I am grateful for the video at the end of this that my friend Christine Nobiss and the Great Plains Action Society created about the work of so many to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). A decision is expected any day regarding whether the flow of oil through the pipeline should be stopped while TC Energy does a more complete environmental assessment as ordered by a Federal judge.

Court slams Army Corps for skipping environmental review of Dakota Access Pipeline

Great Plains Action Society put this video together for all the warriors in Iowa that have been fighting this atrocity since 2014. For all those that stood against the state and colonial-capitalism in Iowa over the past 7 years. Among those organizations listed is Iowa Quakers, including the American Friends Service Committee.

It is significant that the struggle is framed as opposing the state and colonial-capitalism in Iowa. The land seized through eminent domain abuse throughout Iowa for this pipeline was already stolen from Indigenous Peoples who have long been in battle with colonial capitalism.

Calling attention to eminent domain abuse was one of the things the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March was about. Christine Nobiss (Indigenous Iowa at that time) and Ed Fallon (Bold Iowa) organized that March along the path of the Dakota Access pipeline in Iowa. The NoDAPL IOWA video below includes video clips from the March. This website contains many photos, videos and blog posts about the March. First Nation-Farmer Unity – First Nation peoples and farmers working together

Christine and Ed also organize the Climate Crisis Parade Climate Crisis Parade May 1, 2020. The parade included a covered wagon with a sign saying Colonial Capitalism.

Great Plains Action Society has held several events to call attention to the monuments to White supremacy.

We demand that all white supremacist, misogynistic and, homo/transphobic historical monuments, names, and holidays be removed from all Iowa state grounds and facilities. By removing these monuments, we are not erasing history—we are correcting it. These depictions fall into the realm of hate propaganda and human rights violations because they make specific segments of the population feel unwelcome in public spaces. 

This propaganda is everywhere but many do not realize it depicts enslavement, land theft, violence, and genocide. Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and many other oppressed folks in this country must face these images every day in their neighborhoods, commutes, or at their places of work. It is important that Iowans demand that their government carry out a genuine act of truth and reconciliation on stolen land by removing all depictions of white supremacy.

Great Plains Action Society

Great Plains Action Society also organized Indigenous Peoples Day. Voter registration was part of the event.

We are not demanding that we take down statues in order to erase history, we are doing so that we can finally start to restore and celebrate the history that for many generations has been purposely and forcefully erased. We are decolonizing. We are asking for liberation. Some people choose to migrate, others don’t. But that decision should no longer be in the hands of the colonizers.

Here are more photos of this event as well as my photos Jeff Kisling’s blog and photos. Coverage included the Des Moines Register and KCCI-TV.

For the past year I’ve been blessed to learn about, and participate in the work of Des Moines Mutual Aid (DMMA) which is supported by Great Plains Action Society. My friend Ronnie James is part of Great Plains Action Society, and has been teaching me about the concepts of Mutual Aid. I’ve been participating in the food giveaway project, which is a continuation of the Black Panther’s free breakfast program in the 1960’s. Following is a story he shared with me.

So I work with a dope crew called Des Moines Mutual Aid, and on Saturday mornings we do a food giveaway program that was started by the Panthers as their free breakfast program and has carried on to this day. Anyways, brag, brag, blah, blah.

So I get to work and I need to call my boss, who is also a very good old friend, because there is network issues. He remembers and asks about the food giveaway which is cool and I tell him blah blah it went really well. And then he’s like, “hey, if no one tells you, I’m very proud of what you do for the community” and I’m like “hold on hold on. Just realize that everything I do is to further the replacing of the state and destroying western civilization and any remnants of it for future generations.” He says “I know and love that. Carry on.”

Following is from a speech Ronnie gave at a teach-in for Black Lives Matter, the Police State and Why We Must Resist.

Historically, the police and other law enforcement were formed to protect the interests and property of the moneyed classes from the rest of the People. This “property” included the bodies of the enslaved and was the justification for brutally repressing the righteous and inevitable revolts born from the atrocity of slavery. This same philosophy of endless possession was the bloodlust that fueled the “Indian Wars” and the theft of Indigenous land and bodies that continues to this day.   (Wampanoag, 2020)

Today, this same war of conquest, the repression of the many for the benefit of the few, continues.

All this work is in nonviolent opposition to the state and colonial-capitalism in Iowa.