[captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> i thought i would have a better opportunity at a child -- charter school. >> charter schools have done great for my son. >> despite the success of charter schools, mayor deblasio wants to keep them from expanding. charterattle over

schools heats up after mayor bill de blasio blocks three schools from using spreads -- space. we will speak with steve barr. suspendsern university the group students for justice in pakistan -- palestine. we will get the latest on a hunger strike inside of a detention prison in washington state. >> i'm hoping we can get support from all of the people that are listening. hear. believe what you life here is not easy. we work for four hours, five hours, just one dollar. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president obama has called for releasing the torture report at the heart of a dispute between its author, the senate intelligence committee, and its subject, the cia. panel chair dianne feinstein has openly accused the cia of spying

on senate staffers and seizing material from their computers as part of an effort to undermine the exhaustive report on the agency's torture and rendition program. the report has yet to be released but reportedly documents extensive abuses and a cover-up by cia officials. at the white house, obama said he would push for de-classifying the report. >> we have worked with the senate committee so that the report that they are putting forward is well-informed, and what i have said is i am absolutely committed to declassifying the report as soon as it is completed. i would urge them to complete the report, send it to us, and we will declassify the findings so that the american people can understand what happened in the past, and that could help guide

us as we move forward. >> despite aiding momentum for the report's release, obama also offered tacit support to the cia in its showdown with congress. in his remarks, obama said he would stay out of the dispute over whether cia broke the law in spying on the senate. >> with respect to the issues that are going back and forth between the senate committee and the cia, john brennan has referred them to the appropriate authorities, and they are looking into it. that is not something that is an appropriate role for me and the white house to wade into at this point. the one thing that i want to emphasize is the substantive issue, which is how do we operate even when we are threatened, even when we have gone through extraordinary trauma as to be consistent with rule of law and our values, and i acted on that on the first day and that has not changed.

president obama's apparent backing of the cia falls in line with new reports showing the white house has helped stonewall the senate intel committee's investigation. mcclatchy reports that for the last five years, the obama administration has withheld 9,000 top-secret documents sought by the panel as part of its probe. the news also suggests the white house has been more involved in the torture probe than it has publicly claimed. new disclosures from edward snowden show the nsa is massively expanding its hacking worldwide. software that automatically hacks into computers -- known as malware "implants," -- had previously been kept to just a few hundred targets. but the news website the intercept reports the nsa is spreading the software to millions of computers under an automated system codenamed "turbine." more leaks from snowden have identified key court orders that loosed restrictions on the collection of americans' private information. most pivotal is july 2002 "raw take" order, which granted intelligence agencies the

authority to share private information with others without having to delete details irrelevant to investigations. president obama's pick to head the national security agency, vice admiral michael rogers, has appeared before the senate ahead of his confirmation vote. rogers would replace general keith alexander, who is set to retire. in his remarks, rogers vowed to implement the proposed nsa reforms unveiled in the fallout over edward snowden's disclosures. >> we must do all of this in a manner that protects the civil ourrties and the privacy of citizens. i will be in active power that partner in interacting the -- and acting the changes directed by the president and my intent is to be as transparent as possible in doing so and in the broader execution of my duties if confirmed. >> under questioning from democratic senator joe manchin,

rogers declined an invitation to brand snowden a "traitor," but said he doesn't see him as a hero. >> you said before some of the things he has done and has continued to do is the repairable. said irnot sure that i repairable. >> you would look at him as a traitor? >> i am not sure if i would use the term traitor, but i would certainly not call him a hero. >> if confirmed, rogers would also lead the new pentagon unit in charge of offensive cyber-operations, despite recommendations by a presidential advisory panel to separate the two posts. in his testimony, rogers said every major combat command in the u.s. military is slated to have its own cyber-attack operations. president obama hosted ukrainian prime minister arseny yatseniuk at the white house on wednesday in a show of support for the

interim ukraine government in its standoff with russia. the meeting comes days before the russian-backed government in crimea is holding a referendum on whether to succeed from ukraine and join russia. obama warned russia of consequences if it ukraine is divided. >> we will continue to say to the russian government that if it continues on the path that is but thenot only us, international community, the european union, and others, will be forced to apply a cost to russia's violations of international law and its encroachments on ukraine. there is another path available and we hope that president putin is willing to seize that path, but if he is not, i am confident international community was banned strongly behind the ukrainian government in preserving its unity and integrity. >> borrowing the famous line from ronald reagan at the berlin wall, yatsenyuk called on putin to drop his designs on crimea.

to vladimir putin, tear down this wall of intimidation and military aggression. let's stop. let's calm down. >> at their meeting, obama backed a tentative proposal that would potential open more autonomy to crimea if russian forces withdraw. secretary of state john kerry is due to hold talks with russian counterpart sergei lavrov in london on friday. israel has launched its most intense bombing of the gaza strip since the assault of late 2012. around 30 israeli attacks have hit gaza since wednesday following a barrage of palestinian rocket fire. no casualties have been reported on either side. the group islamic jihad has claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks in what it called a response to earlier israeli strikes that killed three people. more rockets have now been fired from gaza as the flare-up continues for a third day. overall, at least six palestinians have died in israeli attacks on the occupied

territories this week. the casualties include a palestinian judge living in jordan who was fatally shot while crossing the border to visit his comatose daughter. israel says the victim was fired on after he tried to seize a soldier's weapon. a witness however claims he was shot after shoving a soldier who had forced him to the ground. israel has expressed "regret" for the incident but has refused to apologize. another victim was a male palestinian teen shot by a soldier at point-blank range. the search is continuing for a missing jetliner five days after it disappeared en route from malaysia to china. on thursday, satellite imagery picked up what investigators said may have been the plane's debris in the south china sea, but ships sent to the area found nothing. adding to the mystery around the plane's disappearance, the wall street journal reports that u.s. investigators believe it may have flown for four hours after last making contact with air traffic control.

president obama is using his executive authority to expand overtime pay for millions of american workers. the move will expand overtime elibigiliy to workers whom corporations have classified as "executive or professional" employees in an effort to avoid paying them for extra work. these include store managers, office workers, loan officers, and computer technicians. corporate lobbying groups have long opposed the expansion of overtime pay. republicans are expected to mount opposition on top of their effort to block obama's raising of the minimum wage for federal workers to $10.10 an hour. general motors has acknowledged it received complaints about a key safety defect in 2001 -- three years earlier than previously disclosed. the failure of ignition switches in gm cars has been tied to 12 deaths and 31 accidents over the past decade. it finally prompted a recall of 1.6 million cars last month. you can go to our website democracynow.org for our

interview with ralph nader from wednesday's broadcast. nader famously exposed safety flaws in gm vehicles five decades ago. and in new york city, at least seven people are dead, more than 70 wounded, and others remain missing after killing wall buildings in harlem collapsed in an explosion triggered by a gas leak. shatteredof the blast windows. another tragedy in texas where a suspected drunk driver drove into a crowd of people leaving a music event. at least two people were killed and more than 20 wounded. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> and i am juan gonzalez. welcome to our the sinners and viewers -- to our listeners and viewers around the world. a battle is heating up in new

york city and state over the future of charter schools. new york city mayor bill de blasio recently blocked three privately run charter schools from using rent-free space inside public schools. the city also announced it will cut $210 million in charter school construction funding and use the money toward universal pre-k and after-school programs. >> the moves have set off a fierce debate in new york and the country and have even pitted de blasio against new york governor andrew cuomo, a fellow democrat. a pro-charter group called families for excellent schools recently launched this television ad campaign. >> i voted for mayor deblasio because he talked about looking for the have-nots. >> mayor bill de blasio talks about the tale of two cities but he wants to take away options from the communities that need it the most. >> my daughter would have a better opportunity at a charter school. >> the charter school was doing so great for my son, i do not know why he would not be

supported. >> despite this success, mayor deblasio wants to take great schools away from new york city kids. >> in response to the ad, mayor de blasio defended his stance on charter schools. he spoke on cbs new york. >> charter operators were favored. we will not do that. if that is what is generating this advertising campaign, that a privileged few will always be favored, they can advertise all they want. it will not affect my view of the world. >> to talk more about the debate on charter schools in new york and around the country we are joined by two guests. steve barr is the ceo and founder of future is now. he also founded green dot public schools, a charter school network. he joins us from los angeles. here in new york is brian jones. he taught elementary school in nyc for 9 years and is now pursuing a doctorate in urban education at the cuny graduate center. he is a member of the movement of rank and file educators, the social justice caucus of the united federation of teachers.

one, you have been writing extensively about the charter school controversies. it is one of the first hislenges, and one of fellow democrats is his major opponent, governor andrew cuomo. >> this has been set up as a battle between the governor and the mayor with many of the charter school supporters counting on governor cuomo to be able to hold back the changes that mayor deblasio is seeking to make, and to be clear, mayor deblasio has not said he would not expand further charter schools. in fact, his administration approved several new charter schools, but his main concern appears to be over the increasing problem of the co-location of schools, not just charters, but the fact that many

schools are facing that there are 3, 4, and five schools in the same building with fights over who gets to use the auditorium, the cafeteria, and creating problems of overcrowding because the previous administration attempted to force too many schools and not really deal with the needs of the individual schools. have elementary school kids in with high school kids? >> high school kids and middle school kids, and especially special education which needs more room and services. the mayor is saying we have to get a grip on what is happening to the regular public schools. that is a big issue. the other issue is rent. do charter schools, which are private organizations, largely using public money, should they be paying rent when they use public schools. in most cities across the country, charter schools create

, but in abuildings few buildings like new york, the policy has been to give them rent free space and the mayor has made clear he is opposed to that idea and state law seems to back him up because the state law says when charter schools cityublic schools, the shall charge cost, but this has not been fought out in a court battle. that is why there is a continuing issue that the previous administration did allow rent-free schools. played a slick, polished advertisement for charter schools. brian jones, who is behind the push for the expansion of charter schools? >> i think we should say from the outset that not all charter schools can be painted with the same brush. some of them are progressive. some of them are mom-and-pop charter schools that are going

about their business of teaching and learning, but who is behind the push is expansionist charter schools, the ones trying to grow into empires. eva moskowitz wants to have 100. >> she is? >> before city councilmember who ins the 22 success academies new york city. she has an interest in the failure of public schools, occupying public school space. she spends north of $1 million a year on advertising, $1300 per student. >> steve barr, you are the dot publicgreen schools, and california is an incubator of charter schools. you areu talk about how seeing the debate in new york city from your vantage point in los angeles?

green dot public schools, and i care less about charter schools except how they affect public schools. i think there is research on what good school districts could become. i listen to a lot of teachers. they felt out of the decision-making process, and we used all of those reforms to be successful in areas where there are 50%, 60%, 70% dropout rate, we retain and graduate 80% and 90% of those same kids. i'm a public school advocate, and charters are a progressive tool. the other thing i would say is these are somehow private entities, it is no more of a pacifica,tity then they are nonprofits. the idea that i got into this with my life savings were that a lot of people that do this work

are you needed to make money is ludicrous. we are unit to change the public school system. it was stagnant for a long time. or leave ittake it mentality. i am a member of the left. i'm a liberal democrat and we have been on the defensive for so long. i think a lot of us that our democrats took the mantle of this tool and said we could prove a different way of educating kids, pushed decisions closer to the stakeholders, empower people that have been left out of the political system, create ownership. that is what you are seeing. it is not an evil doer thing. >> brian jones. >> i want to respond. we have more than one dozen charter school ceo said make more than the chancellor in new york city. some charter school ceos have to schools and make half $1 million. the idea that some people are not in this for the possibility

of personal gain i think is absolutely not true. is other thing is that it important to understand the private nature of charter schools. what eva moskowitz did what she close down her 22 schools for a day and provided meals and t-shirts, that is how she got 7000 people to protest. if a public school shut itself down to attend a political rally, we would have a serious problem, and a private organization could do that. i am not an expert in mr. steve but there iss, reporting that the schools he is attempted to run in los angeles and new orleans have run into trouble, and there is a pattern that charter school leaders hold out great promise, make huge claims and promises, and then run into the huge problems people run into when they are trying to serve some of our neediest students. solving the problems of

education are not simple and straightforward. there is no magic bullet. there is no technique or administrative shuffle that will solve those problems, and i feel charter schools have fallen well below their height. the hype is this proportionate to their merits. >> steve barr, you are the founder of green dot public schools, which is a charter school network. could you respond. >> my schools are wall-to-wall union i schools. i founded a school in the south bronx. that's cool after its fifth year is the fourth best high school in the city in new york. i pay the teachers 22% more than their fellow teachers. areawould affect that there is a lot of -- that. there is a lot of ownership. we push decision-making to the school site and in our teachers.

the research and development will be putting out, especially as new york city enters negotiations, why do those schools make so much more on the public dollars than other schools, and why are we not replicating that? i am probably closer to the al shanker wing of the movement that proves that these things work, and i think brian and i would agree on most things on our public schools should be run. i connected and for the -- get into the tit-for-tat of his talking points, but i am proud that i run a progressive movement. we do not agree on everything, but i think we have a lot to share with other public schools as well. you about like to ask some of the things you have raised -- you do not believe the movement toward "marketshare" between some operators is the best approach. clearly, there are some chains

, thatre bent on growth are really into creating a market share that will create a critical mass for charter schools. how do you see that strategy versus what you are trying to do ? >> i am in the demand business. i am an organizer. i would like to organize myself out of a job. my kids go to l.a. unified schools here in los angeles. i think the public school they go to is better than any charter school. i would like to scale that school up. any school that works we should be looking at and not trying to devise talking points to knock them back, but how do you replicate it? this expansion has nothing to do with some kind of scheme behind the curtain. it has to do with people desperate for good schools. most of the people that we serve, they do not care if it is a charter school or a public

school. parents will find a good school. they are desperate for good schools. agree on most of us 80%, 90% of the stuff, but we cannot get past the 10% that goes on and on to fix the problem. i am a parent and i have to model good behavior. art of doing that is sitting down with people i do not agree with all of the time and i have to find common ground. it is easier to throw bombs at each other without finding common ground. >> brian jones, -- brian jones. >> ok, steve. thank you for what you are saying about public schools. if we can find models, we need to wrap my -- replicate those things. we do not need a persistent narrative of success or solutions for charter schools and that is what we have. that is what we have been dealing with, and that is what is unhealthy, where charter

schools are the favored child in public schools feel like a stepchild. i do want to say the things i want -- you were involved in, not to throw a bomb at you, the parent revolution in los angeles is problematic and not progressive, and was part of pushing parents toward charter schools as a solution. i think part of the problem is creating more choices and not necessarily improve education. students for creating selective choices that does not serve the population. i would like to see a narrative of if we have a struggling school, how can we improve the school, not just proliferate more choices. just creating more choices or options does not help the neediest students. .> steve barr >> brian, you are on the frontline. you taught for years and hopefully you will teach again. it is very hard to be that clone

-- close to parents who are not being represented, and being in a school where they go a whole year without a math teacher, or where gangs dominate a school site. they are desperate. when i look at that, just like you probably did when you were in the classroom, you will do anything for those kids. that literally is what affects and drives -- i cannot speak for all charter school people or all teachers come a but i have to imagine that is what drives people into their activism. >> i wish that when i had join thousands of public school parents to stop our schools from being closed, i wished the charter school leaders with wealth and resources had helped us out when parents were clamoring to save their schools, speaking in favor of saving teachers and special programs that they felt were serving their children, it felt like those cries and protest fell on

deaf ears. >> there are two points you have made that really resonate. for the last 30 or 40 years, people have fled the system. in los angeles, white people and black people have fled the system. that is why we have an 83% latino school district. what was left is the people to pick up the pieces and defend the system. we had a tax revolt. we underfund our schools. we are on the same page. how do you turn that around. how do you create wealth -- not wealth, but opportunities so people will reinvest. we used to have the best public schools in the world, and in my lifetime they went from the best to the worst, and the left said let's give more money to a system built for manufacturing society and the right same privatize it or scrap it, or indifferent. we should be taking the mantle

moving forward. i agree, brian, there is arrogance about finding anything. the only thing i have found is i listen to teachers. randy weingartner has a great button that says listen to the teachers. they were the most on empowered group despite the fact that their union was powerful. at the school said they were very powerful -- on empowered. i realize this is a players league. i will get the parents to support them and we will be subservient to their work. our product is the teacher. >> i want to go to what diane ravitch said, a big supporter of charter schools who changed her mind and she said just because of the evidence. she says charter schools are able to throw out kids they do not want, exclude kids who have severe disabilities, not except the kids that do not ", and then you will compare them to the schools that take all of these kids? she says it is ridiculous, trending toward a dual school

system, one system for privileged kids who do not have big problems, the charters who are able to choose their students and exclude those they do not want, and the other one that is required to take everyone. steve barr. >> i'm not going to respond to that. that is silly. where 300r a school kids had gained affiliations. that was 300 families. when we open the school backup, 500, 600 people came back to the school that had been out of the system for two or three years. we had to test them. the test scores did not come out great. everybody said you did not succeed, jumping on that. that is a blanket statement. it is a silly statement. it does not define a whole movement or all charter schools. steve, i am not an expert, but isn't it true that you are able to raise $15 million to

improve? that shows a pattern that the most successful charter schools are able to bring in outside resources so they could have small class sizes, rich programming and curricula, and then so we desperately need and have been fighting for. >> every dime i raise that green dot public schools is when you start a school we start with a ninth grade only and we would have to do intervention because the majority of kids were coming in between first and third grade reading level and math was not even a blip. we had to do intervention in that ninth grade and then build the school from nine through 12. that is what the money went through. it was not about class sizes -- class sizes very similar. the one thing we had green dot public schools and we have futures now is we do not have a 30% or 40% overhead where money goes to an office building downtown. as we are proving that

university prep in the south bronx, when you get dollars in the classroom, you can pay teachers more. >> i am not as familiar with the toen dot public schools, but the extent that they actually reflect the population of the district -- if you could respond to that, because charter schools here in new york city are overwhelmingly, as much as 80% african-american, whereas lot -- latinos of the largest groups, and they have lotteries, yet they somehow manage to have far -- english language learners, or far fewer special-education students. >> i have heard the argument over the years, and in los angeles, the idea that we are a having success because we have some super parent, some exclusive parent -- the population we serve our all new immigrants. when people make the accusation,

what it says to me is we are talking about a population of folks that just risked everything to come to our country. their comfort zone has been challenged in ways that i cannot even imagine. did they come for the high-end jobs, tickertape parades, or the warm welcome? no. they came for the kids. there is no more motivated group the new immigrants. do they do well? do other people say you must be doing something with special parents? toreally paints the people prove that you can be better when you have more decision-making and dollars where they belong and you are raising expectations. >> we have 20 seconds. brian jones? >> when i taught second grade in east harlem, the charter school with which we were co-located literally sent us students. i received two that year into my classroom while there was a narrative they were an amazing

school solving problems and we were problematic failing school. we were the school that was excepting everybody and trying to do our best with them. because of the code location, we lost our drama room, music room, physical space. the actual affect on a public school that has this universalistic expiration was devastating. >> we will have to leave it there, or we will continue the debate. i want to say thank you to steve barr of green dot public schools and brian jones. now!is democracy when we come back, we go to seattle washington where hundreds of prisoners started a hunger strike. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

not be a dropout" by james brown. we are on the road. broadcastingill be

from flagstaff. check our website at democracynow.org. -- as the number of immigrants deported by president obama approaches 2 million, the congressional hispanic caucus plans to vote on a resolution asking the president to stem the tide had this comes after several senators called for forutive action by obama needless deportation. presidentroups called obama the deported in chief. far from capitol hill, documented immigrants have increased pressure on obama through acts of civil disobedience. hundreds gathered at the us-mexico border to support a group seeking reentry into the united states. in twothe third action years were people deported from

mexico try to return to the united states without legal documents. another action is planned as part of the #bring them home campaign. >> much further north, near tacoma, washington, a hunger strike inside the northwest detention center that started with as many as 750 participants has reportedly entered its 6th day, though its unclear how many people are still refusing to eat. the privately owned facility used by immigration and customs enforcement is owned by geo group. democracy now! obtained recordings of some of the detained immigrants who participated in the strike and explained their concerns. >> so that they give us better what lower prices than they sell here in the commissary, and so that they .top the deportations i hope we can get support from the people listening. to not believe what you hear. life and here is not easy. they have us here working for one dollar a day, we work for four hours, five hours sometimes, for just one dollar.

>> our main goal was to bring to light the situation with immigration reform which is being talked about, but there is really no changes happening. we felt like we had to do our part to speak up and say something. yes, wend of the day are immigrants, but we are all human beings. we have families, we have loved mistakes,we do make but at the same time it is also in our nature. we are asking for an opportunity to fight for our lives which is here since we have invested so much time into this great country. >> earlier this week immigration authorities said some of those on hunger strike were under medical evaluation. the detainees told democracy

now! they had faced threats of force feeding. >> we received the threats from the guards saying after 74 hours we would be taken out of commissary privileges. to down our get down our- tubes throats and get force-fed. i am not an animal. -- cruelool thing thing to grab somebody, put them down theirt a tube throat. we are here to get back to our families. we are not here to be tortured and threatened. >> well for more on this hunger strike and the wave of protests by immigrants, we go to seattle, washington where we're joined by maru mora villalpando. she's an activist and undocumented immigrant with the

group, latino advocacy, and part of the #not one more deportation campaign organized by the national day laborers organizing network. welcome to democracy now! give us the latest on the hunger strike. how many people are still participating? >> thank you. we do not know. we do not have exact numbers. it is difficult to assess due to retaliation strategies. they have been very good at making it difficult for people to communicate amongst each other. we know they started isolating people from day one. they were trying to supposedly assess them medically, and instead they were being told the hunger strike had to stop, that the hunger strike did not work. theirlso replicated privilege to watch tv or listen to the radio. the way they have managed the organizing that happened in the inside is to stop them from communicating with each other. tohave been able to talk

youth. we saw people leaving the detention center, and the three of them confirmed to us that the strike continues, and each of them would say there are people that they know they continue the strike in different parts of the facility. for us, it is not about the numbers. .c.e. about how i retaliating. making -- profit out of the misery. aru, can you talk about the private company running the center, it is not only getting paid by the government to house the detainees, but also paying them one dollar a day to work .hile they are in their

>> yes, this corporation is one of the top five around the world to run private prisons. they have 98 facilities around the world. this one in tacoma is the northwest detention center, which brings people from montana, idaho, oregon, alaska, washington, and sometimes people fromfer from the border mexico, and they started with the centers about 10 years ago. in the capacity, and they call them ends, not people. capacity has grown to 1600. they claim to have only 1300 people inside. and $160ge between 120 per day per person. when a charge that to the federal government, that includes me for paying for my personal -- future

incarceration. inclined to -- inside of the center they call it a volunteer work program. people that are inside can choose to work in the kitchen, laundry facilities, or janitorial services. not only do they save money by not hiring employees, but they day, andone dollar a that has been the case since they opened so many years ago. foure are working between and five hours, in some instances more. back, peopleyears wanted to do a hunger strike because they had not been paid for over 30 days. >> we only have a minute to go. i wanted to know why you are willing to speak out publicly and say you are undocumented. you risk arrest. >> i do. disobediencel action that sparked a hunger

strike, and i'm not the only one. there are several of us across to nation that have decided stop being afraid or feeling shamed for not having a piece of paper that allows us to work here or live here. we want to make sure that it is the government that should be ashamed of having created a mass incarceration system by having criminalized so many of us, 11 million that some years back people will talk about saying we are undocumented, and now we are only 9 million left because the obama administration has decided to banish us from this country. i am doing this for my daughter, for the daughters and sons of so many other people, and for the same reason why the hunger strikers have put their lives on the line, their own health on the line. they kept repeating that they are doing this for their families and everybody in

detention centers across the nation and for all immigrants outside so that they can see they are not alone. as long as obama does not take his work -- he always told us yes you can, and we are telling him yes he can. us important that the deportation is stopped right deferred action is granted to everyone that is undocumented because we cannot rely on congress to do the right thing. they have not done it. we know they will not. we have been used as a pawn in their political campaigns. we are here for our families and we're willing to risk everything because these are human rights and that is why we are doing this. >> thank you for being with us.

maru mora villalpando is an activist and undocumented immigrant with the group, latino advocacy, and part of the #not one more deportation campaign organized by the national day laborers organizing network. when we come back, we go to boston and new york to talk about northeastern university's students whose organization has been shut down. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

. >> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> the northeastern university chapter of students for justice in palestine has become the latest student group to face reprimand for organizing around palestinian issues. northeastern university has just suspended the group until 2015, barred it from meeting on campus and stripped it of any university funding.

the moves comes just weeks after student activists distributed mock evictions notices across the campus during israel apartheid week. the mock notices were intended to resemble ones used by israel to notify palestinians of pending home demolitions or property seizures. northeastern accused the student -- >> northeastern university accused the student group of disregarding university policies over an extended period of time. michael armini, northeastern's senior vice president of external affairs said quote "the issue here is not one of free speech or the exchange of disparate ideas. instead, it is about holding every member of our community to the same standards, and addressing sjp's non-compliance with longstanding policies to which all student organizations at northeastern are required to adhere." we are joined now by two guests. max geller is a northeastern university school of law student and a member of students for justice in palestine. ali abunimah is the co-founder of the electronic intifada and author of the new book, "the

battle for justice in palestine." his new book includes a chapter tiled "the war on campus." max, what happened, why have you been decertified, and what is students for justice in palestine attempting to do? suspended as an organization because the administration feels they can no longer control our activities, and this is the best option they have left. >> and what are the repeated violations they claim you have been engaged in. >> i think insubordination is their claim -- they said it is pervasive rule violations, but what really happened was we distributed a bunch of flyers and an organization on my campus

lost their temper and pressured the university into calling the police on us. you are a jewish student, part of the northeastern university law school. explain the last act you did not get permission for -- explain why you distributed these mock eviction notices that you slept doors.esidents' >> it is important to understand in the greater context of our activities, we were six pendant in everything but -- suspended in everything but name. deprived funding, even swear moved around and roadblocks were put up. we were moved around, and roadblocks were put up. the only activity we could engage in was a direct action what we did not need university

funding or university space. we went door to door and slipped mock eviction notices under people's doors. >> why? >> because we wanted to simulate the common palestinian experience of coming home to find that your residency and existence has been criminalized. abunimah, what the students at northeastern are facing, and increasingly across academia, the battle is raging now over -- against supporters of the palestinians. >> what is happening at northeastern is part of a bigger war on campus that is being waged by university pro-israelions and organizations. in addition to the harassment of students at northeastern are going through, right now i am

scheduled to speak at northeastern on april 1 as part of this book tour, and now we do not know if that event can go ahead. am i banned from campus because the student group cannot book rooms or get resources. that is what this is about, shutting down the discussion. the off-campus group that has been harassing the students is --extreme white ring right-wing group while -- founded by an extreme islam unfold. he is part of another group that is taking this more national, and he has said campuses in this country are the main arena where support for israel has to be rescued and saved. the david project has said the war for palestine solidarity must effectively be a war on the broader left and progressive movement because that is where

support for palestine is nurtured. level, pollsdent show across the country, especially young jewish students are much more now critical of the state of israel and identifying with the plight of palestinians. >> exactly, because young jewish students in this country, like all young students identify with universal human rights and equality. that is why we have legislators in new york, illinois and maryland, and even the united states congress now considering bills to penalize universities if students or faculty's express support for the palestine solidarity movement in the form of the boycott of israeli academic institutions. it really is a free-speech emergency. city,his week in new york at columbia university, students had gotten permission, they went through all of the authorizations to put up a

banner that said stand with justice in palestine, and the university administration took it down after complaints from pro-israel groups and basically said we are not going to allow more banners. free speech is losing out to support for israel on our campuses one administrations are left in charge of people's rights. that is why we have to stand by the students at northeastern and all over this country. >> meanwhile, israel has launched its most intense bombing of the gaza strip since 2012 with 30 attacks hitting gaza since wednesday. no casualties have been reported on either side. group islamic jihad has claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks in what it called in response to earlier israeli tax -- attacks that killed three people. a rockets have been fired as the father continues for a third day.

li, can you talk about this latest escalation. >> you mentioned the november 2012 assault by israel that killed a hundred 27 palestinians. that ended with a cease-fire agreement. has incessantly violated the cease-fire and has been escalating its so-called targeted killings, extrajudicial educate -- executions, and what we have seen is an attempt by palestinian groups in gaza to say if israel keeps violating the cease-fire, we have the capacity to hit back, but i do not think there's anyone in gaza that wants to see a total breakdown of the cease-fire agreement. >> what about the so-called peace talks that john kerry is residing over? >> as much as john kerry, which is none.

john kerry was caught by a reporter the other day in a moment saying his talks with benjamin netanyahu would going absolutely nowhere. i think the significant thing, and what is really happening now is look at when netanyahu is list -- speaking to the israel aipac. he spent the speech defending the movement. this is what is changing the equation, grassroots activism in this country and all over the world. >> when the prime minister of aipac he saidsed those that wear the label should be treated as the way we treat any semi--- anti-semite bigot, they should be exposed and condemned. the boycott or should be boycotted. being acquainted with being

anti-semitic or a bigot. your thoughts on that. >> especially in the university context it is deeply troubling to demonize a viewpoint before one can debate it. the israeli palestinian question remains difficult to answer, and if those answers are not going to come from the academy, i do not know where they are going to come from. to render a certain subject taboo is to deprive the students on campus of important perspectives that are crucial to making informed decisions. it is very troubling. amy, i think it is important to understand that northeastern students put up flyers where they're not supposed to every day. every day, every student at northeastern walks by flyers that were not authorized to be put up, but the only time you ever hear about students being disciplined for it is when the content contains pro-palestinian

messages. plans for your group? will you challenge this ban or how will you continue to operate in the future? >> i am pleased to say the outpouring has been overwhelming. over 3500ceived signatures to our petition and we are right now considering the most spectacular way of delivering the petition to the president's door. we have had student groups that are pretty apathetic -- politically speaking -- the debate team has authored to engage in a walk out of class and it has been really inspiring and moving, but we are still trying to figure out the best way to, sort of, and catch this lightning in a bottle and force the university's hand. book --title for your

the title for your book is "the battle for justice in palestine." do you hope out -- hope? is raging,the battle and i have a lot of hope. in the end, this is a book about what the future looks like, a future based on equality, antiracism, anti-colonization in palestine where everyone can live because people are sick and thed of this conflict and violence that comes with it. ali abunimah is

the big game in the world is the movies. it's the biggest game.

it always has been the biggest game. television is the exact opposite. it's a postage stamp and it has to draw you in. there's no question that this is the age of images and it became that way because of television. and the movies, of course, have to deal with that. i think we're on the verge of a media revolution comparable to the arrival of television itself. annenberg media ♪ and: with additional funding from these foundations and individuals: and by: and the annual financial support of: