What it Was Like Making Television on the Front Lines at Standing Rock

The Standing Rock resistance camp that tasted victory in December remains under attack.

As one of his first orders of business as US president, Donald Trump signed an executive order this week to expedite the review process of the Dakota Access Pipeline—a pipeline the Indigenous resistance movement has fought, fearing the pipeline will contaminate the Sioux Standing Rock tribe's water downstream and disturb their sacred burial sites.

VICELAND's new show RISE, which travels to Indigenous communities across the Americas to meet people at the front lines of resistance, has been going on location at Standing Rock since last spring, when the movement was just ramping up. The crew and host Sarain Fox, who is of Anishinabe lineage, embedded with the Standing Rock occupation camps in North Dakota to understand the the full scope of what was at stake for the community (and Indigenous people at large).

The two-part episode, which airs tonight at 9 PM, is essential viewing as Trump's order aims to undo the Obama administration's denial of a key easement the pipeline needs in order to cross under Lake Oahe, which is under federal jurisdiction. Obama's government also ordered a full environmental review of the pipeline—a process that could take up to a year, although Trump's order means it could be sooner. For now, the company behind the pipeline, Energy Partners Limited, must bide its time until that process is finished.

Trump's order came as a rallying call for the Standing Rock resistance movement, which exists not only in the camp, but also online and in solidarity protests across the Americas.

VICE talked to Sarain Fox about her time at Standing Rock, and what the future holds for the resistance.

VICE: What was it like being at Standing Rock early on?
Sarain Fox: We got on the ground at Standing Rock last spring. When we first arrived there, it was not what people know Standing Rock to be. For me it it has become this defining moment for how I view myself in the Indigenous community and what it means to be an activist. And I think that all just happened because I grew up in a world where occupation and activism has been such a focal part of my life.

But to arrive on the ground at Standing Rock, I felt that there was no way that occupation was going to be able to sustain itself. It felt so small and so spontaneous, and from my perspective, from everything I'd seen in Canada and every occupation, I was so worried about the sustainability of that camp. When I arrived in Standing Rock, there was five families camped on the banks of the Cannonball River. And LaDonna [Allard] was running it by herself. The day that I arrived there was so insane, because everyone's living in tents and there's this central fire that's sort of the heart of the camp and that's where everyone meets. And the first time I went down there it was pitch black, and we came down over this hill. And there are not even roads, so it's super mucky, and i got out and the very first thing I did was meet all the people around the campfire.

I got to meet all of these amazing young people. And Bobbi Jean and her daughter were there and she so humble and so much a part of that group and she was listening to all those young people and learning from them and I had no idea that she had all of these ideas to sort of, to take the initiative to lead them. But the reason that that moment is so important for me that night was because I got to hear the youth from neighbouring communities talk about why they were fighting and why they had even started that camp. And they told me that first night about band camps and it was all these young women talking about how they no longer feel safe in their communities and it was the first moment that I realized that Standing Rock was about so much more than just water and the pipeline … Standing Rock was never about the pipeline to me as much as it was about the people because of these young women.

In your mind, what are the issues that are at the centre of the occupation, and what's on the line for community there?
Standing Rock is an occupation that was actually started as something that was called the Sacred Stone Camp. And the Sacred Stone Camp was started by LaDonna Brave Bull [Allard], she's actually a historian. She was the tribe's historian at the time. They were actually waiting for a decision from Army Corps of Engineers when they started that encampment and they had no idea when that decision was coming. So they started this encampment on the banks of the river to just sort of make their presence known and to start a fight to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline. So at that point, not many people knew what the pipeline was. Not many people knew the root of the pipeline or the history of it. The pipeline had actually been routed to go through Bismarck and the tribe was made aware that it was going to come within a mile of their community. [But] there was little to no dialogue with the tribe. They had this encampment and they knew that things were coming [but] no one knew what was going to happen. They started that camp in April and it was the beginning of August when the Army Corps of Engineers made that decision and said that they would grant the permit. At that point, Sacred Stone Camp became part of this larger issue that just became known as the Issue at Standing Rock.

How do you think that social media has functioned as a tool for activism?
Really [Standing Rock] was was a fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline so that the tribe could prevent the possibility of contamination of their main water source—the Missouri River and the Cannonball River. I think that along the way, they realized that not only the water would be at stake but also sacred sites and burial sites and the very sheer history of the tribe was at stake. And so it was LaDonna who got on a Facebook livestream.

I was actually in Hawaii when I saw that Facebook livestream, which was fucking amazing and incredible because here's this woman who started this camp. Who's using all her money, her own money, to make this camp. Who's inspiring young people to take a stand and to own their own role and using this tool. Like, social media is not a tool that she would have used. This is something that's brand new for her. So to get on a Facebook livestream and to make a call out for warriors is like the most legit and bad-ass thing to do as an Elder. There's no formula for doing that. She just did it. And she used those tools and that livestream is the reason why thousands of people showed up at Standing Rock. That-that one livestream.

While making RISE, what did you learn about having a platform that can amplify these voices?
With Rise I learned that my voice and being able to stand on a platform where that voice could be amplified was actually, was for me, just as important as being on the front line. And I think I had not understood the power of media and the power of amplifying activists' protectors voice in this way until I started to see the connections. Until I started to see what we were doing. I had no idea what RISE was this time last year. None.

RISE airs Fridays at 9 PM on VICELAND.