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As Greece Heads for Default, Voters Prepare to Vote in Pivotal Referendum on More Austerity
Tens of thousands of Greeks have protested against further austerity cuts ahead of a key referendum on a new European bailout. The demonstrations come as the country confirms it will not meet the deadline for a $1.8 billion loan repayment due by 6 p.m. Eastern time tonight, deepening Greece’s fiscal crisis and threatening its exit from the eurozone. Greece will hold a vote this Sunday on whether to accept an austerity package of budget cuts and tax hikes in exchange for new loans. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has urged a "no" vote, calling the proposal a surrender. We go to Greece to speak with Costas Panayotakis, professor of sociology at the New York City College of Technology at CUNY and author of "Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show in Greece, where tens of thousands of Greeks protested Monday against further austerity cuts. The demonstrations come as the country confirms it will not meet the deadline for a $1.8 billion loan repayment due by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time tonight.
NIKO: [translated] We have come here today because we want to tell the government and the whole of Europe that the government must not back down. Austerity is destroying people. And this must end. The Greek people have suffered a lot.
AMY GOODMAN: The European Commission wants Greece to accept an austerity package in exchange for new loans that would help it avoid a default. But Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has refused to accept the bailout deal, calling it a, quote, "humiliation." Over the weekend, Tsipras announced a national referendum set for this Sunday on whether Greece should accept the terms of a new bailout. The European Central Bank followed by rejecting Greece’s request to extend an emergency loan program until after the vote. In response, Tsipras announced the closure of Greek banks and the stock market, as well as restrictions on bank transfers. During a nationally televised interview Monday night, Tsipras called the rejection of a loan extension "blackmail" and called for Greeks to vote no this Sunday.
PRIME MINISTER ALEXIS TSIPRAS: [translated] If the Greek people want to proceed with austerity measures in perpetuity, with austerity plans which will leave us unable to lift our heads, to have thousands of young people leaving for abroad, to have high unemployment rates and new programs and loans, if this is their choice, we will respect it, but we will not be the ones to carry it out. On the other hand, if we want to claim a new, dignified future for our country, then we will do that all together. People have power in their hands when they decide to use it.
AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel played down prospects of a breakthrough with Greece in the coming days, but said she would restart talks after Sunday’s referendum.
CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL: [translated] This generous offer was our contribution towards a compromise, so it must be said that the will for a compromise on the Greek side was not there. We made clear today that if the Greek government seeks more talks after the referendum, we will of course not say no to such negotiations.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we go directly to Greece, just outside Sparta, where we’re joined by Costas Panayotakis. He is a professor of sociology at the New York City College of Technology at CUNY and author of Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy.
Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Costas. Can you just describe what’s happening right now in Greece?
COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS: Well, there are capital controls, and the ATMs were closed yesterday, so there is a limit to how much money Greeks can withdraw—60 euros. But tourists can withdraw from foreign accounts, can withdraw, you know, as much as they have in their accounts. Beyond that, politically speaking, there is lots of tension, but the situation, even though it’s an unprecedented situation, it was very orderly. And it was remarkable, actually, on a day when, you know, a government closed down the banks, that there was a massive rally in support of the government, because people are very simply tired and exhausted and angry with austerity measures that have devastated Greek society. So, this is, you know, in a nutshell, some of the things that have been going on in the last few hours.
AMY GOODMAN: So, people are allowed—Greeks are allowed to take out 60 euros from the bank. That’s what? Like 67 U.S. dollars. What has been the response in the streets? I mean, you have a lot of developments here, with the referendum being called for Sunday, mass protests taking place.
COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS: I lost the connection.
AMY GOODMAN: What has been the response in the streets, Costas?
COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS: Well, I think it’s a mixed response. On the one hand, of course, there is anxiety and people, you know, going to the ATMs and trying to get money, and some degree of frustration. But there is also some understanding that the previous policies were not working. So, it’s a mixed response. The same people oftentimes have contradictory feelings. And, of course, there is also a divide within Greek society, with some people being in support of the government and its decisive stand, and others are being more critical.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain exactly what the referendum puts to the people of Greece Sunday?
COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS: Yeah. There are two documents with the proposals of the Europeans regarding what should have been the measures adopted by the Greek government in order to get the latest installment of the loan that it would need to keep servicing its debt in the coming months. And this has very heavy, very harsh measures. The idea that Chancellor Merkel, as in your clip, suggested that this was a generous offer would seem like a cruel joke to all Greeks, even opponents of the government. We are talking about, you know, reducing pensions even further. We are talking about escalation of sales taxes. We’re talking about undermining the livelihood of people who have seen their living standards already decrease dramatically in the last five years.
AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, the EU Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, accused the Greek government of betraying efforts to broker a deal.
JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER: [translated] This isn’t a game of liar’s poker. There isn’t one winner and another one who loses. Either we are all winners or we are all losers. I am deeply distressed, saddened by the spectacle that Europe gave last Saturday. In a single night, the European conscience has taken a heavy blow. Goodwill has somewhat evaporated.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s the European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker. Costas, can you respond?
COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS: Well, I think there is a contradiction in his speech. He starts, as in this clip, to try to seem like he’s above this dispute and claiming he wants to bring the two sides together, but then, a few minutes later into the same speech, he basically attacked the Greek government as basically lying to Greek people as to what the terms were, and that even as—even foreign journalists, from Financial Times and elsewhere, pointed out that he was the one who was lying when he claimed that there was not a proposal to cut Greek pensions. So, I mean, there is an element of hypocrisy there. And we also have to keep in mind that Juncker was the prime minister of Luxembourg, which has been a tax haven that has systematically undercut the finances of other European nations, that’s, you know, mightily contributed to the debt crisis that now he claims to want to resolve.
AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras responded to critics who say Greece could be pushed out of the eurozone.
PRIME MINISTER ALEXIS TSIPRAS: [translated] The economic cost if the eurozone is dismantled, the cost of a country in default, which to the European Central Bank alone owes more than 120 billion euros, is enormous, and this won’t happen, in my view. My personal view is that their plan is not to push Greece out of the eurozone; their plan is to end hope that there can be a different kind of policy in Europe.
AMY GOODMAN: Professor Costas Panayotakis, respond.
COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS: Yeah, I think—I think Syriza was a little over-optimistic, to begin with, as to the possibility of reversing austerity within the eurozone, and this has created difficulties for them. But I think it’s probably true that Chancellor Merkel, especially, and other leaders would not want to be responsible for the rupture of the eurozone, both for economic reasons that the prime minister mentioned but also for geopolitical reasons.
AMY GOODMAN: So what does this mean for this experiment, for the whole Syriza movement that has arisen in Greece? What do you think is going to happen? And how would you evaluate the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras?
COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS: Well, for a long time, Syriza had been making significant concessions to the eurozone’s austerity agenda. I mean, the final offer that the Greek side made, you know, had made significant concessions when compared to the platform of the party. I mean, this is—we are talking about a country that has over 25 percent unemployment, and yet the Greek government was willing to basically propose budget surpluses. I mean, this is a policy—this is not wild leftist. This is a policy well to the right of Keynesian economics. But unfortunately in the eurozone today, there is no real democracy, because basically Keynesianism is bound out of court, and basically what would be a policy that would appeal to the far right of the Republican Party in the U.S. is the only economic policy that is allowed by the eurozone, even though this policy is basically destroying European societies. And Greece is a good example of that.
AMY GOODMAN: So, your book, Costas, is called Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy. What would you say is happening with Greece right now?
COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS: Yeah, I mean, my book was a critique of neoclassical economics, which is based on the concept of scarcity and argues that basically the free market is the best way to make effective use of scarce resources. And what we’ve seen, of course, with the Greek crisis is a precise refutation of this claim. An economy where 25 percent of the labor force cannot find a job, even though they need to, they want—they would love to work, obviously, it’s not going to—it’s not an efficient economy. An economy where, you know, the most educated young people have to leave the country, after the country invested in their education, and go somewhere else is clearly not an efficient economy. So, even though my book was not specifically on Greece—it did mention Greece, but it was not just on Greece—I think Greece is a good example of how mythical the neoliberal claim is that free markets lead to efficient use of scarce resources.
AMY GOODMAN: If you might look through the crystal ball for us, Costas, in this last minute we have, what do you think will happen on Sunday? And ultimately, what’s going to happen in Greece?
COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS: Well, the first question is whether the referendum will happen on Sunday. I think the European response clearly makes it clear that they want to sabotage the very possibility of a referendum. And, you know, the situation is very, very much in flux. Things have been very orderly, as I said, which is—it is good for the government, and it increases the likelihood of, you know, a "no" vote. But it would be, of course, unwise to try to make a prediction.
And I think one of the factors that will play a role is that if there is a "yes" vote to these measures, Prime Minister Tsipras has said that he would not continue being prime minister, so that would add to economic disruption the possibility of political instability, because then you might need to have new elections. And then you might have a situation where Syriza wins again, because that’s what recent polls have shown. So, I think people who are concerned about economic disruption, or even political instability, may actually find out that—may actually realize that even if they feel frustrated, you know, a "yes" vote would not necessarily solve the problem as they perceive it.
AMY GOODMAN: Costas Panayotakis, I want to thank you for being with us, author of Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy, professor of sociology at New York City’s College of Technology at CUNY. This is Democracy Now! When we come back, another deadline looms. It’s in Iran. That’s where we’re going. Stay with us.
Historic Iran Nuclear Deal Hangs in the Balance as Talks Enter Final Round
Today marks the deadline for Iran and six world powers to reach a comprehensive agreement on curbing Iran’s nuclear program. Iran has dispatched two top officials to Vienna in a last-minute push for a diplomatic breakthrough, but the talks will likely be extended. The outstanding differences include access to international inspectors and Iranian nuclear activity in the deal’s final years. Negotiators are also trying to determine the timing of sanctions relief and the scope of Tehran’s nuclear research. We are joined from Tehran by Reza Sayah, a journalist who has covered Iran for CNN International for the last seven years.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Today marks the deadline for Iran and six world powers to reach a comprehensive agreement on curbing Iran’s nuclear program. Iran has dispatched two top officials to Vienna in a last-minute push for a diplomatic breakthrough. On Monday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Mark Toner expressed confidence a deal is within reach, but said negotiations may slip past today’s deadline.
MARK TONER: These talks—and it’s looking more likely now—could go beyond June 30th for a few days, if we need additional time to conclude, frankly, a strong, comprehensive agreement. And that’s still our attitude. You know, we’re still focused on getting the best agreement possible, the most comprehensive agreement possible, and if we have to work a little bit longer to do that, the team in Vienna, then they’ll do so, obviously. But nobody is talking about a long-term extension.
AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has returned to Iran to discuss a final negotiation position with Iran’s top leadership. Secretary of State John Kerry and Zarif acknowledged gaps remain.
SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: I think it’s fair to say that we’re hopeful. We have a lot of hard work to do. There are some very tough issues. And I think we all look forward to getting down to the final effort here to see whether or not a deal is possible. I think—I think everybody would like to see an agreement, but we have to work through some difficult issues.
MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF: I agree. I agree maybe not on the issues, but on the fact that we need to work really hard in order to be able to make progress and move forward. We are determined to do everything we can in order to be able to make this important milestone, but that depends on a lot of things, and we’re going to work on them and find out.
AMY GOODMAN: The outstanding differences include access to international inspectors and Iranian nuclear activity in the deal’s final years. Negotiators are also trying to determine the timing of sanctions relief and the scope of Tehran’s nuclear research.
For more, we go directly to Tehran, Iran, where we’re joined by Reza Sayah. He has covered Iran for CNN International for the past seven years. After his coverage of the 2009 anti-government protests, Iranian authorities denied him permission to work for two years. He later returned to Tehran to report on the ongoing nuclear talks, the 2013 presidential elections and last year’s signing of the interim nuclear deal. He also works with the Blossom Hill Foundation, which helps children impacted by war.
Reza Sayah, welcome to Democracy Now! Talk about this deadline and what is happening in Iran.
REZA SAYAH: Well, the two sides are pushing to get a deal done, and the talks are reaching a crescendo. And you can sense it, because all the big names from all sides are now in Vienna. This morning, Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, arrived there, reportedly saying that he has received the mandate from top officials to reach a deal. President Hassan Rouhani’s brother is there. The top nuclear official in Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, is there. And, of course, all the top diplomats from the P5+1, they’re there, as well.
It’s going to be very difficult to gauge where things stand throughout these two years in these negotiations. All sides have done a pretty remarkable job in keeping things under wraps. So I think in the next few days there’s going to be a lot of waiting, a lot of reporters waiting in Vienna. Here, much of the country is eagerly awaiting an outcome. And I think that’s going to be the case until the sides come out and make some sort of announcement. There have been a lot of vague comments. They seem to be optimistic that a deal is within reach, but they also point out that sticking points and obstacles remain.
AMY GOODMAN: What are those sticking points and obstacles, Reza?
REZA SAYAH: Well, the sticking points include the number and types of centrifuges. In the deal that was signed, the framework deal that was signed in April, Iran agreed to reduce its centrifuges from 19,000. It’s not clear if the West is pushing for an increased reduction or if Iran is pushing to keep more. Then you have the scope of the inspections. Iran has all along allowed the IAEA to inspect its nuclear facilities. And when the framework was agreed on, they agreed to what’s called an additional protocol, which gives the IAEA a higher authority for increased inspections. But the West, the U.S. has given indications that they want to inspect some military facilities, and Iran has said, you know, that’s a redline, that they’re not going to allow inspections in military facilities. Then you have research and development. The West wants to limit Iran’s research and development when it comes to the nuclear program. And finally, the pace of the sanctions. Iran insists that the sanctions should be lifted once the pen hits the paper and an agreement is signed. The West, the U.S. says it’s going to be a gradual lifting of the sanctions. The most likely scenario is that it will be a gradual lifting of the sanctions, but it still remains to be seen what the time frame is and how long that’s going to take. Obviously, Iran wants it to happen faster, and the U.S. doesn’t.
AMY GOODMAN: Reza Sayah, can you talk about the main forces against it?
REZA SAYAH: Well, I think it’s important to point out that the main forces against this agreement are in the minority—namely, the Israeli government, who has continued to raise concerns about this deal; you have the Saudis with their—with their concern; and obviously you have the U.S. Congress. You know, I think last month they pushed through a bill that enables them to review this agreement once it’s signed. If the deal is signed before July 9th, Congress has 30 days to review it; if the deal is signed beyond the July 9th date, they have 60 days to sign. But it’s important to point out that other than these groups—the U.S. Congress, the Israeli government and the Saudi government—the majority of the world, and including the world powers, are for a negotiated agreement for Iran to have a peaceful nuclear program. However, these forces, as you say, against this deal, they have a lot of influence. They oftentimes dominate the media. And that’s what you’ll see if an agreement is signed. You’ll see the Israeli government, you’ll see U.S. Congress, you know, raising the alarm again. And it will be interesting to see where things go from here.
AMY GOODMAN: Reza Sayah, we are having a little trouble with your audio, so I want to thank you for being with us. Reza has covered Iran for CNN International for the last seven years. After his coverage of the 2009 anti-government protests, Iranian authorities denied him permission to work for two years, but then he later returned to Tehran, where he covered a number of the political developments there. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report.
Egypt's Power Struggle Intensifies with Killing of Prosecutor Behind Mass Jailings of Islamists
Egypt’s public prosecutor has been killed in a bomb attack in Cairo. Hisham Barakat died in hospital Monday after a remote bomb detonated next to his car outside his home as he drove to work. Eight others were also hurt in the blast. Barakat became a target of militants after he sent thousands of Islamists to trial following the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. We speak with Cairo-based Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We move right now to Egypt, where a national holiday marking the second anniversary of the June 30th revolution that ousted President Mohamed Morsi has been canceled after Egypt’s public prosecutor was killed in a bomb attack in Cairo. Hisham Barakat died in hospital on Monday after a remote bomb detonated next to his car outside his home as he drove to work. Eight others were also hurt in the blast. Barakat became a target of militants after he sent thousands of Islamists to trial following the overthrow of Morsi in 2013. He’s the most senior figure to have been targeted for assassination since a 2013 attempt on the life of the then-interior minister.
The bombing came as an emergency Arab League meeting was underway in the Egyptian capital following recent attacks in Tunisia and Kuwait for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility. On Friday, a lone gunman shot dead 38 people in the Tunisian resort town of Sousse before being killed by police. Most of the victims were European tourists, mainly British. The self-proclaimed Islamic State also took credit for a simultaneous attack in Kuwait, where a suicide bomber killed 27 people at a Shiite mosque. Egypt’s ambassador to the Arab League, Tarek Adel, said it must fight to eliminate the terrorist threat.
TAREK ADEL: [translated] Egypt will not hesitate to stand beside its sister countries in the face of terrorism and abolishing it completely—that is not exclusive to one organization alone—until it’s uprooted and defeated completed.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined right now in our New York studio by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Democracy Now! correspondent, usually based in Cairo, Egypt. He most recently reported from Yemen, wrote a piece for Foreign Policy headlined "Saudis Above, Houthis Next Door, and Death All Around." His Nation magazine piece is headlined "Death and Devastation in Sanaa."
Sharif, it’s great to have you back in New York. Can you talk, though, about what’s just taken place in Egypt, the assassination of the public prosecutor?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Yeah. I mean, this is a very significant escalation in the ongoing battle between militants and the state. Hisham Barakat is the first top official to be killed in Egypt in a quarter of a century. It’s the first time a public prosecutor has ever been assassinated in Egyptian history. And he’s really the highest-profile official to be killed since the coup two years ago which ousted the president, Mohamed Morsi. And it comes on the eve—it came on the eve of the June 30th mass protests that led to Morsi’s ouster. But it really deals a blow to the government of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who really rose to power on the promise of restoring stability and order in Egypt. He has justified a very broad and harsh crackdown against his opponents in order to eliminate the militant threat. And so, really, the war on terror is his raison d’être, if you will. And with this killing, he seems to again—it’s a sign that he’s losing this war on terror, and there’s more terrorism in Egypt in the past two years than we’ve ever had.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to a clip of—responding to the death sentence that was recently handed down for Mohamed Morsi and dozens of others. The ruling came in the case of a 2011 prison break one year before Morsi became Egypt’s first democratically elected leader. He was later ousted in a 2013 coup. Morsi’s attorneys say they’ll appeal. The decision drew international criticism, including from the U.S., a key ally of the Egyptian regime. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the U.S. is "deeply troubled" by Morsi’s sentence.
PRESS SECRETARY JOSH EARNEST: We are deeply troubled by the politically motivated sentences that have been handed down against former President Morsi and several others by an Egyptian court today. We understand that Mr. Morsi’s attorneys intend—Mr. Morsi’s attorney intends to appeal the sentence. The United States has repeatedly raised concerned about the detention and sentencing of a variety of political figures in Egypt. And we are concerned that the proceedings have been conducted in a way that is not only contrary to universal values, but also damaging to the stability that all Egyptians deserve.
AMY GOODMAN: In a report on Egypt quietly submitted to Congress last month, the Obama administration found "the overall trajectory for rights and democracy has been negative." But the report concludes, despite a series of abuses and the undermining of a free society, Egypt is too important to U.S. interests for any cuts to annual military aid. Sharif?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Right. I mean, the U.S. policy towards Egypt has not changed really in any significant way for decades. We’ve seen them prioritize national security objectives over other objectives, like human rights and the rule of law and democracy. And so we’ve seen that continue.
With regards to the targeting of Hisham Barakat, the public prosecutor, I think it’s significant because it also marks a move from these militant groups, which have almost exclusively targeted police and army forces, to targeting the judiciary. When we look at the judiciary in Egypt, it really has shed any semblance of neutrality over the past few years. During the Mubarak era, while there were certainly judges loyal to the state, you could get some court rulings that were not favorable to the government, and so you had the Mubarak government resorting to exceptional courts like military tribunals or state security courts. But since the revolution, many state institutions, including the judiciary, have adopted a siege mentality in what they view as an existential threat to their survival. And we’ve seen, really, the judiciary go from in some ways being a curb on the regime’s most authoritarian impulses to being a willing partner in repression.
And so, we’ve seen not only the targeting of Islamists, where you have Hisham Barakat, for example, put on trial; Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, he has since been sentenced to life in prison and has received a death sentence. The head of the Muslim Brotherhood, the supreme guide, has been sentenced to death in five separate cases. But this crackdown has really gone way beyond Islamists to target non-Islamist critics—so, many of the revolutionary activists that were at the heart of the 2011 uprising—but, beyond that, to really anyone who has spoken out against the government, and this has included human rights advocates, civil society workers, trade unionists and journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists, just last week, put out a report that found that it’s the highest number of journalists jailed in Egypt since it began keeping records in 1990. There’s at least 18 journalists behind bars. Six of them have been sentenced to death in a mass trial. Many of them are accused of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, which was a banned organization.
So—but with regards to Hisham Barakat himself, I mean, he was a highly controversial figure. He was appointed on July 10th, 2013, a week after the coup that overthrew Morsi that was backed by the government, and he has come under repeated threat because of this crackdown. And despite that, he seems to have been very poorly protected. He took the same route from his office—from his home to his office, and this was the route that he was attacked on. And it was very similar to an attack a couple of years ago against the then-interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, a car bomb near his convoy going from home to work.
Now, we don’t have any—no one’s claimed responsibility for this attack. The State Information Service has been very quick to point that the Muslim Brotherhood was responsible. The Muslim Brotherhood has rejected this violence but has said that the government is responsible for it because of the violence it perpetrated against civilians. However, it does bear the hallmarks of a group known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which is a Sinai-based jihadist group which has since pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and calls itself the Sinai Province. It was responsible for a failed assassination attempt against the interior minister in 2013. It posted a video on Sunday that appeared to threaten more attacks on the judiciary and showed what looked like the killing of three judges in May who were gunned down. And there’s also been other groups that have sprung up, especially in the last year, smaller groups with names like Revolutionary Punishment and things like that, who have pledged to commit violence against the state in the face of what they see as an overwhelming crackdown. These groups tend to do smaller-style attacks, but we have to see who’s—you know, who’s going to claim responsibility for this one.
AMY GOODMAN: Any relation to ISIS?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, this group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, has pledged allegiance to ISIS and now calls itself the Province of Sinai, as if it’s part of the Islamic State and it’s based in Sinai. The degree to which they actually get logistical support, weapons support, financial support, is highly questionable. This may just be more of an ideological allegiance. And also, they have really only targeted so far, in their large-scale bombings, police and security forces. And attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure has been really to a minimum.
AMY GOODMAN: You talked about the number of people, journalists, Islamists, dissidents, who are in jail. What about the leading dissidents, and how many people are in jail—for example, Alaa?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, Alaa Abd El-Fattah is, you know, a leading face of the 2011 revolution. He’s serving a five-year prison sentence. His sister is serving a two-year prison sentence.
AMY GOODMAN: How old is she?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: She, I believe, is 20 now. She just celebrated her birthday. I was at the protest that she was arrested from, and it was a completely peaceful protest and arguably the last one by that sort of group, who were against a protest law that was issued by this unelected government, a cabinet, that basically banned all demonstrations in Egypt. But really we’re seeing an unprecedented crackdown in Egypt. We’ve seen up to 40,000 people thrown in prison. Now the cabinet has passed an anti-terror law which is extremely draconian, which—you know, the Internet is one of the last spaces for dissent in Egypt, and there is healthy dissent on Facebook and on Twitter and other outlets, and now this anti-terror bill has a cybercrime element to it which allows authorities to imprison people for up to five years for very vague crimes as, you know, harming national security and so forth.
The Nadeem Center, which is a human rights group, has recently put out a report that found that 270 people in the last year alone were killed by the police, either in police stations, on the street or while they’re in custody, in different ways. And they’re saying that this was the worst year documented for human rights for them. And we’ve seen this kind of crackdown come with complete impunity for the security forces. So there’s hardly any police officers have been sentenced to prison for the killing of hundreds of people, thousands of people, and we’ve seen acquittal after acquittal for former regime officials.
Amid Warnings of Famine, Yemeni Civilians Trapped Inside Conflict with No End in Sight
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a full investigation after Saudi coalition airstrikes hit a U.N. compound in Yemen. A guard was injured when the office of the U.N. Development Programme in the southern city of Aden was hit Sunday. The United Nations has warned Yemen is one step away from famine as a humanitarian crisis intensifies. We discuss the latest with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who reported recently from Yemen.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to switch gears and go to Yemen, where you just came from, Sharif. On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a full investigation after Saudi coalition airstrikes hit a U.N. compound in Yemen. A guard was injured when the office of the U.N. Development Programme in the southern city of Aden was hit on Sunday. This is U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq.
FARHAN HAQ: The secretary-general deplores the coalition airstrikes on a U.N. compound in Aden on the 28th of June, which resulted in serious damage to the U.N. Development Programme office and injured a guard. The secretary-general strongly believes that this incident only underscores the imperative that all of the parties to the conflict must end the fighting and return to the negotiation table as the only possible way to achieve a durable peace in Yemen.
AMY GOODMAN: Your response, Sharif, to what’s happening right now in Yemen?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, a Saudi-led bombing campaign has devastated the country, has targeted a lot of infrastructure in Yemen, which is the poorest Arab country. It’s also enforced a naval and air and land blockade on the country, which has exacerbated a humanitarian crisis. The U.N. special envoy said recently that Yemen is one step away from famine. And we also have to realize that there’s a—the blockade is also being conducted by Houthi rebels in cities like Aden. They have cut off access for food, using food as a weapon, cutting off access by road to starve their opponents in the city. So this is really a story of civilians being caught between two warring sides. And we have to understand that this Saudi-backed campaign is supported by—
AMY GOODMAN: That Egypt and the U.S. are a part of.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Yes. The U.S. provides logistical and intelligence support for this campaign, which really has no end game that’s clear. The Saudis are just bombing Yemen without any—they want to restore this exiled president to power who has absolutely no support whatsoever anymore on the ground. It’s also a very incoherent policy. It is conducting drone strikes on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen, and it’s also backing this bombing campaign, which is hitting al-Qaeda’s fiercest rivals, in the Houthi rebels, in Yemen. And we’ve already seen AQAP gain ground and control of certain areas in Yemen as a result of this bombing campaign, so increasing in strength. But really, a lot of the world is complicit in what is happening to Yemeni civilians, who are on the brink of starvation, who have hardly any water—the capital may run out of water very soon—and who have no one to turn to. And this is not a story that gets a lot of headlines in the media.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, thank you very much, Sharif, for telling it to us here on Democracy Now!, both in Sana’a and here in New York. Sharif Abdel Kouddous heads back to Cairo, Egypt, now. Thanks for being with us, Democracy Now! correspondent based in Egypt’s capital, recently reported from Yemen. We’ll link to his pieces in both Foreign Policy, headlined "Saudis Above, Houthis Next Door, and Death All Around," and his Nation piece called "Death and Devastation in Sanaa."
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, it’s the 100 anniversary of Grace Lee Boggs. Stay with us.
The Centenary of a Revolutionary: Legendary Activist, Organizer Grace Lee Boggs Turns 100
To mark her 100th birthday, we pay tribute to the legendary activist and Detroit-based community organizer Grace Lee Boggs. We play an excerpt of the documentary, "American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs," and revisit a 2008 Democracy Now! interview about Boggs’ work in the civil rights, Black Power, labor, environmental justice and feminist movements for seven decades.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We end today’s show saying "Happy Birthday" to the legendary activist, Detroit-based community organizer Grace Lee Boggs. That’s right. Happy 100 birthday. She turned 100 on June 27th. This is the trailer for a new documentary about her life called American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs.
GRACE LEE BOGGS: I feel so sorry for people who are not living in Detroit. People are always striving for size, to be a giant, and this is a symbol of how giants fall. Keep recognizing that reality is changing and that your ideas have to change. Don’t get stuck in old ideas.
ANGELA DAVIS: Grace has made more contributions to the black struggle than most black people have.
GRACE LEE: How did you become a philosopher?
GRACE LEE BOGGS: I’ll just go back 70 years. I’m not sure why I am who I am. I think it does have something to do with the fact that I was born female and born Chinese.
RON SCOTT: Folks didn’t really think about Grace as a Chinese American. She was Grace. You know, she was just one of us.
GRACE LEE BOGGS: I think the lightbulb goes on, very often, in conversations that people have, and we don’t pay attention to it.
UNIDENTIFIED: Talk is cheap.
GRACE LEE BOGGS: I find it very, very difficult to take. I want to tell you honestly. Their talk was not cheap!
SHEA HOWELL: Oh, god, yes, she made all kinds of people cry, myself included.
AMY GOODMAN: Grace, how would you describe where we stand now?
GRACE LEE BOGGS: One of the difficulties when you’re coming out of oppression is that you get a concept of the messiah. You have to get to that point that we are the leaders we’ve been looking for. We are the children of Martin and Malcolm. I don’t know what the next American revolution is going to be like, but we might be able to imagine it, if your imagination were rich enough.
AMY GOODMAN: A clip from American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs. Well, today, in honor of Grace Lee Boggs’ 100th birthday, we revisit an interview I did with her in 2008, talking to her about her activism in Detroit, about her work in civil rights and Black Power, labor, environmental justice and feminist movements for seven decades. I asked her about her experiences with Malcolm X.
GRACE LEE BOGGS: I first met Malcolm through his brother Wilfred. One of the first mosques is in—in fact, the mosque number one, I think, is in Detroit. And my sense of Malcolm and of the movement, I think, is very different from that of many people, partly because I thought of Mr. Muhammad not so much in terms of his bizarre concepts, but as someone who, like many Muslims, I think, today, have a sense of themselves as part of another development, that is not Western development, that there must be another way. And I heard Mr. Muhammad, you know, head of the Nation of Islam, make some of these speeches. I heard—I met Wilfred, Malcolm’s brother, for the first time. I began to host meetings at my home where he could talk to people and give them a sense that—most people think of the black movement in the ’60s mainly as a struggle for white rights, but for Muslims, for people who joined the Nation, it was a question of creating our own identity. It was more a part of the identity movements of the ’60s than it was just a rights movement. And I wanted folks to understand that. And so, I began working with Malcolm. I was one of the organizers of the Grassroots Leadership Conference, where he made his famous speech.
AMY GOODMAN: In Detroit.
GRACE LEE BOGGS: In Detroit.
AMY GOODMAN: That speech being?
GRACE LEE BOGGS: The speech that—
AMY GOODMAN: "Prospects for Freedom"?
GRACE LEE BOGGS: —was made on November 10th, 1963, a few weeks prior to the assassination of JFK, at which he made his remark, "The chickens have come home to roost," which led to his suspension by Mr. Muhammad. And then, after he left the—after he actually left, forced out of the Nation, he was looking for what he should do. A group of us came here to New York to meet with him and asked him to come to Detroit to work with us, because we understood Malcolm’s hunger for new ideas, that he was a person always searching to transform himself. And so we met with him and asked him, and he said no, that he was going to be an evangelist, and he could not become an organizer with us.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean an evangelist?
GRACE LEE BOGGS: He felt that his voice was what needed to be heard. And so, he made the Hajj, and he made this enormous discovery that it’s not a question of your biology, that there are people of all races who are part of this sort of humanist journey that we’re making. And he came back to this country, and he said—I think most people don’t know that—he said, "I’m a revolutionary, and I’m a Muslim. That’s all I know about myself. Where I’m going to go, what ideology I’m going to develop, I don’t know. But I must crawl before I walk, I must walk before I run, and I don’t think I’ll have time." This was in November or December of 1964. He was killed on February 21st, 1965. So we’ll never know what Malcolm would have become. He was a person, as all of us are, in the process of transformation.
AMY GOODMAN: How would you describe him, knowing him, meeting him, his personality? What struck you about him?
GRACE LEE BOGGS: He was one of the gentlest people I’ve ever met. People don’t know that. I can remember, after he was assassinated, attending a meeting, and I remember young people getting up and saying Malcolm stands for "by all means necessary." They had taken that little bit of him and made it him. Which isn’t true. I mean, it’s not true of any of us, obviously, but it was particularly not true of Malcolm. And I think people who read the autobiography, to this day, understand that he was in the process of transformation. And I think that’s one of the most important qualities of a revolutionary, to be transforming yourself, to be expanding your humanity as events challenge you.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Grace Lee Boggs, what was your understanding at the time of who murdered Malcolm X? In fact, where were you in February when he was gunned down?
GRACE LEE BOGGS: On February 21st, 1965, it was a very snowy day in Detroit. I was picketing the church of Reverend Shoulders, who had said that militant blacks—he had made some terrible remarks about militancy among blacks. So we came back from the picketing, my husband Jimmy and I, and I got a call from Pat Robinson in New York that Malcolm had been assassinated. And we didn’t know who it was. We were not ready to attribute the murder to the Nation. So we tried to convene an international tribunal that would include Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre. We thought there needed to be an investigation. It was very hard at that point, when black unity seemed the answer to so many of our issues, to think of something such disastrous happening inside the black community, that could actually have been—at the moment, at that time, we did not know that Malcolm, because of the conduct of Mr. Muhammad, had already switched from him in his heart.
AMY GOODMAN: And how would you compare what Malcolm X represented to Dr. King? You hadn’t personally met Dr. King, but you were certainly living between these two tendencies, movements.
GRACE LEE BOGGS: Well, in Detroit we thought King was a little naive. We were very—I mean, Detroit is made up of many people who have come from the South. So we were very happy—we welcomed the Montgomery march. We felt—in fact, it was so interesting. Many blacks who had escaped from the South and come North and had considered that blacks in the South were sort of backward, because they hadn’t done the same thing, began to recognize that something might come from the South rather than from the North. But then, the issues that were facing people in the South were not the same as those that were facing us in the North, and so we had to redefine what was necessary in the North.
AMY GOODMAN: Legendary American revolutionary Grace Lee Boggs. That was Grace speaking in 2008 on Democracy Now! Well, June 27th, she turned 100 years old. We’ll link to all of our interviews with her over the years. The film, American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, has just won some major awards and is traveling the country. Well, in the week leading up to Grace Lee Boggs’ 100th birthday, there were many activities. Five hundred people came out on Friday night to the African American History Museum in Detroit to celebrate. Grace wasn’t able to make it. She lives comfortably at her home in Detroit surrounded by her beloved community. A very happy birthday to you, Grace.
Headlines:
Tens of Thousands Protest Austerity as Greece Faces Default
Tens of thousands of Greeks have protested against further austerity cuts ahead of a key referendum on a new European bailout. The demonstrations come as the country confirms it will not meet the deadline for a $1.8 billion loan repayment due by 6 p.m. Eastern time tonight, deepening Greece’s fiscal crisis and threatening its exit from the eurozone. Greece will hold a vote this Sunday on whether to accept an austerity package of budget cuts and tax hikes in exchange for new loans. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has urged a "no" vote, calling the proposal a surrender. We’ll have more on the Greece fiscal crisis after headlines.
Iran Talks Poised for Extension as Deadline Looms
Today marks the deadline for Iran and six world powers to reach a comprehensive agreement on curbing Iran’s nuclear program. Iran has dispatched two top officials to Vienna in a last-minute push for a diplomatic breakthrough, but the talks will likely be extended.
Puerto Rico Seeks U.S. Bankruptcy Protections over Crushing Debt
Puerto Rico has asked Washington to allow it to declare municipal bankruptcy after announcing it won’t be able to pay back its $72 billion in public debt. On Monday, Governor Alejandro García Padilla said the struggling island needs Washington’s help.
Gov. Alejandro García Padilla: "It is the moment for us to speak in one voice to demand concrete action from Washington, action from Washington now, action so that they finish approving the changes to Chapter 9 and so that Puerto Rico can count on the same protection that other jurisdictions have."
A report Monday said Puerto Rico’s financial outlook is unsustainable, with insufficient revenues, high migration and a heavy financial burden to meet its obligations as a U.S. territory. At the White House, Press Secretary Josh Earnest ruled out a bailout but suggested Puerto Rico could be eligible for bankruptcy protections.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest: "There’s no one in the administration or in D.C. that’s contemplating a federal bailout of Puerto Rico, but we do remain committed to working with Puerto Rico and their leaders as they address the serious challenges, serious financial challenges, that are currently plaguing the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The Treasury Department and other administration officials have been engaged with Puerto Rico to try to help them get access to all available and existing federal resources. And the Treasury Department, over the last year or two, has shared its expertise with local officials in Puerto Rico."
As part of its debt crisis, Puerto Rico will likely be forced into major cuts to government services and massive layoffs, adding to its 14 percent unemployment.
Supreme Court Rejects Texas Abortion Restrictions
The Supreme Court has handed down its final rulings for the current term. On Monday, the Supreme Court blocked a lower court decision that threatened to leave Texas with fewer than 10 abortion clinics. The court said clinics do not have to follow requirements forcing them to meet the standards of hospital-style surgery centers that were set to take effect on Wednesday, after Texas failed to prove the measures protect women’s health. The court could take up whether the rules are unconstitutional later this year.
Supreme Court Blocks EPA Limits on Mercury Emissions
In another decision, the court blocked the Environmental Protection Agency’s first national standards to cut emissions of mercury and toxic air pollutants from coal-fired power plants. The EPA has estimated the standards could help prevent thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of cases of disease each year, especially in poor neighborhoods, where mercury disproportionately falls. The court’s decision could make the EPA more vulnerable to challenges on future emissions caps.
Death Row Prisoners Lose Challenge to Execution Drug Midazolam
The Supreme Court has also rejected a challenge to the use of a controversial sedative in executions. Three Oklahoma prisoners had sought a ban on midazolam, which has been tied to several botched or prolonged lethal injections. But a five-to-four majority rejected the inmates’ claim that the drug violates a ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In a dissent, Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested they’re prepared to deem the death penalty unconstitutional.
Arizona Decision Could Curb Partisan Redistricting
And finally, in a key electoral case, the court sided with an effort by Arizona voters to draw their own congressional and state legislative districts. The decision could have a major impact on limiting partisan gerrymandering.
Egyptian Prosecutor Killed in Cairo Bomb Attack
In Egypt, the country’s public prosecutor has been killed in a bomb attack in Cairo. Hisham Barakat died in hospital Monday after a remote bomb detonated next to his car outside his home as he drove to work. Eight others were also hurt in the blast. Barakat became a target of militants after he sent thousands of Islamists to trial following the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Israel Seizes Boat Leading Gaza-Bound Flotilla
Israel has stopped the latest effort by foreign activists to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip by sea. A boat leading the Freedom Flotilla III was intercepted Monday about 100 nautical miles off the Gaza coast. Organizers say the flotilla is carrying solar panels and medical equipment for Gaza residents. The passengers have been taken to an Israeli port in what the Freedom Flotilla Coalition calls "an act of kidnapping."
Obama to Extend Overtime Eligibility to Millions
President Obama has announced plans to expand overtime pay for over five million workers. Under the change, those who learn less than $50,400 per year would be guaranteed time-and-a-half wages for working more than 40 hours a week. The current maximum for overtime eligibility is just over $23,000.
Univision, NBC Drop Donald Trump over Comments on Mexican Immigrants
Two major networks have cut ties to Donald Trump over his recent comments denigrating Mexican immigrants. Announcing his Republican presidential bid this month, Trump branded Mexicans who move to the U.S. criminals and "rapists." Calling Trump’s remarks "insulting," Univision, the largest Spanish-language TV network in the U.S., says it will no longer air the Trump-owned Miss USA pageant. NBC also says it will no longer broadcast Miss USA. It will continue airing the reality show Celebrity Apprentice but without Trump’s involvement.
Exonerated Death Row Prisoner Glenn Ford Dies at 65
And the former death row prisoner Glenn Ford has died at the age of 65. After three decades on death row in Louisiana, Ford was freed in March 2014 based on new evidence clearing him of the 1983 fatal shooting of a jewelry store owner. Ford is African-American and was tried by an all-white jury. He was one of the longest-serving death row prisoners ever to be exonerated. The prosecutor who sent him to prison, Marty Stroud, came out and apologized to Ford for his ordeal.
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VIDEO: Legendary Detroit Activist Grace Lee Boggs Turns 100; Watch Never-Before-Aired Interview
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"This Flag Comes Down Today": Bree Newsome Scales Flagpole, Removes SC Capitol Confederate Flag
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