On Thursday, the governor of North Dakota called in the National Guard to assist in settling mounting tensions between builders and protesters (or “protectors,” as they prefer to be called) in what has become an ongoing series of intense nonviolent protests that some are likening to the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s, both in nonviolent nature and importance. In the six months that these protests have been happening, the fight has evolved from just being an issue of the sanctity of certain areas to an all-out fight about the rights of Native Americans, the guarantee of clean water, the future of oil transport in America.

The demonstrators, namely members of the North Dakota-based Standing Rock Sioux tribe and their Native American allies from all over the country, are protesting the construction of the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline, an 30-inch wide underground pipeline that would stretch approximately 1,172 miles from the Bakken oilfields in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois and carry approximately 470,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the Texas-based company behind the $3.8 billion project, claims that the pipeline’s construction would create 12,000 jobs and allow Bakken crude to reach the global market in, “a more direct, cost-effective, safer and environmentally responsible manner,” according to ETP.

However, Native Americans, activists, and environmentalists the nation over, feel that the pipeline should not be built and have mounted a massive (mostly) non-violent campaign to stop construction. They argue that the pipeline “crosses areas of great historical and cultural significance” and “crosses waters of utmost cultural, spiritual, ecological, and economic significance.” Those were excerpts taken from the text of a lawsuit the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed on July 28th, just two days after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the pipeline project.

Tensions between demonstrators and those attempting to construct the pipeline have risen so much that a judge was called to look at the case and issue a ruling on Friday.  “We want the Army Corps to honor the same rights and protections that were afforded to others, rights we were never afforded when it comes to our territories,” explained Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II in an interview with Indian Country Today. The rights he referred to are laid out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Article 32, section 2: “States shall…obtain [the] free and informed [from the indigenous people] consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources.” Standing Rock Sioux leadership is adamant that this “free and informed consent” was never given or even asked for.

According to tribal leaders and environmental activists, ETP’s environmental assessment of the pipeline, completed on December 9th, 2015, neglected to mention that the planned route for the pipeline brings it near the drinking water of tribal citizens, and leaves out the existence of tribes in all maps and analysis, which is in violation of existing environmental justice policies.

What began as peaceful protests by a group of concerned people has escalated as private security guards and their dogs clashed with activists on September 4th, after bulldozers began destroying sites sacred to the Native Americans. Videos and pictures uploaded to social media depicted the gruesome scene, including an image of an attack dog whose mouth was stained with the blood of a peaceful protestor. In all, six activists were bit by dogs and security pepper-sprayed at least 30 people, including children.
“This demolition is devastating,” Archambault said in an statement to BuzzFeed News. “These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground.”

On Friday, a federal judge denied the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s request to stop construction on the pipeline. However, within minutes of the ruling, the US government issued a statement saying that they would not grant permission for the pipeline to be built despite the judge’s ruling; the project will be paused pending a review by the government.

This is a major victory for the Native American campaigners, one that signifies that the government recognizes the rights of the native people and is willing to stand up for those rights. The move by the government also served to legitimize the native people’s concerns that the pipe could leak and contaminate drinking water supplies, which indicates that the government could be starting to crack down on irresponsible oil companies. This was a long-awaited victory for everyone involved in the peaceful protests that underscores the power of nonviolent direct action as the best tool to fight injustice, and, in the end, win.