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Anita Sarkeesian, a prominent feminist critic of video games, was forced to cancel a speech at Utah State University last week after the school received an email threatening to carry out "the deadliest shooting in American history" at the event. The email sender wrote: "feminists have ruined my life and I will have my revenge." The sender used the moniker Marc Lepine, the name of a man who killed 14 women, most of them female engineering students, in a mass shooting in Montreal in 1989. Sarkeesian canceled the talk after being told that under Utah law, campus police could not prevent people from bringing guns. We speak to Sarkeesian about the incident, the "Gamergate" controversy, and her campaign to expose misogyny, sexism and violence against female characters in video games despite repeated physical threats. "Online harassment, especially gendered online harassment, is an epidemic," Sarkeesian says. "Women are being driven out, they’re being driven offline; this isn’t just in gaming, this is happening across the board online, especially with women who participate in or work in male-dominated industries."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show by looking at the violent threats faced by a feminist critic for pointing out sexism in video games. Last week, Anita Sarkeesian was forced to cancel a planned lecture in Utah after threats of a shooting massacre. She was scheduled to speak at Utah State University, when the university received an email threatening to carry out, quote, "the deadliest shooting in American history" at the event. The email sender wrote, quote, "feminists have ruined my life and I will have my revenge." He used the moniker Marc Lepine, the name of a man who killed 14 women, most of them female engineering students, in a mass shooting in Montreal in 1989. Anita Sarkeesian canceled her talk after being told that under Utah law, Utah State [University] police could not prevent people from bringing guns to her lecture. A university spokesperson told the Standard-Examiner newspaper the school had determined it was safe for Sarkeesian to speak because, quote, "The threat we received is not out of the norm for (this woman)."
Sarkeesian has long faced bomb, rape and death threats from online harassers opposed to her criticism of the ways in which women are depicted in video games. In August, she was forced to leave her home after an online harasser posted her address and threatened to kill her parents and, quote, "rape [her] to death." Another harasser created a video game called "Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian."
Sarkeesian’s viral web series on video games is titled "Tropes vs. Women." This is a clip.
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Welcome to the second part of our miniseries examining the women-as-background-decoration trope in video games. I need to stress that this video comes with a content warning and is not recommended for children. The game footage I’ll be showcasing will be particularly graphic and includes scenes of extreme violence against women.
I define the women-as-background-decoration trope as the subset of largely insignificant, nonplayable female characters whose sexuality or victimhood is exploited as a way to infuse edgy, gritty or racy flavoring into game worlds. These sexually objectified female bodies are designed to function as environmental texture while titillating presumed straight male players.
In our last video, we discussed the concept of sexual objectification and looked at a specific subset of non-essential female characters, which I classify as nonplayable sex objects. In this episode, we will expand our discussion of the women-as-background-decoration trope to examine how sexualized female bodies often occupy a dual role as both sexual playthings and the perpetual victims of male violence.
CENTO OCCHI: Are you here for the whore?
FEMALE PRISONER: Aiutatemi!
EZIO: I have your money. Let her go!
CENTO OCCHI: No! Take it up with Cesare!
ANITA SARKEESIAN: The use of sexual or domestic violence as a form of scaffolding to prop up dark and edgy environments has become a pervasive pattern in modern gaming.
JASMINE JOLENE: Well, if it isn’t long-lost Andrew Ryan? Mmm-mm-mm, come here, tiger. I thought you had forgotten about poor Jasmine, but I am so glad you didn’t. I’m sorry Mr. Ryan, I didn’t know. I didn’t know Fontaine had something to do with it. Ah, what? What are you doing? No! No, don’t! Please! I loved you. Don’t! Don’t! Please, no! No!
AMY GOODMAN: That was a clip from Anita Sarkeesian’s web series, "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games." Since Anita launched her critique of misogyny in video games, some in the video game community have launched a relentless campaign of threats and harassment against her.
To find out more, we go to San Francisco, where we’re joined by Anita Sarkeesian, the media critic and executive director of Feminist Frequency, a video web series that explores representations of women in pop culture. Rolling Stone recently called her "pop culture’s most valuable critic."
Anita, welcome to Democracy Now! Let’s start by what happened, or didn’t happen, last week at Utah State. Explain the threats and what you were going to Utah State for.
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Sure. So, the school received some threats against my life and of the students on Monday night. The threats were, as you had described, very much reminiscent of these copycat killers of these, you know, big misogynist school massacres. I didn’t actually find out about the threats until I landed at Salt Lake City airport on Tuesday afternoon, and I found out with everyone else through Twitter and through the media.
So, when I spoke to the organizers of the event and the police, I wanted to know what security precautions they were taking. It wasn’t the first time I was threatened at an event, but this one was—the language was very—it was much more intense in terms of that sort of misogynist, antifeminist attack. So, you know, the school said that they were going to take—not allow backpacks in and have extra security. And when asked about Utah’s concealed gun laws, they said that they couldn’t screen for firearms. I asked them if they could have metal detectors or patdowns, and they said no. And that was just too big of a risk for me to take in terms of my life and that of the students, when the threat was specifically about firearms.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, the person signed their email threat "Marc Lepine."
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go back to a Canadian news report about what became known as "the Montreal Massacre." This is an excerpt from the TV show 100 Huntley Street.
MAGDALENE JOHN: December 6, 1989, started off like any other day, but ended in horror, forever being labeled in Canadian history as the Montreal Massacre. A young man, identified later as Marc Lépine, entered L’École Polytechnique in Montreal, opening fire, killing 14 female engineering students before turning the .22-caliber gun on himself. This was the first school shooting of its kind in Canada.
AMY GOODMAN: That report from 100 Huntley Street, Magdalene John in Canada. So, Anita Sarkeesian, for those who didn’t know what that name meant in the email that was sent to the Utah State officials, if you could take it from there?
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Yeah, it was very much, you know, specifically referencing Marc Lépine as his hero, using his name, referencing this Montreal massacre about this mass shooting that was very specifically antifeminist. He was going to kill—and actually did kill—these women, because he considered them feminists and that, you know, feminists ruined his life, apparently. The threat that we received at the school last week was exactly the same as that. There was another threat that came in that mentioned Elliot Rodger, which was a young man who committed another school shooting at UC Santa Barbara earlier this year, and his manifesto was very much the same language of antiwomen, antifeminist, very deeply misogynist.
AMY GOODMAN: Again, in that, what you’re referring to, Elliot Rodger, killing seven people, including himself. In a video posted hours before his rampage at a sorority house at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Rodger said he planned to attack, quote, "you girls" for what he called the "crime" of not being attracted to him.
ELLIOT RODGER: On the day of retribution, I am going to enter the hottest sorority house of UCSB, and I will slaughter every single spoiled, stuck-up blonde slut I see inside there.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Elliot Rodger, the video he posted right before he killed seven people at the University of California, Santa Barbara. So, this decision that you made, your response, Anita Sarkeesian, to the university saying you get threats like this all the time, that they had no reason to up the security?
ANITA SARKEESIAN: That was immensely frustrating. You know, the school did take some security measures, but they didn’t—I didn’t think what they did was adequate for this type of threat. You know, to say that I’ve received threats in the past is inconsequential. I mean, I think we need to take all of these threats seriously. There’s a sort of sentiment that online harassment is not real, that we shouldn’t take it seriously. But, you know, as you just showed, Elliot Rodger had his manifesto online and his videos online before he actually took action. So, this is a larger culture of women, you know, one, not being believed about their experiences with online harassment, and when it is seen that they actually are being attacked in really vicious ways, it’s just brushed off as, "Oh, it’s just the Internet," or, you know, it’s just boys being boys, when that’s really not what’s happening here. These threats are very real, whether they are committed or not.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to break and then go to your larger critique in the gaming industry. Anita Sarkeesian, media critic, executive director of Feminist Frequency, a video web series that explores representations of women in pop culture. The students at Utah State didn’t get to hear what she had to say after she canceled her speech because of an email threat to the school, that the shooter, named for the Montreal massacre shooter, would make this the worst massacre in American history. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. Anita Sarkeesian is our guest, and I want to start, asking about your whole critique about video games, by talking about Gamergate controversy, how it emerged. This is a video game developer, Brianna Wu, speaking to CNN over the weekend about so-called Gamergaters threatening her.
BRIANNA WU: I posted a meme making fun of—one of my fans sent me a meme, and it made very gentle fun of Gamergaters, and I posted it. And, you know, as a response to that, pro-Gamergater people and the site 8chan ended up making thousands of memes targeting me, and it escalated to death threats.
AMY GOODMAN: That was video game developer Brianna Wu. Anita Sarkeesian is with us today, media critic and executive director of Feminist Frequency, a video web series that explores representations of women in pop culture, who withdrew from her speaking engagement at Utah State after the school got an email threatening to commit the worst massacre in American history. Anita, can you talk about what Brianna said and talk about these video games, your overall criticism?
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Sure. So, one of the things that she’s referencing is, you know, we have this larger culture in gaming where a subset of mostly male gamers have been viciously going after women and attacking them. It’s mostly women who speak up—excuse me, who speak up against, you know—actually, speak up for the inclusivity of games, right, speak up in terms of creating more diversity in games. And right now, this reference of Gamergate is sort of this big culmination of these toxic harassment—this toxic harassment campaign that’s been happening to me for years and to many other women. And so, they’re sort of lashing out and going after women in these horrible, vicious ways, sort of as trying to preserve gaming as, you know, a male-dominated space, as the status quo. But they’re doing it under the guise of journalism ethics. But really what’s happening is they are attacking women.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain what happened to Zoe Quinn.
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Sure.
AMY GOODMAN: And who she is.
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Zoe is an independent game developer, and an ex of hers wrote a big diatribe saying awful things about her which were not true. And, you know, he claimed that she had slept with a journalist to get coverage for her game, which was also not true. And, I mean, her game is a free game; there’s no need for her to try to get any press for it. But it was another example of going after women and trying to discredit us and silence us, and in some very personal ways.
AMY GOODMAN: And why did that become so extreme, and that became what is known as Gamergate?
ANITA SARKEESIAN: I think it became—I think it culminated at this time because they sort of latched onto this idea of journalism ethics, and that became something that sounded good, but it was a way for them to mask their sexist temper tantrum, where they’ve been going after women for years. And so, I think, because of the intensity and how many people they’re going after and just the sheer toxicity of their behavior, a lot of people in the games industry and in the community and in the industry have started to really take note of the fact that we have a problem. We have a problem with sexism and misogyny, and we need to do something about it.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to play two short clips from a video game you’ve critiqued, "Dragon Age: Origins."
FEMALE CHARACTER: Let go of me! Stop, please!
LORD VAUGHN: It’s a party, isn’t it? Grab a whore and have a good time. Savor the hunt, boys.
GUARD CAPTAIN: Well, that’s one less elf breeder in the world.
GUARD 1: A shame, though. Nice body on that one.
GUARD 2: She’s still warm. How picky are you anyway?
AMY GOODMAN: That’s from "Dragon Age: Origins." Can you respond to this, Anita Sarkeesian?
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Sure. So, one of the big—one of the most important pieces of what I do is talking about how we can love a piece of media and also critique it at the same time. So, a series like "Dragon Age" is a highly beloved series that has a lot of great things about it. But there are some examples of, you know, violence against women and sort of exploiting women’s bodies or exploiting their vulnerability in these really awful ways. And so, that’s just one of many examples of games that do that, that sort of take advantage of this vulnerability to try to make players feel more intense, right, to make these worlds more gritty. So—
AMY GOODMAN: So, can you—yes, go ahead.
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Well, no. I just wanted to say, like, so it’s not just one game. You know, in my series, I look at hundreds and hundreds of games, and so I don’t want to just sort of pick out "Dragon Age" as, you know, this big horrible example, when there are so many other examples.
AMY GOODMAN: So give us a sense of this world of video games. How many people use them? Who develops them? How many are women? How many are men?
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Sure. You know, gaming is a multibillion-dollar industry that is bigger than Hollywood at this point in terms of revenue, so it has a huge cultural impact on our society. The last statistic that I saw, I believe, is about 27 percent of developers are women. So we still have a huge problem with gender equity within the development community. But about 40 to 46 percent of gamers are actually women. So this idea that gamers are all men is actually not true, that we are almost—women are almost half of the gaming players.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about the comments that, "Come on, this is just online stuff, it’s pretty harmless"—why you take it so seriously, Anita?
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Online harassment, especially gendered online harassment, is an epidemic. Women are being driven out; they’re being driven offline. This isn’t just in gaming. This is happening across the board online, especially with women who participate in or work in male-dominated industries. So the harassment actually has a very real effect on us as a society, in terms of making this space unwelcoming for women. But it also has a chilling effect. So, women who are watching this happen, who are watching me get terrorized for two years, are going to question whether they actually want to be involved, whether they want to speak up, and whether they want to participate.
AMY GOODMAN: And talk more about what you feel needs to be done at this point.
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Yeah, so, in terms of the immediacy of the harassment against women in gaming, I think developers and publishers and key figures in the gaming industry need to vocally step up and say, "We do not accept this harassing behavior. We support women," and further outline steps that they’re going to take to try to make the gaming community more inclusive and more diverse, both within their hiring practices and also within the games that they’re making.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Anita Sarkeesian, I want to thank you for being with us, media critic, executive director of Feminist Frequency, video web series that explores representations of women in pop culture. Final question, the response that you’ve gotten after canceling your speaking engagement at Utah State University?
ANITA SARKEESIAN: I’ve received an enormous amount of support. And that’s one thing I’m really thankful for, is throughout doing this project, there’s been so many people who have been incredibly supportive, that really value and like what I do. And that just means the world to me.
AMY GOODMAN: Anita Sarkeesian, thanks so much.
ANITA SARKEESIAN: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we’ll talk with people who are representing their own lives, filmmakers from the United States and from Russia who have banded together to raise awareness about disability issues through films. Stay with us.
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Meet the Media Enabled Musketeers, a group of Russians and Americans with disabilities who have banded together to raise awareness about disability issues through film. They have created a dozen short movies that delve into the everyday challenges faced by people with disabilities — issues of accessibility, love, dreams and prejudice. One of the films, "Don’t Look Down on Me," has become a YouTube sensation, viewed more than 2.6 million times. The film chronicles a day in the life of Jonathan Novick, a New York resident with achondroplasia, the most common type of dwarfism, who uses a hidden camera to expose the prejudice and insensitivity he encounters on a daily basis. We broadcast excerpts of the Musketeers’ films and speak to four of the people involved about how the Russian-American project provides a deeper understanding of life with disability while bridging the divide between their two countries.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to Media Enabled Musketeers. That’s the name of a group of Russians and Americans who have banded together to raise awareness about disability issues through films. They’ve created a dozen short films that delve into the everyday issues faced by people with disabilities—issues of accessibility, love, dreams and prejudice. On Friday, the group held its premiere screening at the HBO Theater in New York City.
One of the films, Don’t Look Down on Me, has become a YouTube sensation, viewed over 2.6 million times. The film chronicles a day in the life of Jonathan Novick, a New Yorker with achondroplasia, the most common type of dwarfism. Jonathan uses a hidden camera to expose the prejudice and insensitivity that he encounters on a daily basis. It begins with him as a child.
JONATHAN NOVICK: Here I am, Dad! Here I am!
JONATHAN’S FATHER: Yeah, there you are!
JONATHAN NOVICK: I don’t think there is a certain point in anyone’s life where they grow up. I think that we’re growing up all the time, and we always will be. My name is Jon Novick. I’m 22 years old, and I am a dwarf with achondroplasia.
Before I was even born, my mother studied genetics in graduate school. Specifically, she had interest in achondroplastic dwarfism, that she did a study on. Achondroplastic dwarfism is the kind of dwarfism that I have. So when I was born, she had a lot of extra information, and she had a lot of books to help her parent me. The definition for "dwarfism" is a—the abnormal underdevelopment of the body, characterized predominantly by extreme shortness of stature. Now, there’s a lot of different kinds of dwarfism, as I mentioned before, and the most common kind is the kind that I have, which is achondroplasia.
Achondroplasia is characterized by disproportionately short limbs, a normal-size torso, large head and with a depressed nasal bridge—right here—a small face and stubby hands, as well as the curvature of the spine. The term is "dwarf" or "little person." One or the other is totally fine, just not "midget." A lot of times "midget" is thrown around as the term to describe someone who has dwarfism, and not only is that incorrect, but it’s incredibly offensive.
I moved to New York City about a year ago, and although I consider it ultimately a good experience, it was made a lot more difficult because of my dwarfism. I grew up in a small town, and I would have, you know, negative encounters every now and then, but for the most part I had friends and I had family who supported me. School wasn’t a nightmare, and I just was able to have a pretty average childhood.
A year ago, when I moved to the city, I noticed that there was a lot of people. There was a lot, a lot of people. And because of that, I had a lot of encounters. I would have people to take pictures of me on the subway. I would have people that would harass me. And just all of these things, all of these almost daily occurrences, they would continue happening, continue happening, until it got to a point where I just got fed up with it. I wanted to stop telling people what happened to me, and I wanted to start showing people what happened to me. I wanted to show everyone what a day in my life was like.
I was fortunate enough to be able to use this camera, which is actually known as a "button camera" because the lens I’m going to be using is so tiny, it has a button cover up that I’m going to be slipping through a shirt that will be completely unnoticeable. So, we are all packed up, the camera is all ready and going. I’m going to turn it on right now. It’s rolling. And we’re going to go see what we can capture, so let’s head out.
GIRL ON THE STREET: What is he?
OKLAHOMAN MAN: Bro, have you been on TV?
JONATHAN NOVICK: I have not.
OKLAHOMAN MAN: Do you know who you look like?
JONATHAN NOVICK: Who?
OKLAHOMAN MAN: Have you ever seen that show, Little People, Big World?
JONATHAN NOVICK: Yeah.
OKLAHOMAN MAN: Yeah. You look like the son, man.
JONATHAN NOVICK: I do?
OKLAHOMAN MAN: Yeah.
JONATHAN NOVICK: And why is that? I just do? Do you see a lot of little people?
OKLAHOMAN MAN: Man, I’m from Oklahoma.
JONATHAN NOVICK: Oh, yeah?
MAN IN SUBWAY: Little midget! Big man, big penis!
JONATHAN NOVICK: What? What did he say?
MAN ON THE STREET: Hey, short stuff!
JONATHAN NOVICK: [after woman in subway takes his photograph] Wow.
OKLAHOMAN MAN: Man, I hope I didn’t offend you.
JONATHAN NOVICK: Oh, no, no. It’s OK. No, I appreciate that. No, it’s fine.
OKLAHOMAN MAN: Can I get your picture?
JONATHAN NOVICK: Uh, no.
WOMAN ON THE STREET: You’re from one of the show with the little people?
JONATHAN NOVICK: Not that I know of, no, I’m not.
WOMAN ON THE STREET: Oh, you look like that coolest guy.
JONATHAN NOVICK: I don’t want to tell anyone what to do or what to think or how to feel. But instead, what I’ll do is I’ll ask. I’ll ask that the next time you see someone who is different than you, think about what their day might be like. Think about all of the events of their life leading up to that point. Then think about their day, and think about what part of their day do you want to be.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Jonathan Novick’s Don’t Look Down on Me. It’s one of the dozen films, part of the Media Enabled Musketeers, a project bringing together Russians and Americans with disabilities to produce films that provide a deeper understanding of their lives and to bridge the divide between their two countries.
Well, for more, we’re joined by four guests. One of them is Jon Novick, a graduate student at Hunter College in the Integrated Media Arts Department. We’re also joined by Maryam Magomedova, a law school student in Russia who made the short film Maryam’s Victory. And we’re joined by the co-directors of Media Enabled Musketeers, Olga Kravtsova and Jon Alpert. Jon is a 16-time national Emmy Award winner, two-time Academy Award nominee.
And we welcome you all to Democracy Now! But I have to follow up on this film. It is so both moving and such—gives us such understanding, Jon, about what you’re going through on a daily basis, how people see you and how you want to be seen, how you want to be treated. Talk a little more about that and why you made the film itself, why you’re part of this project.
JONATHAN NOVICK: Well, I made the film itself personally out of frustration, you know, as you might imagine. It was—basically, I had moved to New York City, and I had been living here for, you know, about a year, a year’s time. And it was just the encounters that I would experience—it’s not something new to me, but what was new was the frequency that it would occur. It would happen almost on a daily basis. And, you know, it would just be—it would become—it would get to a point where I would leave my apartment knowing that I was different, because no one would really let me forget it.
And it all culminated in one moment, when I was coming out of work and a gentleman physically jumped over me while a bunch of people looked on, which was probably one of the worst experiences of my life. But in that moment, I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t yell at them, because that would make them laugh more. I couldn’t, you know, run after them and, like, fight them, because, you know, that’s not going to happen.
So it’s just realizing that I wanted to create something, because it’s like, OK, what’s the best thing I can do? The best thing I can do is, you know, do what I do, which is film. You know, I am a grad student. I’ve been studying film, and it’s something I’m passionate about. So I decided to create this work, and not only express myself, but be able to show other people exactly what I go through. And joining the Media Enabled Muskateers, joining this program, was the absolute perfect outlet to do so, you know?
AMY GOODMAN: Now let’s turn to Maryam’s story. This is a film called Maryam’s Victory by our guest, who’s here in studio, just come in from Russia, Maryam Magomedova.
MARYAM MAGOMEDOVA: [translated] I was born with cerebral palsy. I am about to get my college diploma with honors. We came here because I couldn’t recite my poem at the competition. Let’s imagine I’m on a stage and reciting a poem by Ashik Veysel. I am on a long twisted road. I walk day and night. I started my journey the day I came into this world. I am walking from birth to death. I walk day and night. I walk even in my sleep, looking for reasons to wake up. I see everything, but I keep on walking. But I keep walking day and night. For years I’ve been wandering, in valleys, mountains and deserts, in foreign lands. I walk day and night. The road looks long, but the journey is only an instant. I walk day and night. I am surprised. Sometimes I laugh. Sometimes I cry. Only one step left. I walk day and night. Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: There you have Maryam’s Victory, Maryam with us today—
MARYAM MAGOMEDOVA: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: —who has come all the way over from—from Moscow?
MARYAM MAGOMEDOVA: Yes. Yes, I am.
AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk about why you made this film?
MARYAM MAGOMEDOVA: Well, first of all, I wanted to show that no matter if a person has a disability or not, he should be judged by his spark of talent, which exists in every person. And not only it’s a talent, not only a person can be talented, he can be the best. So, this was first message. And I also wanted to show that education is one of the tools, you know, how to lighten that spark of the talent in a person. So, it’s not only about my talent, but about my everyday struggle for education.
AMY GOODMAN: Which has been?
MARYAM MAGOMEDOVA: Which has been like for seven years of my life. I’m a student. I’ve got a degree in linguistics. So, that’s why I recited in Turkish, which you can see in my film. And now I’m studying law. I’m a law student. I’m a student in a law school. So, I want to advocate for people with disabilities in the future. I plan to go to Harvard Law School, so that people with disabilities will have more rights. And this project is a very good beginning for me, so I can expose the problems that we face every day.
AMY GOODMAN: Maryam Magomedova, one of the Russian students who has joined with American students, like Jonathan Novick, to portray their lives, to speak for themselves. And the people who are coordinating this project are our old colleague, Jon Alpert—not so old—from DCTV, Downtown Community Television, the multiple Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, and Olga Kravtsova, who has come over from Moscow. Jon, talk about how you conceived of this.
JON ALPERT: Well, we’re talking a lot about Ebola, Ebola, Ebola. There’s two people in the United States that have Ebola, none in Russia. There’s 80 million people in both countries that have disabilities. And so, the media could really do a much better job of portraying the needs and the talents of people with disabilities. And so, we thought this would be a good place to start. And also, our countries could do a better job of being friends with each other. Every country could do a better job looking for peace. And this is a good program that helps that. So it helps give people with disabilities a voice, and it also helps to promote peace.
AMY GOODMAN: Olga Kravtsova, how did you get involved?
OLGA KRAVTSOVA: I think we came to the idea, like, together, maybe, and we also had Karina Chupina, who is a U.N. expert on disabilities, and she has a disability herself. And she trains reporters—she also has a background in journalism—how to be sensitive about those issues, how to cover disabilities, you know, with good education and attitude. So we just thought it would be a great project, bringing professional and nonprofessional reporters together, bringing people with disabilities, with no disabilities together, and bringing Russians and Americans together.
AMY GOODMAN: Let’s turn to a clip from Natalia Ryzhova’s film, I Want, Therefore I Can. She explains her dream to be a Paralympic archery champion.
NATALIA RYZHOVA: [translated] When I was 13, I was electrocuted by 27,500 volts. I had both legs amputated. It was very difficult at first. Then I realized it didn’t change everything. I had to continue with my life. Life isn’t less interesting because of a disability. I plan to join the Paralympic Games. It’s my dream. I’m training for the next two years. I hope to win.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Natalia Ryzhova’s film, I Want, Therefore I Can. I want to turn right now to another clip that is part of this series. This is a clip of a video made by Donna Cappella called Midlife Disability: No Crystal Ball.
DONNA CAPPELLA: Hi. My name is Donna Cappella. And I want to do my own narration, but I hope I don’t mess it up like I messed up that joke. I want to tell you about my brain surgery, but I really don’t want to go backwards. You see, when I speak, people don’t listen to my words. They think, "What happened to her?" So, the scoop is, in 2005, I had a catastrophic stroke. My condition is called an AVM, arteriovenous malformation.
AMY GOODMAN: And I want to turn to a clip of a video made by Benjamin Rosloff called Can I Call You?
BENJAMIN ROSLOFF: My name is Benjamin, and I’m 22, and I’m autistic. I want to be a filmmaker and have a lot of my own ideas. I see films in my mind and know exactly what I want. I know who I would cast. I hear the music, and I see the scenes. Some things are hard for me, like writing, explaining things to others and making changes. I do know that I want to get married someday and have a family and a normal life.
Have you ever dated someone with autism?
WOMAN: No, I have not.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Benjamin Rosloff. Can I Call You? is the name of his film. In fact, Jon, you were his roommate, Jon Alpert, in Russia, when the group went to Russia. Now the group has come from Russia to the United States.
JON ALPERT: It was one of the most profound learning experiences of my life. I didn’t know that much about autism. Ben’s really intelligent. And I grew to appreciate his intelligence, his kindness and his value that he can bring to society.
AMY GOODMAN: Jon Novick, what has this project meant for you? You went to Russia?
JONATHAN NOVICK: I did, yes.
AMY GOODMAN: So, what was that like for you?
JONATHAN NOVICK: It was amazing. I mean, being a part of—being a part of the project, in general, has been fantastic, because you encounter so many different people from different walks of life.
AMY GOODMAN: Why is it called Media Enabled Musketeers?
JONATHAN NOVICK: Media Enabled Muskateers, we have a slogan: "All for one, one for all." We’re all together. We are all one person. We support each other through what we do, not only in life, but as filmmakers, as, you know, hopeful future, I don’t know, journalists or documentarians of the world. We’re in it together. And whether we’re all going to Russia or we’re all going to come to America, we’re in it together.
AMY GOODMAN: And what was your sense of people who are disabled, their treatment in Russia, as you come here from the United States?
JONATHAN NOVICK: Well, it seemed—one of the biggest things or one of the most discussed topics while we were in Russia was education. And it was looking at the separation of people who are physically or cognitively disabled into separate schools, these like separate private schools as opposed to staying in public education. There was a lot of conversation that happened around that. We visited one of these schools. We visited the office for accessibility issues and discussed that several times, so that was a [inaudible]—
AMY GOODMAN: And, Maryam, for you coming here, you’ve been on a major journey. You’ve been to the Empire State Building, to the beach. Were you seeing the ocean for the first time?
MARYAM MAGOMEDOVA: Yes. Yes, I think so. And I touched my feet there.
AMY GOODMAN: And walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.
MARYAM MAGOMEDOVA: Yes, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge was actually my dream for four years. And I finally fulfilled it yesterday with Musketeer teams.
AMY GOODMAN: And what will you do when you go back to Russia?
MARYAM MAGOMEDOVA: Well, I will tell about this project. And I think that right now we can’t even fully comprehend the positive impact it will have. And I hope that I will bring the knowledge, the things that I learned here, and I will share them with my friends, with people that I know. And I hope that this will change things for better in my country.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you all for being with us. Jon, the website people can go to to see more of these videos? You had a big party at HBO on Friday where you showed like a dozen of them.
JON ALPERT: DCTVNY.org, our website, but if any fans of Democracy Now!, which I’m the biggest one, would like these as the—
AMY GOODMAN: You’re not that big, Jon
JON ALPERT: I am that big. Look at this. And all they need to do is contact Democracy Now!, and they can get the entire set of all these films. And make sure you send in your contribution to Democracy Now! when you do that.
AMY GOODMAN: All right, and to your local station, public television or radio. It’s been wonderful to be with you all. I want to thank Jonathan Novick, Maryam Magomedova. I also want to thank the coordinators of this project, our colleague right here, Jon Alpert, and Olga Kravtsova from Russia.
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UNICEF: Several Thousand Children Orphaned by Ebola in West Africa
The United Nations Children’s Fund says the Ebola outbreak is creating vast numbers of orphans in West Africa. At least 3,700 children are said to have lost at least one or both parents. At the United Nations, Sarah Crowe of UNICEF expressed shock at the inadequate global response so far.
Sarah Crowe: "There were 45 doctors in Liberia, and that’s for a population of 4.5 million. So you can get a sense of the scale of what’s needed. Health officials are needed, medical professionals are needed, and of course finances. I’m quite stunned, honestly, to come back and see that we’re still with this, really, sense of a global concern, it’s still so poorly funded, the Ebola efforts. And the only real way to stop Ebola spreading is to support the efforts on the ground."
U.N. Provides Food to Ebola-Stricken Town; Liberian President Warns a Generation "Risks Being Lost"
The United Nations has been providing emergency food aid to some 260,000 people in an Ebola-stricken community near the Liberian capital of Freetown. In an "open letter to the world," Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said that because of the Ebola crisis, "across West Africa, a generation of young people risks being lost to an economic catastrophe as harvests are missed, markets are shut and borders are closed." Nigeria, meanwhile, has been declared Ebola-free, after 42 days with no new cases.
Duncan Contacts Declared Ebola-Free in Texas After 21-Day Monitoring Ends
In the United States, most of those who had contact with the late Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan have been cleared of the disease. The 21-day monitoring period ended Sunday for the around 50 people who had direct or indirect contact with Duncan. Duncan was diagnosed in Texas after arriving from his native Liberia. In his weekly address, President Obama said he continues to oppose a travel ban on passengers from West Africa.
President Obama: "We can’t just cut ourselves off from West Africa, where this disease is raging. Our medical experts tell us that the best way to stop this disease is to stop it at its source, before it spreads even wider and becomes even more difficult to contain. Trying to seal off an entire region of the world, if that were even possible, could actually make the situation worse. It would make it harder to move healthcare workers and supplies back and forth. Experience shows that it could also cause people in the affected region to change their travel, to evade screening, and make the disease even harder to track."
Obama Appoints New Ebola Czar in Absence of Confirmed Surgeon General
The Obama administration has tapped former White House official Ron Klain as its new "Ebola czar," coordinating the U.S. response. Klain has previously served as chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest unveiled the appointment.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest: "His area of expertise is in implementation. And that is exactly what is needed, is somebody who can coordinate this broad, interagency response. We want to make sure that this tenacious response is up to the standards of the American people and up to the high standards that the president has set. And we are confident that somebody with Mr. Klain’s management credentials, both inside government and outside government."
Klain is in the position in part because the United States has no surgeon general. President Obama’s nominee, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has been held up for months after opposition from the National Rifle Association over his support for gun control.
Kobani Faces Heavy Violence as U.S. Arms Syrian Kurds, Turkey Allows Passage
The Syrian town of Kobani is seeing its worst violence in days amidst the continued advance of fighters with the Islamic State. ISIS has launched fierce attacks on Kurdish fighters defending the town with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes. In two major developments, the United States has begun dropping air supplies of weapons and aid to the Syrian Kurds, while Turkey is now allowing Iraqi Kurdish forces to cross over into Syria to join the fight. Turkey’s move reportedly came under heavy U.S. pressure. The Turkish government has been opposed to aiding the Syrian Kurdish PYD, which it considers an extension of longtime foe, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK.
21 Killed in Baghdad Suicide Attack; Iraqi Forces Seek to Retake Baiji
At least 21 people have been killed and 35 wounded in a suicide bombing in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. It was the latest in a string of attacks blamed on Islamic State. It comes as the Iraqi government has launched an offensive to retake the city of Baiji.
Ongoing Militia Fighting Kills 75 in Benghazi
A new round of violence has broken out in the ongoing conflict for control of the Libyan city of Benghazi. At least 75 people have been killed in five days of clashes between pro-government militias and rival forces. Libya has been roiled by militia fighting following the U.S.-backed ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Tens of thousands have been displaced since the violence escalated in July.
Boko Haram Kills Dozens Despite Claims of Deal for Ceasefire and Schoolgirls’ Release
The Nigerian militant group Boko Horam has launched a series of attacks killing dozens of people, threatening a ceasefire announced Friday. Hopes were raised after a government spokesperson said the deal would include the release of the 200 schoolgirls kidnapped for over six months.
Mike Omeri: "The terrorists indicated their desire and willingness for peace and to discuss and resolve all associated issues. They also assured that the schoolgirls and all other people in their captivity are alive and well. Already, the terrorists have announced a ceasefire in furtherance of their desire for peace. In this regard, the government of Nigeria has, in a similar vein, declared a ceasefire."
The Boko Haram never confirmed the truce, and some parents of the schoolgirls say they believe their hopes were raised in vain.
Report: Not Enough Evidence to Indict Officer in Federal Civil Rights Probe of Michael Brown Killing
Details have emerged of testimony given by Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who fatally shot the unarmed teenager Michael Brown. According to The New York Times, Wilson has told authorities he feared for his life in the confrontation that followed him stopping Brown and a friend for jaywalking. Wilson claims Brown reached for his gun during a physical altercation as Wilson was still inside his vehicle. Ballistic tests confirm two shots were fired inside the car, one of them hitting Brown’s arm. It’s unclear why Wilson then fired the fatal shots at Brown after he emerged from his vehicle. Witness accounts say Brown had his hands up and was trying to surrender when he was shot dead. According to federal officials, there is not enough evidence to indict Wilson on civil rights charges in the Justice Department’s probe of the shooting.
Florida Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Killing of Black Teen Jordan Davis over Loud Music
The Florida man convicted of killing 17-year-old African American Jordan Davis in an argument over loud music has been sentenced to life in prison without parole. Michael Dunn, who is white, shot at a vehicle carrying Davis and his friends 10 times after confronting them about the volume of their stereo. He then fled the scene, went to a hotel with his fiancée and ordered pizza. He never called the police. Dunn has said he saw a weapon, but none was ever found. At the sentencing hearing on Friday, Judge Russell Healey said Dunn had "senselessly and deliberately" taken a life.
Supreme Court Allows Texas to Enforce Voter ID Law That Could Disenfranchise "Hundreds of Thousands"
The Supreme Court is allowing Texas to enforce a controversial voter ID law that was briefly struck down earlier this month. A federal judge initially overturned the law, calling it an "unconstitutional poll tax" that discriminates against voters of color. But a three-judge panel said Texas can enforce the ID law in the November election, because dropping it would cause confusion. On Saturday, the Supreme Court agreed, but did not rule on whether the law should permanently stand. In a dissent joined by two others, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the decision "risks denying the right to vote to hundreds of thousands of eligible voters."
Report: Obama Administration Considers Sidestepping U.N. Torture Ban Overseas
The Obama administration is reportedly considering a move that would continue the Bush-era policy of ignoring the United Nations torture treaty overseas. In 2005, the Bush administration disclosed it had secretly interpreted a U.N. ban on "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" as not applying to any CIA or military prison outside of the United States. President Obama, then a senator, opposed Bush’s policy and proposed legislation to undermine it. The United States now faces a hearing before the Committee Against Torture at the United Nations next month. And according to The New York Times, "President Obama’s legal team is debating whether to back away from his earlier view" and "[reaffirm] the Bush administration’s position that the treaty imposes no legal obligation to bar cruelty outside U.S. borders."
U.N. Rapporteurs Visit Detroit to Probe Water Shutoffs
Two United Nations officials are in Detroit for a fact-finding mission over the city’s shutting off of water to thousands of residents. The city began cutting off water taps to thousands of households earlier this year, prompting protests and an appeal to the United Nations for help. Detroit activist Maureen Taylor said the visit by U.N. special rapporteurs could help bring the issue before an international court.
Maureen Taylor: "The fact that they were able to come here is not only a miraculous thing but something that we’re quite surprised at. The goal is to have them to look further at the practice of shutting water off to help us determine whether or not these are in fact violations of international law and then to move this fight forward into perhaps an international court."
The two U.N. rapporteurs are expected to meet with city officials today. Detroit’s poverty rate is 40 percent, with a population that is 80 percent African-American. Two-thirds of those impacted by the water shutoffs involve families with children.
Colombian Farmers Sue BP for Environmental Damage
A group of Colombian farmers are suing the oil giant BP over environmental damage from their country’s largest pipeline. The farmers are seeking $29 million in compensation for what they say is BP’s negligent handling of the project, which brings around 600,000 barrels of oil per day to the Caribbean coast. The British High Court is hearing the case. It is said to be one of the largest lawsuit over environmental damages in recent years.
Influential Kenyan Scholar Ali Mazrui Dead at 81
The renowned Kenyan scholar Ali Mazrui has died at the age of 81. For nearly half a century, he was considered an intellectual giant in African studies. In 2005, Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines named him among the top 100 public intellectuals in the world. He was the author or co-author of more than 20 books on African politics, international political culture and political Islam, including "Islam Between Globalization and Counterterrorism." In 2009, Ali Mazrui spoke to Democracy Now! about the election of President Barack Obama, the first black president in the Western world. He talked about his hopes for the nascent Obama presidency.
Ali Mazrui: "At the moment, I’m not optimistic that he’ll necessarily be just a peacemaking president with the conflicts that are on. So my dream was he will be the first president not to start a conflict, not that he would be the first president not to preside over a war, because he’s inheriting two wars, anyhow. And then, with one of them, the Afghanistan, he’s not planning to end it, really. He’s planning to escalate it for a while, so that is disappointing. So my prayer was slightly different, that I don’t want him to start a war with Iran. I hope he wouldn’t start a war with Syria. He would be mad if he started a war with North Korea, you see? So, in general, I hope he won’t start any war and break this idea that a commander-in-chief has to be engaged in an actual war to be a credible president of the United States."
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