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#ThisIsACoup: Greeks Denounce Bailout Deal That Calls for New Round of Austerity
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is facing protests from members of his own Syriza party after accepting harsh austerity measures in exchange for a new international bailout. In order for the deal to move forward, the Greek Parliament must accept pension cuts and other reforms by Wednesday, 10 days after voters rejected similar reforms in a referendum. On Monday, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos accused Germany of staging a coup. We speak to Michalis Spourdalakis, professor of political science at Athens University and a founding member of Syriza.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We go to Greece, where Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is facing protests from members of his own Syriza party after accepting harsh austerity measures in exchange for a new international bailout. In order for the deal to move forward, the Greek Parliament must accept pension cuts and other reforms by Wednesday, 10 days after voters rejected similar reforms in a referendum. After European leaders pressed Greece to accept the austerity package, the hashtag #ThisIsACoup trended on social media. Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos accused Germany of staging a coup.
DEFENSE MINISTER PANOS KAMMENOS: [translated] Yesterday, the country’s prime minister faced a coup, a coup by Germany, but also by other countries like the Netherlands, Finland and the Baltic states, a coup that reached the point that Greece’s prime minister was blackmailed with the collapse of the banks and a haircut on deposits. I want to be clear that this deal is beyond the agreement that political leaders made with the Greek president and that the Greek Parliament approved. However, this agreement, which also brought up new information, speaks of 50 billion euros’ worth of guarantees concerning public property. It speaks of changes to the law, including the confiscation of homes. It refers to a total collapse of constitutional values. We cannot agree to that.
AMY GOODMAN: Speaking Monday, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Greece was left with little choice but to accept the austerity measures.
PRIME MINISTER ALEXIS TSIPRAS: [translated] We fought hard for six months, and until the end we battled to get an agreement, to get the country back on its feet. We were faced with a very difficult decision within hard dilemmas. We took the responsibility to decide, in order to avert the most extreme plans by conservative circles in the European Union. Today’s agreement keeps Greece in a state of financial stability. It gives the possibilities for a recovery. It will, however, be an agreement whose implementation will be difficult. The measures included are the ones passed in Parliament. They will unavoidably cause recessionary effects. I have the feeling, the confidence and the hope that the 35-billion-euro development package, which we managed, along with the debt restructuring and the secure financing for the next three years, will create the feeling among markets and investors that Greek exit is a thing of the past.
AMY GOODMAN: To talk more about the implications of the agreement, we go to Athens, Greece, where we’re joined by Michalis Spourdalakis, professor of political science at Athens University. He’s also a founding member of Syriza.
Welcome to Democracy Now! It looks like there is a split not only among the Greek people, Michalis Spourdalakis, but also in your own party itself. Talk about the deal and what it means.
MICHALIS SPOURDALAKIS: Well, it’s only natural to expect these objections to the deal, because it’s a deal which imposes draconian measures to the Greek economy, and also, people, after the referendum, were hoping for a much better deal. Except it seems to me that the Europeans didn’t take into account the very loud, clear "no" vote, no-to-austerity vote, casted just 10 days ago from today. Therefore, everything that your report says, it’s true: The Greek prime minister and the country’s minister of finance were actually blackmailed by the eurozone people. They managed to convince some of them, but not all of them, so at the end of the day they got this deal, which is not only draconian—it will continue the recession in the country—but also will be inefficient. It’s a deal that, at the end of the day—or, I should say, quite soon—there are going to be more measures imposed, increases the debt of the country. And I don’t think we’re going to—we see the light at the end of the tunnel.
But the prime minister had no choice, because the alternative was to exit. But exit would lead us to a more Hobbesian type of social development that this country has no experience or preparation, moral or technical, to confront.
AMY GOODMAN: The term "Grexit," right, the Greek exit. So, right now, this hashtag that’s trending, #ThisIsACoup, explain what’s going on. And will this lead to the fall of Syriza?
MICHALIS SPOURDALAKIS: Well, I hope not. This is the first left-wing government in this country. This is the first democratic response to the austerity measures in Europe. So, this government should not—should not fall. It’s very superficial and very—at least unfair conclusion to claim that the prime minister or the government has betrayed the people. They were forced to do that. There are all sorts of other fields that the government can verify or reinstate its left-wing radical orientation, and this is the way the government should proceed. Pretty soon, the people are going to face—or the Greek government, rather, is going to be faced with more measures, and by then, probably, the balance of power are going to be different.
As of the coup, OK, there many interpretations about this coup. I read someplace today that some 48 years ago the dictatorship was imposed in this country by the guns of the colonels, at the time, of the army. Today, the coup is imposed by the European bankers, who managed to close the Greek banks and have the entire Greek society hostage. So, to me, there was no—there was no alternative, not been prepared.
But there is another coup, which has to do with the future of the European Union and the future—the perspective of developing European Union in a democratic way. There is a major, a major coup, because it seems to me that the European leaders undermined the fact or didn’t pay any attention to the fact that in Greece, that was the only country that there was a democratic response to austerity, while in every other—almost in every other European countries, probably with the exception of Spain and Ireland, the political rearrangement had—gave signs and gave room to the right-wing populist euroskepticism, and even neo-Nazism. And it seems to me that the European leadership, it’s more tolerant to these developments than the radical-left—however, democratic—response to austerity in Europe. And this is very disappointing. And this is another dimension of the coup.
AMY GOODMAN: Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem defended the troika of European and International Monetary Fund lenders against accusations that they interfered in Greece’s domestic politics.
JEROEN DIJSSELBLOEM: Perhaps I can also say something on this issue, because I’ve always felt that the troika has been heavily criticized on the fact that they sort of interfere with domestic politics and are very intrusive. But, of course, in the given situation, the crisis situation that we have, in case of a program, per definition, we always try and find the balance between supporting a country, but also talking about reasonable and effective conditionalities. There’s not much point in borrowing money to a country—or lending to a country, if at the same time the underlying problems are not dealt with. And I think that’s a fair balance, and we have to find that. So it’s not about taking over a country. It has to be a partnership and commitment on both sides to stand ready to further support the country—in this case, Greece—and for Greece to say, "We will do what it takes on our part to make sure that we don’t depend on European loans forever."
AMY GOODMAN: I would like to get your response, Michalis Spourdalakis, to the Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem’s response.
MICHALIS SPOURDALAKIS: Yeah, OK. I think this agreement guarantees that the country is going to stay, at least for the time being, tied to further dependency to European loans. It’s impossible—listen, the country had about $340 billion debt. No one in his right mind, his or her right mind, thinks that this is a manageable debt. Now, there is another 83, if I’m not mistaken, billion euros added to this loan. So I don’t know how we’re going to pay that.
You mentioned the 50 billion euros guarantees, or collateral. OK, listen, the breakdown of this is about 29 to 30 billion are going to go into repaying the old debt. About 17 billion, or 17 to 18 billion, are just the interest rates. There is another 20-some million who is going to—for support of the banking system. And the rest is going to be for development. In addition, these 50 billion euros are going to come from selling Greek property—Greek airports, peripheral airports, the three major ports in Greece and other valuable parts of the Greek infrastructure. This money, it’s impossible to raise. Even if you sell the entire country—well, of course, I’m exaggerating—you’re not going to get more than eight, maybe 10, billion euros.
So, this is a deal which is not going to be efficient. It doesn’t deal with the actual fiscal problems of the country or the economic problems of the country. It’s a very vindictive, however, deal, which really wants to force the government to change its political orientation, or wants to bring—clearly, to bring the first radical left-wing government down. That’s why it should—this deal should be—no matter what the criticism is, this deal should be supported, because pretty soon there’s going to be a new round, and then probably we’ll be ready to respond to the pressures of the European Union and the Eurogroup in a more efficient and a more democratic and socially sensitive way than what this deal promises.
AMY GOODMAN: Michalis Spourdalakis, I wanted to get your take on a letter that Robert Reich, the former labor secretary under President Clinton, has sent around. He says, "People seem to forget that the Greek debt crisis—which is becoming a European and even possibly a world economic crisis—grew out of a deal with Goldman Sachs, engineered by Goldman’s Lloyd Blankfein." He said, "Several years ago, Blankfein and his Goldman team helped Greece hide the true extent of its debt—and in the process almost doubled it." He said, "Undoubtedly, Greece suffers from years of corruption and tax avoidance by its wealthy. But Goldman Sachs isn’t exactly innocent. It padded its profits by catastrophically leveraging up the global economy with secret, off-balance-sheet debt deals."
And then he makes recommendations. He says that the U.S., you know, is a key player in the IMF, and President Obama should use that weight, that people should "[j]oin with allies across Europe to show solidarity with the Greek people and stand up to global austerity."
Can you respond to the issue of Goldman Sachs and hedge funds and their role in this? We actually only have a minute.
MICHALIS SPOURDALAKIS: This is a—yeah, this is an old story. We all know the tricks and the corruption involved in the way that Greece met the requirements to enter the eurozone. And since you mention corruption, it’s quite interesting to respond about the issue like that. Corruption is the basis upon which the Greek economy, the Greek capitalism, flourishes and reproduces itself. And tackle corruption, tax evasion and the rest was the first reform that the Syriza government proposed to our—to Greece—to the country’s debtors back in the early February. And they didn’t really pay much attention to it. So, it seems to me that the bottom line of all this debate is that the country’s debtors wanted to humiliate Syriza, Tsipras, and, as I said already—twice, I think—the first democratic, left-wing response against austerity in the 21st century. That’s the bottom line. There is a lot of corruption in this country. This government has been committed to tackle the corruption. But the way that the proposals that are imposed and the deals are imposed by our debtors, they are not—I don’t predict that they are very efficient moving towards that way. So, we’ll be—
AMY GOODMAN: Michalis—
MICHALIS SPOURDALAKIS: We’ll come back on the issue again.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to—I want to thank you for being with us, and I hope we come back to this conversation. Michalis Spourdalakis, professor of political science at Athens University, also a founding member of Syriza.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we got to Madison, Wisconsin. Governor Walker makes 15. That’s 15 Republican presidential candidates. This is Democracy Now! We’ll be back in a minute.
"Something Big Is Happening": John Nichols on Bernie Sanders' Surge and Rising Power of Movements
We speak with John Nichols, political writer for The Nation, about the presidential candidacy of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Nichols introduced Sanders at a recent event in Madison, Wisconsin, where the senator drew a record crowd of more than 10,000 people. "The key thing here is this 2016 presidential race, at least on the Democratic side, and I would even suggest on the Republican side, is being profoundly influenced by movements that are demanding that income inequality, wage gaps, wage stagnation be addressed," Nichols says. "Something big is happening, and I think that’s why people are turning out in these huge numbers."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: And just 30 seconds on a new issue. Also in Wisconsin, history was recently made for the presidential race of 2016. You introduced Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders—that’s not what the history was—who’s challenging Hillary Clinton.
JOHN NICHOLS: No, it wasn’t.
AMY GOODMAN: But the fact that over 10,000 people showed up to see him. He is pulling—of any Republican or Democratic candidate, Bernie Sanders, the socialist, is pulling more people in, the largest crowds of this election season.
JOHN NICHOLS: Well, I want to emphasize, I was asked to talk a little bit about movements and talk a little bit about the progressive tradition, not to tell people how to vote. So, in introducing Bernie Sanders, I had a unique setting there. I got to say that this candidacy, to my view, is not about Bernie Sanders. This is about the movements that have developed over the last five or six years, particularly since the meltdown of 2008, in which people have really begun to organize around economic issues and a host of other issues, and bring them to the fore politically. And I think that’s the important thing to emphasize, Amy. Whether somebody supports Bernie Sanders or Martin O’Malley or even Hillary Clinton, the key thing here is, this 2016 presidential race, at least on the Democratic side—and I would even suggest on the Republican side—is being profoundly influenced by movements that are demanding that income inequality, wage gaps, wage stagnation be addressed. They really are, in many ways, an American equivalent of the global movements that are raising austerity issues.
And I would emphasize also that, you know, while Sanders has really brought a lot of these to a head, Martin O’Malley is also beginning to talk about it, and even Hillary Clinton yesterday, in her remarks, embraced a lot of the language and some of the thinking of these movements. So something big is happening. And I think that’s why people are turning out in these huge numbers, because they want to emphasize, talk about it.
AMY GOODMAN: John Nichols, thanks so much for being with us from Madison, political writer for The Nation, has the cover story of the last Nation magazine.
Could Historic Iran Nuclear Deal Transform the Middle East?
Iran has reached a nuclear deal with the United States and five major world powers, capping more than a decade of negotiations. Under the deal, sanctions imposed on Iran would be lifted in return for Iran agreeing to long-term curbs on its nuclear program. The deal allows Iran to maintain a civilian nuclear program, but aims to prevent Tehran from ever developing nuclear weapons. Earlier this morning in a national address that was also broadcast on Iranian television, President Obama said every pathway for Iran to a nuclear weapon has been cut off. Obama vowed to veto any congressional legislation to block the deal. Under the nuclear deal, sanctions on Iran could be reinstated in 65 days if the deal is violated. A U.N. weapons embargo is to remain in place for five years, and a ban on buying missile technology will remain for eight years. We go now to Vienna, where we are joined by Flynt Leverett, author of "Going to Tehran: Why America Must Accept the Islamic Republic of Iran" and professor of international affairs at Penn State. He served for over a decade in the U.S. government as a senior analyst at the CIA, a Middle East specialist for the State Department and as senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Iran has reached a nuclear deal with the United States and five major world powers, capping more than a decade of negotiations. Under the deal, sanctions imposed on Iran would be lifted in return for Iran agreeing to long-term curbs on its nuclear program. The deal allows Iran to maintain a civilian nuclear program, but aims to prevent Iran from ever developing nuclear weapons. Earlier this morning in a national address that was also broadcast on Iranian television, President Obama said every pathway for Iran to a nuclear weapon has been cut off.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Today, after two years of negotiations, the United States, together with our international partners, has achieved something that decades of animosity has not: a comprehensive long-term deal with Iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon. ... This deal meets every single one of the bottom lines that we established when we achieved a framework earlier this spring. Every pathway to a nuclear weapon is cut off. And the inspection and transparency regime necessary to verify that objective will be put in place.
Because of this deal, Iran will not produce the highly enriched uranium and weapons-grade plutonium that form the raw materials necessary for a nuclear bomb. Because of this deal, Iran will remove two-thirds of its installed centrifuges, the machines necessary to produce highly enriched uranium for a bomb, and store them under constant international supervision. Iran will not use its advanced centrifuges to produce enriched uranium for the next decade. Iran will also get rid of 98 percent of its stockpile of enriched uranium. To put that in perspective, Iran currently has a stockpile that could produce up to 10 nuclear weapons. Because of this deal, that stockpile will be reduced to a fraction of what would be required for a single weapon.
AMY GOODMAN: During his speech, President Obama vowed to veto any congressional legislation to block the deal. The Iran nuclear agreement came after Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Secretary Javad Zarif spent more than two weeks in negotiations. Speaking in Vienna, Zarif described the day as an "historic moment."
JAVAD ZARIF: Let me begin by expressing my appreciation to everybody, to those who started this process and those who have continued this process in order to reach a win-win solution on what, in our view, was an unnecessary crisis, and open new horizons for dealing with serious problems that affect our international community. I believe this is a historic moment. We are reaching an agreement that is not perfect for anybody, but it is what we could accomplish, and it is an important achievement for all of us. Today could have been the end of hope on this issue, but now we are starting a new chapter of hope.
AMY GOODMAN: Under the deal, sanctions on Iran could be reinstated in 65 days if the deal is violated. A U.N. weapons embargo is to remain in place for five years, and a ban on buying missile technology will remain for eight years. Despite these measures, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal a "bad mistake of historic proportions."
We go now to Vienna, where we’re joined again by Flynt Leverett, author of Going to Tehran: Why America Must Accept the Islamic Republic of Iran. He’s a professor of international affairs at Penn State; served for over a decade in the U.S. government as a senior analyst at the CIA, a Middle East specialist for the State Department and as senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council.
Well, Flynt, we spoke yesterday. Today, the deal has been reached. Can you tell us the outlines of it and your reaction to it?
FLYNT LEVERETT: I think the outlines, I would emphasize three main sets of commitments. On the Iranian side, of course, there are a number of commitments spelled out relatively early on in the agreement—all totaled, 159 pages with the annexes. But there is a set of commitments that Iran undertakes regarding certain limits on its nuclear activities that will address nonproliferation concerns that the United States and some other countries have had. As an analyst, I have personally never been persuaded that Iran was seeking to build a nuclear weapon, but for those who are concerned about that possibility or that risk, I think this is a very good deal from a nonproliferation standpoint.
At the same time, in terms of nuclear commitments, I think Iran has achieved something very significant here, which is basically a recognition of the reality that states have a right to a peaceful use of civil nuclear technology in all respects. This is not a right that is granted by the Non-Proliferation Treaty; it is a sovereign right that’s recognized by the treaty. From an Iranian perspective, the United States and the Security Council tried for years to deny Iran that right. And now, without Iran having sacrificed it, the international community is recognizing that right, and I think that’s an important step on the nonproliferation front, as well.
The second big set of commitments concerns sanctions relief. In return for Iran accepting these limits on its nuclear capabilities, all international sanctions authorized by the United Nations Security Council are going to be removed. European Union sanctions against Iran will be terminated. And the United States will, the language says, cease implementing its secondary sanctions, the sanctions that it threatens to impose on third countries that do business with Iran. The United States will stop implementing those sanctions, although they are likely to stay authorized in American law for some period of years. The president, President Obama, basically will waive the implementation of those sanctions. So I think that’s another second set of commitments.
And then there’s a third set of commitments related to implementing this deal. And basically, the agreement sets up processes, committees, commissions that will oversee the implementation of this deal. There’s a special committee set up to deal with the issue of inspections, with the International Atomic Energy Agency asked to visit a nonnuclear site that it doesn’t regularly inspect, and Iran is uncomfortable about that happening. There is now a committee process laid out which will, you know, review why does the IAEA want to come to this site, what is the basis for their concern, what are Iran’s concerns about letting the agency in, and, you know, will weigh those and ultimately adjudicate or arbitrate those kinds of situations, if they arrive.
AMY GOODMAN: Flynt—Flynt Leverett, I just want to—
FLYNT LEVERETT: And that’s actually the first time that this has been done.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask you about what’s going to happen in Congress right now, a battle royale. Now, President Obama has already, in his national address, said he will veto any rejection of this. And then it will go, of course, back to Congress to try to overturn his veto. But for those who say this is a terrorist nation, that it doesn’t stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb but simply delays it 10 or 15 years down the road, your response?
FLYNT LEVERETT: You know, I think, for people who say that, you know, I think they really—the burden of proof should be on them to prove that it is actually Iran’s intent to build nuclear weapons and that the kinds of—you know, even after this deal runs out, Iran is still going to be bound by the obligations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty not to build nuclear weapons. I went to work for the U.S. government in 1992 and have been hearing ever since, from Israeli intelligence agencies, from U.S. intelligence agencies, that Iran is three to five years away from being able to build a nuclear weapon. And every year we just push that—we just push that three- to five-year estimate further, further out. You know, I think at this point we really need to ask ourselves, is Iran—does Iran really have the intention to build a nuclear weapon? And I don’t think there is any evidence that they do.
AMY GOODMAN: And to those who say now, with the sanctions lifted, it will simply be able to give more support, for example, to Bashar al-Assad of Syria, talk about an issue you ended with yesterday in our conversation, which was your feeling that President Obama is selling this in the wrong way, that it should be talked overall about a shifting of U.S. policy in the Middle East. But begin with that issue of those who say this is a terrorist nation supporting terrorists, and now they’ll have more money to do that.
FLYNT LEVERETT: My wife and I have been arguing for years, both inside the U.S. government when we served there and in the years since we left government, that the United States, for its own interests, needs to come to terms with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Relying overly much on partnerships with Israel and Saudi Arabia is increasingly dysfunctional for the U.S. position in the region. It is breeding jihadi terrorism across the region. It is enabling open-ended Israeli occupation of Arab populations. All of that is ultimately bad for the United States. The only way the United States can recover from the many tragic mistakes it has made in this part of the world in recent years, and put itself on a more positive trajectory, is by coming to terms with Iran. Iran is a rising regional power. It is a legitimate political order for most Iranians who live inside their country. We need to come to terms with that reality.
AMY GOODMAN: There was a discussion in the media today, those who are saying Iran is involved with something like four wars, you know, against the United States. But, in fact, that is not exactly true, is it, Flynt Leverett? I mean, look at Iraq. The U.S. is not looking at—
FLYNT LEVERETT: Yeah, you know—
AMY GOODMAN: The U.S. is working on the side of Iran.
FLYNT LEVERETT: And you look at—that’s right. If you look at the constituencies that Iran supports in these various arenas, we may want to label them terrorists, but the reality is, these are unavoidable constituencies in their societies with real and legitimate grievances. And what Iran does more than anything else is to help these communities organize in various ways to press their grievances more effectively. That’s why Iran’s influence is rising.
If we want to be serious about conflict resolution in Syria, not about funding, working with the Saudis to fund jihadi militants that end up coalescing into either al-Qaeda or the Islamic State, if we want to get serious about conflict resolution in Syria, we need to be talking with and working in a serious way with Iran. If we want to get serious about conflict resolution in Iraq and dealing with the Islamic State in a serious and effective way, we need to stop just letting the Saudis and helping the Saudis fund the jihadi militants that create these groups, and we need to work with Iran to devise a regional strategy to contain that threat.
It is an extremely unpopular thing to say in the United States. My wife and I have paid various kinds of personal and professional prices for making this argument over the years. But the reality is, if the United States is going to have a more effective foreign policy in the Middle East—and, frankly, a more humane and constructive foreign policy in the Middle East—rapprochement with the Islamic Republic of Iran is essential to that end.
AMY GOODMAN: Flynt Leverett, I want to thank you for being with us, professor of international affairs at Penn State, formerly worked with the Central Intelligence Agency, as well as the National Security Council, co-author, with his wife, Hillary Mann Leverett, of a book dealing with Going to Tehran.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we look at another deal, this one in Athens, Greece. Stay with us.
The Austerity Candidate? Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Launches Presidential Bid on Anti-Union Record
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has become the 15th Republican candidate to formally announce he’s running for president. On Monday, Walker launched his campaign by touting his successful efforts to eviscerate public employee unions in his home state and later defeat a recall effort against him. He also extolled his record reducing taxes, cutting the size of the federal government and passing voter restrictions. On the domestic front, Governor Scott Walker promised to repeal Obamacare, build the Keystone XL pipeline, subject welfare recipients to drug tests, and roll back federal regulations. On the international front, he vowed to reject the nuclear deal with Iran, re-establish an "unshakable bond" with Israel, focus more on Islamic terrorism and less on climate change, as well as engage more aggressively with Russia and China. We go to Wisconsin to speak with John Nichols of The Nation. "If there is someone who has attempted to impose an austerity agenda in an American state, in many senses, it is Scott Walker," Nichols says.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has become the 15th Republican candidate to formally announce he’s running for president. On Monday, Walker launched his campaign by touting his successful efforts to eviscerate public employee unions in his home state and later defeat a recall effort against him. He also extolled his record reducing taxes, cutting the size of the federal government, and passing voter restrictions.
GOV. SCOTT WALKER: We need new, fresh leadership, leadership with big, bold ideas from outside of Washington, the kind of leadership that knows how to get things done, like we’ve done here in Wisconsin. Since I’ve been governor, we took on the unions, and we won. We lowered taxes by $2 billion. In fact, we lowered taxes on individuals, on employers and property owners. Property taxes today are lower than they were four years ago. How many other governors can say that? Since I’ve been governor, we passed lawsuit reform and regulatory reform. We defunded Planned Parenthood and passed pro-life legislation. We enacted castle doctrine and concealed carry, so we can protect ourselves, our families and our property. And we now require a photo ID to vote in this state. If our reforms can work in a blue state like Wisconsin, they can work anywhere in America.
AMY GOODMAN: On the domestic front, Governor Scott Walker promised to repeal Obamacare, build the Keystone XL pipeline, subject welfare recipients to drug tests and roll back federal regulations. On the international front, he vowed to reject the nuclear deal with Iran, re-establish an unshakable bond with Israel, focus more on Islamic terrorism and less on climate change, as well as engage more aggressively with Russia and China. He is best known for gutting collective bargaining rights for public sector workers in 2011. On Sunday, he signed a state budget which slashes funding for the University of Wisconsin, expands the voucher program for private schools and eliminates the state’s living wage law.
On Monday, the AFL-CIO president, Richard Trumka, issued a one-sentence statement on Walker: quote, "Scott Walker is a national disgrace."
Well, for more, we go directly to Madison, Wisconsin, where we’re joined by John Nichols, political writer for The Nation and the author of Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Street. His most recent piece for TheNation.com, "Scott Walker Campaigns Against Unions, Wages, and Weekends."
John Nichols, welcome back to Democracy Now! Talk about this newest entry into the Republican presidential race.
JOHN NICHOLS: Thanks for having me, Amy, and I especially appreciate coming after that very good segment on Greece and the fight on austerity. And in many ways, Scott Walker connects to many of these global debates, because if there is someone who has attempted to impose an austerity agenda in an American state, in many senses, it’s Scott Walker. When he came in as governor of Wisconsin, he claimed there was a huge financial crisis, so severe that he had to do an emergency budget repair. That budget repair attacked public sector unions. It attacked collective bargaining. But it also prepared the way for deep cuts to education, deep cuts to public services, and at the same time, this governor refused federal funding for mass transit, for high-speed rail, and even refused federal funding for broadband Internet, as well as messing with all the Medicare/Medicaid payments. And so here you have a governor who has really grabbed hold of some of the most extreme economic positions of Republicans.
And it hasn’t worked. Wisconsin has an economy that is anything but vibrant. It trails neighboring states, such as Minnesota, in job growth. It trails many of the top national measures as regards economic vitality. And perhaps most importantly, in Wisconsin at this point, there is deep, deep division. Polling shows that Governor Walker has a 55 percent disapproval rating. Only 41 percent of people approve of him at this point, according to the most recent major poll in Wisconsin. And notably, I think it’s 67 percent of people do not believe that he can effectively govern the state and run for president. So, for all he says about being able to do nationally what was done in a blue state, in a relatively Democratic state of Wisconsin, the fact is that if he takes his agenda national, that’s not a promise for the future. In many ways, it’s a threat.
AMY GOODMAN: Earlier this year, Governor Walker made headlines when he compared the Islamic State to unions in Wisconsin. He made the comment at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference.
NED RYUN: Governor Walker, Ned Ryun, American Majority, board member of the American Conservative Union. Would like to know, should you become commander-in-chief, how would you deal with threats such as ISIS?
GOV. SCOTT WALKER: We will have someone who leads and ultimately will send a message not only that we will protect American soil, but do not—do not take this upon freedom-loving people anywhere else in the world. We need a leader with that kind of confidence. If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Governor Scott Walker. John Nichols, your response?
JOHN NICHOLS: Well, it was a remarkable statement by the governor, by any measure, because it told us two things. First off, this is a candidate for president of the United States—at that point unannounced, now announced—who has exceptionally limited background in foreign policy, really does see it in very simplistic terms. And even in his speech yesterday, he defaulted toward an almost Cheneyesque worldview, an almost Dick Cheney worldview, in which he was incredibly hardcore, talking about ripping up the Iran agreement without even seeing it, again and again going toward very militaristic, very aggressive stances globally. And then to suggest, at the same time, coming from this place of extremely limited knowledge on international affairs, that he got his experience by taking on teachers and nurses and snowplow drivers, firefighters, police officers, who came to that Capitol, peacefully, to say, "Look, we disagree with something that you’re doing. We think that your assault on unions is wrong. We think it will actually be not only damaging to individual union members and unions, but to the state of Wisconsin."
And if I can just emphasize here, this anti-union stance is so central to who Scott Walker is and to his candidacy for president, yesterday it was the pivot point in his speech. He introduced himself a little, and then he had a line, roughly, "We took on the unions, and we won." And the thing to remember is that it didn’t just end in 2011. Throughout Scott Walker’s tenure, he has attacked unions again and again and again. He promised that he was not interested in doing a right-to-work law; then, earlier this year, he turned around and signed a right-to-work law, very anti-labor legislation, and then said he had always been for it and that it would send a message to America and the world. Then, more recently, when he signed his current budget, this budget includes a gutting out of our state’s prevailing wage law, which is very important for construction workers. It includes a rewrite of state legislation that used to guarantee that a minimum wage would be a living wage. And it also eliminates a protection that said that workers would get at least one day a week off. And I just want to emphasize, this governor had a chance to line-item veto any of those items. People begged him to do so, even some of his fellow Republicans. A dozen Republicans voted against this budget, many of them because they were concerned about how over the top it is in this anti-union zone and really also in an austerity approach to education and to public services. Just, people need to have a full sense of Scott Walker. He is someone who begins, I think, almost every discussion and almost every sort of premise of his candidacy on wanting to take national a very passionate anti-union agenda.
AMY GOODMAN: Very quickly, 15 seconds, his funders?
JOHN NICHOLS: He has reached out to the Koch brothers. He has reached out to Sheldon Adelson. And frankly, these funders are really willing to give money to whoever they see as the most viable Republican. I think that’s a reality. But Scott Walker is trying very, very hard to prove himself to them and, in doing so, to make himself an alternative both to Donald Trump and to Jeb Bush, somebody who is sort of a little bit more suit-and-tie, a little bit more mainstream, but also, I would emphasize, even more than Bush and Trump, probably willing to carry their agenda as far as it could possibly go, and also to carry the agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council. And that agenda, I would just emphasize, in his speech yesterday, when he ran through all of those things that he had done, again and again and again, those items he was running through, those were agenda items of the American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC. And it’s notable that Scott Walker, as a legislator, was very linked to ALEC and continues to be very tied to it.
"Another Chance at Life": Man Granted Clemency Last Year Reacts to Obama's 46 New Drug Commutations
We end today’s show with a new push by the White House to support bipartisan prison reform — this time by reducing punishments for nonviolent crimes. On Thursday, President Obama granted clemency to 46 prisoners, including 14 who faced life without parole. Many of the commutations went to crack offenders, including one African-American man who is 84 years old, and the mother of Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas. President Obama has now commuted 89 sentences, including 22 drug offenders who were granted release earlier this year and eight others in 2014. He is expected to call for more fairness in the criminal justice system when he speaks today at the annual convention of the NAACP. This Thursday he will become the first president to visit a federal prison when he tours the El Reno facility in Oklahoma. We speak to Cynthia Roseberry, director of the Clemency Project 2014, and Reynolds Wintersmith, who once faced life in prison for selling crack but was freed last year after receiving clemency.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We move now to our last segment—this is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report—to a new move by President Obama. We end today’s show with a new push by the White House to support bipartisan prison reform—this time by reducing punishments for nonviolent crimes. On Thursday, President Obama granted clemency to 46 prisoners, including 14 who faced life without parole. Many of the commutations went to crack offenders, including one African-American man who’s 84 years old, and the mother of Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas. President Obama has now commuted 89 sentences, including 22 drug offenders who were granted release earlier this year and eight others in 2014. He’s expected to call for more fairness in the criminal justice system when he speaks today at the annual convention of the NAACP. This Thursday, he’ll become the first president to visit a federal prison when he tours the El Reno facility in Oklahoma.
For more, we go to Washington, D.C., to Cynthia Roseberry, director of the Clemency Project 2014. Her organization helps train lawyers to file clemency petitions for nonviolent drug offenders. Some of those petitions were among those granted Thursday. And in Chicago, we’re joined by Reynolds Wintersmith, who once faced life in prison for selling crack, but was granted a new beginning in 2014 when President Obama commuted his sentence. Wintersmith was just 17 in '94 when he was arrested. It was his first offense. He's now a restorative justice counselor at CCA Academy, a high school in Chicago.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! In Washington, D.C., let’s begin, Cynthia Roseberry, with you. Talk about the people who were just granted clemency.
CYNTHIA ROSEBERRY: Sure. Many of them were convicted under draconian drug laws—and I would say that Clemency Project 2014 is not limited to drug offenders—but most of those laws have changed now. So this initiative gave hope to people who never thought they’d be reunited with their families, who were given life sentences or very long sentences for nonviolent offenses.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, talk about the significance of what President Obama is doing. And did you work with the White House in choosing the names of the people who would get clemency?
CYNTHIA ROSEBERRY: No, we’re wholly separate from the White House. We are an initiative of the American Bar Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, Families Against a Mandatory Minimum, national Public and Community Defenders and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. So we work wholly independently of the White House. But we screen applicants—we have more than 30,000 now—to see if they appear to qualify under the president’s initiative, and then we send those petitions over to the pardon attorney.
AMY GOODMAN: Reynolds Wintersmith, tell us your story, having once faced life in prison for selling crack. But talk about what the clemency that President Obama granted you, or the commutation of your sentence, what it means.
REYNOLDS WINTERSMITH: Well, to me, what it meant, it gave me another chance at life, to build upon this part of my life in the present. You know, I’m thankful for it. It made me realize that even when we have the possibility of failure in front of us, that doesn’t mean that we should give up hope. We should continue to strive, you know, make it easier for a person to want to give you a second chance. And I’m thankful for it.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the sentencing for nonviolent drug offenders like yourself?
REYNOLDS WINTERSMITH: Yes. Well, first, I would like to say that I believe in law and order. I believe in structure. So I understand the effects that it had on the community, on the lives of the people. But far as sentencing, when you come before a judge and he passes out a sentence to you, the only thing that you will hope for is to have a fairness in it, a balance. And a lot of times with the drug sentences, you know there is no balance. When I got sentenced in 1994 in November, there was no extraordinary circumstances that they could bring up, because of the sentencing guidelines. They were mandatory at the time. So it was just numbers computed and implemented, and I was given a sentence of life and 40 years for a Count One conspiracy and in a Count Four that was on the conspiracy. So, I mean, with this new criteria that President Obama has set forth for clemency, it has made it possible for people to reach forward, you know, to believe that they can have another chance, as we all know that the backlog of clemency petitions runs in the tens of thousands.
AMY GOODMAN: Reynolds, how did you get the clemency? You had already been in jail already for what? Like 18 years?
REYNOLDS WINTERSMITH: Yes. Well, the process began long before I even filed paperwork. I worked for a lady in the education department. Her name was Janice Feaster [phon.]. I was a tutor. And, you know, we had dialogue. And a guy, Prior Reed [Reed Prior], President Bush had pardoned. He had a life sentence. He had been in prison for eight years. And so, when we said—when she told me what happened with him, because he worked with us as a leisure library clerk, she told me that "Why don’t you file for clemency? Your story is a different kind of story?" And, you know, at the time, facing all the things from my own past and still being held accountable for it, you know, it was hard for me to see why would they give me another chance. You know, I had faced issues in prison, such as classes—
AMY GOODMAN: We have 10 seconds.
REYNOLDS WINTERSMITH: OK. And so, it was a process. I’m glad that I had a great support group. And then I had an attorney, MiAngel Cody, that said, yes, she would help me.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we will continue to follow what happens this week with President Obama being the first sitting president to visit a prison, that in Oklahoma. Reynolds Wintersmith and Cynthia Roseberry, thanks so much for being with us.
Headlines:
Iran, World Powers Reach Historic Nuclear Deal
Iran has reached a historic nuclear deal with the United States and five other world powers, capping more than a decade of negotiations. Under the deal, sanctions imposed on Iran would be lifted in return for Iran agreeing to long-term curbs on its nuclear program. We’ll go to Vienna for the latest on the nuclear deal after headlines.
Greek Protesters Denounce Bailout Deal as a "Coup"
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is facing protests from members of his own Syriza party after accepting harsh austerity measures in exchange for an international bailout. In order for the deal to move forward, the Greek Parliament must accept pension cuts and other reforms by Wednesday, 10 days after voters rejected similar reforms in a referendum. Hundreds gathered in Athens Monday to protest the deal.
Dimitris Mitropoulos, teacher: "[Greek Prime Minister Alexis] Tsipras and his government betrayed the Greek people. He asked them a question, the Greek people answered, so what we have today is a betrayal. It’s bordering on a coup, if not actually a coup, and this coup was not brought about solely by Brussels, which said, 'We don't care about your referendum or your mandate against austerity.’ The coup was also brought about by the government."
New York: Puerto Ricans Protest Meeting over Austerity Proposals
Members of New York’s Puerto Rican community rallied Monday to protest a meeting between Puerto Rican officials and creditors over possible austerity measures to address the island’s financial crisis. Among those at the meeting was former International Monetary Fund official Anne Krueger, who has backed cutting the minimum wage below $7.25 an hour and slashing subsidies for the University of Puerto Rico. Protesters gathered outside the Manhattan offices of financial giant Citigroup, where the meeting took place.
David Galarza: "My name is David Galarza, and I live here in New York City. I’m puertorriqueño, and my parents and my family live in Puerto Rico. I’m here with a bunch of other puertorriqueños from the diaspora, from all over the city and different parts, in solidarity with the people in Puerto Rico, who are saying in one clear voice 'no' to the austerity plans being proposed by a former IMF official by the name of Anne Krueger. And we’re also saying 'no' to the austerity plans being pushed by the hedge fund owners and the managers and the banksters that created similar situations in Greece, in Spain and even in this country."
Yemen: Civilian Death Toll Rises Despite Truce
The Saudi-led bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen has continued to claim civilian lives despite a U.N.-brokered truce. On Monday, an airstrike killed 25 civilians in the capital Sana’a. Oxfam, meanwhile, is warning that fuel shortages caused by the Saudi-led blockade of Yemen could claim even more lives than the bombing itself.
Nigeria: President Fires Military Leaders After Boko Haram Attacks
In Nigeria, newly elected President Muhammadu Buhari has fired all of the top military leaders and appointed replacements after a series attacks by the militant group Boko Haram. Two of the fired officials had been accused by Amnesty International of presiding over war crimes.
Syria: Airstrike Kills Two Alleged ISIL Leaders
Two alleged senior leaders of the self-proclaimed Islamic State were reportedly killed Monday in an airstrike in northern Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it believed the attack was carried out by U.S.-led coalition forces.
Obama Commutes Sentences of 46 Drug Offenders
President Obama has granted clemency to 46 prisoners, including 14 who faced life without parole, more than doubling the number of sentences he’s commuted since taking office. Many of the commutations went to crack offenders. We’ll have more on Obama’s push for prison reform later in the broadcast.
Pentagon Moves to Lift Ban on Transgender Soldiers
The Pentagon is taking steps to allow transgender people to serve openly in the military by early next year. Calling the ban "outdated," Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he would appoint a working group to examine the impact of lifting it.
Boy Scouts Back Resolution to End Ban on Gay Troop Leaders
The executive committee of the Boy Scouts of America has unanimously backed a resolution to end a blanket ban on gay adult leaders. The measure still needs to be ratified by the National Executive Board later this month.
Laura Poitras Sues U.S. Government over Airport Interrogations
Filmmaker Laura Poitras, who won an Oscar for her film "Citizenfour" about Edward Snowden, is suing the U.S. government to find out why she has been detained, searched and interrogated more than 50 times at airports. The interrogations took place over six years, beginning in 2006 when Poitras finished her documentary "My Country, My Country" about post-invasion Iraq. Poitras said she was suing "in support of the countless other less high-profile people who have also been subjected to years of Kafkaesque harassment at the borders."
New York City Settles with Garner Family for $5.9 Million
New York City has reached a deal to pay the family of Eric Garner $5.9 million, avoiding a potential lawsuit, almost exactly one year after Garner died following a police chokehold. On July 17, 2014, New York City police accused Garner of selling loose cigarettes in Staten Island. Officer Daniel Pantaleo pulled him down by the neck, then officers piled on top of Garner, who said "I can’t breathe" at least 11 times before he died. A grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo.
Report: Police Assaulted, Arrested Woman Who Shot Eric Garner Video
Meanwhile, a Staten Island woman has filed a lawsuit saying police assaulted and falsely arrested her in retaliation for filming Garner’s arrest. According to the New York Daily News, Taisha Allen says police threw half her body over a fence and twisted her arms after calling her "that [b-word] that filmed the Eric Garner video." Ramsey Orta, who also filmed Garner’s arrest, has been arrested multiple times and claims police have harassed him.
Mississippi: Black Man Allegedly Strangled to Death by Police
In Stonewall, Mississippi, another unarmed African-American man was allegedly strangled to death by a white police officer in a case being compared to Eric Garner’s. Attorneys for the family of 39-year-old Jonathan Sanders told the Jackson Free Press Sanders was driving a horse-drawn buggy Wednesday night when he was pursued by officer Kevin Herrington. After Sanders was knocked from his startled horse during the pursuit, Herrington chased Sanders, grabbed a headlamp around Sanders’ neck and put him in a headlock. Witnesses said Sanders repeatedly told the officer he couldn’t breathe, but Herrington kept him in the headlock until medical help arrived up to 30 minutes later. Mississippi authorities are investigating Sanders’ death.
D’Army Bailey, Nat’l Civil Rights Museum Founder, Dies at 73
And the civil rights activist, actor, author and judge, D’Army Bailey, has died at the age of 73. Bailey joined with fellow African Americans to buy the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, and turn it into the National Civil Rights Museum. In 2007, I interviewed D’Army Bailey on the balcony outside room 306, where Dr. King last stood.
D’Army Bailey: "So it’s not a museum that celebrates Dr. King; it’s a museum that celebrates the spirit of a movement. And so, we had the exhibits on Selma and on Montgomery, and on the Freedom Summer of 1954, and we had the exhibit on the courage of the nine black children at Central High School in Little Rock, who braved the mobs to desegregate that school, and James Meredith’s singular courage to desegregate the University of Mississippi, and, of course, finally this tragic event that occurred here on April 4th of 1968."
D’Army Bailey died Sunday in Memphis after a battle with cancer. He was 73. To see the full interview with him at the Lorraine Motel in 2007, you can go to democracynow.org.
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