i really want him to be his firms. for me, we moved to growth and front. we balance, rena economy, blue economy and the digital economy. with the new job creation law, indonesia is progressively ensuring the policy reform to create quality jobs. invest might be part of his growth and progress in indonesia. now, me o again peter, they'll be here and how it's up stories. on alex's era, the british foreign secretary has called for western unity against authoritarianism and threats from russia and china. the u. k. is hosting foreign ministers from the world. the wealthiest democracies in liverpool, delegates from the g 7 are also being joined by ministers from the as ian nations. they are expected to discuss a range of global issues from cobit 19 vaccines and post pandemic economic recovery

to the build up of russian forces on the border with ukraine. rory challenge has more from liverpool. liz truss who's hosting this event is very much seeing this as a kind of meeting of the free world as he puts there and of like minded countries and that such like monte countries have gt to be united in their, in their perspective on threats that the free, well that she might say is under. now those threats, of course, in the moment, primarily coven, 19 with omicron, the new variance spreading around the world. they have much to talk about on that front in the bilateral meetings, at least, trust is already had with anthony lincoln, her us counterparts, and the new for a minister of journal germany adelina, their book they were both okay. they weren't, so it's ok and that's why that's about ukraine, about the threats that they think ukraine is under my, went from russia. and that if russia does go into ukraine again,

that they would have to be a proper response and a response that would make russia see that as a strategic mistake. president abraham racy, says iran is serious about the latest runs negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal and the world powers are willing to remove sanctions. an agreement can be reached. state tv reported those comments as talks continue for another day in vienna. also, jabari has more well, as the talks continued from 9 am d n a time on saturday, and they are taking part in various working groups to trying hammer out some of the details of what they are trying to get from each side. the iranians led at the reigning delegation, led by the deputy foreign minister, alibaba connie, who said that they are much more optimistic after as they break they had. and they resumed this rounder, which was on thursday. they said there's seems to be a much more seriousness on all parties involved to try and get this nuclear deal

back on track. we also heard from abraham ratio, who has been very quiet about the negotiations in general, and he mentioned it in passing in most of his speeches. he just continues same the same red line. and that is that iran is very serious and that sanctions must be lifted before their way. news will go back to full compliance. the deputy foreign minister was here, has said that they renew, so i put forth 2 proposals. one is about exactly how those sanctions they want to be lifted. and the 2nd is it about iran's nuclear program and what will happen in terms of the technical aspects of how iran will go back to for compliance. we are now waiting as the are the iranians for the americans to respond to those proposals which will decide whether or not these negotiations will move forward and era. we expect robert malley to be in vienna soon. and then we'll have a better idea of where things stand, palestinians in the occupied west bank of voting and local council elections. that the 1st polls in 2 years, but they did as a fatter a. commas remain at odds of

a went to hold the next general election, but was last hold. 15 years ago, dozens of people have been killed and several others injured. after dozens of tornadoes tore through parts of the central united states, the gover. kentucky says there's likely to be at least 50 deaths in his state alone . people in the us can nothing money to afghanistan using financial institutions controlled by the taliban. and the connie network, the groups are otherwise subject to us sanctions. the money is a lifeline for many afghans. the u. n. is wanting nearly 9000000 of facing famine. this winter protest is in austria, a marching against corona virus restrictions and compulsory vaccinations. a lockdown ends for the vaccinated on sunday, but continues to people who are unvaccinated vaccines, the sets become mandatory for everyone. older than 14, as of february, those are the headlines. the news continues after the bottom line. i'll have another quick summary for you. at half past the hour,

i'll see you then i hi, i'm steve clements and i have a question in the land of freedom. why is the banning of books on the rise? let's get to the bottom line. ah. if i told you that hundreds of books were band last year in a certain country, what country would come to mind? or how about the united states of america every year across the country, hundreds of books are literally pulled off the shelves of public libraries are banned by school districts. the american library association, which is a nonprofit created by library and more than a 100 years ago, track 273 books that were banned or restricted in 2020 alone. even during the pandemic, when most schools and libraries were closed, the efforts to censor books never stopped. in the past,

banned books usually dealt with church accusations of blasphemy or overtly sexual content. but what's telling them at the most recent wave, a book banning is the focus on authors who are sharing stories of black or indigenous for other people of color and gender identity. so what this book censorship across united states tell us about the freedom of thought and freedom of speech in today's america. today we're talking to deborah coldwell stone, director of the american library associations office for intellectual freedom, where she works on issues of censorship, ad libraries, and goldberg bashi, founder of children's media start up in new york called dr bashi, an author of the children's book, p. s. for palestine and brook mixed in a staff writer at changing america, which is part of the hill she's been covering, the rising tide, a book banning, and other forms of censorship. look, it's great to be with you. let me just start with you, deborah, and i want to understand and have her audience understand what the dimensions of censorship in banning books is in the united states today. and you know,

where's the 1st amendment? well, we are seeing a trend these days to center books primarily for young people. i think we have reached a consensus in the united states that books written for adult audiences and intended for adults seldom come under the sensors phone. but what we see is that effort to control what young people read and see balls and public libraries and school libraries and the topics that are usually the bone of contention deal with sexuality, sex identity, gender identity, and more recently, issues dealing with anti racism. the live experiences of persons of color. we see this as a response to a changing world that not everyone is comfortable with. its found its way into the conversation as an attack on what's called critical race theory for example. but

what we understand is serving as an attack on books that deal with the history of racism in the united states. the history of slavery, the lived experiences of black persons are the result of police violence toward black persons. these are the books that have been challenged on the and asked to be removed from schools and libraries across the country. and deborah, you know, one of the things i got my hands on at least the 2020 band and challenge books. i think this is probably from, from your offices. i see books on here that you kind of chuckle about and you say what's wrong with the adventures of huckleberry finn and mark twain. what's wrong with catcher in the rye which continues to be on this this but more can temporarily kind of he see coats who wrote between the world and me, former colleague of mine at the atlantic at that time when the national book award for this and was one of the most celebrated writers and authors of our time here to

the james baldwin of our time, i would say, and his book is on your, i was stunned that it was on there. what's going on there? well, as i said, see, there is a campaign, frankly, to challenge the presence of these narratives that reflect the lives of black person. that still honestly with our country's history of racism. we can only understand it as an effort to turn back the hands of time to control what young people learn about. you know, i find it interesting that those who complain about educational indoctrination are themselves invested in what seems to be a campaign of indoctrination. to limit the narrative around history. here in the united states to the history promulgated primarily by white men and to exclude the voices of those who have lived through the experiences of slavery and discrimination. and essentially of racing. those accounts

from the shells from school libraries and public libraries here in the country. we, you know, as i said, it's interesting to us that we seldom see challenges to books intended for the audiences are used by adults. the really, the point of contention is this idea that young people there access to information, needs to be limited and controlled. and this raises real issues because young people have 1st amendment rights, young people should be able to read and discover and decide for themselves what they care about, what issues are important, right? and, and the deeply anti democratic effort to center works to limit young people to access to information is frankly, something that's been with us for a long time. the book censorship, we can go back centuries, you know,

but this renewed effort that we've seen in the last year or so really ramping up in the last 6 months to use this issue as a political tool to limit and indoctrinate young people to really stigmatize a whole group of people who have been traditionally marginalized and silenced in society. there's something that we haven't observed in a very long time. well, we have a case study in this, and i want to raise now of a wonderful little book called p. s for palestine. and i just want to read some of these comments that were made publicly on a public site and reaction to dr. boss. she's booked dr. boss. she is here. i'm going to read this, these books need to be burned along with the author. let's make sure people don't buy the book, who is publisher and who's selling the book? that is who you go against any store that dares that have this,

that book for sale. i found it listed as a handmade item on etc, please report it on and on and on. and so dr. boss, my question is as someone who had a campaign run against you for a children's book, and i should tell her audience that there are many new books coming on on that begin to try to bring in characters from real life that reflect real life gay characters you know, transgender characters, people have different colors and race and all sorts of different kinds of jobs. that's, that, that's what's happening to, to demonstrate the diversity of life. and i think along the lines of deborah, just shared, we are seeing campaigns against these. now tell us, tell us about your your case in this book. well, i'm delighted to be with you and especially to come across with deborah. i have been actually reaching out to your organization for 3 years now. and haven't, are you? i have not looked, you know, given a response. and the thing is that when i try to

publish a book about palestinian children, i noticed that there wasn't any in english. there's a wealth of books about policy, children in arabic. but there weren't any in english at the time. so we crowd fundraise and were successful. and but the before the book came out, the mere mention of it on social media cause an incredibly big swedish newspaper called called that the shaking of america. however, no american freedom of speech organization including a l, a came to our rescue. and so, you know, what i find is that of course, we're seeing books being ban, you know, in the, in the past year or so, or 2 on african american stories. and so forth,

but we've had a black president for 8 years. ah, it's a pretty safe subject. you will have small districts. you will have odd schools here and there who will try to banish these books and that's wrong. and what i find disingenuous by a lake is that they will pick books that are progressive and safe and they will list them as band or challenge. my book piece for palestine has been compared the backlash against that has been compared to the satanic verses by salman rushdie. and this is all over, you know, international media. however, am no american freedom of speech organization. first amendment organization was willing to come near me because the issue was palestine because in the united states of america, you cannot speak about palestine. if you do,

you're automatically labeled antisemitic. so even a progressive angio such as a delay, was too scared to come to our rescue and we pleaded, we sent s o s messages e mails we called we tweeted we facebook and i've shared, you know, screenshots of, of, of everything that has happened. so right now while i'm, i'm, i'm very happy to see that organizations such as a ally and, and, or, or pen america will, you know, highlight and have lists don't challenge books. but excuse me, most of these books are best sellers on amazon dot com and progressive cities like say new york and you can get hold of them. but piece for palestine is literally band. and we didn't even make it to alice challenge booklets. so, you know, here's, here's the real question. of course books have been banned in america for centuries

. but you know, when i hear deborah speak, she's talking mostly about, you know, sort of lived american experiences as an american to been on the continent for at least 300 years. so we're now talking about a new demography, which i got palestinians, error muslims, and others. and so, you know, i think we need to widen our horizon a little bit. and i'll be happy to share more about the horde that have befallen us dearly for daring to publish a children's alphabet book about palestine. right. well fan, erica, thank. thank you for sharing your story. we'll give deborah chance to respond in just a moment. but i want to go to my colleague brook, who is with a publication called changing american changing america looks at social and cultural issues. and really it's kind of a fresh breath of fresh air in journalism, of, of looking at way to kind of deal with these social things. lots of us and other parts

of media have been ignoring. and so i was so thrilled to see that she wrote an article movement to ban or even burn school library books, gains momentum brook. tell us your pathway into this story. what happened in virginia? what, when you reported this story, this is a reported story. what are the trends you observed and that you reported? sure. so we've been saying this pretty here. alarming acceleration of book banning in the us. and you know what you were referring to in virginia happened at a recent school board meeting. where to school board members suggested that a particular book not only be banned but burned, which is this really kind of aggressive form of silencing. you know, they're not just banding, you know, just dr. rather remember where we saw images, a book burning. i was not he germany. right. so going to be yeah, yeah,

it really parkins back to that very troubling imagery. but yeah, they, it, it seemed like they didn't just want to ban these words for their children, but to destroy them in their entirety. which is, you know, something that we haven't seen were the books they targeted overtly controversial. i mean, i hate to ask because i don't know where the line should be. maybe it shouldn't be there at all. but to go back to deborah point about children. and, you know, trying to control the inputs into them at a young age. what were those lines that you saw people worried about? i mean, like, like our other guests have, have said a lot of views, books that they want band have to do with gender sexuality. you know, you have the 2 school board members calling them pornographic. you were they the

books? well, the particular book that they were talking about when they were talking about burning the books, i believe it's called 33 snow fish. it does deal with prostitution and drug use. but you know, if, because passages that deal with provocative things are taken out of context, then of course they're going to be provocative. i wouldn't say pornographic, but provocative, but taken in the context of the entire story. it, it takes on a whole other meaning. jarrett, you know, as you look at it, i guess the question is coming back to children and the inputs to children, how do you responsibly draw the lines that, that takes care of the world that they are in need? you know,

it's all just in negotiations might makes right that those can band you know, or challenge when or is there some sort of, you know, template and scaffolding on this that can deal with social responsibility in children and a responsible and constructive way, but not yield to a culture of, of really rapid censorship. we, library and library professionals are very dedicated to serving their communities, whether it's a community of students or community as a whole, until they've set up a whole protocol. we have written policies for acquiring books and written policies for considering concerns raised about those books. but the bottom line is serving the information needs of the individuals in the community. whether that's young children, whether it's adolescents, whether it's a community as a whole, and that will dictate what's on the shelves in the library. i think when you ask

about drawing the line i to are believe that that the parents job particularly public libraries do not act in local prentice. they provide a diversity of materials because we can't predict all the time. what will be wanted in desired by a reader or what their information needs are. and i'll say that up in books dealing with difficult topics like sexual assault, gender identity, sexual identity are desperately wanted. ringback and needed by young adults are prepared for adulthood or questioning their lives are, have friends who are dealing with difficult issues. and where else should they be able to find those? but in the confines of the school or public library, where the information has been better than curated by a library professional who is dedicated to meeting their information needs. you know, we always said that a parent has a right to guide their child's reading to discuss their reading with their child.

right. but there are no preferences should not dictate what's available to the entire community, whether that's a school community or the larger community as a whole. and i think what we're seeing is a group of individuals and frankly organized groups who are, who believe bad libraries from school should be safe places for their beliefs for their lives. that they should. the young people shouldn't have to encounter anything that's difficult in life unless americus and that's just not possible, especially for public institutions. we are talking about government agencies that are governed by the 1st amendment and have obligations under the 1st amendment. and we're also talking a, you know, the by, by the miss deborah, they do not abide by them. highland park library in new jersey. invited me for, for a talk. well, and then there was the group who protested and called me

a terrorist. and the library a public library in the united states of america, we're talking new jersey right next to rutgers university, where i taught for years. this invited me. where were you and the librarian? what did they do? what did they say? the understanding is that you ultimately do your story time value 12 organizations, ma'am. muslim era look progressive or this is gather up our guys. we only have a few minutes you think that were there to you. we are not only holding the 1st amendment loss in the country where we are not in america. we do not have freedom of speech. our concern is your doctor bashi let's. let's give a chance to deborah to respond. please. sure. you know, our role is to ensure that libraries there that we, that libraries are able to provide excellent library service and defend the right

of the reader to access the materials they want to access and read. our challenge book lists are compiled from media reports and challenge reports that are given to the library. and educators, please don't interrupt me. i mean, not because for 3 years i have been receiving desperate ma'am, and your organization not done never. i want, i want both of you to be for you to make your case as well as my colleague here in the office and we've got a just a few minutes left. so i understand that there are issues of concern, dr. bashi, and that you have a book that i have seen that you know, honestly, i think if i were a young person from the middle east, i would find incredible value in that. i've been to dearborn michigan saying, wow, in dearborn, where there's so many young people who don't see themselves in culture. it's such a great contribution. so i understand there. so, and i think, you know, deborah, want to give you an opportunity to respond to that. but kind of broadly,

what should someone in dr. bosses situation do when they find the engines of censorship, not giving them space to protest or roll back. they can engage in their averages. they can engage in advocacy, but i'll be straightforward. our role is to defend the individual freedom to read and access information in the library. we do have a specific mission to promote excellent library service. you know, there are a number of organizations that work with authors. but in the bottom line, we argue that once the books over acquired and put in the library, they should be available. and that that's the violation of the 1st amendment. that happens when folks are removed because of their content because of the viewpoint express them. and that the individual library user, whether it's a student. ringback or the general public can access those books anymore. and

that's what we fight so fiercely and is broke. i want to come to you. we see this is both an issue of really constitutionality and freedom of expression. it's also something about child welfare, how to get that equilibrium right. but there's the broader side which really bothers me, which is a, an embrace by some people in, in positions of power to call for burning books and to destroy that process. and in many ways, i think dr. bosh, she feels as if her book has been burned. it literally was destroyed by, in amazon, in the amazon stores that, that, that where it was, i guess my question to you in the political context as you and i sit here in washington d. c. where is the current going? i mean, you have insights into this, where is the current going? what are your concerns just to help wrap it, wrap this up. yeah. so you do have mostly conservative leaders leading this charge to ban books, dealing with race,

gender, and sexual sexuality. just recently you had south carolina governor mcmaster writing to ban l g b t q books. you had a texas governor abbot kind of arguing the same thing, right. he had argued that some of the books in school libraries are pornographic. so it's not just doctor bashi, it's, it's other place she did made the point which i, i want to take heart that many of these banned books are still best sellers still have other places to get oxygen. and her book is i want to tell everybody i want my own copy appears for palestine in this, but i want to thank everyone we have to end it there. we wish we had more time for this today, but we have deborah caldwell stone of the american library association. goldberg bashi, author of children's, the children's book, p. s. for palestine and hills staff writer with changing america, writer, brooke, mignon. thank you all very much for being with us today and thank you for bringing

your passion and seriousness to this important topic. thank you. all right, so what's the bottom line? obviously, censorship and suppression of ideas is a really touchy subject. after this heated debate, we receive statements from the american library association and dr bashi to clarify their positions, which we have now edited for brevity. the american library association said the ailey works directly with librarians facing challenges. consultation to authors is outside the office, his scope, the office for intellectual freedom works to ensure students and library users access to books and other materials found in our nations libraries. and dr bashi statement said, my book has been systematically maligned. my person vilified, the violence allegations leveled against me. and my book for the single sin of having dared to write a book for and about palestinian children ala congratulates itself that it is advocating for banned books. and indeed,

it does for important and much needed books, more recently on black lives matter, slavery and homophobia for which it must be fully committed. but our palestinian people and especially palestinian children not human being. and that's their bottom line. ah, it was supposed to be a refuse, but south cooley, his brothers home, was allegedly the scene of torture, rape, and even murder one. 0, one east investigates the crimes. and those set to be behind on al jazeera with

ah, hello again, peter, they'll be here and go home with your top stories from al jazeera, g 7 foreign ministers, a gathering in liverpool in the u. k. along with delegates from the assay on nations, the u. k foreign secretary has called for western unity against authoritarianism and threats from russia and china. re challenge is in liverpool. live trust is hosting this event is very much seeing this as a kind of meeting.