11/29/23 11/29/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we obtained more than 150 pages of documents that revealed the uae planned to use the event as an opportunity to lobby on oil and gas deals with foreign nations. amy: as the united nations prepares to hold its largest

climate summit ever in the united arab emirates, leaked documents show the uae plans to use cop28 to make new oil and gas deals. we will speak to the reporter who broke the story. then we look at the crisis in sudan as human rights watch documents new mass ethnic killings in darfur as fighting continues between rival military factions. and we will remember former first lady rosalynn carter, the wife of president jimmy carter. a memorial service was held on tuesday in georgia. >> a special thank you, secretary clinton, mrs. bush, mrs. obama, mrs. trump, and dr. biden. thank you for coming and acknowledging this remarkable sisterhood that you shared with my grandmother. and thank you all the provided for our country and the world.

secretary clinton and dr. biden, we welcome your lovely husbands. amy: we will look at rosalynn carter's decades long advocacy for mental health care. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. talks are ongoing to further extend the truce in gaza as it enters its final day. secretary of state antony blinken spoke at a news conference in brussels earlier today as he prepares to head back to israel and the west bank. >> focused on doing what we can to extend the pause so we can continue to get more hostages out and more humanitarian assistance in. amy: on tuesday, 30 palestinian women and children were freed from israeli prisons after 10 israelis and two foreign nationals were released from gaza. this is palestinian activist and

student ruba assi, who was freed yesterday. >> this joy is filled with sacrifice but also a short victory. this feeling cannot be put into words. we hope all prisoners go through these moments. we hope this truce will be extended to a permanent cease-fire. amy: israeli media says renowned palestinian activist ahed tamimi, who was arrested earlier this month, could be released in an upcoming captive swap. meanwhile, palestinian prisoner associations say that over the first four days of prisoner exchanges, israel arrested 133 palestinians, nearly as many as the 150 they released. among the remaining hostages in gaza is a 10-month-old baby and two american women. some gazans have returned to their abandoned homes as they grapple with the utter destruction left by the israeli

assault. a palestinian mother said she was using rubble from her leveled home to make fire to cook over. aid groups, including the world food programme, are warning gaza remains at risk of an even worse humanitarian crisis and that more assistance is urgently needed. >> hunger, desperation, and destruction. people have not seen relief in weeks. hundreds of thousands are facing immediate risk of starvation. amy: an estimated 50,000 palestinians have been killed in israel's assault on the gaza strip. in the occupied west bank, israeli forces have surrounded three hospitals and are blocking medical teams as they conduct a major raid in the jenin refugee camp. the head of doctors without borders christos christou posted this video last night while

trapped with the staff at the khalil suleiman hospital. >> [indiscernible] there is no way for injured patients to reach the hospital f. amy: christou said at least two palestinians died of their wounds while ambulances could not reach them during the siege. a nine-year-old old palestinian boy was shot by soldiers this morning. the idf has also destroyed at least two homes in jenin, as well as roads and water mains, and rounded up at least 20 people. rights groups say israel has arrested 35 palestinians throughout the occupied west bank within the past 24 hours, including a 12-year-old child.

hisham awartani, one of the three palestinian college students shot in a likely hate crime in burlington, vermont, has released a statement from the hospital. awartani, a brown university student, said -- "it's important to realize that this is part of the larger story. i am but one casualty in the much wider conflict. had i been shot in the west bank, where i grew up, the medical services that saved my life would likely have been withheld by the israeli army." on monday evening, brown students interrupted a talk by university president christine paxson at a vigil for the shot students, calling for the school to divest from weapons manufacturers, including northrop grumman, raytheon, and textron. at the ramallah friends school in the occupied west bank, which was attended by all three shooting victims, students and staff reflected on the tragic

incident. this is leen alshehab, a senior at the school. >> we are horrified by the recent attack that targeted three of our beloved alumni. we call upon the international communities to conduct a full and thorough investigation on this attack and we call upon for this attack cannot be dismissed or ignored by any means. today i students, we have the symbol of solidarity with our friends and for their families as well. an code to see our interview with the head of the ramallah friends school, now general secretary of the american friends service committee here in the united states, go to democracynow.org. on tuesday, vermont democratic senator peter welch called for an indefinite extension to the

ceasefire in gaza. welch's fellow senator from vermont, bernie sanders has yet to call for a permanent ceasefire. the charles koch super pac americans for prosperity action has endorsed nikki haley for the 2024 republican nomination. charles koch and his network of right-wing billionaires is aiming to weaken front-runner donald trump by throwing tens of millions of dollars and thousands of volunteers across the u.s. behind haley's campaign. among other things, the super pac is known for blocking efforts to fight the climate crisis. the texas supreme court heard arguments yesterday in the lawsuit challenging the state's near-total abortion ban. patients have been refused care despite serious complications and forced to carry non-viable pregnancies to term, often at great personal risk. this is molly duane, a senior attorney at the center for

reproductive rights, which brought the case on behalf of 22 patients and doctors. >> the last two years are an aberration from a centuries long practice in texas that allows physicians broad discretion to provide abortions when necessary to preserve patients lives. the abortion bands as they exist today subjects patients like my client to the most extreme penalties imaginable. life in prison and loss of their medical license. while there are technically medical exceptions to the bands, no one knows what it means and the state won't tell us. amy: panama's president said tuesday a contested foreign-owned, open-pit copper mine that's been at the center of recent massive nationwide protests would be shut down. the announcement came just hours after the panamanian supreme court ruled that a 20-year contract approved by panama's government with the mine earlier this year is unconstitutional. protesters had said the new contract for the cobre panamá mine, which is owned by canada's

first quantum minerals, was fast-tracked with little public input or transparency. >> mining is another expression of the rising corruption in the country. it is a clear message to future governors of the country that we will not allow more impositions and corruption that restrict the sovereignty of the panamanian people. amy: the coppermine is the largest in central america. in a major victory for indigenous rights, an ecuadorian appeals court has sided with the siekopai nation to regain ownership of their ancestral homeland in the amazon rainforest. the siekopai people were forced out of their territory called pë'këya over 80 years ago during the peru-ecuador war in the 1940's. this ruling will mark the first time the ecuadorian government grants a land title to an indigenous community whose ancestral land is now a protected area. the siekopai are on the brink of

extinction with a population of only in ecuador and 1200 in 800 peru. in a statement, siekopai nation president elias piyahuaje said -- "we are fighting for the preservation of our culture on this planet. without this territory, we cannot exist as siekopai people. today is a great day for our nation. until the end of time, this land will be ours." in the philippines, the government of president ferdinand marcos, jr. and the new people's army, the military wing of the communist party of the philippines, will revive peace talks for the first time in six years, facilitated by norway. the negotiations were abruptly halted in 2017 by then-president rodrigo duterte. if successful, the npa will end their half-century-long armed struggle and become a recognized political movement. this is carlito galvez, a former defense official and now presidential advisor. >> socioeconomic and

environmental issues and the threats facing the country, the parties recognize the need to unite as a nation in order to urgently address these challenges and resolve the armed public. amy: last week, president marcos, jr. issued an order granting amnesty to a number of rebel groups, including former members of the npa and communist party. in sierra leone, 13 military officers and one civilian have been arrested after an alleged failed coup that left at least 20 people dead. heavy gunfire broke out in the capital freetown sunday as attackers targeted sierra leone's major military barracks, near the presidential villa, and two prisons where some 2000 people were allowed to escape. sierra leone officials said the attacks were an attempt to overthrow the elected government. this is a resident of freetown. >> we are praying for this not to repeat. this country belongs to all of us. if this continues, where are we

supposed to go? because we will not have this kind of peace in another man's country. amy: this comes just a few months after sierra leone's president julius maada bio was reelected for a second term in a disputed june election. at least eight other military coups have taken place in west and central africa since 2020, including in gabon and niger this year. and in atlanta, georgia, president biden and jill biden, bill clinton, and former secretary of state hillary clinton joined other current and former leaders to pay tribute to rosalynn carter at her memorial service. all living first ladies were there. 99-year-old jimmy carter, who is now in home hospice care, was also in attendance. rosalynn carter was active throughout her husband's political career, acting as adviser and strategist. she's also remembered as an advocate for mental health care and unpaid home caregivers. this is her son james earl "chip" carter iii.

>> mom was always well-informed on the issues of the day. in the white house, mom asked so many questions that finally he said, she should attend cabinet meetings. so she did and caught a lot of flak for that. amy: we'll have more on rosalynn carter and her mental health advocacy both as an advocate and an inpatient, later in the broadcast. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now!'s juan gonzález in chicago. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we begin today's show in dubai, which is hosting the united nations climate summit known as cop28 that starts thursday after a year that is likely to be the hottest ever

recorded. this is expected to be the largest summit yet, with some 70,000 delegates and world leaders and senior officials from nearly every country coming to the united arab emirates. president biden has attended the last two cop summits, and just this month he called climate change "the ultimate threat to humanity," but it has recently been announced he will not be attending this year. pope francis was set to be the first head of the catholic church to attend but will instead join remotely due to health concerns. doctors say he has the flu. hundreds of catholic institutions worldwide -- but none in the united states, the world's top oil and gas producer -- have announced plans to divest from oil, gas, and coal since the pope called for a break with fossil fuels in 2015. the president of this year's climate summit is also head of the uae oil giant abu dhabi

national oil company, or adnoc. sultan al-jaber is the first ceo to be a cop president and has -- president. >> we take this task with humility, with deep sense of responsibility, and we understand and fully appreciate how urgent this matter is. it has become a top priority for our leadership. i want everyone to know that we have the full political will to support a successful cop28. amy: but leaked documents obtained by the center for climate reporting reveal how the

cop28 president and ceo planned to use his position to strike oil and gas deals with 15 countries. for china, the documents showed adnoc said it is "willing to jointly evaluate international lng opportunities in mozambique, canada, and australia." documents outline plans to tell colombia that adnoc "stands ready to help develop its oil and gas reserves." for more, we are joined by ben stockton, investigative reporter at the center for climate reporting where his new exposé is headlined "cop28 president secretly used climate summit role to push oil trade with foreign government officials" with a related piece, "inside the campaign that put an oil boss in charge of a climate summit." ben, this is great reporting. thank you for joining us. why don't you start off i talking about how the head of one of the largest oil companies

in the world has become head of the you and climate summit, the largest one ever held. democracy now! we'll be there all next week covering the summit. how did this all take place? then talked about the leaked document. >> i think what is at the heart of this latest controversy goes back to the beginning of this year, which is when the uae chose the sultan to be copper president. he is not only the president of this year's u.n. climate summit, but also the ceo of the abu dhabi national oil company. he is a man who is a man who wears many hats. not only is he top president and ceo, he is chairman of uae and a company and cabinet minister. he has many roles that he fulfills alongside his climate

envoy role, which is why he is currently serving as cop28 president. what really led to this position and what we looked at in our peace with the intercept was really how we got to the point where not only a ceo but a ceo of a fossil fuel company became cop president and he is someone who over the past 15 years has really worked to push his international image and his green credentials. he has worked with major pr agencies to help shape that image, perhaps no more important in the american pr firm who has worked with him since the mid to thousands and continues to work today on cop28. it has been a long-term meticulous campaign that has led

us to this point. the point we arrive at today is with these latest revelations that we worked on, we obtained more than 150 pages of internal cop28 documents. they are briefings that are prepared for al jaber ahead of meetings with foreign governments. i think the remarkable thing about these documents is many of them include talking points that have been obtained from adnoc -- the two companies jaber is involved in running. we have seen these revelations spark controversy and many news outlets have picked up on this story. we worked on this initial story alongside bbc and we have seen this spread around the world. juan: in terms of some of the

most shocking aspects of these communications with some of the major countries in the world that are producing fossil fuels, could you talk about what most surprised you? >> i think those examples that amy picked out about china and venezuela were particularly interesting. that is something we picked out in our reporting. a number of the documents mentioned the value of the sales in trading and not because with these countries. this can stretch into the hundreds of blades of dollars if not billions of dollars. like amy said, there is of strategic partnerships, potential opportunities for further international fossil fuel projects, as well as those chinese and venezuelan briefing documents we also saw a document for a briefing -- for a meeting with the brazilian government.

what that showed is that it appears that algebra played and asks about a deal on going where adnoc had made a deal for a petrochemicals company. the specifics of these documents i think is what is interesting. it does get into some minute detail in terms of the business interests of adnoc in various countries around the world. juan: can you talk about the involvement of advisors like -- and their ties to the national oil company? >> jaber has quite a large team around him. some of those people appear to be people he has worked with across the course of his career. what we have been told previously by the cop28 team is staff from -- four cop28 are

independent, but when we started asking about one particular individual, as you mentioned, he is registered as a director of government affairs for cop28 but some of the internal records we have seen seem to suggest he had some ongoing role at adnoc which we thought was very interesting given those previous statements that the cop28 team had given us. when we went back and asked questions, they told us he was someone who works across al jaber's portfolio. he seems to at least raise questions about -- it seems to at least raise questions, particularly the oil company. another man we have written about before has played a key role in steering the pr around cop28.

he also previously had a role at the abu dhabi national oil company. only approached cop28 for comment on phillips for that intercept peace, they told us he was now working full-time on the conference. but they did not tell us when that employment with the oil company ended and when his employment with the cop28 team started. our evidence would suggest there is at least some crossover between his role at adnoc and his role on the cop28 team. amy: just before we went to broadcast, we saw a press release that said jaber had stepped down as head of the cop -- not head of the abu dhabi oil corporation. then there was a news conference . but it turns out this is all fake. >> that's right. i think there has been quite a

bit of misinformation around this conference. it is something that some other outlets have written about quite extensively. there was an instance earlier this year where the uae was accused of essentially using fake twitter online to defend sultan al-jaber and cop28 and his role as host of cop28. i have looked a little bit at some of the movements online to boycott cop28, which seem to be associated with some fake twitter profiles. there is quite a bit of misinformation around cop and his latest press release that have heard about going about this morning certainly seems to be part of that miss information campaign. amy: just to be clear, this fake news -- fake press release that he had stepped down as head of adnoc but woods did head -- but would still had the cop.

again, this is fake. i want to turn to what you reported in september on united arab emirates plans to counter and minimize criticism of the uae's human rights abuses at cop28. this is a clip of leaked audio you obtain from an exploratory meeting between senior uae officials and the country's cop28 team. we hear the cop's head of communications. >> [indiscernible]

amy: ben stockton, can you talk about the significance of this? >> i think it points to some of the accusations that the uae is using cop28 as a chance to boost its international reputation and proof, particularly as president al-jaber -- cop president al-jaber's withstanding. we obtained this recording of a conversation between cop28 staff and senior uae government officials. what that recording showed was basically the uae attempting to deflect or at least setting plans to deflect criticism of its human rights record, which we know the spotlight will be on during this conference. a number of the human rights groups have spoken out about political prisoners in the uae

and a record of human rights abuses in the country. i think it really talks to -- this recording really talks to the issue of how the country might look to actually not engage on those issues over the next couple of weeks much to the annoyance of i am sure the human rights groups who will be watching. juan: how to these revelations affect the credibility of the entire cop process? what has been the response of experts and u.n. figures? >> i think it has been a reaction of astonishment. we heard from a number of senior people who have said obviously these revelations to call into question the integrity of cop28. we have also heard from former vice president al gore who has

been someone who has raised concerns about the conflict of interest surrounding the cop presidency with sultan al-jaber. he described these revelations as the realization of some of those conflict of interest concerns that have been raised back in january when al-jaber was first announced as cop present. amy: are you going? and are you concerned about reporters who are there? there are going to be 70,000 people there but who step into these forbidden realms of questioning? >> i am not going to be attending. i will be staying in new york during the course of cop28. like you mentioned, there are various concerns about digital surveillance and invasive practices, media freedom and particularly. from what i've seen so far, it does same reporters are free to

ask questions. there have been questions about our revelations earlier this week but like i said, i am planning to stay here in new york for the duration of cop. amy: ben stockton is an investigative reporter for the center for climate reporting. we will lead to your exposé "cop28 president secretly used climate summit role to push oil trade with foreign government officials." and democracy now! we'll be there all next week in the united arab emirates covering the largest u.n. climate summit ever. stay tuned. coming up, we look at the crisis in sudan's human rights watch documents actions. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn to sudan, where fighting between rival military factions continues to tear apart the country. since april, the fighting has killed over 12,000 people and left over 6 million people displaced. earlier this month, human rights groups say members of the rapid support forces paramilitary group carried out a massacre of around 1300 masalit people over three days in sudan's west darfur region. survivors of the massacre say rsf fighters went from house to house looking for men to kill. >> if they see a black person,

they call him a fighter and kill him. if a black person is just walking, they kill him. there are people inside the houses in fear. they broke in with weapons and killed everyone. some people try to flee. they were caught, tied, taken out to the street, killed and left dead. these are all civilians and not fighters. even the women and young unmarried girls were killed. i saw them. i just came from -- yesterday. amy: on tuesday, a top sudanese general accused the united arab emirates of arming the paramilitary group rsf. we are joined now by two guests. marine alneel is a sudanese activist joining us from kampala, uganda. mohamed osman is a sudan researcher in the africa division of human rights watch.

human rights watch has just published a report titled "sudan: new mass ethnic killings, pillage in darfur." welcome to democracy now! talk about what you found. >> this research we released is part of our ongoing investigations in the events in westar four, which started in april a few days after the start of the conflict in khartoum. this last piece we have been interviewing survivors in eastern chad. the overall picture that survivors is horrific. in the spree of killing come house to house, people fleeing. we talked to several people who described streets littered with dead bodies. some buried in the main square. at others have been left for days. we looked into the satellite imagery we could analyze that

show the level of destruction, arson done by the rapid support forces and their allied militias. also cases of sexual violence a continues to be reported. the near-complete removal of the masalit community among the other non-air groups -- non-arab groups from chad. juan: even though this has been pretrade largely as internal civil conflicts, there are regional powers that are funding and arming both sides. could you talk about the role of the united arab emirates, egypt, saudi arabia, and these other countries? >> so i agree there has been an issue with the friend of the conflict itself. even prior to the outbreak of the war in april when the u.n. and other actors continuously used the term to reduce the

participation government forces. but looking into the situation now, we have extensive media wording in the last weeks and months that point to the role of the uae in particular in terms of shuttling weapons and support to the rapid support forces through chad and also uganda and kenya. darfur in particular witnessed an increasing use of drones which indicate there some sort of an actor would be able to supply this kind of weapons. darfur is under an arms embargo from the u.n. so the uae stands a suspect in providing these weapons. egypt has been at least politically supportive to the sudanese armed forces. so we are yet to establish clear evidence on the level of support, but i think there is enough news out there to suggest

at least some sort of investigation and responsibility and accountability should be addressed were the uae and egypt in particular. juan: what about other regional powers like kenya and uganda? >> so just looking into the regional response of the conflict, which has been -- armed forces have accused kenya and ethiopia of siding with the rapid support forces, which created an issue around the credibility of the african union to respond to the situation. i think there's been no evidence of clear support from the regional countries but clearly to say kenya has been hosting equally also some of the command of the rapid support forces. amy: i want to bring marine alneel into this conversation, sudanese activist.

we have been speaking with you throughout this conflict. go back to talk about how this began, how civilians are caught in the crossfire, and what is the government of sudan and these represent four forces that are fighting its military? >> on the morning of april 16, people of khartoum and several cities woke up to fighters. at the time it was expected. the power-sharing agreement is not going to be sustainable. at that time we have lost hope in a transition of power to the civilians and having the military in power but also having two militaries in power was going to lead to this war. the rapid support forces that has been legitimized by the

previous government has been legitimized by the armed forces and also legitimized by the transitional government that included civilians between 2019 and the military coup conducted by the sudanese armed forces in october 20 21. ever since april 16, the rapid support forces and the sudanese armed forces have been writing -- have been fighting in the capital and other and regions, including darfur. recently the rsf have been making a lot of advances on the ground. they have all but taken complete control of the states of darfur. officially, they have one major city they have not taken over. news from people we have on the ground is practically they have already overtaken that city.

what we been seeing in the last 10 days, the violence that is happening of aerial the environment has increased. -- ariel beariel bombardment has increased. that this is good escalate more in the coming months. amy: can you talk about sexual violence that women and girls are experiencing? and also why you left in june? >> there are documented incidents of sexual violence in khartoum and darfur states. we know the documentation is a major underrepresentation of what is actually happening on the ground. i left khartoum -- it became

uninhabitable. but also a big factor was threats of rape and sexual violence. this is something that we are continuing to see now. there are also incidents of kidnapping and trafficking. but that has been very difficult to document. it is something we need to keep in mind when talking about the fatalities, the sexual violence that what we know is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the violations people are facing day today because it has been very difficult for journalists and even investigating the violations happening to refugees at people who have left areas of conflict, violations and withholding of their rights. we have been hearing journalists say they are worried about if they published the words, this

might detrimentally affect the displaced people. we know for a fact we don't know enough about the conflict in sudan. juan: here in the united states, the american people now for decades have been receiving news and information about conflict and war in sudan. most people don't understand there was a period not too long ago in the 1960's when sudan had one of the most vibrant democracies in that section of the world. largely secular democracy and bolted one of the largest commonest parties in the arab world back in the 1960's. within the united states was also very much against the governments in that period of time until there were dictatorships that took power -- i'm thinking of 1969 and the coup in the decades under omar

al-bashir. can you talk about the role of the united states as the conflict has continued to grow, internal conflict in sudan? >> speaking historically like you said, the united states -- we're also singing own. the sudanese government has requested the u.n. mission for the transitional -- support the transition be terminated. even during the transitional government, also's supported by -- was supporting the framework agreement, an agreement that a lot of the powers and the resistance could it ease on the ground, the platform people can speak to, were not supportive of

the framework agreement. it is obvious this is not something that will lead to stability. it was entire world that was shocked when the war broke out april 15 but it was really expected by the sudanese people, although we were hoping for the best but we were expecting the worst case scenario because the turn as a community was supporting the rapid support forces in the sudanese armed forces instead of supporting a genuine transition of power to civilians. amy: finally, mohamed osman, what is human rights watch recommending at this point? who has to be involved here to end this horrific conflict? >> i think a good start is understanding doing nothing is not an option. there is been a lot of inaction

from the global and regional community. marine mention if you put that highlight the chronic failure of the eternal and international community to respond. but when it comes to what we noted in the report, see the security council stepping up to its responsibility, sing the members of the security council listening to the stories, the survivors for victims of the atrocities that have been happening, expanding the arms embargo to go beyond darfur tolliver sedan singling out targeted sanctions -- against the key perpetrators. and the accountability fred is also a crucial point to see more response to it. we want to see the members reaching to the international criminal court, the u.n. fact-finding mission to sedan, asking them what to they want and providing them the backup

and resources. there's a lot to be done and unfortunately not a lot has been happening. amy: mohamed osman, thank you for being with us, sudan researcher and the africa division of human rights watch. he will link to your new report "sudan: new mass ethnic killings, pillage in darfur." marine alneel is an sudanese activist, today speaking to us from uganda. coming up, we remember rosalynn carter and her decade-long advocacy for mental health care. back in 30 seconds. ♪ [music break]

amy: tricia yearwood and garth brooks singing "imagine" at rosalynn carter's memorial service yesterday. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. president biden and jill biden, bill clinton and former secretary of state hillary clinton, joined current and former leaders to pay tribute to former first lady rosalynn carter at her memorial service tuesday. all living first ladies were there. 99-year-old president jimmy carter, now in home hospice care

since last february, was also in attendance in a wheelchair. rosalynn carter served as the longtime political advisor and strategist for jimmy carter, what from rural state senator to governor of georgia in 1970 and president of the united states in 1976. as first lady, rosalynn carter join white house cabinet meetings, served as an envoy to latin america. in 1979, time magazine declared her to be the second most powerful person in the united states. she and jimmy carter also worked for years with the charity habitat for humanity building homes for people in need. this is their grandson jason carter speaking at tuesday's memorial. folks a special thank you secretary clinton, mrs. bush, mrs. obama, misses trump and dr. biden. thank you for coming and

acknowledging this remarkable sisterhood that you shared with my grandmother. and thank you offer your leadership they provided for our country and the world. secretary clinton and dr. biden, we also welcome your lovely husbands. [laughter] amy: the audience laughed as president biden and clinton looked on. rosalynn carter's son james earl carter iii eulogized his mother. >> my mother was the glue that held our family together through the ups and downs and thicks an d thins of our families politics. as individuals, she believed in us and took care of us. when i was 14, supported president johnson for president. and every day i were a johnson sticker on my shirt. periodically, i would get up and

the buttons pulled off in my sticker always destroyed. and i would walk in school and my mother would have a shirt in a drawer already mended, the buttons sewn on, and the lbj sticker still applied. years later, she was influential in getting the into rehab for my drug and alcohol. she saved my life. amy: after leaving the white house, rosalynn carter campaign to expand u.s. mental health services. this is an excerpt of a video tribute featuring her words. >> i've worked on mental health issues since my husband was governor of georgia. i tried to overcome stigma

because it holds back progress in the field. people don't get help because of stigma. we have a great opportunity to change things for everyone with mental illness. the solutions are truly within our reach. we can overcome stigma and make services available to all who need them and offer every individual the chance to create a happy and fulfilling future. amy: we're joined now by the award-winning investigative reporter aaron glantz. his new piece for npr is titled "rosalynn carter's mental health advocacy changed journalism -- and journalists." he is a two-time peabody award winning journalist and pulitzer prize finalist who currently serves as senior editor at the fuller project, the global nonprofit newsroom focused on women. aaron was a rosalynn carter fellow for mental health journalism at the carter center from 2008-2009 and used the fellowship to write his second book "the war comes home: washington's battle against america's veterans."

welcome back to democracy now! it is so great to have you with us. we featured much of your reporting on iraq on democracy now! and have had you on a number of times. talk about how that connects to this ellis ship you had with rosalynn carter and even though the fellowship was named for her, did you actually get to meet her? >> i did get to meet her. that was a big surprise. i did not necessarily expect it when i applied. longtime viewers and listeners will remember i was in iraq after the invasion. i covered the upgrade prison -- other grave prison scandal and other difficult circumstances were a lot of people died. and then i came home and started to cover the experience of american veterans who were

returning home to a country that denied them the health care that was promised and the benefits that were promised. basic parts of the social contract that if you got blown up by roadside bomb and could not work, you would receive disability benefits. yet i found people who were living in their trucks or on the streets or could not get access to him as. -- get access to mental-health care. we were not just moving the nee was a 2008, i applied for a fellowship. in the application for this fellowship, i had to write about how the work i was going to do was going to address the issue of stigma. the stigma associated with mental illness and make an impact. i recall even when i was filling out this form, it was the first

time anyone had ever asked me how my work would make a difference. and when i got accepted and went to atlanta, misses carter attended the entire fellowship training stop i came to atlanta many times and every time i was there she was there listening to us, giving us notes. i write in the these that was published this week that she took me seriously. made me take my stuff more seriously. that when you have the first lady of the united states putting expectations on you, that your journalism should matter, you start to think a lot more strategically and intentionally about how you're going to move the needle. so for example, at that time of the department of veterans affairs was maintaining there was no way to even count the number of veterans who were dying by suicide after returning home from iraq and afghanistan.

in the year after i receive the mental health fellowship from the carter center, i set to work public health records. now there is this statistic 22 veterans died by suicide every day. it is incredibly troubling. but now that the v.a. is tracking that, they can try to address it. to imbue this kind of thinking in every single story i do which i have now been doing for 15 years, is a direct result of the guidance and influence that mrs. carter had on me and hundreds of other journalists have had the same experience. juan: she also had enormous impact on just laois and in policy as well in the area of mental health. -- legislation and policy as well as the area of mental health. she was instrumental in passing the act of 1980. can you talk about her work in trying to lobby congress to

provide more assistance from adequate insurance to those who needed mental health assistance? >> and lifelong priority of mrs. carter's was the issue of impaired he, that the same health benefits you get if you break your arm or leg or have cancer, that you should have parity of the able to get those same benefits. brady mental health issue that you might face. and that treating mental health and physical health on equal footing from an insurance perspective would go a long way to making sure people got the care they need and also go along way to making sure people felt comfortable asking for help and seeking help. this is something she talked about when i was at the carter center in 2008 and 2009. it is something that ended up being passed into law during the administration of president obama. even now the carter center in

the last few years has launched an initiative journalists to figure out how well that is going. a lot of pedal and politics, go on certain issues, but mrs. carter, this is something she worked on from her days as first lady of the state of georgia before her husband was even president all the way until very close to the end of her life. juan: we have less than a minute, but if you could talk about some of the other fellows you worked with at -- in that fellowship and what they were able to accomplish? >> the first important thing, there were hundreds of fellows that were inspired by mrs. carter and that is led to a change. when she establish this fellowship program in 1996, you would still see stories that said people were insane or

crazy. there was no best -- established speech was that she has utterly change that. there's a whole movement of journalism. since she has died, i've reached out to a number of people who had this fellowship. the one that clicks with me in terms of really showing mrs. carter's legacy, i spoke with a cambodian american journalist in fresno who got the rosalynn carter fellowship to explore the long-term psychological impacts of genocide on her refugee community. it was only after she got this fellowship in 2002 -- sorry, 2022 when mrs. carter was too sick to attend and person, that she learned way back in 1979 that mrs. carter had traveled to thailand and visited cambodian refugees at a time when this was

an active war zone. and led the campaign to bring -- allow the cambodian remedies to come to this country. amy: five seconds. >> that they were able to come full circle. i think it shows how her virtuous work over