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Dec 06, 2019
A group of climate activists walked out of a panel at the U.N. climate summit in Madrid on Thursday to protest the presence of Shell, BP and Chevron. Representatives from the oil companies were taking part in an event organized by the International Emissions Trading Association. This comes as the Spanish government is facing criticism for reaching out to Endesa, Spain's biggest corporate greenhouse gas polluter, to sponsor the U.N. climate talks. We speak with Pascoe Sabido, a researcher and campaigner for the Corporate Europe Observatory, who has been organizing toxic tours of Madrid to expose the corporations and financiers driving the climate crisis.
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Dec 06, 2019
In Spain, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has arrived in Madrid to take part in today's strike as well as a major march set for 6 p.m. local time. Greta began the climate strike movement last year when she started skipping school every Friday to stand in front of the Swedish parliament, demanding action to prevent catastrophic climate change. Her protest spread, quickly going global. We speak with two youth climate strikers: Hilda Flavia Nakabuye is the founder of Fridays for Future Uganda and Angela Valenzuela is a coordinator with Fridays for Future in Chile, where this year's U.N. climate summit had been scheduled but massive protests against neoliberalism forced the Chilean government to cancel the talks.
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Dec 06, 2019
We broadcast from Madrid, Spain, where the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP25, began Monday and will continue through next week, as environmental leaders from around the world gather to negotiate global solutions to the climate crisis. Activists have converged on Madrid for the conference and are hosting an alternative summit of their own: Cumbre Social por el Clima — the Social Summit for the Climate. The alternative summit has been organized by social justice and environmental groups to draw attention to the ongoing political repression in Chile, corporate influence on the climate summit, Spain's own failure to address the climate crisis and the Eurocentrism of the climate conference. This is the third year in a row that the conference is being held in Europe. We speak with Tom Kucharz, one of the organizers of the alternative climate conference. He is a journalist and activist with the group Ecologists in Action.
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Dec 06, 2019
Pelosi Calls On Democrats to Proceed With Drafting Articles of Impeachment, Joe Biden Lashes Out at Iowa Town Hall over His Son Hunter's Work in Ukraine, Pentagon Weighs Sending Up to 14,000 More U.S. Troops to Middle East, Saudi Aramco Raises $25.6 Billion in Historic IPO, 140,000 Died Globally from Measles in 2018, 62 Refugees Died after Boat Capsized off Coast of Mauritania, Shocking Video Shows How Border Patrol Let Teenage Asylum Seeker Die in Custody, French Workers Continue National Strike into Second Day, Uber Says It Received 3,000 Reports of Sexual Assault in U.S. in 2018, The Guardian: Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib Targeted in Far-Right Online Operation, Ex-Cop Reveals How NYPD Forced Officers to Arrest Black & Latino Men, 700,000 Americans to Lose Access to Food Stamps, UNC Students Protest After School Secretly Gave $2.5M to Neo-Confederate Group, Nigerian Police Rearrest Journalist & Activist Omoyele Sowore
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Dec 05, 2019
Medicare for All and tuition-free universities have been at the core of the 2020 Democratic presidential campaigns, creating a stark division between progressive candidates and their centrist counterparts. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have proposed to make Medicare for All and public universities cost-free by taxing massive corporations and the super wealthy, and earlier this year, Sanders introduced legislation that would cancel student loan debt. His plan would be paid for with a new tax on Wall Street, he says. It would also make public universities and community colleges free — a key pillar of Sanders's 2020 education platform. These proposals are not radical ideas in Sweden, a country that has built one of the world's most extensive social welfare systems. In Sweden, healthcare costs are largely subsided by the state. Daycare and preschool programs are mostly free. College and university are free. Public transportation is subsidized for many users. To explain how Sweden does it, we speak with Mikael Törnwall, Swedish author and journalist focusing on economic issues at Svenska Dagbladet, a Stockholm daily newspaper. His most recent book is titled "Who Should Pay for Welfare?"
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Dec 05, 2019
In Stockholm, Democracy Now! sat down with one of the winners of this year's Right Livelihood Award: Sahrawi human rights leader Aminatou Haidar. For over three decades, Haidar has led a peaceful campaign to resist the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, which is often called Africa's last colony. Morocco has occupied Western Sahara — a small region just south of Morocco in northwest Africa — since 1975. Thousands have been tortured, imprisoned, killed and disappeared while resisting the occupation. Peaceful protesters, led by women, are routinely beaten in the streets. Despite this violent repression, Haidar has led countless hunger strikes and demonstrations, and unflinchingly documented the abuses against the Saharawi people for more than 30 years. She is a former political prisoner who was jailed for four years in a secret prison. In granting her the award, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation cited her "steadfast nonviolent action, despite imprisonment and torture, in pursuit of justice and self-determination for the people of Western Sahara." Haidar says it's time for the international community to push for an end to the Morrocan occupation of Western Sahara. "My message is: Let's put an end to our suffering. Let's put an end to this injustice. Let's give a voice to Sahrawi people, let them choose their future."
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Dec 05, 2019
The Right Livelihood Awards celebrated their 40th anniversary Wednesday at the historic Cirkus Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, where more than a thousand people gathered to celebrate this year's four laureates: Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg; Chinese women's rights lawyer Guo Jianmei, Brazilian indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa and the organization he co-founded, the Yanomami Hutukara Association; and Sahrawi human rights leader Aminatou Haidar, who has challenged the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara for decades. The Right Livelihood Award is known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." Over the past four decades, it's been given to grassroots leaders and activists around the globe — among them the world-famous NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. At Wednesday's gala, Amy Goodman interviewed Snowden in front of the award ceremony's live audience via video link from Moscow, where he has lived in exile since leaking a trove of secret documents revealing the U.S. government's had built an unprecedented mass surveillance system to spy on Americans and people around the world. After sharing the documents with reporters in 2013, Snowden was charged in the U.S. for violating the Espionage Act and other laws. As he attempted to flee from Hong Kong to Latin America, Snowden was stranded in Russia after the U.S. revoked his passport, and he has lived there ever since. Edward Snowden won the Right Livelihood Award in 2014, and accepted the award from Moscow.
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Dec 05, 2019
Constitutional Experts Debate Impeachment at House Judiciary Committee Hearing, GOP Rep. Devin Nunes Sues CNN over Story about Nunes' Ukraine Meeting, Trump Departs NATO Early after Video of Other World Leaders Mocking Him, Report: Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Hit Record High in 2019, Colombia Holds Third National Strike in Two Weeks, Workers Strike Across France Today over Macron's Pensions Plan, Hand Grenade Thrown over Wall of Migrant Shelter in Madrid, India: Rape Survivor Attacked on Her Way to Court in Latest Assault on Women, Head of Japanese Aid Agency Killed in Afghanistan, AG Barr Threatens Communities Critical of Police Brutality, George Zimmerman Sues Trayvon Martin's Family for $100 Million, Tucson Joins Pima County in Lawsuit over Trump's Border Wall, Harvard Students Protest University Decision to Deny Tenure to Popular Latina Professor
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Dec 04, 2019
A damning United Nations report says that 7 million children are deprived of their liberty worldwide, from children imprisoned on the U.S.-Mexico border to the missing children of ISIS fighters. The Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty says that at least 410,000 of those children are detained in jails and prisons, where violence is "endemic." The study also found that the number of children detained in the context of armed conflict has dramatically risen. The global study was published in November, on the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the landmark international treaty affirming the world's commitment to protecting children. It is the most ratified U.N. Treaty in history — the United States is one of the only countries that hasn't ratified the convention. We're joined by Manfred Nowak, lead author of the U.N. Global Study on Children Deprived of liberty. Nowak is also a human rights lawyer and U.N. independent expert. He served as the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture from 2004 to 2010.
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Dec 04, 2019
Democracy Now! sat down with Indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa, one of this year's Right Livelihood Award honorees, along with the organization he co-founded, Hutukara Yanomami Association. Kopenawa is a shaman of the Yanomami people, one of the largest Indigenous tribes in Brazil, who has dedicated his life to protecting his culture and protecting the Amazon rainforest. He says indigenous people in the Amazon are under threat from business interests as well as politicians, including far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has a long history of anti-indigenous statements and policies. "He doesn't like Indigenous peoples. He does not want to let the Yanomami people to live at peace, protected. … What he wants is to extract our wealth to send to other countries."
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Dec 04, 2019
The Right Livelihood Award is marking its 40th anniversary. The award was established in 1980 to honor and support those "offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us." It has since become known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." Over the past four decades, the award has been given to activists and grassroots leaders around the globe. A number of them have gone on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. This year's winners are: Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg; Sahrawi human rights leader Aminatou Haidar, who has challenged the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara for decades; Chinese women's rights lawyer Guo Jianmei; and Indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa and the Yanomami Hutukara Association, who fight for the Amazon's biodiversity and the rights of Indigenous people in Brazil. In Stockholm, Sweden, we speak with Ole von Uexkuell, executive director of the Right Livelihood Foundation. He says the name of the award refers to "the idea of living lightly on the Earth, of not taking more than a fair share of the resources, and it means to bring change into the world through your practical actions."
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Dec 04, 2019
House Impeachment Report Accuses Trump of Soliciting Foreign Interference in 2020 Election, Report: Europe Could Face Annual Extreme Heat Waves Due to Climate Change, Kamala Harris Ends Her 2020 Presidential Campaign, ProPublica: McKinsey Helped Trump Speed Up Mass Deportation Program, Detained Asylum Seekers Protest in Winnfield, Louisiana, House Votes for Bill to Punish China over Mass Imprisonment of Muslims, ICC Begins Hearing over Alleged U.S. Military Torture in Afghanistan, Rikers Island Officers Stood By as Teenager Attempted to Hang Himself, Today Marks 50th Anniversary of Assassination of Fred Hampton
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Dec 03, 2019
This week we're on the road in Stockholm, Sweden, where we're covering the 40th Anniversary of the Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." One of this year's recipients of the award is Yanomami indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa and the organization he co-founded, Hutukara Yanomami Association. The Right Livelihood Foundation has praised them for "their courageous determination to protect the forests and biodiversity of the Amazon, and the lands and culture of its indigenous peoples." The award comes as indigenous forest protectors and uncontacted tribes in Brazil are increasingly under attack. Last month an indigenous forest protector named Paulo Paulino Guajajara was shot dead in the Amazon by illegal loggers. It was the latest incident in a wave of violence targeting indigenous land protectors since the election of Brazil's far-right president Jair Bolsonaro last year. One month ago, human rights groups warned in an open letter that the Amazon's last uncontacted indigenous people face "genocide," amid raging fires and mounting incursions into their territories. Brazil's Indigenous Missionary Council says the number of invasions of indigenous territories has doubled under Bolsonaro — with more than 150 such incidents since January. We speak with Fiona Watson, advocacy and research director for Survival International. The organization is a 1989 winner of the Right Livelihood Award for its work protecting the Amazon.
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Dec 03, 2019
December 3 is International Day of Persons With Disabilities. "Unfortunately, disability-based discrimination is still a global phenomenon," says Yetnebersh Nigussie, a lawyer and disability rights activist from Ethiopia who in 2017 received the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." Nigussie is the director for advocacy and rights at Light for the World and the former chair of the Ethiopian National Association of the Blind women's wing. She has been blind since the age of five. Yetnebersh Nigussie speaks with us in Stockholm. She is one of many former Right Livelihood Award recipients from across the globe who have gathered to celebrate this year's recipients: Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Sahrawi human rights activist Aminatou Haidar, Chinese women's rights lawyer Guo Jianmei and indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa and the Yanomami Hutukara Association, who protect the Amazon's biodiversity and indigenous people.
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Dec 03, 2019
From Stockholm, Sweden, we're covering the 40th Anniversary of the Right Livelihood Awards, widely known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." This year's recipients include 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who arrived Tuesday in Lisbon, Portugal, after traveling for three weeks across the Atlantic in the 48-foot catamaran La Vagabonde, refusing to fly because of the high carbon footprint of air travel. Thunberg was on her way to attend COP25 in Santiago, Chile, when the conference was abruptly relocated due to mass demonstrations against a proposed subway fare hike. She sounded a rallying cry to fellow youth climate activists as she made landfall in Lisbon, promising to ensure that young people have a seat at the table at the upcoming climate summit in Madrid. "We will continue to make sure within those walls, the voices of the people … especially from the global South — are being heard," she says.
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Dec 03, 2019
From Stockholm, Sweden, we're covering the 40th Anniversary of the Right Livelihood Awards, widely known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." This year's recipients include 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, whose school strike for climate started in Stockholm when she began standing outside the Parliament building every school day to demand bold climate action more than a year ago. Her act of resistance soon became a global movement, with millions of youth around the world leaving school and taking to the streets to demand swift action to halt the climate crisis. Greta has just arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, after a nearly three week-long boat journey across the Atlantic Ocean to participate in the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP25, in Madrid, Spain. We speak with Ell Jarl, an 18-year-old climate activist with Fridays For Future Sweden and high school student who marched with Greta Thunberg in Stockholm. Along with other youth climate advocates, Ell will accept the Right Livelihood Award Wednesday on Greta's behalf.
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Dec 03, 2019
House Democrats May Widen Impeachment Inquiry, Trump Lashes Out at Macron Amid NATO Summit, Rep. Duncan Hunter Pleads Guilty to Campaign Finance Violations, Supreme Court Hears Arguments over Arsenic Pollution in Montana, Half a Million Forced to Evacuate as Typhoon Kammuri Slams Philippines, Amnesty Says Over 200 Killed in Iran's Crackdown Against Nov. Protests, 7 Men Sentenced for Murder of Honduran Environmental Activist Berta Cáceres, Honduran TV Host José Aritas Murdered in Puerto Cortés, Guatemala: Ex-Military Official to be Tried for Genocide Against Ixil Mayans, White House Quietly Releases $105 Million in Military Aid to Lebanon, Women Demand Prince Andrew Testify in U.S. Court About Epstein Sex Trafficking, WashPost: Lobbyists Help Lawmakers Write Anti-Medicare for All Op-Eds, ICE Arrests 90 More International Students Enrolled in DHS's Fake University
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Dec 02, 2019
The historian and activist Tariq Ali talks about the uprisings that are happening around the world, from Chile and Colombia to Iraq and Lebanon. "It's extremely significant because what it reveals is a new generation completely alienated from the political structures of their societies," Ali says.
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Dec 02, 2019
The British general election is just 10 days away and will have huge implications for the future of the country as well as Brexit. When voters cast their ballots later this month, they will choose between two dramatically different candidates: right-wing Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson and left-wing Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn recently unveiled an ambitious election manifesto promising to transform the country and resuscitate its public sector. The plan proposed a $100-billion tax increase on the wealthy to fund investment in infrastructure as well as increased spending on education and healthcare. We recently spoke with Tariq Ali, the acclaimed activist, filmmaker, author and an editor of the New Left Review. He says the Conservative Party has been "taken over by the extreme right wing" while Corbyn's Labour is pushing a "radical social-democratic program."
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Dec 02, 2019
Anti-government protests are continuing in Iraq one day after the Iraqi parliament voted to accept the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi. On Saturday, protesters set off fireworks in Baghdad's Tahrir Square when Abdul Mahdi announced he would submit his resignation, though he will remain in a caretaker capacity until a new government is formed. The resignation came two days after Iraqi security forces killed at least 44 people in the southern cities of Nasiriya and Najaf after the Iranian consulate was burned down on Wednesday night. Following the bloody crackdown, Iraq's Shi'ite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged the Iraqi Parliament to withdraw its support of the prime minister and warned that the escalating violence could lead to a civil war in Iraq. More than 400 Iraqi protesters have been killed and 15,000 injured since the widespread anti-government demonstrations began in October. We speak with Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, correspondent for the Guardian newspaper, and Sinan Antoon, poet, novelist, translator and scholar born and raised in Baghdad.
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Dec 02, 2019
COP25 Opens in Madrid Amid Dire Warnings About Climate Change, House Judiciary Committee to Hold Hearing in Impeachment Inquiry, 3 Women Accuse Ambassador Sondland of Sexual Misconduct, Iraqi Prime Minister Resigns Amid Anti-Government Protests, Malta Prime Minister Resigns amid Probe of Journalist's Murder, Three More Egyptian Journalists Arrested, Attack on London Bridge Kills 2 Cambridge Graduates, Trump Visits Afghanistan in Surprise Thanksgiving Trip, Supreme Court to Hear First Major Gun Case in Nearly a Decade, Twitter Suspends Account of Ilhan Omar's Challenger, Sestak and Bullock Drop Out of 2020 Presidential Race, Pope Condemns Virus of Consumerism amid Black Friday Protests, Rosa Parks Honored with New Statue in Montgomery, Alabama
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Nov 29, 2019
An hour with David Byrne, the celebrated musician, artist, writer, cycling enthusiast, filmmaker and now Broadway star. He has a new hit Broadway show called "American Utopia." The show grew out of Byrne's recent world tour, which the British music publication NME said "may just be the best live show of all time." Byrne talks about the production, his time in the groundbreaking band Talking Heads, his website Reasons to Be Cheerful, Greta Thunberg and more.
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Nov 28, 2019
Human rights groups are condemning the Indian government for carrying out widespread torture, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and other crimes in Kashmir after the region's special status was revoked in August. We speak to the acclaimed Indian author Arundhati Roy about the crackdown in Kashmir, rising authoritarianism in India and other issues.
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Nov 28, 2019
Lakota historian Nick Estes talks about Thanksgiving and his book "Our History Is the Future." He is a co-founder of the indigenous resistance group The Red Nation and a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.
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Nov 27, 2019
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the historic protests in Seattle that shut down a meeting of the World Trade Organization, but it also marks the time when the first Independent Media Center came to life. Amid the clouds of tear gas, hundreds of volunteer reporters documented what unfolded. That week indymedia.org received 1.5 million visitors — more than CNN — and produced a daily video report and newspaper. It was the first node in a global citizen journalist movement.
We speak with those who know the story best. Jill Friedberg is co-founder of the Seattle Independent Media Center and co-produced the Seattle WTO documentary "This is What Democracy Looks Like." Rick Rowley is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker and independent journalist with Midnight Films, as well as co-producer of "This is What Democracy Looks Like." Tish Stringer and Renée Feltz are co-organizers of the 20th Anniversary Indymedia Encuentro taking place this weekend at the Rice Media Center. Stringer is Film Program Manager at Rice University and author of a book on Indymedia: "Move! Guerilla Films, Collaborative Modes and the Tactics of Radical Media Making." Feltz was at the Seattle WTO protests and helped found the Houston Independent Media Center. She's a longtime Democracy Now! producer and reporter, including for The Indypendent, a newspaper that grew out of New York City Indymedia.
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Nov 27, 2019
Twenty years ago this week, tens of thousands of activists gathered in Seattle to shut down a ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization. Grassroots organizers successfully blocked world leaders, government trade ministers and corporate executives from meeting to sign a global trade deal that many called deeply undemocratic, harmful to workers' rights, the environment and Indigenous people globally. On November 30, 1999, activists formed a human chain around the Seattle convention center and shut down the city's downtown. Police responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the mostly peaceful crowd. The protests went on for five days and resulted in 600 arrests and in the eventual collapse of the talks, as well as the resignation of Seattle's police chief. The protests were documented in the film "This is What Democracy Looks Like." Democracy Now! was in the streets of Seattle 20 years ago. During one live broadcast we spoke to two leading critics of the WTO: Indian physicist and activist Vandana Shiva and Lori Wallach of Public Citizen, who join us on the show today.
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Nov 27, 2019
Trump Knew of Whistleblower Complaint When He Released Ukraine Aid, Colombian Protesters Call for Second General Strike, Chilean President Seeks to Deploy Military to Streets Amid Protests, IACHR Says Commission Should Investigate Human Rights Abuse in Bolivia, Pompeo Calls on Egypt to Respect Press Freedom, After Raid of Mada Masr, Videos Emerge of Iran's Bloody Crackdown Against Protesters, Jeremy Corbyn Condemns Anti-Semitism, After Criticism from Top Rabbi, Chemical Plant Explodes in Texas; Wildfires Rage near Santa Barbara, CA, New York City Council Votes to Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes
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Nov 26, 2019
Last Thursday, literary luminaries and social leaders from around the country gathered at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan to honor Toni Morrison, one of the nation's most influential writers. She died in August at the age of 88 from complications of pneumonia. In 1993, Morrison became the first African-American woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. She also won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for her classic work "Beloved." Much of Morrison's writing focused on the black female experience in America, and her writing style honored the rhythms of black oral tradition. In 2012, President Obama awarded Morrison the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Ta-Nehisi Coates, Edwidge Danticat and Oprah Winfrey were among those who spoke about Toni Morrison's life and legacy. We air Oprah's eulogy.
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Nov 26, 2019
Last Thursday, literary luminaries and social leaders from around the country gathered at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan to honor Toni Morrison, one of the nation's most influential writers. She died in August at the age of 88 from complications of pneumonia. In 1993, Morrison became the first African-American woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. She also won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for her classic work "Beloved." Much of Morrison's writing focused on the black female experience in America, and her writing style honored the rhythms of black oral tradition. In 2012, President Obama awarded Morrison the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Ta-Nehisi Coates, Edwidge Danticat and Oprah Winfrey were among those who spoke about Toni Morrison's life and legacy. We air remarks by Winfrey, who was the last speaker to honor Morrison.
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Nov 26, 2019
In Iraq, more than 340 people have died since anti-government protests began in early October. More than 15,000 Iraqis have been injured. Tires were set on fire Monday and main roads and bridges were blocked in the cities of Basra and Nassiriya. Over the weekend, security forces opened fire on civilians in Baghdad and other cities. Demonstrators are protesting corruption and lack of jobs and basic services, including clean water and electricity. In Baghdad, many university students are taking part in the demonstrations. To talk more about the protests in Iraq we are joined by the Iraqi poet, novelist, translator, and scholar Sinan Antoon. He was born and raised in Baghdad and his most recent novel is titled, "The Book of Collateral Damage." "What's really important is the reclaiming of Iraqi identity and a new sense of Iraqi nationalism that transcends the sectarian discourse that was institutionalized by the United States in 2003," Antoon says.
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Nov 26, 2019
In Iraq, more than 340 people have died since anti-government protests began in early October. More than 15,000 Iraqis have been injured. Tires were set on fire Monday and main roads and bridges were blocked in the cities of Basra and Nassiriya. Over the weekend, security forces opened fire on civilians in Baghdad and other cities. Demonstrators are protesting corruption and lack of jobs and basic services, including clean water and electricity. In Baghdad, many university students are taking part in the demonstrations. To talk more about the protests in Iraq we are joined by the Iraqi poet, novelist, translator, and scholar Sinan Antoon. He was born and raised in Baghdad and his most recent novel is titled, "The Book of Collateral Damage." "What's really important is the reclaiming of Iraqi identity and a new sense of Iraqi nationalism that transcends the sectarian discourse that was institutionalized by the United States in 2003," Antoon says.
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Nov 26, 2019
The Israeli government deported the director of Human Rights Watch's Israel and Palestine office, Omar Shakir, on Monday. The organization said the move places Israel in an "ugly club" of authoritarian regimes. Israel has accused Shakir of supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a nonviolent global campaign aiming to pressure Israel over its treatment of Palestinians. A 2017 Israeli law bans foreigners from Israel if they publicly support the BDS movement. Omar Shakir joins us from Stockholm to discuss his recent deportation and his plans to address the European Parliament regarding Israel's systematic repression of Palestinians. "The Israeli government, for two and a half years now, has been trying to bar Human Rights Watch's access to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory," he says.
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Nov 26, 2019
Judge Rules Trump Can't Stop Officials from Testifying in Impeachment Inquiry, Supreme Court Temporarily Halts Disclosure of Trump's Financial Records, U.S. Troops Resume Combat Mission Against ISIS, U.N.: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Surged to Record-High Levels in 2018, 56 Killed in Landslides in Kenya, Leaked Documents Reveal China's "Brainwashing" of Uyghur Muslims, Duque Calls for "National Dialogue" as Protests Continue to Rock Colombia, Global Protests Mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Argentine Catholic Priests Sentenced to Prison for Raping Students, Water Protectors Blockade Enbridge Line 3 Tar Sands Pipeline, 3 Men Wrongfully Jailed for 36 Years Walk Free from Prison in Baltimore, Google Fires Four Employees Active in Labor Organizing, Barr Announces Plan to Address Crisis of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women
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Nov 25, 2019
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper demanded the resignation of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, one week after President Trump overruled military leaders and cleared three U.S. servicemembers accused or convicted of war crimes. The men included Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher, who has been accused of multiple war crimes, including shooting two Iraqi civilians and fatally stabbing a captive teenager in the neck. Gallagher was convicted of posing with the teenage corpse but was acquitted on premeditated murder. Trump criticized the Navy on Thursday for moving toward holding a review hearing to decide if Gallagher should be ousted. The New York Times reported Navy Secretary Spencer then threatened to resign after Trump's backlash but there are also reports that Spencer attempted to reach a backroom deal with Trump that would have allowed Gallagher to keep his Trident Pin. In a statement on Sunday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he was "deeply troubled by this conduct." We speak with Daniel Ellsberg, one of the world's most famous whistleblowers. In 1971, he was a high-level Defense analyst when he leaked a top secret report on U.S. involvement in Vietnam to The New York Times and other publications that came to be known as the Pentagon Papers and played a key role in ending the Vietnam War.
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Nov 25, 2019
Over the weekend, Pope Francis visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the United States dropped the first atomic bombs in 1945, killing more than 200,000 people. Pope Francis said, "A world without nuclear weapons is possible and necessary." The leader of the Cathoilc Church met with survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and declared the possession of nuclear weapons to be immoral. The Pope's visit comes as a group of seven Catholic peace activists are awaiting sentencing for breaking into the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia on April 4, 2018. The activists, known as the Kings Bay Plowshares 7, were recently convicted of three felony counts and a misdemeanor charge for entering the base armed with hammers, crime scene tape and baby bottles containing their own blood. We speak with Martha Hennessy, one of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7. She is the granddaughter of Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker movement. We are also joined by Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. His most recent book is titled, "The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner." Daniel Ellsberg was blocked from testifying in the recent trial of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7.
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Nov 25, 2019
Egyptian security forces raided the office of Mada Masr, the country's last independent media outlet, and arrested three of its journalists this weekend. The raid began Sunday afternoon, when nine plainclothes security officers entered the Mada Masr office in Cairo, seizing phones and laptops and holding the staff in the building for more than three hours. They then arrested editor-in-chief Lina Attalah, managing editor Mohamed Hamama and reporter Rana Mamdouh. It came just a day after security forces arrested senior editor Shady Zalat at his home. All four journalists were released from detention Sunday night. The raid and arrests mark a sharp escalation in Egypt's attack on press freedom under Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who came to power after the 2013 overthrow of former President Mohamed Morsi. We go to Cairo where we're joined by Mada Masr reporter Sharif Abdel Kouddous. He's also a Democracy Now! correspondent and was detained with his colleagues on Sunday.
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Nov 25, 2019
Navy Secretary Ousted amid Dispute over Accused War Criminal Eddie Gallagher, Released State Dept. Emails Implicate Pompeo in Giuliani Ukraine Plot, Bloomberg Jumps into 2020 Race by Buying Millions in Campaign Ads, Sen. Graham Blocked Armenian Genocide Resolution at White House Request, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Released from Hospital in Good Health, Hong Kong: Pro-Democracy Candidates Win Nearly 90% Seats in Local Elections, Security Forces Raid Offices of Egypt's Last Independent Media Outlet, Iraqi Security Forces Kill 13 Protesters amid Anti-Government Demonstrations, Israel Deporting Head of Human Rights Watch's Israel & Palestine Office, Bolivia Moves Toward New Elections that Would Bar Evo Morales from Running, Chilean Photojournalist Albertina Martínez Burgos Killed in Santiago, Coal Industry Knew Burning Fossil Fuels Causes Climate Change as Early as 1966, Students Demand Fossil Fuel Divestment at Annual Yale & Harvard Game, London Refuses to Renew Uber's License, More than 60 Doctors Warn Assange Could Die Inside London Prison, 58 Arrested in NYC Protesting Militarization of Subway System
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Nov 22, 2019
This week Swedish prosecutors dropped an investigation into sexual assault allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, stemming from 2010. Assange, who has always denied the allegations, took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for over seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden on the charges. British authorities dragged him out of the Ecuadorean embassy in April and he has since been jailed in London's Belmarsh prison on charges related to skipping of bail in 2012, when he first entered the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over the now-dropped sexual assault charges. The United States is still seeking Assange's extradition to the U.S., where he faces up to 175 years in prison on hacking charges and 17 counts of violating the World War I-era Espionage Act for his role in publishing U.S. classified military and diplomatic documents exposing U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. A full extradition hearing will take place in February. We speak with the co-editors of the new book "In Defense of Julian Assange": Tariq Ali, historian, activist, filmmaker, author and an editor of the New Left Review, and Margaret Ratner Kunstler, civil rights attorney in private practice.
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Nov 22, 2019
This week Swedish prosecutors dropped an investigation into sexual assault allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, stemming from 2010. Assange, who has always denied the allegations, took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for over seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden on the charges. British authorities dragged him out of the Ecuadorean embassy in April and he has since been jailed in London's Belmarsh prison on charges related to skipping of bail in 2012, when he first entered the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over the now-dropped sexual assault charges. The United States is still seeking Assange's extradition to the U.S., where he faces up to 175 years in prison on hacking charges and 17 counts of violating the World War I-era Espionage Act for his role in publishing U.S. classified military and diplomatic documents exposing U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. A full extradition hearing will take place in February. We air remarks by U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer, who says his initial position of skepticism toward Assange's case changed as he began to look more deeply at the evidence and charges against him. "As I scratched the surface a little bit, immediately, things did not add up with the images I had in my mind of this man," Melzer said in a recent talk at Columbia University. "The deeper I got into this, the more fabrication I saw."
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Nov 22, 2019
In Colombia, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets Thursday in the largest national strike the country has seen in years. Labor unions, students, teachers, Indigenous and Afro-Colombian activists joined in peaceful marches across urban and rural Colombia as anger mounts against right-wing President Iván Duque and his cabinet. The protests were triggered by Duque's proposed labor reforms and cuts to the pension system, as well as a recent military airstrike against a camp of alleged dissident rebel drug traffickers, which killed eight children. Police responded to the movements with repressive tactics and tear gas in the cities of Bogotá, Cali and Medellín. Colombia's borders with Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil and Perú were shut down in response to the national strike. Indignation against Duque's government has brewed since the U.S.-backed president took office in August 2018 and social activists have continuously denounced Duque's sabotage of Colombia's historic peace accords, which were signed in 2016 after half a century of war. We speak with long-time activist Manuel Rozental, who joins us from Cali, Colombia. He has been involved with grassroots political organizing with youth, Indigenous communities, and urban and rural social movements for four decades.
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Nov 22, 2019
Ex-White House Adviser Warns Impeachment Probe of GOP's "Fictional Narrative" on Ukraine, Senate Republicans May Limit Trump's Impeachment Trial to Two Weeks, Mass Protests in Colombia Oppose Right-Wing Government, Bolivian Soldiers Tear Gas Funeral Procession for Slain Protesters, Iran Continues Internet Blackout After Violently Repressing Protests, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Indicted on Corruption Charges, Protesters Confront Joe Biden Over Obama-Era Deportations, Over 100 Lawmakers Call on President Trump to Fire Stephen Miller, Seven Arrested at UC-Berkeley Protest of Ann Coulter Speech, Syracuse University Suspends Four Students Amid Rash of Racist Incidents, Indiana Police Officer Fired Over Viral Video Showing Racist Harassment, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel Had Secret White House Dinner with Trump, Wisconsin Governor Signs Bill Criminalizing Pipeline Protesters, More Women Accuse Jeffrey Epstein of Rape, Sex Trafficking
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Nov 21, 2019
Ten Democratic candidates took the stage in Atlanta, Georgia, Wednesday for the party's fifth presidential debate, co-hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post. Toward the end of the evening, Senator Bernie Sanders criticized former Vice President Joe Biden's support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and laid out his foreign policy vision, including strong criticism of traditional U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and Israel. "It is no longer good enough for us to be pro-Israel — I am pro-Israel — but we must treat the Palestinians with the dignity they deserve," he said. We speak with Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. She says the Democratic Party is undergoing a major shift on foreign policy. "There's a growing recognition among the candidates that … the discourse has changed dramatically across the board on the Middle East," she says.
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Nov 21, 2019
Ten Democratic candidates took the stage Wednesday for the party's fifth presidential debate, held in Atlanta, Georgia, and co-hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post. One of the most memorable moments of the night was a disagreement between Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker over Elizabeth Warren's proposed tax on the wealthiest Americans. Her proposed wealth tax would kick in on assets of $50 million and higher. Both candidates agreed that inequality is a major issue in the U.S., but Booker said wealth taxes in other countries have not been effective and that there are better ways to raise revenue. The issue of economic inequality was a major theme throughout the debate. We speak with Gabriel Zucman, professor of economics at UC Berkeley. He is co-author of the new book, "The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay."
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Nov 21, 2019
Presidential candidate Joe Biden claimed on the Democratic debate stage Wednesday that he has broad support from black voters and the only black woman elected to the Senate, seemingly forgetting that 2020 candidate Kamala Harris is a California senator. Biden's comment came amid multiple blunders during the debate, hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post in Atlanta. For more on the 2020 candidates' discussion of race in their campaigns, we speak with Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Change, and Ryan Grim, D.C. bureau chief for The Intercept.
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Nov 21, 2019
During Wednesday's impeachment hearing, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told lawmakers that he was ordered by Trump to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Sondland also acknowledged there was a quid pro quo tying U.S. military aid to investigations, and said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence were aware of the Ukraine pressure campaign. Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro joins us to discuss these latest developments in the impeachment inquiry, which he describes as "blockbuster testimony" that could serve as "a nail in the coffin" of Trump's defense. Castro was excluded from the Democratic presidential debate Wednesday because his campaign did not meet polling thresholds recently established by the Democratic National Committee.
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Nov 21, 2019
Gordon Sondland Says Trump Directed Ukraine Quid Pro Quo, Top 10 Democratic Candidates Hold Presidential Debate in Atlanta, Dozens of Guatemalan Migrants Freed from Locked Truck in Mexico, Humanitarian Volunteer Scott Warren Not Guilty of Felonies for Aiding Migrants, Ex-Border Patrol Agent Sentenced to Probation for Running Over Migrant, Syria: 22 Civilians Killed in Idlib; Israel Bombs Iranian Forces Near Damascus, Israel Headed for Another Election After Benny Gantz Fails to Form Government, U.S. Isolated at U.N. Security Council After Declaring Israeli Settlements Legal, U.N. Warns Planned Fossil Fuel Production Would Spark Climate Catastrophe, Sydney, Australia, Shrouded in Smoke as Unprecedented Wildfires Rage, North Dakota Says Keystone Oil Spill Was 10 Times Bigger Than First Reported, Haitian Protesters Demand Ouster of President Jovenel Moïse, Prince Andrew to Cancel Royal Duties over Ties to Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein, Somali Peace Activist Almaas Elman Shot Dead in Mogadishu, Prominent Maltese Businessman Arrested in Criminal Probe of Journalist's Murder
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Nov 20, 2019
November 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day that honors the thousands of transgender and gender nonconforming people who have been killed around the world. The Day of Remembrance is also a celebration of the community's resistance and a call to action to fight for policies and a shift in culture that protects trans lives. At least 22 transgender and gender nonconforming people have been killed in the United States this year, and over 3,000 transgender and gender nonconforming lives have been taken since 2008 around the world. We speak with LaLa B Zannell, longtime transgender rights advocate and the co-producer of the Womanity Project feature film "LaLa's World," an upcoming documentary series on the experiences of black trans women living in America.
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Nov 20, 2019
In Iran, Amnesty International reports over 100 protesters have been killed in 21 cities by security forces during ongoing nationwide demonstrations sparked by a sudden hike in fuel prices last week. The death count may be much higher, the report warns, with some suggesting as many as 200 have been killed. According to Iranian state media, over 1,000 people have been arrested. On Thursday, Iran announced a rise in the cost of gas ranging from 50% to 300%. Soon after protests broke out on Sunday, Iran imposed an almost complete internet blackout, making it nearly impossible for protesters use social media to share images or information. From Washington, D.C., we speak with Negar Mortazavi, an Iranian-American journalist and the diplomatic correspondent for The Independent (U.K.).
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Nov 20, 2019
"I couldn't believe what I was hearing." Those were the words of Army Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman during Tuesday's House impeachment inquiry hearings, describing his reaction to a July phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the call, Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate his political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company, Burisma. Vindman, who is the director for European affairs at the National Security Council, testified along with Jennifer Williams, a Russia adviser for Vice President Pence, in the first of two hearings on Tuesday. Former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and Tim Morrison, former senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council, also testified. Republican lawmakers repeatedly criticized the impeachment process, while Democrats defended it. From Washington, D.C., we speak to Andy Kroll, D.C. bureau chief for Rolling Stone.
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Nov 20, 2019
4 Key Witnesses Testify in Impeachment Hearings, Amnesty Says Iranian Security Forces Killed Over 100 Protesters, Bolivian Military Carries Out Second Massacre Against Morales Supporters, Senate Approves Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, U.N. Affirms It Still Considers Israeli Settlements Violation of International Law, Pentagon Says ISIS Is Rebuilding in Northern Syria, NYT: Navy SEALs Expected to Oust Gallagher, Despite Trump Restoring His Rank, Report: Mike Pompeo Planning to Resign as Secretary of State, Trump Administration Can Now Send Asylum Seekers to Guatemala, Sweden Drops Sexual Assault Investigation into Julian Assange, 29 Arrested Protesting Fracked Gas Power Plant in Dover, New York, 2 Prison Guards Face Criminal Charges over Epstein Death, New York Sues E-Cigarette Giant Juul, Transgender Day of Rememberance Honors Trans People Killed Around World
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Nov 19, 2019
As the United States becomes increasingly diverse, the presidential nomination process remains heavily weighted by two states that are among the whitest in the nation: Iowa and New Hampshire. Candidates, in some cases, spend more than a year making frequent, extended campaign swings through both Iowa and New Hampshire, which, critics say, gives the concerns of the first states a disproportionate impact on the agenda for the entire race. During the first-ever Presidential Forum on Environmental Justice earlier this month in South Carolina, Senator Elizabeth Warren refused to criticize the primary schedule, saying, "I'm just a player in the game on this one." Fellow 2020 presidential contender Julián Castro, however, has been a vocal critic of the existing system, noting that the demographics of the country have shifted significantly in the last several decades. "I don't believe that forever we should be married to Iowa and New Hampshire going first," he told MSNBC last week. We speak with Gilberto Hinojosa, chair of the Texas Democratic Party, and Ian Millhiser, senior correspondent at Vox.
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Nov 19, 2019
The Trump administration has announced it no longer views Israel settlements in the occupied West Bank to be a violation of international law, in another blow to possible Israel-Palestine peace negotiations. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a reversal to the U.S. position, putting the U.S. at odds with the international community. A U.N. resolution in 2016 declared the settlements a "flagrant violation" of international law. Israel's embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Pompeo's announcement as a historic day for Israel, but Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the U.S. decision. Soon after Mike Pompeo announced the new U.S. policy, the U.S. Embassy in Israel issued a travel warning to Americans in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. From Washington, D.C., we speak with Noura Erakat, a Palestinian human rights attorney and legal scholar. She is an assistant professor at Rutgers University and the author of "Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine."
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Nov 19, 2019
Thousands marched across Bolivia Monday to demand the resignation of Jeanine Áñez, the right-wing senator who declared herself president of Bolivia last week after longtime socialist President Evo Morales resigned under pressure from the military. The coup d'état has thrown Bolivia into crisis, with violence across the country leaving at least 23 dead. On Friday, the military gunned down nine pro-Morales protesters outside Cochabamba, where indigenous people took to the streets again on Monday. Thousands more marched to the presidential palace in La Paz. The wave of protests are condemning the spike in anti-indigenous violence under interim President Áñez and demanding the return of Evo Morales. Áñez has a history of using racist, anti-indigenous language, and last week she issued a decree protecting the military from prosecution for violent acts and said that Morales would face prosecution if he returned to Bolivia. Morales is Bolivia's first indigenous president, and Bolivia has a majority indigenous population. We speak with Sacha Llorenti, Bolivian ambassador to the United Nations since 2012. "We are going through not just a coup d'état, but a violent one," Llorenti says.
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Nov 19, 2019
U.S. Claims Israeli Settlements Are Not Illegal Under International Law, Four Witnesses Slated to Testify in Public Impeachment Hearings, U.N. Condemns U.S. for World's Highest Rate of Children in Detention, Political Crisis in Bolivia Continues After Military Pressure Ousts Evo Morales, American Professor Freed in Prisoner Swap in Afghanistan, 1,000 Students Arrested in Police Siege of Hong Kong University, Coal Mine Blast in China Kills 15; Pipeline Explosion in Bangladesh Kills 7, Deforestation of Brazilian Amazon Skyrocketed Since Bolsanaro's Election, Syracuse Suspends All Fraternity Activities After String of Racist Incidents, Columbia Students Launch 5-Day Hunger Strike to Demand Fossil Fuel Divestment, Colin Kaepernick Workout "Impressive" After Showdown with NFL, Hundreds of Farmworkers Demand Wendy's Sign onto Fair Food Program
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Nov 18, 2019
In a stunning decision handed down Friday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution of Rodney Reed, an African-American death row prisoner who was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday for a murder he says he did not commit. The appeals court ordered a review of the case to examine claims of prosecutorial misconduct. Millions of people around the country had joined Reed's cause in recent weeks amid mounting evidence that another man may be responsible for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old white woman. In 1998, an all-white jury sentenced Reed to die for Stites's murder after his DNA was found inside her body. The two were having an affair at the time of her death. But new and previously ignored details in the case indicate that Stites's then-fiancé, a white police officer named Jimmy Fennell, may in fact be responsible for the killing. Fennell was later jailed on kidnapping and rape charges in another case. Last month, a man who spent time in jail with Fennell signed an affidavit saying Fennell had admitted in prison to killing his fiancée because she was having an affair with a black man. We speak with Rodrick Reed, brother of Rodney Reed; Uwana Akpan, sister-in-law of Rodney Reed; and Bryce Benjet, senior staff attorney at the Innocence Project, who has represented Reed for many years. "As we've investigated this case, evidence continues to mount that shows that Rodney didn't commit the crime, and implicates Fennell," Benjet says.
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Nov 18, 2019
In Bolivia, at least 23 people have died amid escalating violence since President Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous president, resigned at the demand of the military last week. Growing unrest quickly turned to violent chaos on Friday outside Cochabamba when military forces opened fire on indigenous pro-Morales demonstrators, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 100. The violence began soon after thousands of protesters — many indigenous coca leaf growers — gathered for a peaceful march in the town of Sacaba and then attempted to cross a military checkpoint into Cochabamba. Amid this escalating violence and reports of widespread anti-indigenous racism, protesters are demanding self-declared interim President Jeanine Áñez step down. Áñez is a right-wing Bolivian legislator who named herself president at a legislative session without quorum last week. She said that exiled socialist President Morales, who fled to Mexico after he was deposed by the military on November 10, would not be allowed to compete in a new round of elections and would face prosecution if he returned to Bolivia, which has a majority indigenous population. U.N. special envoy Jean Arnault on Sunday called for talks between Jeanine Áñez and leaders of Morales's political party Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, though a date has not been set. From Cochabamba, we speak with Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network and a researcher, activist and analyst with over two decades of experience in Bolivia.
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Nov 18, 2019
An unprecedented leak of secret intelligence reports from inside the Iranian government has shed new light on how Iran has taken control of much of the Iraqi government in the wake of the 2003 U.S. invasion. The documents from Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security were leaked to The Intercept, which then partnered with The New York Times on reporting the story. The leak includes 700 pages of intelligence documents from 2014 to 2015. The documents reveal that a number of Iraqis who once worked with the CIA went on to work with Iranian intelligence. We speak with Murtaza Hussain, a reporter at The Intercept who worked on the project. "The macro story here is that the United States shattered Iraqi society, and then Iran came in to pick up the pieces," he says.
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Nov 18, 2019
Bolivian Military Massacres 9 People at Indigenous Pro-Morales March, Leak of Secret Iranian Documents Reveals Iranian Influence in Iraq, Fmr Ambassador Yovanovitch Testified in Impeachment Hearings, Trump's Ally Roger Stone Found Guilty of 7 Charges, Trump Pardons 3 Soldiers Accused or Convicted of War Crimes, Trump's Unplanned Medical Visit Sparks Questions about his Health, Tens of Thousands Mark 1 Month Anniversary of Protests in Lebanon, Police Besiege Student Protesters at Hong Kong University, Fears Mount about Possible Disappearance of Nigerian Journalist Sowore Omoyele, Prince Andrew Grilled on Friendship with Epstein in BBC Interview, Trump Reversed Course and Refused to Sign Memo Banning Flavored E-Cigarettes, Louisiana Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards Wins Re-election, Arizona Sheriff Deputy Tackles, Pins Down Teenage Quadruple Amputee, Four Killed in Mass Shooting at Backyard Party in Fresno, California, Texas Appeals Court Halts Execution of Rodney Reed
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Nov 15, 2019
The Supreme Court considers Friday whether to take up the case of Rodney Reed, an African-American death row prisoner in Texas who is scheduled to be executed in less than a week for a murder he says he did not commit. On Thursday, Reed's family braved the cold to camp outside the Supreme Court for a vigil asking the justices to help halt the execution. Millions of people around the country have joined their cause in recent weeks amid mounting evidence that another man may be responsible for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old white woman. In 1998, an all-white jury sentenced Reed to die for Stites's murder after his DNA was found inside her body. The two were having an affair at the time of her death. But new and previously ignored details in the case indicate that Stites's then-fiancé, a white police officer named Jimmy Fennell, may in fact be responsible for the killing. Last month, a man who spent time in jail with Fennell signed an affidavit saying Fennell had admitted in prison to killing his fiancée because she was having an affair with a black man. Despite this, Reed's execution is scheduled for November 20. We speak with Maurice Chammah, a staff writer at The Marshall Project.
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Nov 15, 2019
The first-ever Presidential Forum on Environmental Justice, co-moderated by Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and former EPA official Mustafa Santiago Ali, was held last Friday at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey was one of six Democratic candidates to share his plans to confront environmental injustices and the climate crisis. Booker spoke about racial disparities in the U.S., the creation of renewable energy jobs and the water contamination crises in cities across the country, including his hometown of Newark. "My community is not alone," Booker said. "Lead service lines should not be in the ground in a 21st century America, period."
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Nov 15, 2019
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from three lawsuits demanding the Trump administration preserve Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The Obama-era program has granted protection from deportation and a work permit to at least 700,000 undocumented people who were brought to the United States as children. The court's conservative majority appeared poised to side with President Trump in ending the program, while some of the court's liberal justices seemed skeptical of Trump's efforts. In September 2017, the Trump administration announced it planned to terminate DACA, arguing the program was "illegal" and "unconstitutional," but three lower courts disagreed and have kept the program alive, thanks to lawsuits filed by California, New York and D.C. Immigrant rights activists have been pushing the Supreme Court to save DACA, with dozens of immigrants with DACA recently taking part in a 16-day, 230-mile march from New York to the steps of the Supreme Court. We speak with Martín Batalla Vidal, the lead plaintiff in the New York federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's attempt to terminate DACA, and Trudy Rebert, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, which also filed suit to block the Trump administration's cancellation of DACA.
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Nov 15, 2019
Two Killed as 16-Year-Old Student Opens Fire at L.A. County High School, El Paso Walmart Reopens, Three Months After Massacre by Racist Gunman, House Speaker Pelosi Accuses Trump of Bribery, an Impeachable Offense, Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine to Testify She Felt Threatened by Trump, Chile to Hold Referendum on Rewriting Pinochet-Era Constitution, Chilean Protesters Mark Anniversary of Police Killing of Indigenous Activist, Mon Laferte Holds Topless Protest Against Chilean State Violence at Latin Grammys, Indigenous Bolivians Protest as Interim President Orders Evo Morales Silenced, Israel Resumes Bombing as Ceasefire with Gaza Militants Breaks Down, Iraqi Soldiers Kill Four Anti-Government Protesters, Bringing Death Toll to 320, Analysis Finds U.S.-Led Wars Since 9/11 Killed 801,000 at a Cost of $6.4 Trillion, Kentucky Republican Incumbent Matt Bevin Concedes Governor's Race, European Investment Bank to Divest from Most Fossil Fuel Projects, Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Sets Sail for Europe, Benie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Unveil Green New Deal for Public Housing
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Nov 14, 2019
CodePink co-founder and longtime peace activist Medea Benjamin was threatened with arrest in Washington, D.C., Wednesday and accused of assaulting a sitting congressmember after being forcibly removed from a press conference for opposing the U.S.-backed coup and U.S. sanctions in Venezuela. Benjamin vehemently denies the accusations and says she was in fact the one assaulted when she and other activists demonstrated at a press conference hosted by Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Florida Republican Mario Díaz-Balart announcing the launch of a Congressional Venezuela Democracy Caucus. We speak with Medea Benjamin in Washington, D.C.
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Nov 14, 2019
In Chile, protesters led a massive national strike Tuesday as they condemned the government's plans to rewrite the country's Constitution, which dates back to Augusto Pinochet's military regime. Chile's interior minister announced Sunday the government would draft a new constitution that Congress would then rewrite and put to a public referendum. But protesters say the people should be involved with the rewriting of the constitution from the beginning and that this is an attempt by Sebastián Piñera's government to delay political and social reforms in Chile. The Chilean authorities have killed at least 20 people and wounded thousands more since the protests erupted on October 19 in response to a subway fare hike and quickly grew into a revolt against austerity and economic inequality. Amnesty International has denounced the Chilean government for widespread human rights violations against protesters. From Santiago, we speak with Pablo Abufom, a member of the Solidaridad movement, an anti-capitalist and feminist organization in Chile.
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Nov 14, 2019
The public phase of the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump began Wednesday, with testimonies from two witnesses: George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, and William Taylor, a former ambassador and the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. The hearing brought forth new details about a previously unknown phone call in July between President Trump and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. Both Kent and Taylor expressed concern over the role President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani had in dictating U.S. policy on Ukraine. We speak with Elizabeth Holtzman, a former U.S. congressmember from New York who served on the House Judiciary Committee that voted to impeach Richard Nixon.
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Nov 14, 2019
The first public hearing of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump was held Wednesday. Trump is just the fourth president in U.S. history to face impeachment. Two witnesses testified before the House Intelligence Committee: George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, and William Taylor, a former ambassador and the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. They both said President Trump withheld aid to Ukraine in an attempt to pressure the country to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company. We play highlights from the hearing.
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Nov 14, 2019
U.S. Diplomats Testify Trump Pressured Ukraine to Dig Up Political Dirt on Bidens, Trump Claims He Was "Too Busy" to Watch Impeachment Inquiry, Trump Hosts President Erdogan at White House Amid Turkish Attacks in Syria, 34 Palestinians Killed in Two Days as Israel Bombs Gaza Strip, Exiled Bolivian President Evo Morales Calls for "National Dialogue", Protests Rage as Bolivia's Self-Proclaimed Interim President Swears In Cabinet, Lebanese Soldiers Shoot and Kill Man as Protests Enter Fifth Week, Zimbabwe: Millions at Risk of Starving Amid Climate Change-Fueled Drought, Hundreds of Elephants Die as Drought Grips Southern Africa, Wildfires Rage in Australia as Former Fire Chiefs Warn of Climate Crisis, Mayor of Venice, Italy, Blames Climate Crisis for "Apocalyptic" Flooding, Chad Wolf Becomes Fifth Person to Head Homeland Security Dept. Under Trump, House Resolution Would Clear Path for Adoption of Equal Rights Amendment, Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick Formally Enters 2020 Presidential Race, Hillary Clinton Refuses to Rule Out 2020 Presidential Run, Teachers in Little Rock Go on One-Day Strike, Could Colin Kaepernick Return to NFL After Being Blacklisted? Workout Scheduled for Saturday, Police Threaten to Arrest Medea Benjamin After Venezuela Protest
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Nov 13, 2019
In Bolivia, right-wing Senator Jeanine Áñez declared herself president Tuesday night despite a lack of quorum in Congress, amid a deepening political crisis in the country. Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, left the country Monday after being granted asylum in Mexico. Morales announced his resignation Sunday shortly after the Bolivian military took to the airwaves to call for his departure. His Movement Toward Socialism party is refusing to recognize Áñez as president, calling her claim illegal and decrying Evo Morales's resignation over the weekend as a military coup. Last month, Morales was re-elected for a fourth term in a race his opponents claimed was marred by fraud. He ran for a fourth term after contesting a referendum upholding term limits. On Tuesday, the Organization of American States held an emergency meeting in Washington, where U.S. Ambassador Carlos Trujillo read a statement from President Donald Trump applauding Evo Morales's resignation and warning it should "send a strong signal" to Venezuela and Nicaragua. Mexico, Uruguay, Nicaragua and the president-elect of Argentina have all denounced Morales's departure as a coup. Morales's departure has sparked demonstrations and clashes across Bolivia. We host a debate on the political crisis in Bolivia with Pablo Solón, former ambassador to the United Nations under President Evo Morales until 2011, and Kevin Young, assistant professor of history at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the author of "Blood of the Earth: Resource Nationalism, Revolution, and Empire in Bolivia."
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Nov 13, 2019
We continue our conversation with legendary journalist Bill Moyers, who covered impeachment proceedings against Presidents Nixon and Clinton. The first televised impeachment hearings into President Trump begin today. Moyers says the current administration and the media have created a "culture of lying" that goes beyond what other presidents have done. "All presidents lie. It's a defense they use. But not all presidents lie systemically," Moyers says.
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Nov 13, 2019
Televised impeachment hearings begin today in the inquiry into whether President Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate his political rivals. Two witnesses are testifying today before the House Intelligence Committee: George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, and William Taylor, a former ambassador and the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. Both officials have privately told congressional investigators that Trump withheld aid to Ukraine in an attempt to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Donald Trump is just the fourth U.S. president to face an impeachment inquiry. Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998. Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 prior to an impeachment vote. We speak with the legendary journalist Bill Moyers, who covered the Nixon and Clinton impeachment hearings. In the 1960s, Moyers was a founding organizer of the Peace Corps and served as press secretary for President Lyndon Johnson. In 1971, he began an award-winning career as a television broadcaster that would last for over four decades. During that time, Moyers received over 30 Emmys and countless other prizes. He was elected to the Television Hall of Fame in 1995. Last week Bill Moyers took out a full-page ad in The New York Times urging PBS to broadcast the impeachment hearings live and to rerun them in primetime.
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Nov 13, 2019
Televised Impeachment Hearings Begin Today, Right-Wing Senator Declares Herself President of Bolivia, Turkish President Erdogan Visiting Trump at White House, Supreme Court Heard Oral Arguments over DACA Program, Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Case of Mexican Teen Killed by U.S. Border Agent, Supreme Court Clears Way for Sandy Hook Families to Sue Gun Manufacturer, Federal Court Rules Warrantless Searches of Phones at Airport Are Unconstitutional, HHS Probes Google's Program to Collect Healthcare Data of Americans, U.S. Government Detained Record Number of Migrant Children in 2019, SPLC: Stephen Miller Sought to Promote White Nationalism Ahead of 2016 Election, Afghanistan: 7 Killed in Car Bombing in Kabul, Major Protests & Disruptions Continue in Hong Kong, Chile: Protesters Demand More Participation in Rewriting New Constitution, Former McDonald's Worker Sues over Sexual Harassment, Salma Sikandar Wins Asylum, After Husband's Hunger Strike, Historian Noel Ignatiev, Who Aimed to Abolish Whiteness, Dies at 78
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Nov 12, 2019
In Seattle, Socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant has been re-elected in a race that pitted her against Amazon — Seattle's largest private employer and one of the most powerful companies in the world. Overall, Amazon poured $1.5 million into Seattle's City Council election and backed Sawant's opponent, Egan Orion, with nearly half a million dollars. Kshama Sawant is Seattle's first Socialist politician elected in nearly a century. She has successfully pushed a number of progressive policies, including making Seattle the first major American city to adopt a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Kshama Sawant joins us from Seattle. The re-election victory "has been a major repudiation, not only of Amazon and of Jeff Bezos himself, as the richest man in the world, but also it has been a referendum on the vision for Seattle," Sawant says. "The voters in Seattle have spoken, that Seattle is not up for sale."
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Nov 12, 2019
In a stunning victory, public defender Chesa Boudin has been declared the winner of a hotly contested district attorney's race in San Francisco. Boudin ran on a platform to end cash bail and dismantle the war on drugs, and was endorsed by Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders. His win sends a pointed message to the Democratic establishment, which had mobilized in full force against his campaign. San Francisco Mayor London Breed, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris all endorsed Boudin's opponent, Suzy Loftus. Boudin is the child of Weather Underground activists Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, who were both incarcerated when he was still a toddler. He learned the news that he'd won the race by a razor-thin margin while he was on a plane flying back from visiting his father, who remains in prison in upstate New York. After four days of ballot counting, Boudin was declared the winner. From San Francisco, we speak with Chesa Boudin.
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Nov 12, 2019
In Brazil, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was freed from prison Friday after 580 days behind bars. Lula's surprise release came after the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled to end the mandatory imprisonment of people convicted of crimes who are appealing their cases. He was serving a 12-year sentence over a disputed corruption and money laundering conviction handed down by conservative Judge Sérgio Moro, an ally of current far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and has long maintained his innocence. Lula has vowed to challenge Bolsonaro in the 2022 elections. At the time of his imprisonment in April 2018, Lula was leading the presidential polls. A new documentary, "The Edge of Democracy," chronicles the imprisonment of Lula and impeachment of former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. It also looks at the aftermath of the rise of President Jair Bolsonaro — a former military captain who glorifies Brazil's past military regime, denies the climate crisis and celebrates misogyny, homophobia and racism. We speak with Petra Costa, a Brazilian filmmaker and the director of "The Edge of Democracy."
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Nov 12, 2019
Longtime Bolivian President Evo Morales Takes Asylum in Mexico, Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on DACA Cases, Televised Impeachment Hearings to Start Tomorrow, Former MA Gov. Deval Patrick May Jump Into 2020 Race, NY Republican Congressman Peter King Resigns, Donald Trump Jr. Heckled Off Stage by His Own Supporters, EPA to Restrict Scientific Research Used to Write Public Health Regulations, Israeli Military Kills Palestinian Commander in Targeted Assassination in Gaza, Afghan Government & Taliban Agree on Prisoner Exchange, Chilean Government Bows to Protests & Agrees to Rewrite Constitution, 260 Arrested in Mass Protests in Hong Kong, No More Deaths Activist Heads to Retrial in Arizona, Jimmy Carter Undergoes Operation to Reduce Swelling in His Brain, Father of Atatiana Jefferson Dies of Heart Attack After Daughter Killed by Police
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Nov 11, 2019
Six 2020 presidential candidates — Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, and Tom Steyer, Marianne Williamson, John Delaney and Joe Sestak — participated in the first-ever Presidential Forum on Environmental Justice in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on November 8. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and former EPA official Mustafa Santiago Ali co-moderated the event, which took place at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. We air highlights of Warren speaking about the climate crisis, public health, shutting down pipelines, capitalism, the order of primary states and more.
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Nov 11, 2019
Six 2020 presidential candidates — Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, and Tom Steyer, Marianne Williamson, John Delaney and Joe Sestak — participated in the first-ever Presidential Forum on Environmental Justice in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on November 8. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and former EPA official Mustafa Santiago Ali co-moderated the event, which took place at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. We air highlights of Warren speaking about the climate crisis, public health, shutting down pipelines, capitalism, the order of primary states and more.
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Nov 11, 2019
Bolivia is in a state of political crisis after longtime President Evo Morales resigned Sunday following what he described as a military coup. Weeks of protests have taken place since a disputed election last month. Morales announced his resignation in a televised address Sunday, shortly after the Bolivian military took to the airwaves to call for his resignation. Bolivia's vice president also resigned Sunday, as did the head of the Bolivian Senate and the lower house. Opposition leader Jeanine Áñez, who is the second vice president of the Bolivian Senate, is claiming she will assume the presidency today. Evo Morales was the longest-serving president in Latin America, as well as Bolivia's first indigenous leader. He was credited with lifting nearly a fifth of Bolivia's population out of poverty since he took office in 2006, but he faced mounting criticism from some of his former supporters for running for a third and then a fourth term. For more on the unfolding crisis in Bolivia, we speak with Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. His latest piece for The Nation is headlined "The Trump Administration Is Undercutting Democracy in Bolivia." "This is a military coup — there's no doubt about it now," Weisbrot says.
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Nov 11, 2019
Longtime Bolivian President Evo Morales Resigns, Brazilian Former President Lula Freed from Prison, Haley Said Kelly and Tillerson Told Her to Work Against Trump, Syria: 8 Killed in Bombing in Tel Abyad, Iraq: Death Toll in Anti-Government Protests Rise to 319, Hong Kong: Police Shoot Student Protester at Close Range
, Cyclone Kills 20 in Bangladesh & India; Wildfires Rage in Australia
, Germans Mark 30th Anniversary of Fall of Berlin Wall
, Hundreds Protest Construction of Trump's Border Wall in Sonoran Desert
, Kshama Sawant Declares Victory in Seattle City Council Race
, Chesa Boudin Wins San Francisco District Attorney's Race
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Nov 08, 2019
The 1968 Orangeburg massacre is one of the most violent and least remembered events of the civil rights movement. A crowd of students gathered on the campus of South Carolina State University to protest segregation at Orangeburg's only bowling alley. After days of escalating tensions, students started a bonfire and held a vigil on the campus to protest. Dozens of police arrived on the scene, and state troopers fired live ammunition into the crowd. When the shooting stopped, three students were dead and 28 wounded. Although the tragedy predated the Kent State shootings and Jackson State killings and it was the first of its kind on any American college campus, it received little national media coverage. The nine officers who opened fire that day were all acquitted. The only person convicted of wrongdoing was Cleveland Sellers, a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, known as SNCC. Sellers was one of the organizers of the protest. He was convicted of a riot charge and spent seven months behind bars. He was pardoned in 1993. From Orangeburg, South Carolina, we speak with civil rights photographer Cecil Williams, who photographed the scene in the aftermath of the Orangeburg massacre. He is also the founder of the Cecil Williams Civil Rights Museum here in Orangeburg.
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Nov 08, 2019
The first-ever Presidential Forum on Environmental Justice takes place tonight in Orangeburg, South Carolina, where six presidential candidates will take to the stage at South Carolina State University. African-American communities and people of color on the frontlines in South Carolina have been fighting for justice in the face of extreme environmental racism for years. We host a roundtable with local leaders and environmental justice advocates to talk about the significance of the event, the issues their communities face and the 2020 candidates' platforms on environmental justice. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, and Melanie Campbell, president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, join us in Orangeburg.
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Nov 08, 2019
We broadcast live from South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, where tonight the first-ever Presidential Forum on Environmental Justice will be held. Six presidential candidates — Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, Tom Steyer, Marianne Williamson, John Delaney and Joe Sestak — are participating. The forum is hosted by the National Black Caucus of State Legislators and leaders from frontline communities. South Carolina is a crucial state for the 2020 presidential race and one of the first that will have a Democratic primary, following New Hampshire and caucuses in Iowa and Nevada. The region has been repeatedly pummeled by climate-fueled hurricanes, including Hurricane Florence, which swept through the South in 2018, causing epic floods. Black residents and communities of color have faced disproportionate air and water pollution and exposure to environmental hazards, but South Carolina is also home to some of the most successful responses to environmental racism. Ahead of Friday's presidential forum, we speak with Mustafa Ali, the forum's co-moderator and the former head of the environmental justice program at the Environmental Protection Agency. "It's important that we have these conversations about climate change, but those are the symptoms of a disease," Ali says. "The disease has been the racism, the structural inequality, that continues to happen inside of communities of color."
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Nov 08, 2019
George Kent: Giuliani Carried Out Smear Campaign Against U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, U.S. and China Aim to Roll Back Some Tariffs, "A Warning": Anonymous Senior Official Slams Trump in New Book, Michael Bloomberg Preparing to Jump Into 2020 Race, Sanders Immigration Plan: Abolish ICE & Create Path to Citizenship, Undocumented Students to Stage Walkout to Support DACA, Report: DHS to Have Biometric Data on 260 Million People, Iraq: Security Forces Continue Bloody Crackdown on Anti-Government Protesters, Tensions Rise in Bolivia over Disputed Presidential Election, Brazil Sides with U.S. at U.N. Vote Condemning U.S. Embargo on Cuba, Brazilian Supreme Court Ruling Could Free Former President Lula, Hong Kong Student Dies After Clash with Police Days Earlier, Judge to Rule on Marco Saavedra's Asylum Case Next Year
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Nov 07, 2019
A documentary film "The Pollinators" tells the story of the world's yellow-black jacketed honey bees, whose existence may determine the future of human survival. The insects pollinate nearly all the fruits, vegetables and nuts we consume, and some experts estimate one out of every three bites of food we eat depends on the work of honey bees. However, the future of the insects is now in peril with widespread reports of bee colony collapses. In the last decade and a half, beekeepers have reported staggering declines in their bee populations due to pesticides, parasites and loss of habitat. Scientists warn climate change is also threatening the insects' survival, noting bees could die off at faster rates as the Earth warms. For more about the crisis of bee population decline, we're joined by Peter Nelson, director of "The Pollinators," cinematographer and beekeeper.
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Nov 07, 2019
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged two former Twitter employees with helping Saudi Arabia spy on thousands of the kingdom's critics. Ali Alzabarah and Ahmad Abouammo are accused of giving the Saudi government detailed information about users, including telephone numbers and email addresses linked to the accounts, as well as internet protocol addresses that could be used to identify a user's location. The charges are being filed just over a year after the brutal murder of Saudi journalist and critic Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Turkey. A new report by Human Rights Watch finds that one year after Khashoggi's brutal murder Saudi Arabia continues to arbitrarily detain countless activists, regime critics and clerics. The report says there is a "darker reality" behind Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's widely touted initiatives for Saudi women and youth, including mass arrests of women activists, some of whom have allegedly been sexually assaulted and tortured with electric shocks. We speak with Adam Coogle, Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch.
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Nov 07, 2019
In Algeria, protests against corruption, the jailing of opposition leaders and the army's powerful role in national politics have entered their ninth month. Tens of thousands filled the streets of the capital Algiers last Friday to mark the 65th anniversary of the war of independence from France and to demand a "new revolution" rather than an upcoming election they say will be rigged. Over 100 student protesters were arrested last night as the Algerian government intensified its crackdown on demonstrators ahead of the upcoming polls. Interim President Abdelkader Bensalah announced the country will hold a presidential election on December 12. This comes after longtime President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned in April following weeks of protests. We speak with Mehdi Kaci, an Algerian-American activist who organized a protest last weekend in San Francisco in support of Algerians, and Daikha Dridi, a journalist based in Algiers. "There is a political uprising, but there is also a huge sense of pride, of self-love, that the Algerian people are experiencing," Dridi says. "The Algerians are wanting a much, much deeper change, and they're not going back home."
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Nov 07, 2019
Televised Impeachment Hearings Begin Next Week, Sessions to Run for Old Senate Seat; Pressley Endorses Warren, Trump Expands Military Mission in Syria Aimed at Controlling Oil Fields, Esper to Urge Trump Not to Intervene in Cases of Soldiers Accused of Murder, Judge Voids Trump Rule Allowing Medical Workers to Deny Care on Religious Grounds, ProPublica: Pence's Office Meddled in Foreign Aid Money to Favor Christians, DOJ Charges Ex-Twitter Employees; California Investigates Facebook, New Zealand Approves Landmark Climate Legislation Aimed at Zero Carbon Emissions, U.S.-Manufactured Ammunition Used in Massacre of Mormon Family in Mexico, Immigration Activist Marco Saavedra Heads to Final Asylum Hearing, New York's WBAI Back on Air with Local Programming
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Nov 06, 2019
Results are coming in after Tuesday's elections, with major wins for Democrats in several crucial states. In Virginia, the party gained control of both legislative houses for the first time in 25 years. In Kentucky, Democratic challenger state Attorney General Andy Beshear has ousted Trump-backed Republican incumbent Matt Bevin in a tightly contested run for governor. In Mississippi, Republican Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves defeated Democratic state Attorney General Jim Hood in the governor's race.
Several local candidates across the country made history. In Scranton, Pennsylvania, Paige Cognetti was elected as the first woman mayor after running as an independent despite being a registered Democrat. She'll also be the first mayor-elect to give birth. Her child is due in December. Ghazala Hashmi became the first Muslim woman elected to the Virginia Senate after winning a suburban Richmond district. And Danica Roem made history for a second time, becoming the first out transgender person to win reelection to a state legislature, after defeating an anti-LGBT Republican candidate to represent the 13th District in the Virginia House of Delegates.
Tuesday's election also decided several important state ballot initiatives. Voters in New York City approved ranked-choice voting, a measure supporters say will help underrepresented voters and candidates of color. In Jersey City, voters approved strict regulations on short-term rentals, in a major blow to Airbnb. A measure to make Tucson, Arizona, a sanctuary city was overwhelmingly defeated by voters there.
We speak with John Nichols, a political writer for The Nation.
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Nov 06, 2019
The state of Texas is facing growing calls to halt the upcoming execution of Rodney Reed, an African-American man who has spent over 20 years on death row for a rape and murder he says he did not commit. A group of 26 Texas lawmakers — including both Democrats and Republicans — have written a letter this week to Governor Greg Abbott to stop the execution planned for November 20. More than 1.4 million people have signed an online petition to save Reed's life. Supporters include celebrities Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna and Meek Mill. Reed was sentenced to die after being convicted of the 1996 murder of a 19-year-old white woman, Stacey Stites, with whom he was having an affair. But since Reed's trial, substantial evidence has emerged implicating Stites's then-financé, a white police officer named Jimmy Fennell, who was later jailed on kidnapping and rape charges in another case. In a major development, a man who spent time in jail with Fennell signed an affidavit last month asserting that Fennell had admitted in prison that he had killed his financée because she was having an affair with a black man. We speak with Rodney Reed's brother Rodrick Reed, his sister-in-law Uwana Akpan and lawyer Bryce Benjet of the Innocence Project.
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Nov 06, 2019
Democrats Take Virginia Legislature & Beat Trump-Backed Governor in Kentucky, NYC Approves Ranked-Choice Voting; Tucson Voters Reject Sanctuary City Measure, JPMorgan CEO Accuses Warren of "Vilifying" Richest Americans, Sondland Now Says There Was Quid Pro Quo on Ukraine, Scientists: Humanity Risks "Untold Suffering" from Climate Change, Brazilians Protest the Largest Oil Auction in Brazilian History, Activists Arrested After Blockading Port of Vancouver in Pipeline Protest, 9 Members of Mormon Family Murdered in Mexico, Pro-Beijing Lawmaker Stabbed in Hong Kong, Israeli Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Expelling Human Rights Watch Official, Zuckerburg Meets with Civil Rights Leaders Amid Facebook Controversies
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Nov 05, 2019
As local elections take place nationwide, voters in Colorado are enjoying greater access to the ballot than ever as the state's vote-by-mail system allows residents to bypass long lines at polling places. The state also has voting measures which include automatic voter registration with driver's license services, an extension of the vote to parolees, and allowance for some 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections. Colorado is considered an example for states needing to expand voter access at a time when Republican legislatures and statehouses across the country are attempting to suppress the vote. We speak with Jena Griswold, Colorado's secretary of state, who says that Colorado has "the highest percentage of eligible citizens registered to vote, and our participation rates are often the first or second for the entire nation."
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Nov 05, 2019
Voters across the U.S. head to the polls today for statewide elections that will be seen as a measure of Donald Trump's influence in the Republican Party as he faces an impeachment inquiry. In New York City, a major ballot measure could change the way voters select their candidates in future elections. New Yorkers will decide whether to move from electing candidates by a plurality of votes to ranked-choice voting, a system in which voters rank their favorite candidates in order and the person with the most top-ranked votes wins. Proponents of the initiative say it will help underrepresented voters and candidates of color. Maya Wiley, senior vice president for social justice and professor of public and urban policy at The New School, joins us for a discussion of the ranked-choice voting system, which she says is about "voters having more choice on who gets elected into public office."
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Nov 05, 2019
Tania Romero, an undocumented mother from Honduras and survivor of stage IV cancer, is fighting to remain in the United States with her four children. Two months ago, Romero was imprisoned by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the privately owned Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, interrupting her life-saving medical treatments. In mid-August, Romero was pulled over for a minor traffic infraction and arrested for not having a driver's license. Tania Romero's attorney requested a stay of deportation on humanitarian grounds because of her fragile health, but it was denied in September. Her son, Cristian Padilla Romero, is organizing against her deportation, with a petition demanding his mother's release with over 30,000 signatures. We speak with Cristian Padilla Romero, a Ph.D. student in Latin American history at Yale University and a Honduran immigrant with DACA status.
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Nov 05, 2019
The Trump administration notified the United Nations Monday that it would withdraw the U.S. from the historic Paris climate agreement, starting a year-long process to leave the international pact to fight the climate crisis. The United States — the world's largest historic greenhouse gas emitter — will become the only country outside the accord. Trump's announcement of the withdrawal came on the first day possible under the agreement's rules. From Middlebury, Vermont, we speak with Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org. "The decision of the United States to be the only country on Earth … unwilling to take part in a global attempt at a solution to the greatest crisis we've ever faced — there's a lot to be ashamed of in the Trump years and a lot of terrible things that have happened — it's pretty hard to top that," says McKibben.
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Nov 05, 2019
U.S. Formalizes Withdrawal from Historic Paris Climate Agreement, Democrats Begin to Release Impeachment Inquiry Transcripts, Voters Head to the Polls for Statewide Elections Today, E. Jean Carroll, Who Accuses Trump of Raping Her, Sues President for Defamation, Court Rejects Trump's Efforts to Fight NY Subpoena for Tax Returns, Trump Threatens to Cut Off Federal Funding for California's Wildfires, Thousands of Academics Demand Chile End Violent Crackdown Against Protests, Iraqi Authorities Cut Internet Access Amid Ongoing Anti-Government Protests, Two Indonesian Journalists Found Dead at Illegal Palm Oil Plantation, Thousands Protest in Spain over Verdict in Gang Rape of Teenage Girl, U.N. Warns Migration Land Route Across Africa Twice as Deadly as Mediterranean, Turkish Officials Say They've Captured Sister of Slain Former ISIS Leader, Judge Dismisses Uber's Challenge of NYC's Effort to Limit Ride-Hailing Apps, UnitedHealth Faces Probe over Racial Discrimination in Its Algorithm, FBI Arrests Man Allegedly Planning to Bomb Colorado Synagogue, Oklahoma: 462 Prisoners Freed in Largest Single-Day Commutation in U.S. History
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Nov 04, 2019
Hundreds gathered this weekend to mark the 40th anniversary of the Greensboro massacre, when 40 Ku Klux Klansmen and American Nazis opened fire on an anti-Klan demonstration in Greensboro, North Carolina, killing five anti-racist activists in a span of 88 seconds. Those killed were members of the Communist Workers' Party. Ten other activists were injured. No one was convicted in the massacre, but a jury did find the Greensboro police liable for cooperating with the Ku Klux Klan in a wrongful death. Local pastors in Greensboro are now calling on the City Council to issue an apology for the events that led to the 1979 killing. We speak with Dr. Marty Nathan, the widow of Dr. Mike Nathan, who was killed in the 1979 Greensboro Massacre.
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Nov 04, 2019
Amid skyrocketing housing prices and rising inequality, the number of unhoused people across California is booming. Homelessness in San Francisco has spiked at least 30% since 2017. In Oakland, it's grown by nearly 50%. As more people have been forced onto the streets, encampments have popped up from Los Angeles to the Bay Area and in other city centers. But while advocates push for more affordable housing solutions, instead city governments have been cracking down on unhoused people with increasingly punitive measures that criminalize homelessness. In a special report, Democracy Now! traveled to San Francisco to speak with unhoused people and their advocates about conditions there.
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Nov 04, 2019
An indigenous forest protector named Paulo Paulino Guajajara was shot dead in the Amazon by illegal loggers on Saturday. It is the latest incident in a wave of violence targeting indigenous land protectors since the election of Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro last year. Guajajara was killed when he and another forest protector were ambushed by a group of illegal loggers inside the Araribóia reservation in the northeastern state of Maranhão. We speak with João Coimbra Sousa, a field coordinator and legal adviser for Amazon Watch, in São Luís in the northeastern state of Maranhão. And in San Francisco, we speak with Christian Poirier, program director at Amazon Watch.
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Nov 04, 2019
Four White House Officials Refused to Testify in Impeachment Hearings, Turkish-Backed Forces Accused of War Crimes in Northern Syria, Sen. Warren Releases Details on Her Medicare for All Plan, Trump to Nominate Dr. Stephen Hahn to Lead FDA, EPA Slated to Roll Back Rules to Protect Waterways from Toxic Coal Ash, Group of Automakers Sides with Trump Admin in Fight over Fuel-Efficiency Standards, NYT: Major U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arms Treaty Could Expire Without Being Replaced, Mali: Over 50 Soldiers Killed in Attack on Military Post, Anti-Government Protests Continue to Sweep Iraq, Lebanon & Algeria, Brazilian Indigenous Leader Killed in Amazon, U.S. "Gag Rule" on Abortion Silences Popular Radio Host in Nepal, India: Toxic Smog Sparks Public Health Emergency in Delhi, German Officials Declare "Nazi Emergency" in Dresden, Milwaukee: Man Arrested in Alleged Anti-Immigrant Acid Attack, Saudi Aramco Plans to Go Public, Philadelphia Passes Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights, NYC: Protesters March Against Police Brutality in Subways, Nationals Pitcher Sean Doolittle Boycotts White House Visit in Protest Against Trump
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Nov 01, 2019
The massacre of five Indigenous leaders in Colombia has shocked the country. The killings took place in the southwestern region of Cauca. Among the victims was Cristina Bautista, the leader of the semi-autonomous Indigenous reservation of Nasa Tacueyó. Four of the community's unarmed guards were also killed, while six others were wounded. A group of U.N. experts have denounced the massacre and demanded the Colombian government to take urgent measures in cooperation with Indigenous authorities to investigate the murders. Police have made no arrests and no suspects have been named in the massacre. Since the signing of the Peace Accords in 2016, at least 700 social leaders, mostly Afro-Colombian and Indigenous activists, have been murdered in Colombia, according to the Institute for Development and Peace Studies. We speak with Mario Murillo, Vice-Dean of the School of Communications at Hofstra University and award-winning journalist who has extensively reported on Colombia and the region of Cauca.
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