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Yet where these environmental ordeals did not so much draw the kind of activism now swelling at Standing Rock today, they have similarly intensified attention to the greater systemic problems that exist whenever ancestral tribal lands are targeted for energy development.

Yellow Jr., 37, added, “It’s why a lot of people say that we’re stuck here.” The social problems, many tribal residents say, began when treaties were broken and ancestral lands were lost to colonizers. The existing land base of the Standing Rock Sioux was determined by the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868. When the U.S. government claimed victory 11 years later, following the Great Sioux War, the terms of that treaty were amended. Threatened by starvation, the tribe, under duress, ceded a great deal of Laramie land to the federal government. In partial recognition of this painful history, modern federal Indian law today accords certain rights to tribes, including entitlement programs linked to health care, housing, education, and even gaming.

But there’s one catch: All IDs must have a current address. “In Indian Country we all know damn well that we don’t have physical addresses,” said Iron Eyes.  The 38-year-old attorney and member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe is running for Congress, challenging incumbent Kevin Cramer, a Republican, who’s been the U.S. representative for North Dakota’s at-large congressional district since 2013.

Starting roughly a year ago, in Sudan and Algeria and then spreading to Lebanon, Iraq and Iran, a series of mostly non-violent protests rocked the foundations of autocratic rule. A long-standing dictator was toppled in Khartoum and several heads of government were forced to step down in Algiers, Beirut and Baghdad. Even in Iran, Hassan Rouhani was facing pressure to resign.

It was forced to acknowledge the death of innocent lives and offer bereaving families financial compensation. To date, the Iranian government has refused to release an official death toll.

This development was a huge political and ideological gift to Iranian hardliners and their regional allies who were the target of many of these regional protests, especially in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon.