Art above by Big Wind
Giniw Collective, the Yes Men, & Deep Soup Media are
collaborating to raise funds that will resource indigenous media
makers on the frontline of the fight to stop the Line 3 tar sands
pipeline in Minnesota.
This fund will be used to purchase, transport, and distribute fully prepped gear kits, software access, & training, in direct consultation with the Giniw Collective and other indigenous media makers on the frontlines of the fight to stop Line 3. Our funding goal is drawn from those concrete purchase plans/budgets, and will allow us to provide the following kits to four different groups along the line: a professional camcorder and necessary accessories, a social media production kit, a subscription to editing softwares, and support for indigenous storytellers to gain and share technical skills and narrative strategies.
THE ISSUES
Canadian Corporation Enbridge Energy is attempting to run an enormous new tar sands pipeline from Alberta, Canada to Superior, WI, directly through Ojibwe Treaty territory and the ancestral land of the Anishinaabe, Dakota, Odawa, Iowa, Ponca, Omaha, Sauk, Fox, Ho Chunk, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and others indigenous peoples. Construction has just begun on the Minnesota portion of the route, and the company is preparing to drill through some of the most water dense and ecologically sensitive areas in the state. Enbridge is responsible for the largest inland oil spill in the history of the United States. This pipeline threatens wild rice beds sacred to indigenous peoples. More infrastructure for tar sands bitumen spells climate disaster. And indigenous territories and communities of color have too long been treated as sacrifice zones for this industry: from sites of extraction, to pipelines, to pollution heavy refineries, to the climate change effects that hit the global south first.
In Minnesota indigenous people, tribes, organizations, and collectives throughout the state are leading the fight to stop this climate disaster in the making, and we know media making is a crucial part of this. This is a fight that must be witnessed, a story that must be told, and it must be told by those on the ground who have the most at stake.
THE COLLABORATION
The Giniw Collective is an indigenous-women & 2-spirit led front-line land defense collective. They are engaged in active resistance against the Line 3 oil pipeline.
The Yes Men are an internationally renowned group of 'laughtivists' who decided long ago it would be amazing fun to 'stick it to the man.' For decades the Yes Men have been infiltrating, impersonating, fooling, and filmmaking their way through the halls of power (& striking idiocy) responsible for neoliberalization.
Deep Soup Media has been on the ground in Minnesota for the past three years working to create media in relationship with communities defending their rights and creating change.
Both Yes Men & Deep Soup love our collaborations, and love our work. But we know that storytelling is powerful, that community members tell their own stories best, and that it's long past time that indigenous people were fully resourced and supported to represent their stories to the world on their own terms.
OUR CALL TO YOU
This is a call to everyone to support the storytelling that brings a
more just and livable world to life, but in particular this goes out
to all of us in art, film, entertainment, journalism, and media
production whose privilege has provided us access & resources to
do the work we do -- that foot in the door that helped us get into an
expensive and resource-intensive medium to witness, share, and
represent what we see, hear, feel, and imagine. This is especially a
call to those of us who inherit our privilege from white settler
lineage. Please participate in sharing these tools and their power in
a way that acts towards justice.
What a richer narrative world
we can live in together.
Such greater power there will be to
stop this pipeline.
For questions please reach out to admin@deepsoupmedia.com
