11/15/16 11/15/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from marrakesh, morocco, at the united nations climate summit, this is democracy now! >> climate denial has been one of the most powerful positions in the world, of course, it is a major setback. it can't be setback to the global world. ultimately, the united states and donald trump is one country and one president. the rest of the global community cannot allow donald trump to poison these negotiations. amy: as the high level talks at the u.n. climate summit begin here in marrakesh, what impact will the election of donald trump have on the world's effort to combat the climate crisis? we will speak to asad rehman of

friends of the earth international and daniel kammen, , science envoy for the u.s. state department. then we look at morocco and why thousands of protesters recently took to the streets after a fish seller was crushed to death in the compactor of a garbage truck while he was trying to retrieve fish confiscated by police. >> and i think what we see now is the tragic, tragic assassination has provided a venue, sort of a breath to bring that together, and maybe have uprisings- act ii of of 2011. that was act i and this could be act ii. amy: and we will speak to leading nigerian environmentalist nnimmo bassey, author of the new book, "oil politics: echoes of ecological wars." all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from marrakesh, morocco. the world meteorological organization has announced here at the 22nd annual u.n. climate summit known as cop 22, that 2016 is very likely to be the hottest year on record and that the average global temperature this year is 1.2 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels. that is only three degrees celsius away from the limit of a 1.5 degree rise set by the paris agreement in order to avoid catastrophic impacts of climate change. this comes as residents of la paz, bolivia, are facing extreme water shortages and rationing as the three dams that supply the city's water have run almost dry. scientists say the drought is caused by the rapid retreat of glaciers due to global warming.

over the last three decades, bolivian glaciers have shrunk more than 40%, affecting 2 million people who rely on glacier melt as their water supply. in the united states, "the wall street journal" is reporting former new york mayor rudy giuliani is currently trump's leading pick for secretary of state. giuliani was the architect of new york city's stop-and-frisk program, which disproportionately targeted people of color and was later ruled unconstitutional. giuliani has called for measures to force muslims on the government's terrorism watch list to wear electronic tracking bracelets and boasted about how he sent undercover nypd officers to infiltrate mosques. speaking at the republican national convention last july, giuliani proclaimed, "what i did for new york, donald trump will do for america."

donald trump has already named stephen bannon, former head of the far-right wing breitbart media, as his top strategist, and reince priebus, head of the republican national committee, as his chief of staff. trump is reportedly also considering former u.s. ambassador to the united nations john bolton as a possible secretary of state if giuliani is not chosen. bolton, who was nominated by president george w. bush, famously talked about lopping off the top 10 stories of the united nations headquarters. this comes as president obama said he was encouraged by donald trump's election night speech and urged americans to give trump the room and space to make his cabinet appointments and to get adjusted to the white house. pres. obama: what i also discussed was the fact that i had been encouraged by his statements on election night and hise need for unity

interest in being the president for all people and that how he staffs -- the first step he takes come the first impressions he makes, the reset that can happen after an election, all of those things are important and should be thought about. i think it is important to give him the room and the space to do that. amy: cbs news also reported monday that donald trump had asked for his adult children -- donald, eric and ivanka and his son-in-law jared kushner -- to receive top security clearances, a claim which an official from trump's transition team denied during interviews with a pool of reporters later on monday. the children were also named to trump's transition team last week. if trump's children were to receive security clearances, it could represent a conflict of interests, as his children are also running trump's vast business networks. jared kushner's newspaper, "the new york observer," has also

stopped printing paper copies of the publication as of last week. in brussels, the european union held an emergency meeting sunday night aimed at unifying the bloc's approach to the election of donald trump. although, this goal collapsed after a handful of top officials boycotted the event. both france and hungary's foreign ministers boycotted the meeting. hungary's prime minister supports trump. french right wing politician marine le pen, whom many are predicting could be the next president of france, has also supported donald trump, calling his election part of "global revolution in the building of a new world." britain, which is slated to leave the european union boycotted the talks entirely. , the brexit plans, however, appear to be in disarray. a leaked memo said prime minster theresa may's cabinet is divided on how to exit the european union and that there was so much work required to leave the eu,

the government might have to hire as many as 30,000 additional people. meanwhile, donald trump and russian president vladimir putin spoke on the telephone monday, agreeing to work to improve relations between the two countries. protests against president-elect donald trump continue across the united states. on monday, thousands of high school students walked out of classes in seattle, los angeles, silver spring, maryland, and the san francisco area as well as portland, oregon. students chanted "not my president" and "no trump, no k-k-k, no fascist usa" as they poured out of high schools from coast to coast. students and young people also staged a sit-in monday at new york senator chuck schumer's office on capitol hill, demanding schumer step aside from becoming senate minority leader and instead support vermont senator bernie sanders for the position.

>> we are here today at chuck that the office to say democrat establishment cannot lead the opposition right now. and that chuck schumer must step aside and allow for new leadership, so we're here to demand that chuck schumer step aside for minority leadership, take your name out of the running. amy: protests against $3.8 billion dakota access pipeline are planned in more than 100 cities worldwide today. many of these protests against the pipeline are taking place at u.s. army corps of engineers offices to demand the army refuse to grant a final permit for the pipeline company to drill underneath the missouri river. in a joint statement by the army and the interior department released monday, the army announced it is holding off issuing the final permit, saying -- "the army has determined that additional discussion and

analysis are warranted in light of the history of the great sioux nation's dispossessions of lands, the importance of lake oahe to the tribe, our government-to-government relationship, and the statute governing easements through government property." this is tara houska, national campaigns director for honor the earth. >> the indigenous and terminal network come under the earth, and many of our allies are calling for a nationwide day of solidarity on november 15 a week after the election at army corps offices around the country. or hundreds of years, the united states army and native people have been at odds. it is time we step forward and begin a new chapter together at one in which indigenous rights are respected, our lands are respected, and our waters are respected by the u.s. government. amy: protests were also planned here at the climate summit in marrakesh, morocco, today, but today is the day of the high-level meetings with the

king of morocco and other world leaders so all protests at the , cop22 have been banned. you may have heard hundreds of reporters shouting. it is because the president of morocco just want in to the u.n. climate summit just behind me. a new report by the international criminal court top prosecutor says united states may have committed war crimes in afghanistan. the report accuses the u.s. military of torturing at least 61 prisoners in afghanistan during the ongoing 14 year war. the longest war in u.s. history. report also accuses the cia of subjecting at least 27 prisoners to torture, including rape, at cia prison sites in afghanistan, poland, romania, and lithuania. the international criminal court says it is deciding whether to open an official investigation. this could lead to the prosecution of u.s. officials for war crimes, even though the united states is not a member of the court because the crimes

were allegedly committed within afghanistan, which is a member of the icc. wikileaks co-founder julian assange was questioned monday by a swedish prosecutor at the ecuadorian embassy in london where he has been holed up for more than four years over allegations of sexual misconduct, although charges have never been filed. the questioning could last as many as three days. assange's swedish lawyer, per samuelson, says he has so far been prohibited from attending the interviews. assange has been confined to the ecuadorean embassy, fearing that if he were to attempt to leave, he would be arrested by british police and ultimately extradited to the united states where it is believed there is a sealed indictment against him over wikileaks' release of documents. and the award-winning journalist and news anchor gwen ifill has died of cancer at the age of 61. 1999, gwen ifill became the

first african-american woman to host a major national political talk show when she took the helm of "washington week in review." in 2013, she became co-host of the pbs "newshour," taking a chair next to judy woodruff. gwen ifill continued covering the presidential election throughout the year, even as she underwent cancer treatment. last spring, she moderated a democratic primary debate between hillary clinton and senator bernie sanders. at a news conference on monday, president barack obama reacted to gwen ifill's passing. pres. obama: michelle and i went to extend our deep condolences to gwen ifill's family and all of you, her colleagues, on her passing. she was an extraordinary journalist. she always kept faith with the fundamental responsibilities of her profession, asking tough questions, holding people in power accountable, and defending

a strong and free press that makes our democracy work. i always appreciated her reporting, even when i was at the receiving end of one of her tough and thorough interviews. whether she reported from a convention floor or from the field, whether she sat at the debate moderators table or at the anchor desk, she not only informed today's citizens, but she also inspired tomorrow's journalists. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from marrakesh, morocco, here at the u.n. climate summit or cop22, the conference of parties. the high level talks began earlier this morning. the united nations has announced that 2016 is very likely to be the hottest year on record, surpassing 2015, which had been the warmest year since records began. world meteorological organization secretary general petteri taalas spoke here in

marrakesh, morocco, on monday. >> records so far, and if you look at the first -- the nine months of this year, we are fairly high up again, breaking records. it is likely we will reach 1.2 degrees warming level this year and we are going the wrong thection if you think of 1.5 degrees warming level, which was agreed last year in paris. amy: meanwhile, reuters is reporting donald trump is seeking was to quickly withdraw the united states from the paris accord to combat climate change. trump is a longtime climate change denier who has described global warming as a chinese hoax. on monday, the u.s. special envoy on climate change jonathan pershing revealed that no one

from trump's transition team has reached out to him to discuss u.s. climate policy. >> i don't really have any good insight for you. we are not yet in touch with the transition team. they have not yet been named for our agency. we are waiting to talk with them. i anticipate that will happen soon after i returned to washington. in the absence of that, we do not have any permission to offer about our expectation for them. they have not been in touch with us. amy: talk more about the u.n. climate talks here in marrakesh, morocco and the significance of donald trump's election on the world class effort to combat climate change, we are joined by two guests. , science envoy for the state department and professor of energy at university of california at berkeley. and asad rehman is spokesperson for friends of the earth international. he is based in britain. daniel kammen, you are the science envoy here at the state

department. john kerry is expected to arrive in a couple of hours here at the u.n. summit. there are a number of world leaders who, the king of morocco just past behind us. a new leader has been chosen in the united states -- not by popular vote, i still believe hillary clinton has around 2 million votes more and votes are still being tallied -- that when it comes to the electoral college, looks like donald trump will be the next president. your response as a climate -- science envoy to the state department? >> i would like to think that fromew head of state, whatever ideological background, will recognize the science of climate change is really undisputed will. i have been a member of the ipc see, the group that does the research to inform the u.n., for 15 years. the hottest year records for your after year. the economics of clean energy are overwhelmingly positive in terms of the low prices of solar

and wind will step the ability to meet both large-scale energy systems in the u.s. and china, but also other options. and really show that clean energy is actually a populist tool to bring resources to people who need it. i would like to think that message will make it through, but we will see what happens as the politics plays out in d.c. amy: so what does that mean for this summit? donald trump has been very clear, one of his first acts would be to pull out of the paris climate agreement. >> thankfully for this summit in morocco, we're still under the current obama administration where the u.s. is playing a strong rolled a highlight goals for 2030 in the united states for the clean power plan, but most important, to be a partner overseas and around the world with governments like morocco and kenya that want to develop clean energy plans. you're asking about what will happen at the next cop. opinions vary widely. legallyout of the dop

is a process thawould ta somee usno only was it sand fied under a month ago, but there is a process to pull out that takes a few years. the challenge is that you can be a passive aggressive obstructionist by not sending a delegation, by not coming through with u.s. obligations. to my mind, that would be turning your back on economic winning opportunities. amy: just to be clear, it would take three years and another year, which would be four years, which is the term of a president if you wanted to pull out? >> that's true, but that is for the legal process to remove the u.s. as an official member. there are lots of steps along the way that are important goals that we have seen the things that arguably made parisis excess plaster was a non--cop event, apex summit in 2014 one president obama and the premier signed a g2 climate agreement,

if you will, a bipartisan plan to limit emissions and lead the world in this area. that led the way to paris. there are very important actions that can be taken that could slow things down. amy: can you explain -- when president obama talks about a peaceful transition, i think many people just mean, you know, people want take up guns and opposition, something like that. but actually, it has a very specific meaning. what i'm certainly coming to learn here in morocco, from the many people around the world, especially people in the united states. and you will not introduce anything new in this lame-duck kind of period, which means, wasn't the u.s. here supposed to introduce the decarbonization now 2050 and now this is not being introduced? >> i don't think that is quite right. the u.s. has highlighted a number of commitments it has made in the past month. there are a number of significant trenches of funding

coming. those things are going to happen in the next few days. would your talking about -- what you're talking about is the important effort. what we have learned in the climate crisis is that your 2020 goals and 2030 goals must be enabling of 2050. they cannot be goals under themselves. the challenges right now the u.s. has a well thought through plan. if you don't follow through on the elements of that, then you do put the larger process of decolonizing at home and being an enabler around the world in jeopardy. amy: i have heard the department of energy had a significant delegation that was coming here and it was cut by a number of people. why would the obama administration not double down start to get just into the new administration? >> i have not heard the details of that. i know the state department team will be significant. i've met a number of colleagues

who are here very much supporting this clean energy domestic and abroad plan, but transitions are often uncertain. the idea that you can be peaceful militarily, but not necessarily cooperative, is certainly one of the areas where we worry. diplomacy is not an overnight process. it was worse building trust. that is one of the things we will have to see what plays out. amy: do you think of bernie sanders was the candidate, he would have won this election against donald trump? >> i do. when you look at the poll numbers that were head-to-head trump and sanders, 10, 15 points for senator sanders. the second feature is we now know in retrospect -- we did not necessarily know the time -- that many of the things that propelled mr. trump were a backlash in anger and an appeal to undereducated americans. mr. sanders has spoken eloquently to the needs of lower income americans in ways that most candidates for president --

secretary clinton -- have not. i think he would have been a powerful candidate in this race. but it is all speculation in hindsight now. amy: let's go to bernie sanders speaking on "face the nation" about donald trump's, policy. mr. sanders: what astounds me, and i hope this changes quickly, we never president-elect who actually does not believe that climate change is real. i worry very much what this means for our kids and our grandchildren in the future of this planet. millions of people are going to have to tell him, mr. trump, you're dead wrong. amy: that was bernie sanders. your response, daniel kammen? >> i think he is right on the money. to be a climate denier in 2016 is to simply ignore science. a business man is supposed to be flexible and thoughtful about opportunity to step clean energy is an economic boom and a boom for equity around the planet. to turn your back on that is to put ideology over simple, good,

clean energy business and clean energy jobs. , you're looking at the u.s. from the vantage point -- well, we're in morocco -- but from britain, where you live. we discussed this briefly yesterday that one of the first world leaders that donald trump, the president-elect, met with at his penthouse, trump tower, was nigel farage, the man who pushed for brexit. can you talk about the significance of this? right now there's just a plan leaked out of the british government that says britain, even with the conservative prime minister, is not going to be ready to leave the european union for many months. but the significance of trump's meeting? >> first of all, for many environmentalists and people who cared about justice within the u.k., we thought she wrongly for the u.k. to remain in the european union. one of the arguments made for leaving the european union was a

bonfire of regulation, a lowering of environment will standards, and safeguards for workers rights, maternity rights, and an action on climate change. that was combined with a very extreme right wing popular nationalism that was rooted in xenophobia and racism and anti-immigration feeling. similar to what we heard within the united states. i think for many british people, they saw mary -- any parallels between the two. nigel farage meeting donald trump seems to be a parallel of boat people speaking of a vision of the world which is really about insular vision, about excluding people, and which is in about the kind of positive vision of people coming together to tackle the global problems. it is very worrying. not only are we seeing that with donald and nigel farage, now we're seeing some members of donald trump's entourage saying they should also be meeting with marie la pen, the fascist all

normalizing a very racist and discourse, hatred of people, and when we face climate crisis and all of the other inequalities of the world, this is a moment we need more global corporations, more solidarity, more justice done and more empathy. it is a step going backwards. amy: you're talking about marine la pen. a major target of hers is refugees. in the u.s. we talk about immigrants. you could refer to them as refugees. what about the connection between climate and the world's refugees? >> we know people leave for many different reasons and seek safe haven. of course, not far from here, there is the mediterranean's the were each year over 3000 people poverty,cathing inequality, and, impact because climate change funds every other existing inequality. when you speak to people about why they leave and they say i can no longer grow food or i am

hungry, that is because the weather impacts are making it impossible. 76 for just 76% of people rely on grain fed agriculture. as extreme weather impacts our system, it drives people from their homes to cities and then from there onwards. it let's remember, poorer countries provide safe haven to all of the 83% of displaced and refugee margaret people, which countries provide very little safe haven. what is worrying is the response to the existing crisis is walls hasfences and as the u.n. estimated, one and 30 people will be displaced from their homes in the coming decades unless we take action on climate change now. it is a pressing issue, but one that i do not think is been addressed adequately. amy: daniel kammen, what about this? you're having top security briefings. i mean, president-elect trump is, whether his children will be included is another issue, but

the pentagon, more than any other institution, knows the effects of climate change. they have issued warnings that president bush tried to keep under wraps saying this will be the pressure for wars in the 21st century. >> that was at? historic event most of researchers around the planet were pleased to see the analysis by the pentagon's internal experts and deliberations highlight how climate change changes everything. president obama used that report to then highlight what we just heard, saying that climate change makes all other problems worse and in my own work in east africa and south sudan and kenya and ethiopia as well as southeast asia, we see this every single day. communities that are overwhelmed by even relatively small droughts or floods are then displaced.

one of the shame, which the pentagon highlighted, was the clean energy is one of our best defenses against that because we can build energy resources for poor communities more rapidly with clean energy than with 30 energy, with none of the downside. and that message resonated across u.s. government. state department and usaid and collaborations with the u.k.'s version of the same, with our partners in the nordic countries -- that really galvanized an investment in off grid technologies, mini grids, and a clean energy twist. amy: asad rehman, president obama is not gone yet. he is there for three weeks in january, not to mention all of december and now november. what do you think you should do? i mean, you're talking right now to his climate envoy. the science envoy for the state department. >> as we all recognize, the clock is ticking on human it is ability to tackle the climate

crisis and create a safer, more equal world for all of the world citizens. in that, president obama can still make a big difference. you can raise the bar on climate action. today is a solidarity day with the native american people at standing rock. he could send a powerful signal saying, i stand with those people, i stand with ordinary people trying to protect our water, air, and their land. that would be a positive signal. the u.s. has contribute very little to these negotiations. it is fun for the -- doubt people adapt to the droughts happening. the u.s. has currently given $500 million and still owes $2.5 billion. you could make sure that check is delivered before he leaves. amy: daniel kammen? >> so we know the cost of climate change is high on the security bases, on a local basis, and fulfilling as many of these obligations as possible while in office makes a lot of sense for not only the

humanitarian reasons, but it is actually good business. it promotes a kind of companies, the kind of entrepreneurs we think our protein quality, not just -- amy: very quickly, daniel kammen , although the policy in the u.s. is leading away from cold, talk about what is happening right now in kosovo, and is you know well. looks kosovo is tough because there is a small coal plant. it is the dirtiest in europe. u.s. committed to not funding overseas coal. study after study from the outside has said go with the clean energy and yet we've seen no switch in position from the world bank. we have not seen a pullback. it is a kind of testbed where you want to see clean energy lead, not lag. amy: will you be telling john kerry this today? >> absolutely. amy: your final comment, asad rehman? >> committing to building the

people power, you will hold all of our governments accountable. we know here government leaders have an opportunity now to send a positive signal that can increase the target beckham put us on the pathway to keep it at 1.5 and provide the financing to poor countries to be able to grow cleanly and have a dignified life. we know politics is not just in buildings. it is about ordinary people forcing change. we have done it before and will do it again. amy: asad rehman, spokesperson for friends of the earth international. daniel kammen science envoy for , the state department and professor of energy at university of california berkeley. when we come back, we take a geopolitical tour with the moroccan activists. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from marrakesh, morocco, the site of the u.n. climate talks known as cop22 or the 22nd conference of the parties. security is heavy today as the high level talks have just begun. you may have heard that crowd earlier when king mohammed of morocco walked by. his family has been ruling morocco since the 17 century. late last month, thousands of people took to the streets to protest after a fish seller was crushed to death in a garbage truck trying to retrieve fish confiscated by police. video circulating online appears to show mouhcine fikri jumping into the back of the truck to rescue his swordfish before being crushed to death by its compactor. the protests were called by activists from the february 20 movement, which organized demonstrations during the arab spring of 2011.

fikri's death drew parallels to that of tunisian fruit seller mohamed bouazizi in 2010 whose death sparked the arab spring uprisings. i recently spoke with miriyam aouragh, a dutch-moroccan anthropologist and democracy activist who is now in britain. she's a lecturer at the university of westminster in london, and she is writing a book on the february 20 movement in morocco. she came through new york when we spoke. i asked her to talk about the significance of the climate talks being held in marrakesh. >> i think marrakesh is being chosen, the second major corporate, because of its historic legacy and it is beautiful. it has an old city. i think somehow there's a kind of attempt also use these conferences with all of the respect to the organizers and people who are generally interested, as also a way to promote tourism. marrakesh is also the site of

these conferences to sort of put morocco in the picture again for tourists, but also on the other hand, it is a bit remote from the sort of troublesome areas in the north. i think they're also expecting the kind of tension that is very, very prevalent in the north of the political presence of political parties and movements elsewhere, will be absent in marrakesh. i think that is a reason they choose marrakesh. and he took the issue of press freedom -- amy: the issue of press freedom. morocco ranks 131st out of 180 nations for press freedom, according to reporters without borders. morocco is very interesting in terms of press freedom because the quantity of outlets is being confused for the democratic value of it. what we have seen with the new king in the late 1990's taking over from a very archaic,

, it is open up the media and was one of the first countries that allowed privatized media, but what you see is 2025 different newspapers in allen's basically saying the same and reporting on the king's visits to other countries. the press freedom itself has actually paradoxically, after the referendum of 2011 and the changing of the constitution which promised more press freedom, has likely seen a regression. lives in a regression of press freedom with arrests of famous havealists, of people who just left the country. we see a regression of press freedom after about scully the change of the constitution that promised improvements. i think it is another symptom of showing how contradicting the situation at present is. amy: what can't reporters report on? >> i think there are several red

lines. thegion and obviously monarchy which also you see and activistshe chants of who are smart about moving around possibilities for there to be a scapegoat is also by changing the chants from instead of people demand the downfall of the king, they demand the thefall -- the kingdom and sahara, the western sahara is another redline that you cannot cross. amy: why don't you explain what is happening in the western sahara. occupationde facto of another territory. it is complicated because of the spanish occupation. like a lot of expenses across the world, colonizers would exchange or deal with land and people as if they were consumer products.

this has been a lasting conflict where there is a violent presence of the moroccan army and the sahara and people are basically still living in refugee camp. this is happening in the backyard and people do not talk about it. there is no international campaign to really successfully resolve the issue because the international partners and supporters of allies of morocco, such as the u.s., are supporting the moroccan state in its position, vis-a-vis, the western sahara. the western sahara is a wholly issue that you should not touch. if you do, you are unpatriotic and and infiltrate of the algerian government, as they often use against activists. amy: i want to ask you about the elections here in the united states and the wikileaks revelations around the clinton

foundation and hillary clinton soliciting, i think, the account of john podesta e-mails that have come out show that hillary clinton secured a $12 million donation for the clinton global initiative in 2015 from the king of morocco on the condition she speak at an event in marrakesh. well, in the end, that looked very awkward for hillary clinton who is about to announce for president, so the former president bill clinton and their daughter chelsea clinton ultimately spoke in her place. the donation coming as hillary clinton announced for president. did that surprise you? >> it did not really surprised me because there has and very good relations between the kingdom of morocco and american leaders historically. known to be good friends with ronald reagan. , from quiteking

early on, had private friendship relationship with the clintons. this is a continuation of an organic relation. but i think what is maybe slightly -- not shocking, but i think hurting, is that this revelation is adding insult to injury. it is adding insult to injury in the sense that this is a country where it's people are being killed for selling fish, a country, by the way, where we have already seen at least 10 mohamed bouazizi cases. people have committed suicide, set themselves on fire before the murder of fikri. so this is a desperate country where the divide between rich and poor is incredible. it is undescribable. and in this context, the king

just throws away $12 million, which could have, you know, build a wing and a hospital or given free education. i think the symbolic level of it is probably also what is in the mind of the people were protesting now on the street. amy: what are the companies and where is it happening for water privatization? >> tangier, it has undergone in the lastlopment three years. we have seen transformations that are unprecedented. the pace of the changes are unprecedented. so these structural changes and aims of morocco to become the biggest port of africa and the new port in tangier, which, i mean, leads to terrible situations like people being kicked out of the houses, etc., but is sort of accommodates also a new privatized approach to

policy. one of that is water. water is very, very orton for -- important for people and accessible, affordable water. that has been privatized under the company which is also mostly owned by france, which is another painful reminder of the continuation of the colonial dependency. so in the last two years, there is a lot of unrest. last year, there were major particular,tangier where people went on strike. they went on strike. partnstance, electricity had led to people turning off their lights and lighting candles, and also sit-ins and protests outside offices. i think you state was quite surprised and a bit afraid by the level of anger. for me, it also shows when issues have to do with very direct everyday lives, social,

economic matters, people are really willing to go out on the street in large numbers in ways that are much more difficult to mobilize around a bit more abstract issues such as democracy and freedom of speech. i think this will continue. amy: can you draw the parallels between what happened to fikri -- do you think there's a parallel? a purely, authorities ordering or actually hitting the button themselves from his death by crushing him in the garbage truck as he tried to get out, and what happened to mohamed bouazizi in tunisia in 2011 when scale,ties stole his gusoff frustrated, he set himself on fire and that sparked the tunisian revolution. >> the parallels are there that people have no value to the state. they have no dignity, so they can be crushed at will.

swear words that are used, #'s, arsenal medical what was the. like right of the mother. amy: grind the mother? >> it is an abbreviation of another swear word. in this case, grind the mother. it is a very important signal that in these places in the , the and people like fikri police are not local. sweary use these arab words. the parallels are there in the sense i have no dignity and can be crushed at will, but i think what fikri shows a bit more is a larger, neoliberal effect of the privatization of the fishery industry. the moroccans of the most beautiful coast and beaches in the best fish you can imagine around the continent, but they do not own it. the moroccans have sold off their fishery and history from

most -- industry for a must nothing to european internationals. what used to be a source of living for people has been taken away not just by the state, but selling it off to the previous colonizers. amy: why wasn't he allowed to get swordfish at this time of year? >> we need to be careful about adopting that argument. i do not believe it. i think it is a way of depoliticize in the event. i do not think the moroccan state has any respect for seasonal fishery or not. the way they organize construction and vegetation and fishery has no relevance to what is good or not good for the fish. i think there were just using that as an excuse this time to frame it as a criminal act, sort of a poor act of an informal seller. i do not think the argument of this is not allowed in the season is irrelevant in this case. amy: talk about what happened in morocco in 2011, as opposed to

what happened in tunisia and egypt. what was similar and what was different? >> what we saw morocco was extraordinary. a lot of people do not really know about morocco, and really, the focus on the political development in the region are more on egypt and other countries that have to do with international politics like syria and palestine, so it was a bit of a surprise. but it was also a bit of a surprise for people themselves. i think the rediscovery of their agency, the fact that morocco saw mass protests in 2011 across the country, which is also, i think, slightly different from what we have seen elsewhere were often protest would con -- will concentrate on other cities. archaic.e you saw is spread all over. this we see again. it's started in villages where fikri is actually from, spread across the country in less than

12 hours. so i think the diversity and the way it spread across the country is quite unique and makes it very hard for the government to control it. i think that is one important factor of difference. the other thing that you saw, also what i was trying to find out in my research, did the movement is the year? -- disappear? we talk as if the revolution failed. amy: and making do not fall. itself infested different ways. since 2011 until now, there has actually never been a pause in protests. there have been protests every six months. what you see is a sort of democratic language of the 20 february movement, the people demand the fall of the corrupt regime, translated into concrete social, economic demands. in the same places of these protests are occurring now, we have seen enormous strikes and

protests by students, school students, by citizens striking against the privatization of water, of the french company. in every city there is in particular, concrete struggles. i think what we see now is the tragic, tragic assassination of -- has provided a venue, sort of breath to bring that together and maybe have act ii of uprisings of 2011 in morocco. that was act i and this could be act ii. amy: that was the dutch-moroccan anthropologist miriyam aouragh. she's a lecturer at the university of westminster in london and she is writing a book on the february 20th movement in morocco. i spoke to her late last month in new york. here at the climate talks in marrakesh, morocco, the word is that morocco has attempted to

silence voices from western sahara, which morocco has occupied since 1975. lastly, moroccan authorities barred from attending the summit, even though she serves as the vice president and african parliament. she was reportedly held by moroccan police for 75 hours without food or water. morocco also faced criticism after a briefly published map on a cop22 website that should occupied western sahara to be part of morocco. the image was later taken down from that website. the u.n. considers western sahara to be a non-self-governing territory. in march, morocco expelled you and staffers from western sahara after u.n. general ban ki-moon referred to morocco's rule over the region as an occupation during a visit to refugee camps in the algerian town located in southwestern algeria were western sahara and are in those camps. coming up, we speak to nigerian

environmental activist nnimmo bassey. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. here at the u.n. climate talks in marrakesh, morocco, the world bank has just published a new report finding natural disasters are pushing 26 million people into poverty each year. world bank president jim kim said -- "severe climate shocks threaten to roll back decades of progress against poverty." one of the hardest hit areas by climate change has been the continent of africa. we are joined now by one of the leading african environmentalists nnimmo bassey, director of the health of mother earth foundation in nigeria. author of several books including his latest, "oil politics: echoes of ecological wars." welcome to democracy now!

it is great to see you. i recall seeing you several years ago being dragged out by security protesting one of the previous u.n. summits. you are a voice inside and outside these summits. when the president-elect of the united states, donald trump, has , by all accounts, threaten to pull out of the u.n. fcc with united nations framework on climate change. can you explain what that is and the significance of this? >> i would only hope it doesn't --pen because we have just world has just been salivating the fact that many countries came to agree on the paris agreement, which i do agree with, but we should at least most countries agree this is something to tackle.

amy: it was the u.n. framework on climate change was signed off on the 11th president george h.w. bush. >> right, in 1992. equity,des the state of as pressureknown and responsibilities. we should recognize the historical responsibilities of which countries who have taken literally of the carbon that could ever occupy the atmosphere without the air expressing catastrophic global -- experiencing catastrophic global warming. should providest the technology and show some leadership. especially since

cop15, where i was thrown out of, now leading negotiator, at a press conference saying having an agreement that looks at temperature that will go up more than one degree was sentencing africa to death. amy: wasn't that obama, the beginning of copenhagen? the beginning of his 10 tenure --xina became countries

on pledging how they were going to cut emissions, what they were going to do about global warming before then. it was all about nations have been legally binding commitments to causing emissions. -- simply carbon trading and offsetting. so they keep on polluting. as soon as their polluting is offset. amy: what if trump pulled out of the aris agreement but not unfcc? >> it would mean the u.s. is not been very positive in terms of climate negotiation. the u.s. is a stumbling block in terms of binding commitments, in --ms of country's ambitions

vested interest has kept the u.s. from advancing an ambition step u.s. is powerful in the world process has pulled back other nations from doing what they got to do. if trump. , it willris agreement show the world, now you don't have a major force that will keep you from showing a vision so you can begin afresh and do something -- it means this is a very hard day for the world. because there will be -- it would put them into extreme jeopardy. amy: this summit here marrakesh, morocco, is being held on the continent of africa. the significance of this, nnimmo bassey, you from nigeria? >> people have called this the african cop. why do you call this the

german cop? it is a catch-22. countries are forcing -- continuing to pollute without stopping pollution. it is not going to add up to actually reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, which means the temperature is going to rise. -- with the paris agreement said of the temperature increase, we don't know what it means. from what the nations of said they're going to do, the world is set for over three degrees

andius temperature increase that means setting africa on fire. amy: my condolences on the death of some great nigerian activists -- and douglas. >> will lost great comrades and great fighters. just a couple of years ago, will he was campaigning about. and now his son, ken, jr., has just made a documentary on the environmental crisis and now he has passed away. and my friend and brother douglas. amy: nnimmo bassey, they could for being with us nigerian , in terminal activist and author of the new book, "oil

politics: echoes of ecological wars." wars." democracy laying)

♪ hello, i'm hubert keller. i think there's nothing more romantic than when you're able to cook a special meal for someone you really love, and today that's what will happen on the show. i'm going to show you how easy it is to make a beef tartare at home, and i've got some surprise ingredients to share with you and a fun way to present them. our main course is a classic and beautiful lobster thermidor. i will show you a foolproof method to cook the live lobster. we will make a delicious ragout for the filling and finish it off with a healthy dose of cheese. our side dish is green beans sauteed with onions, bacon and garlic, very classic. and no one wants to pass on dessert, a champagne and strawberry milkshake topped with whipped cream. it's romantic and it's exciting,