tv Democracy Now LINKTV March 23, 2012 3:00pm-4:00pm PDT
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03/23/12 03/23/12 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is "democracy now!" >> i watched as a young woman's room was broken, she-legged, convulsed in the middle of the street. >> an exclusive interview with the young women, cecily mcmillan. she is among 73 people arrested on the six month anniversary of occupy wall street. are the police becoming
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increasingly violent against peaceful protesters? we will speak with her attorney. this week marks the 20th anniversary of act up, the aids coalition to unleash power print >. >> we beg, we pray, we demand this epidemic and >. "how to survive a plague." we will speak with the director, david france, and peter staley, one of the longest aids survivors in the country. all of that and more coming out. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. u.s. soldier robert bales is expected to be charged today for the massacre of afghan civilians earlier this month. he will face 17 counts of murder, reflecting the revised death toll figure of 17 civilian
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dead, up from 16. bayles is being held at fort leavenworth, kansas following his removal from afghanistan in the days after the shooting. afghan human rights activist nader nadery criticized u.s. military's decision to try rubber bails out of afghanistan. >> it would be much more better if the trial would have happened here in afghanistan or at least a close observation of human rights organizations or in addition, the representative of victims to observe the trial. >> thousands rallied in sanford, florida, and the largest rally to date to demand justice in the killing of trayvon martin. 17-year-old african american, trayvon martin was shot dead while walking in a gated community last month. he was unarmed.
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martin's shooter, george suleiuman, has not been arrested or charged. martin's parents, sybrina fulton and tracy martin, addressed the crowd. >> i stand before you today not knowing how i am walking right now because my heart hurts for my son. trayvon is my son. trayvon is your son. i just want to say thank you, thank you for all your support. it means a lot to me and my family. we really appreciate it. we want justice for trayvon. >> without you all, we really have no support. you are our strength. you are what keeps us going. if trayvon would have been alive, he would have been at this rally. trayvon was a people's person. he did not deserve to die. i pledge i will not let my son
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die in vain. >> more than a thousand people rallied. many were wearing a hooded sweatshirts like the one trayvon wore when he was killed. also speaking to the crowd was the veteran civil rights activist, the reverend al sharpton. >> trayvon could have been any one of our sons. trayvon could happen any one of us. trayvon represents a reckless disregard for our lives that we have seen too long. we come to tell you tonight, enough is enough. we are tired of going to jail for nothing and others going home for something. zimmerman should have been arrested that night. >> meanwhile, the police chief in sanford has announced he's temporarily stepping down following an outpouring of criticism for failing to arrest
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or charge george sermon. sanford police chief bill lee's decision comes one day after city officials gave him a vote of no-confidence. lee has maintained his departure will only be temporary. hours later, the local state attorney, norman wolfinger, recused himself from the case. president obama has made a swing through western states to promote his ministrations so- called all of the above energy policy. thursday, he appeared in cushing, oklahoma to announce his support for transcanada to build the southern leg of its keystone oil pipeline from oklahoma to texas. the move comes two months after obama rejected the canada to texas keystone xl pipeline after large protests by environmental groups. there's a bottlenecked right here because we cannot get enough of the oil to our refineries fast enough. if we could, then we would be able to increase our oil supplies at a time when they are needed as much as possible. right now a company called
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transcanada has applied to build a new pipeline to speed more oil from cushing to state of the refineries in the gulf coast. today i'm directing my administration to cut through the red tape, a brick through the bureaucratic hurdles, and make this project a priority to go ahead and get it done. >> president obama boasted his administration has authorized enough gas pipelines to encircle the earth. >> under my administration, america is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years. [applause] that is important to note. over the last three years, have directed my administration to open of millions of acres for gas and oil exploration across 23 different states. we're opening up more than 75% of our potential oil resources offshore. we have quadrupled the number of
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operating rigs to record high. we have added enough new oil and gas pipeline to encircle the earth and then some. >> the justice department has extended the authorized time period for government intelligence agencies to retain information about u.s. citizens, even those without known connection to terrorism cases. the washington post reports the changes will allow the master, tourism center to keep the information for up to five years. the guidelines of -- or as a sharp departure from the current rule, which bars intelligence officials from keeping affirmation on u.s. citizens or residents unless there's a clear link to terrorism. the and secured tourism council has called for the restoration of civilian rule. renegade soldiers ousted the mali president. the soldiers say they have
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suspended the constitution and imposed a military curfew. his being held in military barracks. in pasco called for the immediate release. >> there is nothing particularly good second, out of overturning an elected president about a month or 660 for a new election is supposed to take place. and putting the two main candidates in jail -- not necessarily in jail, but a military barracks and holding them. this clinic is not the direction we want to see west africa or any other country to go in. we believe strengthening democracy is absolutely critical. i think there is a strong consensus on that issue. >> within 40 people killed thursday in the al-assad p's regime crackdown. the nine nations human rights council has ordered an investigation into how israeli settlements are infringing on
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palestinian rights. u.s. was a long country to oppose the probe. this week the israeli human rights group reported a sharp rise in the number of palestinian civilians killed by israeli forces in the occupied west bank. of 105 palestinians killed in the gaza strip, 37 were confirmed to be civilians. the top u.s. commander in afghanistan has predicted the u.s. needs to prepare for heavy fighting during the upcoming year. general john allen made the comment under questioning from republican senator john mccain. >> basically, have no opinion at the end of march 2012 as to what our military presence will be in 2013. >> my opinion at this -- >> what is your opinion? we will need significant combat power in 2013. >> like 68,000? >> yes, but i owe the president
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some analysis. >> tens of thousands of students rallied in quebec and the largest demonstration so far in a strike against plans to raise tuition the plan would increase tuition by 75% over the next five years. the largest rally was in montreal or a massive crowd of around 200,000 students took to the streets. more than 130 protesters arrested in vermont calling for the immediate closure of vermont yankee nuclear power plant. the state license expired this week under a vote from state lawmakers to shut it down last year. albany, entergy corporation, won an extension from the nuclear regulatory commission and later a federal court injunction. the vermont yankee plant is one of the oldest in the country and is that a series of leaks. in addition to the 130 rested at vermont yankee, activists were also arrested in parallel rallies outside entergy offices
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in white plains, new york and its headquarters in new orleans. civil rights attorney john payton has cited the age of 65. the president and director counsel of the naacp legal defense and education fund, national law journal recently named him one of the most influential civil rights attorneys of the past decade. those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. this weekend act up, the aids coalition to unleash power, celebrates its 20th anniversary. the international direct action advocacy group was formed in 1987 by a coalition of activists outraged by the government's mismanagement of the aids crisis. on march 24, act up staged its first major action, a die-in, with hundreds of protesters
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convening on wall street to demand access to experimental drugs and an end to discrimination against hiv- positive people. while most stayed behind police lines, some crossed the barricades and sat in the street to block traffic. in total, 17 and in -- members were arrested, a charge with disorderly conduct, and later released. the protest was the first in a long line of demonstrations that helped propel the hiv/aids crisis into the national spotlight. over the years, act up played a vital role in securing legislation, medical research, and treatments and policies. a new documentary about act up and the history of the aids epidemic is screening saturday in manhattan. it is called, "how to survive a plague." it chronicles the rise of aids activism to the lens of those who captured it firsthand. it tells the heart wrenching yet deeply inspiring story of desperate people organizing, marching, logging to curb a plague that vast swaths of
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society saw as just punishment for allegedly immoral acts. when the film premiered at the sundance film festival in park city, utah earlier this year, i spoke to its director, david france and peter staley, one of the longest it's survivors in the country. he left his job as a bond trader in new york to work as a full- time activist. in 1987, he helped found act up. i began asking director david france why he made, "how to survive a plague." >> this is a story i've known for a long time reid is seem to me the stories about aids have all been about the arrival of the virus and the way the virus into the community and the devastation, really. but the truth about the epidemic, especially the darker days of the epidemic, is there was a lot of amazing activity that took place in the community really rallied and made a difference. that part of the story about the
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plague had never been told. that is what i wanted to try to see if i could wrap my hands around. >> it is really a story about strategy and about activism in the face of death. so it was a life-and-death struggle. peter, when were you diagnosed? >> i found out shortly after rockettes and became a major news story when he disclosed he was dying of aids in the fall of 1985. the country was in a complete panic that time. parents were pulling their children out of school. there was a lot of fear. there were no drugs or treatments. it was a frightening time to find out pretty >> and that is when you were tested. >> yes. they had only isolated the virus about nine months before that. the quickly developed a test. >> is it fair to say you're one of the longest surviving people
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with aids? >> there are those that were infected even before we first started seeing those dying from aids. some were infected in the late 1970's who are still with us today, thanks to the treatments out there. but not many got to the 1980's and 1990's, so i feel very lucky. >> talk about your journey of activism. you did not start out as an activist. >> no, i was a bond trader at j.p. morgan during the reagan debt years. it was quite a heady job. i kind of hated it, actually. i found out i was positive and not only had a couple of years to live -- and thought i only had a couple of years to live. >> spurred you to leave the job? >> by indian system collapsed
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and i went on disability. i was already a member of act up who had its first demonstration outside the doors of wall street. >> it is described in the film, the bigotry you felt within at j.p. morgan. you were not out at the time. >> no, i was deeply in the closet. i got handed a flair for the first demo. there was a discussion on the trading floor. my mentor, the head trader said, i think they all deserve to die. i just had to sit there at my desk and steam and fume about it. but i went home that night and there we were, those demonstrators, the lead story on cbs news with dan rather, which i was watching. i said, i have got to join that group. that is how it started. >> we are with act up.
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please remain calm. we are in. we are from act up new york critics >> you already have the blood of people on your hands. we're here until we get arrested. >> maybe you're just not telling us the details of this drug. >> with helped many companies through this process. we can take a drug to the market in under two years if you work with us. we will pave the way for you at the food and drug administration, but this total reluctance on your part will get
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you nowhere. >> c. this dark mark on my forehead? it is going to spread. it will kill me. are you coming to my funeral? you are the man responsible. you are my murderer in your shirt and tie. andet's talk about act up the strategizing. you're talking now about a presidential election year. you are talking about a year of uprisings from tunisia and egypt to the occupy movement all of this country. in a sense, this is a kind of primer on what to do and maybe what not to do. david, talk about the whole to a directory of protest. >> the act up story, and i think the important part of the story, is that it took almost 10 years
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for the, if in fact there were looking for to be achieved. i think with the other movements, we are impatient for victories and well defined strategies. what this film detail's is how the strategies of developed and how an organization of people who are simply desperate and terrified became a movement that could really change the way health care is delivered, not just in america but throughout the world, how science is conducted, how drugs are researched and approved. the strategy that active developed is one they called the inside/outside approach. the people who were very well educated, self educated in the issues of science and regulation and the whole drug world, and peter was a member of that aspect of the movement of act up. then the people on the streets,
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the soldiers who could bring thousands of people to push for the points that were being requested and demanded by the activists on the inside. >> david, you covered the aids crisis, epidemic, played, before it had a name. what were you doing? >> i was covering for the gay presses. back then, the mainstream press was not covering aids at all. the only place to find news about aids was in a community news, new york native, very small circulation. it was before the internet. i began to cover aids because i needed to find out what was happening. i was not a journalist at the time. ultimately, it gave me a path for how i could respond to the epidemic. i kept at it starting in 1982.
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>> how to the coverage change? >> there was really no coverage through 1985-1987. one of the goals of act up was to get aids in the national dialogue. they did it pretty effectively. the coverage was not good in 1987, 1988, 1989. there were aides panic stories, and victims' stories at the time, people were still burning houses of neighbors who had aids to try to keep their kids from going to public schools. it was kind of a wartime coverage. the scientific, medical coverage was just as spotty. it turns out, as you see in this film, it is because there's very little medical and scientific work going on to respond to the crisis. a >> peter, you're not just on the activist signed, but the medical activist and and research.
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talk about what you're demanding. you're challenging the whole notion of what it meant to be an expert, taking on the bureaucrats, corporations. how did you get in there? how many times were you arrested? >> i was arrested 10 times. i do not have a record thanks to a lot of pro bono attorneys. i attended many demonstrations beyond that. we started with mostly just an outside activism process at these huge demonstrations at the doorsteps of buildings in dc then demanding meetings and with that, the pressure of the demos, we would be granted these meetings. the dialogue would start and we keep meeting and come up with a list of demands, then demonstrate again. it was a real inside/outside
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process. >> stupidity, and confidence and greed. that is why there were no treatments for those living with this disease. >> the building down there [unintelligible] we think we should be deciding the research priorities. these are the people dealing with it every day. [cheers] >> the whole world is watching! the whole world is watching! the whole world is watching! the whole world is watching! >> talk about mark.
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>> they were an amazing company. by the time they started looking at inhibitors, almost in the fully educated by then, so we were meeting with the pharmaceutical companies. they really respected we had done our homework. we were able to help them design their trials because of all the work we have done with the fda. if they could get the drug
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approved as quickly as possible and that we could really get the answers on whether the drug worked in combination with the older aids drugs. >> the big innovation i think the activists and act up and later, tag, brought was a new way to design trial protocols for new drugs that would allow the drug to be tested quicker and results to be reliable results, to be produced in a quicker way that brought down the amount of time it took to come up with those answers from 12 -- 7 to 12 years prior to their work to two years and under, sometimes as quick as six months. >> peter, how you do what you call humane trials? you were taking on the entire medical, and corporate establishment. why did you all know -- i mean,
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he had been a bond trader. how did you know how they should be conducting clinical trials? >> we a couple of people that join the group that joined act up that have medical backgrounds. they started doing weekly class is for the rest of us. we used textbooks on immunology. we went back to square one and just crash course in trying to learn the signs. after the first drugs were approved and there was this burst of hope that maybe we're on the right path, everything came crashing down in the early 1990's we realized those drugs really did not help that much. there was a long time of depression and how we were going to dig ourselves out of this whole. that is went back that started making friends -- act up started making friendships with the best scientists and the country
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who had been criticizing a lot of the aids research that was happening. we adopted their criticisms and learned what the were talking about, and took that back to washington and the drug companies and said -- this is what we need to do to get actual answers of how to save lives with these drugs. >> there was a debate going on your getting to inside and people were saying, we have to take to the streets. >> it is a story of a movement that began to rip apart. i am amazed, given the amount of carnage going on, members of dying on a weekly basis, how long act up remained unified and strong. but it began to splinter about five years in. fortunately, a lot of us kept working and treatment action group was formed. it did amazing work.
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act up lives to this day. >> aids activist and survivor peter staley and film director david france talking about the new documentary, "how to survive a plague." it will be airing at the walter reade theater at lincoln center on saturday night here in new york city as well as museum of modern art on monday, before the fall release. we will continue our conversation after the break on this 25th anniversary of the aids coalition to unleash power or act up. ♪ [music break] ♪ [music break]
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>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we continue on this eve of the 25th anniversary of the aids coalition to unleash power or act up. we return to my conversation about a remarkable new documentary called, "how to survive a plague." it chronicles the history of the aids epidemic as well as those who stood up and spoke out. it is a remarkable story of human resilience and the power of organizing. i spoke with david france, the director, at the sundance film festival in park city, utah, along with peter staley, one of the longest surviving -- one of the longest aids survivors and activists in this country. i asked david france to talk about the political funerals
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that activists held on the streets to raise awareness about hiv/aids. >> the political funerals are kind of this stunning manifestation of grief and anger and desperation. the surprising thing to me about those events were how they went uncovered. the media did not cover them. these events in which corpses are carried through the streets, carried to washington, to make public statements about the urgency of the need for medications. literally, there is no television coverage, very little newspaper coverage, as though these things had not happened. the way we were able to present them in the film is to the archival footage produced by the activists themselves. the film is largely composed of that footage. it is deeply behind the curtain
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of aids activism. it shows, a stunning view of a movement that would have gone unrecorded if it were not for the knowledge of the organization that it needed to record its own history, to really historicize for itself its role in its mechanisms anchors and losses and gains. >> a political funeral for mark victor. [unintelligible] we ask for the ceremony not so we could burn him, but so we could celebrate his undying anger. this is not a political funeral for mark, but a political
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funeral for the man who killed him and so many others whose name curdles my breath, george bush, we believe you will be defeated tomorrow because we believe there is still some justice left in the universe and some compassion left in the american people. but whether or not you are coming here and now, standing by mark's body, we put this curse on you. marks spirit will haunt you until the end of your days so that in a moment of your defeat, you will remember our defeat. and in a moment of your death, you'll remember our death. as for mark, when the living can
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no longer speak, the dead may speak for them. is here with us as is the voice to two millennia ago warned the athenian soldiers who did not have to die and whose death was complicit, but have the ability to say that their memorial was the whole earth. let the whole earth here as now. we beg, we pray, we demand that this epidemic and -- end. not just so that we may live, but so that mark's soul and rest in peace at last. in anger and in grief, this fight is not over.
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♪ act up. >> peter, you were doing a number of things. one was people were educating themselves at the same time a huge battle to educate the media at the same time to take on corporations and the government, especially around issues of funding. can you go through any national, very quickly, a kind of time line of act up and the kind of actions that you all engaged in? >> one of the earliest was to take on the bureaucracies and washington that we felt were ignoring the crisis. ronald reagan was in office when act up came about. he had yet to mention the word aids. >> how long did it take him?
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>> 7. >> seven years to say the word aids? >> seven years into the crisis. it was a real disgrace. i think it cost hundreds of thousands of lives if not millions, that lost time where we could have really been putting a full national effort into research. act up really started basically guilt tripping the country in washington by actions that grabbed public sympathy. use all the polls change for the public started saying by 80% it wanted more spent on aids research. within three or four years, we were spending over $1 billion a year from virtually nothing. >> talk about the fda protests. i want to go to a clip in the film, "how to survive a plague." >> [chanting]
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government has the resources to control the aids epidemic. >> been billed as one of the biggest of instructions and recent history 185 arrests came to shut down the fda critics that was a clip of, "how to survive a plague." directed by david france, our guest, and peter staley. that fda action, explain what you did. >> thousands of bus showed up at the headquarters in bethesda, maryland. -- thousands of us showed up at the headquarters in rockville. it was the very first time in history for a patient group from an illness or disease showed up and demanded to be heard, to the bureaucrats in washington in their ivory tower that did
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things their way in the old way. frankly, a very slow way. we were demanding things be drastically sped up for life- threatening diseases. they ended up dramatically speeding up the drug approval process, not just for aids, but cancer drugs as well. we had a pretty wide effect. it really change from that moment on how most illness- patient advocacy groups interact with the u.s. government. >> taking on bureaucracy had really been done not just with the president or congress, but finding the agency, in dealing with those in charge. >> you had to be an expert. you have to talk the same language they were talking. we spent a great deal of time on self education. we learned all the science. we became our own expert. we earned the respect by doing that. it took some time.
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in our first meetings, we were pretty green. by 1989, act up was really impressing the scientists and those in government who were involved in research. >> a major protest going on in bethesda over the drug. tell us what is happening. >> this is the second meeting of the bush commission for review and procedures for approving aids and cancer drugs. we thought since the non- approval drug is such a perfect example of how regulation has gone wrong, we would bring it home to the commission itself by showing up here in force. >> inside at the hearing itself, i interest and the libyan action and a little while when ellen cooper speaks. i guess so. >> we feel we would and the be
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on treacherous ground defending that decision and the wide open to the charge of our victory decision making, although, we certainly would not be accused of being inflexible. >> [unintelligible] >> the difference in the data between azt and this drug is the difference between night and day. >> [unintelligible] >> since this meeting started, for more will die before it is over. >> the fda looks at the data and suddenly, agrees with act up. >> ready for a vote? all in favor, raise your hand. [applause]
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>> it was amazing. and it felt like preaching the wizard of oz. -- it felt like reaching the wizard of oz critics describe taking on bill clinton. >> you see a lot of him in the film. he tackled the president -- well, candidate clinton, during the lead up to his election, about aids. it was the first time clinton said, i feel your pain. he actually said it twice. it is a very dramatic moment. >> because he interrupts one of his campaign stops. >> exactly. >> but in the presidential debate, it is raised because you have these protests outside and it becomes an issue in the presidential campaign. >> absolutely.
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that was the outside approach that became such a national and then ultimately come international movement of aids activists. it was impossible to not discuss its in public if he were a public figure. that was essential to build the force open those doors to allow people to go inside -- to be able to force the doors open to allow people to go inside. >> early in the film, you are a very young man in the film and you say you do not expect to live. what changed? >> triple drug therapy in 1996 saved my life. those therapies came about because the government spent $1 billion on research starting in 1989, 1990. that all came about because of pressure from advocacy. i am alive because of that activism. i hope people will see this film. it is about how -- people power
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being able to actually create change and change things for the better. it is not just in aids story. anybody who is involved in the occupy movement should run to see this film. anyone who wants to change the world should see this. >> and the issue of affordability. the issue in the u.s. and around the world of people who can can i get the treatment that would keep them alive? >> this was a major victory, this movie tells about getting these therapies. but that was only the beginning of the battle. now we have these treatments that can keep people alive and they're still 2 billion to 3 million dying. more are dying now and when we actually got the therapy to save people. it is a huge failure of leadership internationally. it shows a huge failure of our
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own health care system to be allowed to drift -- deliver these drugs to everyone who needs them in this country. >> finally, seeing you in one scene addressing international aids conference? >> yes. >> and talking to the different parties involved. >> i was in san francisco in 1990. it was the last aids conference in the u.s. before they started boycotting the u.s. because of our integration and. the previous year in montreal, we had invaded the conference. this time they decided to invite us in. they decided to lead act up have a moment at the podium during the opening plenary. >> and what you said? >> at that moment, there was a tremendous amount of conflict between the activists and scientists, a lot of fear and finger-pointing. i tried to bridge those
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differences so we could start working together. i tried to make act up were comfortable for them. i try to tip my hat to what the scientists were there to do and say, listen, we know you're here to do good. >> the title, how did you choose it? >> it seems to not just capture the activity of the individuals involved in this movement, but it was a primer. it really establishes a paradigm for activism. i thought the title stretched its arms around larger issues or more issues than just aids activism. but that route, it is how to survive a plate of -- it is a story of how we attack aids, not how aids attack us. and what it takes to do that and what it takes to come up with just the desire or the thought you could do that, and how to
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refine your techniques along the way to make a difference. >> david france, peter staley, thank you so much. the new documentary, "how to survive a plague." it will air saturday night at the walter reade theater and on monday at the museum of modern art in new york city, before the fall release. this on the 25th anniversary of act up, the aids coalition to unleash power. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, what is happening with activism today on the six-month anniversary of occupy wall street. ♪ [music break] ♪ [music break]
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. >> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. last weekend marked six months since the launch of occupy wall street and here in new york and occupation may be taking root in union square park. dozens are camping out. some claim the spot to the movement's new home base. on saturday, protesters were arrested. movement activists say police are adapting violent and intimidating tactics against them as they peacefully protest. they held a press conference tuesday outside new york police
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headquarters. this is activist jen waller critics to speak out against the 1% and defy them by fighting for public space that we are brutalized. on saturday night as i simply sat in a park, i was violently arrested with my friend and watched as bloodthirsty cops stomped on their faces, knelt on their necks, pulled them by their hair and slam them into windows. i watched as one friend was treated as a battering ram as they carried him into an empty bus, slamming his head on every step and seat as they went along. and watched as a young woman's wrist was broken, as she hyperventilated, convulsed, and seizure in the middle of the street. >> the last person that gen waller mentioned who suffered a seizure and broken rib after she was pulled from the crowd and arrested is occupy wall street activist cecily mcmillan. police say she elbowed an officer in the head, giving him a swollen eye.
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she faces felony charges of assault and obstructing governmental administration. she was released monday afternoon after a judge denied a request from the district attorney that bail be set at $20,000. she joins us now for this exclusive interview. cecily mcmillan is northeast regional organizer for young democratic socialists of america and a graduate student at the new school for social research. we're also joined by her attorney, meghan maurus. we welcome you both to "democracy now!" cecily mcmillan, you lived in here. you are very bruised. you have a bruise over your left eye. i can see with a scoop neck of your t-shirt, you were scratched and it is black and blue. >> it is a hand print. >> black and blue, the shape of
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a hand. that is above your right breast. and in your arms. -- and then your arms, there are black and blue around your elbows, finger marks that are black and blue. you are clearly in a lot of pain on your back and we cannot show those bruises. what happened to your ribs? >> they are really bruised. >> what happened to you? you went out on saturday, the six month anniversary of occupy, with hundreds of other people in zuccotti. what took place? >> like i said, i have not seen any of the videos yet. i ended a 40-hour stay in jail and ended up with these bruises. i have an open case so i cannot talk more about it. i am sure you can tell it would be difficult for me to remember some things.
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>> why were you there? >> i have been involved in occupy wall street since august in the planning stages. i think early -- last year, i was involved in madison. growing up in the south, my grandfather is a union rep and i had seen him go into work and come home and go to work and come home, the battle after battle. to be in wisconsin and the the strength and solidarity of people who will stand and fight for each other who will stand in solidarity for each other, that lit a fire in me. >> what has taken place? your story, people talking about the seizure, other protesters yelling to the police to get you
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help as your flopping on the ground. what happened? did the police get you help? what caused all of these black and blue marks? >> i cannot really explain it to. >> and ambulance finally brought you to the hospital but you were brought to jail. >> were you able to call family or a lawyer? >> no. >> did you ask? >> probably about three times every hour i was in jail. >> altogether, something like 40 hours? >> yes. >> you asked to speak to a lawyer and could not. when they brought you back to jump from the hospital, did you ask to go back to the hospital? >> yes. they tried to dissuade the
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paramedics from taking me for about an hour-and-a-half intel was able to go back to the hospital. -- until i was able to go back to the hospital. i went to the hospital into the jail, then to the hospital, then the jail and another jail. i could not call a lawyer. they would not tell me what my charges were. .nd did not know where i was >> this was on saturday. sunday and monday you are a range. >> i was just been moved around in various police cars. a >> un back to the hospital yesterday. >> i have been every day. >> what did they say? >> the finally cleared of the concussion selecting be prescribed sleep aids because up until last night, i have been waking up every 15 minutes to half an hour sweating with night
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terrors. it was very maddening. >> we turned off the monitors because you said you could not see the footage. why? >> my friends had told me that i might want to refrain from watching it because some of them had cried or even gotten sick when watching it. my therapist has said if i were to watch any of the footage, it might trigger further psychological damage. >> meghan maurus, how is it that your client, that cecily mcmillan was not able to call a lawyer from jail? she was in the hospital, new jersey, sent back to the hospital, but not in communication? >> from both of our ends, we're piecing together exactly not only the specific time line, but what exactly happened.
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from our and, i am both a private attorney and working for the national lawyers guild and we track every arrest. so we knew her breast and spent much -- we knew cecily mcmillan 's arrest, trying to find her. it was not without effort on the part of myself as the attorney and a person working with me as well as the national lawyers guild trying to get a hold of her. the specifics, we will have to piece together later. >> this was a peaceful protest. >> yes. i have been an activist for some time now but i have been active since the first anti-bush protest in atlanta my senior year. i have always had a longstanding commitment to peaceful protest. reiterating a commitment to
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nonviolent, civil disobedience and affirming my innocence. i have cautioned people to remain non-violent and not only that, but for activist to undergo an non-pilot training such as done in the civil rights movement -- non-violent training such as was done in the civil- rights movement. it is easy to manipulate circumstances to make the scene violent. to garner the strength of the public that we saw with the million hoodie march -- i mean, it was phenomenal. then we're going to have to remain non-violent because that is the on the way we have unity. >> were you afraid to go into the protest after what had happened to you? >> i was torn. the way i have always gone through the difficulties of the world we live then is by committing myself solely to activism.
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at this time it is so hard for me to sit in recover, sit and recover. >> did you see the lines of police officers? >> yes, i did to my therapist said, you know, the grass is green, the sky is blue. i had to reconfirm my place in reality and center myself. no, i mean, i have come to the opinion that police are scary. >> why did you decide -- this is an exclusive interview. what did you decide to speak out publicly? >> i have received a sony emails -- so many emails and twitter messages and phone calls. people are just horrified about what happened to me. i did not understand. a wanted to say that i want to
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