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"Cultural Genocide": Landmark Report Decries Canada's Forced Schooling of Indigenous Children
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada has concluded the country’s decades-long policy of forcibly removing indigenous children from their families and placing them in state-funded residential Christian schools amounted to "cultural genocide." After a six-year investigation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report concluded: "The Canadian government pursued this policy of cultural genocide because it wished to divest itself of its legal and financial obligations to aboriginal people and gain control over their lands and resources. If every aboriginal person had been 'absorbed into the body politic,' there would be no reserves, no treaties and no aboriginal rights." The first schools opened in 1883. The last one closed in 1998. During that time over 150,000 indigenous children were sent away to rid them of their native cultures and languages and integrate them into mainstream Canadian society. Many students recall being beaten for speaking their native languages and losing touch with their parents and customs. The report also documents widespread physical, cultural and sexual abuse. We are joined by Pamela Palmater, associate professor and chair of the Centre for Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University, an Idle No More activist and author of "Beyond Blood: Rethinking Indigenous Identity and Belonging."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada has concluded that country’s decades-long policy of forcibly removing indigenous children from their families and placing them in state-funded residential Christian schools amounted to, quote, "cultural genocide." After a six-year investigation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report concluded: quote, "The Canadian government pursued this policy of cultural genocide because it wished to divest itself of its legal and financial obligations to aboriginal people and gain control over their lands and resources. If every aboriginal person had been 'absorbed into the body politic,' there would be no reserves, no treaties and no aboriginal rights."
AMY GOODMAN: The first schools opened in 1883. The last one closed in 1998. During that time, over 150,000 indigenous children were sent away to rid them of their native cultures and languages and integrate them into mainstream Canadian society. Many students recall being beaten for speaking their native languages and losing touch with their parents and customs. The report also documents widespread physical, cultural and sexual abuse at the schools. It was based in part on testimony from 7,000 survivors. This is Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
JUSTICE MURRAY SINCLAIR: The residential school experience is clearly one of the darkest, most troubling chapters in our collective history. In the period from Confederation until the decision to close residential schools was taken in this country in 1969, Canada clearly participated in a period of cultural genocide. We heard of the effects of over 100 years of mistreatment of more than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children placed in these schools. Removed from their families and home communities, seven generations of aboriginal children were denied their identity. We heard how, separated from their language, their culture, their spiritual traditions and their collective history, children became unable to answer questions as simple as "Where do I come from?" "Where am I going?" "Why am I here?" and "Who am I?"
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, also said he suspects as many as 7,500 indigenous children died at the residential schools, but the exact figure may never be known. The Canadian government stopped recording the deaths in 1920 after the chief medical officer at Indian Affairs suggested children in the schools were dying at an alarming rate.
AMY GOODMAN: To talk more about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings, we go to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada to talk to Pamela Palmater, associate professor and chair in indigenous governance at Ryerson University. She is a Mi’kmaq lawyer, an Idle No More activist and author of Beyond Blood: Rethinking Indigenous Identity and Belonging.
Welcome back to Democracy Now! Can you start, Pamela, by talking—by responding to the commission’s report? Were you surprised by what they found?
PAMELA PALMATER: No, I wasn’t surprised. I mean, this is something that indigenous peoples have known since the inception of residential schools. The federal government wasn’t surprised, the RCMP or churches. Everybody in a position of power has long known about the crimes and abuses that happened at residential schools. We’re quite thankful for the bravery of the survivors to come forward and make sure that it was documented. This is a critical piece. And the Truth and Reconciliation Commission did an incredible job in the face of many barriers put forward by the federal government to make sure that their stories were heard and that as much documented evidence was contained in the report. And I think that’s incredibly important for Canadians, because we know what happened to us, but Canadians don’t know what happened, and they don’t understand the culpability of the federal government and churches in this regard.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the issue of the conclusion of cultural genocide, do you have any concerns or qualms about that specifically?
PAMELA PALMATER: Yeah. Well, I mean, I think the Truth and Reconciliation Commission went about as far as they felt comfortable in naming it cultural genocide. But I—it’s just genocide through and through. If you look at the U.N. definition on genocide, it meets every single one of those factors. And there’s nothing cultural about it. They weren’t killing us because of our culture. They were killing us because we were Indians, and we stood in the way of accessing all of the lands and resources and settlement in this country.
Think about it. All of the overrepresentation in this country in prisons—you know, some prisons have as high as 60 percent indigenous peoples—that’s not because of our culture; it’s because we’re Indians, and we have rights and aboriginal rights that still stand in the way of unfettered resource development. Why are our kids overrepresented in Child and Family Services, to the tune of 30,000 to 40,000 in Canada? Here in Manitoba, 90 percent of all kids in care are indigenous. It’s not because of their culture; it’s because of who they are as Indians and that we’re the indigenous peoples here, and we have rights to protect this territory, and we’re essentially the last stand against complete, unfettered development here in this country.
And so, if you look at it across the board, while they may have characterized it in terms of, you know, assimilating culture, you wouldn’t have a death rate of upwards of 40 percent in some of those schools if it was just about culture. It would have been more aggressive education tactics, both in those schools and in the communities. If you have a death rate that’s higher than those who enlisted in World War II, this wasn’t about culture.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to survivor testimony recorded by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada. This is William Nelson describing his experience being sent to a residential school.
WILLIAM NELSON: We arrived to the dorm in the middle of the night. The supervisor for the junior boys showed me my bed, the rows of beds where other boys were asleep. I thought they were asleep, but once the supervisor closed the door, all the heads popped up. And the boys all stood around to look at the new kid. That was me. Around the second night or so, the supervisor opened the dorm door, which he caught me sitting up in bed. He says, "We have rules here, if you’re caught sitting up in bed. You should be sleeping." Because I was sitting up, I had to be punished. The punishment was getting strapped and whipped with a belt. I believe it was about seven times that I was whipped in the back.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s William Nelson. Another survivor of the residential schools named MaryAnn Sam of Vancouver Island also spoke at the Truth and Reconciliation sharing circle.
MARYANN SAM: From my experience while I was at the residential school, my sisters and I were led to believe that our mother was killed in a car accident. But that was not true. She was in the accident, but the ministry and families had taken us, hid me and my sisters for years. When my mom was well enough to care for us again, she searched and searched for us. We were once again reunited. She returned us home, a single parent. And again, it was her struggle that provided us strength to love and respect others. It was then, when we returned home, that we were brought to the day school again with priests and nuns. So we thought this was the way of life. But we enjoyed where we were, back with our community, family and children that we knew. But the experience here was similar, not again to use our language, not to use our cultural ways, because that was not for who we were. In my community, it was our mothers who fought for our school and went about to teach our language, our culture.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s MaryAnn Sam of Vancouver Island speaking at the Truth and Reconciliation sharing circle. Professor Palmater, she says, "My sisters and I were led to believe our mother was killed in a car accident. But that wasn’t true." And respond to what both William and she were saying.
PAMELA PALMATER: Well, I mean, these stories are quite common, and stories even worse than this are quite common, the amount of intentional lying and deception and keeping parents away from children. So it wasn’t like parents were just enrolling these children, they were going to school, and there were some isolated incidents of bad things happening. We’re talking about wholescale theft of children from communities, in large part against the will of the parents, and parents were kept away from those schools. And even children who ran away were brought back oftentimes by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, despite the allegations of what was happening in those schools.
And that’s the real crime here, because whether or not people agree that this is genocide, it was always against the law to kidnap children, to assault them, to assault them with deadly weapons, to rape, torture them, use electric chairs on them, to deny them food and water, to beat them to such an extent that some died, to starve them until some died. All of these things were crimes then, just as it is now. And nobody was prosecuted, despite the fact that the RCMP knew, the federal government knew, and the churches knew exactly what was happening.
And I think really illustrative of that are the government’s own documents. You had doctors coming to the federal government, saying, "You have extremely high death rates in the schools." And the federal government’s response was: "Well, that doesn’t justify a change in our policy, because the overall objective is, quote-unquote, 'the final solution.'" And we’ve heard those words before. So we know exactly what the intention was. And I know there was a focus on culture and that people were abused and beaten for speaking their language and culture, and they were clearly denied their identity. But for many of these children, upwards of 40 percent, they were denied their right to live. And that goes far beyond culture. Think about at the same time the forced sterilizations that were happening against indigenous women and little girls all across the country. Sterilization has nothing to do with one’s culture, but, in essence, the one’s right to continue on in their cultural group or nation-based group. The objective was to get rid of Indians in whatever way possible. Culture was one aspect of it, but also denying them the right to live or to procreate was an essential part of this.
And I think what’s really important for people around the world to understand is that residential schools didn’t really stand in isolation. It was in addition to the forced sterilizations, the scalping bounties, all of the—overrepresenting our people in prison, stealing them and putting them in Child and Family Services, the thousands of murdered and missing indigenous women in this country that go unresolved, and no steps taken to prevent these actions, and that this is ongoing. It would be a terrible mistake to historicize this and say, "Well, this happened a long time ago. We now know what happened. Let’s apologize and move on." It is ongoing.
When they closed residential schools, their very next policy was known as the Sixties Scoop, where they actually took more children from First Nations than during the residential school period, which is why we have now 30 to 40 percent of our children in care. They’re still taking our children. They’re still trying to raise them in non-indigenous families. And many of these children end up as murdered or missing indigenous women, or they end up in the prison system. And that’s—this legacy of the residential schools is ongoing. It’s very much in the present. You can track the survivors of residential schools to kids in care, to people in prison, to those who are homeless, to those who have poor health. All of these things are very much in the present. So we have to take action now to address the ongoing problems that were started by the residential school and have never stopped and continue to this day in just different terminology and in different policies.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Paula Palmater, I wanted to ask you about the role of the churches in this. It wasn’t just the government. Which churches? What specifically did they do? And what has been their admission of—their own admission of their culpability in this cultural genocide, or this general genocide, as you say?
PAMELA PALMATER: Well, I think it’s varied. So, all of the churches that were here were involved in this. It looks like the majority of these schools were run by the Catholic Church. I understand that there—at a local level, there has been difficulty in obtaining records. Often churches didn’t make note of the children who died in those schools. So we don’t even have a complete record of those—how many that did die. We know for sure it’s at least 6,000 to 7,000, but it could be even higher. Many churches had unmarked graves. And we’re in a situation now where many residential school survivors and First Nations are demanding that churches come forward and give us all of their documentation, at every level, no matter where the documents have been kept, about who knew what and when, who was involved, and primarily to bring closure for many of these families to know where their child last spent their days, where their remains could possibly be. And all of that information has not been forthcoming from the churches, especially at an administrative or national or international level.
At the local level, however, you do see local churches trying to take steps to make amends, to try to have a better relationship with indigenous peoples, and trying to work together to support different initiatives on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. So we have Cree people who are walking across the country for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission events, and their walk was supported by some of the churches, and things like that. But I think at an institutional level, the churches have a lot more work to do, and they need to make some very specific and targeted apologies, and make amends, because, as we know, apology means nothing unless you’re going to try to make amends to right the wrongs that happened in the past. And so, they have a clear responsibility, in addition to the federal government, to support things like indigenous languages and cultures and education, and trying to find a way to both identify these children and return them to their families and communities. That’s incredibly important.
AMY GOODMAN: Last year, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed at least 1,181 native women and girls were killed or went missing between 1980 and 2012. The new Truth and Reconciliation Commission report made a link between the residential schools with the missing and murdered women. The report states, quote, "The available information suggests a devastating link between the large numbers of murdered and missing Aboriginal women and the many harmful background factors in their lives. The complex interplay of factors—many of which are part of the legacy of residential schools—needs to be examined, as does the lack of success of police forces in solving these crimes against Aboriginal women," unquote. Paula Palmater, can you talk about what is being planned now? I mean, that’s a government commission. What is the follow-up at this point?
PAMELA PALMATER: Well, there is no follow-up. And probably one of the most insulting, shameful things that happened yesterday was when the Truth and Reconciliation commissioner, Justice Murray Sinclair, got up and said there’s a clear link between what happened in residential schools and the vulnerability of our indigenous women and girls that go murdered and missing, and that he recommended and supported all of the calls for a national inquiry: Everyone stood up, gave him a standing ovation, except the minister of Indian affairs.
And that’s extremely significant, if the minister of Indian affairs can’t be supportive of finding justice for indigenous women and girls, who go murdered and missing at an extremely alarming rate. Here in Manitoba, it’s 50 percent. They only make up 4 percent of the population, but 50 percent of all indigenous women and—of all women and girls that go murdered or missing are indigenous. And so we have some significant issues across the country. Again, it’s not just about our culture. Our very lives are at stake.
And so, the minister of Indian affairs didn’t clap. He didn’t give a standing ovation. And this is in line with what the prime minister has said. He has said, time and time again, an inquiry into why indigenous women go murdered and missing is not high on our radar. He doesn’t consider it to be an issue. And he’s really out of touch with all of the research. There’s been at least 50 reports with over 700 recommendations on how to deal with this. And the United Nations, various human rights bodies, including CEDAW, have come out with reports which have researched and studied this and said this is a problem.
The police are not taking action. There’s lots of socioeconomic conditions of poverty that make our indigenous women and girls vulnerable, some stemming from residential schools, some stemming from Canada’s very purposeful, targeted, racist and discriminatory laws and policies, and that a national inquiry is recommended to get at the root of it so that we can come up with solutions to prevent it from happening to begin with. It’s no good to have a police force who’s now willing to take action to investigate murders; we want to stop those from happening in the beginning.
And I think it’s critical that this Truth and Reconciliation report tied all of these things together, that residential schools didn’t just happen as a moment in history. It’s ongoing legacy. And that’s also in line with some of the other recommendations around the overrepresentation of our people in prisons. Justice Murray Sinclair recommended that action be taken right away to look at all of the criminalization data and take action to stop this from happening—the same with Child and Family Services, the same with all of the socioeconomic problems that make our people vulnerable to begin with.
AMY GOODMAN: Paula Palmater, we want to thank you very much for being with us, associate professor and chair in indigenous governance at Ryerson University. She is a Mi’kmaq lawyer, an Idle No More activist and author of Beyond Blood: Rethinking Indigenous Identity and Belonging. Thanks so much for joining us from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, Sepp Blatter to step down. We’ll speak with an Australian soccer official who blew the whistle on FIFA. Stay with us.
Fracking Protests Continue in Texas as New ALEC-Backed Law Bars Towns from Banning Drilling
The city of Denton, Texas, is in a showdown with Big Oil after it tried to pass a ban on fracking within its city limits. On Tuesday night, residents of Denton, about 30 miles north of Dallas-Fort Worth, packed a city council meeting to oppose a vote to repeal the ban. The vote was ultimately tabled. The move comes after Texas lawmakers passed a new law that prohibits such bans. The measure went into effect on Monday. That same morning, three protesters locked themselves to the entrance of the first fracking well to reopen. It was just this past November that nearly 60 percent of Denton residents supported the ban at the ballot box. But they were immediately threatened with lawsuits by the Texas Oil and Gas Association and the Texas General Land Office. Those same interests worked with lawmakers and the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, to pass this new ban on fracking bans known as House Bill 40. All of this comes as Oklahoma became the second state to ban fracking bans on Friday. Meanwhile, Maryland became the second state, after New York, to ban fracking. We are joined by Tara Linn Hunter, volunteer coordinator for Frack Free Denton.
Image Credit: DeSmogblog.com
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: "The Death of Democracy" by The Frackettes. The lead singer is our next guest. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, we turn now to Texas, where a small town finds itself in a showdown with Big Oil after it tried to pass a ban on fracking within its city limits. On Tuesday night, residents of Denton, about 30 miles north of Dallas-Fort Worth, packed a city council meeting to oppose a vote to repeal the ban. The vote was ultimately tabled. The move comes after Texas lawmakers passed a new law that prohibits such bans. The measure went into effect on Monday. That same morning, three protesters locked themselves to the entrance of the first fracking well to reopen. A police sergeant thanked the three and shook their hands before putting them in handcuffs.
AMY GOODMAN: It was just this past November that nearly 60 percent of Denton, Texas, residents supported the ban at the ballot box. But they were immediately threatened with lawsuits by the Texas Oil and Gas Association and the Texas General Land Office. Those same interests worked with lawmakers and the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, to pass this new ban on fracking bans known as House Bill 40. Now residents could consider their own legal tactics. They are represented by the same lawyer who successfully defended a constitutional challenge to a fracking ban in Dryden, New York. All of this comes as Oklahoma became the second state to ban fracking bans on Friday. Meanwhile, Maryland became the second state, after New York, to ban fracking.
Well, for more, we go to Fort Worth, Texas, where we’re joined by Tara Linn Hunter, volunteer coordinator for Frack Free Denton. She was one of three people arrested Monday. Another three were arrested Tuesday.
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Tara. So, explain where Denton stands right now.
TARA LINN HUNTER: Well, right now, what we’re seeing is that our vote has been disregarded and overturned with the passage of House Bill 40. So that nullifies our ban and makes it unenforceable. And what we’re seeing now is that residents are willing to go out every morning to the frack site and put themselves on the line to enforce their ordinance and make the vote of the people heard.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the lawmakers can even make this ban on the ban retroactive?
TARA LINN HUNTER: Yes, that’s right. Our ban was completely legal. We went through the citizens’ initiative process to get that on the ballot. It’s a petition process. We only needed 500 signatures; we got 2,000. And we put it to a vote to the people of Denton. And they overwhelmingly voted to ban fracking. So it was a completely legal process that we followed. And then, they passed House Bill 40. They basically had to go change the law in order to beat us. So...
AMY GOODMAN: Tara Linn Hunter, before you tell us how you got arrested on Monday, talk about why you got involved with this issue.
TARA LINN HUNTER: Well, I got involved because I moved to Denton to study music, specifically singing. We’re known for our music and art in my town. I’m very proud of that. And while I was there, I developed debilitating adult asthma. So I started looking into our air quality issues, and I realized that Denton—the American Lung Association has given Denton an F-quality air. So I started researching the sources of air pollution, and then I came across fracking pretty quick.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the Legislature in Texas acts even as news has been coming out recently about the huge increase in earthquakes linked to fracking wells in nearby Oklahoma. What’s been the public response to this kind of information getting out throughout Texas?
TARA LINN HUNTER: Sure. People are very concerned. I attended a town hall meeting in Irving that was packed. Hundreds and hundreds of people poured out after feeling there homes shake. There’s injection wells near there. And people are very concerned and very upset.
AMY GOODMAN: And so, right in Denton and in its surrounding area, how much fracking is going on? What are the oil companies involved? Is there any connection to elected officials?
TARA LINN HUNTER: Absolutely. So, in Denton alone, we have 300 gas wells in our city limits. They’re less than 250 feet from homes. Some of the neighborhood signs actually wrap around the walls that surround the frack wells. So this is really—you know, it’s near our hospitals, our schools, so forth.
Some of the companies that are operating there, one of them is Vantage. One of them is EagleRidge. EagleRidge was caught dumping chemicals into Hickory Creek. Just a few weeks ago, Vantage had one of their wells explode just outside of a neighborhood. That fire went on for about seven hours. EagleRidge had a blowout near our airport. Homes were evacuated. That one, the blowout didn’t stop for 14 hours. And we found levels of benzene when we did air samples. So, these are some of the companies that are operating in our city.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And you’ve said that your supposed elected officials have sold you out. Could you talk about those officials and their connection to the oil and gas industry?
TARA LINN HUNTER: Yeah, absolutely. So, our representative, Myra Crownover, our senator, Craig Estes, really disregarded their own constituents’ votes and voted for House Bill 40. The Texas Tribune does a wonderful job of laying out potential conflicts of interest, and they show, you know, how many of our politicians, including these two, are really oil-soaked and that they have direct investment in oil and gas and receive contributions, campaign contributions, from the oil and gas industry.
AMY GOODMAN: Three days later after Texas lawmakers voted to prohibit city bans on fracking, lighting struck a frack well in Denton and set it on fire. Resident Leah Strittmatter lives near the well and described what she saw.
LEAH STRITTMATTER: I saw, out of our kitchen window, orange reflecting off of our children’s playset. And I said, "John, lightning struck somewhere." And I thought lightning had struck there, our yard or their playhouse. And we ran outside, and the heat from the immense flames just smacked us in the face. It was so hot. The flames that were coming off of the compression station was just massive. I kept trying to call 911 over and over, and nobody would answer. It kept going to a fast busy signal.
AMY GOODMAN: The well is operated by Vantage, the same company that opened new fracking sites in Denton this week after Texas lifted city bans on fracking. Just last month, a Vantage gas wellhead malfunctioned and began leaking fracking fluid in nearby Arlington, where dozens of homes were evacuated after the company took two hours to notify officials of the emergency. In December, the company agreed to pay a nearly $1 million fine after it violated waste disposal regulations at one of its oil wells in Franklin Township, Pennsylvania. So, Tara Linn Hunter, as we wrap up, can you talk about your arrest on Monday? I mean, presumably, the police come from your area. The police shook your hand and then handcuffed you?
TARA LINN HUNTER: That’s right. They were thanking us for our community service as they were arresting us. And when we got to the station, they let us out on personal recognizance, you know, saying that we’re not a threat to the community. I think that they’re very sympathetic to the cause, because if you live in Denton, you’re aware of the effects of fracking in your daily life. So I hope that that sympathy continues as we move forward. But it was a very civil exchange.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what are your next steps now, given now that the state Legislature has—and as well as Oklahoma’s Legislature, has banned the bans on fracking? And what do you hope to do next?
TARA LINN HUNTER: I think that our residents are very interested in seeing the city, you know, uphold the vote of the people. And so, last night we packed a city council meeting and unanimously requested that they not be the ones to repeal the ban themselves. So we’re looking at the best strategy moving forward. How can we fight House Bill 40? On a larger scale, how can we really tell—continue to tell our powerful narrative of a small Texas town standing up to a billion-dollar industry? It’s a real David-and-Goliath story. On the ground, we’re continuing our education efforts to get people—
AMY GOODMAN: Tara Linn Hunter, we’re going to have to leave it there. I want to thank you for being with us, volunteer coordinator for Frack Free Denton, arrested Monday as part of the protests to stop the first new fracking well since Denton residents voted to pass a fracking ban last November. And she’s lead singer with The Frackettes.
Australian Whistleblower Who Took on FIFA Corruption: Sepp Blatter's Resignation Long Overdue
The beleaguered head of the international soccer governing body FIFA has resigned over a growing corruption scandal. Sepp Blatter’s announcement follows last week’s indictments of 14 people on corruption charges, including two FIFA vice presidents. The New York Times reported Blatter’s secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, allegedly made $10 million in bank transactions that are central elements of the bribery scandal. U.S. officials have confirmed Blatter is the focus of a criminal investigation, with investigators hopeful those already charged will cooperate. The resignation won’t take effect for another four months due to FIFA rules. We are joined by Bonita Mersiades, the former head of corporate and public affairs with the Football Federation of Australia during Australia’s bid for the 2022 World Cup, which ultimately was awarded to Qatar. Mersiades was let go from the bid team after disagreeing with a policy to influence the vote of FIFA’s Executive Committee members with money for pet projects, and testified during FIFA’s own investigation into corruption in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process.
Image Credit: Reuters
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The beleaguered head of the international soccer governing body FIFA resigned Tuesday, just three days after he won a fifth term amidst a corruption scandal in his top ranks. Sepp Blatter’s move to step down brings an end to his 17 years in office and follows last week’s indictment of 14 people on corruption charges, including two FIFA vice presidents. Earlier today, Interpol put two top former FIFA officials on its "red notice" wanted list at the request of U.S. authorities. On Monday, The New York Times reported Blatter’s secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, allegedly transferred $10 million in 2008 from FIFA to two accounts controlled by another soccer official, Jack Warner. Blatter announced he would resign at a press conference in Zurich.
SEPP BLATTER: [translated] I decided to stand again to be elected because I was convinced it was the best option for our institution. The elections are closed, but the challenges that FIFA is facing have not come to an end. FIFA needs a profound restructuring. Although the members of FIFA have given me a new mandate, have re-elected me president, this mandate does not seem to be supported by everybody in the world of soccer—supporters, clubs, players, those who inspire life in soccer.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Sepp Blatter’s resignation will not go into effect immediately. FIFA rules call for at least four months’ notice before a meeting of member nations to elect a new president.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, news of FIFA’s corruption comes as no surprise to our next guest, who’s watching this story closely. Bonita Mersiades was head of corporate and public affairs with the Football Federation of Australia during Australia’s bid for the 2022 World Cup, which ultimately was awarded to Qatar. She was let go from the bid team after disagreeing with a policy to influence the vote of FIFA’s Executive Committee members with money for pet projects, and testified during FIFA’s own investigation into corruption in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process. She joins us by Democracy Now! audio stream from Coolum Beach in Australia.
Welcome to Democracy Now! Can you first respond to Sepp Blatter staying for his election this past week, being elected, and now saying he’s stepping down? And then talk about what it is that you found, what you experienced, and how you were let go.
BONITA MERSIADES: Sure. Hi, Amy. I guess the only way to explain Sepp Blatter is to say that that’s just so typical of Sepp Blatter. He’s not a person who necessarily behaves in the same way that we would be used to with people, for instance, from corporate organizations or the public sector, because he doesn’t necessarily have a good understanding or a good sense of what governance is. That was made clear, I think, last week when Loretta Lynch set out what the charges were against some of the FIFA
AMY GOODMAN: Bonita, we lost you.
BONITA MERSIADES: —talked about—
AMY GOODMAN: Go ahead.
BONITA MERSIADES: Oh, have you got me again now?
AMY GOODMAN: Yes, we hear you now.
BONITA MERSIADES: OK. I’m not sure where I was up to, but I was talking about how Mr. Blatter doesn’t have a very good understanding of governance at all, and that was evident in the comments that were made by Loretta Lynch last week, in which she talked about the issues that FIFA faced being longstanding and over decades, not just in recent years. So, it’s hardly surprising that Mr. Blatter would say last Friday that he was the man to lead us all out of all of this, and then four days later he says, "Oh, I am going to resign because I don’t have your confidence." But at the same time, he’s not going to resign straightaway. It could be four months. It even could be as long as 10 months. And he’s actually going to have—he and his close associates set out a program for reform, a program for reform of which he has been spectacularly unable to implement over 34 years in either the top job or the second top job. So that’s the first part of your question.
The second part relates to what I saw. It was more about the way FIFA went about doing its business, and it’s exactly how—as Loretta Lynch described it. And that is that decisions were made on the basis of what went on in back rooms. There were deals. There were counter-deals. There were double deals. There was subterranean behavior. And there was no transparency whatsoever. If the bids had been considered on their merits and on the basis of objective criteria, it is unlikely that Qatar and Russia would have ended up winning 2022 and 2018. But, in fact, we don’t really know what went on and how those decisions were made. And so, we’ve got the outcome that we did in relation to those bids. And while these issues around FIFA are longstanding and have been going on for decades, there’s no better example than those two decisions.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what about the potential for real reform, not just a shuffling of the people at the top? For instance, this Prince Ali, who is a potential replacement as head of FIFA, do you think he augurs any real possibility for real reform?
BONITA MERSIADES: Look, I think almost anyone, but almost, would—
AMY GOODMAN: We just heard—we just lost all of what you were saying, but "almost anyone."
BONITA MERSIADES: OK.
AMY GOODMAN: Sorry, repeat what you’re saying.
BONITA MERSIADES: —one would be an improvement on who has been there for the past 34 years.
AMY GOODMAN: Bonita Mersiades, can you talk about what happened to you?
BONITA MERSIADES: Well, what happened to me was, I was working as part of the bid team, and then I—
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to try to fix your audio. Meanwhile, we’re going to go to Michael Kohn, who’s head of the National Whistleblower Center in Washington, D.C. Michael, you usually deal with people who are, oh, you know, whistleblowers on the FBI or the CIA or police, author of Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees. Why is the FIFA story, internationally, so relevant to what’s happening in this country today?
MICHAEL KOHN: Well, thank you. International whistleblowing is critical right now, and the United States’ laws are the gold standard. We have the best whistleblower laws that protect international—that have international reach. Our laws also provide recovery for whistleblowers, which makes them very unusual, and strict anonymity. You can go with allegations of fraud and corruption under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, provide the information to the U.S. government officials and have strict confidentiality, where no one will ever know that you were the source of the information. Additionally, our laws provide a recovery of—part of whatever is recovered of the fraud can be paid to the whistleblower as a reward. This is a state-of-the-art whistleblower protection program that no other country has. And our laws are long-reaching. Foreign nationals are as free to file these claims as anyone else. And tens of millions of dollars have already been paid out to foreign nationals to address corruption occurring around the world. So this is the state-of-the-art whistleblower protection available, and it’s no surprise that you see the Justice Department of the United States leading the charge against this type of massive fraud. As whistleblowers around the world come forward, the information will end up being filtered into the appropriate U.S. investigative agencies, and corrective action can occur.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But, Michael Kohn, doesn’t that also raise certain concerns about the spreading of the U.S. legal system worldwide, in this sense, in terms of being able to prosecute crimes that may not necessarily have been committed in the United States itself?
MICHAEL KOHN: Not at all. These are crimes—these are international crimes. And in order to get jurisdiction, in some form, the tentacle of the criminal conduct has to have occurred or touched the United States. So, this is—in order to bring a fair playing field around the world to ensure that bribes are not the driving force behind large contracts, it’s the only regime that’s out there. It’s the state of the art. What should be happening is all the other countries should be developing similar type of laws. But what you have is, in a lot of these jurisdictions, there just isn’t the opportunity to create such forceful, powerful laws, because the institutions—you have internal corruptions within certain government institutions, that you’re afraid if you bring the information forward, your identity will be revealed, and your life could be in danger. That won’t happen with the United States’ program. And that’s why it’s really the guiding light. And hopefully—I think the goal of these programs is to get the entire world to enact similar legislation.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And why do you think it’s taken so long in the case of FIFA, for example? Because there have been all kinds of investigations, some actually started by FIFA itself that went nowhere, and yet it’s been wide—it’s been known for years that there’s some level of deep corruption in this international body.
MICHAEL KOHN: Well, the internal investigation by FIFA, I think, were aimed at hiding the truth. The individual who conducted the last investigation renounced FIFA’s summary of his report. I mean, that’s pretty clear that the intent is to cover up. So, if you want to have true whistleblower protection and you want to be able to get to the truth as quickly as possible, you’re going to really have to work through the U.S. legal system—the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, our tax laws. These laws provide meaningful relief. They provide punitive measures that are in line with what is necessary to have meaningful change around the world.
AMY GOODMAN: I think we have Bonita Mersiades simply on the phone from Australia, because we really want to hear exactly what happened to you when you tried to blow the whistle on FIFA.
BONITA MERSIADES: Hi. Well, look, a couple of things, Amy. I mean, one, I was in my job, and I raised my concerns about the reputational risks that Australia ran with its bid, with some of the practices that I could see. And that became very uncomfortable for my employers. And in the end, they decided that I was expendable and that I should go. And then, you know, last—
AMY GOODMAN: And you were talking—you were concerned about the Australian Football Federation—the Football Federation of Australia giving money to FIFA in the bid?
BONITA MERSIADES: It’s not so much that. It is about the whole environment around the bidding process. It was clear that, as I think I may have touched on earlier, decisions weren’t made in any sort of transparent manner. It was clear that decisions were going to be made behind closed doors. And so, therefore, the bidding process was never going to be considered on their merits, whether it was Australia’s merits, the U.S.’s merits or whoever. So that was my concern. And it was some of the favors that we were doing for some of those FIFA executives—for example, Jack Warner, Mohammed bin Hammam—which were of concern to me.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what were those favors?
BONITA MERSIADES: Well, one good example is one whereby, for instance, Australia decided to fund the upgrade of a stadium in Trinidad and Tobago. Now, that might be a worthwhile project in and of its own right, but, you know, the question has to be raised: Did we think there was a vote attached to it? You know, everyone can answer that for themselves, I guess, but in light of what we now know about Jack Warner, you are led to perhaps a conclusion. But the key thing is that the half a million dollars that was given to upgrade that stadium or to upgrade the Centre of Excellence ended up in the personal bank account of Mr. Warner, according to an expert committee of inquiry into CONCACAF finances. So, it’s not saying that that’s where the money was given, but it’s certainly where the money was received. And that’s just a small example of the types of things which Loretta Lynch was talking about last week, which have gone on in the large scale with FIFA.
AMY GOODMAN: What needs to happen now, as we wrap up?
BONITA MERSIADES: I think the only thing that can happen with FIFA, the only way we can have any confidence in it, going forward, is to get a complete clean broom through it. Having Sepp Blatter in charge for another four months or 10 months or whatever it is, designing a reform program after he’s been spectacularly unable to do so for 34 years, is just not going to work. So, New FIFA Now, which is a group I’m involved with, would like to see an eminent person come in and completely overhaul the organization, everything about it, and basically start again.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to wrap up here. We want to thank you very much, Bonita Mersiades, for joining us, head of corporate and public affairs with the Football Federation of Australia during Australia’s bid for the 2012 [sic] World Cup, ultimately awarded to Qatar—2022 World Cup. She was let go from the bid team after disagreeing with a policy to influence the vote of FIFA’s Executive Committee members with money for pet projects, and testified in FIFA’s own investigation into itself, into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process. And thanks also to Michael Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblower Center, co-founder of one of America’s leading whistleblower law firms. Thanks so much.
This is Democracy Now! Now we go down to Denton, Texas. We’re talking fracking. Stay with us.
Headlines:
Obama Signs Law Ending Bulk Phone Data Surveillance
President Obama has signed into law a measure ending the mass phone surveillance program exposed by Edward Snowden two years ago. The Senate passed the USA FREEDOM Act on Tuesday with a vote of 67 to 32. The law stops the bulk collection of telephone records. It instead requires the NSA to ask companies for a specific user’s data rather than vacuuming up all the records at once. It also appoints a civilian advocate to represent the public interest before the secret FISA court that approves government spying requests. The NSA will still retain wide surveillance powers, including over Internet data. In a statement, the American Civil Liberties Union said: "This is the most important surveillance reform bill since 1978, and its passage is an indication that Americans are no longer willing to give the intelligence agencies a blank check. Still, no one should mistake this bill for comprehensive reform."
Hundreds Remain Missing from Capsized Boat in China
More than 400 people remain missing after a cruise ship capsized in China’s Yangtze River. Just 14 people have been saved, while seven bodies have been recovered in the rescue effort. China says it is in a "race against time" to find survivors.
FIFA Chief Sepp Blatter Resigns as Scrutiny Grows
The head of the international soccer governing body FIFA has resigned over a growing corruption scandal. Sepp Blatter’s announcement follows last week’s indictments of 14 people on corruption charges, including two FIFA vice presidents. Blatter had vowed to stay on and was re-elected to a fifth term on Friday. But in a dramatic reversal, Blatter said Tuesday he will step down.
Sepp Blatter: "I decided to stand again to be elected because I was convinced it was the best option for our institution. The elections are closed, but the challenges that FIFA is facing have not come to an end. FIFA needs a profound restructuring. Although the members of FIFA have given me a new mandate, have re-elected me president, this mandate does not seem to be supported by everybody in the world of soccer — supporters, clubs, players, those who inspire life in soccer."
Blatter’s announcement came after The New York Times reported Blatter’s secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, allegedly made $10 million in bank transactions that are central elements of the bribery scandal. U.S. officials have confirmed Blatter is the focus of a criminal investigation, with investigators hopeful those already charged will cooperate. The resignation won’t take effect for another four months due to FIFA rules.
U.S.: 10,000 ISIL Fighters Killed Since Coalition Began
The U.S. says the Islamic State has lost over 10,000 fighters since coalition airstrikes began in Iraq and Syria last August. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the claim after attending a meeting of the anti-ISIL coalition in Paris. The group of Western and Arab states voiced support for Iraq’s plan to retake territory from ISIL. Blinken said Washington is confident ISIL will be defeated.
Antony Blinken: "It becomes clearer every single day that Daesh stands for nothing and depends on people who will fall for anything. I emerge from this meeting confident that we will defeat them through our unity, our determination and our commitment to create a future of opportunity and peace for people in Iraq."
Israel Labels BDS "Strategic Threat"; Obama Says 2-State Rejection Jeopardizes Credibility
Israel has labeled the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement a "strategic threat" amid new efforts to combat its presence on college campuses. The billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is reportedly set to host a conference in Las Vegas this weekend on how to counter BDS at universities nationwide. This comes as President Obama has warned Israel risks losing international credibility if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to reject a two-state solution. Obama made the comment in an interview with Israeli television.
President Obama: "I think subsequently his statements have suggested that there is the possibility of a Palestinian state, but it has so many caveats, so many conditions, that it is not realistic to think that those conditions would be met any time in the near future. And so, the danger here is that Israel, as a whole, loses credibility. Already, the international community does not believe that Israel is serious about a two-state solution. The statement the prime minister made compounded that belief that there’s not a commitment there."
CIA Torture Victim Alleges Wider Abuses
A victim whose torture is documented in last year’s Senate report is accusing the CIA of more abuses than previously disclosed. Guantánamo Bay prisoner Majid Khan was among those subjected to rectal feeding. But according to Reuters, Khan has also told lawyers "interrogators poured ice water on his genitals, twice videotaped him naked and repeatedly touched his [genitals]." Khan says he suffered hallucinations and wished for his interrogators to take his life.
Officers Shoot Dead Man on Terror Watchlist in Boston
Boston police have shot dead a man they say was being monitored for terrorism and who tried to attack two officers. Police say an officer and FBI agent approached 26-year-old Usaama Rahim for questioning when he lunged at them with a knife. A relative has disputed the account, saying Rahim was talking on the phone to his father when officers shot him in the back three times. Announcing the killing, Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said the officers were forced to open fire.
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans: "We have video depicting this individual coming at officers while the officers are retreating. The individual in question has what can be described as a large military knife. The officers are retreating, and that’s from the video we have available as well as witnesses’ account. And they kept retreating, verbally giving commands to drop the weapon, drop the weapon. And at some point, the individual’s proximity came close that the officers were in danger, their lives were in danger, when two officers discharged their weapons."
TSA Chief Reassigned over Security Flaws at Airport Checkpoints
A government probe has found wide security lapses at U.S. airports. Checkpoint screeners failed to detect fake explosives and weapons in 95 percent of tests carried out by undercover agents. Melvin Carraway, the acting head of the Transportation Security Administration, has been reassigned as a result. At the White House, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said steps are being taken to address the issue.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest: "The president does continue to have confidence that the officers of the TSA do very important work that continues to protect the American people and continues to protect the American aviation system. Now, what’s also true is that there were specific concerns that were raised by this classified report that was conducted by the independent inspector general. And in response to that report, the director of Homeland Security directed the TSA to undertake seven specific steps to try to address those concerns."
Report: FBI Runs Covert Surveillance Airplane Fleet
And the Associated Press has revealed the FBI is operating a civilian air force made up of scores of low-flying surveillance planes which are concealed behind the names of fake companies. The AP identified more than 100 flights in 11 states and Washington, D.C., over a 30-day period ending last month, including parts of Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Southern California. The aircraft are equipped with high-tech cameras, and some can also carry devices that mimic cell towers and can identify thousands of people below through the cellphones they carry, even if they’re not making a call or in public.
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