Democracy Now! Daily Digest - A Daily Independent Global News
Hour with Amy Goodman & Juan González for Friday, 3 January 2014
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STORIES:
NAFTA at 20: Lori Wallach on U.S. Job Losses, Record Income
Inequality, Mass Displacement in Mexico
The North American Free Trade Agreement between the United
States, Mexico and Canada went into effect 20 years ago this week on January 1,
1994. The massive trade pact was signed into law by President Bill Clinton
amidst great promise that it would raise wages, create jobs and even improve
health and environmental safety standards. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs
have vanished as companies sought lower-wage workers in Mexico. Meanwhile,
NAFTA has generated more poverty in Mexico, forcing millions of citizens to
migrate to the United States in search of work. We speak to Lori Wallach,
director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch and author of the new report,
"NAFTA at 20."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn to this 20th anniversary of the North
American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada,
which went into effect January 1st, 1994. The massive trade pact was signed
into law by President Clinton amidst great promise that it would raise wages,
create jobs, even improve health and environmental safety standards. This is
President Clinton speaking as he was signing the historic treaty in December
1993.
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: I believe we have made a decision now that
will permit us to create an economic order in the world that will promote more
growth, more equality, better preservation of the environment and a greater
possibility of world peace. We are on the verge of a global economic expansion
that is sparked by the fact that the United States, at this critical moment,
decided that we would compete, not retreat. In a few moments, I will sign the
North American Free Trade Act into law. NAFTA will tear down trade barriers
between our three nations. It will create the world’s largest trade zone and
create 200,000 jobs in this country by 1995 alone. The environmental and labor
side agreements initiated by our administration will make this agreement a
force for social progress as well as economic growth.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, 20 years after NAFTA took effect, it has
failed to deliver on many of the promises Clinton and others made. Thousands of
U.S. jobs have vanished as companies sought lower-wage workers in Mexico.
Meanwhile, NAFTA has generated more poverty in Mexico, forcing millions of
citizens to migrate to the United States in search of work.
Well, one group that saw much of this coming was the indigenous
people in the Mexican state of Chiapas. On the same day NAFTA went into effect,
on January 1st, 1994, they joined the Zapatista National Liberation Army, or
EZLN, in declaring war on the Mexican government, saying that NAFTA meant death
to indigenous peoples. They took over five major towns in Chiapas, with fully
armed women and men. The uprising was a shock, even for those who for years
worked in the very communities where the rebel army had been secretly
organizing. This is Zapatista Comandante Tacho explaining the uprising in a
clip from the 1999 documentary, Zapatista, produced by Big Noise Films.
COMANDANTE INSURGENTE TACHO: [translated] It was early in the
morning on January 1st, 1994, when we appeared, because the conditions and the
situation in which we live in these mountains. We did not take up arms to gain
political post or office or some other important place. We rose up in arms
because we would not die forgotten, so that people would hear our demands and
not forget that in this corner of Mexico lived many indigenous people who have
been abandoned for years.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by two guests. In
Washington, D.C., Lori Wallach is director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade
Watch. They’ve written a new report called "NAFTA at 20." In a
moment, we’ll go to Mexico.
Lori, talk about NAFTA, 20 years later.
LORI WALLACH: Well, not only haven’t the promises made by its
proponents come true, but in most instances the actual opposite occurred. For
instance, listening to President Clinton made my blood boil, because in no year
of NAFTA were 200,000 jobs created. Rather, now 20 years out, one million net
U.S. jobs have been lost to the growing trade deficit with Mexico and Canada
under NAFTA, and there’s a list of an explicit 400,000 with Canada, 845,000
total jobs lost to NAFTA, specific workers certified under just one narrow
program called Trade Adjustment Assistance that’s very hard to qualify for.
And on that end, if you want to see the actual effect of NAFTA
in your community, you can go to our website, TradeWatch.org, look at the Trade
Data Center. You can put in your zip code, and actually it will pop up the list
of companies. A lot of them were companies that explicitly said during the
NAFTA debate, "Congress, if you pass NAFTA, we’re going to create X number
of jobs in Y community." And you can actually go by the company name and
see Caterpillar, GE, Chrysler promising jobs then, offshoring jobs in reality,
using NAFTA’s investor protections. Now, the one place that U.S. exports did
grow was in dumping subsidized corn.
Over 1.5 million campesinos in Mexico displaced. As folks know,
desperate immigration from Mexico after the NAFTA wipeout increased—doubled in
the years after NAFTA. Meanwhile, in the corporate tribunals, over
365,000—sorry, $365 million have been paid out to corporations attacking
environmental and health laws. So even the environmental improvements didn’t
happen. Poverty increasing in Mexico, job offshoring in the U.S., and that is
in effect across the economy. So if you weren’t one of the people who lost your
job to NAFTA, the effect of having those million people displaced from higher-wage
jobs meant they were competing for the service-sector jobs in the U.S. that
aren’t subject to offshoring. So the government data shows that when someone
lost their job to offshoring, on average, they lost 20 percent of their income
and then went into the pool of people searching for non-offshorable jobs. So
even in those sectors that are growing in the service sector, wages are flat or
declining, which is a key factor to this growing income inequality.
That’s the reality of 20 years of NAFTA. But despite that, now
the Obama administration is trying to do NAFTA on steroids, the Trans-Pacific
Partnership, which, given the record, is outrageous—can be stopped, but is
pending.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about how NAFTA passed. I mean, in this
period, President Clinton was vowing to get this passed at all costs, and
that’s precisely what he did. It was extremely controversial, right to the last
minute. How were congressmembers, how was Congress pressured?
LORI WALLACH: Basically, there were a combination of factors.
These trade agreements, like the TPP, NAFTA 20 years ago, are like the
corporate Christmas tree. This is the one piece of "legislation" that
every corporate interest loves. It jacks up medicine prices with patent
extensions for Big Pharma. Big Content loves it because they’re like SOPA-type
copyright rules. The chemical and pharmaceutical companies like it because they
have actual rights to not be regulated and inspected. The oil and gas companies
love it because it gives them absolute rights to natural resources. The chronic
job offshoring companies love it because it gives them new investor protections
to offshore. So they all lobbied Congress, squeezed Congress.
But in the end, the reason NAFTA passed was Fast Track, the
arcane Nixon-era procedure that allows the executive branch to write
legislation, stuffing in all kinds of goodies unrelated to the trade agreement
to buy congressional votes, special deals. And then that goes through Congress
with no amendments allowed, very quickly, yes-or-no vote. So, if you don’t like
TPP, if you don’t like what 20 years of NAFTA has done, the mission now is we
have to make sure there is never this Fast Track legislative luge run, because
it gets a mechanism for something as outrageous as these kind of agreements to
basically get railroaded through Congress, even though, as, Amy, you said,
there was enormous public opposition, which, by the way, the U.S. public’s
opposition to NAFTA has only gotten larger, stronger, more diverse. Democrats’,
Republicans’, independents’ majorities oppose NAFTA. But here we go again with
the TPP.
AMY GOODMAN: President Obama said he wants to fast-track the
TPP. Explain what that means.
LORI WALLACH: So, under Fast Track, it’s a mechanism that Nixon
cooked up in the '70s where Congress delegates away its constitutional
authorities. So, under Fast Track, if that were to be passed, Congress
basically would give away all of its ability to control the content of a trade
agreement and to control what's in a bill that would come to Congress. So, if
there is Fast Track, say, for TPP, President Obama could sign the agreement
before Congress votes, regardless of what the contents are and whether or not
it meets what Congress said should be in there—and the U.S. Congress, under the
Constitution, has exclusive authority over trade; despite that, delegate it
away—president would be able to sign it before it was voted on and railroad it
through Congress, legislation written by the executive branch, not amendable in
congressional committee, packed with who knows what other things that you
wouldn’t want have going through Congress, yes-or-no vote on the floor of the
House 60 days after it’s submitted, 90 days in the Senate, no amendments
allowed, limited debate. It is literally like a legislative luge run.
And it delegates away all of the powers for Congress to have
checks and balances against the executive branch, using "trade
negotiations" to rewrite wide swaths of U.S. non-trade law. Now here’s the
thing. It’s gotten so unpopular, Fast Track, with Democrats and Republicans,
that in the last 18 years since NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, it’s
only ever been in effect for five years. So Obama, when he was a candidate,
said he’d replace it—a more democratic, open way to do trade agreements. So,
basically, a trade agreement could pass—if it was good, you wouldn’t need this
extraordinary, obscene procedure. Only bad trade agreements need the Fast Track.
But now he’s back asking for Congress to actually give him this extraordinary
delegation of its authorities, and, frankly, giving away their ability to
represent us and our interests.
And that’s going to be the knockdown, drag-out trade fight
that’s going to start next week. Legislation to establish Fast Track will be
submitted. Congress has to actively give away this authority. So, if this does
not sound like a good idea to you, make sure your member of the House of
Representatives, Democrats and Republicans alike—151 Democrats, 27 Republicans
have already said, "Basta! No more Fast Track." If a majority says
no, we’re not going to have railroading of these bad trade agreements. And for
more details on the history of Fast Track, you can go to TradeWatch.org, our
website. And among other things, I have a new book on the history of Fast Track
and what’s a better way of doing trade policy.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to Lori Wallach of Public Citizen.
When we come back from break, we’ll also go down to San Cristóbal de las Casas
in Chiapas, Mexico, to the heart of, well, where the Zapatistas rose up 20
years ago. Stay with us.
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Texas Student: After Reporting Rape, I Was Accused of
"Public Lewdness," Sent to Disciplinary School
We begin today’s show with a shocking story about a Texas
teenager named Rachel Bradshaw-Bean, who was accused of "public
lewdness" and removed from her high school after she reported being raped
in the band room. Her rapist was punished by being sent to a disciplinary
school. Bradshaw-Bean was sent there too. She said she was treated "like a
prisoner" for reporting the crime. The incident occurred in 2010, but it
is now getting national attention after Bradshaw-Bean decided to speak publicly
about being raped and about what happened next. In the summer of 2012, the
Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights ruled that the school had
violated Title IX, the federal law prohibiting gender discrimination in
education. We speak to Bradshaw-Bean and Sandra Park, a senior attorney with
the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. "What we
know about rape in this country is that half of the women who are raped are
under the age of 18, so we are talking about girls, and a significant number of
those sexual assaults are occurring in schools," Park says. "It’s
vitally important that school administrators and police really understand their
obligations to respond to the violence and not turn around and penalize the
victim like they did in Rachel’s case."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show with a shocking story about a
Texas teenager who was accused of public lewdness and removed from her high
school after she reported being raped in the band room at her school. It’s
Henderson High School in East Texas. Her rapist was punished by being sent to a
disciplinary school. She was, too. She said she was treated, quote, "like
a prisoner" for reporting the crime. The incident occurred in 2010, but
it’s now getting national attention after Rachel Bradshaw-Bean decided to speak
publicly about being raped and what happened next.
Together with the ACLU, Rachel and her family have launched a
Department of Education investigation into Henderson High School. In the summer
of 2012, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights ruled the school
had violated Title IX, the federal law prohibiting gender discrimination in
education. It also found the school had retaliated against Rachel by failing to
provide, quote, "a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason" for
banishing her to the disciplinary school.
For more, we go directly to Houston, Texas, where we’re joined
by Rachel Bradshaw-Bean herself. We’re also joined here in a very cold New York
by Sandra Park, a senior attorney with the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project.
Democracy Now! reached out to Henderson High School but was told the school and
its administrative offices are currently closed for the holidays. We also
reached out to the Henderson Police Department, which declined to comment,
saying only that the case has been referred to the district attorney’s office.
And we reached out to Rusk County DA Michael Jimerson, who declined to join us
on our program, saying he had nothing further to add.
We welcome our guests to Democracy Now! But we go right to
Houston to Rachel Bradshaw-Bean. Rachel, why don’t you start at the beginning?
And I know this is very painful. Though it is three years later, it stays with
you forever. Talk about what happened to you.
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: Well, I was a senior in high school, and I
was in the band. I played baritone. And I’m not going to go through, of course,
you know, details, but after I was raped in the band room, I immediately went
to the bathroom to clean myself up after what had happened. And then I went
directly to a band director’s room, office, and told him what had happened. And
I told him that I was—didn’t really want to tell anybody, and I was fearful.
And he wanted me to confront my attacker. And from there, I went to a Key Club
meeting, and I told a friend, but, you know, we didn’t know what to do or what
to say. And then I had went to a band boosters’ meeting with my parents that
night, and they didn’t know what happened. I hadn’t told them. And I just went
to—I went to my bed that night, and I was just, you know, up all night thinking
about it.
And Tuesday, I decided not to go to school. And Wednesday, I
went back to school, and I confided in one other friend, because I had this
feeling that I should. And I’m glad I did. And we went to another band
director, hoping that it would be taken care of more seriously. And it was. It
was taken care of very professionally by the band director, and he took me to
the principal.
AMY GOODMAN: What happened when you went to the principal?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: I was sat down, and I was asked questions.
Some questions I didn’t feel comfortable answering. It was kind of like an
interrogation. But it was—it was pretty awkward, and some very sensitive
questions were asked. They put me in another principal’s office and shut the
door and told me that I wasn’t allowed to come out and that they were going to
contact my parents. And I don’t know how long I waited, but it took a while.
Then we went to the Rusk County Advocacy Center, where they did a—like a—I
forget what it’s called. They did the—
AMY GOODMAN: Rape test?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: The rape kit.
AMY GOODMAN: Uh-huh. And then talk about what happened.
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: Well, we went through—we went through a
psychological, you know, interview, and then I went through the actual physical
rape kit. And I was told that the lacerations were consistent with rape and—by
the actual medical person. And then, the next day, my parents were called to
the police station, and they were told that I was—it was public lewdness, which
I had—which had happened, and that I was going to be put in a disciplinary
alternative education program that our school offers.
AMY GOODMAN: That you were going to be put?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: What happened to your accused rapist?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: He was also put in the same disciplinary
school as I was. And that was it.
AMY GOODMAN: Did they explain why you were being punished?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: They just told me that—you know, I wasn’t
even told. It was my parents. I was never spoken—I never spoke to the—I never
spoke to anyone after that, not even the principal or any kind of public
official.
AMY GOODMAN: How did you respond to this charge of public
lewdness? Or, if you weren’t told it was public lewdness, how did you respond
to being put in a disciplinary school, removed from your own high school as a
senior?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: I was, of course, upset. I don’t really know
what feelings I had. I was emotionally numb for a while. I didn’t know who to
blame. I didn’t know how to feel or what to think. I know I was angry, but I
didn’t know how to—I didn’t know how to express it rationally. I didn’t know
how to deal with it. Even though—you know, even though I thought I knew how to,
it was just difficult for those emotions to come out.
AMY GOODMAN: Rachel, just to understand, if you were put in this
disciplinary school, and your rapist was, were you going to school with him?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: I was. I had to—I had to see him every
day, multiple times.
AMY GOODMAN: Was he arrested?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: No.
AMY GOODMAN: So this was 2010. It’s now—
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: Yes, ma’am.
AMY GOODMAN: —the beginning of 2014. Why—when did you come
forward to speak publicly about this?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: I never reached out to speak publicly, but
I knew that if I had the chance to speak publicly about it, that I would take
that opportunity to help other people that have gone through this or have
issues speaking to anyone about difficulties they’re going through at school.
AMY GOODMAN: And what has been the response since you’ve come
forward? You first went and spoke on NBC News, is that right, at the—in
December, just a week or two ago?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: Yes, ma’am. The response was overwhelming.
I looked at the comments and people that would contact me, and I haven’t had
anyone contact me that was negative, but I’ve had several people that had their
own story that they wished they would have told someone. And I wish they would
have. But there’s nothing we can do about that. And so, I’ve been able to speak
with different people about what’s happened to them and how it was handled, or
just them not coming forward with something and how it—how it affects them now.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to read comments of Rusk County District
Attorney Michael Jimerson about your case. Speaking to NBC, he said, quote,
"In cases like this, you can either substantiate or not substantiate the
claims. We broke it down with her version of events and his. Her claims could
not be substantiated. At the end of the day, I just know that objectively,
there was almost no chance of a conviction. As a prosecutor, I have to be
vigilant about the cases I pursue." He also said that Rachel had used
language that, quote, "implied consensual sex instead of forcible
rape" in the interview with the forensic specialist. Rachel, can you
respond to what he said?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: Yes. I was talking about consensual sex
whenever I had lost my virginity. And that wasn’t something I was proud of.
That’s not something that I stand for or I believe in. And it was taken out of
context. I don’t remember speaking about, you know, having consensual sex with
the person that raped me.
AMY GOODMAN: So he was referring to that—
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: I wouldn’t have gone—
AMY GOODMAN: —word "consensual" sex, but you’re saying
that’s not how you described what happened to you as a result of what he did to
you in the band room.
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: No, ma’am, that was not consensual sex at
all.
AMY GOODMAN: Sandra Park, you’re with the ACLU. As you listen to
Rachel’s story, can you talk about this? Can you tell us how common this is?
She was a senior in high school. She reports a rape, and she is put in a
disciplinary school—next to her accused rapist.
SANDRA PARK: Well, obviously, it was a serious violation of
Rachel’s rights, and common sense, honestly. I mean, when we have set up a
system where we want rape victims to come forward and report the violence they
experience, to turn around and then actually punish the victim for having done
that reporting is just absolutely ludicrous and undermines the public trust in
our police system and our schools.
Unfortunately, what we know about rape in this country is that
half of the women who are raped are under the age of 18. So we are talking
about girls. And a significant number of those sexual assaults are occurring in
schools. Obviously, a lot of those sexual assaults are not reported. But what
we know about reports is about 3,800 are reported in public schools in a year.
I mean, so that’s a significant number, but just a small percentage of the
total number of sexual assaults that are occurring at schools. And so it’s
vitally important that school administrators and police really understand their
obligations to respond to the violence and not turn around and penalize the
victim like they did in Rachel’s case.
AMY GOODMAN: Sandra, can you talk about how you got involved in
Rachel’s case?
SANDRA PARK: Sure. So, after Rachel and her family started
undergoing this terrible experience and she was placed in the disciplinary
program, they reached out to us for legal assistance. And so, the ACLU, as well
as our Texas affiliate, worked very hard to have Rachel transferred from that
disciplinary program, in which she had been placed with her attacker, into a
regular high school so she could graduate on time. And after that, we filed a
complaint with the Office for Civil Rights at the federal Department of
Education, alleging that Rachel’s Title IX rights had been violated.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain Title IX. If anyone knows what it is, they
think of it related to girls’ sports.
SANDRA PARK: Mm-hmm, that’s right. So, Title IX has been on the
books for 40 years. It prohibits discrimination based on gender in education.
It applies K-through-12, as well as universities. And when we’re talking about
sex discrimination, it applies to school sports, but it also applies to sexual
violence and harassment in schools. And schools have a duty, when they know
about or should know about sexual violence occurring, to prevent it, to address
it and to actually help protect the student so that she can learn in a safe
environment.
AMY GOODMAN: As you listen to Rachel’s story, talk about what
went wrong all along the way after the actual alleged rape that Rachel was
talking about took place.
SANDRA PARK: Yeah, so here there were a series of serious
mistakes that were made both by the school and, we also think, by law
enforcement. So, as Rachel recounted, when she first reported the violence
right after the incident to the band director, he told her to go work it out
with the perpetrator. And obviously that’s not something we should ever expect
a rape victim to have to do. And then, when she went to the principal, the
principal immediately reported it to law enforcement, which was appropriate.
But at that point the school took no further steps to investigate the assault.
And so, once the police, after only one day, decided to close the case—and I do
think that was very questionable in this situation, where we had a rape kit
that supported Rachel story—to then just take the police’s word and not do an
investigation, and instead discipline the victim, was a serious flaw and
mistake by the school.
AMY GOODMAN: Let’s talk a little more about rape on college
campuses and the lack of punishment for those who attack other students. In
2010, the Center for Public Integrity released a year-long investigation that
found, quote, "Students found 'responsible' for sexual assaults on campus
often face little or no punishment from school judicial systems, while their
victims’ lives are frequently turned upside down. ... Administrators believe
the sanctions administered by the college judiciary system are a thoughtful way
to hold abusive students accountable, but the Center’s probe has discovered
that 'responsible' findings rarely lead to tough punishments like
expulsion—even in cases involving alleged repeat offenders." Sandra Park?
SANDRA PARK: Yes, unfortunately, I think we’ve seen that same
allegation made with respect to many universities around the country. The ACLU
recently filed a complaint on behalf of a student at Carnegie Mellon who had
gone through that disciplinary process. Her attacker was found guilty of
violating the sexual assault policy, but all that was ordered in her case was a
counseling assessment for the attacker and a continuation of a no-contact
order, which allowed them to be in all of the same classes. So, we do see this
again and again, that the process itself—even if the process might be adequate,
the actual remedies don’t protect the student.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about other cases you know of in high school.
SANDRA PARK: Sure. So, you know, Rachel’s case is one in Texas.
There was another case in Texas from a few years earlier with a cheerleader who
had reported being sexually assaulted by an athlete. And when she then refused
to do individual cheers for that athlete, she was kicked off of the squad. And
so, we see another example of retaliating against a rape victim after she had
reported the assault.
There’s another case pending recently where the Office for Civil
Rights also found that a high school in Michigan, Forest Hills, had violated a
student’s rights when she had gone forward to report to the principal that she
had been assaulted. He then discouraged her from going to the police, took no
action. In fact, the attacker in that case assaulted another girl two weeks
later.
AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask you about another well-known recent case
of sexual violence in schools. In November, four school officials were charged
in connection with the cover-up of the rape of a 16-year-old girl by two high
school football players in Steubenville, Ohio. The case sparked a national
controversy following the emergence of images and social media postings from
the night of the assault, including one picture of the defendants holding the
victim over a basement floor. In November, the superintendent of Steubenville
schools was charged with evidence tampering, obstruction of justice, and
falsification. Two coaches and a school principal were also charged. This is
Attorney General Mike DeWine.
OHIO ATTORNEY GENERAL MIKE DEWINE: This community has suffered a
great deal. This community has suffered so much. I personally feel for the good
citizens of this community and for what they have endured. And I know they
desperately need to be able to put this matter behind them. What we must take
away from these incidents is this: All of us, all of us, no matter where we
live, owe it to each other to be better neighbors, better classmates, better
friends, better parents, better citizens.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. A fifth
school employee was indicted a month earlier. Sandra Park?
SANDRA PARK: Well, I think Steubenville made headlines because
what we saw there was a systemic failure by the police, by schools—by the
school, to actually deal with the sexual assault. And there’s unfortunately an
attitude of sweeping it under the rug.
AMY GOODMAN: Rachel Bradshaw-Bean, we give you the last word.
You’re very brave to have come out. And obviously a lot of attention now is
being brought on your case. What do you want to see happen now? Do you want
your—the man that you are charging with rape, the high school student that you
ended up being put in a school with, sitting next to—do you want him arrested?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: I haven’t made a decision on that. I was
asked that, you know, what my priorities were, and that—I had so much going on
that I hadn’t thought about it. And it’s an ethical question. And the only
reason that I would want him, if I decided to, was so that this wouldn’t happen
to another person, at least one person.
AMY GOODMAN: And what message do you have for other young people
who are in your situation?
RACHEL BRADSHAW-BEAN: Well, they’re not alone. To go—I would go
to a counselor, if anything. If I were to, you know, change what I did, I would
go—definitely go to a counselor. And they are trained to handle that. And I
know it’s—I can’t really tell them to go to their parents, because I didn’t go
to my parents. And I don’t know what’s most comfortable for them, but someone
that they can trust. And just take that leap of faith, because every single person
is important, whether you feel it or not. And it’s—it is an emotional roller
coaster, but they’ll be happy that they chose to tell someone.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you both for being with us,
Rachel Bradshaw-Bean, for joining us from Houston, and also thank you so much
to Sandra Park, who is with the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we go back 20 years to
the North American Free Trade Agreement. This is Democracy Now!,
democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. It’s a very cold day here in New
York and on the whole East Coast. I hear in Maine it’s negative 30 degrees. A
shout out to the students at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. Stay
with us.
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"We Will No Longer Stay Silent to This Classism": NYC
Youth Poet Laureate Ramya Ramana
At Wednesday’s inauguration for Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York
City’s 2014 Youth Poet Laureate Ramya Ramana read a poem titled "New York
City," dedicated to Bill de Blasio. Ramana is a youth activist and a
first-year student at St. John’s University.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: During the inauguration ceremony, New York City’s
2014 Youth Poet Laureate Ramya Ramana read a poem titled "New York
City" and dedicated to Bill de Blasio. Ramana is a youth activist and a
first-year student at St. John’s University.
RAMYA RAMANA: A constellated skyscraper moving gracefully to
jazz beat, finding the Gil Scott-Heron in all her footwork, gripping the
streetlights like an eclipse of hymnals, this is home. The lost voices, the
heart’s devotion to beat and pulse, slow-dancing colonels, home to hustle, home
to work hard, dream harder, home to move in silence, let success shatter the
glass of hostage echoes New York City—not lights, not Broadway, not Times
Square. It is single mother donating her last meal’s worth of money to church.
It is the faith in that heart that makes a dead dream worth resurrecting. It is
coffee-colored children playing hopscotch on what is left of a sidewalk. It is
chalk-outlined, colonized map on a street as dark as the bones of the dead.
This we call holy. This we call tough skin, thick-boned. This is New York.
We will no longer stay silent to this classism. No more
brownstones and brown skin playing tug-of-war with a pregnant air hovering over
them like an aura of lost children. No more colored boy robbed of their
innocence. This city always will be the foundation of this country. We are
root. We are backbone. We brown, we black, we yellow, we white, we young, we
collage of creatures stomping to be reminded of the mammal inside of us. We
chance, we deserve, us opportunity, us new mayor, us new beginning, like
dancing cocoons, us hope, us fight, us happen, us love, us some good human, us
happy, we happy, we happy with change. It is a constant baptism to remind us of
our holy. We welcome, we family, we congratulate Mayor Bill de Blasio. We are
so very honored and pleased to have you. And the congregation says:
CROWD: Amen!
RAMYA RAMANA: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: New York City’s 2014 Youth Poet Laureate Ramya
Ramana reading her poem titled "New York City," dedicated to the new
mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org,
The War and Peace Report. When we come back, a national broadcast exclusive:
the return of civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart, jailed for four years. She
was released, determined by a judge for compassionate release. We’ll be back in
a minute.
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Zapatista Uprising 20 Years Later: How Indigenous Mexicans Stood
Up Against NAFTA "Death Sentence"
On the same day the North American Free Trade Agreement went
into effect on Jan. 1, 1994, the Zapatista National Liberation Army and people
of Chiapas declared war on the Mexican government, saying that NAFTA meant
death to indigenous peoples. They took over five major towns in Chiapas with
fully armed women and men. The uprising was a shock, even for those who for
years worked in the very communities where the rebel army had been secretly
organizing. To learn about the impact of the uprising 20 years later and the
challenges they continue to face, we speak with Peter Rosset, professor of
rural social movements in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War
and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, as we mark the 20th anniversary of the
signing of NAFTA. That’s the North American Free Trade Agreement. We’re turning
to the Zapatista uprising. On the same day NAFTA went into effect, January 1st,
’94, the Zapatistas declared war on the Mexican government, saying that NAFTA
meant death to indigenous peoples. This is Zapatista Subcomandante Marcos
speaking in the 1990s.
SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS: [translated] We are creating a general
profile of what civil Zapatistas could look like, taking the essentials of
armed Zapatismo to recognize not taking power, not wanting to hold public
office. And the struggle continues for democracy, freedom and justice, and
demanding that the government place itself at the service of society, to change
the relationship in Mexican society between rulers and the ruled.
AMY GOODMAN: Joining us via Democracy Now! video stream from San
Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico, is Peter Rosset. He’s lived there
since the '90s, was part of the New Year's celebrations this week that marked
the Zapatista uprising. Peter Rosset is a professor on rural social movements
and agro-ecology at ECOSUR Center for Research and Graduate Studies in San
Cristóbal, also works with the global peasant and family farm movement, La Via
Campesina. Still with us, Lori Wallach of Public Citizen; their report,
"NAFTA at 20." We’ll link to it at our website.
Peter Rosset, talk about the celebrations this week on the 20th
anniversary of the Zapatista uprising, the same day NAFTA went into effect.
PETER ROSSET: Well, good morning. The Zapatistas control about a
third of the territory of the state of Chiapas, which they organized into five
autonomous regions. And each one of those regions has a capital, a capital town
or seat of administrative government called a caracol, which means
"snail" in Spanish. So, in each of the five caracoles on New Year’s
Eve, they had a 20 anniversary celebration with thousands of people from
Zapatista communities, often wearing ski masks or bandannas covering their
faces, dancing all night to live music, with thousands of people who came from
all over Mexico and all over the world, in fact—from Europe, from Africa, from
the Middle East, from Asia, from the United States—to participate in this
celebration, a celebration on one hand of 20 years since the Zapatistas said
"Basta" to NAFTA and neoliberal economic policies, but also to
celebrate all the things that the Zapatistas have achieved in those 20 years in
terms of constructing an alternative form of autonomous self-government in the
territory that they control.
AMY GOODMAN: I want—
PETER ROSSET: It was very festive, and there’s a huge amount of
energy here in Chiapas right now.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to another clip from the documentary
Zapatista, when Subcomandante Marcos explains why the indigenous people of
Chiapas rose up. After him, we hear from Comandante Zebedeo.
SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS: [translated] The indigenous of Mexico were
considered worse than animals, as if they were objects, as if they were rocks,
plants, something that can or cannot be. So what the indigenous must do is
fight to regain a space within society and to plant again the concept of
dignity, which is not something that is understood in the head. It is something
by which you live and die, something that is felt within the chest, within the
essence of the human being.
COMANDANTE ZEBEDEO: [translated] We have never had these
rights—freedom of expression, the right to organize, the freedom to set prices
of our produce. When we produce something, it is the buyer who sets the price
of our product, and that is where the exploitation begins. They pay us as
little as one peso for our products, but don’t consider the work and sacrifice
which we make in the bulk and the weight of our work. And this costs us work.
It costs us hunger. It costs us the little money we have invested there. And
when it doesn’t produce, when it does not bear fruit, we don’t benefit. Others
benefit, and the true workers remain the same, with their arms crossed and
their land exploited.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Comandante Zebedeo; before that,
Subcomandante Marcos, from the film Zapatista, produced by Big Noise Films.
Peter Rosset, if you can talk about—elaborate on what they were both saying.
PETER ROSSET: Well, what they’re saying is that indigenous
people in Mexico, since the Spanish conquest 500 years ago, as they said, have
been treated almost like animals in a very racist society—the poorest of the
poor, the most excluded, most indigenous communities without running water,
without electricity, without effective education or healthcare. And that’s one
of the reasons why the Zapatistas rose up. They also rose up because they knew
that that was going to go from bad to worse with NAFTA and with free trade.
I think the most important thing now, 20 years later, is that in
one small area, the southeast of Mexico, where they control territory, they’ve
managed to create a different system—a small vision of what an alternative
society would look like with collective and rotating self-government, with
their own autonomous education system, autonomous healthcare system, production
cooperatives and societies, the recovery of the local economy, their own system
of administration of justice—in other words, their own legal system, which is
much fairer than the federal Mexican legal system—tremendous promotion of young
people and of women into positions of importance in the self-government
process. So, it’s really exciting to see what is possible to achieve if you control
your own territory and if you have a different vision of how society could be
organized.
AMY GOODMAN: After the Zapatista uprising, I went down to
Chiapas, and I was able to attend the first news conference that Subcomandante
Marcos and the Zapatistas held, and they only allowed in Mexico radio
journalists. I mean, I was not from Mexico, but I did get in. They weren’t
allowing in television, and that was because, Marcos said, of the way
television and, overall, the media covered the Zapatista uprising. Peter
Rosset, can you talk about the role of the media in Mexico and internationally
in how they give voice to the grassroots or not?
PETER ROSSET: Well, I think we face in Mexico and in the
world—in the United States, as well, and in many countries—what Subcomandante
Marcos has called "media terrorism," and that the mainstream media,
what it does is it frightens people with unexplained images of threats and
violence, making people support right-wing governments and repressive measures,
and never really reports on what’s going on in the grassroots on what are the
real causes of problems, what are real solutions, what do local alternatives
look like when they’re actually functioning. We never hear anything like that.
And I think the Zapatistas, amongst many other social movements, are fed up
with that. And so, for example, in the New Year’s Eve celebration, they said it
was open to everybody in the world except the news media, because they’re tired
of the distorted and bad coverage. Of course, the media was there, and some of
the alternative media, like Democracy Now! and like many other sources of alternative
media, do have much more balanced and accurate coverage, but we don’t see that
accurate coverage in the mainstream media, neither in Mexico nor anywhere else.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, when I was at that news conference, I got
to ask a question, and I asked about the role of women in the leadership. You
know, this was the first time that the Zapatistas were out in public, when they
walked into the Cathedral of Peace in San Cristóbal de las Casas—of course,
their faces were covered—that they were in the leadership. And some of the
mainstream media afterwards, when I came out, came over to me and said,
"What did you ask?" I said, "I asked about the women." They
said, "You had one question, and you asked about the women?" Well,
it’s interesting. I want to play some footage from a recent gathering in
Chiapas marking the 20th anniversary of the Zapatista uprising. This is
Zapatista Commander Hortensia.
COMANDANTE HORTENSIA: [translated] Now is the time to strengthen
and globalize the resistance and the rebellion, because we know that these
lying thieves and criminals who call themselves the government will never stop
attacking us. They will never stop persecuting us. They will never stop
incarcerating us and trying to put an end to us and erase us from history. But
they will not be able to, because our struggle has its just cause: democracy,
liberty and justice. From Caracol II in Oventic, Resistance and Rebellion for
Humanity, the high zone of Chiapas, January 1st, 2014.
AMY GOODMAN: Special thanks to Andalusia Knoll for this directly
from Chiapas. Peter Rosset, the revolutionary role of women in this uprising
over this last 20 years?
PETER ROSSET: Well, right from the beginning, before the
Zapatistas even really came public, they already had a revolutionary law of
women. And what they say is that their goal is that women should have 50
percent of all positions of authority in the self-governing process. We know
that women are 50 percent of the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Council,
which is the maximum authority in the Zapatista movement. And things that one
can see just in Zapatista territory is a whole generation of young indigenous
women who have graduated from the Zapatista autonomous school system who are
now, from 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 years old and who are in positions of
authority, who are participating in what they call the Good Government
Councils, the Juntas de Buen Gobierno, who are articulate.
And something—it’s a small anecdote, but that really moved me
the other day, a Zapatista agro-ecology promoter was in my office, and he was
talking about how the young women, indigenous women now in the indigenous
communities in Zapatista territory are different from indigenous women before,
because, he said, they no longer look at the floor when you talk to them. They
look you directly in the eye. And I think that’s a small thing, but it really
sums up how Zapatistas—the Zapatismo is changing the role of women in
indigenous society here in Chiapas.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, we just have 30 seconds, Peter Rosset, but
the role of the current obstacles faced by Zapatistas today?
PETER ROSSET: Well, I think that the obstacles faced by the
Zapatistas today, specifically, for them, are the counterinsurgency campaign
the Mexican government carries out against them, which includes a negative
media campaign, but also the problems that all of us in Mexico face. There have
been tremendous reforms pushed through by the right-wing president, Enrique
Peña Nieto, which are basically rolling back the remaining positive things left
over from the Mexican revolution. So we’re facing very difficult times here in
Mexico.
AMY GOODMAN: Peter Rosset, I want to thank you for being with
us, professor on rural social movements and agro-ecology at the ECOSUR Center
for Research and Graduate Studies in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico, also
works with the global peasant and family farm movement, La Via Campesina. And
thanks so much to Lori Wallach of Public Citizen. We’ll link to that report,
"NAFTA at 20," at democracynow.org.
-------
HEADLINES:
Sunni Militants Lay Siege to Key Cities in Iraq
Sunni militants laid siege to two key cities in western Iraq on
Thursday, liberating prisoners, occupying buildings and setting police stations
on fire. The Iraqi military has pushed back with air strikes. Iraq is embroiled
in a sectarian crisis fueled by the civil war in neighboring Syria. The recent
attacks took place in Anbar province, the site of the 2007 "surge" of
U.S. troops and an area where nearly a third of U.S. war casualties lost their
lives. More than 7,800 Iraqi civilians died last year, a return to levels seen
during the height of the U.S. occupation.
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U.N. Warns Global Crises Testing Limits of Humanitarian System
The United Nations is warning spiraling crises in the Central
African Republic, South Sudan and Syria are testing the limits of the global
humanitarian system. U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said more than
one-in-six Central Africans are now internally displaced due to the violence
there. In South Sudan, nearly 200,000 people have been driven from their homes
in recent weeks. Amos said the global picture has worsened since last month
when she projected a record $12.9 billion would be needed to reach people in
more than 50 countries.
Valerie Amos: "Developments in the Central African Republic
and South Sudan have already added tens of thousands of people to the list of
those who need our help and support. And with the ongoing emergencies in Syria,
the Philippines and elsewhere, our collective response capacity and our
resources are being stretched to the limit. Millions of people have begun this
year internally displaced or as refugees, dependent on humanitarian
organizations for a place to sleep, food to eat and for basic healthcare."
UNICEF, meanwhile, is warning attacks against children have
reached unprecedented levels in the Central African Republic with 16 confirmed
killed, at least two of them beheaded. Children are being recruited into armed
groups and targeted in brutal revenge attacks.
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South Sudan Peace Talks Begin; Rebels Forcibly Recruit Civilians
The military in South Sudan says rebels are forcibly recruiting
civilians in a bid to seize the capital of Juba even as peace talks opened in
Ethiopia. The rebels already control the strategic city of Bor, the capital of
the oil-producing Jonglei state. The United States has been evacuating staff
from the embassy in Juba amid continuing fears of a full-blown civil war.
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Bomb Blast Kills 5 South of Beirut
In Lebanon, a powerful car bomb hit a neighborhood south of the
capital Beirut Thursday, killing at least five people. The area is a stronghold
of the Shiite group, Hezbollah.
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U.S. Senators Pressure Afghan President on Troop Deal, Prisoner
Release
The United States is continuing to pressure Afghanistan to sign
a deal keeping thousands of U.S. troops there beyond this year. On Thursday, a
group of U.S. senators met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to urge him to
stop delaying the bilateral security agreement. Republican Sen. John McCain of
Arizona said they had made progress.
Sen. John McCain: "I am convinced that as a result of our
long meeting with President Karzai we have narrowed those differences, and I
believe that we can look forward to the signing of the BSA (bilateral security
agreement) and an implementation of it sooner rather than later."
The United States is also pressuring Afghanistan not to release
a group of 88 prisoners from Bagram, the prison north of Kabul that became
known for the abuse of prisoners under U.S. control. Afghanistan has already
released 562 prisoners and plans to release the others, saying there is not
enough evidence to keep detaining them. But the United States says the
prisoners were involved in killing U.S. troops and Afghan civilians.
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Cambodia: Police Open Fire on Striking Garment Workers
In Cambodia, police opened fire on striking garment workers
south of the capital today, killing at least three people. Witnesses said
police armed with assault rifles shot at protesters hurling rocks and other
projectiles. Workers have launched a week-long strike demanding a minimum wage
of $160 a month, which is double the current rate.
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Former Rwandan Spy Chief Murdered in South Africa
Rwanda’s former spy chief has been found murdered in South
Africa. Patrick Karegeya had fled to South Africa in 2007 after being accused
of plotting a coup against Rwandan President Paul Kagame. His body was found on
a bed in an upscale hotel in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Rwanda’s opposition
party has accused President Kagame of ordering his death.
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U.S. Transfers Last 3 Uyghur Prisoners from Guantánamo
The United States has transferred the last three Chinese Uyghur
prisoners from Guantánamo to Slovakia five years after a judge ruled their
detention was unlawful. The Uyghurs are members of a Muslim minority that faces
persecution in China. They had been held for more than a decade without any
evidence of ties to terror groups. Nineteen other Uyghur prisoners previously
held at Guantánamo have already been resettled in five other countries. On
Thursday, State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf hailed the transfers
as part of a push to close Guantánamo.
Marie Harf: "The U.S. government long ago determined that
it did not seek to detain these individuals, the Uyghurs, as enemy combatants.
And in 2008, these latest ones that were released were among 17 Uyghur
detainees ordered released from Guantánamo by a U.S. federal court. We’ve long
maintained our position that we will not repatriate Uyghurs to China from
Guantánamo due to our humane treatment policies. As we’ve also said, we’re
taking all possible steps to reduce the detainee population at Guantánamo Bay,
and it is certainly our position that these latest transfers mark an important
step in furthering that objective."
Eight other prisoners have been removed from Guantánamo since
August, but 155 remain.
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Snowstorm Blasts Eastern U.S.
A major snowstorm is blasting the midwestern and northeastern
United States, prompting flight cancellations and school closings. Nearly two
feet of snow had fallen north of Boston as of early this morning, with up to
seven inches in New York City. New York and New Jersey declared states of
emergency, advising residents to remain indoors.
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Israeli Politicians Mark New West Bank Settlements as Kerry
Arrives for Talks
Secretary of State John Kerry has returned to the Middle East in
a bid to revive peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. On the day of
Kerry’s arrival, the Israeli interior minister and a group of lawmakers
attended a ceremony marking construction of new settlement homes in the West
Bank’s Jordan Valley. All settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal
under international law, and Palestinians have warned they could derail the
talks. Kerry’s visit comes as former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is
near death. Sharon has been in a coma for years, but doctors say his condition
has declined.
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Hundreds Protest After Teenage Rape Victim Burned to Death in
India
In India, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest the
death of a 16-year-old rape victim who was set on fire. The victim was
gang-raped in October. The next day, she was gang-raped again while returning
from the police station after reporting the crime. Her family said they faced
constant harassment from the rapists. Last week, the victim, who was pregnant,
was set on fire, reportedly by two of her attackers. She died this week after
identifying the men. At a protest Thursday, a lawmaker blamed authorities in
the state of West Bengal.
Brinda Karat: "I stress that the government is answerable
for the girl, who would have been present among us today if the West Bengal
administration had exercised the laws properly. We do not seek anything else.
But where is the law? A girl was gang-raped twice, and still you are unable to
punish the accused. Why?"
The young woman’s death came two days after the first
anniversary of the death of another woman who was gang-raped on a New Delhi
bus. That case ignited the country and drew attention to sexual violence around
the world.
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Catholic Official Released from Prison After Appeal in Sex-Abuse
Case
In Pennsylvania, a high-ranking Catholic official convicted in a
landmark child sex abuse case has been released on bail after his conviction
was overturned. Monsignor William Lynn was found guilty in 2012 of hiding child
molestation by transferring predatory priests to unsuspecting congregations. An
appeals court threw out his conviction last week, saying he was tried under a
law that did not apply to him. Lynn was released on Thursday after 18 months in
prison. Prosecutors are appealing.
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California Court Lets Undocumented Man Become Lawyer
In a victory for immigrant rights, California’s highest court
has ruled an undocumented man can become a lawyer. In a unanimous decision, the
court ruled law school graduate Sergio Garcia can practice law. Garcia still
cannot be legally hired by an employer, but he says he plans to open his own
law firm.
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Bratton Sworn In as New York City Police Commissioner
In New York City, William Bratton has been publicly sworn in as
the commissioner of the New York City Police Department. He returns to the job
after heading the NYPD in the mid-1990s when he embraced the controversial
"broken-windows" strategy of cracking down on low-level offenses.
Bratton was appointed by new Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has vowed to curb the
police practice of stop-and-frisk, a tactic Bratton actually expanded while
heading the Los Angeles police. On Thursday, Bratton said he would ensure stops
are performed constitutionally.
William Bratton: "The mayor has made it quite clear, and
I’m reinforcing that, that the concerns about a progressive mayor coming in,
that basically, reining in the police, he has made it quite clear that his
concerns are around the issue, stop, question and frisk, and that in all things
we want to do it constitutionally — you’re going to hear this ad nauseam from
me — constitutionally, respectfully, compassionately, because that’s what it’s
all about."
In August, a federal judge ruled the stop-and-frisk was
unconstitutional and ordered reforms, saying police had relied on a
"policy of indirect racial profiling." De Blasio has said he will
drop the city’s appeal of that ruling.
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Report: World’s Top 300 Wealthiest People Got Richer Last Year
A new analysis shows the world’s top 300 richest people became
even richer last year, increasing their collective net worth by more than half
a trillion dollars. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the
aggregate net worth of the world’s leading billionaires was $3.7 trillion at
the end of 2013. Bill Gates, the world’s richest person, saw his fortune
increase to $78.5 billion. Gambling magnate and right-wing donor Sheldon
Adelson added more than $14 billion to his fortune last year.
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