11/17/23 11/17/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> a cease-fire now is urgently needed if we want to say whatever is left of our humanity. it is long overdue. amy: as the united nations calls again for a cease-fire in gaza, palestinian health officials are

warning thousands of women, children, and sick people could soon die as israel continues its bombardment of gaza. we will get the latest. we will also look at how the police in the united states are cracking down on protests calling for a cease-fire. coach two outs the democratic party headquarters -- we are outside the democratic party headquarters. we call for a cease-fire now. amy: and we will go to atlanta where police attacked peaceful protesters monday as hundreds rallied against the construction of a massive $90 million police training complex known as cop city. >> throwing tear gas into

the crowd. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now,! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. israel's unceasing bombardment of the gaza strip entered its seventh week with fresh attacks on the jabalia refugee camp that killed at least 18 people. on thursday, the main communications companies went out of service due to a lack of fuel for generators, plunging most of the besieged territory into another communications blackout. israeli troops occupied the al-shifa hospital for a third straight day were some 7000 trapped medical workers and patients face a worsening humanitarian crisis. an al-shifa doctor says 43 out of 63 intensive care patients who are on ventilators have died

after supplies of oxygen and fuel ran out. a large number they say a premature babies have also died due to israel's siege on the hospital. on thursday, israeli and egyptian authorities allowed a handful of wounded palestinians through the rough a border crossing for treatment in egypt. this is a palestinian boy whose leg was amputated after he survived an israeli missile strike on his family's home. >> people are torn into pieces. a head on one side, a leg on the other side. entire buildings on one block are demolished by bombings. the pilot of the play doesn't know their people in these buildings. they want hamas. what two people have to do with this -- what two people have to do with this? doesn't the pilot know their children. amy: it is reported that hospital has been forced or halt services leaving dozens who need surgery and treated interception

area. this comes after israel bombed the jordanian field hospital in gaza and attacked jordan's government condemned as a war crime. unwra says it may be forced to suspend all operations due to a lack of fuel. their chief said "i do believe there is a delivered attempt to strangle our operation." an israeli drone strike on the occupied west bank overnight killed three palestinians and injured 14 others. the bombing came as part of a major raid on jenin and surrounding communities by israeli soldiers who fired tear gas and used armored bulldozers to destroy streets and surrounded four medical sites, including the ibn sina hospital. dozens of palestinians were arrested. since october 7, israeli forces have killed more than 200 palestinians in the west bank. the head of u.s. forces in the middle east is in israel today for talks with senior israeli officials.

axios reports general michael erik kurilla, the commander of u.s. central command, is meeting israeli defense minister yoav gallant, top general herzi halevi to discuss israel's assault on gaza and fighting along israel's border with lebanon. on thursday, israel's military shelled villages in southern lebanon and launched drone strikes after hezbollah fighters fired anti-tank missiles across the border. it was some of the heaviest cross-border violence since fighting erupted in october. israeli air strikes hit several targets around damascus early on friday. this follows a series of israeli strikes across syria, including attacks that took damascus and aleppo airports out of service last month, killing two civilian workers. in california, hundreds of protesters shut down all westbound lanes of the san francisco-oakland bay bridge for several hours thursday morning

demanding president biden call for an immediate ceasefire and end to u.s. military aid to israel. police arrested 81 people. the protest came as president biden met with world leaders in san francisco at the asia-pacific economic cooperation summit, or aipac. in boston, massachusetts, jewish peace activists led a sit-in protest thursday that shut down traffic on the boston university bridge. in a social media post, the group ifnotnow boston apologized to anyone stuck in traffic but added -- "we have tried everything else. we have called, we have marched, we have sung, we have prayed. we have written letters, and visited offices. yet politicians like and -- like president biden and senator elizabeth warren continue to stonewall, and israel continues to slaughter innocent gazans by the thousands." we'll have more on protests against israel's assault on gaza after headlines when we speak with ifnotnow spokesperson eva

borgwardt. democratic congressmember becca balint of vermont called thursday for a lasting, bilateral cease-fire in gaza. balint is the first jewish-american member of congress to call for a ceasefire. in a commentary published thursday, she wrote -- "like me, there are thousands of american jews that share a deep emotional connection to israel because of what it meant for the survival of the jewish people in the face of extermination. this same history also drives so many of us to fight for the protection of palestinian lives." meanwhile, more than 300 delegates to the 2016 and 2020 democratic national convention who backed bernie sanders for president called on the vermont senator to introduce a resolution for a ceasefire in gaza. sanders has so far rejected a ceasefire and has called for short pauses to the fighting. meanwhile, "the los angeles

times" has become the first major u.s. newspaper to call for a ceasefire. on thursday, the editorial board wrote -- "it has become impossible to distinguish between israel's decidedly nonsurgical operation against hamas militants in gaza and the indiscriminate killing of palestinian civilians. when so-called humanitarian causes and the bombardment and ground operations are too brief to realistically permit innocence to flee or when there is no place for noncombatants to go that is not also in the line of fire, such pauses are so deficient as to be meaningless." in russia, and artist was found guilty of spreading so-called false information about the russian military and sentenced to seven years in prison for replacing supermarket price tags with anti-war messages. the labels featured messages

like "the russian army bombed a school in mariupol." 400 people were hiding inside, said. skochilenko was convicted under new war-time legislation that criminalizes any anti-war messaging or activism. in her closing statement after her year-and-a-half trial, she said -- "how little faith does our prosecutor have in our state and society if he thinks that our statehood and public security can be ruined by five small pieces of paper?" this is opposition politician boris vishnevsky. >> this verdict is unfair. there no guilt because she she is not guilty of anything. i will not even speak about humanity here or about equality before the law because sometimes people receive fewer years in jail for murder than for five price tags in a shop. it is not justice. it is an execution. amy: in other news from russia,

a former police officer sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2006 contract killing of russian journalist anna politkovskaya has been pardoned. politkovskaya was best known for reporting russian abuses in chechnya, often writing for the now-banned novaya gazeta. another journalist has been killed in mexico. ismael villagómez was fatally shot in ciudad juárez thursday while working his second job as a driver. he was a photographer for the newspaper el heraldo de juárez who had work in media for nearly 20 years. at least three people were arrested in connection to his death. his colleagues are demanding justice. >> ismael was a good and honest person whose life was taken away in this way. we don't when his case to remain unsolved as has happened with the death of other journalists.

if the cause was something other than his work on code journalism , we want this to be clarified by authorities. we want authorities to investigate this even further. the mexican editorial organization come his family, and the journalistic community demand clarification of the facts. amy: at least four other journalists have been killed this year in mexico, one of the most dangerous countries for media workers in the world outside a war zone. violence has skyrocketed in mexico following the enforcement of the u.s.-backed war on drugs. over 100 immigrants held at the northwest detention center in tacoma, washington, have started a hunger strike protesting indefinite detention and other inhumane and dangerous conditions. they're denouncing immigration and customs enforcement for failing to properly handle and resolve immigration cases. the group la resistencia says at least 25 of the hunger strikers have been placed in isolation. northwest is run by the for-profit prison corporation geo group.

in kentucky, a judge declared a mistrial in the federal civil rights trial of the ex-louisville police officer who fired his gun during the deadly 2020 raid on breonna taylor's home. the jury deadlocked over whether to convict brett hankison, who was charged with using excessive force and violating the rights of 26-year-old breonna taylor, her partner, and taylor's next door neighbors where some of the officer's stray bullets ended up. hankison faced a maximum sentence of life in prison. he was acquitted last year on three state counts of endangering taylor's neighbors. federal prosecutors will now have to decide whether to hold a retrial. a federal jury in california has found a rightwing conspiracy theorist guilty of attempted kidnapping and assault charges after he invaded the san francisco home of then-house speaker nancy pelosi last year and attacked her husband paul pelosi with a hammer. ahead of the attack, 43-year-old david depape shared qanon conspiracy theories and false claims about the 2020 election and the january 6 capitol

insurrection. he faces up to 50 years in prison at a future sentencing hearing. embattled new york congressmember and serial liar george santos said thursday he won't seek reelection after the house ethics committee found substantial evidence the freshman republican committed numerous felony crimes. in their report, house ethics investigators found santos "sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his house candidacy for his own personal financial profit. he blatantly stole from his campaign. he deceived donors into providing what they thought were contributions to his campaign but were in fact payments for his personal benefit." united auto workers have approved new contracts with the big three automakers. among other things, union members will see their pay increase by 25% over the course of the deal. two-thirds of ford workers voted in favor of the deal, while only about 55% of workers at general motors agreed to ratify their contract. stellantis appears set to

approve the deal at similar margins to ford. some more senior employees at -- have objected to the deal, saying pay increases should be higher. others have expressed disappointment pension benefits weren't expanded to employees hired after 2007. in related news, stellantis has offered buyouts to half of its non-unionized u.s. staff as part of a cost cutting move. and thousands of starbucks workers held a one-day strike thursday on "red cup day," one of starbucks' busiest days of the year. workers say frequent promotional events and giveaways like yesterday's create extra stress and unmanageable workloads. organizers say thursday's walkout was the largest in the coffee chain's history. an historic union drive has swept over starbucks stores nationwide in the past two years. over 360 locations are now unionized. this is edwin palma solis, a starbucks worker in new york. >> want to make sure we have a better pay, staffing scheduling, and we have the right amount of

-- sometimes it makes it harder for us to work. sometimes we feel like we work for two people instead of one. we are tired of overworking ourselves. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president biden is facing increasing pressure to call for a cease-fire in gaza, but instead the white house is rushing more arms to israel. bloomberg is reporting the u.s. has quietly sent israel more laser-guided missiles for apache gunships, as well as new army vehicles, bunker-buster munitions, and more ammunition. on wednesday, the united states abstained from a united nations security council vote in support of extended humanitarian pauses in gaza. meanwhile, protests are continuing across the united states calling for a ceasefire. in california, police arrested at least 81 protesters after they blocked traffic on the san

francisco-oakland bay bridge for several hours. in boston, protesters shut down the boston university bridge. many of the protests calling for a ceasefires have been organized in part by two jewish organizations, ifnotnow and jewish voice for peace. on wednesday, the groups helped organize a protest at the democratic national committee's headquarters in washington, d.c., where house minority leader hakeem jeffries and other lawmakers were gathered. u.s. capitol police violently moved in on the protesters as they held hands to block the entrance to the dnc. police described the protest as "not peaceful" and claimed that protesters pepper sprayed officers. put images from the protest shows it was officers who deployed pepper spray and that officers used force to remove the demonstrators. this is eva borgwardt, national spokesperson for ifnotnow speaking during the police action. >> we are outside the democratic

party headquarters. he's and equality. -- peace and equality. call for a cease-fire now. [indiscernible] 80% of our party want a cease-fire. >> hold on. aamy: protest organizers say 90 people were injured. capitol police say six of their officers sustained injuries. one person was arrested. one lawmaker who was inside the dnc, california congressmember brad sherman, took two media to describe the activists as "pro-terrorist, anti-israel protestors." on thursday, president biden

called into a dnc meeting to express his appreciation for how law-enforcement handle the protest. we're joined right now by that person you just heard, eva borgwardt, national spokesperson for ifnotnow. thank you for joining us from d.c. if you can start off by calling -- by explaining why he focused on the dnc and then describe what happened and respond to congressmember sherman saying you're pro-terrorist. >> thank you so much for having me. the focus on the dnc was because as we know the majority of americans and certainly the majority of democrats want cease-fire. our lawmakers are not listening to the thousands of calls and constituent meetings that we have been trying to reach them over the past month. this was, like many protests

across the country, and active nonviolent civil disobedience. the goal was to assemble peacefully, call attention to the urgent situation in gaza come and ask for democratic leadership to call for a cease-fire now, a release of the hostages, a hostage exchange, and a de-escalation and to address the root causes of this violence, decades occupation and adversely, police chose to escalate. with no verbal warning or communication with police liaisons who are trying to speak with them, they started shoving protesters down the stairs and shoving protesters back with their bicycles and trampling on the 11,000 tea lights protesters have brought to represent the palestinians who have already been killed in gaza. as you mentioned, democratic lawmakers, including brad sherman, have said the protesters are pro-hamas.

johnson said this was an into the semitic protest which is -- anti-semitic protest, which is absurd. summary of the protesters are not only jews, but have loved ones who were either murdered by hamas on october 7 or jews and palestinians who have loved ones in gaza or know people in gaza who have lost dozens of members of their families over the past month. so to say, again, many of them personally grieving protesters, are pro-terrorists is absurd. amy: rather than characterize what congressmember brad sherman said, let's your what he said wednesday night on cnn. >> there were over 200,000 pro-israel business traders with a permit, entirely peaceful -- demonstrators with the permit,

entirely peaceful. then he had less than 1000 come also getting publicity post getting publicity because of their willingness to attack police as they did with pepper spray come using a force multiplier. a mako he is contrasting the protest you had in front of the dnc with the pro israel march that took place a few days ago. your response to what he is saying? i know never of reporters outside were scratching their heads -- number of reporters outside were scratching their heads. >> his words do speak for themselves. first of all, let's also be clear that there have been hundreds of thousands of nonviolent -- peace activists, palestinian, jewish, multiracial rising up across the u.s. and millions around the world.

to contrast wednesday night's demonstration with only the tuesday demonstration come the pro-israel march at the capitol, is telling because it is impossible for politicians like brad sherman who are refusing to call for a cease-fire to acknowledge the massive peaceful uprising that is happening around the world in support of the people of gaza because the public -- the international community sees palestinian lives and israeli lives as equal. a thursday, yesterday, vermont covers member becca balint became the first jewish congressmember to call for a cease-fire. that is very interesting because one of the senators of vermont, bernie sanders, has not called for a cease-fire.

in fact, ifnotnow protesters have been arrested in his office requesting he call for a cease-fire. your response to both valent -- balint and sanders? >> i was also at that protest at senator sanders office earlier this month. i think in particular for jewish lawmakers, as a jewish movement, as the jewish movements that have been protesting for cease-fire, we are doing this for safety and freedom for palestinians who are under siege and also because we are terrified for our loved ones in israel and in the entire region if this bronze age a regional war. our disappointment at senator sanders so far refraining from calling for a cease-fire is that

he has made his legacy as an antiwar champion. we are extremely grateful to the congresswoman for speaking out from a jewish perspective for cease-fire because we feel our jewish values and our safety as jews is extremely contingent on ending this horrific violence and calling for a cease-fire now. amy: eva, you were an organizer for president biden during his 2020 campaign. if you can talk about your response to his position now and what this means and what you feel biden supporters then are feeling today? >> yes, so like you mentioned, i worked for president biden in arizona in the 2020 election.

let's be clear, i am terrified of donald trump and the white supremacist, anti-semitic movement that is behind him. i feel immense steak in the democratic party winning in november 2024. frankly, again, i am deeply terrified and angry at democratic leadership for ignoring the calls from the majority of their base for a cease-fire hostage exchange and de-escalation and creating a lack of faith in the democratic party that i am very concerned will hurt democrats changes in november. i encourage them with the fullest emphasis policy bowl -- possible to reverse course now. we've seen so far that for some

democrats, 1400 israeli deaths and over 4000 palestinian deaths were enough. for other democrats, 11,000 palestinians in gaza killed are not enough for them to call for cease-fire, which is how we know this horrific violence will end and move toward a political solution in the region. and so we are waiting to see how many palestinian lives are democratic politicians need in order to call for cease-fire. every day of every hour they wait has, i fear, implications for what will happen in november. amy: i wanted to ask about the powerful lobby group aipac stepping up its support for primary challengers to lawmakers who've voiced support for

cease-fire. slate magazine reports aipac is expected to spin somewhere around 100 million dollars in democratic primaries backing opponents of house progressives like the squad. your response? >> yes, so if not now -- part october 7, ifnotnow's main focus was around the campaign come around aipac, and making sure the jewish public in particular and the american public understand these days aipac, those $100 million in the money aipac is spending is primarily from far right billionaires and that aipac is functioning essentially as a way for these republican billionaires to interfere in democratic primaries. in particular around escalating their spending or threats of

spending against those calling for cease-fire, aipac has always been determined to prevent any kind of conditionality on u.s. support for israel. any human rights conditions consistent with u.s. law and any daylight between the u.s. and israel. and now in attempting to punish any of the lawmakers who are taking a moral and pragmatic stand and calling for cease-fire, they are demonstrating that even the genocidal -- and let's call it genocidal because it is -- rhetoric from come as you have had on this show many times, rhetoric from the israeli leaders in the government right now is not enough to warrant conditionality in u.s. support.

frankly, i am externally terrified about the implications -- extremely terrified about the implications of punishing politicians for not supporting, again, this assault -- this massacre in gaza because if aipac is determined to tell the american public that supporting and unfolding genocide, that speaking out is the on the pail and realm of political unacceptability, what is going to become of us and what is going to happen to this world? amy: eva borgwardt, thank you for being with us, national spokesperson for ifnotnow which was one of the organizers of the protest at the democratic national committee's headquarters on wednesday. coming up, independent journalist sharif abdel kouddous of the latest in gaza and the west bank. and his new documentary on the cop city protest in atlanta. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we continued look at israel's bombardment of gaza, i want to turn to the words of the british palestinian surgeon describing the humanitarian crisis in gaza. he had been working in a hospital which was one of the last functioning hospitals in the gaza strip. >> there was a major airstrike. over 50 killed. completely inundated. by the early hours of yesterday morning, we had run out of

medication and we had to stop the operating room. in the early hours of the morning, there is heavy bombing all around the hospital. you could feel the building being shook. it sounded like tank fire. so we made the decision it was time for at least -- we were not going to be able to provide service. so yesterday morning we left. you could hear the sounds of the tanks around the hospital when we walked out. and we literally walked to the central zone. we left, there were over 500 wounded with urgent medical care

needing surgical intervention. we could not provide it because we had run out -- the operating room could no longer function. we were always overwhelmed with the number of wounded. amy: a british palestinian surgeon speaking to his surgical mask in gaza. we have been trying to reach people there but it is the second straight day of a telecommunications blackout. this is only the latest one. to talk more about israel's bombardment of gaza, we're joined by independent journalist sharif abdel kouddous, produced the award-winning documentary "the killing of shireen abu akleh" for al jazeera's documentary series fault lines. he has reported from gaza for democracy now! and other outlets. it is so important to talk about

what is happening there even as this telecommunications blackout is happening. also the leaflets that are being dropped on khan younis, which is where so many thousands of palestinians have been instructed to go, to head south from northern gaza south. now leaflets are being dropped their saying they must move further south. can you respond to this overall situation? >> yep situation where northern part of gaza, gaza city itself which was home to nearly one million people, is now a hollow shell. most neighborhoods in gaza city and northern gaza general have been very badly damaged or destroyed. you have these armored columns of israeli forces tearing up the

roads. electricity, water, sewage infrastructure basically no longer exists. there are reports the smell of death is everywhere as an untold number of bodies are lying under the rubble. the u.n. estimates about 2700 people, including 1500 children, are missing and believed to be buried under the ruins and there are reports of people that have remained in the north digging with their bare hands trying to find their family members. the streets have been turned into graveyards. only a fraction of the people who live in northern gaza remain there. most have been forcibly displaced to the south in scenes that are reminiscent of the nakba. 1.5 million people have been displaced in gaza. that is nearly double the number that were ethnically cleansed previously.

many are displaced or are descendants from 1948. 80% of palestinians in gaza are not from gaza. they are refugees. most of the palestinians in northern gaza are packed into the south. there is no indication if were ever they will be able to return to the north. the israeli effectively controls most of the northern area. northern gaza is basically uninhabitable. it has been destroyed. there's rarely any aid coming in. gaza is receiving only about 10% of its needed food supplies. dehydration, malnutrition are growing. nearly all of the people in gaza, 2.3 million people, are in need of food according to the u.n. the communications systems are

down now for second day. this is a more serious telecommunications block out -- blackout because it is a result of no fuel to power the internet and phone networks. it may be a more permanent blackout and this can medications blackout is causing disruptions to the little amounts of cross-border aid deliveries that were coming in. as you mentioned, the israeli forces have dropped these leaflets the other day telling palestinians in areas eased of khan younis, which is a bigger city in the south of gaza, to evacuate. where are these people supposed to go? it increasingly seems israel is trying to push palestinians into egypt, which is a long-standing colonial fantasy. there are plans that have been documented for this. there was a document leaked last

month from israel's intelligence minister that details durable postwar situation solution for gaza, which includes a long-term transfer -- forcible transfer of palestinians to northern sinai. the plan, who outlined the proposal to forcibly transfer palestinians to sinai. we don't know the situation is. egypt has staunchly refused this kind of mass displacement of palestinians into its territory. it has tried to negotiate aid to come in but there is increasing pressure right now on egypt because at the end of the day, this is an egyptian border, the rougher border crossing come the only border crossing into gaza that is not controlled by israel . egypt is letting in maybe 50, maybe 80, 8100 trucks a day, which is a fraction that used to come into gaza even before

october 7. the reason it is only letting in the fraction is it is allowing israel to dictate the terms. so it gets approval from israel of how many trucks can enter the rougher border crossing. those trucks that enter and go up to an israeli order crossing where they are checked and then enter gaza. there is increasing pressure on egypt from civil society of egypt, from people around the world for egypt to open the border and let the aid in. it israel wants to bomb u.n. aid trucks, then that is something us. right now egypt is coordinating with israel on how much aid gets in and people are beginning to starve an infectious disease is spreading because of no water and it is in a credible crisis. amy: the number of journalists who have been killed, i think committee to protect journalists says at least 42 journalists and media workers have been killed since october 7.

the deadliest month for journalists since the group began collecting information in 1992. if you can talk about the global response, the global journalist response, and then we will talk a bit about the latest on shireen abu akleh who is skilled not -- she was killed outside the jenin refugee camp. >> what can you say? i don't know with the number is even now. it is at least 35, 40 palestinian journalists killed in over a month, by far the highest number of journalists killed in such a short amount of time. you know, for journalists can't get into gaza. israel is not allowing them in, nor is egypt. you're killing most of the register journalists and gaza and not letting others in and

then we have seen problematic coverage from newsrooms, western newsrooms of what is happening on the ground. people have been protesting this. we just saw -- people have been resigning from "the new york times" because of the language used by the paper in this coverage. but also you have not seen the type of outcry one would imagine from the journalistic community for their colleagues been killed in gaza. the ones who aren't killed and gaza have lost so much, lost families, homes. when jamal khashoggi was brutally murdered, there was massive condemnation from western news outlets and rightly so. when "the wall street journal close were reported who remains in prison in russia was arrested, there has been room

massive outcry amongst his arrest. we have not seen the same kind of outcry over this record number of journalists that have been killed and gaza. i think it is deeply problematic and reveals a bias that is being laid bare in many ways. shireen abu akleh, when this all -- with the assault on gaza began october 7, we saw people post on twitter, on social media photos of shireen and just saying, head of wishing she was around, that she was alive to report because she was such an incredible journalist and so needed in a time like this. even a lebanese journalist who was killed in the shelling in southern lebanon by israel, one

of his last tweets was a photo of shireen. he just wrote, shireen, with a heart. after he was killed, someone put up his photo with his name and a heart. amy: and the latest news about the israeli army bulldozing the memorial for her where she was killed? >> as we heard in the headlines, israel has repeatedly conducted for brutal raids on janine --jenin refugee camp, which is the heart of militant palestinian resistance and the west bank. we have seen drone strikes on jenin a few days ago kill about 14 palestinians, one of the deadliest days in the west bank since 2005. we sell raids on the hospital. during one of these raids, they

came the sites where shireen was shot by an israeli sniper has become a memorial area. when i went there last year to report on her killing, there are photos of her everywhere. there are flowers. there are written pieces of tribute that are all hung up. the tree where she was killed under, you can still see the bullet holes. it is a place where family and friends have sought some solace by visiting this area and remembering shireen. an israeli bulldozer came in during one of these raids and completely destroyed this road and this area where this memorial was. and it does not seem -- it seems to be just some kind of vindictive act because there is no reason to destroy this road that leads to the entrance of the jenin refugee camp. in an earlier raid, they

destroyed this memorial which was in the shape of a horse which was well-known in jenin. it was built from the pieces of an ambulance that was blown up in an airstrike by israel in 2002. they used the parts to create this horse monument which was a testament to jenin's spirit of resistance. they came in and remove that. there seems to be an attack on symbols of resistance to israel as well. amy: we're going to ask you to stay with us and switch gears. sharif abdel kouddous is a journalist, won a george polk award for "the killing of shireen abu akleh" for al jazeera's documentary program fault lines. he will stay with us and we will be joined by another guest to talk about his new documentary

and all the latest of elements around cop city in atlanta. back in 20 seconds. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show in atlanta, georgia, where people joined in a week of action to stop the massive $90 million police

training complex known as cop city. >> throwing teargas into the crowd. yeah, that is teargas. amy: on monday, police attacked peaceful protesters with tear gas, pepper balls, flashbang grenades as over 400 marched toward the proposed site for cop city. participants included the parents of the environmental defender manuel esteban paez terán, known as tortuguita, who was murdered by police in january. this comes as activists have been organizing for citywide referendum on the project which officials have tied up in court. 61 people face domestic

terrorism charges appeared in court this month as the state trust to characterize them as militant anarchists. al jazeera's for asphalt lines recently covered all of this in the report "now you are a terrorist: atlanta cities crackdown." i spoke with sarah wasilewski, who was charged with domestic terrorism. she described the morning when the officers violently raided there and can't stop >> i was sitting in a hammock with my partner at the time. we woke up around 8:00 in the morning. sarah traveled from pittsburgh to atlanta and join the protest for the weekend. >> we were just laying in bed talking and then all of the sudden, we heard and saw just like 15 or so police in full

military combat gear like with ar-15's coming through the woods directly at us. we were waiting to be put into transfer vehicles and that is when i heard gunshots. i screamed when i heard it and the police officer that had me also responded. like they knew something bad happened. >> while sarah was being arrested, a team of officers killed tortuguita in a barrage of gunfire. amy: sharif abdel kouddous also spoke to indigenous forest defender victor puertas in a video call insight isis stewart detention center in lumpkin,

georgia, where he's been held for over seven months. after being released on bond from dekalb county jail, puertas was immediately taken into custody by ice. >> after weeks of negotiations with the detention center, we were able to speak to victor by video call. hi, victor. this is the first time he has spoken to the media since his arrest. cooks like living a parallel life. >> why is this movement so important to you? >> i care about the people, life, the water. i deeply care about those things. i was raised in that way. >> what you think it does to movement when the state levels it as a violent extremist organization and then charges its participants like you with domestic terrorism?

amy: for more we're joined by two guests, sharif abdel kouddous is still with us, correspondent for the al jazeera thought lens report. and kamau franklin is the founder of the organization community movement builders. he has been part of the now to your movement to stop cop city. we welcome you both back to democracy now! for the latest news of this week, over 60 people in court, many of them charged with domestic terrorism, can you talk about the significance of what this means? as we heard this woman say, gymnastic terrorism, and how it affects their whole lives. >> this issue goes to the heart of the militarization of police and criminalization movement.

what we're witnessing in atlanta is a rebirth of the cointelpro movement to stamp out activists come to scare people into not speaking up and participating in movements. yet people who came to atlanta previously were not involved in any cop city activity but happened to get rounded up by police. police looked at ids. if they had georgia ids, they let them go. if they had out-of-state ids, they arrested them and charge them with domestic terrorism and later added on the charge of rico. yet people whose lives have been turned upside down, people engaged in acts of simple civil disobedience by sitting intense, tree huts, who now have domestic terrorism charges and rico charges. people's lives have been turned upside down because of the state's attempt to criminalize and brutalize activists and organizers who are working against police violence in our

city. amy: can you talk about the range of opposition? it is not just one group. it is people deeply concerned about police and religious leaders, indigenous leaders. talk about the area where it is being built. >> one of the things about this movement has been since the beginning, it has been vast. everything from community organizers like myself, environmentalists, religious leaders, voting rights activists including anarchists, community members who have been engaged in this because they see two things happening. one is what we spoke about a couple of seconds ago, the continued over policing of black and brown communities that would be happening if cop city is built. two is the attack against movements which is the very reason why this vast i's facility is even being proposed. three, the environment of degradation of the forest which

will be ripped apart most of over 300 acres have been rented at $10 a year, 90 acres have already been cut down. this forest has been promised to working-class adjacent black committee for use of park space, camping space, trails -- all of those plans were ripped away as soon as they decided to put cop city in. it has already caused abdominal degradation in the neighborhood and that will continue to happen as they go on with their plan. amy: what about the referendum? what happened to it? >> the city of atlanta along with the clerk's office, mayor's office, city council have basically sat on this referendum. they have done nothing to move this forward even though the organizers -- we collected over 116,000 signatures. the city council and the clerk's office could have started verifying signatures as soon as we turn them in but they decided

to halt the process and not do it. the city council on its own kibbutz a referendum on the ballot without even considering the signatures. they failed the people of atlanta by allowing the people to decide. over 116,000 signatures of people saying they want to vote on this, what a voice on this but the city has ignored it and prefers to do back room deals with the police foundation and the police themselves and the state government. you have a right-wing white republican state apparatus teaming up the so-called liberal, moderate democratic black mayor apparatus. the thing to agree upon most is how to protect cops and capitalism. that is what is happening now. a referendum is being put on ice so that can't vote upon it. amy: sharif, spoke to the mother of the forest defender tortuguita who was killed by

georgia police in january. she traveled to georgia from panama where she lives. we will play short clip. >> i really don't believe anything they say. i think they are lying. it is nothing new. everybody knows the police lie. >> the county medical examiner did not find any gunshot residue on tortuguita's hands. an independent autopsy suggests tortuguita was shot while seated with hands raised. >> manual, he just like police very much. not to kill anybody or try to kill anybody. his life and message is to save the world, to save the green

area, to take care of the oceans. amy: sharif, one of the first people we hear in your faultlines documentary "now you are a terrorist" is the mother of tortuguita ,belkis teran. your overall take from covering issues all over the world, from going to atlanta and seeing what people were confronting here and now what they are being charged with? that is not to say tortuguita, who was killed. >> i think what is important to note about the movement to stop cop city and defend the forest is its resilience. it has brought together abolitionists, environmentalists , religious leaders, multifaceted movement against this massive police training center. the movement has lasted well over two years now. it is still going despite the

massive amount of state repression against it. what we try and document in the documentary is that many of -- there's a crackdown on even lawful political activities. lawyers say this is unprecedented, that it is basically criminalizing political association. the indictment were 61 people are charged at his wide-ranging racketeering case, the aclu calls it shocking and unprecedented. it basically relies on people's beliefs and community organizing as the basis for the sweeping criminal liability. as we are talking internationally, there are protests by the stop cop city movement in support of palestine is welcome against what is called the georgia international law enforcement exchange where law enforcement officers from atlanta and across the state and u.s. travel to israel to receive training from israeli police

forces. israel has long taken these techniques that are honed on the palestinian body and exported them abroad. we see -- between israel and the police forces in atlanta. amy: sharif abdel kouddous, the reporter on "now you are a