09/27/17 09/27/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! pres. trump: the governor of puerto rico are so thankful for the great job we are doing. >> i am pleased to see they have rebuilt although the bridges, dredged all of the water, restore the power supply, and provided emergency relief to 3.5 million people. that is a heck of a job. i'm truly astonished that was done in the space of 48 hours. the job will be done when puerto rico is restored as a living environment and when the jones act is lifted off its neck. you have a long way to go, president. amy: one week after hurricane devastated puerto rico, leaving

almost all of the island without access to power, clean water, food and fuel, president donald next says he will visit tuesday. he's also refused to waive shipping restrictions to help get gasoline and other supplies to puerto rico, even though he weighed those restrictions twice in the last month following hurricanes harvey and irma, which hit the mainland united states. we will get response from nelson denis, former new york state assemblyman, about "the law strangling puerto rico" and from democracy now!'s juan gonzalez. then calls are growing for a independent investigation into the u.s.-backed saudi-led war in yemen that has ravaged the country's infrastructure, stripping the country of social services, triggering a massive cholera outbreak. we'll speak with radhya al-mutwakel, chairwoman of the yemeni civilian society to brief the u.n. security council on the war in yemen.

then muhammad yunus, the founder and managing director of grameen bank and recipient of the 2006 nobel peace prize, on "a world of three zeroes: the new economics of zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emissions." >> the way it is expanding, the way the wealth is being more concentrated more and more. people are aware there is a concentration of wealth, but many people are not aware it is getting bigger and bigger and bigger for a smaller and smaller number of people. it is a ridiculous kind of world. you cannot call it an economy anymore. amy: we will speak with muhammad yunus about how he and more than a dozen other nobel peace laureates have signed a letter calling on the un security council to intervene to protect the rohingya and end the

in burma.an crisis we will also speak about the flooding of bangladesh and climate change. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. on puerto rico, almost all of the island remains without access to power, clean water, food and fuel, a week after hurricane maria devastated the island. puerto ricans are u.s. citizens. many residents are criticizing the u.s. government saying aid is not been arriving fast enough. this is a san juan residents joselyn velazquez. >> they say eight is coming from the united states. but who are they giving it to because i have not received any at my house. no one has stopped at my door and said, here is some rice. amy: president trump held a news conference tuesday in which he congratulated himself on his response to puerto rico's disaster for repeating nearly a dozen times he was doing a great , amazing, tremendous, and

incredible job. trump also says he will visit puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands next tuesday. the trump administration has also denied a request from several members of congress to waive shipping restrictions to help get gasoline and other supplies to puerto rico faster. the decision came even though the department of homeland security waived what is called the jones act twice in the last month following hurricanes harvey and irma, which hit the mainland united states. maria was the most powerful hurricane to strike puerto rico in nearly a century. it destroyed the island's entire electrical grid, caused severe flooding, widespread damage to homes and infrastructure, flights in and out of puerto rico are still severely restricted. hospitals are struggling to provide care with limited access to electricity from generators and woodland supplies. we will have more on the humanitarian crisis in puerto rico after headlines. senate republicans have officially abandoned their latest effort to repeal and

replace the affordable care act after again they failed to muster enough votes to pass the legislation. the congressional budget office says the graham-cassidy bill would have caused millions to lose their insurance. this is the latest in a series of failed republican efforts to repeal obamacare and replace it with plans that would slash funding for medicaid and give rich lavished -- lavish tax cuts. in alabama, former state supreme court justice roy moore won tuesday's senate runoff race to fill attorney general jeff sessions' seat. the race divided the republican party and the white house, with former white house senior a former white house senior adviser steve bannon backing moore and president trump going to alabama to hold a rally for his opponent senator luther strange. on tuesday, trump deleted his earlier tweets supporting strange. judge moore was twice ousted as alabama's chief justice. first, in 2003 for refusing to remove monument of the ten commandments in the rotunda of

the alabama judicial building. after being re-elected, he was again ousted in for ordering his 2016 judges to defy the u.s. supreme court's ruling legalizing marriage equality. moore is also well known for his racist and islamophobic positions. he was a proponent of trump's racist and discredited "birther theory" about president obama. he also opposed minnesota congressman keith ellison's election to congress because he is muslim. just last week, moore used racist language to describe polarization in the u.s., saying -- "now we have blacks and whites fighting, reds and yellows fighting." meanwhile, on capitol hill, foreign relations committee chair republican senator bob corker of tennessee has announced he will not run for reelection in 2018. "the washington post" reports the acting head of the drug enforcement agency is planning to resign in less than a week over president trump and

concerns about what he calls trump's lack of respect for the law. last month, chuck rosenberg criticized trump for condoning police brutality during his speech to police officers in brentwood, new york. in response, rosenberg sent an agency-wide memo reading -- "we have an obligation to speak out when something is wrong." the department of homeland security is planning to collect social media information about all immigrants living in the united states. the collected information would include people's social media handles, information they share on social media, and their online search results. the electronic frontier foundation said -- "we see this as part of a larger process of high-tech surveillance of immigrants." the rule is currently undergoing a public comment period, and is slated to take effect on october 18. meanwhile, in san diego, california, construction has begun on trump's proposed border wall. contractors working for the customs and border protection agency are building eight different prototypes of the

wall. the prototypes are between 18 feet and 30 feet high and each costs $500,000 of taxpayer money to build. the entire wall's cost would be an estimated $38 billion. officials say the trump administration is planning to cap the number of refugees resettled in the united states over the next year at 45,000 -- the lowest level since 1980. last year under president obama, the cap was 110,000 refugees. this comes amid the world's worst refugee crisis since world war ii. president trump has doubled down on his attacks on nfl players protesting against racism and police brutality. trump also tweeted tuesday -- "the nfl has all sorts of rules and regulations. this is what trump said at his news conference. pres. trump: it wasn't preoccupied with the nfl. i was ashamed of what was taking place because to me, it was a

very important moment. i don't think you can disrespect our country, our flag, our national anthem. amy: trump also tweeted tuesday -- "the nfl has all sorts of rules and regulations. the only way out for them is to set a rule that you can't kneel during our national anthem!" tuesday was the fifth-straight day trump has attacked the racial justice protests led by african-american athletes. on monday, trump appeared to celebrate his attacks against the players, telling conservative leaders at a white house dinner -- "it's really caught on. it's really caught on." meanwhile, right-wing pastor robert jeffress, who sits on trump's evangelical advisory council, said the nfl players should be grateful they aren't shot in the head for protesting . >> these players i to be thanking god that they live in a country where they're not only free to earn millions of dollars every year, but there also free from the worry of being shot in the head for taking a knee like they would be if they were in north korea. amy: tensions are rising between

iraq's central government and the kurdistan regional government in northern iraq over monday's kurdish independence referendum. on tuesday, the kurdish government said an overwhelming majority of people had voted for independence, although the full results have not yet been released. in retaliation, iraq's prime minister has threatened to impose an air embargo on international flights unless the oil-rich kurdish region surrenders control of its two international airports by friday. in mexico, anger is growing over the government's handling of the massive magnitude 7.1 earthquake last week, which killed at least 333 people. residents say government aid is concentrated in wealthier neighborhoods of the capital, leaving poor districts and surrounding areas without help. residents also say government rescue operations were called off too soon, leaving both bodies and possible survivors buried under the rubble. meanwhile, crowds gathered across mexico on tuesday to mark the third anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from the ayotzinapa teachers' college in the southern state of guerrero. the students went missing on

september 26, 2014 after being attacked by local police. international experts say the mexican military and federal police also played a role in the students' disappearance. the parents of the missing students arrived in mexico city for the march in busses filled with supplies for victims of the earthquake. and in saudi arabia, women have won a major victory -- the right to drive. saudi women have been organizing against the ban on women driving for nearly 30 years, often taking their protests to the streets, behind the wheel. this is one saudi driver defying the ban. going to take i'm my sisters to do some of their work instead of waiting for the driver or someone to take them. they will be delayed, so we decided to do our work i ourselves. we are to the salon now. i can drive very well. the is no danger to us, god willing. amy: women in saudi arabia will now be able to obtain drivers licenses and drive legally by

june 2018. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. one week after hurricane maria devastated puerto rico, president donald trump says he will visit the island next tuesday. under withering criticism. maria was the most powerful hurricane to strike the island in nearly a century. it can just after hurricane irma and destroyed the island' entire electrical grid and caused severe flooding, widespread damage to homes and infrastructure. most of the the 3.5 million u.s. citizens who live in puerto rico remain in the dark without access to power, clean water, food, and fuel. it took president trump five full days to respond to the plight of puerto rico. he did not tweet about it over that period. over the weekend, trump posted

17 tweets about athletes protesting police violence and refusing to visit the white house. facing criticism, trump held a news conference tuesday where he congratulated himself, repeating nearly dozen times that he was doing a great amazing, tremendous, an incredible job. he denied he had neglected puerto rico. pres. trump: i was not preoccupied with the nfl. i was ashamed of what was taking place because to me, that was a very important moment. i don't think you can disrespect our country, our flag, our national anthem. to me, the nfl situation is a very important situation. i have heard that before that was i preoccupy? not at all. not at all. i have plenty of time on my hands. all i do is work. to be honest, that is an important function of working. it is called respect for our country. the governor of puerto rico is so painful for the great job we're doing. we did a great job in texas and florida and louisiana. we hit little pieces of georgia and alabama.

frankly, we're doing -- it is the most difficult job because it is on the island. it is an island in the middle of the ocean. it is out in the ocean. you can't just drive there from other states. the governor said we are doing a great job. in fact, he thanked me specifically for fema and all of the first responders in puerto rico. we are also mentioning with that the u.s. virgin islands. it was devastated. focused onotally that. amy: but many puerto ricans are criticizing the u.s. government and saying eight has not been arriving fast enough. non-governmental-organizations are even reporting that charter planes that brought donations for them to distribute never reached the groups because the government decided to centralize all distributions. this is joselyn velasquez of san juan. slow.ht is too they say it is coming from the united states. but who are they giving it to because i have not received any at my house. known as knocked on my door and said, here are some rights. amy: meanwhile on tuesday, the

trump administration denied a request from several members of congress to waive shipping restrictions to help get gasoline and other supplies to puerto rico as it recovers. the decision came even though the department of homeland security waived what is called the jones act twice in the last month following hurricanes harvey and irma, which hit the mainland united states. republican senator john mccain called the decision unacceptable and called on the agency to reconsider. for more, we're joined by nelson denis, former new york state assemblyman. he wrote about the jones act in the "new york times" this week in piece headlined "the law strangling puerto rico." his book is called, "war against all puerto ricans: revolution and terror in america's colony." and we are joined by democracy now! video stream by juan gonzalez, democracy now! cohost author of "harvest of , empire: a history of latinos in america," and his latest book is "reclaiming gotham: bill de blasio and the movement to end america's tale of two cities."

juan, usually you would be sitting here in the studio. he is under the weather. as 70 people are in puerto rico. if you could first respond to the catastrophe in your island and how u.s. government, the majority of americans do not realize puerto ricans are u.s. citizens, how the u.s. government has responded to the climate catastrophe. it is been too little too late. as you mentioned, this full issue of the jones act, which nelson wrote a fabulous piece in "the new york times just this week, is one of the key problems still bedeviling puerto rico. you mentioned the jones act was suspended just this year to benefit texas in florida during the hurricanes harvey and irma. but there have been previously -- previous suspensions of the jones act.

during hurricane katrina, the bush and administration waived the jones act for a period of time to help people of new orleans as well as during hurricane rita that occurred that same year in 2005, and arne -- and duringdy superstorm sandy, the obama administration suspended the jones act for a period of time to allow other foreign vessels to come in and assist the people of the east coast of the united states. so it is not unusual for the federal government to waive the jones act in times of major crises. for some unexplainable reason, the trump administration has said the for puerto rico, which has always suffered from the jones act, it will not happen this time around. "y: nelson denis, you wrote the law struggling puerto rico." most people don't understand this law. explain exactly what it is, what it does when it comes to getting things into puerto rico -- of course, it has to do with the

whole country as well -- around price and even access to that. >> that is precisely the case, amy. section 27 of the act was originally promulgated to protect the u.s. from german u-2 both in 1920. you fast for nearly 100 years later, there are no u-2 with looking of the coast of puerto rico. it creates an international price reading environment. the only way that foreign registry goods can enter puerto rico under the auspices of the jones act is one of two ways. the goods -- all goods, food, water, medicine, oil could electrical grid which runs entirely on oil daesh all of it has to come in the directly to puerto rico by paying fees, duties, taxes, import quotas, all sorts of cost passed on to the puerto rican consumer. the only other option is to reroute to jacksonville, florida. the vessel goes to jacksonville

come offload the goods, reload onto a u.s. vessel, and that vessel reroute back to puerto rico. it is the equivalent of digging a ditch to fill it again. the net result of this is everything on those ships is then priced 15% to 20% higher because of all of that activity, because of the duties and what they pay in puerto rico or the rerouting from jacksonville. that then creates a price rigging environment where u.s. corporations can just lightly underbid. the same automobile cost $6,000 more in san juan than miami. food costs twice as much in puerto rico as the mainland united states. and yet puerto ricans per capita about 17,000, less than half of that of mississippi, the poorest state in the union. it is externally profitable for the jones act carrier company and for the consumer goods -- they're more walgreens and what works for square mile in puerto rico than any other place on the planet.

is all under hyperinflated prices due to the jones act. that is why right now they have to be a teutonic shift in this relationship. we have to eliminate the jones act so puerto ricans can afford to live. amy: what about them saying this time around -- i mean, when this just affects puerto rico, oh, and the virgin islands, u.s. virgin islands. how do you respond to trump saying he will not lift it now? i was listening to governor rosello said it has to be suspended for seven days. >> it doesn't fly. with trump, as usual, the devil isn't even in the details because they don't make sense. they say, oh, well, we don't have increased port capacity. the ports are the bottleneck in puerto rico, therefore, the jones act won't make any difference. that doesn't make sense. your florida ports involved in this -- and they suspended it week before hurricane irma hit. they are resuspended the jones

act for florida. in the florida ports were involved. last night.research the british ministry of defense rebuilt ports within 27 days. by the time trump gets to puerto rico, they could be halfway to rebuilding the port structure that he is supposedly talking about. it has nothing to do with the capacity of the ports. it has to do with the prices and that is what clearly there looking to avoid it has what we're going to get his public-private partnerships that are now going to own the ports and rebuilding effort, everything to do with the puerto rican waterfront and that is just about making money, not about saving puerto rico. so there is no reason why the jones act could not be lifted. it is just plain doubletalk to say it won't work. amy: in a mill of your rodents at mitch mcconnell's wife -- the senate majority leader and elaine chao, the secretary of transportation -- her family probably benefits from the jones act that keeps eight out of puerto rico. and keeps puerto rican residents

core. her family owns a shipping company. >> it is a virtual monopoly. , a smaller companies group of usual suspects, that benefit enormously from this status quo. in addition to the consumer goods companies. cars, the same car will cost $6,000 more in san juan than in miami. there's a very tight not a vested interest that are coming under the auspices of citizens united, lobbying intensively right now to do whatever they on thekeep the jones act neck of puerto rico. but hopefully, the human values and the humanitarian crisis that is basically exploding right now will basically offset the lobbying efforts. amy: juan, have you heard from your sister in puerto rico at this point? juan: no, i have not still. i have been trying to reach out to other people and even

journalists in puerto rico who i know, but there is been no phone communications. she has not been able to text. she and her husband have not been able to text message were obviously get to any kind of working internet connection to be able to get messages out. we're hopeful she is fine. i want to bring up another issue about -- there been reports the entire 911 system in puerto rico has not been operating. and i think this is important to understand, not just for puerto rico, but for the rest of the united states. iner the twin towers attacks 2001, the federal government, because of the coming occasion problems that the firefighters and the police had during the attack on the world trade center, the federal government spent billions of dollars to create a new emergency response system for police forces and

public safety personnel throughout the united states. it is called first net. it is out within a few years come all of the police departments and emergency response servers across the country would have it. we are now more than 15 years later, and the first net system is still not operational in times of natural disasters. in fact, it was only in march of this year, 2017, that commerce secretary wilbur ross finally awarded a contract for $47 billion to at&t to basically operate this system. because for the early years, there were all caps of conflict of interest between the officials named to the first net board. it took a long time to get this contract awarded. it was just on august 31 that the governor puerto rico announced it would buy into the first net system because all of these local government are not going to have to pay -- when you

have to pay at&t to create this system. puerto rico basically has an antiquated 911 system. now with the people need it most, it is that functioning. more important, the federal government has taken all of this time since the attacks on the world trade center to come up with a workable 911 system in cases of natural disasters or terrorist to attacks. amy: i want to go to naomi klein for a minute. we've had her on a log, but years ago when she wrote "the shock doctrine," she described how governments often introduced radical free-market reforms after disasters. about when she is talking "the shock doctrine." >> what i mean by "the shock doctrine," the ways in which large-scale shocks to society, large-scale crises, economic crises -- wars, coups, natural disasters -- has systematically

been used by right-wing governments using the disorientation and the panic in society to push through a very radical pro-corporate agenda. i have been on the show many times talking about examples of this like hurricane katrina and how that tragedy and the dislocation of the residents of that city was used to privatize the school system, attack public housing, introduce a tax-free free enterprise zone under george bush's administration. amy: that was naomi klein your sicko. nelson denis me your thoughts on what she is saying and what could happen with puerto rico now? >> there is tremendous historical presidents. in 1898, the next year, the most devastating hurricane of the century, of the 19 century, for and the island. it was worse than hurricane maria. the response of the united states the following year, 19 hundred, was to devalue the puerto rican currency by 40%. that was the shock doctrine in

its earliest application. and it worked. within 30 years, the united states owned more than 80% of the arable agriculture of puerto rico. fast for now, you have the promesa registration, the jones act, and ambulatory president, doing a norlin's flyover and photo op of puerto rico and basically create private- public partnerships that will own importer go rather than redevelop it. basically the shock doctrine on steroids in the caribbean. this is -- this is in time for fun and games. this is not a distraction. these are human lives. three point 5 million people that do not have electricity of projected to not have it up to six months. that electricity is run on imported foreign oil that is inflated prices under the jones act. amy: velazquez, as we speak now,

drafting legislation around the jones act. one, you are in next word. he speak around the country on the puerto rican debt, the devastation, talking about what has happened to this american colony. how does that play in here and do you see, even as the crisis is in full gear right now, i mean, with people, the entire island in the dark, the pieces being sort of reorganized? >> amy, i've always maintained -- was mention of the continual blackout that is occurring in puerto rico. todayown jewel of vertigo is the puerto rico elecic coany. it is the largest publicly owned utility in the united states. dollarsates billions of in revenue. there has been a longtime desire by the electric power industry of the united states to

privatize the puerto rico electric company. -- the longerger the blackouts continue, the greater the public crime will be to do something -- public crack to do something radical. i noted in the piece i wrote for the daily news earlier this week -- i was i, last week, that in the month of june alone, 60% of the municipalities in puerto rico had blackouts. that was before the hurricane season. there's been a constant years and years of disinvestment in the puerto rico electric company and now i think the private industry feels now is the time to move forward to basically privatize this company so that their profits from the company can flow to american investors, obviously, instead of generating revenue as the puerto rico electric company did for so many

years for the puerto rican government. amy: as we begin to wrap up, nelson denis, this issue of how the u.s. is treating puerto rico now and its status as a commonwealth -- for example, if it was in independent island right now, countries like cuba, 750 doctors and health professionals around the caribbean have been sent to help out in the storms. they can get aid from anywhere, but not get aid given they are a u.s. commonwealth, territory of the united states. completely under the plenary jurisdictions and exclusive jurisdictions of the u.s. juan hit the nail on the head. we are in the public. in puerto rico, they are public-private partnerships of up slander of puerto rico. it will happen under an .ccelerated basis the public and a private component. the public is the jones act.

if we don't see any relief -- one is on top of that, it means it is a run-up, a precursor to the privatization of the public infrastructure of puerto rico because that is what will happen next if we don't suspend the jones act. amy: we will continue to follow this. i want to thank you both for being with us, nelson denis, new york status of women. we willing to your piece in "the new york times" is headlined "the law strangling puerto rico." juan gonzalez, i hope you're able to reach your sister. democracy now! cohost. your latest book, "reclaiming gotham: bill de blasio and the movement to end america's tale of two cities." juan: will be participating in a fundraiser for one of the radio stations and i will be moving on to the university of maryland on saturday. amy: in college park. thank you so much, juan and nelson denis. when we come back, a call for an

international inquiry into the devastation of yemen. the mass killings both from the u.s.-backed saudi bombing and the cholera outbreak. we will speak with the first yemeni civilian to address the u.n. security council. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "camino abandonado" by lucecita benitez. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

we turn now to the u.s.-backed saudi bombing campaign in yemen that has been raging for three years, killing more than 10,000 civilians in the arab world's poorest country. the conflict has ravaged the country's infrastructure, stripped the country of social services, triggered a massive cholera outbreak. now there are growing calls from around the world for the creation of an independent probe into human rights violations committed by both sides, and this week, the u.n. human rights council is slated to vote on a resolution to launch an investigation sponsored by the netherlands, canada, luxembourg, belgium, and ireland. meanwhile, the associated press reports that saudi arabia responded to the proposal with threats, sending a letter to two of the sponsoring countries that said if independent investigators are sent to yemen, it could negatively affect trade and diplomatic ties with the wealthy kingdom. well, for more, we're joined by radhya al-mutwakel, chairwoman of the yemeni ngo, mwatana organization for human rights.

in may, she became the first representative of yemeni civil society to brief the u.n. security council on the war in yemen. she is also calling for the establishment of this international commission. radhya al-mutwakel, welcome to democracy now!. tell us what you are calling for an talk about the international probe that is been proposed by number of countries being opposed by the country that is bombing yemen right now, saudi arabia. sinces is the first year 2012 that ngos and some country are trying to push for international inquiry, but it never happens. not because the situation in yemen doesn't deserve it, but because saudis don't want it to happen. so it is a very negative message. it is like a green light for all parties of the conflict, not only saudis and emirates, but boots on the ground as they have the green light to do

violations. we can see that from year to another in yemen, the violations are increasing and there is not any kind of validity. amy: tk about the ravaging of your country. 10,000 people dead. cholera atected with this point because of the devastation of the infrastructure? >> yes. and already 2000 people informants have been killed because of the cholera. cholera should be something that can be treated. because the health system is collapsed because of it, 2000 people were killed because we also have the minister of famine. people, theyillion might face famine. saidumanitarian agencies the situation in yemen is a

human a train disaster, but it is a man-made disaster. it is because of the conflicts. so all of the violations that have been committed by different groups in the ground and in the air just led to this humanitarian situation in yemen. so we think that international inquiry study huge thing. it is just one small step to send a message to those parties, to the conflict, that they can't go on with their violations. what is very disappointing, even this small step was not done because one of the countries, the saudis, they don't want it to be done. amy: wider saudi arabia not want to be investigated? >> because they have committed a lot of violations in yemen. iudi arabia, with others, mean, they have tried everything in yemen. committed more than 132 incidents when thousands of civilians were killed and womend, most children and

-- most were children and women. this that only saudi arabia and emirates -- amy: united arab emirates. >> yes. we also have the yemeni groups, armed groups that are also committing violations. international inquiry should investigate the violations of all of these groups. saudi arabia is just acting as their building one who is committing violations. -- e against this amy: what about the role of the u.s.? president trump's first trip, this was unprecedented, his first foreign trip was to saudi arabia, famously doing the sword dance, his family there with him, talking about them as difference. president obama had been there something like four times. u.s.are your thoughts on military deals with saudi arabia

and amnesty international's recent finding involving the american bomb that killed an entire family in sonata -- sa 'na? the u.s. is feeling the war by political support and also by the transfer to saudi arabia. transfer, i mean, the weapons to saudi arabia at the same time they don't support the international inquiry. we can say they are fueling this war. it is not only the u.s., it is the u.s. and u.k. and also france and some other countries involved also in sending weapons to saudi. so we can say the international intereste financial thane here more important

the plight of innocent people, which is really sad. amy: so what do you want to happen right now? there is the most the one of the most painful quotes recently that just came out is as people in oh,e the situation jamie mcgoldrick, the united nation's humanitarian coordinator in yemen, told a group of reporters on september 20 that he sees no hope on the horizon for the country. saying -- "the prescription for the future is bleak -- at the very best it's bleak. it's a disaster. i think the humanitarian crisis is going to get much, much worse. people are dying in corners of the country in silent deaths. you've got 400,000 kids under the age of five who are acutely malnourished. and those numbers are growing because 50% of health structures don't work. 1700 schools don't function. health workers don't have 30,000 salaries. no operational budgets. two million kids are out of school. it's a lost generation." >> it is a very serious and that

situation, but the hope is there, which is really sad -- peace is always possible, but no one cares. the inquiry, it is a very small step. it never happens in yemen. we think that such international inquiry would help the peace process. there are some countries who are trying to do a fake link between unity and peace, which we have tried this in 2011 in yemen will step it has never worked. it will never work. accountability will just bring peace and will just make some pressure on parties of the conflict to go to the table. it is a disaster, but the hope is always there. and now it is possible more than any other time because now most of these armed groups, including

saudi arabia and other countries, are still with political leaders and they can be encouraged to go to the table. it now saudi arabia and the united emirates are empowering groups in the area that are this fanatical edges groups will never go to the table if they are empowered. they will never go to the table. they don't care about the inquiry. dangerous future for yemen. the chances now and it is still very possible. amy: you plan to go back to yemen? >> yes, we have a team of 60 people. they need me. amy: human rights group? >> yes. but for security reasons, there's a lot of hate campaign against mwatana. and thankse be safe you for stopping by to talk about this crisis in yemen. radhya al-mutawakel is a yemeni activist and chairwoman of the

human rights ngo mwatana organization for human rights. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. only come back, we will be joined by the nobel peace prize winner muhammad yunus from bangladesh. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "why is it so hard?" by charles bradley, known as the "screaming eagle of soul." he died saturday in new york. he was 68. aung san suu kyi this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show looking at the humanitarian crisis unfolding in burma, where more than 400,000 members of the rohingya muslim minority have burma after hundreds of their villages were burned to the ground. the u.n. high commissioner for human rights has accused the burmese government of waging a book example of ethnic cleansing. hundreds of thousands of rohingya have crossed the border into neighboring bangladesh, which is struggling to shelter and feed the influx of refugees as it recovers from the worse monsoon season in decades -- flood waters submerged about a third of the entire country. this is rohingya refugee chaman bahar speaking from a makeshift shelter in bangladesh. >> the military torched our houses. my husband, along with my daughter and her husband, were killed in the clashes. i somehow was able to flee, taking my grandson, along with these soldiers. amy: bangladesh says it's now preparing to construct shelters for 6000 rohingya children who have entered bangladesh alone to escape violence in burma.

at the united nations general assembly last week, bangladesh's leader laid out a plan to eventually repatriate rohingya refugees. repatriate them back to burma. prime minister sheikh hasina said the u.n. should set up safe zones in burma for returning refugees. the myanmar authorities are laying landmines along the stretch of the border to prevent the rohingya's for returning to myanmar. they must be of the return to the homeland and safety, security, and dignity. amy: in recent days, bangladeshi authorities have sharply restricted the movements of rohingya refugees, telling them they can't leave their makeshift camps, ordering drivers not to transport rohingya, and landlords not to rent to them. most recently, the bangladeshi government reportedly has banned its cell phone carriers from selling sim cards to rohingya refugees. for more, we are joined by muhammad yunus, the founder and managing director of grameen bank and recipient of the 2006 nobel peace prize. he and over a dozen other nobel peace laureates have signed a letter calling on the united nations security council to intervene to protect the rohingya and end the

humanitarian crisis in burma. muhammad yunus as a new book called "a world of three zeros: , the new economics of zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emissions." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. let's start with the crisis of the rohingya, and then i want to talk with you about climate change, about bangladesh -- one third of the country foded -- and aboupoverty, the issues he of taken on for so long. but what is happening with the rohingya? unbelievable situation. this is happening under the leadership of it nobel peace prize winner. amy: you're referring to aung san suu kyi, the de facto leader. she is a fellow, a sister nobel peace prize winner. >> absolutely. we've been working together or years. suddenly, we see a completely different face for her. amy: this woman was imprisoned for 15 years by the very

military she is now working with , that is responsible for the ethnic cleansing. >> she stood for democracy and human rights and for all of the human values you can think about. her speeches are filled with upholding these values. she was imprisoned and under house arrest for many, many years. now she comes to power and we see a completely different face from the nobel peace laureate. she defends this and saying, we don't know why the rohingya are leaving the country. there are so many reports coming and you have reports from international press, media, and so on. i have been inviting her to come to bangladesh and see these , myanmar isell them as much their country as hers. and i come to take you back -- amy: myanmar, the military has renamed burma. >> burma. i'm taking you back to burma.

she doesn't do that. you mentioned about 400,000 already coming in the dead bodies floating in the river. year,y the end of the millions of refugees coming from burma. by theimate given government of burma, about one million rohingya in the country. if you million coming to bangladesh, what is left? -- it is acleansing perfect example of ethnic cleansing. many leaders like president macron say this is genocide. a clear case of genocide taking place. -- he world council and wety have appealed to step in and do something so that people can go back to their own homes.

if it is delayed, it will become more complicated in that terrorism and other things will flourish in this region. the whe stability of the region will be affected. amy: if aung san suu kyi said stop the ethnic cleansing, could you stop and alone with the military ash with the military listen to her? >> the rule of the meter leadership, you stand for something. you don't just given in and say, ok, what can i do? she doesn't say, what can i do? .he sibley says, i don't know i didn't see anything wrong. that is not a good kind of leadership. and then she is stopping all of the foreign visitors come all of the foreign observers to come in. she is not allowed any foreign visitors to come in. even the media cannot go. people have immediate reason to believe that something terribly wrong is happening inside of myanmar or burma. amy: what about bangladesh's

response? >> and british doesn't have resources to settle -- bangladesh doesn't have the resources to settle all of the people. it is a huge number to give them shelter, give them food. you need a structure to make it happen. and diseases and all of the terrible things they have come back with, medical problems inside of them. these are the things we have to address. amy: what can the u.n. secure to counsel -- what can the u.n. do? >> lots of things. there are many ways. they can send commissions to study the situation and come back. luckily, the kofi annan commission, which was appointed by aung san suu kyi price risk government and most of the commission members -- six of them are armies citizens, three are outsiders.

theye're saying is now have excepted, go ahead and implement it and have international body to supervise and help you implement that. this is not something we are saying we are not excepted by them. they have accepted it, but they don't do anything about it. they're just said implementation --mittee, which is their own people are not sure whether they will move in the direction of those commendations. amy: now let's talk about what bangladesh is facing in addition to the hundreds of thousands of rohingya coming in, and that is the issue of climate change. you come into this country -- i know you're speaking at the public library tonight. you come into this country, see the catastrophe, the climate catastrophe in puerto rico,

florida, texas, these hurricanes becoming more frequent, more intense. one third of your country, bangladesh, is underwater? >> you said all of the words i was about to say. it is unbelievable that this one fourth of the country is about one meter above sea level. the global warming, as it takes place, the sea level rises, bangladesh slides into the sea. this is the position every year getting more and more into the sea and we were before. it is a tightly packed country. a small territory of 150 million 150,000 square kilometers, we have more than 1000 people per square mile of the whole country. the most is the populated country in the world. if the land goes into the water,

your land becomes really cannot grow food for yourself and you have to leave your territory. so it is becoming a situation where we will have hundreds of thousands of climatrefues mong around to finshelter for ourselves. on top of it, yet the new refugees coming from burma to find shelter with us. becausee happening now bangladesh is doing something wrong for the climate situation or worsening the situation, it is because this happening somewhere else. floodsods you mentioned, -- we used to know floods. it is more frequent and more intensive. amy: how did it feel to come to the united states where the president, president donald denied climate change, called it a chinese hoax, pulled the u.s. out of the paris climate accord? >> it is unbelievable.

we can't believe the president of the united states can say such a thing. it took us more than 40 years of global mobilization, make people change andimate explain what it is, and soon reaching the point of no return. so we all got together, all of the countries got together in paris to sign the paris agreement. and today, it exists. but suddenly, the president of the united states as, we are withdrawing from the paris agreement. it takes away the movement that was built up around the world. we are very unhappy and very disappointed that sh a position is taken. i hope the u.s. will review the position and go back to the paris agreement and give the full support to it so that it makes it happen. a country like china moving ahead, india moving ahead. the countries people suspected would not agree to the paris agreement or any kind of attempt

to save the planet from the global warming because they want to develop the country first before they get into -- the other one taking a leadership role. or the u.s. is withdrawn from that. amy: we will be broadcasting from paris tomorrow from unesco headquarters where i'm going to be speaking. you wrote a book, "a world of three zeros: the new economics of zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emissions." oxfam came out with a report, the eight richest men in the world on half the wealth of more than half the population, more than 3.5 billion people. talk about zero net carbon emissions, zero poverty. >> we have to achieve this. there is no option. -- system which we have been the capital system is not working towards it. it is a system which, as you mentioned, and people wealthier

than 50% of the people, the system like a machine which is sucking up well from the bottom and transporting it to the top. the top is becoming a big machine of wealth. 99% of the people is like the stem from the mushroom. the stem is becoming thinner and thinner. the portion of the wealth 99 or the the bottom 99%, we don't say bottom anymore, becoming smaller and the top he coming bigger and bigger. bomb.s a ticking time anytime it can explode. we're not paying attention. it is been going on ever since we introduced the capitalist system, but it is not been visible. today, it is becoming worse and worse. the speed has become speedier and speedier. a couple of years back, 32

people owned half of the wealth of the bottom 50% and now we have eight, soon it will be five, then two. two people owning the entire world's wealth together. those are the kinds of things to pay attention to. when concentration of wealth takes place, it is also the concentration of power. wealth and power go together. you control the government. you control the politics. you control the media. you control businesses. everything. that is the kind of situation coming. all of the people at the bottom 2%, 20%, 50%, they will have tremendous anger against the way it is being done and how to express themselves that will create the stability -- amy: which is a perfect launching point for part two that we will display on democracynow.org. muhammad yunus and recipient of the nobel peace prize. his new book, "a world of three zeros: the new economics of zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emissions."

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