I’ve chosen #standingrock largely because I am very familiar with it. I have researched the history of the reservation there, as well as legal, politic, anthropological, and cultural precipitants of the movement today. So honestly, I would love to see how many people feel as strongly as I do, whether in support of the Sioux or the DAPL. Additionally, I find Native American rights and the history of American – Amerindian relations to be incredible interesting – did you know based on the only treaty between the United States and the Standing Rock Sioux that is recognized as legitimate by the Sioux Nation, the land of the free and home of the brave have stolen 42,000,000 acres of land from the Sioux. Finally, as the Don has given his green light to the projects, I think the movement will see new birth in the next few months.
“Trump wants wars, foreign + domestic. We need to understand this. His #StandingRock order is an invitation to soldiers + police to attack.” This tweet was by far the most highly retweeted tweet I saw in my data. Besides Standing Rock, Trump was probably the most repeatedly used term in the tweets I saw. Moreover, the general trend of the tweets I saw were in opposition of the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline. I certainly expected this, but not on the scale that the data has showed. Tweets are full of anything from impassioned, all be it incredibly biased declarations against the pipeline, to updates on the movement and facts surrounding the Standing Rock reservation. For instance, I saw several retweets about the Standing Rock fund surpassing 60k in donations – a sobering fact considering their opposition is a billion dollar energy company and infinitely well resourced federal and state governments. I also noticed a lot of chatter using the twitter handle @wellsfargo. I am unsure why that presented itself so much but there was a lot of retweeting the same tweet about “divesting wells fargo.”
I definitely expected to see more twitter chatter supporting the DAPL – I expected some alternative facts about the true efficacy of the pipeline and the idiocy in defying the venture. I really expected to see the words “liberals” and “Trump” in more tweets, but I guess the evidence simply isn’t on their side.
299 tweets on Wednesday – 10,000+ on Friday
So it would appear my last 2 ¶’s from Lab 1 did not save properly! I blame my own technological illiteracy! Somewhat fortuitously, it has been a very busy week in the #standingrock movement. According to an article from the Guardian, the Dakota Access pipeline is essentially all but physically built. As of the morning of February 8, The Army Corps of Engineers, acting as directed by an executive order signed by President Trump, granted the permit to Energy Transfer’s pipeline to cross Lake Oahe and the Missouri river. Some background on the location and facts that have precipitated the movement according to the Guardian Article: the pipeline crossing will be no more than a half mile upstream from the Standing Rock Reservation. Former President Obama halted the pipeline in December, citing lack of environmental assessment and violation of tribal treaties. When the phrase “the proposed pipeline” is used, it actually only refers to a couple football fields of pipeline left to complete – a couple football fields that cross the Lake Oahe and the Missouri River, a sacred site of the Standing Rock Tribe, and their main water source. The majority of the 1700 mile pipeline is already complete. One personal question I had regarding the pipeline was answered by the Guardian’s article. Donald Trump’s directive instructed the Army Corps of Engineers to expedite the permitting process, halting the environmental impact assessment required by the Obama administration. Additionally, there seems to be some internal conflict within the water protectors and protesters regarding new arrivals to the camp to protest the pipeline’s completion. The Sioux have vowed to physically resist the completion of the pipeline, however their attorney has openly asked for protesters not to return to South Dakota, and instead to attend the march on Washington planned for March 10. The second article I read answered my previous inquiry regarding tweets tying Wells Fargo to Standing Rock. Most of these tweets referenced Seattle – who Wednesday morning voted to divest financial ties with Wells Fargo. The $4b city budget represents a significant lose from Wells Fargo and comes days after the bank vowed to donate “$500,000 to five of the city’s nonprofit groups that work to revitalize Seattle neighborhoods.” The city representatives still voted to divest financial involvement with the bank citing $500,000 as “a drop in the bucket” – Wells Fargo reported over 1 Trillion in deposits last year. Seattle was not the only city to elect to leave Wells Fargo, with Davis, California voting concurrently. I definitely expected a lot of media coverage regarding Standing Rock, and I was happy to see the NPR article explaining the Wells Fargo Standing Rock tweets. However, I have still yet to see an article – from a reputable source – that supported the venture. I am honestly surprised and truly horrified by the absence of measurable support – not because I support the pipeline, but because if it is an unpopular move, why was Energy Transfer given the green light? Recently, I have heard a lot of politicians claiming the presidential election has given Donald Trump broad mandate for his agenda, claiming “the people voted in November.” Without any measurable presence in the press supporting the pipeline, I seriously question whether that congressional support for the pipeline is rooted in popular support. Or maybe the whole media is simply fake news!
In 2006, there was absolutely no Twitter presence, which based on the history of representation of Native issues makes sense.
With respect to live data vs. the liveliness of the issue, I feel as though I am probably collecting a mix of both. Most of the tweets I collect probably come from people who will never travel to the Standing Rock Reservation, and if they demonstrate, they will do so without the presence of militarized state police officers in sub zero temperatures. However, when I further examine the data, I hope to see specific public service announcements regarding real time updates on the movement in South Dakota, much like the Wells Fargo protest. Marres and Welteverde do touch on the unfortunate reality of those who control big data, and their ability to manipulate social study and real-time updates through data. I am hopeful that the big data powers that be will be benevolent to the Standing Rock Sioux.
Wong, Julia Carrie, and Sam Levin. “Dakota Access pipeline: final phase to be approved in major blow to Standing Rock Sioux.” The Guardian. February 07, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/07/dakota-access-pipeline-approved-standing-rock-sioux.
Chappell, Bill. “2 Cities To Pull More Than $3 Billion From Wells Fargo Over Dakota Access Pipeline.” NPR. February 8, 2017. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/08/514133514/two-cities-vote-to-pull-more-than-3-billion-from-wells-fargo-over-dakota-pipelin.
I find it really interesting how much in depth this hashtag goes and how far into your data you have reached with the topic on a larger scale from standing rock to the Dakota Access project and into even the events with Wells Fargo. Furthermore, it’s interesting that there are few articles from reputable sources supporting the pipeline through standing rock, do you think that is left out in their pros list of the pipeline knowing its harshness and insensitivity? Do any of your tweets collected seem to touch on support for the pipeline despite standing rock, or even propose any benefits they can get from the venture? It will be interesting to see later on as the march is organized for standing rock in Washington, DC how it elevates or diminishes the movement for or against the entire Keystone XL project, and perhaps sway people’s opinions in another direction.
Wow, I didn’t know much about this, and didn’t realize the complex Amerindian relations (or even that “Amerindian” was a word) that exist. Who would’ve thought Trump could use Standing Rock so viciously. It is interesting that you noticed Wells Fargo mentioned so often in the tweets, and I’m glad NPR explained the connection. Who do you think would support this venture? Also, why do you think there isn’t much on the efficiency of the pipeline? Do you think it is more politically charged and less fact-based?