02/05/14 02/05/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! to get the wider public to understand what is happening in russia. people have an image of russia, things getting better. no, there are problems in russia and we have to remember we are not just buying gas or selling weapons or technology to the weapons, hovering cultural exchanges, -- having patrol exchanges, the wider public has

took knowledge this. looks with the woodrow lévesque said to open, russia is facing a storm of controversy over its icon on activists from environmental activist to gay rights. have called for a boycott of the games. we will look at a site of the olympic aims you won't see in the wall-to-wall coverage from sochi. >> i will give you examples of a couple of key points you see throughout the olympic games. one of them is a crackdown on ordinary people. the other is the tearing down of public housing. one of the biggest ones, which is one of the things i think is the most are the biggest concern is ramping up up police powers. >> we will speak with a number of guest, samantha retrosi competed in the luege in the 2006 games, jules boykoff is a former member of the u.s. olympic soccer team, he wrote "the real cost of the olympics." we will also speak with dave zirin and canadian professor helen lenskyj, author of, "sexual diversity and the sochi

2014 olympics: no more rainbows." all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. approved a long stalled "farmville" that includes a major cut to food stamps. the measure would reduce funding for the supplemental nutrition assistance program by 8.7 billion dollars over a decade. the figure amounts to a loss of $90 per month for 850,000 families in need. the cuts marked a compromise between republican land to cut food stamps by $39 billion in a democratic one to cut them by $4 billion. the bill would also in the billions of dollars in direct payments to farmers, but still hand out billions more to the expansion of government subsidized crop insurance. in a statement, the children's defense fund said --

north carolina is facing a major spill from a shuttered coal plant near greensboro. up to 82,000 tons of coal ash and 27 million gallons of polluted water leak into the river after a pipe rupture beneath a coal ash pond owned by duke energy. the ash contains toxic metals that could threaten drinking water, including arsenic, mercury, lead, and boron. duke says the leak has been stopped for now. a new congressional study says president obama's health care law will likely result in less americans working full-time jobs. the congressional budget office says around 2 million workers will choose to work fewer hours because of the expanded access to health insurance under the new law. republicans have seized on the report to bolster their claims the health care law will hurt the economy. but democrats say the report

shows the law will give workers greater choices and freeing them up to avoid full-time jobs just for the sake of obtaining coverage. the banking giant morgan stanley has agreed to pay a $1.25 billion fine for selling toxic the federally backed fannie mae and freddie mac. the money will go to the federal housing finance agency, which has sued morgan stanley and more than a dozen other firms for packaging and selling mortgage securities at inflated prices ultimately borne by u.s. taxpayers when economy crashed in late 2008. morgan stanley is said to have falsely marketed over $10 million in securities and sold to fannie and freddie. also tuesday, the financial giant j.p. morgan agreed to $614 million fine for thousands of flawed mortgages whose losses were ultimately covered by taxpayers. jpmorgan has paid over $20 billion in fines and

penalties in the past year. the obama administration is reportedly scaling back drone strikes in pakistan at the request of the pakistani government. "the washington post" reports pakistan asked for the pods in midst peace talks with the taliban. a preliminary meeting between the two sides was delayed on tuesday after the pakistani government failed to show up. there appears to have been no u.s. drone strikes in pakistan since december, the longest pause since 2011. a hearing in washington, the house intelligence committee chair mike rogers lasted president obama or his pledge last year to rein in drone attacks overseas. president made 2013 policy charges that changes aren't utter and complete -- are in utter and complete failure and leave americans lives at risk. thus changes, while sounding nice in a speech, r, right now, endangering the lives of americans at home and our military overseas in a way that

is frustrating to our allies and frustrating to those of us who engage in the oversight of our classified activities. what's the latest leaks from edward snowden show the british equivalent of the nsa launched cyber attacks on the online activist groups anonymous and lulzsec will stop -- wolf said. the plaintiff software to reveal the identities of their participants. or it appears to be the first known western government to launch cyber attacks for which groups like anonymous have faced jail time. the gchq's operations also disrupted the web traffic and websites a political activist who had no connection to illegal hacking. a lithuanian court has ordered a probe into the torch of a saudi arabian prisoner held inside a secret cia prison. -hawsawi was into

lithuania after pakistan handed him over to u.s. officials in 2003. he said he was subjected to torture for two years before being transferred to guantánamo bay. in a new ruling, a lithuanian court ruled he is entitled to a full investigation of his ordeal. amnesty international has praised the move saying -- the washington, d.c. city council has advanced a measure to determine eyes -- decriminalize marijuana. city councilmember and bill sponsor tommy wells said marijuana laws have led to the disproportionate jailing of african-americans. of socialong period

and racial injustice related to the war on drugs, especially when it comes to marijuana. 91% of the arrest and easy related to small amounts of marijuana are african-americans. you can't tell me with six universities for not to stereotype, but the only people smoking pot or african-american youth. >> a final vote on the d.c. pot measure is expected later this month. embers of the central park 5 and her supporters rallied in new york city tuesday to pressure local officials to settle their cases. the five black and latino men were convicted as teenagers for the 1989 beating and rape of a white woman in new york city central park. media coverage at the time for trade the teens as guilty and used racially coded terms to describe them. but their convictions were when the real2 rapist came forward and confessed to the crime in jail, after the fight had already served jail terms of up to 13 years. speaking at city hall, yuself

salaam urged mayor bill de blasio to keep his promise to settle the central park five's case. we are the modern-day scottsboro board. here we are still standing and still strong. but we are standing strong because of the support that we have been receiving over the years. if the law enforcement oversteps the bounds of the laws just to get a conviction -- and i mean, i never thought the central park five, the truth of the story would come out. able to this day think we had some kind of involvement with something that happened in central park. we were innocent witnesses. >> new york state lawmakers are seeking passage of the bill that would block financing for academic groups that boycott academic institutions in israel. the measure was introduced after the american studies association

's recent vote to boycott israeli universities over israel's treatment of palestinians. the bill passed the new york state senate last week, but appears to have stalled for now in the state assembly. in an editorial, "the new york times" criticized the bill, saying it would trample on academic freedoms and chill free speech and dissent. the abortion rate in the u.s. has dropped to its lowest level since 1973. a new study from the bookmark or to to suggest more widespread use of contraception likely played a role in the decline, which coincided with the drop in overall pregnancy rates. the historic low occurred in 2011, largely rebating the impact of an unprecedented surge in abortion restrictions that began in that year's legislative session. those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world.

the opening ceremony of the 2014 withdrawal limits in sochi, russia is just two days away and the games are already steeped in controversy. than $50s been more billion on sochi, making it the most expensive olympics in history. the costs have soared in part due to the extraordinary security measures being taken to protect the city. the u.s. state department has taken the unusual step of warning american fans attending the games to take the batteries out of their cell phones, which could become locating beacons or bugging devices in the hands of the russian authorities. rights recordman is also in the spotlight. several russian activist have been barred from watching the games live. one prominent russian environment list was arrested tuesday your sochi. he was reportedly charged with fory hooliganism, allegedly swearing previously at a bus stop. some lgbt groups have called for a boycott of the games after russia passed a law in june banning the spread of so-called gay propaganda to children.

on saturday, human rights advocates held a protest in paris to highlight concerns about russia's restriction of freedom of expression and assembly. this is the director general of amnesty international france. to get the all, wider public to understand what is happening in russia. people have an image of russia, of things getting better. problems and we have to remember we're not just buying gas or selling weapons or technology to the russians, having cultural exchanges. there are human rights violations and the wider public has to it knowledge list. >> we will spend the hour today looking at some of the controversy surrounding the olympic games. we begin with a former olympic athlete, samantha retrosi come in competed in the luge in 2006. she recep -- she recently wrote an article called, "why the olympics are a lot like 'the hunger games.'" samantha, why? part of in the initial

the article, i talked about the olympics as a place of exploitation. i make the comparison of the old and the opening ceremonies to that of the hunger games opening ceremonies in terms of the pageantry, the clearly divided -- you have the district level divisions. i see that kind of division reflective of national division. i think there are a lot of parallels that can be drawn between the nature of the olympics themselves, the cruelty and expectation that is within them, and the same cruelty and ask what cash and that we see in ."e movie "the hunger games >> you started to train to ageme a luge athlete at the of 11. explain how you got into it and what happened. >> becauseluge is a very specific sport to our geographic

location -- >> could you explain what it is? >> a lot of people are familiar with bobsled because of the movie "cool runnings." is a one-person version of the bobsled. it is actually a very different sport. the athlete is lying on their back feet first. the sport has a long history that is paralleled to bobsled, but it is profoundly different. the sled is very different. it is a very technical sport. of all the sledding sports, it is the fastest and most technical. is an amateur winter olympic sport. >> how did you come to actually start at the age of 11? geographicallyhe specific nature of the sport, the luge association has to go

out and do their recruitment program. i was recruited through what was called the verizon usa sled or search. every summer, the organization went out and basically saw large pool of athletes from all over the country. the athletes are selected for the u.s. development team from that pool and there are sent through a screening process at lake lasted at the olympic training center. you're basically selected for your athletic ability and for some of the psychological characteristics that are found in the best luge athletes. >> in the article, you also speak about the role that verizon played as the corporate sponsor of the u.s. luge team. could you elaborate on that? what role do they play and how significant is corporate sponsorship for specific u.s. teams competing in the olympics? >> the united states corporate sponsorship is a paramount

necessity. there's no government support for luge or any other olympic sport. essentially, the system is entirely privatized. you have the budget of the u.s. luge association and many other national governing bodies been entirely subsidized by corporate sponsors. when that is their only lifeline, stephen operate, their entire operational budget is based upon corporate sponsorship, you have a very interesting situation where relationship of dependency -- what shapes the organizations activities and the way it treats athletes and athletes themselves are entirely dependent upon the corporate sponsorship as well. essentially, you become a spokesperson for corporation as an athlete in the current context. >> in what way? explain what were the roles we want to compete in italy and the winter olympics around what you could say and what you could not. >> as a u.s. national team

athlete, i signed a contract every year with the u.s. luge association and the contract stipulated what i could and could not say, how i could use my media time. i was being trained to be a spokesperson for verizon, essentially. >> what would you say about verizon? great phone service? [laughter] ,> no, i would say, thanks verizon, for making my only big dreams come true, the realization of my american only big dream has been enabled by verizon. thatis kind of the line defines how an athlete talks about the relationship to verizon. it is not always that specific line. during the olympics, you take on a whole other range of sponsors, the sponsors of the u.s. team in general -- usoc sponsors. >> u.s. olympic committee sponsors. >> yes. you become a spokesperson for

those sponsors as well. andsponsorship relationship the sponsors themselves are contingent upon the actual events, world cup settings. verizon was the main sponsor. the olympics? you have the full range of u.s. team corporate sponsorship. >> despite the fact corporate sponsorship plays such a big role, you also point out that individual athletes impact also have to take in -- in fact often have to take on other jobs to support themselves because they see little of that sponsorship money. >> that is one of the repercussions of a privatized sporting hierarchy. the athletes -- a lot of them are fully subsidized by their corporate sponsor when it comes to the basic level of existence. verizon pay for my travel expenses and anything that i needed to live. outside of that, i had no other lifeline to any of the support.

there's no government support. my contract mandated the sponsorship i could pursue individually was limited based upon that allegiance to verizon. really, if i wanted to have any economic flexibility, i had to go out and get a job. right now verizon is no longer sponsoring usa luge athletes. many of them now have had to take on additional work hours in addition to being a full-time competitive national athlete. some have joined -- >> what does that involve being a national competitive team athlete? give us the sense of what kind of training you were part of. >> i started as a child at age 11. at that point, in many ways i , myseparated from my family social community outside of the sport. it is a full-time job. you train all summer. you basically have one month off . now the training changes. in the summer you're doing off-season training that develops your core.

in the winter, you're doing that in addition to the actual act of sliding, training for the technical aspects of the sport and competing. it is an entirely -- >> you're going to school at 11? >> yes, of course. we did have a tutor traveling with the team. really, what happens is you have kids your self educating themselves. faxing their homework back and forth between schools. some schools don't allow the kids to stay there because they don't have an attendance policy that will accommodate an affleck schedule. in my case, i went to a sport academy to get the help i needed as a student as well. you're disconnected from school. you're disconnected from your family. you're really absorbed in the winter sports world. >> talk about the physical duress of this. how did you endure?

of winterlly in a lot olympic sports, there is an element of danger. it is part of what makes them so exciting and marketable during the olympics. physically, it is very challenging. believe it or not, to be a luge athlete or any other athlete, you need to be in tip top physical condition. not only are technical skills important, but physical skill is equally important. now, when it comes to the element of danger, as we saw with the georgian luge and 2010 who died during the event, technical error results in physical duress. case, i retired with four concussions on my plate after 10 year career. of course -- >> how many times were you stitched up? >> i had the equivalent of well over 100 stitches, but that is

over four major crashes. it resulted in significant level of injury. >> what was your worst crash? >> at the olympics into reno. >> explain what happened in italy. >> it is an interesting political situation. field the women's luge crash. that is ansport, anomaly. that is not normal. these are the world's best athletes. elliptic developed a process comes into play -- the older the development process comes into play during the games. the tracks are constructed during the world champ in tip event. you've had years of training on those tracks. everyone knows what the technical requirements are. during the olympics, you're starting from scratch and nobody knows how to drive a track. a new olympic track. they are constructed to be

technically demanding as possible. to be the fastest tracks in the world. there is aspect of sensationalism pursued during the olympic games. case, of that, in my those who regulated the track access for athletes in advance of the game, really limited athlete training. this is partially a product of the attempt to get home track athletes an advantage. >> you mean the athletes from the particular country in advantage? >> yes, they had unlimited access to the track, whereas, the other athletes had extremely limited access. >> were you concerned? >> i had not had a single clean run on that track going into my all of that moment. i had not had a single run that i looked at as this is what i

want to happen in the olympics. the moment i pulled off the handles, i knew come ok, this is about damage control, not about pursuing and all of medal. this is about preserving my own physical safety. >> and what happened? preserve myable to own physical safety. 5crashed and had a grade concussion, multiple stitches. actually, the competition had to be suspended for 20 minutes because i had bled onto the track and the blood left in massive hole, which was a safety hazard for the other athletes who would follow me. but i was lucky because i could have ended up like the georgian luger who lost his life because of the circumstances. >> we're going to go to break and then come back to continue and widen this discussion. we are speaking with a former

olympic athlete samantha retrosi . she is a luger and competed in italy in 2006. when we return, we will be joined by jules boykoff, who has just written a book "celebration capitalism and the real cost of the olympics." we will also be joined by dave zirin and canadian professor helen lenskyj was just finished a book, "sexual diversity and the sochi 2014 olympics: no more rainbows." we will be back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. as we continue our conversation, before we widen the discussion to be joined by a number of guest, we want to stay with samantha retrosi for a moment. did not gethings we to talk about before the break is what happens in corporation, when you are -- when you're a single corporate sponsor pullout. you are dependent. in your case, it was verizon. what happens when a pullout? what options do you have as athletes for support? increaseially, you outside work hours. a lot of the u.s. luge athletes have joined what is called the class army platform. you can make up for some of the funding that verizon had formerly provided. some of the luge athletes had to

pay for their own track time. >> you join the army in order to continue? >> it is a specific program, but essentially you are enlisting in the army. it doesn't necessarily -- adjusting a member of that program does not mean you will not be shipped off, deported or sent out to fight and one of the multiple -- >> you mean you can be? >> yes. >> you go through regular boot camp training in all of that before you go back to your sport? >> yes, usually, the one break in terms of athletes into grading into the program, the one break you have during the spring training is spent integrating into the program and going through the process of attendance in boot camp. >> so this is what it means to be an amateur so you can compete in the olympics? you can't be a professional athlete. >> apparently, it is not enough

to represent your country as an olympic athlete. apparently, you also have to join the u.s. army will class athlete program if your sponsor decides to pull out. >> let's introduce our guests. we are joined by dave zirin, sports columnist for "the number and author of a of books on sports including most recently, "game over: how politics has turned the sports world upside down." his forthcoming book about brazil and the upcoming world cup in 2016 olympic is called "brazil's dance with the devil." and we're joined by jules boykoff who represented the u.s. olympic soccer team in the 1980's and 1990's. he is the author of, "activism and the olympics: dissent at the games in vancouver and london." joining us from toronto, canada, we are with helen lenskyj. her latest book is, "sexual diversity and the sochi 2014 olympics: no more rainbows." monthbeing published this

. she also wrote "gender politics industry: no more rainbows." and we are with samantha retrosi who wrote, "why the olympics are a lot like 'the hunger games.'" >> dave zirin, let me begin with you by asking your comments on the fact that for the first time, the u.s. allegation to the olympics doesn't include anyone from either the president or the vice president's family. could you talk about the significance of that and why you think that decision was taken? >> first of all, i want to thank samantha retrosi for her words. this is like an olympic snowden. not that she faces jail time, but this is legitimate whistleblowing moment. it is very brave way she is saying. i had a flashback this morning to getting a call from amy and

2010 when she was detained at the canadian border for going across for different event in the vancouver olympics that were happening. remember that? they said, are you here to talk about the oligarchs? she said, i am now. it is to point out these issues we're talking about are at every olympics and no doubt they're getting amplified in russia partially because of the conflict between the united states and russia but also true that what is happening in russia is particularly bad even by olympic standards. that leads to your question. the u.s. delegation involves three openly involved lgbt athletes. what is so interesting about this is this is the first time since 2000 and nobody from the president or vice president's family has been part of the delegation will stop this is clearly a thumb in the eye to vladimir putin by president barack obama. i'm sure there a lot of people in the lgbt committee and the allies are happy this is happening.

i think people should be very wary of it. we have a lot of problems in this country in regards to lgbt writes. there are 29 states in this country that can still fire someone on the basis of their sexuality. there are what are called no promo laws which are considered -- similar to the russian wall -- wherennot promote , sexuality.romote will be lgbt athletes in russia be better or worse after the cameras are gone question mark by sending over the delegation, one of the things that allows the ioc -- by the way, there are ready doing this to present the lgbt movement in russia as a tool of the united states and actually open some upper for the repression. looks legendary tennis star billie jean king is only appeared on cbs this morning i talked about going to russia as a member of the official u.s.

delegation and about the origins of olympic rule them are 50 which cars athletes from engaging in any type of illegal demonstration at the games. >> probably came from the fact when john carlson and tommy smith raised their arms about civil rights and human rights back in 1968, think -- >> advance -- >> you're not supposed to protest or demonstrate. if they do, they can have their medals stripped to be sent home. -- some ofk people the athletes will probably have bodie miller has spoken out in favor of all of us gay people. again, it is just ridiculous. >> if you were nasty that these games, what do you think you would do -- if you were an athlete at these games, what you think you would do? >> knowing my personality, i

would talk about it. >> you would do something. >> that was billie jean king on cbs. with john, you wrote carlos the john carlos story and she mentioned that olympic moment. >> just worth mentioning, when john carlos went to mexico city, he wasn't doing it to protest the politics of mexico but the politics of the united states and that was brought with particular danger and just being ostracized upon his return. i've spoken with giancarlo several times about the sochi games. he is a supported -- supportive of the movement and athletes rights. >> do you think we will see this moment at the sochi olympics? >> i don't know what form it will take, but i've spoken to enough people to know the role the many visible signs of lgbt

dissent and the fight for lgbt liberation of these games. >> let's go to canada. you have written a lot about gender diversity, about sexuality, gender politics and the old epic industry. talk about the significance of sochi 2014. i think it has the potential to change history. the world has lost the upper to to the majestic as they did before the berlin games, the nazi games of 1936. on the other hand, there has been worldwide outrage at putin's russia and the anti-cap propaganda law. and that came to many of us in the lgbt communities as a pleasant surprise. that there was that much global reactions to this registration and so much as a result, so much of dbt visibility in mainstream

media. >> jules boykoff, could you talk about -- you wrote an article last year about wikileaks and the 2014 olympics. what did the stratfor files reveal to go back to what samantha was talking about earlier, about corporate sponsorship and these particular olympics? >> well, the wikileaks documents revealed stratfor was working for a number of olympic sponsors including coca-cola -- >> explained stratfor. >> based in texas, the firm that gimmick somehow got the documents from, you know conversations they were having. it demonstrated coke was concerned with activism at the vancouver games, in particular, asking a number of questions about peta and trying to figure out in advance what they might do to undercut the games. they're definitely concerned with movement building around the olympics. just to echo something we just

heard here, movements create space for the athlete activists. i think that is what helen lenskyj was saying, if you have movement on the ground, that opens up opportunities for athletes to take a courageous stand. do you think the olympics should've been boycotted? >> i do not. i think that would've taken away the opportunity for athletes who have dedicated their lives to the whole moment will stop i don't think it really would have necessarily accomplished anything. when scholars look back at the boycotts of the early 1980's, it is pretty resoundingly proved that these things really did nothing to change the political situation on the ground for real people. >> i want to go back to helen lenskyj. you have written a book on the olympics. you said it was going to be her last book and yet you wrote another book. why did you feel the need to write a book specifically on sochi 2014? >> last summer, 2013, i saw the story about the rainbow

fingernails and the courageous swedish track and filled athletes, the women who painted their fingernails in rainbow colors. and then the outrageous statement by woman from the russian track and field team who said, famously, there are no gays and lesbians in russia. then again last week, the mayor of sochi said there are no gays and lesbians in russia. my book looks at the history of gays and lesbians in russia for not just in the soviet era, but since 1993. in some regards, their position has improved, but the prejudice has such long-standing roots for the prejudice against particularly male homosexuality has a long and complex history, that prejudice i documented the book. it is hard to change russian attitudes. with putin in power and his alliance with the russian

orthodox church, that makes the create moreng to public acceptance of sexual diversity extremely challenging. so we see opening in polls where the majority will say, no, gays and lesbians don't deserve the same rights as heterosexual people. then we see putin to the western world, relying on an argument about his demographic crisis and the fact the birth rate in russia is low compared to other western countries. the life expectancy is very low. he, as a man in his 60's, is at the extreme of life expectancy for russian man. he tries to present himself quite successfully as a model of verrilli and masculinity and so on. in fact, on that sort of sexualized language, some russian critics were opponents

of lgbt writes saying lesbian and gay issues are sample of western decadence and that this creeping western decadence will actually reduce russian manhood and that will result in children hearing about the possibility of being gay or lesbian, choosing that as if that idea was never in their heads. this idea about sex education putting bad ideas into children's heads. so then this will have dramatic effects according to this line of reasoning. on the population growth, putin and others seem to think gays and lesbians don't have kids. in fact, we do. nevertheless, he thinks it will be the end of the russian population, the end of the country. >> and just explain that reference you made, professor, in august, the swedish high

jumper painted her singer nelson the colors of the rainbow flag in support of russia's gay community during a qualifying round at the world championships in moscow. she was forced to repaint them after being warned this was a breach of regulation to the international association of athletics federation and that she could be sent home. she said -- dave zirin? >> one thing about these games, which is, in a bizarre way,putin has fulfilled the greatest mandate of the olympics which is to unite the world and that it has united people in disgust over the many different issues that people care about that are being expressed at these games. no matter what your issue, your passion, your desire for social justice is, there is a part of these olympics that will inflame

you. the olympics, it is happening at the150th anniversary of genocide of 1864. this is a way of erasing that history. it led to her terminus movement. there's going to be a demonstration in new york in times square to coincide with the start of the games. >> to explain what happened 150 years ago? czar nicholas the second engaged in what most scholars call the genocide of the period. they were forced to flee and diasporahem lived in communities around the world. we just saw a protest in turkey get a day. there's a huge pocket nearby in new jersey. there's a number of sir cage and in syria. basically, they had to leave their homeland for their safety. >> there's also been an terminal degradation of a horrific

degree. there has been announced the mass extermination of stray dogs . this is literally one of those things, the violation of labor rights -- at least 25 construction workers have died in the buildup to making the games. all of the lgbt issues we've discussed. if people care about issues of human justice, they should realize these olympics are an amazing opportunity to educate the people around you about the very brave movements that are taking place and the stakes involved. >> samantha, could athletes talk about their concerns? >> i think it is going to be very, very -- i'm optimistic it is going to happen, however, there are a set of structural boundaries in place for athletes that is really tied into the structure of corporate sponsorship. essentially, there are contracts that are signed. fear thatf the athlete activism could become a realistic prospect, i have a feeling there are going to be

requirements -- olympic participation very men will be contingent upon remaining politically disengaged. when an athlete is entirely economically dependent on corporate sponsorships and have invested upwards of a decade, some of them, and their pursuit of this moment, those are going to be very real questions that they will need to ask themselves. >> we will continue this discussion after the break. we also had a chance to talk to pussy riot yesterday. they just came into new york. they have a lot to say about the jail,cs, just freed from two of the members. we will be back with our guests in a moment. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. turn to two members of the russian feminist punk group pussy riot who arrived in new york city on tuesday. nadia tolokonnikova and maria alyokhina were released from prison in december under a new amnesty law in russia, just a few months before the end of their two-year sentence from -- for protesting vladimir putin inside an orthodox cathedral. shortly after they landed here in new york, the two pussy riot members gave the first public appearance here in the u.s. at a news conference organized by amnesty international. they spoke in russian and translated by nadia tolokonnikova's husband. welcome to the united states. on the heat of the politics in sochi, what message do you have for americans? and if you chance to ask both of

our leaders one question, president obama and president putin, what would you ask each of them? >> as well as we know, the position of the american political leadership for the olympic games, something like a boycott. of course were talking about the political leadership, not about u.s. citizens who will, of course, be in russia during these games. it is important to make a statement for these people, american citizens. we would like for americans to really look at russia and see

russia beyond the images of olympic objects and buildings. these optics have no relation to russia. they are foreign objects in russia. the only thing that connects these objects to the country is taxpayer money, which has been stolen and been used to build these olympic objects.

>> in regard to president obama, i would say it is not a andtion, but more of a call this call and appeal is to not be afraid to publicly say your thoughts about what you feel is happening in russia once you are there to our next visit. the question to vladimir putin, aren't you sick of it all? ,> that was nadia tolokonnikova before that, maria alyokhina, two members of the russian feminist rupe pussy riot who

were just released from russian prison. they arrived in new york tuesday and will speak out tonight at the berkeley stadium in brooklyn at a big amnesty international event. their founding a new human rights group called the zone of the rights. dave zirin, your response? >> in a sane world, pussy riot would be playing for the opening ceremonies. when they are at the berkeley center, hope they seek out the displacement and stadium building that took place in brooklyn to build a stadium because these issues are international. that is something that pussy riot stands for. one thing that been speaking out for, the fact he was is the largest prison industrial complex -- prisons.visiting >> i think that has to be our approach to these olympics. our opportunity to be informed and stay in a solidarity with the many social movements in

russia but at the same time, realize a lot of this movement in russia have reflection here in the united states. >> jules boykoff, one of the striking things you point out from a lot of people think you'll in bexar good thing because they bring in a lot of the local economy, but you say that in fact, the olympics are not economically beneficial to host cities. could you explain how that works? >> one of the central myths of the older the machine is when the old ebix roll into town, it is going to amplify the economy, create jobs and leave a wonderful trail in its wake. in reality, if you look at the work of independent academic economist, they will play the opposite. -- tell you the opposite. if you don't want to take it from the independent economist, take a permit romney. he was just asked about the potential 24 boston bid and he did some straight talk and said, hey, it might be fun to we might have a lot of great sports come to town and we might feel high-spirited for a little bit,

but the olympic games are not a moneymaking opportunity. that is mitt romney. >> talk about the significance of mitt romney and the olympics with utah and saw lake city. >> that's why they turned to him in part because he came into work with rocky anderson, the mayor of salt lake city the wake of the bribery scandal. he was there in 2002 at the winter olympics. >> the bribery scandals of -- >> international all of the committee members giving scholarships for kids to go to school and all sorts of other material benefits as they later said, sort of euphemistically in a report. >> you lay out the cost of these olympics. what was your comparison of the cost of these olympics? >> below statistic is $51 billion for the games. that is more -- >> and comparison? >> so many comparisons to make. one road from the old big village to the top of the ski mountain is going to cost 8.7

million dollars. not only is that more than the entire price tag of the vancouver games, but they could've paid the entire road in beluga caviar and it would've cost less than $8.7 billion. >> what does this have to do with men spending suits? [laughter] >> i quoted a professor in brazil who said statistics are like a mankini. they show so much but they hide the most important parts. not making money. although some are making a tremendous amount of money. books as giancarlo says, the reason they have the olympics every four years is because it takes them for years to count all the money. the question is, who gets it and who is left behind? >> who gets it in russia? >> a combination of the russian state and the russian plutocracy that exists. these things are so interwoven that we are having complaints of the russian plutocracy because they're being enacted with what they're calling the putin tax

where he is saying, you need to help me pay for these things, we just lost $30 billion and we are $40 billion over budget. alsoles boykoff, you're elevate athlete. you're on the olympic soccer team. did you relate to what samantha retrosi was describing in this very painful from 11 years old odyssey she took, is sponsored -- sponsored partly by verizon until verizon pulled out, and what it meant ultimately leading to the censorship of the olympics about what you could say? >> i can surely relate to the strict regime imposed on the athletes. did not actually participate like samantha did in an actual olympics. nevertheless, i do play internationally against the brazilian olympic team, and the sovietm

union. one thing that was striking to me, we played in this french tournament and we were not getting rooted for. as a naïve 19-year-old i thought, everyone which are for the united states. it really put this thought in my mind when i went home, you have to figure some of these things out. so i did. i went home and started to do a political excavation of what may be going on. thethe new york times" has recommend fans take batteries out of cell phones which could become locating beacons or bugging devices in the hands of the authorities. have top of that, they told the u.s. olympic athletes to actually break from tradition and not walk around sochi wearing their usa gear, their sweat outfits, for fear that would make them a target for terror attacks, which are also something that is a high level of concern because the olympics are being held so close to the theater of the chechen wars which have taken the lives of 160,000 people over the last 20 years.

whether it is the russian state or whether it is the chechen rebels or people who have had family members killed in that war, i mean, this is an act of incredible hubris by putin to have these games here but a lot of lives at risk. >> helen lenskyj, as you wrote your second book on the olympics, and particularly focused on sochi 2014, what surprised you most? >> it surprised me the resell many parallels with the attitudes toward sexual russia andin putin's other parts of the world. i did not want to demonize russia as being the only place with these kinds of attitudes and policies. but more importantly, what struck me were the parallels between the ioc and prudence russia. my conclusion is that the ioc and prudence russia deserve each other. they share so many characteristics. the moral bankruptcy of their

leadership, the fraudulent processes that still go on , the attitudes toward gays and lesbians, specifically the ioc, quite satisfied with gay and lesbian invisibility in the sport as is the wider world of sport and russia -- putin's russia is enforcing it. the reliance on this old document that sport and politics don't mix is what i call magical thinking come of that sport will solve all of the world's problems, brings people together, brings world peace -- not this particular rhetoric here -- but it solves the problem of teen pregnancy. people have said that. sport and magical thinking are common to both the ioc andputin. >> jules boykoff, the boost to

the security industry and policing? >> in general with the olympics, the security industry and local police are in great shape. basically they treat it like their own private atm machine, getting all of the military devices they would never be able to get under normal political times. that is a trend throughout numerous olympics. >> we will see if this discussion happens when we are watching television throughout the old and picks on nbc, these issues it raised. would you do it again, samantha, if you could compete again or would you lead your childhood a little differently? >> that is a difficult question. >> we have 10 seconds, i hate to tell you. isi would say who i am today a reflection of who i was as an athlete, so i would say i would not. as a result of that lifestyle, it is well worth what i went through. >> samantha retrosi, thank you

for being with us, jules boykoff whose new book is called, "celebration capitalism and the olympic games. up tank you to helen lenskyj and dave zirin. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]