12/31/13 12/31/13 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> the government has decided to declare the muslim brotherhood a terrorist group and its organization a terrorist organization as defined in article 86 of the penal law. >> egypt escalates its crackdown on the muslim brotherhood and other critical voices arresting

roger al jazeera reporters. we will go to egypt to speak with democracy now!'s sharif abdel kouddous as well as the treaty to protect journalists. two thirds of the journalists killed this year were in the middle east. the deadliest country is syria. then on the last day of 2013, we will look at 10 hopeful things that happened in 2013 to get you inspired for what's to come. we will speak with sarah van gelder, editor in chief of "yes!" magazine. then we will go to germany. among them spoke was julian assange. >> there'll be no person and has not been exposed to this ideology of transparency in keepstanding of what is to the internet free. this is the last regeneration. >> all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

iraq is capping off its worst year of violence since the height of u.s. occupation. according to the united nations, civilians and 950 security forces have been killed this year, the highest annual total since 2008. on monday, at least 13 people were killed in clashes with iraqi police raided a sunni protest camp. protesters had been camped out for year to protest the marginalization of sunnis by the shiite-led government. more than 40 sunni lawmakers announced the resignations following the rate. separate attacks killed at least 11 other people. police in russia have rounded up dozens of people following the twin bombings of a railway station and trolley bus. the toll from the attacks has risen to 34. no one has claimed responsibility and it's unclear whether any of those to tame today were involved.

rush is due to host the winter olympics in sochi in just over a month. rebels in south sudan are claiming to have retaken the key town of bor after a fierce battle with government forces. it is considered a crucial point on the path to the capital juba. a rebel leader has also reportedly agreed to enter peace talks with the south sudanese government in ethiopia. the news comes after the ugandan president raised the prospect of regional intervention against the rebels. he said east african countries had agreed to take action last week if the rebels did not agree to a cease-fire by today. he spoke to reporters on monday. >> four days to respond. if he doesn't, we shall go for him. >> when you say you will go for him, what does that mean?

violence in south sudan has killed more than 1000 people. speaking on monday, the un's secretary -- security council president for this month said 180,000 people have been displaced. is worrying.ion there are reports of torturing, killing from the disappearance and ethnically targeted violence. sector ofan rights the mission has been upgraded and investigations and reporting -- so there could be accountability at the end of this tragedy. >> troops in the democratic republic of congo quashed the court series of attacks on the airport, a military barracks, and headquarters of the state television station monday. in total, about 100 people were

killed. the attackers were followers of a pastor who accuse the government of harassing his supporters. the united nations is urgently appealing for access to a palestinian area of damascus where people are dying from hunger. as u.n. official says some 20,000 palestinians are trapped inside the yarmouth district of damascus amid fighting between the regime and rebels. since the last delivery of you and aid in september, 15 people have died there from malnutrition, including five this past weekend. tasked with overseeing the dismantling of serious chemical weapons is set to miss its deadline to remove the deadliest materials from syria. the organization had plans to transport the materials to the port and ship them out of the country by today i'm a at the group has cited roadblocks ranging from bad weather to logistical hurdles. the head of the efforts said security is a top concern.

-- i think all parties agree this is a big concern always, but it also impacts the safety of any convoy in the safety of any efforts. so you need to plan to make everything as secure and safe as possible for the civilian population, for those who need to conduct the operation, and then the government needs to plan for any eventuality in the journey from different sides to latakia and within latakia itself. the lebanese military said it has fired on steering helicopters that entered its airspace on monday. the incident came a day after lebanon announced it would receive 3 billion dollars in military aid from saudi arabia. israel has released a group of 26 palestinian prisoners missed reports it will unveil plans for 1400 is settlement homes in the west bank. the prisoners are the third batch to be released since u.s.

brokered peace talks began in july. both the earlier prisoner releases were also accompanied by israel's announcement of new settlement plans. palestinians have warned the settlements could derail the peace talks. secretary of state john kerry is returning to the region this week. speaking monday, state department spokesperson marie will present a proposed framework for a peace deal. but he will discuss the framework for negotiations. this framework would serve as guidelines and would address the court issues. this is a detailed consultation with the leaders from continuing to work to bridge gaps between the parties also obviously continuing to encourage both sides to take constructive steps , as we said, including the prisoner release this evening in israel as well. has begun releasing political prisoners after the government announced an end of your amnesty. the burmese president had vowed

to release all political prisoners by the end of 2013. the amnesty is expected to include some 40 political prisoners and another 200 who are facing trial or investigation under laws designed a car to get -- designed to target activists. among those released was a man who is serving a seven month sentence for leading a march without permission. he criticized the government after his release. even though the government says this is amnesty, this is not amnesty for us. they're trying to hide the weakness of the legislature by doing this. but i respect mr. president since he kept his promise because he had never kept his promise before. >> u.s. regulators have chosen six universities and other public entities to develop test sites for domestic drones. the approved test sites are located in at least 10 states ranging from new york and massachusetts to hawaii, alaska, nevada, and texas.

the federal aviation administration says the sites will conduct critical research the requirements needed to safely enter great drones into the national airspace over the next several years. hundreds of entities including law enforcement agencies are already permitted to fly drones. the latest testing as part of a push used drones for commercial purpose. than 80%vey finds more of americans oppose the war in afghanistan, making the occupation potentially the most unpopular in u.s. history. the poll by cnn and orc international found just 17% of american support the work, a steep drop from 52% five years ago. cnn reports the disapproval numbers are higher than comparable data for both iraq and vietnam. only a quarter of americans want u.s. troops to remain on the ground beyond 2014. but the obama administration is currently pressuring afghanistan's to accept a deal

to keep u.s. troops behind -- john that deadline. a new u.s. intelligence report predicted u.s. gains from the 12 year conflict will be eroded within three years without a large military presence. a new report by the committee to protect journalists says at least 70 journalists died on the job in 2013. at least 29 journalists died covering the civil war in syria. another 10 were killed in iraq. egypt was the third most violent country for journalists with six killed for their work last year. the report comes as four al jazeera journalist were interrogated by egyptian prosecutors following their arrest sunday evening. we will have more on egypt and in a report after the headlines. residents of the small town of castleton, north dakota have been urged to evacuate after a train during crude oil collided with another train for triggering a series of explosions. railway train stretched about a mile long it was caring

more than 100 oil-laden cars, about 10 of which caught fire. a plume of black smoke could be seen for miles. authorities said shifting winds could raise the risk of health effects. no injuries have been reported. in canada, scientist say tar sands oil operations in alberta are releasing mercury that is impacting an area of more than 7300 square miles. according to post medianews, mercury levels in the area are up to 16 times higher than background levels for the region. mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that can cause brain damage. the alberta tar sands of the origin point for the keystone xl pipeline from a which would bring oil to the texas gulf coast. a new poll shows the number of republicans who believe in evolution has dropped 11% since 2009. according to the pew research center, just 43% of republicans -- that's less than half -- believe that human beings have evolved over time. by contrast, 67% of democrats

believe in evolution, slight increase since 2009. dr. kenneth elin, an abortion provider in key figure in the struggle for reproductive justice, has died at the age of 74. doctor guy who's african-american, was charged with manslaughter after performing a legal abortion and massachusetts. in all white, mostly male jury convicted him. he was later acquitted and became an outspoken advocate for the health care rights of women, particularly poor women of color. in a speech posted by planned parenthood in 2008, the doctor held the women's movement. whoor all of those women marched, all of those women who love it, for all of those women today,d, we say to you your lives have always been our concern, your sacrifices our motivation. we will continue the fight and our struggle will go on for as

long as it must. die fromnneth edalin cancer on monday in sarasota, florida. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin in egypt which is facing a major escalation of a crack down on the muslim brotherhood and other critical voices. the military government has designated the brotherhood a terrorist organization after a suicide bombing last week that killed 14 people. this can even though the brotherhood condemned the attack and in unrelated jihadist group lamed responsibility. using the terrorism label, the egyptian regime has arrested hundreds of brotherhood members and seize their assets. it is the latest in a crackdown that began with the ouster president morsi in july following mass protests against his rule. since his overthrow, the brotherhood has been banned from political activity, hundreds of its members have been gunned down in the streets, and thousands more have been placed behind bars.

meanwhile, the news network al jazeera is demanding the immediate release of four journalists who been arrested in cairo. correspondent peter greste, two werecers and government detained -- and a camera men were detained on accusations of spreading false news and holding meetings with the muslim brotherhood. egypt's military government has repeatedly targeted al jazeera, raiding offices, ordering an affiliate's closure, and deporting several staffers. the al jazeera rests comes amidst a new report detailing the dangers conditions for journalists in egypt and other troubled areas around the world. according to the committee to protect journalists, conditions in egypt deteriorated traumatically this year with six reporters killed, more than in any previous year. egypt trailed only iraq, were journalists -- 10 journalists were killed and in syria, at least 29 journalists were killed. overall, the middle east accounted for two thirds of at least 70 reporters deaths worldwide. for more we're joined by sherif mansour here in new york, the

middle east and north africa program coordinator at the committee to protect journalists. and joining us from egypt is sharif abdel kouddous, independent journalist, democracy now! correspondent, and a fellow at the nation institute. sharif, let's begin with you. the overall picture. talk about the categorizing of the muslim brotherhood as a tourist organization and then what has come out of that. >> well, that designation came ,n the wake of suicide bombing a car bomb that attacked a police headquarters in a delta city north of cairo and killed at least 15 people on december 24. it was the deadliest bombing on the egyptian mainland outside of sinai in nearly three years. and the cap net in the wake of that declare the muslim brotherhood a terrorist organization, despite providing no evidence and even prime minister later admitted he had no clear evidence linking the

muslim brotherhood to the bombing. has claimednt group responsibility for the bombing. that claim responsibility for other high-profile attacks including the assassination of a high-profile, high-ranking state security officer last month in cairo. but despite that, the crackdown has targeted the muslim brotherhood. of cabinet use that decision terrorism designation to freeze the assets of hundreds of charities linked to the group come including hospitals and health clinics. this is part -- as you mentioned, part of a widening crackdown on the group. just this past monday, yesterday, they sentenced 138 pro-morsi protesters to two years in prison on charges of rioting and vandalism and we've seen thousands of people be behind desk be thrown behind

bars. people who work prominent figures of the group who were not imprisoned have now fled the country. the political process -- if there's any left of it that could have included the muslim brotherhood, has all but been completely destroyed. we continue to see instability of the government, the military backed happened, and the military and police forces continue to say this is a war on terror and they're trying to provide stability. egypt is extremely unstable. we're seeing increasing militancy, especially in sinai. we're seeing a huge number of are set on a lot of university campuses. students have been killed protesting. this is all coming with a

referendum on the constitution said to take lace in just two weeks in the new year. >> before we go to the journalist, three leading activists have been sentenced to three years in prison as part of an ongoing crackdown. ,hmed maher, alaa abd el-fattah helped lead the ouster of mubarak. they were the first to be sentenced under a new law that effectively bans public protest by requiring severance of permits for rallies. after the sentencing, the three men chanted "down with military rule" from their cage inside the courtroom. democracy now! spoke with one of the protesters, ahmed maher, when he was here in new york back in 2011. >> we need to keep fighting until we have democracy and a real country and a good regime and social justice. we think that will take more than five years. we must keep fighting now.

that is our goal now, to finish or complete our revolution, then we can think -- >> sharif, can you talk about the significance of these arrests and now the sentence of three years of ahmed maher and the others? he was here visiting occupy in 2011, occupy wall street. >> this crackdown has extended beyond supporters of mohamed morsi to target now really a lot of the activists that really launched and sustain the revolution. april 6, the youth movement was a major player in the revolution. ahmed maher has been given three years in prison for breaking mr. connie and protest law. -- draconian protest law. another prominent activist who has been on democracy now! several times along with 24 others, have been imprisoned for over a month come awaiting charges -- criminal charges on

breaking the protest law as well. we are seeing the police state re-empower police state really flex its muscle to try to create -- clamp down on any outspoken dissent. >> sharif, i want to turn to alaa abd el-fattah, the leading blogger, activist and the charges he faces now for the calls he allegedly made against protests -- for protest against military trials of civilians. you interviewed him about the long-term goals of the egyptian revolution back in 2011. >> we want what happens next to people and to be through dinner credit means. -- democratic means. slogans will not just topple the regime, but [indiscernible]

freedom and social justice. we will need a lot of pressure to achieve something like social justice. the unit to you see here, the number of people representing all classes, i think it means those who flee the country agree social justice and read and freedom is universal. >> sharif, his is an interesting story because he was imprisoned under mubarak and his baby was born while he was in prison and he was born when his father was in prison years ago. >> his sister was born while his father was in prison. yes, he is one of these activists who have been jailed by these authoritarian regimes in egypt. under morsi as well he was targeted with an arrest warrant.

it is these people also in prison and it is a very troubling time as we're coming up to the third anniversary of the revolution which began january 25, 2011 to see the state of where egypt is three years later appearing to be in a more aggressive authoritarian order than the one the people rose up against. of anyelihood significant reform or change in the near future seems quite dim. >> i want to turn to the four al jazeera reporters. is one of those four detained by the egyptian government. this is a clip of one of the reports he fell just a few days ago from al jazeera -- al azhar university as clashes erupted between supporters of the muslim brotherhood and security forces. >> you can see the protest of clashes is still ongoing. we understand the students entered the university and some of the exam halls and try to

tear up the exam papers and force a boycott of the exams and protest of the government. we understand the authorities, the police moved in and fired tear gas. it was the heat from the teargas canisters which are currently set fire to some of the exam papers. what we have there is an ongoing clash that really represents the broader division that we saw yesterday were supporters of the muslim brotherhood, supporters of the group took to the streets in open defiance of the government's ban on protests. in particular, challenging the government to arrest them and enforce this five year prison sentence, which the government has been threatening to impose on anybody who was convicted of taking part in these demonstrations. >> that is peter greste, what of the four al jazeera english reporters who have been arrested in egypt. sherif mansour is with us as well as sharif abdel kouddous.

talk about these reporters. >> they have been working with al jazeera reporting on ongoing protests. used their hotel rooms to do what reporters do -- interview different perspectives on ongoing events, including those who are considered to be on the opposition side. in this case, the muslim brotherhood. they had in their custody some of the coverage of the brotherhood protest, some of the materials that was distributed in the protest, and the government authorities arrested them on saturday night. the next day, they issued a statement saying they were members of the muslim brotherhood, hosted muslim brotherhood. now they want to cast as an act of terrorism, promotion of terrorism.

if a journalist is doing their work, for them, they want to consider that as part of the afterng net to go activists, media people who would present any critical or independent view from the government position. >> top overall about the situation for reporters in egypt, and then extend your year-end report which talks about the released as being the deadliest place for journalists in the world right now. >> egypt this year has had a lot of presidents. for the first time egypt was ranked among the top 10 jailers of journalists. yesterday, we issued our senses for kill journalists and egypt was number three, the third, around the world, which is also unprecedented. we have been working on egypt since 1992. we have documented 10 cases of

killed journalists. out of those 10, 6 have been this year alone. number an unprecedented four egypt. in addition, we've been working on documenting a wide censorship efforts by this interim government backed by the military that includes rating tv stations, detaining dozens of tvrnalists -- raiding stations, detaining dozens of journalists. egypt has seen the most deteriorated we have documented since 1992 in the past year. as part of our report, we also talked about other countries. on the top of the list is serious. 29 cases of journalists have been killed this year. 63 journalists were covering the

events in syria. there is justean killing. we have documented a lot of kidnapping cases. this has been the most worrying time in syria. we assume 53 kidnapping cases happen this year for which also raises the total number of kidnapping to 76 cents the uprising. we have seen more and more in thesen engaging tactics. there are more and more kidnappings of journalists and enforcing censorship for a reporter. in addition, post-iraq, the violence that has erupted in iraq has also resulted in a lot of targeting for journalists. for the first time, last year in 2012, we have not documented any killed cases for journalists in iraq will stop it was the first year after 10 years of

continuing attacks on journalists where iraq has seen the most deadly environment for journalists with 155 over 10 years since the occupation of iraq. in 2012, there was none. this year, we have seen for the first time, 10 journalists being killed and all of them in the last quarter of the year. of the attacksst have been with seven journalists being killed in one city, which is also unprecedented. >> and what is the committee to protect journalists calling for? >> we call for basically fighting impunity. we don't want the perpetrator and those who violate an attack journalists to get away with it. we try as much as possible with media campaign to pressure

governments and news international organization like to have to be a venue this discussion. most recently, we have managed come up with the help of other organizations and governments, to pass a resolution to support the rights of journalists in a conflict zone and for the first time, there would be a day every year where all of the governments can fight impunity. there will be a lot of attacks happening. we have already documented more than 1000 killed cases since 1992. 1040.ear, we are up to though should not go unpunished. >> i want to thank you both for being with us, sherif mansour, middle east and north africa program coordinator of the committee to protect journalists, and sharif abdel kouddous, democracy now!

correspondent in egypt. stay safe in this day year. when we come back, we're going to hamburg, germany, to the chaos communications congress. we will hear from julian assange and jacob appelbaum. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we turn now to the cows communication congress in hamburg, germany, one of the speakers at the conference was wikileaks sarah harrison who accompanied edward snowden to russia and spent four months with him. harrison addressed the audience after receiving a long standing ovation. >> together with the constitutional rights, we filed against u.s. military can see secrecy applied to chelsea manning's trial. rudy's attacks we with continued our publishing work. in april we launch the public

library of u.s. diplomacy, though most conference of database of u.s. diplomatic cables in the world. this coincided with our release of 1.7 million u.s. cables from the kissinger period. we launched our first files, 249 documents, from 92 intelligence contractors, exposing their technology, methods, and contracts. we completed releasing the global intelligence files as 5 million e-mails from stratfor. the revelations included documents are spying on activists around the globe. we publish the primary negotiating positions to 14 countries as the transpacific partnership. to national the ocean that will control 40% of the world's gdp. as well as getting snowden asylum, we set up his defense fund as a broader endeavor which aims to protect sources in trouble. this will be an important fund for future sources, especially

when we look at the u.s. crack likeon u.s. whistleblowers edward snowden and chelsea manning. and another source, germany hammond, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison this november. these men, snowden, maiming, and hammond are prime examples of a politicized youth who have grown up with the free internet and want to keep it that way. it is this class of people that we are here to discuss this evening, the powers day and we all have and can have. >> wikileaks founder julian assange also address the chaos communications congress via video. speaking from the ecuadorian embassy in london, he urged information-technology specialists to join forces to resist government encroachments on internet freedom. workers, ith-tech is time we recognize because we are a class and look back in history and understood there

would be great gains in human rights and education and so on that were gained through powerful industrial work that has forced ash formed the back tone of the economy of the 20th century. of the greater connection that exists now, economically and politically, which is all underpinned by system administrators and we should understand system administrators are not just those people who administer one unique system or another. thisare the people -- system that exists globally now is created but interconnection of many individual systems. many of us are part of administering the system and have extraordinary power in a way that is really an order of magnitude different to just how industrial workers had back in

the 20th century. we can see that in the cases of the famous leaks that wikileaks has done or recent episode in revelation that is possible now for even single ministers to have significant change to the worklife significant constraints or constructive restraints, not merely wrecking or disabling them, but going out on strike to change a policy, but rather -- where itormation can be used -- not only as a disciplining force, but to construct and understand the new world we're entering into. the former director of the cia hayden it, is to fight of this. [indiscernible]

an interesting quote from hayden, possibly following up on those words of mine and others, "we need to recruit snowden's generation. we need to recruit from this group because they have the skills we require. the challenge is how to recruit while protecting ourselves in the small fraction of the population that has this romantic attachment to absolute transparency at all costs are co-and that is us, right? what we need to do is spread that message and go to those organizations. i'm not saying join the cia. go in there, go into the ballpark and get the ball and bring it out. with the understanding, with the paranoia that all of those

organizations will be infiltrated by this generation, by etiology that is spread across the internet and every young person is educated. there will be no person that has not been exposed to this ideology of transparency in understanding of what to keep the internet, which we were born into, free. this is the last regeneration. the coming together of the systems of governments, the new information apartheid, across the world, linking together in such that none of us will be able to escape it in just a decade. [indiscernible] none of us will be able to escape it. we are all becoming part of the state. whether we like it or not. our only hope is to determine what sort of state is that we are going to become part of, and we can do that by looking and

being inspired by some of the actions that produce human rights and free education and so on by people recognizing they were part of the state, recognizing their own power, and taking concrete and robust action to make sure they live in sort of a society they want to and not in a hellhole. >> wikileaks founder julian chaose addressing the communication congress that is taking place in hamburg, germany . he was speaking from the ecuadorian embassy in london. he fears if he steps foot outside that embassy where he has been for a year, that he will be arrested by british authorities, that he would be extradited to sweden, and most years being extradited to the united states. another key speaker monday was independent journalist and security expert jacob appelbaum who has been on democracy now! in this clip, he shows a slide with a futuristic sounding device described as a portable continuous wave generator.

it is remote-control device that works in tandem with tiny electronic implants to bounce invisible waves of energy off keyboards and monitors to see what is being typed. it works even if the target to the internet. >> this is a continuous wave generator or radar unit. you can attack its use because it is used between one and two gigahertz. it it -- it's been worth is up to 45 megahertz. internalustable using amplifier and external amplifier makes it go one kilowatt. you take thatet and for a moment. who is crazy now? [applause] [laughter] i'm being told i only have one minute so have to go quicker. here's why they do it. this is an implant called rage

master, part of the angry neighbor family of tools where they have a small device they put in line with the cable for your monitor, then they use this radar system to bounce a signal -- this is not unlike the great seal but designed for the kgb. it is good to know we finally caught up with the kgb. now with computers. they send the microwave transmission from a continuous wave that reflects off this chip and then they use this device to see your monitor. yep. there's the full lifecycle. first they radiate you, then you die from cancer, then you win? here's the same thing but this time for keyboards. a data richit is dead or retro reflector. this one is a beacon. this is where they then kill you

with the drone. that is pretty scary stuff. they also have this for microphones. notice the bottom. it says all items are off the shelf. >> that was independent journalist and security expert jakob applebaum speaking in hamburg, germany at the chaos communications congress. we will link to his full speech at democracynow.org. update on the story in egypt, one of the four al jazeera reporters has been released. al jazeera cameraman was released from detention. the three other journalists remain detained. respondent peter greste and two producers. is somecome back, what of the good news of 2013? stay with us.

♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as 2013 winds down, we've compiled a list of the top 20 most viewed interviews this year on our website. visit democracynow.org and look for new blog post where you can watch those video highlights. well, yes, today's the last of 2013. tomorrow on new year's day we will spend the hour looking back at the year that was. tens of thousands were killed as syria to send it into one of the worst to monitoring crises in decades. a trove of leaked documents by edward snowden revealed a massive u.s.-run surveillance apparatus that spans the globe. countries failed to reach a sweeping agreement on climate change as extreme weather caused havoc, including the typhoon that killed over 6000 people in the philippines. but today will focus on some of the many signs of hope that

emerged in 2013, on issues from economic equality to lgbt writes to climate justice. with all the bad news they came in 2013 were many encouraging signs of a shifting public consciousness and a willingness by ordinary people to globalize for change. sarah van gelder is the editor- in-chief of "yes!" magazine. she has just written, "10 hopeful things that happened in 2013 to get you inspired for what's to come." welcome to democracy now! what should we be inspired by? >> i think we should be inspired by the fact there are so many people in the u.s. and all over the world who are working for change, many of which are actually being successful. yourlk about number one in article, seeing a surprising new leadership on the climate issue. >> i think ever since copenhagen, the strategy of the big environmental groups and democrats in congress, which was

to get some kind of cap and trade to get some kind of global agreement, i think that has basically come to a standstill. so now the attention and the initiative and leadership is shifting to the grassroots. students are working on the divestment campaign and succeeding in getting colleges and universities to divest from possible fill companies. their indigenous folks all over the world and particularly was on uprising in 2012, 2013 of idle no more. there are -- >> actually, we want to go to that. this month foreign-policy magazine named the four founders among its list of the 100 leading global thinkers of 2013. they were commended for demanding that canada not leave its first nations behind. one of the movement's most high- profile supporters is cheap teresa spends, who went on a weeklong hunger strike in a tp just outside ottawa's parliament

at the end of 2012. she warned she would starve herself until she gets a meeting with prime minister harper to discuss respect for historical treaties. >> we are living in the third world. this shouldn't be happening in this country. they're getting rich by our land. everybody is using our land except for us. all of these mining companies and for street and other things that have been happening in our community. there is no benefits for us. it's all going to the government. , yourah van gelder interview the four woman who founded idle no more in the piece you wrote, "why canada's indigenous uprising is about all of us." talk about what is happened this year since her hunger strike. >> what is extraordinary is the prime minister harper thought he could sort of pushed through this major new fossil fuel extraction enterprise across canada, just rolling over all of

the land and people who have concerns about the air and water quality through his legislation 45. he found out he actually could not do that quite that way. one of the reasons he could not is because across canada, first nations groups formed local groups of idle no more. idle no more is a grassroots effort. these women were not major indigenous leaders or people who are in the front page. they were people who were active in their own community, but they came together and said we cannot acquiesce to this sort of pillage of our land anymore and we will be idle no more. and that inspired people across canada and then in the u.s. and elsewhere around the world they did flash mob around dances where they basically would do to an occupation of intersections and public spaces. they had the fast you mentioned. there have been blockades in places where there are efforts to get fracking going.

there's one going on right now in new brunswick. i think what we're seeing is that a lot of the initiative now in the climate question is coming down to each local area. we have something going on in the pacific northwest as well were extreme oil and extreme energy is causing all sorts of local damage. the train wreck in north dakota is an example of this going on right now also. people are standing up for their rights to have a clean environment where they are, but also aware this is very much linked to the climate crisis globally. >> sarah van gelder, you are in seattle. your wrapup of the hopeful things in 2013 you write about the beginning of an education uprising will stop we covered parts of the developments in may when teachers, students, and parents in seattle, washington, won the campaign to reject standardized test in reading and math. their protest began in january when teachers at garfield high school began a boycott of the test, saying it was wasteful and being used unfairly to assess their performance.

i spoke with a high school history teacher and union representative at garfield high school just after their victory. the facte celebrating our students will no longer have to sit in front of the dull glow of a computer screen looking at questions that they were never prepared for because the test was not aligned with the state mandated curriculum. we were celebrating because our english language learners will no longer have to be humiliated by a test that is linguistically and culturally inappropriate for them. our special ed students will no longer have to take a test where their iep's or individual education plans will no longer be -- are not respected. we were celebrating i think, too, because washington rates number one in high-stakes testing we spend over one land dollars a year on these tests. garfield high school teachers and teachers around seattle have joined the boycott of the map test have said we would rather

spend that $100 million on reading coaches and on tutoring programs, things that can actually help elevate our students and get them where we know they need to be. >> that was a high school history teacher and union representative at garfield high school. sarah van gelder? willr next issue of "yes!" be on education and we will be telling that story in some depth parley because it is an exciting example of something that happened in 2013, but also because we think this will be spreading. what we've seen around the country is austerity, which cuts back on the budget of schools, including one struggling, the whole race to the top, which is a successor to no child left behind, which is basically using high-stakes testing to punish schools that are struggling, especially with students coming right out of poverty. this sort of punitive attitude toward teachers or students were having a hard time instead of supporting them, we're seeing this punitive approach.

what we're doing in the next issue of "yes!" is looking at what it will take to get the schools to succeed and what it will take to get this movement to spread so that instead of punishing or schools for supporting students and preparing them for the world they will be inheriting, not the kind of world i will just slot them into low-wage jobs. >> the lgbt movement, they won a historic movement and human supreme court struck down the defense of marriage act and paved the way for same-sex to resume in california. in a five to four decision, the court ruled the 1996 defense of marriage act, doma, signed by president clinton, was unconstitutional. this means legally married same- sex couples are entitled to claim the same 1100 federal benefits as heterosexual couples. the lead plaintiff in the case was an 84-year-old edith windsor, hailing the ruling. and'm honored and humbled overjoyed to be here today to represent not only the absence of americans whose lives have

been adversely impacted the defense of marriage act, but those whose hopes and dreams have been constructed of the same discriminatory law. children born today will grow up in a world without doma. and those same children who happen to be gay will be free to love and get married as thea and i did, but with the same federal benefits, protections, and dignity as everyone else. but that was edith windsor. democracy now! spoke at the supreme court marriage about california. we spoke with two who are the plaintiffs in the california marriage cases that establish the freedom to marry before cop they went into effect. this is stuart gaffney. >> this is a sweet moment. those of us married in 2008 before the passage of proposition eight -- and there are 18,000 couples just like us -- are all celebrating our five year anniversaries right now. what an anniversary gift we have just received from the u.s. supreme court to know now we are

not just the class of 2008, the sort of footnote in the history of marriage equality in this country, but instead, we are the beginning of an era that now continues of the freedom to marry in california thanks to this decision yesterday. it is really a happy day, not just for the rights of all fair- minded americans but also for our friends who have been waiting for his long as five years to finally be able to legally say "i do." you showed us the joy from the steps of the u.s. supreme court and i can tell you in san francisco city hall, the joy was that much or even greater as we looked around and saw our friends begin to plan their wedding day. >> that was stuart gaffney and he was sitting next to don lewis, his partner. sarah van gelder, the significance of this? >> i think we have hit a tipping point on this issue. it used to be the slight majority were opposed to same- sex marriages, now it has turned

in a slight majority of americans favor it. we now have about one third of the population of the united states living in states where marriage is allowed. the federal government, after they refused to defend doma, the supreme court -- the federal government is now aching benefits available to same-sex couples. i think we've hit a turning point even in the state of utah, which now allows gay marriage. >> let's turn to health care. in our coverage of obama care this year, we've also covered how it has fed interest in a single payer health care. in october i spoke with dr. will handler, primary care physician and cofounder of physicians for a national health program. it has worked with a group health care now to continue their push for single-payer both at the state level and at the national level. known as-payer is also expanded and improved medicare nonprofitlso known as national health insurance. it means you get a card the day you're born and keep your entire life. he would entitle you to medical

care without copayments, without deductibles. and because it is such a simple system like social security, there would be very low administrative expenses. we would save about $400 billion, which would allow us to afford the system. i want to remind you when medicare was rolled out in 1966, it was rolled out in six months using index cards. system, youa simple don't have to have all this expense and complexity and work. >> what do you mean, index cards? >> they did not have computers back in 1966, so they expanded -- went from zero to over 20 leading people enrolled in of sixe in a period months. because it was a simple system based on the social security records, it was a tax-based system, you did not have hundreds of people programming the state of oregon, thousands

of different plans, tons of different copayments and deductibles, and restrictions. one single-payer plan, which is what we need for all americans to give the americans the choice they want, which is not the choice between insurance company a or insurance company b, they want the choice of any doctor or hospital like you get with traditional medicare. >> that was dr. woolhandler. , your editor in chief of "yes!" magazine and wrote the article, "10 hopeful things that happened in 2013 to get you inspired for what's to come." how do you get from obamacare to single-payer? so many people feel that what happened this year was -- well, somewhat catastrophic on many different levels. if we will right away, but i can tell you in the state of vermont, they're working on that and that is how canada got single-payer. it started in one province,

saskatchewan, and was such a success that all of the other provinces wanted it. even though the party that had put it in place and saskatchewan only won the election long enough to put in place and were then voted out of office, the conservatives and the other parties were never able to take it apart because it is been so successful. in the state of vermont, they're working on a single-payer health-care system statewide right now. whether or not they can pull it off is just one state in very small state, it is yet to be seen, but they believe just as the doctor was speaking of, there are some in savings to be gained by far more efficient system of single-payer without all the prophets and the bureaucracy that go along with having all of these competing for-profit insurance companies, they believe they can get a better system even in just one state. >> we only have a few seconds. it is hard to put syria on the list of something hopeful that happened, but you managed to. backdid because i believe in the summer many of us believed we were going to war in

syria and it was going to become yet another quagmire like iraq and afghanistan. somehow the commendation of people power, perhaps some wisdom from the obama administration, i think it was the american people rising up and saying we have had enough will stop somehow diplomacy won out, international law one out, and instead of the u.s. getting further involved and further making things worse for the syrian people, we are now working at the international community i'm getting rid of those chemical weapons. >> sarah van gelder, thank you for joining us, editor in chief of "yes!" magazine with the latest piece, "10 hopeful things that happened in 2013 to get you inspired for what's to come." onwill have a link democracynow.org. tune in wednesday for special year in review that looks back at 2013. you can also visit our website to see the top 20 most viewed interviews this year at democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]