Dams are the signature architectural project of the nation state that cements power structures with irrigation being a tool for colonization. The project advocates for the rights of the Nile by claiming that current planning and construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam (GERD) is an act of Ecocide. The project calls for a people’s tribunal, and presents a body of evidence that will be presented at a mock trial through a simulation platform to promote sustainable, transparent, and inclusive negotiations. The river must be viewed holistically as a single ecological body irrelevant of the geo-political borders that divide it. The mock trial contextualises the GERD project within the global dam debate and reveals the overwhelming complexity of issues at a social, environmental, cultural, and political scale. The use of a simulation platform in the mock trial enables participants to engage with the territory and understand the particulars of the space. The project helps facilitate cooperation between populations living along it to reconcile competing needs. This will provide the first step for acknowledging the rights of indigenous populations to their livelihoods, lands, and inclusion in future projects along the river.