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After Warmest Winter, Drought-Stricken California Limits Water But Exempts Thirstiest Big Growers
As California’s record drought continues, Gov. Jerry Brown has ordered residents and non-agricultural businesses to cut water use by 25 percent in the first mandatory statewide reduction in the state’s history. One group not facing restrictions under the new rules is big agriculture, which uses about 80 percent of California’s water. The group Food & Water Watch California has criticized Brown for not capping water usage by oil extraction industries and corporate farms, which grow water-intensive crops such as almonds and pistachios, most of which are exported out of state and overseas. Studies show the current drought, which has intensified over the past four years, is the worst California has seen in at least 120 years. Some suggest it is the region’s worst drought in more than a thousand years. This comes after California witnessed the warmest winter on record. We speak with environmental reporter Mark Hertsgaard, author of the book, "Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: California Governor Jerry Brown ordered residents and non-agricultural businesses to cut water use by 25 percent in the first mandatory statewide reduction in the state’s history. Ninety-eight percent of California is now suffering from drought. Governor Brown issued the executive order at the mostly snow-bare Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The nearby Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort closed for the season weeks ago due to lack of snow.
GOV. JERRY BROWN: One thing we know is we are standing on dry grass, and we should be standing in five feet of snow. That’s the way it has been. We are in an historic drought, and that demands unprecedented action. For that reason, I am issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reduction across our state.
As Californians, we have to pull together, and save water in every way we can. This executive order, which I signed today, it is long, it covers a number of different details — in fact, I have never seen one quite like it before. It is going to save water by mandating real reductions in a number of areas. It is going to affect golf courses, people’s lawns, universities, campuses, all sorts of institutions, the median with vegetation on our roads and highways. It affects all of that.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: One group not facing restrictions under the new rules is big agriculture, which uses about 80 percent of California’s water. The group Food & Water Watch California criticized Brown for not capping water usage by corporate farms that grow water-intensive crops such as almonds and pistachios, most of which are exported out of state and overseas. Adam Scow of Food and Water Watch California said, "In the midst of a severe drought, the governor continues to allow corporate farms and oil interests to deplete and pollute our precious groundwater resources." Studies show the current drought, which has intensified over the past four years, is the worst California has seen in at least 120 years. Some studies suggest it is the worst drought in the region in more than a thousand years.
AMY GOODMAN: While much of the eastern United States experienced record cold temperatures, California, as well as Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Washington each saw their hottest winter ever. In January and February temperatures were one degree Fahrenheit hotter in California than last year, which ended as the hottest year on record by nearly two degrees. Deke Arndt of the National Climatic Data Center said, "The 21st century for sure is being characterized by persistent, ubiquitous drought in the West. The projection is for that to continue," he said. We go now to San Francisco where we are joined by the environmental reporter Mark Hertsgaard. His latest story is "How Growers Gamed California’s Drought." He is also the author of the book, "Hot: Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth. Mark Hertsgaard, welcome back to Democracy Now!. Can you talk about what the governor has mandated, who is included, and who isn’t?
MARK HERTSGAARD: Sure. It’s good to be here. The new executive order by Governor Brown issued yesterday really focused mainly on the urban sector, as he mentioned in the clip you just showed us, this is going to affect golf courses, and median strips, and a number of other uses in the urban areas where he demands a 25 percent mandatory immediate cut in consumption. That means the water agencies, the public agencies in control in those areas of water supply have to deliver 25 percent cuts. What was striking about the order is that it did not require those same kind of cuts from the agriculture sector, which, in California, is the big player in water. Agriculture uses about 80 percent of all of the developed water here in the state. I should add, Amy, that Governor Brown’s spokespersons, when I contacted them last night, said that it was true that the executive order only required "plans" from these big agricultural districts, but they pointed out that the water districts have already been cut back earlier this year — both the state supplies and the federal water supplies have already been cut back by a larger amount. Nevertheless, the new executive order does focus mainly on the cities, not the countryside.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Mark, could you explain why it is — why is agriculture exempt from the orders the governor has given?
MARK HERTSGAARD: From the new orders, it’s what the — again, what the spokespersons for the governor’s say is that, look, agriculture has already taken a hit, they say a bigger hit than we are asking from urban users, and we plan to ask for more going down the road. The plans that are required under Governor Brown’s executive order from the agricultural water districts will be used, the Governor’s aids say, they will be used to be try to diminish the amount of ground water that is being consumed in the future, and that is a key thing for people to understand, that right now, when there is no rain, and we are going in and out of the fourth year of this historic drought in California — that when there is no rain, and there is not enough supply coming from the reservoirs and so forth, what happens is that the farmers basically drill deeper down under the earth to get the groundwater, the ancient groundwater that is down there. In a normal year in California, that groundwater provides about 40 percent of our water supply, but in the dry years, it’s up to 60 percent.
If you go down to the Central Valley, where most of the farming takes place, as I have on reporting trips, we are now in a kind of an agricultural arms race down there, where farmers, neighboring farmers, everyone is trying to drill deeper and deeper wells to get down and grab that groundwater, and, of course, that does favor the larger, corporate farmers over the smaller mom-and-pop operations. The big danger of that, though, and this is the real, potential doomsday scenario here in California, is that the more that you go down and use that groundwater and suck it up like a straw, the greater the danger is that you collapse those aquifers underground, that they compress, and you essentially have a situation where they are rendered barren in perpetuity, and that would be a real problem. So, we can’t keep relying on this groundwater depletion forever. There has to be a smarter way to do this.
AMY GOODMAN: When California Governor Jerry Brown announced his water restrictions Wednesday, he was joined by Frank Gehrke, the California’s Department of Water Resources. He said state’s snowpack, a major source of water for the rest of the year, is at it’s lowest level on record
FRANK GEHRKE: You are at the Phillips snow course for the April 1, 2015 measurement, and as you can clearly see, there is no snow at this location. This is the first year in its measurements going back to 1942 where this snow course has been bear, no snow at all. Unfortunately, that is what we are finding more or less statewide, where upwards of 60 percent to 70 percent of the 240 manual snow course measurements that are being made on or about April 1, are showing bare ground. This is bad news in terms of the state’s water picture.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Frank Gehrke of the California Water Department of Water Resources. Mark Hertsgaard, what is the connection between the drought we see in California now and climate change?
MARK HERTSGAARD: This is a preview of what we are going to be seeing more and more as a 21st Century unfolds. The absolute historic low in the snowpack that we’re seeing here, quite frankly, it’s quite scary, but it’s quite directly related to climate change. You mentioned, Amy, at the top of the show, we have had the hottest winter in our modern history here. Well, what that means is that the precipitation that we do get, when it lands, coming in — the storms that come in from the Pacific Ocean — and they hit the Sierra Nevada, that means that that precipitation tends to fall as rain rather than snow. The other thing, of course, is that as it’s warmer, the droughts have increased, and that means that there is less precipitation altogether. This is going to be continuing. The scientists are quite clear on that.
Historically, this region has seen droughts of 10 year duration and longer, regularly, it’s not frequent, but it’s regular, and what the scientists are telling now is that we are going to be seeing more severe, and more frequent droughts going forward. That is why so many of the water experts that I interviewed for this story in The Daily Beast, say that really what we need to be talking about is not to demonize agriculture or demonize a particular plant like almonds or broccoli, what we really need to do is to reform the incentive structure that governs the price of water and the way that we use it in California.
Right now, the experts, pretty much uniformly say that water is still priced too cheaply, especially out in the agricultural areas, and this encourages waste, which Governor Brown, quite rightly, pointed out yesterday, we can’t afford. The Governor’s Executive Order quite precisely targets the urban areas and asks for smart things; the kind of conservation measures he outlined are only sensible: fixing leaks, leaky pipes, and leaky faucets, and so forth. We can do a lot with that, but you can’t leave 80 percent of the problem off of the table by not touching the agricultural districts.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Mark, in your story, "How Growers Gamed California’s Drought," you also mention a person by the name of Stewart Reznick. Could you explain the importance of mega operations like Paramount Farms in the water crisis and also in determining the price of water?
MARK HERTSGAARD: Sure, that’s a key point. There is a lot of Californians who are suffering right now, especially farm workers. There are communities out in Central Valley, the poor communities where a lot of farm workers live, that literally don’t have water coming out of their household taps anymore. That is not the case for Mr. Stewart Reznick and a lot of bigger farmers. In face, my story in The Daily Beast started with a conference that Mr. Reznick and his pistachio company, Paramount Farms, held just last month, where they bragged, literally bragged and celebrated about the record profits that they are making on pistachios, on almonds, and not only the profits, but the record production levels, and the record acreage levels, which means that as the state has been going into drought, nevertheless agricultural interests are planting more and more acreage, new almond trees — we are growing alfalfa here which is a very thirsty crop and gets exported over to China. There are all kinds of examples of this. But, the pain is not being felt equally here.
The growers at that conference, they literally trooped out of that conference listening to Louis Armstrong saying "it’s a wonderful world," and I think the mood was captured by one grower who said, "I’ve been smiling all the way to the bank," and they played a clip from that Tom Cruise movie, "Jerry Maguire" where Cruise yells out "show me the money." Well, they are making plenty of money, some of the big farmers here, and that’s largely because they are still getting plenty of water, and, as I say, the experts say that this water is underpriced. If that if we did price it properly, which means a little bit higher, that there is enormous strides that California could be taking with water efficiency. We literally could, essentially, wipe out the effects of the drought in California — 22 percent decrease in water consumption in the agricultural areas, which would be roughly the equivalent of the amount of surface water that the farmers did not have last year because of the drought. So, there is a lot that can be technologically, but until you get the pricing right, and the political economy of this straight, we are not going to see those things.
AMY GOODMAN: What about that? As you describe Stewart Reznick, a Beverly Hills billionaire known for his agricultural — sprawling agricultural holdings — his connection to the governors of California?
MARK HERTSGAARD: Not just the governors. Mr. Reznick, as you mentioned, he’s a billionaire, he made his money, basically, by, not so much being a smart farmer, as being a smart business man and a great, great marketer. He hired Stephen Colbert to do a Super Bowl commercial for pistachios. And he has seen, as many big business people do, that you have great advantages if you throw a lot of money around in politics, and he has been a bipartisan campaign contributor to Republicans and Democrats alike — pretty much every governor — Senator Dianne Feinstein, all of them, have been recipients of Mr. Reznick’s campaign contributions.
So, in a way, he’s kind of the example of what is happening now down in the Central Valley, where if you drive down up Interstate 5, which is the main highway connecting Los Angeles and Sacramento and and San Francisco, for that matter, you will see signs along the road, that thousands and thousands of motorists pass every day, blaming Congress, and specifically Nancy Pelosi, by the way, blaming Congress for the supposed dust bowl that is happening there. But, there is a picture that really puts the lie to that; some of those signs are put up right in front of newly planted almond trees, and almonds are extremely thirsty crops. So, even as these farmers trying to shift the blame to the federal government, they, themselves, are planting some of the thirstiest crops you can imagine down there in the middle of a drought.
The point here is not to demonize agriculture, or almonds for that matter. The point is, let’s get the pricing right, and let’s treat everyone fairly. We can have a prosperous agricultural sector in California, and we need to. Agriculture is major — California is an agricultural superpower; it produces half of the fruits and vegetables and nuts that are consumed in the United States, but we can’t keep doing that at the expense of our long-term water future.
AMY GOODMAN: And very quickly, we have 30 seconds, what does this 25 percent reduction mean, practically, in your lives in California?
MARK HERTSGAARD: Well, it depends on how it’s done. There is a lot of waste that happens in the urban sector, too, so, in the short term people are being told shorter showers, water your lawn only twice a week. Restaurants are told only serve water if the customer explicitly asks for it, but, we are going to have to do more, and the most important thing again is to stop wasting, fix faucets, fix the pipes.
AMY GOODMAN: How is this enforced?
MARK HERTSGAARD: That is one of the problems. So, the San Jose Mercury News pointed out that a lot of these regulations are difficult to enforce because you have essentially got to go into people’s homes and businesses, but that’s the job of the water agency, and that is what Governor Brown was trying to do yesterday, is to call on the states to say, look, we have got to step up and do this, and everyone needs to pull together. Everyone should pull together, but they need to pull together equally.
AMY GOODMAN: Mark Hertsgaard, we want to thank you for being with us, environmental reporter. His latest piece in The Daily Beast we’ll link to, "How Growers Gamed California’s Drought." He is also the author of the book, "Hot: Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth." To see all of our climate change coverage, you can go to our website at democracynow.org. When we come back, a woman whose baby died in utero, whose fetus died, is convicted of feticide. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Stay with us.
20 Years in Prison for Miscarrying? The Case of Purvi Patel & the Criminalization of Pregnancy
While Indiana has been in the spotlight over its new anti-LGBT "religious freedom" law, another state controversy is brewing. On Monday, Purvi Patel became the first person in U.S. history sentenced to prison for feticide for what the state said was an attempt to end her own pregnancy. While Patel says she had a miscarriage, delivering a stillborn fetus, prosecutors accused her of taking drugs to induce an abortion, even though no drugs were found in her system. They also used a discredited test to claim the fetus was born alive. Patel was sentenced to 20 years in prison. We look at her case amidst the rising tide of anti-choice laws and the criminalization of pregnancy with Lynn Paltrow, founder and executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to Indiana, which has been in the spotlight this week over its new anti-LGBT, so-called, religious freedom law. But, the historic application of another law in the state has received far less attention. On Monday, Purvi Patel, an Indian-American woman, became the first person in U.S. history sentenced to prison for feticide, for ending her own pregnancy. In 2013, Patel arrived at a hospital, bleeding. She told doctors she had had a miscarriage and disposed of her stillborn fetus in a trash receptacle. Under questioning by police, Patel said she had believed she was about two months pregnant. After miscarrying in the bathroom, she said she tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the fetus, which wasn’t moving. She told police, "I assumed because the baby was dead there was nothing to do." Bleeding, in shock, and not wanting her conservative Hindu parents to find out, she disposed of the fetus and went to the hospital.
AMY GOODMAN: Prosecutors would later accuse Patel of taking drugs to try to end her pregnancy, based on text messages to a friend where she discussed buying the drugs online. But no evidence of abortion drugs was found in her body. The prosecutors also used a discredited "float test" to claim Purvi Patel’s fetus, which they said was between 25 and 28 weeks, was born alive. So, in addition to feticide, Patel was charged and convicted of "neglect of a dependent." On Monday, a judge sentenced Patel to serve 20 years in prison. In total, her sentences actually add up to 41 years, but will be served concurrently, with 10 years suspended.
The sentencing comes amidst a growing, ongoing crackdown on reproductive rights. According to RH Reality Check, lawmakers in states across the country have introduced at least 235 bills to restrict abortion in 2015 alone. To talk more about this issue we are joined here in New York by Lynn Paltrow, Founder and Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women. What happened to Purvi Patel?
LYNN PALTROW: Well, Purvi Patel is an amazing example of the fact that it’s not just reproductive rights that are under attack, it is the personhood of people who can get pregnant, that this case demonstrates that we are not going back to some — going through some time warp to a time before Roe, that women’s pregnancies are now becoming the subject of policing, prosecution, and severe sentences in an age of mass incarceration. So, here’s a woman who goes to the hospital for help because she has a miscarriage, and ends up being sentenced to jail for 20 years. They charge her with feticide, and originally people were very confused. It’s like, how can you be charged with both feticide and neglect of a dependent because feticide is understood as causing the death of a fetus, but the prosecutors says, in Indiana, no, our law means any deliberate attempt by a woman to terminate her own pregnancy is a crime. It didn’t succeed, so we convinced — they then used —- deliberately used a invalid scientific test to convince the jury that the baby had been born alive and neglected. So, here you have -—
AMY GOODMAN: What is the float test?
LYNN PALTROW: Float test, as I understand it — and Dr. Gregory Davis at the University of Kentucky is the real expert — is that —- it’s a test that suggests that you take the lungs out of the fetus, or the newborn, and if they float, there was air in them, and the baby took a breath. However, it has been known for a hundred years that air can get into lungs in other ways. So, it is an invalid test used, for example, in countries like El Salvador to convict women of illegal abortion who have actually suffered miscarriages and stillbirths. But, the Indiana case says, look, if you are a woman who even does re—- has a miscarriage and has done research to see if, perhaps, you could have had an abortion — women who suffer miscarriage and stillbirth, and women that have precipitous home births all now can go to jail, essentially, as murderers.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Could you explain then, what is it about Indiana’s feticide law that enabled the prosecutors to convict Purvi on both these, seemingly contradictory, counts: neglect of a dependent and feticide? And is it very similar in other states or anywhere?
LYNN PALTROW: Well, I would say there is nothing unique about Indiana’s feticide law. What is unique is the judge allowed this case to go forward in spite of a motion to dismiss, in spite — rejected an amicus brief that we prepare on behalf of numerous health groups. Thirty-eight states have feticide laws. Many of them — most of them explicitly say what they all were passed — how they were all passed, which is, they were all past or amended in the wake of violence against pregnant women, with the promise that it would protect pregnant women and so-called unborn children from violence. In fact, in many states, as my research with Jeanne Flavin has shown, it has been used to arrest woman who delayed having Cesarean surgery. A woman in Iowa who fell down a flight of stairs while she was pregnant was arrested for attempted feticide. Indiana’s law is somewhat different from other states, but it is not really about the language of the statute, it’s about the commitment of the prosecutors and the state to use it as a mechanism for depriving pregnant women of their human rights.
AMY GOODMAN: During the sentencing, the chief deputy prosecutor, Mark Roule, insisted the charges, aborting a fetus and neglecting a child, were separate and distinct. He told reporters the feticide charge against Patel requires only intent to unlawfully terminate a pregnancy and in this case the pregnancy was terminated with a live birth triggered by abortion pills. Roule went on to say, "What is the reason she chose to terminate her pregnancy in the manner with which she did so? Preference and convenience," he said. After the sentencing, Roule briefly spoke with a reporter from WSBT.
PROSECUTOR MARK ROULE: It was against the law. That’s all we need to say about it.
KELLI STOPCZYNSKI: A lot of people in the public have asked why not murder?
PROSECUTOR MARK ROULE: The charging decision was made more than a year ago, and there were a lot of factors in that and we’re just — we’re going to deal with the charges that we have.
AMY GOODMAN: That was the Chief Deputy Prosecutor Mark Roule. Your response, Lynn Paltrow.
LYNN PALTROW: Well, I think there is an implication — in this case, the woman who was targeted is Indian-American, and the suggestion of preference is an issue that NAPW and others are addressing in terms of the suggestion that Asian-American women, in particular, can’t be trusted around their reproductive decision-making, but, more importantly this — or, not more importantly, but as part of this question of fairness and human rights, the claim by those that support feticide laws, antiabortion leaders like Marjorie Dannenfelser and others, have said over and over again, when we put unborn protections into the law it will result in compassionate protection for pregnant women. It will not result in punishment. And if there is any doubt among people that the result, and perhaps intent, of the antiabortion, anti-fairness efforts in this country will be women becoming part of this system of massive incarceration, they should and those doubts. That, what this prosecutor is saying is that they could use their feticide law to re-criminalizing abortion and punish women who have miscarriages.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Could you talk about, Lynn, the case of Bei Bei Shuai, also in Indiana and the parallels between the two; Purvi Patel and Bei Bei Shuai?
LYNN PALTROW: Well, obviously, they are targeting ,first, women of Asian descent, an immigrant woman, more vulnerable women, to establish a precedent that they can apply them to all women. In her case, she was pregnant. The man she thought was going to raise this child with abandoned her. In an act of desperation she attempted suicide. She survived, she agreed with her friends to go to the hospital to get help. She wanted her baby to survive. She did everything they asked her to do, including undergoing Cesarean surgery. The baby was born alive and did not survive, and she was arrested for attempted feticide and murder of a viable fetus. She was put in jail, held there without bail for more than a year, and then, after we helped to win bail for her, they held her under a kind of house arrest with a kind of electronic monitor for over a year before public pressure and other things got them to, at least, drop those charges.
But, two very important things about that case: one is it’s not a crime in any state of the U.S. to attempt suicide, but, they used their feticide law to argue that there is a separate and unequal law for pregnant women who can go can go to jail for unique crimes because they become pregnant or have the capacity for pregnancy, and it also exposes something very disturbing about what the prosecutor said over and over again. At Purvi Patel’s trial, apparently, he said over and over that she violated one simple rule — she should have gone to the doctor. Well, Bei Bei Shuai went to the doctor, did everything they asked her to do, and what happened? She got arrested. Purvi Patel went to the doctor to seek help, and what happened? She got arrested. And if you believe that you can arrest a pregnant woman because she didn’t go to the doctor, then that leads doctors to think, as they did in Florida with Samantha Burton, that you can force her to go to the doctor. Samantha Burton went to the hospital, they said you are miscarrying, you must stay here. And she said, look, I got two little girls at home, if God wants to take this baby, God can take this baby, and they held her at the hospital, forced her undergo Cesarean surgery, and she still lost the pregnancy. So, that the — what people have to fight for is dignity and fairness for pregnant women with absolutely no role for police and prosecutors in overseeing prenatal care.
AMY GOODMAN: How do you link this, in Indiana, as we wrap up here Lynn, to what’s going on there, what everybody is hearing about, the the so-called religious freedom law?
LYNN PALTROW: Well, these are issues of basic human rights, and what people often forget is that the laws that have been described simply as antiabortion, and we tend to defend abortion, but what’s at stake is the human rights of women, or the people who have the capacity for pregnancy. So, we have rights around lesbian, gay, trans people, we have human rights about anybody who has the capacity for pregnancy and this case is about is not just depriving people of reproductive rights, but liberty, the most basic freedom articulated in the Constitution, which now, in Indiana, they say you can lose if you have a pregnancy and you cannot ensure a healthy birth outcome, or you don’t go to the doctor.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Lynn Paltrow, we want to thank you very much for being with us. Lynn Paltrow, Founder and Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women here in New York. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. When we come back, an NYU, New York University professor joins us. When he tried to go to the satellite campus of NYU in Dubai, he was stopped. Then he learned not only was he being followed by a private investigator, but so was the New York Times reporter that reported on his study of the abuse of workers in the Gulf state of The United Arab Emirates. Stay with us.
As NYU Expands Into Abu Dhabi, UAE Bars Professor Researching Migrant Worker Abuse
The United Arab Emirates has barred New York University professor Andrew Ross from entering the country after he published research about migrant workers and labor abuse in the Gulf State. Ross learned of the ban after arriving at the airport in New York, where he was set to board a flight to continue his research in the UAE, a close U.S. ally. Now it has emerged that a private investigator was also hired to target him and a New York Times reporter who wrote the expose on workers at NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus facing harsh conditions. Ross, who serves as president of NYU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, joins us to discuss the case.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We end today’s show with the case of a New York professor who has been barred from entering the United Arab Emirates after he criticized the monarchy’s exploitation of migrant laborers. New York University Professor Andrew Ross said he learned of the ban after arriving at the airport in New York where he was set to board a flight to continue his research in the UAE, a close U.S. ally where NYU has a satellite campus. On Friday, the New York Times reported that a New York-based private investigator has been making inquiries about Ross as well as former New York Times reporter Ariel Kaminer who revealed migrant workers at NYU’s Abu Dhabi site faced harsh conditions.
AMY GOODMAN: In response to Democracy Now!’s request for comment on Ross’ case, NYU spokesman, John Beckman, sent a written statement saying, "We cannot know all the thinking that goes into any immigration authority’s decisions about who is or is not granted a visa, and we’ve had people who were coming to our campus in New York on academic matters who have been denied visas by the U.S. authorities, including one in recent days," he said. To talk more about the case, we’re joined by Andrew Ross, Sociology Professor at NYU and President of NYU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. He is the author of several books including, most recently, "Creditocracy and the Case for Debt Refusal." Welcome to Democracy Now!, Andrew Ross. So, first, tell us what happened when you tried to go to Abu Dhabi and then what you then found out.
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: Okay. Well, I was denied permission to board the flight when I got to the airport and I asked for reasons and they called the UAE authorities and I was told that I was barred from entry to the country for security reasons. There was no other reason given for that.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: What was it — what do you suspect is the reason behind your being barred from the country?
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: Well, there is no doubt in my mind. I have been researching abuses of migrant laborers in the country, in the UAE, for some time and I was traveling to do research on that very topic that week. When I was there before, I was followed by security agents in a car and, as you mentioned, a private investigator has been looking into my affairs so it wasn’t entirely surprising to me.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain how you learned that a private investigator is talking to people about you.
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: Well, one of the people she called up, contacted me to let me know. I don’t know if that was the only person she called.
AMY GOODMAN: Was this a friend?
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: An acquaintance, an academic acquaintance.
AMY GOODMAN: This was the professor at University of Virginia?
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: And the private investigator started to question her about you and also Ariel Kaminer, the former New York Times reporter who did a story, in part, based on your research and what was happening to workers in Abu Dhabi?
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: Well, that was her independent research, the article; but it was a very important article because — it was so important that it was not printed, the newspaper was not printed in the Emirates that day. It was the first time the New York Times was actually banned from circulation. When the investigator called this contact, she prefaced the inquiry by saying that this was in connection with the pressure that was currently on NYU’s president regarding the allegations of labor abuse in Abu Dhabi. So, it was quite clear that this was the context for the investigation.
AMY GOODMAN: This was a front-page piece in the New York Times, the piece by Ariel Kaminer, based on independent reporting on what was happening with the workers who were building the NYU satellite campus.
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: That is correct.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain what was happening to them.
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: Well, the piece that you mentioned is one of a series of pieces written by independent journalists over the years and Human Rights Watch reports and also reports by the Gulf Labor Coalition which I work with. I am part of Gulf Labor which is a group of artists and writers that put pressure on the Guggenheim Museum because the Guggenheim is also building in Abu Dhabi. Through our investigations we have discovered a fairly consistent pattern of fair labor standards violations and human rights abuses among the migrant work force in the UAE and also in Qatar, neighboring Qatar, because it’s the same migrant-labor sponsorship system that brings workers from South Asia to these two countries and it’s a very harsh system.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, in 2009 NYU issued a statement of labor values which said it would guarantee free treatment of the workers who were building its campus in Abu Dhabi, so — and they have also said in a subsequent statement that they frequently use contractors and subcontractors for these workers so that they are not directly responsible for how those contractors treat those workers. Could you comment on that?
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: Well, the fair labor statement, the Statement of Labor Values was established largely through pressure from a group of us at NYU, a group of faculty and students, it wasn’t something administration took on by itself; and having these standards on paper, as it were, is all very well, but, the enforcement is the more important thing. As we know, the U.S. has perfectly good labor laws, it could be better, but they are perfectly good, but, they are just not enforced. So, it is the enforcement of them where people fell down on the job.
As far as the argument about subcontracting, this is pretty much the same argument that Nike and the Gap used to make, the origins of the anti-sweatshop movement. This is not our problem, we have no responsibility for what happens further down the subcontracting chain. There is a very tight, rigid sense of responsibility in my mind and in most peoples’ minds and the barring of entry to researchers, especially NYU professors like myself, has some serious implications for the operation of the campus overseas in Abu Dhabi.
AMY GOODMAN: In 2013 The Guardian released a video called "The Dark Side of Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Revolution." . Reporter Glenn Carrick described the conditions of migrant workers in Abu Dhabi from Bangladesh and Pakistan.
GLENN CARRICK: In this workers’ camp men put up sheets around the toilet for privacy and cook in squalid kitchens. In the bedrooms, 43 Bangladeshi men bunk together, 10 to each windowless room. They earn $245 a month painting the New York University campus, working long hours, six days a week. All were too afraid to speak on camera. Many said they wanted to return home but were trapped by the thousands of dollars they owed to recruitment companies in Bangladesh.
AMY GOODMAN: That is the Guardian reporter Glenn Carrick describing the conditions faced. Now, what is NYU saying? I mean, the front-page New York Times piece, "Workers at NYU’s Abu Dhabi Site Face Harsh Conditions", as this picture of so many workers who are all sleeping in bunk beds in one room and it says, "migrant workers in tiny apartment in Abu Dhabi earn as little as $272 a month while building a campus for New York University." This is not only about UAE, New York University as well, your employer.
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: Well, that was very bad news. It wasn’t surprising to us, though. Us, by which I mean the faculty and students who have been pushing for adequate enforcement of these labor values. The administration at NYU has hired an independent investigator to look into the allegations and that report will be forthcoming very soon. It will be very interesting to see what they come up with. Very difficult to investigate these allegations unless you go to India or Bangladesh or Pakistan where the workers were deported to after they spoke up about their grievances. This is typically the case with strikes or work stoppages in the UAE. The workers are rounded up and detained, abused, often beaten and then deported without a cent in their pockets. So, to properly investigate these allegations you would need to go and interview those workers which some of us have done, some of our group have done, but I very much doubt if the independent investigator has done that.
AMY GOODMAN: But isn’t it the university’s responsibility to do this? They are pouring millions of dollars into the building of their own campus.
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: It’s not the university’s money. Everything is being bankrolled by the UAE. That is the main reason why —
AMY GOODMAN: And that is true outside of NYU as well, these other campuses from —
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: Absolutely. An immense amount of money is being allocated to buy these cultural assets. But, it’s not like purchasing property on Central Park South or Mayfair. When you buy a university and a top ranked museum, there are a lot of speech protections and artistic freedom protections that have to come with it and that is part of the problem when you start muzzling the voices of those who start making inquiries into conditions in the country.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: But do you think that given these conditions, either NYU or the cultural institutions, Guggenheim, the Louvre, etc. that are all on the Saadiyat Island, whether they should be established there given what workers are subjected to?
PROF. ANDREW ROSS: Well, that, I mean, the train already left the station on that. The decision was made, they are building the buildings. But, they have a lot of responsibilities going in. The question is, have the voices, have the directors and the presidents of these institutions, have their voices been bought and paid for as well, because so far the president ofNYU has had nothing to say about the recent incidents.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Andrew Ross, we want to thank you so much for being with us. Sociology Professor at New York University and President of NYU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, recently barred from entering the UAE after he criticized the monarchy’s exploitation of migrant workers. And that does it for our show. Our condolences to our director, Becca Staley. Her brother-in-law, U.S. Army Captain Jon Wynkoop was killed in a training accident at Fort Bliss in Texas. He was 27 years old, leaves behind his wife, Rachel, and their 3 children, Graham 4, Leah 3 and Jacob almost 11 months.
Headlines:
Iran Claims "Significant Progress" as Post-Deadline Nuclear Talks Continue
Negotiations over an Iran nuclear deal continue in Lausanne, Switzerland, in the extended period of talks following Tuesday’s deadline. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said "significant progress," has been made, but urged his counterparts to find the political will to reach an agreement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif: "We hope that the political will by all parties exists in order to move forward. There are obviously problems that have prevented us form finding the solution and I certainly hope that our colleagues will recognize the fact that this is a unique opportunity that will not be repeated and they need to take advantage of this opportunity."
U.S. Renews Threat of Military Action on Iran as Negotiators Seek Deal
If a general accord can be reached, the Iran nuclear talks would continue for a final agreement by the end of June. Speaking in Washington, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the United States is prepared to walk away if the talks stumble. And, renewing longstanding U.S. threats, Earnest said military action remains an option against Iran.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest: "If in the unfortunate event that diplomacy is not successful, we will continue to have a wide range of options on the table. Those options include coordinating with the international community to put in place even together sanctions that would compel Iran to come back to the negotiating table or to be more serious about the discussions. There is of course military option sitting on the table and this is, again in the unfortunate circumstance that we could find ourselves in, which is that we are not able to reach an agreement, then the president will have to consider that range of options."
Houthis, Hadi Loyalists in Fierce Fight for Yemeni City of Aden
Houthi rebels and rival forces are in a fierce battle for the southern Yemeni city of Aden. Houthi fighters backed by tanks have pushed deeper into Aden in a bid to seize it from soldiers loyal to deposed and internationally backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. There are reports of massive civilian casualties and bodies lying in the street. The Houthis’ advance comes despite a Saudi Arabian-led military campaign seeking to restore Hadi’s rule. On Wednesday, thousands of Houthis rallied in Sana’a to protest the Saudi-led bombings.
HRW: As Backer, U.S. "Shares Obligation" to Minimize Civilian Deaths in Saudi-Led Yemen Operation
The death toll from an apparent Saudi military strike on a dairy factory has risen to 33, all of them workers on the overnight shift. The bombing came just two days after the Saudi-led coalition killed around 40 people and wounded 200 at a displaced persons’ camp in northern Yemen. In a statement, Human Rights Watch said: "The deaths of so many civilians in a camp with no apparent military target heightens concerns about laws-of-war violations." The group also issued a plea to Washington, saying: "The United States, by providing intelligence to the Saudi-led air campaign, shares the obligation to minimize harm to civilians and civilian property in the fighting."
Al-Qaeda Militants Free 300 from Yemen Prison
Al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen have reportedly attacked a prison in the coastal city of Al Mukallah freeing about 300 prisoners. Officials told CNN a third of the released prisoners have links to al-Qaeda, including senior figures.
Islamic State Fighters Seize Large Parts of Palestinian Refugee Camp in Syria
In Syria, Islamic State fighters have taken over most of a massive camp for Palestinian refugees on the outskirts of Damascus. Yarmouk is home to some 18,000 people and has repeatedly been stuck in the crossfire of Syria’s civil war. Some 800,000 people lived there before the Syrian uprising began. In a statement, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said it is "extremely concerned" about the residents’ safety. Islamic State fighters were seen in control of several streets, leaving them just a few miles from the center of the Assad regime’s Damascus stronghold.
Donors Pledge $3.8 Billion for Syria, Less than Half of U.N. Appeal
International donors have promised some $3.8 billion in humanitarian aid for Syria, less than half of what the United Nations had requested for the country’s massive crisis.
Iraq Claims Victory in Fight to Retake Tikrit
The Iraqi government has declared victory in its month-long battle to retake the city of Tikrit from the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Iraqi state television showed footage of Iraqi officials and Iran-backed Shiite militia leaders parading through the streets of Tikrit raising the Iraqi flag. Despite the victory claim, small pockets of ISIS fighters remain.
Palestinian Authority Awaits Findings of Probe as ICC Membership Begins
Palestinian officials have marked their newfound membership in the International Criminal Court with a ceremony at the Hague. Palestine’s ICC status came into effect on Wednesday following their formal ascension earlier this year. Palestinian officials made the move after the United States and Israel blocked a U.N. Security Council measure calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2017. Speaking at the court, Palestinian foreign minister Riad al-Malki said no one will be able to block an ICC investigation.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki: "I can assure you, I can assure you, that we do master, we do enjoy the support of one, if not more, countries who possess veto powers that will not allow, not allow, such a decision to be taken by the Security Council to interfere in the work of the Court or to prevent the Court from expediting its work and having an official investigation regarding the crimes committed by the occupying power of Israel against the Palestinian people."
The Palestinian Authority says it will hold off on bringing specific cases against individual Israeli officials while the court conducts a preliminary investigation. The court has been granted with jurisdiction for incidents beginning in June 2014, meaning its mandate includes the Israeli assault on Gaza that killed more than 2,000. The Palestinian Authority says it will also cooperate should any Palestinian militants or officials be charged for violence against Israel. On Wednesday, a Gaza resident who says he lost 19 members of his family to Israeli strikes expressed his hopes for justice.
Ibrahim Al-Najjar: "We hope it works out. We want to sue the occupation on the crimes that it has done. All my family members are dead, 19 martyrs. My father, my mother, my brother, all my brothers and sisters and my wife and sons, they’re all dead — 19 martyrs, all my family members died. My brother and I are the only ones that survived from the whole family."
Al-Shabab Attacks Kenyan College, Killing Scores & Taking Hostages
The militant group Al-Shabab has carried out of a shooting rampage at a college in northeast Kenya, killing at least 15 people, wounding at least 65, and taking dozens hostage. The gunmen say they have divided the students between Muslims and non-Muslims and let the Muslims walk free. Kenyan police are on the scene in a standoff. Al-Shabab says it carried out the attack in response to Kenya’s military operations inside Somalia, the group’s home base.
Arkansas Governor Rejects Anti-LGBT Law After Outcry
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas has rejected a so-called "religious freedom" law that could sanction anti-LGBT discrimination. Hutchinson had said he would sign the measure following its passage in the state legislature. But a public outcry that included several protests, corporate leaders, and a backlash over a similar law in Indiana led Hutchinson to back down. The governor said he has asked lawmakers to revise the measure.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson: "I asked changes be made in the legislation. And I’ve asked that the leaders of the General Assembly to recall the bill so that it can be amended to reflect the terms of the Federal Religious, Freedom and Restoration Act. This is both about substance, which is getting this legislation right, and it’s also about communicating to the world and to our neighboring states that we’re a state that recognizes the diversity in the work force, the need for nondiscrimination and that we want to accomplish that."
Hutchinson said his own son had signed a petition asking him to veto the law. The governor called it a generational divide. Also, Wal-Mart, the largest company in the world, has come out against the law. In a rally at the state capitol, Chad Griffin of the Human Rights Campaign said activists’ work is not finished.
Chad Griffin: "Our work is not finished and we are not at the end of this road until all Arkansans, all citizens of this state are treated equally under the law and are provided the protection that should be guaranteed that LGBT folks are protected form the discrimination and public accommodations in work place and all the other places that we should be protected as citizens of this state and of this country."
Hutchinson’s reversal comes as Indiana lawmakers have drafted new legislation to "correct" their own version of the anti-LGBT "religious freedom" law. According to the Indianapolis Star, the measure would make clear it "cannot be used as a legal defense to discriminate against residents based on their sexual orientation." But it still would exempt churches and non-profits and would also not include language making LGBT people a protected class.
Dozens of Immigrant Women Stage Hunger Strike at Texas Facility
Dozens of immigrant women detained at the Karnes Family Detention Camp in Texas have launched a hunger strike, saying their children’s health is suffering behind bars. Activists say 80 women launched the strike on Monday, demanding their release and refusing to take part in any services inside. The women are asylum seekers who say they have been denied bond despite having established a credible fear of violence if they return to Central America. Meanwhile, advocates for the women, including a legal assistant for the group RAICES, who was recently interviewed by Democracy Now! producer Renée Feltz, say they have been barred from visiting Karnes.
Sen. Menendez Indicted on Corruption Charges over Donor Ties
Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey has been indicted on 14 counts of corruption charges. Menendez is accused of using his position to advance the business interests of a top supporter in exchange for gifts, vacations, and more than $750,000 in donations. The indictment follows a multi-year investigation. At a news conference, Menendez denounced prosecutors and said he will be vindicated.
Sen. Bob Menendez: "For nearly three years, I’ve lived under a Justice Department cloud and today I am outraged that this cloud has not been lifted. I am outraged that prosecutors at the Justice Department were tricked into starting this investigation three years ago with false allegations by those who have a political motive to silence me. But I will not be silenced, I am confident that at the end of the day, I will be vindicated and they will be exposed."
McDonald’s to Raise Pay for Non-Franchise Workers; "Fight for 15" Strike Set for April 15th
The fast food giant McDonald’s has announced it will raise the hourly pay for workers it directly employs. The wage will increase by at least $1 dollar per hour and workers will get up to five days of paid time off each year. The move only applies to the 10 percent of workers who are not employed by franchises, some 90,000 people. And it comes ahead of a national strike by fast food workers in hundreds of cities on April 15 as part of the "Fight for 15" — a campaign for a $15 hourly wage.
11 Public School Educators Convicted in Atlanta Cheating Scandal
Eleven former educators in Atlanta, Georgia, have been convicted of racketeering and other charges for their roles in a massive cheating scandal at public schools. Prosecutors say teachers were forced to modify incorrect answers, and students were even allowed to fix their responses during exams. Judge Jerry Baxter ordered most of the educators immediately behind bars, with sentencing to follow next week.
Judge Jerry Baxter: "I made myself plain from early on and they have made this decision. And they have, they have, they’ve not fared very well. I, I don’t like to send anybody to jail — it’s not one of the things I get a kick out of–but they have made their bed and they’re gonna have to lie in it. And it starts today."
Twenty-one other defendants avoided trial with plea deals. It is said to be one of the largest school cheating scandals in U.S. history. The case has fueled criticism of the education system’s reliance on standardized testing. According to the New York Times, "cheating has grown at school districts around the country as standardized testing has become a primary means of evaluating teachers, principals and schools."
Activists Protest McCutcheon Decision inside Supreme Court
Activists have carried out a rare protest inside the U.S. Supreme Court chamber to oppose the ruling in McCutcheon v. FEC, a case critics call "next Citizens United." In a 5-to-4 vote one year ago, the court’s conservative justices eliminated a long-standing limit on how much donors can give in total to federal candidates, party committees, political action committees in a two-year election cycle. Without any aggregate limit, a donor can now give millions directly to candidates and parties. On Wednesday, the five activists with the group 99 Rise stood up inside the court to call on justices to reverse their decision.
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In the photo, beneath the towering maple tree in Marion’s Courthouse Square, stands the white mob who lynched the men. Some are smiling for the camera. One man points at the hanging corpse of Abram “Abe” Smith, hanging next to Thomas Shipp. The third victim actually survived. James Cameron was the youngest of the three, and was beaten and dragged to the base of the tree, beneath his dead friends, and had a noose put around his neck. He was, for some reason, not killed. He went on to found four local NAACP chapters, as well as the America’s Black Holocaust Museum. He would also serve as Indiana’s director of civil liberties.
Indiana certainly doesn’t want to be remembered for this terrible crime, or for being a bastion of hatred. So why did Indiana Gov. Mike Pence legalize a new wave of intolerance by signing into law Indiana’s controversial “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (RFRA)?
The law’s supporters claim it protects religious freedom. Opponents call it a thinly veiled attack on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The law allows individuals and businesses to refuse service to LGBT people, solely based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. It has provoked a national backlash, with prominent people, large corporations and city and state governments condemning or boycotting Indiana. Charles Barkley, former NBA basketball star and sports commentator, issued a statement reading, “As long as anti-gay legislation exists in any state, I strongly believe big events such as the Final Four and Super Bowl should not be held in those states’ cities.” Indianapolis is hosting the Final Four championship basketball games April 4-6.
The University of Connecticut’s men’s basketball coach, Kevin Ollie, won’t be attending the games, respecting Gov. Dannel Malloy’s travel ban forbidding state employees from going to Indiana with public funds. Pat Haden, former NFL quarterback and current athletic director at the University of Southern California, announced he’s boycotting a college football meeting held in Indianapolis at the same time as the Final Four by tweeting: “I am the proud father of a gay son. In his honor, I will not be attending the CFP committee meeting in Indy this week. #EmbraceDiversity.” If the NCAA pulled the games to another state, it would be an economic disaster for Indiana, and a reputation-killer for Republican Gov. Pence.
Speaking of sons, Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, where the Legislature followed Indiana’s by passing a similar RFRA law this week, says he will not sign the bill into law. He cited his own son signing a petition against the law.
The NCAA itself has expressed deep concern about Indiana’s law. But it’s not just basketball. Even the car-racing organization NASCAR announced it was “disappointed by the recent legislation passed in Indiana. We will not embrace nor participate in exclusion or intolerance. We are committed to diversity and inclusion within our sport.”
New York and Washington have joined Connecticut in banning state-funded travel to Indiana, as have New York City, Denver, Seattle and San Francisco. Corporations from Nike to Apple to Marriott have denounced the law. Angie’s List, the popular home-service referral website, halted a $40 million headquarters expansion in Indianapolis.
Under enormous pressure, after first refusing, Pence has asked the Legislature to “fix” the bill, to “clarify” that the language in the law does not allow discrimination based on sexual orientation. Many opponents say they will settle on nothing less than a total repeal. As one protester’s sign read, “You can’t clarify hate.”
The image of that 1930 lynching in Marion, Ind., inspired the Billie Holiday song “Strange Fruit.” Bob Dylan opened his 1965 hit “Desolation Row” with words inspired by it: “They’re selling postcards of the hanging.” Lynching survivor James Cameron is quoted on the America’s Black Holocaust Museum website, “Hatred is a poison, that corrupts the hater from within.” People everywhere, inside and outside Indiana, are proving that organized action is the antidote.
Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,200 stations in North America. She is the co-author of “The Silenced Majority,” a New York Times best-seller.(c) 2015 Amy Goodman
Distributed by King Features Syndicate
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