December 08, 2016
Over 70 members of Veterans For Peace have traveled to North Dakota to support the Indigenous resistance to protect their water. Below are three members' comments about their time at Standing Rock. Will Griffin, Doug Ryder and Matt Hoh.
Advisory Board Member, Matt Hoh: "Whatever happens with the 2000 veterans going to Standing Rock, the fight there doesn't end when those veterans go home. Whatever happens at Standing Rock, whether the pipeline is defeated or it becomes operational, the fight against corporate greed, government corruption, ecological destruction and the fight for indigenous rights must be continued."
Will Griffin: "I was in Iraq when President Bush announced the “surge” in January 2007. I was in Afghanistan when President Obama announced the “surge” in December 2009. But it wasn’t until I visited Standing Rock in October 2016 when I actually served the American people. This time, instead of fighting for corporate interests, I was fighting for the people."
Doug Ryder: "When the Commander in Chief who started eight colonial wars - with a kill list in his hand - says "let it play out" --- what we should have in our minds are the people of Gaza, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, and others who are being “played out” with deaths and destruction encroaching them. The American Indians and their way of life have been subjected to deadly settler colonialism for centuries, while the American people have decided to see how it plays out. We ask our friends to support the people of the Standing Rock because the colonial war against them waged by DAPL, backed by the US government, represents a pure force of imperialism that is murdering and stealing from people across the globe. This is the same force that blatantly steals from our healthcare, education, housing and other vital social programs while destroying communities of economically, racially and ethnically oppressed friends. This is the force that builds the biggest mass incarceration scheme ever seen. This is the force to puts bullets through black and brown youth over and over. It’s all to benefit and protect the hierarchy in this feudal society of ours."