Chile's Indigenous Cultures

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a pipeline that runs oil from Bakken/Three Forks production areas in North Dakota to a storage area outside of Pakota, Illinois When they first started to dig in April of 2016, Indigenous peoples started protesting it due to them digging in areas that are religious/spiritual sites sacred to indigenous tribes. Also, building this pipeline would guarantee indigenous people to have no way to get to the water that they need as well as the government stealing away their land. Non-Indigenous and Indigenous peoples started protesting all over the country, such as North Dakota, The Standing Rock Reservation, The Mississippi River, South Dakota, Illinois, as well as Iowa. Early that September, construction workers bulldozed a section of land the tribe had identified as sacred ground. This angered protesters and when they entered the area, security workers used violent attack dogs that bit at least six of the protesters and one horse. Following this, soldiers and police with riot gear hauling weapons and military equipment pushed out and hurt an encampment of protesters that was directly in the proposed pipeline's path. With the number of protesters rising,  Police used water cannons on protesters in freezing weather which drew significant media attention. Following Donald Trump's approval for the completion of the pipeline the number of protesters gradually decreased and on February 23, 2017 the National Guard and law enforcement officers evicted those that remained and finished building the pipeline. 

The Mapuche Indigenous Tribe is located on the southern half of Chile. This tribe has a belief that nature is the key to health, happiness, and success. They make their living from selling the things they grow. During Chile's Dictatorship in the 60's, much of the Mapuche land was stolen from them by the Chilean Government. All the local trees to Chile were torn down and replaced with Alien trees that stole vital nutrients away from the local nature there. The Mapuche population relies heavily on the local flora, so when all their plant life started disappearing they started moving north to suburbs/cities such as Santiago. When some Indigenous people did this, they lost what it really meant to be a Mapuche, resulting into them forgetting the culture of them and become more "main stream" to the rest of Chile. The Mapuche people are trying to fight for their right to have their lands given back to them, with no recognition at all. 

Both the Indigenous American tribes as well as the Mapuche Tribes are being silenced by their Governments. Both are trying to speak out against the abuse the government has been doing to them for decades. For the Indigenous American Tribes, the government forced them into Reservations. These Reservations have little to no proper founding or schooling towards the Indigenous Americans, making them leave and conform to the "normal" way outside of the Reservations. This is the same way in the Mapuche Tribe. The Chilean Government has taken away most of their land resulting in the going to areas that slowly erase the Mapuche beliefs. Also, the Mapuche have no proper schools that even hint at their beliefs or language. For both groups, this results into them not having basic knowledge to simple subjects.Both groups are struggling due to the government forcing land away from them, putting them in situations where they are not able to have basic human rights.