06/30/14 06/30/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from the global media forum in bonn, germanny, this is democracy now! >> this is not only about the u.s. secret service, it is about globally and it is about the big corporations who are dominating the internet and this is not the kind of society we want to live in the

near future. know what is us to going on, and now it is up to us to act. >> as revelations by edward snowden about u.s. surveillance continued to shake germany, we speak to his european lawyer, wolfgang kaleck. as the german government cancels a key contract with verizon, some lawmakers are now calling for the german chancellor to grant snowden asylum. then we speak to the director of news at al-jazeera english about the sentencing of the networks through reporters jump to 10 years and in egyptian prison. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from bonn,

germany. president obama is asking congress for fast-track authority and additional funding to speed the deportation of migrant children fleeing violence and poverty in central america. the white house says obama will submit an emergency request to waive anti-trafficking rules that prevent children from being immediately deported. if approved, the government could avoid regulations mandating the children's transfer to the care of the department of health and human services copper which is tasked with acting in the child's best interest, not forcing automatic deportation. the waiver would apply to children from guatemala, honduras, and el salvador, the the countries for most of 52 thousand unaccompanied children seized on the border since october. obama will also ask lawmakers for at least $2 billion to pay for more immigration judges and faster deportations.

speaking to abc news, president obama made an appeal to the parents of unaccompanied children. >> our message absolutely is, does in your children unaccompanied on trains or through a bunch of smugglers. we don't even know how many of these kids don't make it and may have been waylaid into sex trafficking were killed because they fell off the train. we have no way of tracking that. that is our direct message to the families in central america, do not say nor children to the borders. if they do make it, they will get sent back. more in portland, they may not make it. >> president obama is expected to formally seek the fast-track deportation authority in a letter to congress today. according to the u.n. high commissioner for refugees, 58% of unaccompanied children detained by the u.s. could be entitled to refugee protections under international law. the sunni militant group leading a rebellion against the iraqi government has declared a muslim caliphate in parts of syria and

iraq under its control. in a statement, the islamic state in iraq and syria known as i says said it will now be known as the islamic state. the group also called on the islamist factions worldwide to pledge allegiance, potential challenge to its former ally am a al qaeda. a record lawmakers are holding a key session on tuesday to begin selecting a new government as the iraqi army has launched a new offensive to retake the northern city of tikrit. a spokesperson for the united nations refugee agency said aid officials have been unable to reach tens of thousands of displaced iraqis. there are hundreds of roadblocks which not only prevent us from joining people who need help to bring them assistance, but which also prevent people from getting out in order to join our distribution points. there is no freedom of movement. >> the state department abandoned a probe of the private

military firm blackwater in iraq after a company official threatened to kill the government's chief investigator. reports york times" investigators began looking into blackwater's iraq operations just weeks before company operatives shot dead 17 iraqi civilians in the 2007 massacre in nisour square. the investigators found widespread misconduct and warned of an "environment full of liability and negligence." but according to government documents, the previously undisclosed investigation was quashed after blackwater's project manager in iraq, daniel carroll, issued a threat "that he could kill" the chief investigator imogene richter, and "no one could or would do anything about it as we were in iraq." -- u.s. ambassador embassy in iraq ended up siding with blackwater, ordering jean

richter and a colleague to leave iraq and calling them "unsustainably disruptive" and "unnecessarily hostile" to contract personnel. "the new york times" said the investigators unheeded warnings made clear the state department was alerted to serious problems involving blackwater and its government overseers before nisour square. the trial of four blackwater operatives accused in the massacre again this month after years of delay. "the new york times" exposé was risen -- written by james rison. israeli warplanes that killed one palestinian and injured three on strikes in the gaza strip. palestinian militants in gaza have launched rockets on southern israel over the past eight the midst escalating tensions over it is really crackdown following the apparent kidnapping of three israeli teenagers from a west bank settlement. the obama administration has signaled its intent to eventually sign an international convention banning the use,

stockpiling, production or transfer of antipersonnel landmines. the white house initially announced in 2009 it would continue u.s. policy of rejecting the treaty, but then walked back its stance by saying the treaty was under review. five years later, the administration now says it intends to eventually sign the treaty, but not in the near future. in a statement friday, the administration said it will immediately stop adding to its stockpile of 9 million landmines and take further steps that would eventually allow for ratification. in a statement, human rights watch welcomed the new stance, but added -- the obama administration has tapped a former procter & gamble executive to head the embattled department of veterans affairs. would replaceald

eric shinseki, who was forced to resign earlier this month following outrage over the cover-up of lengthy delays at the a facilities. the city of chicago has announced the firing of over staffeachers and support a public schools. it is the fourth time in the last five years the chicago has freed over 1000 people. in a statement, chicago teachers union president karen lewis accused the mayor of waging "war on educators." indigenous groups have led a gathering of hundreds of people in western canadian province of alberta for the annual tar sands healing walk. participant staged a march and healing ceremony this weekend to mark the damage of tar sands oil mining on the land and local amenities. the indigenous let's are money was in its fifth and final year. civil rights activists traveled to mississippi to register

african-american voters half a century ago reunited to mark the 50th anniversary of freedom summer. in june 1964, some 1000 out-of-state volunteers risk their lives as part of a massive registration campaign. late last week, veteran activists, including julian bond and bob moses, gathered at tonga lou college to celebrate the milestone the market continuation of the civil rights struggle. as part of the celebration, a group of student activists joined with workers from a nissan plant in canton, mississippi who say they're facing threats and intimidation in their attempt to unionize. danny glover addressed the crowd at the rally. veterans are here right now to demand that we want justice right now. not tomorrow, right now. the concentration of wealth in this country among the most powerful people in this country is just as bad as it was in 1846.

1846. 1846 was in the beginning stages of the industrial revolution, before the abolition of slavery. we have to challenge that. and we can only challenge by organizing. we are going to create another nissan, a nissan that respects us as human beings. king, juniorher had also seen the connection between the workers rights and civil rights. he was in memphis, tennessee in support of striking sanitation workers when he was assassinated april 1968. the u.s. justice department has dropped its criminal prosecution of palestinian professor and -arian, whose al first accused of ties to the group palestinian islamic jihad but a florida jury failed to return a single guilty verdict on any of the 17 charges against him. after prosecutors refile charges, al-arian chose jail

time in the deportation rather than face a second trial in their sentence. defense lawyers argued prosecutors and violated his plea deal by subsequently charging him for refusing to testify cases that had nothing to do it this. on friday, prosecutors said they would drop the content case in light of the passage of time without resolution and in order to begin deportation proceedings. in a statement, the al-arian family said -- new york city has finalized a $40 million settlement with the central park five who are wrongfully convicted of raping a female jogger in central park 25 years ago. the five black and latino men were convicted as teenagers. media coverage of the time -- at the time portray them as guilty and used racially coded terms to describe them. their convictions were vacated

in 2002 when the real rapist came forward and confessed, after the fight had already served chilled terms of up to 13 years. on friday, three of the five appeared at city hall to thank their supporters. defense attorney michael war and said the five's ordeal had let the with injuries that will last a lifetime. fact there here and despite the fact they of fog for all these years and despite of the fact you may see smiles on their faces, there are scars inside. they will last forever. as a result of them having their youth stolen from them and even worn portly, having their youth stolen from them and put into prisons for facing the type of charges. >> lgbt pride parades are held across the united states and around the world sunday. in new york city, participants marked the anniversary of the stonewall uprising which help

the current lgbt movement. and those of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the global media forum in bonn, germany. were outrage continues to grow in germany over the national security agency's massive global surveillance program. reports based on leaks by edward snowden revealed vast nsa spying in germany, including on the german chancellor angela merkel 's cellphone. last week, the german government canceled its contract with verizon. verizon had been providing network infrastructure for the german government used for communication between government ministries since 2010. meanwhile, the german parliament is continuing to conduct an inquiry into spying by the nsa and german secret services. this week, nsa whistleblowers thomas drake and william binney

are scheduled to testify before the inquiry in berlin. some german lawmakers are calling on angela merkel's government to grant edward snowden asylum here in germany. earlier today, thorbjorn jagland , the secretary-general of the council of europe and the chair of the nobel committee, addressed the controversy around snowden during his opening speech at the media forum here in bonn. >> to the most difficult and complex new challenges our data protection and secret surveillance. participatedn who in two present debates on the cultural assembly online from moscow, has shed light on the scale and dimension of modern secret surveillance. his revelations have shown increased potential for states

to violate people's privacy. this does not mean that all secret surveillance is illegal. the european court of human rights has built a solid case law on application of article eight of the european convention of human rights which protects the right to private life, including the protection of personal data and the protection of personal image. in a landmark case, the court acknowledged the rights of states to employ secret surveillance against terrorism, but it is also moved "that state may not adopt whatever method they deem appropriate." says, was due to the danger in the surveillance or undermining or even destroying democracy on the ground of defending it, as the court said.

in 1978,ruling came five years before snowden was born. so we have clear principles and we have a clear case on this coming from the court of human rights. so whatever the state [indiscernible] or by going to your wastepaper bin, the basic question remains the same. proportionate and is ultimately necessary? >> thorbjorn jagland the secretary-general of the council of europe and also happens to be chair of the nobel peace prize committee. last week, edward snowden made his second appearance before the parliamentary assembly of the council of europe. that is the parliamentary assembly of the council of europe. during testimony, snowden said

mass surveillance is not only unlawful, but also immoral. >> what i witnessed over the course of my career was the construction of the system that violated the rights not just americans, but of people around the world. and not just constitutional rights. and it happened on a massive and unprecedented scale. and happen entirely in secret without the public allowed to know even the barest outlines of the policies. and i very strongly believed if the public about the programs, these programs would not survive. we would consider them not only unlawful, but simply immoral and even if they could be shown to be effective in some percentage of cases, we would reject them nonetheless in the same manner that we reject torture. because even if torture was

effective, we reject it regardless of that effectiveness. we reject it because it is barbaric on immoral, and contrary to our basic principles as a civilization. mass surveillance, where we put everyone under constant monitoring, where we watch communications and what books you buy, the purchases you make, your travel, your associations, who you love, and we watch who you are. we watch you develop as a person. these are not the values of western society. these are not the values. i do not believe that america as a nation or the west as a culture would allow them to continue. >> that is whistleblower edward snowden testifying last week before the parliamentary assembly of the council of europe. when we come back, we go to

berlin to speak with edward snowden's european attorney. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from bonn and berlin in germany. ♪ [music break]

"first we take manhattan." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. from bonn,dcasting germany of the global media forum. we just arrived here last night from berlin where we spoke to wolfgang kaleck, edward snowden's european lawyer. he is the founder and general secretary for the european center for constitutional and human rights. we sat in his apartment and i began by asking him if russia will allow snowden to stay in russia when his temporary asylum expires there on july 31. >> hello, welcome to berlin. >> do you expect edward snowden will have his lyrical asylum extended in russia? >> we expect edward snowden will stay more time in russia because as for now, it is the only safe place for him. there was no obstacle that he

gets prolonged stay by the russian government. >> what would he like to do? where would you like to be? >> he expressed a number of times that he would love to return to the u.s. and he whoiders himself as someone breaks a letter of the law, but for good reason. so he thinks he deserves a chance to come back to the u.s. without serving a long prison sentence. >> the secretary of state john kerry said he should man up to my come home to the united states and face trial, face the charges. >> if you see what happened to bradley in and chelsea manning, i think this is another explanation for any whistleblower, especially for edward snowden, not to return to the u.s. under these conditions. >> why? what exactly does he face if you were to come home?

what are the charges? >> it is not only about the charges. yes, there are charges under the espionage act. very doubtful law which deserves to be reformed very quick. but it is the treatment, the special treatment what whistleblower's like chelsea manning got in the recent year in the u.s., and special administrative measures in viewing the present time. it is incommunicado time. it is imminent treatment. what he might face, but especially it is a very long and not appropriate prison sentence he might get. and so i fully understand -- we fully understand, the german public, european public, understands that he does not return under these conditions. >> when did you last see edward snowden? >> i saw him a couple of weeks

ago in moscow. >> can you tell us your impressions of him? veryok, he is a sympathetic man. he knew would he risk. he is not limiting about it. decisionto explain his to us all the time. , that heery important did not do anything for egotistic reasons. he wanted to enable us, not only the public in the u.s., but also us in europe to understand what is happening on the internet and what dangers we are facing and that we all have to act not only as a european society, but a global society, to reform as soon as possible the revelation of the internet. -- regulation of the internet. this is not only the u.s. secret service, it is about secret the bigglobally and

corporations who are dominating the internet. this is not the kind of society we want to live in the near future. he enabled us to know what is going on, and now it is up to us to act. >> can you summarize the revelations that have most rocked germany? media, theyof the were all shocked about the wiretapping of angela merkel's cell phone. for us, listen to civil liberties and human rights being conducted under the nsa with a certain participation of the german secret service, was most shocking. again, we are not willing to

restrict this discussion to the nsa. it is not that we are pointing to the nsa is the only evil secret service. we want to talk about our secret services and secret services and their activities globally. -- you know, all secret services in the world tend to use their technology whenever they have the chance to, so it is up to us to close the door and to establish a stronger regulation for secret services, wherever they are. >> can you talk more about the german intelligence relationship with the nsa? >> look, since a couple of months, we established an inquiry commission and the german parliament. -- in the german parliament. it is to investigate not only

andactivities of the nsa german territory, but also the corporation, the level of corporations of the german secret services. mayre at the beginning of be a year-long investigation. we assume there were a number of information given by the foreign secret services to the nsa, but details have to be investigated. so there are a number of smaller items already revealed, like they've been given in frankfurt a number of data in former years -- i think it was until 2007. we know there is a level of corporation between germans and u.s. authorities regarding cases of targeted killing. but as i said, this has to be investigated in this inquiry

commission, and if necessary, criminal procedures. the inquiry commission and the level of the parliament is one thing, and the other important procedure is a criminal investigation conducted by the federal prosecutor's office. >> will edward snowden be invited to germany to testify before this inquiry? >> it doesn't look so for now. >> why? >> well, as the u.s. is the most important ally of the germans and the german government is feeling -- fearing the level of corporation, military corporation secret service corporation, will be affected when they invite snowden and probably -- he will stay here for a certain time, so they are not willing to stand this confrontation. which is to say, a pattern we knew already from a couple of fewr incidents in the last

years. >> and you would think because he exposed the german chancellor cell phone was being tapped before she became german chancellor as well as during, that there would be a great deal of appreciation for the person who revealed this. or do you think german intelligence do this full well before? >> i'm not sure. they say they didn't know. i won't buy into that too easily. but of course, there's a certain level of appreciation, especially among german society. german intellectuals, the media from a civil liberties, human rights organizations, but also the german public will stop and not only germans, it is the same situation in france or belgium or spain where similar inquiries will be conducted soon. we all appreciate what he did, notthe governments are

willing to stand confrontational with the u.s., even not as a they feelope themselves to we to confront the u.s.. >> the german government is ending its contract with verizon . this just came out in the last week. for cooperating with the u.s. government, with the nsa and spying on germans. and you explain the significance of this? >> the significance of this is that there were members of the parliament who raised the concerns when verizon is organizing the internal communication within the german parliament on one hand, and on the other hand, there are known for the corporation with you a secret services, there is a danger internal communication with the german parliament will be kind of wiretapped by u.s.

secret service. no matter if this concern is right or not, this is a strong corporation, u.s. telephone corporations and internet corporations to do something about this problem. because they're going to lose more contracts than this if they're not willing to establish a firewall between their clients and the secret service. >> wolfgang kaleck, we are here in berlin, not far from the wall that was torn down between west and east berlin. victims.represented it is particularly sensitive issue in germany, the issue of mass surveillance. can you talk about the case you represented and why people here feel so strongly about this issue? >> i was a young lawyer when i had the opportunity to open my

first law firm in east berlin, and the headquarter of the former dissidents of east germany. we heard a lot of stories from persecutedthem being by the stasi and east german police. the interesting thing for me, of course, the stories we knew because this was about well-known dissidents. but what was really striking to me was the level of everyday surveillance. so it was a girlfriend of mine going to school and being surveyed their and later on should the opportunity to look into her files and she gets to know why she was fired from school. a couple of years later she had the chance to go back to school and go to university.

but others didn't have the opportunity. it was not only political , the stasi or the east german secret service, but it was cultural dissidents as well. it was daily dissidents as well. verywas really something interesting, a very interesting experience. as westerners, we were not aware of this level of interference in everyday life of east german people. the stasi was not only surveying, but they also tried to interfere in the lives of the people. so they conducted investigations . they arrested people. they interrogated people. they even tortured people. >> so how does this story tie feelings and renew the

about what the stasi did and the victims that came from that? we had not only the stasi, we had a much worse secret service in the gestapo. the national socialist secret still veryich is infamous here. we had a very true dictatorship. there is a certain -- what should i say, suspicion amongst germans, even amongst younger germans, about state misconduct. it is not that we are claiming every secret service is automatically close to the gestapo. the point is, one secret service has this technology or

technological resources and has ae power to do so, they are danger to do so. if this comes together with a regime change, or even a slight regime change, it is a very dangerous mixture. >> can you give non-germans a little history lesson on the gestapo and the stasi, for those are not familiar with both? >> the interesting thing about both is that, i don't want to compare them because, i mean, the ddr, east german was not there terry and system. the committed a number of human rights violations. but they did not exterminate 6 million shoes and raid the whole european continent. there is a big difference. you caner level, compare them because what they did is they were secret service

and police in one body. that is a very dangerous combination, that they not only collected information, but they collected the information and acted on the basis of this information. especially to persecute political dissidents. so that was the main task. as i said, the stasi went further and at some point started to chase cultural dissidents. >> is there any truth to edward snowden wanting to get political asylum in brazil? , why he edward snowden was together with wikileaks in the transit zone of the moscow airport, wrote a number of letters to a number of countries .sking for safe haven

among those countries, brazil. he did not renew that demand because it is obvious the brazilian government, as for now, is not willing to give him asylum. state, this iss a long distance run. we are now at the end of the first year after the revelations of edward snowden. as for now, russia might be the only place where he has security, but this might change in one year, three years, or five years. i'm really hoping he finds a way back to the u.s. and if not, we do everything here in europe that european countries or give him asylum or enable him to find a safe place somewhere else in the world, and that may be not america. >> what is the most important

revelation you think so far has come out of the documents that edward snowden released to journalists? i think it is not one document. it is the series of documents released all over the last 12 months. there's no way out. there's no excuse possible. all what we were suspecting over the last decade, many people were criticizing but without real evidence. and now this evidence is out. so nobody can deny this practice of mass surveillance, not only of so-called terrorist or so-called dangers people, but massive surveillance against many of us is taking place. is the biggest, biggest revelation, the most important. >> we're coming up on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. do you think there's any

possibilities, and many thought that was not possible, that germany would grant edward snowden asylum? trying to be a patient person. although, as a lawyer, you have to be patient and inpatient at the same time. becausee i'm inpatient i'm really criticizing the german and other european governments that they're profiting from edward stands revelations on one hand but not giving anything back on the other hand. they're calling him a lawbreaker. this might change. politics is that we have to win the political majority in our country that the government feel obliged to change or grant him a solutionre part of somewhere else. do you think the coming down of the berlin wall could be seen as a kind of metaphor for what

edward snowden has accomplished? >> of course. we were living in this country in 1988. the wall was a fact for us. we went there, and i think none of us thought that one year later that the wall would be torn down. it shows you that history is isn, and it is about does it up to us to obtain our roads in those struggles for more justice , not only in our country, but on the global level. >> that was wolfgang kaleck, edward snowden's european lawyer . i spoke with him in berlin this weekend. the foundereck is and general secretary for the european central for constitutional and human rights. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, we will be joined by the news director of

al jazeera english, to talk about what is happening in egypt with three of their reporters sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. ,e are broadcasting from bonn germany at the global media forum. on sunday months ago when egyptian authorities raided a hotel room in cairo used by reporters at the global tv network al jazeera. the journalists peter greste,

mohamed fahmy, and baher mohamed were arrested december 29 and have been held in jail ever since. last week there were sentenced to between seven and 10 years in prison for allegedly spreading thee news in support of muslim brotherhood. the sentence has shocked journalists and supporters of press freedom around the world. and the al jazeera reporters are not alone. according to the committee to protect journalists, egypt is currently holding at least 11 other journalists in prison. here in bonn, germany, where theed by salah negm, director of news at al-jazeera english. he was firmly the director of bbc arabic news service in london. -- he was formerly the director of bbc arabic news service in london. i just heard you speak. this is very dire times for al jazeera. you recently had another reporter released from prison after 10 months. can you talk about what is happening to your reporters in

egypt? >> as you know, the three al jazeera english reporters were sentenced to between seven and 10 years, and there are six whor al jazeera journalists were sentenced in absentia for 10 years each. some are egyptians. they cannot go back to egypt. they left property in contact with their families, and only for being journalists. we were reporting in egypt objectively and accurately. throughout the trial, there was not one piece of evidence against them of falsifying information or supporting any outlawed.h is that was all. stop the sentence came as a real shock and surprised everyone because it was out of -- >> talk about the evidence. one of the sequences, the observers in the courtroom said, they showed, what was it peter

greste's family on vacation? >> yes. it was weird and absurd. they got things from the laptops. some were just clips from a different channel. some were about football matches. one of them was about a family vacation. >> baher mohamed was sentenced to 10 years and the other two, mohamed fahmy and peter greste, to seven years, because he had a showcasing. as reporters, we pay cut many things on the streets. some talked about having souvenirs. but often, if you find ammunition like that, it is evidence. can see, forng you example, were ammunition comes from. >> of course, that is part of our jobs as investigating and trying to verify facts. if it was government issued, for example, that would direct the finger to let say the police force. if it is not, then it will be an opposition group or a lone

operator or something like that. i hovered news myself in iraq and other places and i used to do what they're doing. i will not deny that we take things like this sometimes as souvenir. >> the court in the verdict in the sentencing or he got an extra three years and this was possession of ammunition. >> they consider this ammunition. i don't know how you can consider a bullet shell ammunition. they can't be used by anyone. doing tos al jazeera get these journalists out of prison? >> we are continuing our solidarity campaign throughout the world. actually, we're asking the egyptian government to take action and release them immediately because their sentence was unjust to start with. there is an appeal process, but after the sentence and sing the

whole process of trial, we are not very confident it will really go in the right path. >> is al jazeera speaking to the egyptian government? >> no, we have our legal team who is representing us is there. >> president sisi has the power to pardon or commute the sentences, is that right? >> yes, he has the power to pardon anyone. are verya journalists important to us, but to think about other journalists grow detained as well and -- who are detained as well. i think the government has to take action. they cannot think, for example, imprisoning journalists just for

doing their work. >> the u.s. secretary of state john kerry was in egypt the day before the sentences came down. in fact, one of the reporters, mohamed fahmy, shouted from his cage as the verdict came down, where is john kerry? the u.s. is resuming something like $500 million in military aid to egypt. what is your comment on this? >> it is difficult to comment on this because politics between countries are different. but what we expect from the united states is to defend the freedom of speech as one of its basic principles embedded in the united states constitution. >> have you spoken to the u.s. government, i mean, the timing of this trip, the day before the journalists were sentenced. now the u.s. government has, and

john kerry has, conveyed they are upset with these verdicts, but the actions are different. what have they said? >> he had strong comments afterwards. i think he gave a press conference the second day and we appreciate his comments. we speak to officials from different governments. we are seeking their support as well. >> how are you covering egypt now? al jazeera english, al jazeera local al the jazeera -- none of these can operate? >> in the current atmosphere of ways toere are several cover and technology will help us in covering egypt.

we did not stop covering al jazeera egypt. what we are lacking are our own correspondents. we have correspondents from other networks helping us. >> we just got word from al jazeera that there was a bomb that went off to the presidential palace in cairo, i believe tito police officers were killed and reuters has confirm this. news is developing. how do you protect your reporters around the world? we take very strict measures when we sin reporters to areas of tension -- when we send reporters to areas of tension and we provide them with ,rotective gear, armored cars trackers in case we lose total phone contact, extraction plans, extraction teams in case the advisers lose them. we take every precaution for that.

first of all, the reporter himself has to be convinced in the mission he is about to do. it is a voluntarily thing. we cannot ask someone to go against his will. >> what is the free aj staff campaign? >> it is a campaign for collecting support for telling the egyptian government what happened was unjust and they have to free the reporters immediately, as soon as possible. who was on shami hunger strike for so many days. then he was released just a few days ago. >> and he tweeted a picture of himself holding that sign "free aj staff." , thank you for being with us, director of news at al-jazeera english. he is in bonn for the media forum that we are both covering and attending. in a development many are

linking to the egyptian regime's crackdown on dissent, egypt's most popular satirist announced earlier this month he is taking his program off the air, just days after general sisi was elected president. his or outcast has been compared to jon stewart's "the daily show" for his comedic take on politics and egypt in the middle east. his show was incredibly popular, reaching as many as 30 million views per episode. he said he was ending his program rather than pay censorship and threats on his life. he was vague on the pressure he is faced, but suggested the military regime has made it impossible for him to continue. heart surgeon by training, spoke here at the global media forum. >> be yourself. fear works.

fear can drive the masses. fear can turn them into ruthless organisms. upr can drive humans to give humanity. on the fear -- expose thoseo irrational fears, to dissector the unfair use of such human basic instinct in order to give a basic human rights and needs. but might sound strange, is much,mind you, fear much more stronger. fear might be the greatest mover ever. you've experienced this during history. movements that used

fear and empty rhetoric in order to control the masses. techniques, those are still valued. we saw how the most advanced democratic countries used for years to drive war like the bush years in america. their main weapon was not a state-of-the-art aircraft carrier or stealth fighters, but good old national fear. fear is the favorite weapon of all. democratic countries, autocratic countries, religious states.an that is why people who use [indiscernible] it doesn't matter if it is a government that thinks they're

closer to god than you were a that think they're more patriotic, you as a satirist have no place in the war. fascism is celebrated and fear rules. satire comes to disrupt such an equation. when you laugh, you cannot be afraid anymore. thus the system will make sure to illuminate that powerful weapon in order for fear to set in. and there's a small beacon of hope will stop maybe change will come from the most unexpected places. youth are connected now more than ever will stop the internet offers opportunities that was not there many years ago when regimes could get away with anything. when we started on the internet three years ago, at that time we might be the only one in our country who had such a unique format that now the internet is full of young people coming up every single day to combat fear, intimidation, and media

deception. we were too big to be allowed to continue, but by the time we were banned, the change has already happened. stopping the show might be viewed as a sad ending, but we would like to look at it as a new beginning. we have inspired a whole generation to go out and express themselves in their own way. the old techniques of the 1940's and 1950's won't cut it with those youngsters. the propaganda that was good for the parents generation will be able to control them anymore -- won't be able to control the many more. [indiscernible] you might think the long coveted freedom -- fascism is not a new order of society, the the future refusing to be born. but i tell you the future is already here. it is just warming up. so fear might sell. fear might work.

fear might win, but it will eventually face its defeat. the battlefield for that glorious victory will be no other than the hearts and minds of vibrant, inspired young people who will not give in to fear. [applause] tothat is bassem youssef egypt's most popular satirist, speaking here at the global , germany.m in bonn the committee to protect journalists awarded bassem youssef the international press freedom award in 2013. he received the award from john stewart of "the daily show" the comedian tiffany is most frequently compared to in egypt. that does it for days broadcast. i will be speaking tomorrow morning at the media forum here as well as later in the week i will be speaking in

sweden. at the church of sweden. you can check democracynow.org for details. 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!]