Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance - Hardcover

Nick Estes

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1786636727 ISBN 13: 9781786636720

Publisher: Verso, 2019

Synopsis

How two centuries of Indigenous resistance created the movement proclaiming 'Water is Life'--and how it points the way to a new Indigenous future

In 2016, a small protest encampment at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota, initially established to block construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, grew to be the largest Indigenous protest movement in the twenty-first century, attracting tens of thousands of Indigenous and non-Native allies from around the world. Its slogan 'Mni Wiconi' -Water is Life - was about more than just a pipeline. Water Protectors knew this battle for Native sovereignty had already been fought many times before, and that, even after the encampment was gone, their anti-colonial struggle would continue.

In Our History is the Future, Nick Estes traces traditions of Indigenous resistance leading to the #NoDAPL movement from the days of the Missouri River trading forts through the Indian Wars, the Pick-Sloan dams, the American Indian Movement, and the campaign for Indigenous rights at the United Nations. While a historian by trade, Estes also draws on observations from the encampments and from growing up as a citizen of the Oceti Sakowin (the Nation of the Seven Council Fires), making Our History is the Future at once a work of history, a personal story, and a manifesto.

About this title

Review

'Embedded in the centuries-long struggle for Indigenous liberation resides our best hope for a safe and just future for everyone on this planet. Few events embody that truth as clearly as the resistance at Standing Rock, and the many deep currents that converged there. In this powerful blend of personal and historical narrative, Nick Estes skillfully weaves together transformative stories of resistance from these front lines, never losing sight of their enormous stakes. A major contribution.' - Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything

'Reading Our History is the Future is like standing in the middle of camp again. During the Standing Rock uprising, we witnessed what our ancestors always prayed for making their dreams a reality.' - Bobbi Jean Three Legs, leader of the Standing Rock Youth Runners

'A touching and necessary manifesto and history featuring firsthand accounts of the recent Indigenous uprising against powerful oil companies...With an urgent voice, Estes reminds us that the greed of private corporations must never be allowed to endanger the health of the majority. An important read about Indigenous protesters fighting to protect their ancestral land and uphold their historic values of clean land and water for all humans.' - --Kirkus Reviews
With scrupulous research and urgent prose, [Nick Estes] declares the DAPL protest a flowering of indigenous resistance with roots deep in history and Native sacred land...A powerful work, Estes's condemnation of the United States government is clear and resonant. --Publishers Weekly
This book is a mustread for anyone interested in the #NoDAPL movement. It works as an introduction, and a fearless analysis of one of, the biggest social movements of our times. --Fiorella Lecoutteux, Peace News

About the Author

Nick Estes is a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and an Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico. In 2014, he co-founded The Red Nation, an organization dedicated to Native liberation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Verso
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1786636727
• ISBN 13: 9781786636720
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 320