Democracy Now! Daily Digest - A Daily Independent Global News
Hour with Amy Goodman & Juan González for “Happy New Year” Wednesday, 1 January
2014
democracynow.org
STORIES:
Today we look back at 2013. It was a historic year. Edward
Snowden exposed how the National Security Agency had built a worldwide
surveillance apparatus, while Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35 years in jail
for leaking U.S. secret documents to WikiLeaks. Pope Francis urged the world to
address economic inequality, warning about the tyranny of unfettered
capitalism. Tens of thousands were killed in Syria, with many more displaced.
The Philippines was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. The U.S. Supreme Court struck
down part of the Voting Rights Act, while overturning the Defense of Marriage
Act that barred federal recognition of same-sex marriages. George Zimmerman was
acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin. The U.S. government was shut down
for 16 days, while Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform or
any true gun-control measures. The U.S. war in Afghanistan entered its 13th
year, while more than 8,000 civilians were killed in Iraq — in the deadliest
year there since 2008. Meanwhile, Obama’s secret drone wars continued in
Pakistan and Yemen. We spend the hour today looking back at the stories that
shaped 2013.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Today, we look back at 2013. It was an historic
year. Edward Snowden exposed how the National Security, the NSA, built a
worldwide surveillance apparatus, while Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35
years in jail for leaking U.S. secret documents to WikiLeaks. Pope Francis
urged the world to address economic inequality, warning about the tyranny of
unfettered capitalism. Tens of thousands were killed in Syria. And the
Philippines was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. The Supreme Court struck down
part of the Voting Rights Act, while overturning the Defense of Marriage Act,
which barred federal recognition of same-sex marriage. George Zimmerman was
acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin. The U.S. government was shut down
for 16 days while Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform or
any true gun-control measures. The U.S. war in Afghanistan entered its 13th
year, while over 8,000 civilians were killed in Iraq in the deadliest year
there since 2008. Meanhwhile, President Obama’s secret drone wars continued in
Pakistan and Yemen. We’ll spend the hour looking back at 2013. We begin with
President Obama’s inauguration.
Headlines for January 22, 2013:
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Our journey is not complete until our
wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our
journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like
anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the
love we commit to one another must be equal, as well.
Headlines for January 14, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: A prominent immigrant rights activist has spoken
out after her mother and brother were detained in a raid by federal immigration
agents at their Phoenix home. Erika Andiola, who has played a leading role in
the undocumented youth movement, urged an end to the raids in a tearful
recording.
ERIKA ANDIOLA: We need to do something. We need to stop
separating families. And this is real. This is so real. I need everybody to
stop, to stop pretending like nothing is wrong, to stop pretending that we’re
just living normal lives, because we’re not. This can happen to any of us.
Headlines for January 16, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: The late Internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz was
laid to rest on Tuesday at a funeral near Chicago. Swartz killed himself on
Friday, weeks before he was to go to trial for downloading millions of articles
provided by the nonprofit research service JSTOR. He was facing 35 years in
prison, a penalty that supporters of Swartz called excessively harsh.
Exclusive: Aaron Swartz’s Partner, Expert Witness Say Prosecutors
Unfairly Targeted Dead Activist (1/17/13):
AMY GOODMAN: In a moment, we’ll be joined by Aaron Swartz’s
girlfriend, but first let’s turn to Aaron Swartz in his own words. This is part
of a speech he delivered last May in Washington, D.C., when he explained the
challenges he sees the Internet facing.
AARON SWARTZ: There’s a battle going on right now, a battle to
define everything that happens on the Internet in terms of traditional things
that the law understands. Is sharing a video on BitTorrent like shoplifting
from a movie store? Or is it like loaning a videotape to a friend? Is reloading
a webpage over and over again like a peaceful virtual sit-in or a violent
smashing of shop windows? Is the freedom to connect like freedom of speech or
like the freedom to murder?
TAREN STINEBRICKNER-KAUFFMAN: Aaron was the most—person most
dedicated to fighting social injustice of anyone I’ve ever met in my life, and
I loved him for it. He used to say—I used to say, "Why don’t you—why we do
this thing? It will make you happy." And he would say, "I don’t want
to be happy. I just want to change the world."
Ex-CIA Agent, Whistleblower John Kiriakou Sentenced to Prison
While Torturers He Exposed Walk Free (1/30/13):
NERMEEN SHAIKH: A retired CIA agent who blew the whistle on the
agency’s Bush-era torture program has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in
prison. John Kiriakou becomes the first CIA official to be jailed for any
reason relating to the torture program.
JOHN KIRIAKOU: I’m going to prison, ostensibly, for violating
the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. I believe, and my
supporters believe, that this, however, was not a case about leaking; this was
a case about torture. And I believe I’m going to prison because I blew the
whistle on torture.
Headlines for January 8, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: President Obama has formally unveiled his
second-term nominations for two key Cabinet posts: former Republican Senator
Chuck Hagel for defense secretary and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to
helm the CIA.
Headlines for February 8, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: In a rare move, Brennan’s confirmation hearing was
temporarily called into recess following multiple interruptions by protesters
drawing attention to his leading role in the drone war.
CODEPINK Repeatedly Disrupts Brennan Hearing Calling Out Names
of Civilians Killed in Drone Strikes (2/8/13):
JOHN BRENNAN: And I’m very pleased to be joined today by my wife
Kathy and brother Tom.
CODEPINK PROTESTER: Speaking of children, I speak for the
mothers who lost children—
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN: All right, we will stop again.
CODEPINK PROTESTER: —in your drone strikes in Yemen, Pakistan,
Somalia. And who else? Who else? Where else?
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN: Please remove the—
CODEPINK PROTESTER: The CIA and the Obama administration refuse
to even tell Congress. They won’t even tell Congress what countries we are
killing children in.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN: Please—
CODEPINK PROTESTER: Senator Feinstein—
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN: If you could please expedite the removal?
CODEPINK PROTESTER: —are your children more important than the
children of Pakistan and Yemen? Are they more important? Do your job! World
peace depends on it! We’re making more enemies—
48 Arrested at Keystone Pipeline Protest as Sierra Club Lifts
120-Year Ban on Civil Disobedience (2/14/13):
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Forty-eight environmental activists were arrested
Wednesday in front of the White House as part of an ongoing protest calling on
the Obama administration to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.
Headlines for February 14, 2013:
MICHAEL BRUNE: And so we know that we can’t win on climate
change if we continue to dither, if we continue to talk about it but not do
anything. And so, the Sierra Club is engaging in civil disobedience for the
first time, because we have a moral catastrophe on our hands, and we need to do
everything that we can to compel stronger, bolder action.
Hugo Chávez Dead: Transformed Venezuela & Survived
U.S.-Backed Coup, Now Leaves Uncertainty Behind (3/6/13):
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Venezuela has announced seven days of mourning
for its president, Hugo Chávez, who has died at the age of 58. Chávez died
after a two-year battle with cancer that was first detected in his pelvis in
June of 2011. This is Bolivian President Evo Morales remembering Chávez.
PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: [translated] He fought for his country,
for the great nation, like Simón Bolívar, a friend who gave his entire life for
the liberation of the Venezuelan people, the people of Latin America and all
anti-imperialists and anti-capitalists of the world.
Over 100 Guantánamo Prisoners on Hunger Strike, Citing Threat of
Return to 'Darkest Days Under Bush' (3/13/13):
NERMEEN SHAIKH: More than a hundred detainees held in the U.S.
military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, are reportedly entering their fifth week
of a hunger strike against deteriorating conditions.
PARDISS KEBRIAEI: We’ve heard reports of people losing over 20,
30, 40 pounds. And we’re now today in day 36 or so of the strike. By day 42,
45, you start seeing things like loss of vision, loss of hearing, and
eventually death.
Headlines for March 14, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: A papal conclave has selected Cardinal Jorge Mario
Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, to be the new pope. He is viewed as a
theological conservative who has staunchly opposed abortion, same-sex marriage
and the ordination of women. In Argentina, he has long been dogged by reports
that he aided the military dictatorship in the 1970s.
Pope Francis: First Latin American, Jesuit Pope Picked to Head
Church; Praised for Work with Poor (3/14/13):
TOM ROBERTS: He really does live a life identified with the
poor. He lives in a simple apartment, cooks his own meals, and has really been
identified with a very, very strong social justice current in Latin America. He
has used language about the inequalities between countries and talks about
Argentina as one of the most unequal places in the world, talks about the
unjust distribution of goods as a social sin.
Headlines for March 14, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Military officials appeared before a Senate panel
on Wednesday to answer questions over the failure to halt the epidemic of
sexual assault within their ranks. New York senator and panel chair, Kirsten
Gillibrand, blasted the military’s handling of sexual assault.
SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: I am extremely disturbed, based on the
last round of question and answer, that each of you believes that the convening
authority is what maintains discipline and order within your ranks. If that is
your view, I don’t know how you can say that having 19,000 sexual assaults and
rapes a year is discipline and order.
Pentagon Study Finds 26,000 Military Sexual Assaults Last Year,
Over 70 Sex Crimes Per Day (5/8/13):
AMY GOODMAN: Anuradha Bhagwati of Service Women’s Action Network
also testified.
ANURADHA BHAGWATI: Military sexual violence is a very personal
issue for me. During my five years as a Marine officer, I experienced daily
discrimination and sexual harassment. I was exposed to a culture rife with
sexism, rape jokes, pornography and widespread commercial sexual exploitation
of women and girls, both in the United States and overseas. My experiences came
to a head while I was stationed at the School of Infantry at Camp Lejeune,
North Carolina, from 2002 to 2004, where I witnessed reports of rape, sexual
assault and sexual harassment swept under the rug by a handful of field-grade
officers. Perpetrators were promoted or transferred to other units without
punishment, while victims were accused of lying or exaggerating their claims in
order to ruin men’s reputations.
Headlines for March 19, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: A series of bomb blasts have ripped through Baghdad
and surrounding towns on the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that
began a decade-long war in Iraq. At least 56 people died in more than a dozen
explosions, most of them car bombings. It was 10 years ago today the United
States, under President George W. Bush, invaded Iraq on the false pretext that
Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Now, a decade after the
invasion began, a new poll confirms most people in the United States believe it
was a mistake.
Dahr Jamail Returns to Iraq to Find Rampant Torture and a Failed
State Living in 'Utter Devastation' (3/20/13):
DAHR JAMAIL: The situation in Iraq today, 10 years after the
U.S.-led invasion and occupation began, it’s just utter devastation. It’s a
situation where, overall, we can say that Iraq is a failed state. The economy
is in a state of crisis, perpetual crisis, that began far back with the
institution of the 100 Bremer orders during—under the Coalition Provisional
Authority, the civil government set up to run Iraq during the first year of the
occupation. And it’s been in crisis ever since.
Headlines for March 18, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Two high school football players in Steubenville,
Ohio, have been found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl at a party last
August. On Sunday, the teenagers, Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond, were
convicted of sexually assaulting the victim, who witnesses testified was too
drunk to move or speak. The case sparked a national controversy following the
emergence of images and social media postings from the night of the assault,
including one picture of the defendants holding the victim over a basement
floor.
Headlines for April 16, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: At least three people are dead and 144 wounded, 17
of them critically, after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston
Marathon Monday.
Headlines for April 17, 2013:
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: This was a heinous and cowardly act. And
given what we now know about what took place, the FBI is investigating it as an
act of terrorism.
Headlines for April 19, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: One suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings is
dead, and a massive manhunt is underway for the second, after a chaotic scene
erupted overnight that left one police officer dead, another critically
wounded.
Headlines for April 23, 2013:
JAY CARNEY: He will not be treated as an enemy combatant. We
will prosecute this terrorist through our civilian system of justice.
As Obama Shuns Hearing, Yemeni Says U.S. Drone War Terrifying
Civilians, Empowering Militants (4/24/13):
NERMEEN SHAIKH: On Tuesday, the Senate held its first-ever
public hearing on the U.S. secret drone program, 12 years after the United
States launched its first deadly drone strike. The most moving testimony at the
Senate hearing on drones came from Farea al-Muslimi, a youth activist from
Yemen.
FAREA AL-MUSLIMI: Now, however, when they think of America, they
think of the terror they feel from the drones that hover over their heads, ready
to fire missiles at any time. What the violent militants had previously failed
to achieve, one drone strike accomplished in an instant. There is now an
intense anger against America in Wessab.
Killing Americans: Jeremy Scahill on Obama Admin’s Admission 4
U.S. Citizens Died in Drone Strikes (5/23/13):
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: For the first time, the Obama administration
admitted Wednesday it had killed four U.S. citizens in drone strikes overseas.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we go to Jeremy Scahill, author of the
new book Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield. He is also a producer and
writer of the documentary film by the same title, Dirty Wars, which premieres
in theaters around the country June 7th.
JEREMY SCAHILL: I really think that Congress needs to step it up
and ask how these Americans were killed. But I also think that, on both a moral
level and, my understanding, also on a legal level, it really is irrelevant
whether they’re Americans or not Americans. Why I think it’s important to focus
on these cases is because how a society will treat its own citizens is a good
indicator of how it’s going to treat noncitizens around the world. And if the
basic standards of due process are not being afforded to American citizens,
then they certainly are not going to be afforded to non-American citizens.
Headlines for May 15, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: The retail giant Wal-Mart has been tied to the
collapsed Bangladesh industrial building where more than 1,100 workers died
last month. The New York Times reports documents found in the rubble show a
contractor had hired one of the building’s factories to produce jeans for
Wal-Mart stores.
Striking Workers, Bangladeshi Activist Challenge Wal-Mart on
Labor Conditions at Stores & Factories (6/11/13):
AMY GOODMAN: Bangladeshi activist and former garment worker,
Kalpona Akter, attended Wal-Mart’s annual meeting and addressed Wal-Mart Chair
Rob Walton.
KALPONA AKTER: Mr. Rob Walton, I’m sure you know that these
fixing buildings would cost just a tiny fraction of your family wealth. So I
implore to you, please, help us. You have the power to do this very easily.
Don’t you agree that the factories where Wal-Mart products are made should be
safe for the workers? For years, every time there is an accident, Wal-Mart
officials have made promise to improve the terrible conditions in my country’s
garment factories, but the tragedies continue. With all due respect, the time
for empty promises is over.
Angela Davis and Assata Shakur’s Lawyer Denounce FBI’s Adding of
Exiled Activist to Terrorists List (5/3/13):
AMY GOODMAN: The FBI has added the former Black Panther Assata
Shakur to its Most Wanted Terrorists list, and the reward for her capture has
been doubled to $2 million. Shakur is the first woman added to the list. We’re
joined now by Angela Davis.
ANGELA DAVIS: It’s designed to frighten people who are involved
in struggles today. Forty years ago seems as if it were a long time ago, four
decades; however, in the 21st century, at the beginning of the 21st century,
we’re still fighting around the very same issues—police violence, healthcare,
education, people in prison, and so forth. So I see this as an attack not so
much on Assata herself, although of course she deserves to be brought home.
Ríos Montt Guilty of Genocide: Are Guatemalan President Pérez
Molina, U.S. Officials Next? (5/13/13):
AMY GOODMAN: In an historic verdict, former Guatemalan dictator
Efraín Ríos Montt was found guilty Friday of genocide and crimes against
humanity and was sentenced to 80 years in prison. Judge Yassmin Barrios
announced the verdict on Friday.
JUDGE YASSMIN BARRIOS: [translated] By unanimous decision, the
court declares that the accused, José Efraín Ríos Montt, is responsible as the
author of the crime of genocide.
Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchú Hails Genocide Conviction of
Ex-Guatemalan Dictator Ríos Montt (5/15/13):
AMY GOODMAN: Our guest in Mexico City is the Nobel Peace
Laureate Rigoberta Menchú. It was her lawsuit that helped to lead to the
conviction—first trial, then conviction and 80-year sentence of the former
U.S.-backed dictator of Guatemala, Efraín Ríos Montt.
RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ: [translated] This verdict is historic. It’s
monumental. The verdict against Ríos Montt is historic. We waited for 33 years
for justice to prevail. It’s clear that there is no peace without justice.
There is no peace without truth. We need justice for the victims for there to
be real peace. This verdict is crucial.
Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark Decries Government’s 'Big
Brother' Seizure of AP Phone Records (5/14/13):
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to move to another subject with the former
attorney general of the United States here, Ramsey Clark, and that is this top
story in our headlines today, the Associated Press saying the Justice
Department secretly obtained a trove of journalists’ phone records, believed
more than 100 reporters working at AP and outside, reporters who even used the
AP phones.
RAMSEY CLARK: It seems to be a terrible intrusion on the freedom
of the press. I don’t see how the press can operate effectively if the public
and people that talk to the press have to assume that Big Brother is listening
in or can seize the conversations that they engage in. So, the impairment to
freedom of the press would seem—the threat to freedom of the press would seem
clear and substantial, and it ought not to be done.
Headlines for May 24, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: President Obama’s speech at the National Defense
University in Washington, D.C., was interrupted multiple times by Medea Benjamin,
the founder of CodePink.
Medea Benjamin v. President Obama: CodePink Founder Disrupts
Speech, Criticizing Drone, Gitmo Policy (5/24/13):
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Once again—
MEDEA BENJAMIN: There are 102 people on a hunger strike—
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Today—
MEDEA BENJAMIN: —these desperate people [inaudible]—
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I’m about to address it, ma’am, but
you’ve got to let me speak. I’m about to address it.
MEDEA BENJAMIN: You are commander-in-chief.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Let me address it.
MEDEA BENJAMIN: You can close Guantánamo today.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Why don’t you let me address it, ma’am?
MEDEA BENJAMIN: You can release those 86 prisoners cleared for
release [inaudible]—
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Why don’t you sit down?
AMY GOODMAN: We continue our look back at 2013 in a minute.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: "If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)" by
the Staple Singers. Cleotha Staples died February 21st, 2013, at the age of 78.
This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy
Goodman, as we continue our look back at 2013.
Headlines for June 6, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: A newly disclosed court order shows the telecom
giant Verizon is handing over the phone records of millions of subscribers to
the U.S. government without individual warrants. The Guardian of London reports
the FBI obtained the three-month authorization from the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court in April. It compels Verizon to provide the National
Security Agency with "metadata" of all subscriber phone calls: who
they spoke to, where and at what time they made the call, and for how long. This
appears to mark the broadest act of government surveillance known to date.
NSA Whistleblowers: 'All U.S. Citizens' Targeted by Surveillance
Program, Not Just Verizon Customers (6/6/13):
AMY GOODMAN: We’re now joined by two former employees of the
National Security Agency, Thomas Drake and William Binney.
'On a Slippery Slope to a Totalitarian State': NSA Whistleblower
Rejects Gov’t Defense of Spying (6/10/13):
WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, it’s certainly an extension of what I’ve
been trying to say, that we were on a slippery slope to a totalitarian state.
And that was simply based on the idea that the government was collecting so
much information about all the citizens inside the country, that it gave them
so much power.
NSA Whistleblowers: 'All U.S. Citizens' Targeted by Surveillance
Program, Not Just Verizon Customers (6/6/13):
THOMAS DRAKE: I think what people are now realizing is that this
isn’t just a terrorist issue. This is simply the ability of the government in
secret, on a vast scale, to collect any and all phone call records, including
domestic to domestic, local, as well as location information. We might—there’s
no need now to call this the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Let’s
just call it the surveillance court. It’s no longer about foreign intelligence.
It’s simply about harvesting millions and millions and millions of phone call
records and beyond.
’You’re Being Watched’: Edward Snowden Emerges as Source Behind
Explosive Revelations of NSA Spying (6/10/13):
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to the man who blew the whistle on the
National Security Agency and the expanding U.S. surveillance state. On Sunday,
The Guardian newspaper revealed the source of its explosive series on the NSA
to be a 29-year-old former CIA technical assistant named Edward Snowden.
EDWARD SNOWDEN: Any analyst at any time can target anyone, any
selector anywhere. Where those communications will be picked up depends on the
range of the sensor networks and the authorities that that analyst is empowered
with. Not all analysts have the ability to target everything. But I, sitting at
my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you or your
accountant to a federal judge, to even the president, if I had a personal
email.
More Intrusive Than Eavesdropping? NSA Collection of Metadata
Hands Gov’t Sweeping Personal Info (6/12/13):
AMY GOODMAN: On Friday, President Obama confirmed the existence
of the surveillance program.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: When it comes to telephone calls, nobody
is listening to your telephone calls. That’s not what this program’s about.
Where is Edward Snowden? Glenn Greenwald on Asylum Request,
Espionage Charge; More Leaks to Come (6/24/13):
AMY GOODMAN: Glenn Greenwald, Ed Snowden turned 30 on Friday.
Also, then, the charges against him were made known. Can you explain what he
has been charged with by the United States?
GLENN GREENWALD: He’s been charged so far with three felony
counts, one of which is essentially stealing property that doesn’t belong to
him. The other two are the much more serious ones. They’re offenses under the
Espionage Act of 1917.
Michael Hastings Dies at 33; Fearless Journalist Challenged
Power & Exposed Myths of Afghan War (6/19/13):
AMY GOODMAN: Journalist Michael Hastings has died at the age of
33. Hastings was killed in a car crash in Los Angeles early Tuesday morning.
Speaking to Democracy Now! in 2012, Michael Hastings said the Afghan War, like
the invasion of Iraq, was based on a false premise.
MICHAEL HASTINGS: If WMDs were the big lie of the Iraq War, the
safe haven myth is the big lie of the Afghan War. And what I mean by that—and
this was true in Iraq, as well—but 99 percent of the people, maybe even higher,
honestly, the people we’re fighting, whether it was Sunni insurgents in Iraq or
Shiite militias in Iraq or in Afghanistan, the Taliban never actually posed a
threat to the United States homeland.
Supreme Court Guts Voting Rights Act, Sparking Fears of Rollback
for Minorities Long After Jim Crow (6/26/13):
NERMEEN SHAIKH: In a major blow for voting rights, the Supreme
Court has gutted an integral part of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. The
act was a crowning achievement of the civil rights movement and helped
transform the South.
AMY GOODMAN: Reverend Jesse Jackson, let’s begin with you. Your
reaction to the Supreme Court decision?
REV. JESSE JACKSON: A source of deep pain. My father came from
World War II, had to sit behind lots of POWs on American military bases and did
not have the right to vote. I’ve grown up with this all of my life. I marched
in Selma, Alabama, for the right to vote; went to jail trying to get Mandela
his right to vote. We’ve been fighting the struggle to democratize our nation
and our nations for a long time, and so it hurt at that level.
LGBT Movement Wins Defeat of DOMA & Prop 8, Fueling Momentum
for Next Steps in Fight for Equality (6/27/13):
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: In a resounding victory for marriage equality,
the Supreme Court ruled that married same-sex couples were entitled to federal
benefits, as it struck down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. In addition, the
court paved the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California. When the
five-to-four decision on DOMA was announced, an enormous cheer went up outside
the courtroom, and the crowd started chanting, "DOMA is dead!" as couples
hugged and cried. The lead plaintiff in the case was an 84-year-old lesbian
named Edith Windsor.
EDITH WINDSOR: Children born today will grow up in a world
without DOMA, and those same children who happen to be gay will be free to love
and get married as Thea and I did, but with the same federal benefits,
protections and dignity as everyone else. If I had to survive Thea, what a
glorious way to do it. And she would be so pleased.
The People’s Filibuster: Texas Governor Revives Anti-Abortion
Bill Defeated by Protesters, Lawmakers (6/27/13):
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Pro-choice advocates and Democratic lawmakers
waged a battle into the early hours of Wednesday morning to successfully block
a bill that would have forced nearly all of the state’s abortion clinics to
close.
SEN. WENDY DAVIS: Members, I’m rising on the floor today to
humbly give voice to thousands of Texans who have been ignored.
AMY GOODMAN: Wendy Davis’s filibuster lasted nearly 11 hours
before Republicans cut her off. That was when her colleagues and the protesters
in the gallery took over.
Headlines for July 8, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Deadly violence is continuing in Egypt days after
the military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi. Earlier today at least 42
people were reportedly killed at the military site where Morsi is being
detained. The Muslim Brotherhood says the victims were holding a peaceful
sit-in when gunmen opened fire, wounding over 500. The victims included women
and children.
Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Egypt Descends Into 'Spiral of Violence
and Retribution' After Morsi’s Ouster (7/8/13):
AMY GOODMAN: We go now to Cairo, where we’re joined by Democracy
Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, Amy, I’m just coming back from the
scene of a bloodbath in Cairo today. As you mentioned, the official count is at
least 42 people killed, 300 wounded, many of them killed with live ammunition.
I spoke to many eyewitnesses. All of them say that the attack began right at
the end of dawn prayer, where pro-Morsi supporters are holding a sit-in.
Headlines for July 15, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: The Pakistani schoolgirl attacked by the Taliban
last year appeared at the United Nations on Friday to deliver her first speech
since undergoing surgery and to celebrate a global day in her honor. Malala
Yousafzai was left seriously wounded when militants shot her in the head for
campaigning for the rights of girls. On Friday, her 16th birthday, Malala said
she is undeterred by the Taliban’s efforts to silence her voice.
MALALA YOUSAFZAI: Dear friends, on the 9th of October, 2012, the
Taliban shot me on the left side of my forehead. They shot my friends, too.
They thought that the bullet would silence us. But they failed. And out of that
silence came thousands of voices. The terrorists thought that they would change
my aims and stop my ambitions. But nothing changed in my life except this:
Weakness, fear and hopelessness died; strength, power and courage was born.
'I Felt Like It Was My Son': Thousands Protest George Zimmerman
Acquittal in Trayvon Martin Killing (7/15/13):
JUDGE DEBRA NELSON: Members of the jury, have you reached a
verdict?
CLERK: In the Circuit Court of the 18th Judicial Circuit in and
for Seminole County, Florida, State of Florida v. George Zimmerman, verdict:
We, the jury, find George Zimmerman not guilty. So say we all, foreperson.
As Protests Continue over Verdict, Obama Says 'Trayvon Martin
Could Have Been Me 35 Years Ago' (7/22/13):
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I
said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon
Martin could have been me, 35 years ago.
Michelle Alexander: 'Zimmerman Mindset' Endangers Young Black
Lives with Poverty, Prison & Murder (7/17/13):
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we’re going to Columbus, Ohio,
where we’re joined by Michelle Alexander, civil rights advocate, attorney,
author of the best-selling book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age
of Colorblindness.
MICHELLE ALEXANDER: I think it’s critically important that we
not allow ourselves to get bogged down in the details of who said what when,
but rather step back and consider what this Zimmerman mindset, a mindset that
views a boy walking in his neighborhood carrying nothing but Skittles and iced
tea as a threat, this mindset that views black men and boys as a perpetual
problem to be dealt with. This mindset has infected our criminal justice
system, has infected our schools, has infected our politics, in ways that have
had disastrous consequences, birthing a prison system unprecedented in world
history and stripping millions of basic civil, human—millions of people of
basic civil and human rights once they’ve been branded criminals and felons.
Headlines for July 30, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Pope Francis has issued unusually candid remarks
about LGBT people, saying they should not be marginalized in society, but
maintaining that homosexual acts are a sin under Catholic teaching.
POPE FRANCIS: [translated] If a person is gay and seeks God and
has good will, who am I to judge him?
Headlines for August 5, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: In Iran, Hassan Rouhani took the presidential oath
of office Sunday, replacing outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
PRESIDENT HASSAN ROUHANI: [translated] Interactions based on
equal footing and cooperation will be the basis of our relations with other
countries. On this basis, proportionate to the behavior and approach of the
other side, in view of improving and promoting future ties, we will ascertain
our next step. So I will say this: If you want the right response, don’t speak
with Iran in the language of sanctions; speak in the language of respect.
Headlines for August 12, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: A federal judge has denied a request for
compassionate release from jailed civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart, who is
dying from stage IV breast cancer. Stewart has served almost four years of a
10-year prison sentence for distributing press releases on behalf of her jailed
client, Omar Abdel Rahman, an Egyptian cleric known as the "blind
Sheikh."
'I Do Not Want to Die in Prison': Cancer-Stricken Lawyer Lynne
Stewart Seeks Compassionate Release (8/8/13):
AMY GOODMAN: Ralph Poynter, your wife, Lynne, in prison, you
visited her last week.
RALPH POYNTER: This is dangerous, a dangerous situation, and the
prison wants her dead. I don’t call them "prisons" anymore; I call
them "death camps."
Judge Rules NYPD 'Stop and Frisk' Unconstitutional, Cites
'Indirect Racial Profiling' (8/13/13):
AARON MATÉ: We begin with a historic ruling in federal court
that the stop-and-frisk tactics used by New York police officers are
unconstitutional.
AMY GOODMAN: Shortly after the decision was announced, the
plaintiffs in the case held a news conference alongside their lawyers.
LALIT CLARKSON: The reason why I joined on to this case was
because many of us, including myself, feel like "stop and frisk" is
police abuse, and that that’s the lowest level of police abuse. And once police
abuse power when it comes to "stop and frisk," then they can do it in
terms of falsely arresting people, then they can do it in terms of planting
evidence. And at the most extreme cases, they can do it in terms of killing
people.
AARON MATÉ: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reacted
angrily to the ruling and accused the judge of denying the city a fair trial.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: This is a very dangerous decision made
by a judge that I think just does not understand how policing works and what is
compliant with the U.S. Constitution as determined by the Supreme Court.
As Edward Snowden Wins 1-Year Asylum in Russia, NSA Program
Tracking Real-Time Internet Use Exposed (8/1/13):
AMY GOODMAN: In breaking news out of Russia, National Security
Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has been given one year temporary political
asylum in Russia. Snowden has reportedly already left the Moscow airport where
he’s been holed up for over a month.
Massacre in Cairo: Egypt on Brink After Worst Violence Since
2011 Revolution (8/15/13):
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Members of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood have
called on followers to march in protest in Cairo today after at least 525
people died when security forces raided two protest encampments filled with
supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi. More than 3,500 people were
injured. The Muslim Brotherhood says the death toll may top 2,000.
AMY GOODMAN: In Cairo, Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel
Kouddous.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: The scene inside the main medical
facility in Rabaa was extremely tragic. People were being brought in, the dead
and wounded, every few minutes. The floor was slippery with blood. The windows
were closed to prevent tear gas from coming in, and it was almost unbearably
hot. And the dead were everywhere. In one room alone, I counted 24 bodies just
strewn on the ground, packed so closely you couldn’t even walk in; on another
floor, another 30; on another floor, another eight. Doctors were overwhelmed
with the casualties.
Headlines for August 19, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: The British government is being accused of abusing
press freedom after detaining the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn
Greenwald. On Sunday, Greenwald’s partner, David Miranda, was held and
interrogated at London’s Heathrow Airport while traveling home to Brazil.
UK Media Crackdown: Greenwald’s Partner Detained, Guardian
Forced to Destroy Snowden Files (8/20/13):
DAVID MIRANDA: [translated] I stayed in a room with three
different agents that were entering and exiting. They spoke to me, asking me
questions about my whole life. They took my computer, my video game, cellphone,
everything.
Headlines for August 21, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Syrian opposition activists are accusing the regime
of Bashar al-Assad of killing hundreds of civilians in new chemical violence.
The Syrian Revolutionary Command Council claims as many as 650 people have died
in a gas attack on rebel-held areas of eastern Damascus.
Syrian Activist on Ghouta Attack: 'I Haven't Seen Such Death in
My Whole Life’ (8/23/13):
RAZAN ZAITOUNEH: Hours later, we started to visit the medical
points in Ghouta to where injured were removed, and we couldn’t believe our
eyes. I haven’t seen such death in my whole life. People were lying on the
ground in hallways, on roadsides, in hundreds.
Headlines for August 22, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Army Private Bradley Manning has been sentenced to
35 years in prison for leaking more than 700,000 classified files and videos to
WikiLeaks. The sentence is much longer than any punishment given to previous
U.S. government officials who have leaked information to the media. Under
current guidelines, Manning could be released on parole in about seven years.
After the hearing, Manning defense attorney David Coombs read a statement from
Manning asking President Obama for a pardon.
DAVID COOMBS: When I chose to disclose classified information, I
did so out of a love for my country and a sense of duty to others. If you deny
my request for a pardon, I will serve my time knowing that sometimes you have
to pay a heavy price to live in a free society.
EXCLUSIVE: 'Bradley Manning Has Become a Martyr'–WikiLeaks’
Julian Assange on Guilty Verdict (7/31/13):
AMY GOODMAN: We welcome you back to Democracy Now!, Julian
Assange. What is your response to the verdict?
JULIAN ASSANGE: Edward Snowden’s freedom is a very important
symbol. Bradley Manning’s incarceration is also an important symbol. Bradley
Manning is now a martyr. He didn’t choose to be a martyr. I don’t think it’s a
proper way for activists to behave, to choose to be martyrs. But these young
men—allegedly in the case of Bradley Manning and clearly in the case of Edward
Snowden—have risked their freedom, risked their lives for all of us. That makes
them heroes.
Headlines for August 22, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: In a statement just released this morning, Bradley
Manning thanked supporters and announced plans to live as a woman under the
name Chelsea Manning. Manning said, quote, "As I transition into this next
phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I
am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want
to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me
in this transition."
Headlines for August 26, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Tens of thousands gathered in Washington, D.C., on
Saturday to mark the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and
Freedom, originally held on August 28, 1963. Democratic Rep. John Lewis of
Georgia, the only surviving speaker from the 1963 march, said the struggle for
racial and economic justice continues today.
REP. JOHN LEWIS: We are one people. We are one family. We are
one house. We all live in the same house. So I say to you, my brothers and
sisters, we cannot give up. We cannot give out. We cannot give in. We must get
out there and push and pull.
Headlines for August 30, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: The Obama administration is considering launching
unilateral air strikes against Syria after British lawmakers voted against the
use of force.
PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON: It is very clear tonight that
while the House has not passed a motion, it is clear to me that the British
Parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to see
British military action. I get that, and the government will act accordingly.
Headlines for September 3, 2013:
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I’m confident in the case our government
has made without waiting for U.N. inspectors. I’m comfortable going forward
without the approval of a United Nations Security Council that, so far, has
been completely paralyzed and unwilling to hold Assad accountable.
Headlines for August 30, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Fast-food workers went on strike in 60 U.S. cities
in the largest protest of an almost year-long campaign to raise service sector
wages at restaurants, including McDonald’s and Burger King.
'We Are Slowly Dying': Fast-Food Workers Launch Strike for
Living Wage and Right to Unionize (8/2/13):
KAREEM STARKS: I have two kids, six and 12. Both of my boys
graduated kindergarten and fifth grade at the same time this year. My general
manager told me that he was going to give me some extra opportunities to make
some money—extra days. He calls me in on my day off, and three days after that,
every day, a different manager sends me home. At the end of the week, I only
get a paycheck with 28 hours. I didn’t have enough to do anything for my son,
more or less just buy balloons or take him out to a pizza shop. I couldn’t
really celebrate his graduation, because I didn’t have any money.
Headlines for August 30, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: New York City Council Member Letitia James
expressed support for the fast-food workers.
LETITIA JAMES: Most of the individuals who work in fast-food
restaurants, which is one of the growing—fastest-growing industries in the City
of New York, it’s a race to the bottom. A significant number of them in retail
and in the fast-food restaurants are women of color who look like me. And so,
there is a feminization of poverty. It’s a term which describes most women who
live below the poverty level who are struggling to make ends meet.
AMY GOODMAN: We’ll be back with our 2013 year in review in a
moment.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: "Sunday Morning," performed by Velvet
Underground, featuring Lou Reed on vocals. Activist, artist, musician Lou Reed
passed away October 27th at the age of 71. This is Democracy Now!,
democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, as we continue our
look back at 2013.
The End of Internet Privacy? Glenn Greenwald on Secret NSA
Program to Crack Online Encryption (9/6/13):
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The Guardian, The New York Times and ProPublica
have jointly revealed the National Security Agency is successfully waging a
long-running secret war on encryption, jeopardizing hundreds of millions of people’s
ability to protect their privacy online.
GLENN GREENWALD: And what these documents show is not just that
the NSA is trying to break the codes of encryption to let them get access to
everything, but they’re forcing the companies that provide the encryption
services to put backdoors into their programs, which means, again, that not
only the NSA, but all sorts of hackers and other governments and all kinds of
ill-motivated people, can have a weakness to exploit, a vulnerability to
exploit, in these systems, which makes the entire Internet insecure for
everybody.
As Assad Regime Accepts Russian Plan on Chemical Weapons, A
Debate on Syria’s Path Forward (9/10/13):
AARON MATÉ: Syria’s foreign minister has announced Syria has
accepted a Russian proposal to surrender control over its chemical weapons. The
Russian initiative was apparently sparked by remarks made by Secretary of State
John Kerry on Monday about what Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could do to
prevent a U.S. attack.
SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: Sure. He could turn over every
single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next
week—turn it over, all of it, without delay—and allow a full and total
accounting for that. But he isn’t about to do it, and it can’t be done, obviously.
Headlines for September 11, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: In a national address from the White House Tuesday
night, Obama said the United States will explore Russia’s proposal to place
Syria’s chemical weapons under international control.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: It’s too early to tell whether this
offer will succeed, and any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps
its commitments. But this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of
chemical weapons without the use of force, particularly because Russia is one
of Assad’s strongest allies. I have therefore asked the leaders of Congress to
postpone a vote to authorize the use of force while we pursue this diplomatic
path.
As Assad Regime Accepts Russian Plan on Chemical Weapons, A
Debate on Syria’s Path Forward (9/10/13):
AMY GOODMAN: And your response, Rania Masri, of these latest
fast-moving developments?
RANIA MASRI: I think it strongly reveals both President Obama’s
international isolation, with his only main ally supporting a bombing campaign
against Syria being the Saudis, who have themselves funded many of these
so-called rebels in Syria, and at the same time President Obama is facing
increasing domestic opposition, from the Republicans to the Democrats, across
the political spectrum.
Seymour Hersh: Obama 'Cherry-Picked' Intelligence on Syrian
Chemical Attack to Justify U.S. Strike (12/9/13):
AMY GOODMAN: We go to Washington, D.C., to speak with Seymour
Hersh himself, the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist. His latest
piece in the London Review of Books is headlined "Whose Sarin?"
SEYMOUR HERSH: The fact is that I think the administration
should just take the high road here and put out what it knows. I have every
reason to believe they know more than they’ve indicated about who did what and
what the sarin looked like. And, you know, as I wrote in the article, here you
have a president of the United States that one day is telling us he’s going to
bomb Syria, and the next day he suddenly cuts a deal.
Headlines for September 17, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Thirteen people have died after a former Navy
reservist opened fire at a naval base in Washington, D.C., Monday morning,
killing 12 people and wounding several others before dying in a shootout with
police. The gunman has been identified as Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old who had
been arrested at least twice in the past for shooting-related incidents, but
who had security clearance to enter the Washington Navy Yard and worked for a
military contractor.
'This is Genocide in America': Mother of Slain Chicago Teenager
Condemns Gun-Violence Epidemic (9/19/13):
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: In the wake of the mass shooting at the
Washington Navy Yard that left 12 people dead, dozens of gun-control activists,
many from the Newtown Action Alliance, convened on Capitol Hill Wednesday to
try to revive a bill that would expand federal background checks of gun buyers.
SHUNDRA ROBINSON: You guys can leave here and go on with your
lives, but we got to go home to empty rooms, because our children’s lives were
taken away by people who should not have had guns anyway. Most of our
children’s lives were lost by people under 21. This universal background check
is a start. We need healing, you guys. And it’s a global thing. It’s beyond an
epidemic. This is genocide in America.
Headlines for September 18, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has cancelled an
upcoming trip to the U.S. over revelations of spying by the National Security
Agency. Rousseff was due to visit Washington next month and attend a state
dinner in her honor at the White House.
Headlines for September 25, 2013:
PRESIDENT DILMA ROUSSEFF: [translated] Like so many other Latin
Americans, I myself fought on a firsthand basis against arbitrary behavior and
censorship, and I could therefore not possibly fail to uncompromisingly defend
individuals’ rights to privacy and my country’s sovereignty.
Headlines for September 23, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: An armed standoff is continuing at a mall in
Nairobi, Kenya, where al-Qaeda-linked militants have taken hostages in a deadly
rampage. At least 68 people have died and nearly 200 have been wounded since
armed gunmen with Somalia’s al-Shabab stormed the shopping center on Saturday.
Headlines for September 25, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is staging a marathon
filibuster as part of his campaign against the Affordable Care Act. The
Democrat-controlled Senate is set to strip a provision from a House Republican
spending bill that would tie the aversion of a government shutdown to the
defunding of "Obamacare." During his comments, Cruz compared those
who oppose efforts to repeal "Obamacare" to the Western appeasement
of Nazi Germany.
SEN. TED CRUZ: You go to the 1940s, Nazi Germany. Look, we saw
in Britain Neville Chamberlain, who told the British people, "Accept the
Nazis. Yes, they’ll dominate the continent of Europe, but that’s not our
problem. Let’s appease them. Why? Because it can’t be done. We can’t possibly
stand against them."
Headlines for October 1, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: The U.S. government has begun a partial shutdown
for the first time in 17 years after Congress failed to break a partisan
deadlock by a midnight deadline. Some 800,000 federal workers are to be
furloughed, and more than a million others will be asked to work without pay.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The Affordable Care Act is moving
forward. That funding is already in place. You can’t shut it down.
Headlines for October 14, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Hundreds gathered Saturday in New Orleans to
remember Angola 3 member Herman Wallace as he was laid to rest. Wallace spent
nearly 42 years in solitary confinement before he was released on October 1 and
died three days later, a free man, after a Louisiana federal judge overturned
his conviction. This is fellow Angola 3 member Robert King, who was released in
2001, speaking at Wallace’s funeral.
ROBERT KING: It is often said that I was the only freed member
of the Angola 3, and that is true. But if someone would also say that Herman
was the second freed member of the Angola 3, I would also agree with that. And
even though it was short-lived, Herman died with a clean slate.
Headlines for October 8, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: U.S. officials are pushing for an agreement by the
end of the year on the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal
described by critics as "NAFTA on steroids" that would establish a
free trade zone stretching from Vietnam to Chile to Japan and encompassing
nearly 40 percent of the global economy.
'A Corporate Trojan Horse': Obama Pushes Secretive TPP Trade
Pact, Would Rewrite Swath of U.S. Laws (10/4/13):
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we’re joined by Lori Wallach,
director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.
LORI WALLACH: Well, one of the most important things to
understand is it’s not really mainly about trade. I guess the way to think
about it is as a corporate Trojan horse. The agreement has 29 chapters, and
only five of them have to do with trade. The other 24 chapters either handcuff
our domestic governments, limiting food safety, environmental standards,
financial regulation, energy and climate policy, or establishing new powers for
corporations.
Headlines for October 22, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: President Obama defended his signature healthcare
law Monday following weeks of technical failures that have prevented many
people from signing up.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: There’s no sugarcoating it. The website
has been too slow. People have been getting stuck during the application
process. And I think it’s fair to say that nobody is more frustrated by that
than I am, precisely because the product is good.
'Too Scared to Go Outside': Family of Pakistani Grandmother
Killed in U.S. Drone Strike Speaks Out (10/31/13):
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We’re joined now by the Rehman family, who have
just traveled to the United States from Pakistan. On Tuesday, they became the
first victims of U.S. drone war to address members of Congress on Capitol Hill.
ZUBAIR UR REHMAN: [translated] I had gone to school that day,
and when I came back, I had a snack, and I offered my prayers. And my grandma
asked me to come outside and help her pick the vegetables.
AMY GOODMAN: You were hit by this drone that killed your
grandmother?
ZUBAIR UR REHMAN: [translated] Yes, I had seen a drone, and two
missiles hit down where my grandmother was standing in front of me. And she was
blown into pieces, and I was injured to my left leg.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Nabila, you’re nine years old. How have
things changed for you since the attack? How’s your—going out again, out into
the fields alone, do you fear again other possible attacks?
NABILA UR REHMAN: [translated] Ever since the strike, I’m just
scared. I’m always scared. All of us little kids, we’re just scared to go outside.
Headlines for November 6, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Here in New York, Bill de Blasio won an
overwhelming victory to become the city’s first Democratic mayor in two
decades.
With Wins for de Blasio, Minimum Wage and Tea Party Losses,
Voters Signal Rejection of Austerity (11/6/13):
MAYOR-ELECT BILL DE BLASIO: So, when we call on the wealthiest
among us to pay just a little bit more in taxes to fund universal pre-K and
after-school programs, we aren’t threatening anyone’s success. We are asking
those who have done very well to ensure that every child has the same
opportunity to do just as well as they have. That’s how we all rise together.
Headlines for November 8, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: One of the most intense storms in world history has
hit the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan has already killed at least four people,
injured several others and prompted millions to flee. President Benigno Aquino
has warned the country faces "calamity." With sustained winds of up
to 199 miles per hour, it may be the most powerful storm ever to make landfall.
'Stop This Madness': Filipino Climate Chief Yeb Saño Begins
Hunger Fast to Protest Global Inaction (11/12/13):
AMY GOODMAN: Filipino chief climate negotiator Yeb Saño.
NADEREV "YEB" SAÑO: What my country is going through
as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. The climate crisis is
madness. Mr. President, we can stop this madness right here in Warsaw. We
cannot sit and stay helpless staring at this international climate stalemate.
It is now time to raise ambition and take action. We need an emergency climate
pathway.
'Nature Does Not Negotiate': Environmentalists Walk Out of U.N.
Climate Summit in Warsaw (11/21/13):
AMY GOODMAN: We’re broadcasting from Warsaw, Poland, where the
climate is cold and the protests are hot. We are at the U.N. climate change
summit, known as COP 19. As we go to broadcast, hundreds of activists are
walking out of the talks. We turn right now to Kumi Naidoo, who, just moments
ago, surrounded by hundreds of people, addressed the protest. He’s head of Greenpeace
International.
KUMI NAIDOO: So our message to our political leaders: Understand
that nature does not negotiate. You cannot change the science. And we have to
change political will. And it’s within their capacity to do that, and they
cannot drag their feet any longer, and they need to start doing that now.
Historic Deal Curbs Iran’s Nuclear Program While Easing U.S.-Led
Devastating Economic Sanctions (11/25/13):
AMY GOODMAN: Iran and six world powers have clinched a deal to
temporarily limit and roll back the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for the
easing of international sanctions
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: For the first time in nearly a decade,
we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program. And key parts of
the program will be rolled back.
Plea to End Deportations Heard Nationwide as Activist Interrupts
Obama Speech on Immigration (11/27/13):
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: That’s why we’re here.
JU HONG: Mr. President, please use your executive order to halt
deportations for all 11.5 [million] undocumented immigrants in this country
right now.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: What we’re trying—
JU HONG: We agree—
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!
JU HONG: —that we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform
at the same time. You have a power to stop deportations for all undocumented
families in this country.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Actually, I don’t. And that’s why we’re
here.
JU HONG: So, please, I need your help.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: OK.
JU HONG: Yes, we can!
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Stop deportations!
Headlines for December 4, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: A federal judge has approved Detroit’s bid to
qualify for bankruptcy, putting the city on a path to financial recovery, but
threatening the livelihoods of thousands of city workers. In a landmark
decision that could harm retiree benefits nationwide, Federal Judge Steven
Rhodes ruled that federal bankruptcy law can override state laws that protect
public pensions. That clears the way for Detroit to make major cuts to the
health and retirement benefits of city employees.
Richard Wolff: Detroit a 'Spectacular Failure' of System that
Redistributes Pay from Bottom to Top (7/25/13):
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by Richard Wolff, professor
emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and visiting
professor at New School University here in New York City.
RICHARD WOLFF: This is an example of a failed economic system.
You have to judge an economic system, like ours, not only by the good things
that it can produce—which it does—but also by the disasters, which it sees,
which it worsens, and which it does nothing to reverse.
Headlines for December 6, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: Across South Africa and the world today, people are
mourning the death of Nelson Mandela. The anti-apartheid leader spent 27 years
in prison before becoming South Africa’s first black and democratically elected
president in 1994. South African President Jacob Zuma delivered the news to the
nation in a televised address, saying Mandela died peacefully, surrounded by
his family.
PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA: Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our
people have lost a father. Although we knew that this day would come, nothing
can diminish our sense of a profound, enduring loss.
Vindication for Snowden? Obama Panel Backs Major Curbs on NSA
Surveillance, Phone Record Data Mining (12/19/13):
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: A White House panel has proposed a series of
curbs on some key National Security Agency surveillance operations following
the leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The panel recommended the
NSA halt its bulk collection of billions of American phone call records.
AMY GOODMAN: Also with us is Ben Wizner, Edward Snowden’s legal
adviser and director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.
BEN WIZNER: What a week this has been to vindicate the act of
conscience that he engaged in—first a conservative federal judge saying that
the NSA’s sweeping domestic intelligence program violates the Constitution,
then what we expected to be a whitewash executive branch report coming back
with these really incredible recommendations for a sweeping overhaul. None of
this would have happened but for what Snowden did.
Headlines for December 26, 2013:
AMY GOODMAN: The U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden has released
a new video statement urging concerned citizens to unite against unfettered
surveillance. In a Christmas Day address, Snowden said mass spying is
undermining basic rights to privacy.
EDWARD SNOWDEN: Recently, we learned that our governments,
working in concert, have created a system of worldwide mass surveillance,
watching everything we do. Great Britain’s George Orwell warned us of the
danger of this kind of information. The types of collection in the
book—microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us—are nothing compared to
what we have available today. We have sensors in our pockets that track us
everywhere we go. Think about what this means for the privacy of the average
person. A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all.
They’ll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves, an
unrecorded, unanalyzed thought. And that’s a problem, because privacy matters.
Privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be. The
conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place
both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it.
Together, we can find a better balance, end mass surveillance and remind the
government that if it really wants to know how we feel, asking is always
cheaper than spying. For everyone out there listening, thank you and Merry
Christmas.
AMY GOODMAN: That does it for our look back at 2013. Special
thanks to Mike Burke and Sam Alcoff. If you’d like a copy of today’s broadcast,
you can go to our website at democracynow.org. Democracy Now! is produced by
Mike Burke, Renée Feltz, Aaron Maté, Nermeen Shaikh, Steve Martinez, Sam
Alcoff, Hany Massoud, Robby Karran, Deena Guzder, Amy Littlefield, Cassandra
Lizaire, Messiah Rhodes, Charina Nadura. Mike DiFilippo and Miguel Nogueira are
our engineers. Special thanks to Becca Staley and Julie Crosby and Hugh Grand,
Jessica Lee, John Wallach, Vesta Goodarz, and to our camera crew, Jon Randolph,
Kieran Krug-Meadows, Carlo De Jesus, Phil Raymond. Special thanks also to Neil
Shibata and Brenda Murad and Clara Ibarra and Simin Farkhondeh and Rob Young
and Jamie Hill. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us.
-------
HEADLINES:
democracynow.org
-------
Mail Us: Democracy Now!
207 W. 25th St., Floor 11
New York, NY 10001
E-mail Us: Use the form to the left
Call Us: +1 (212) 431-9090
Fax Us: +1 (212) 431-8858
-------
No comments:
Post a Comment