Appleton, WI: Rally to shut down Enbridge Lines 3 and 5 extends solidarity to land and water protectors

Appleton, WI – On May 29, nearly 30 people gathered at Houdini Plaza in downtown Appleton to demand that the Canadian energy company Enbridge be forced to cease production on their Line 3 and Line 5 projects. These pipelines transport tar sands – some of the dirtiest fossil fuel out there – across hundreds of miles of Canada, into northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, and through Michigan.

The vast majority of the land that the pipelines cut through is treaty land, and many of the Anishinaabe tribes have no interest in the project and in fact have repeatedly sought its complete removal. As in many other struggles, the fight over Line 3 and Line 5 fundamentally boils down to one about indigenous sovereignty and national oppression.

“The state of Minnesota does not have the consent of the impacted tribes along Line 3, and it does not have jurisdiction over tribal lands,” said Terrence Freeman of Appleton Students for a Democratic Society. “But [these actions] should not come as a shock to anyone who has their eyes open. This trend of systematic oppression, racism and exploitation has not changed, but has taken a different form.”

Freeman continued, “This entire construction project is just another form of modern day colonialism for the sole purpose of capitalist resource extraction and capitalist profit.”

The groups that hosted the event include Youth Climate Action Team, Youth Climate Activists – Fox Valley, Sunrise Appleton, Appleton SDS, Our Wisconsin Revolution, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

In a week, from June 5 to June 8, land and water protectors from the Midwest in particular but with many participants from around the country will be gathering in northern Minnesota for several days of direct actions aimed at stopping construction of Line 3. A few of the people present at the Appleton event expressed that they will be or have been to the resistance camp.