrifying legends and lore of Latin America.

Listen to Nocturno on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jacqueline Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit. The podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while running errands or at the end of a busy day. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture.

Listen to Black Lit on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. AT&T. Connecting changes everything.