09/29/15 09/29/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica this is democracy now! >> the united states is prepared to work with any nation, including russia and iran to resolve the conflict. >> we think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the syrian government. amy: how to deal with syria. that is the center of discussion between president barack obama

the u.n.mir putin as generalissimo continues in new york. we will discuss the latest with vijay prashad. and as narendra modi concludes his visit, the continued practice of caste violence. we was equipped ruth manorama, winner of the 2006 right livelihood award. ledinuation of the practice to ever present violations of human rights. despite legal prohibitions, the -- itution amy: all of that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president obama and russian president vladimir putin held

their first formal meeting in two years last night in new york. during the 90-minute meeting, the presidents agreed that their armed forces should hold talks to avoid coming into conflict in syria where fighting has killed over 200,000 people and displaced millions. in recent weeks russia has , reached a new intelligence-sharing agreement with iraq, iran and syria in the , fight against isil and built up forces inside syria to support president bashar al-assad. the united states, meanwhile, has called for the ouster of syrian president bashar al-assad. we'll have more on the meeting with professor and author vijay prashad. president obama and cuban president raúl castro are slated to meet today for their first formal meeting since the u.s. and cuba began to restore diplomatic relations this summer. this comes after castro addressed the u.n. general assembly monday, calling for an end to u.s. embargo and a return of guantanamo bay. >> after 56 years of heroic and

selfless resistance by the cuban people, diplomatic relations were reestablished between cuba and the united states of america. now a long and complex process begins toward the normalization of relations that will only be achieved with the end of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade, the return to cuba of the territory illegally occupied by the guantánamo naval base, the cessation of radio and tv broadcast and of subversion and destabilization programs against the island, and when our people are compensated for the human and economic damages they still indoor. amy: president obama has announced countries across the world have pledged to contribute more than 40,000 new troops to the u.n. peacekeeping forces. it is unclear whether additional u.s. troops will be included. the announcement comes as the peacekeeping forces have faced a growing number of allegations of sexual abuse. in the central african republic, u.n. forces have been accused of multiple incidents of rape,

and of trading sex with young boys for food and money at a displaced persons' camp outside the capital bangui. republican presidential candidate donald trump has announced his long-awaited tax plan. the plan departs with his pledges over recent weeks that he would increase taxes for "hedge fund guys." instead, the proposal reduces taxes for the rich, eliminates the estate tax, and lowers the corporate tax rate from the currently level of 35% to no more than 15%. the united states already has one of the lowest corporate tax levels among industrialized countries. trump announced the plan in front of manhattan's trump tower skyscraper monday. >> no business of any size from a fortune 500 company to a mom-and-pop shop to a freelancer living from gig to gig will pay

more than 15% of their business income in taxes. amy: trump's plan would also reduce taxes for the middle class, while individuals earning less than $25,000 a year would not have to pay income taxes at all, instead simply receiving a one-page form to send the irs that says "i win." when asked what he pays in taxes during a press conference, trump declined to answer saying only "i fight like hell to pay as little as possible." in more news from the campaign trail, republican presidential candidate and former hewlett-packard ceo carly fiorina has endorsed the use of waterboarding in order to "get information that was necessary." a 2014 senate report said waterboarding is tantamount to torture and that it has produced little useful intelligence. in her interview with yahoo news, fiorina attempted to discredit the report, calling it "disingenuous" and saying that it "undermined the morale of a whole lot of people who dedicated their lives to keeping the country safe."

meanwhile, a new nbc news/wall street journal poll says 40% of americans have a positive impression of vice president joe biden, meaning he would be the most popular presidential candidate if he chooses to enter the 2016 race. cnn says biden has an open invitation to participate in the first democratic presidential debate on october 13. new data shows european cars may be emitting as much as 40% more carbon dioxide than previously thought, suggesting volkswagen's cheating scandal is part of an industry-wide problem. greg archer, program director of the group transport and environment, which works closely with the european commission, announced the report's findings monday. >> what we found is that there is a really big growing gap between the official test results and the real world that people are actually getting. on average, that gap is now 40%.

but for some many fractures, the gap is a great deal bigger. for example, we know on average, worse 80's cars are achieving a gap of 48 are sent. amy: this report comes as german prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation against former volkswagen ceo martin winterkorn following revelations volkswagen had illegally installed devices in 11 million cars worldwide to cheat emissions tests. a "new york times" analysis estimates the extra pollution caused by the volkswagen cheating may have caused more 100 deaths in the united states alone. nasa scientists have announced that water flows inpermittedly on the surface of mars. -- intermittently on the surface of mars. nasa scientist john grunsfeld said monday the discovery raises new questions about whether the planet currently sustains life. >> today's announcement of a really fascinating result about current water on mars is one of the reasons why i feel it is even more imperative that we

send planetary scientists to mars to explore the question of is their current life on mars? amy: in news from yemen, u.s.-backed, saudi-led airstrikes have killed at least 130 civilians after mistakenly bombing a wedding party monday. the attack appears to be one of the deadliest in the year-old conflict. it occurred near the southern port city of mokha, where u.s.-backed saudi-led airstrikes killed more than 120 people in late july in an attack that human rights watch said may amount to war crimes. in afghanistan, the taliban has seized control of a major afghan city for the first time since 2001 after taking over the northern city of kunduz. this comes amid a deteriorating security situation in afghanistan, with the u.n. reporting civilian ol casualties are at quote "record-high levels" this year. late monday, afghan general murad ali murad pledged to retake the city through a counter-attack, which began this morning.

>> we have had an emergency security meeting tonight. right now we're controlling the situation and we have already prepared ourselves to change a zurrent situation in kundu city. you will see a change by tomorrow. amy: officials in the central african republic say at least 500 people have escaped from prison amid increasing fighting that has killed at least 42 people in the capital bangui. the fighting began after a muslim man was killed and his body left near a mosque. pope francis is slated to visit the central african republic in late november as part of his upcoming trip to africa. in peru, at least three people have died after police opened fire on local residents during a protest at the construction site of a new copper mine. the proposed las bambas mine is a multi-billion-dollar chinese-owned project that has faced intense resistance from local residents. officials say ambulances could not reach the local clinic following the attack because police also shot at a vehicle carrying doctors. at least six people have been killed in peru in anti-mining

protests this year alone. back in the united states, an oklahoma court has rejected a request for a new hearing in the case of death-row prisoner richard glossip, who is slated to be executed wednesday. in 1997, glossip was working as a manager at the best budget inn in oklahoma city when his boss, barry van treese, was murdered. a maintenance worker, justin sneed, admitted he beat van treese to death with a baseball bat, but claimed glossip offered him money and job opportunities for the killing. the case rested almost solely on sneed's claims. no physical evidence ever tied glossip to the crime. in recent months, two men who served time in jail with sneed have come forward saying sneed framed glossip to avoid the death penalty himself. on monday, the court ruled this evidence "merely builds upon evidence previously presented to the court" and rejected a stay of execution.

to see our discussions of the richard glossip case with sister helen prejean, you can go to democracynow.org. meanwhile, georgia state officials have granted a clemency hearing for death-row prisoner kelly gissendaner, ahead of her scheduled execution tonight. she was sentenced to death in 1998 for recruiting her boyfriend to kill her husband, and she is the only woman on death row in georgia. the clemency hearing comes only hours after a federal judge declined to temporarily halt her execution amid concerns about the cocktail of drugs the state plans to use in her execution. in san francisco, hundreds of activists flooded the streets of the financial district monday morning to protest "climate profiteering." at least 15 people were arrested and traffic was disrupted for more than an hour. monday's action comes one year after thousands of people held a sit-in on wall street to draw attention to the connection between capitalism and climate change. brown university has rescinded

bill cosby's honorary degree, amid accusations by more than 50 women that bill cosby drugged and raped them in cases that go back decades. fordham university and marquette university also rescinded honorary degrees from bill cosby last week. and bestselling writer ta-nehisi coates has been selected as one of this year's 24 winners of the macarthur genius grants. coates is the author of the new book, "between the world and me," which has been called "required reading" by toni morrison. in july, ta-nehisi coates joined our studios. >> what i wanted to do with this book is give the reader some sense of what it meant to live under a system of plunder as an individual, to express that, to take it out of the realm of numbers and to take it directly into individual people. how it feels every day nor like to live under such a system, how

you cope with that, how it is warping and perverse, what sort of affected her really has on you. -- was sort of effects it ultimately has on you. amy: that was bestselling author ta-nehisi coates speaking about "between the world and me." other winners include the writer and star of the hit broadway musical "hamilton" and very:, environmental health activist and a chicago-based immigrant rights organizer. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president obama and russian president vladimir putin held their first formal meeting in two years on monday in new york to discuss syria and ukraine. in recent weeks russia has built , up forces inside syria to support president bashar al-assad and reached a new intelligence-sharing agreement with iraq, iran and syria in the fight against the self-proclaimed islamic state.

during the 90-minute meeting, u.s. president barack obama and russian president vladimir putin agreed that their armed forces should hold talks to avoid coming into conflict in syria where fighting has killed over 200,000 people and displaced millions. earlier both leaders addressed monday, the united nations. putin defended russia's support for assad. it was his first u.n. general us only speech since 2005. pressure to provide military and technical assistance to iraq and syria and other countries of the region fighting terrorist groups. we think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the syrian government and its armed forces [indiscernible] we should acknowledge no one but president assad [indiscernible]

truly fighting the islamic state and other terrorist organizations in syria. amy: president obama called for a transition away from assad as syria's leader, but conceded the united states is prepared to work with russia and iran to end the fighting in syria. >> lasting stability. when the people forge an agreement to live together peacefully. the united states is prepared to work with any nation, including russia and iran, to resolve the conflict. but we must recognize there cannot be after so much bloodshed, so much carnage, a return to the prewar status quo. amy: while president obama is expressing willingness to work with russia to resolve the crisis in syria, that has not always been the case.

the guardian recently reported the u.s. toward a russian offer in 2012 to have syria's assad step aside after peace talks had started between the regime and the opposition. according to former finnish president and nobel peace prize laureate, western powers failed to seize on the 2012 proposal because the united states, britain, and france were so convinced the syrian dictator was about the fall. since then, tens of thousands of more people have been killed and militants from isil have seized swaths of syria. to talk more about the crisis in syria and the obama-putin meeting, we're joined by vijay prashad. he is professor of international studies at trinity college and columnist for the indian magazine frontline. he is the author of several books including "arab spring, , libyan winter." professor welcome back to , democracy now! can you talk about what has been happening at the united nations this week, particularly, about

what the russian and u.s. presidents are saying to the world and to each other? dayell, it is interesting at the u.n. yesterday. mr. obama began -- he spoke for twice the designated length. he spoke about the american narrative of how the world looks. principally, he spent a great till of time on russia and on it ran. he made critical comments about both countries. and then he said quite surprisingly or strikingly, that the united states is prepared to coordinate with iran and russia over syrian strategy. that was the most interesting line in his almost half an hour speech at the u.n., the fact that now after so many years of distrust in syria, in particular

, that the united states is willing to accord meet with russia and iran. a few speakers later was vladimir putin, who laid out a different narrative of events in syria. he concentrated a great deal on the rise of terrorism on the phenomena of regime change, particularly by the west, creating failsafes which create the condition for the rise of extremism. so putin had a different narrative and he came at it saying that he would like to coordinate with everybody in a joint fight against isis. neither mr. obama nor putin laid out any specifics. they just indicated that cooperation was to be considered. this cooperation, of course, is now -- not only is the united states bombing in northern syria, but the russians have moved attack aircraft into western syria and they are

preparing to bomb as well in the same region in northern syria. so this is now the situation of both countries will be, i guess, in parallel fighting against the islamic state. now the question is, what is the politics of this new military, you know, intensification? amy: i want to turn to comments made by russian president vladimir putin during his address to the un's general assembly monday. he said it was a mistake not to work with assad's forces against islamic state militants. >> we support the legitimate government of syria and it is my deep believe any actions to the contrary in order to destroy the legitimate government will create a situation which you can witness now and the other countries of the region or in other regions. for instance, in libya. where all the state institutions are disintegrated. we see a similar situation in

iraq. and there is no other solution to the syrian crisis in strengthening the effectiveness and rendering them help in fighting terrorism. but at the same time, urging them to have positive dialogue with arrest opposition and conduct reform will stop amy: "60 was vladimir putin on minutes" being interviewed by charlie rose. your comments on this, vijay prashad? >> i think this is a very important point that putin is making. if you look at the history of regime change, take the case not only of iraq and libya, but afghanistan as well, when you destroy the state, it is very hard to re-create it just in a few years, maybe even in a decade as far as iraq is concerned. so what putin is saying, given this recent history of regime change and the destruction of

states, perhaps one has to because this in syria that, yes, there will be some kind of transition, that the absolute destruction of the current syrian state is going to create chaos-like conditions as one saw in iraq and one saw in libya. it is very important to see here that putin is saying there's something that needs to be ansidered in terms of political transition. he is not actually saying fully that assad must be defended to the end. that is not what i hear in his comments will stop what i hear in his comments is that it would be a great error to destroy the syrian state, instead, 30's to be a political opening. i would just like to say "mething about that slogan assad must go." in 2011 to 2012, the slogan meant one thing. at that time mr. assad controlled most of syria and was

with almost an open hand against his population. but today, mr. assad is a different assad entirely. the statement now "assad must go" is interested. he is much weaker in 2012 -- he is much weaker than in 2012. a political opening has been available since at least last year when the iranians came to the americans and said they would like to push beyond the geneva talks for a serious regional discussion about setting matters, at least in the western part of syria. i think that is what mr. putin is repeating, the idea that the state structure in syria must not be destroyed but at the same time, a reasonable process of transition has to be worked out by all the powers in the area.

amy: during his address to the u.n. general assembly, president obama said the coalition could have done more following the 2011 invasion of libya. let's go to a clip. >> were order has completely , but wewn, we must act will be stronger when we act together. it such efforts, the united states will always do our part. we will do so mindful of the lessons of the past, not just the lessons of iraq, but also the example of libya where we joined an international coalition under a u.n. mandate to prevent a slaughter. even as we helped the libyan people bring an end to the reign of a tyrant, our coalition could have and should have done more to fill a vacuum left behind. amy: can you respond to president obama, professor? >> well, amy, i don't want to argue with him about following

because one ofe, the problems here was that the french and the americans exceeded the u.n. mandate and went for regime change rather than merely responsibility to protect civilians. but let's set that aside. this is the first public acknowledgment by the united states -- indeed, by any western power -- that the bombing in libya in 2011 was not followed up by any mechanism to shore up the state. this is a test example of the error of regime change because there was heavy area bombardment, the libyan state was utterly demolished, the military was destroyed, and in the country was essentially given over to the different militia groups who continued to run riot in libya. and i think this is an important example, the same example that putin raised. putin also mentioned iraq, which

obama mention. you know, this history of regime change over the last decade has to have people in the west reconsider this very simple policy of aerial bombardment in order to affect some kind of change on the ground. it produces chaos, which has led to much worse outcomes than the issue that provoked the aerial bombardment in the first instance. and i think when obama acknowledges that there is this problem in libya, i'm sure there is a serious discussion in the white house, in the state department, about the consequences of regime change in syria at this point for further chaos. and whether the united states and the western general has the capacity to pick up the pieces in a chaotic syria. as it is, there seems to be very little will to pick up the pieces of the chaos that remains in afghanistan, the chaos in

iraq, and the chaos in libya. i doubt very much there is tunnel he be stomach, but the resources to take charge of a ofia after a regime change the bashar al-assad government. amy: president obama said in his you an address order has completely broken down, we must act, but we will be stronger .hen we act together in such efforts the united states will always do our part. and he goes on to say, we have to be mindful of the efforts of the past. obama repeatedly says that syrian president bashar al-assad's departure is a precondition because assad drops barrel bombs on innocent children. but he doesn't raise the same issue, for example, with another president who is at the u.n. general assembly, and that is president el-sisi.

yesterday we were joined on the show by one of the three al jazeera journalists, peter greste, who has been held for 400 days and not part by the government for being a reporter in egypt. s record in sisi' killings, the u.s. selling millions of dollars, to say the least, actually supporting egypt to the tune of billions of dollars, and yet you have hundreds of people praying in the street who were gunned down, the egyptian government just finishing a massive military operation in northern sinai saying they killed "500 terrorists." >> well, you know, hypocrisy is not something that is restricted to one theater of the world or the other. at the same time as all this is going on, the united states has been resupplying saudi arabia as it has bombed the yemen and very much the same way the united

states resupply's israel in its bombing of gaza. there is no question of responsibility to protect civilians either in yemen or in gaza or indeed in egypt. it is very clear morality in foreign policy is selectively applied. in his u.n. speech, vladimir putin said people accuse russia of having ambitions or interests in syria, and he said, well, everybody has ambitions and interests. there is nobody here with the moral high ground. is atunately for syria, it very powerful social dynamic that has been hijacked by geopolitics. in a sense, there's no getting around that until the geopolitics are sorted out. -- in a sense, there's no getting around that. until the geopolitics are sorted out, they will not be able to breathe effectively enough.

when the united states talks about doing its part, let's stop for a second and recognize that over the last calendar year, the united states has been operating in syria, has been bombing isis targets, and yet isis took how myra. the united states has been bombing isis targets in iraq and yet there is been no move to take mosul back from the islamic state. meanwhile, of the $509 provided by the united states to create a army, general austin, the head of central command, was asked, how many fighters does this 500 million produce? and he said quite candidly, perhaps four or five. not 400 or 500, but four or five. meanwhile, many of these fighters have turned themselves over to the al qaeda affiliate al nusra.

there's something wrong with the american strategy as it is currently in place in iraq and syria, and i think there needs to be a serious rethink and perhaps if there is a road to peace a some kind offer by the iranians, wish -- which the russians are taking for, think the americans need to be at the table for this. there is no point in putting your ego before the suffering of the syrian people. and by ego, i mean all of these great powers trying to vie with each other for who should take leadership in the fight against isis. i think that is an irrelevant issue. the most important issue is how to create some kind of cease-fire in syria and how to drain the swamp that is allowing isis to remain in northern syria and in iraq. amy: and you can't talk about syria and all of these different places without talking about the refugee crisis that millions of refugees are fleeing.

relate these to the with europe, in some cases, closing their borders. >> the europeans are very strange on this issue. europe gets upset about something when it becomes a problem for europe. the let's consider something. the middle east is the home of refugees, starting with the palestinian people ejected from their land and 1948. more recently, the attack on iraq in the 1990's, the sections regime, and then overthrow the iraqi government in 2003 created enormous refugee crisis. those refugees spilled into iran, into syria, into jordan, and further afield. and then when the war in syria broke out, the refugees spilled into turkey, into lebanon, into jordan, into iraq as well, and certainly, inside syria, which has a huge number of internally

displaced people. that is half the population of syria currently displaced. certainly, these people would eventually find their way to europe, some through libya and others through turkey. turkey has also been putting upssure on europe to open its asylum policy two, in a sense, let turkey relieve the pressure on its camps. this is precisely related. i think many of these refugees, regime change refugees, because they have been produced essentially by the original sin of regime change in the region, which was in 2003. amy: just to be clear, vijay prashad, on the issue of syria, what do you think is the solution? >> well, i think there needs to be a drawdown of the struggle against the assad government at this time, principally, because

i think the iranians and the russians has said the assad government is prepared to come to the table with a transition plan. i feel the russians have entered less as a military posture and far more to put pressure on the regional proxies proxies of turkey and proxies of saudi arabia. this is going to raise the question in turkey and in saudi arabia, whether they want their proxies to directly confront the russians. i believe this is a push to bring these powers back into some kind of syria contact group, to have a serious discussion about a transition. at the same time, i think the turkish government is going to come again under renewed pressure to close its border. over this last year, while the united states has been bombing northern syria, the isis

fighters have doubled their numbers. they're coming from somewhere, most likely from turkey. there needs to be a redoubled effort regionally to have the turks close down the border. there needs to be efforts to stop the money entering into isis territory, whether it is through oilfields that are going through turkey or individual donations from gulf arab sheiks that going to jihadi networks that end up in isis hands. there is a very clear kind of policy that could be produced to bring peace to syria, but it is going to require a great deal of cooperation between the great powers and the regional powers. amy: vijay prashad, thank you for discussing this, but i would like to ask you to stay with us as we talk about the indian prime minister and his five-day tour in the united states. let's talk about the significance of prime minister modi's trip to the u.s.

we will do that with you as well as in indian human rights activist in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. minister, indian prime narendra modi also addressed the u.n. general assembly monday before leaving the u.s. after a seven-day trip that focused primarily on strengthening commercial ties between the u.s. and india. modi met several high profile leaders from the world's top tech companies in california over the weekend, including apple's tim cook, google ceo sundar pichai, and facebook's mark zuckerberg. modi was the first indian leader to visit the west coast in more than 30 years. on saturday, he addressed more than 350 business leaders, emphasizing the need for internet literacy in his country. >> from manufacturer products

[indiscernible] the challenges are many, but we also know we will not reach your destination's without taking new roads. amy: more than 100 academics in the united states have written a letter protesting modi's visit to silicon valley, warning tech giants of the dangers of doing business with a government that has "demonstrated its disregard for human rights and civil liberties, as well as the autonomy of educational and cultural institutions." on sunday night, prime minister modi spoke before a crowd of 18,500 people in san jose. 3000 people reportedly protested outside the venue drawing attention to modi's record on human rights.

before his election, modi was barred from the united states for many years over his role in anti-muslim riots in 2002 that left more than 1000 dead. modi was the chief minister of gujarat, where the killings occurred. he has never apologized for or explained his actions at the time. still with us, vijay prashad, professor of international studies at trinity college and columnist for the indian magazine frontline. author of several books, including "arab spring, libyan winter." ruth also joined by manorama in 2006, she was awarded her right livelihood award for her commitment to achieving equality for dalit women and working for the rights at national and international levels. ruth manorama, welcome to democracy now!

it is great to have you with us. and professor vijay prashad, thank you for staying with us. as you follow the u.n., professor, modi just spoke. talk about the significance of what he said and is he is. >> well, narendra modi is very much like the turkish leader erdogan and that he wants to be the strong man of his country, doesn't want to get himself tied down with the minutia of government, which is why he is been essentially on the road for most of his prime minister ship. he is been traveling in east asia to australia. this is his second major trip to the united states. he is been to china and everywhere he goes, he's sort of tries to stand above the fray. this is very smart politics. because meanwhile in india, his cabinet is running a very different kind of government. it has been pushing against

libertarians. it has been trying to stuff its own very narrow agenda kind of people into the various cultural and educational institutions. it has been going after people who are trying to raise issues ofmodi during the program 2002, particularly, the campaigner -- so while his government has been a vicious and has been in a sense trying to shut down dissent, mr. modi has given himself an air of royalty. he comes to these very large events. he is a certain charisma. and at the u.n. as well, he talked as if he is the most beloved person on earth. obviously, he makes, you know, a great impact. people are excited to see an indian prime minister with a certain kind of charisma, but this is rather -- this is very

misleading because at the same time, as i said, a very different agenda is being pursued by his government inside india. hereruth manorama, you are as well as at the united nations , the significance of this trip that the prime minister has taken not only addressing the united nations, but taking the seven-day trip or he addressed tech leaders in california? explain your view of modi in india. minister,ur prime comes from gujarat. that talks about a lot. serious human violations were done in 2002 against muslim minorities. he gets elected and comes over there. amy: for people in the u.s., i don't think they're familiar with the massacres of 2002.

>> being a women's rights activist, been called by many groups, particularly the non-governmental organization, to study particularly the situation what happened to the muslim women in gujarat. terrible things. it is a terrible genocide on these people has occurred. butchering them, burning them, putting the children into fire 2000 have seen by myself to 3000 people have been by the forcescked there. and it is a serious human rights violations. amy: modi what was modi's role? he was the equivalent of the governor of gujarat at the time? >> know, he was the chief minister at the time. he said, i did not have any hands and that, but he was very silent and silence and spectator on one side and encouraging

people to do this violence, create this violence, create this massacre, create this program -- and people being not given social justice even today, still people are living in fear and some people said, ok, ok, center,e ruling at the there is no voice. everything is all right. there are a few human rights activists still pursuing this issue at the supreme court level, at the different courts level, and there have been called terrorists, anti-nationals. people were working for the human rights are named anti-nationals. it is a precarious situation. anda is a secular country view this as not in a good spirit. i think it goes against the spirit of democracy and secularism. that is the kind of conditions.

they are not viewed very friendly by the government. we are looked at as if we are anti-nationals. the situation is not in its glory. india is shining on one side but on the other, there is a severe curtailment of human rights is happening. i think this is what i would say about mr. modi. the government is always very busy in preparing his foreign trips. there are so much domestic inequality andas poverty. it has been increased over the years. they have assured a better government. governments need to be

improved within the context of human rights. amy: before you go, professor vijay prashad, can you talk get onedi's plan to billion more indians on the internet and why you cosigned that letter by 100 academics expressing concern that it is a frontline for mass surveillance? >> well, you know, one of the things that modi said when he sat with mark zuckerberg of facebook, he said that india is a series of d's. one of which is democracy and the other is deregulation. one of the principal themes of this government has been to push for a business agenda in the name of the poor. i think that is a very clever strategy they have used, but it is also a very dangerous one. for instance, the modi government has opened 170 million bank accounts for indians who did not have inc.

accounts. and of course, these bank accounts are empty. so you can open a bank account, but there's no money in it. inflation is running high in india. people joke when he goes to facebook headquarters, someone should tell modi to bring back a bag of onions when he comes to india because onions have become basically priced out. this business agenda is for a much in display in his digital india idea. he is tied up with -- he sat down with mark zuckerberg who has created a web portal called internet.org, linked up with the major indian multinational. the idea is to get the poor with the ability to get onto the internet, in the same way as the poor were merely given bank accounts. so they will have access to the internet, the problem is, that both facebook and reliant are constraining the kind of internet that people are able to

reach. in other words, the principle of net neutrality, which is when you enter the internet, you should be able to go anywhere you like, is being constrained by what facebook and reliant are producing in this phenomena called internet.org. so that is one of the major problems with the modi attempt to do the regulation and development in the name of the poor. it is actually merely in the interest of the rich. on the other side, there is no guarantee in india that there is no surveillance of the population through these mechanisms. you can give people various apps to access the internet on their smartphone, but there's to protection against surveillance. and that is the main reason why i signed the letter. i feel like it is erroneous to believe modi's populist rhetoric that he is doing these things for the poor with a very protections that are necessary

are not in place and where the interests of the poor are not necessarily to be served. amy:p, thank you for being with us, --vijay prashad, thank you for being with us, author of a number of books including "arab spring libyan winter [captioning made possible by democracy now!] when we come back, we will continue with ruth manorama talking about what dalit activism is, what are dalit women doing throughout india, a term the longer used untouchable, return -- replaced by the term dalit. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "puriya dhanashri," anoushka shankar. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we continue our coverage of india on the heels of indian prime minister narendra modi's trip to the us, we turn to look at dalits. there are 200 million dalits who were previously called

untouchables in india. according to the country's national crime records bureau, four dalit women are raped, two dalits are murdered and two dalit homes are torched every day. well, in india, a new national campaign to end caste-based sexual violence is underway. it's called the dalit women's self respect movement. this is a clip from a documentary film that has followed the movement's rise. it's called #dalitwomenfight. >> there comes a point when you .an't take one more headline when you are sick of the violence and you're tired of being afraid. >> we are already living like animals, and they use us like animals as well.

>> because i am poor, have no one to support me. he cursed me and i yelled at him to leave. he whipped out his pistol and i knew i could die then. he cocked his gun and i was -- and it was definitely full of bullets. >> dalit women's bodies are used as the battleground for the cast war. amy: that's a clip from an upcoming documentary called #dalitwomenfight. still with us is ruth manorama, well-known dalit in india. in 2006, manorama was awarded the right livelihood award for

-- right livelihood award. explain who dalits are. >> it is a new name for the former untouchables. dalits --dalit is like the parallel name as the blacks, like blacks were named as before, you know, the negroes and all that. the black panther movement gave them the name "blacks." similarly, the untouchables. they gave the name dalit. revolts someone who will against oppression and wanted to free themselves and look for emancipation. that theyr meaning fight on one side, rebels against the system, the caste system. they revolt against all kinds of inequality and work towards emancipation. that is what dalit means. today we are 260 million dalit s.

india theled in scheduled caste. amy: explain what this caste system is. >> it is in great of inequality -- no indians are equal. indians are always put on hierarchy. at the end is the dalits, the untouchables. in the social hierarchy, dalits are put underneath. there crumpled, trash, there violated. violence andce crimes against them. women still do manual scavenging. women are pushed into prostitution because of poverty situations. in india, if you look at the therty situation, 49% of

dalit, much are experiencing the poverty in india. crimes against them, atrocities against them, social inequality -- but also shall indicators today, they are the lowest of the low. side they face inequality of caste, you are in untouchable, even if you are educated and come up, they think, where is this woman from? amy: this woman just came to our suit a few days ago, the general secretary of the all india dalit women's rights forum. i asked her about the modi administration's treatment of dalits. >> it has not been super different and his regime, but what we can say is that the brazenness of the impunity, the way in which they treat us and

getting away scott free, the way [indiscernible] a ban on what kind of food we should eat, who we should fall in love with, all of these kinds policies that are happening within the institutions is very dangerous for us, and it is just not a good time for those of us who believe and freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and organizing and demanding for justice. it is definitely not a good time in india. amy: that is asha kotal. she is the general secretary of the all india dalit women's rights forum. ruth manorama, what do you think needs to be done? >> today, the sustainable development goal has been 17 goals, starting from poverty, inequality, inclusion -- i think

these three important norms is suitable to the life of dalits. ist we're really looking for essential, free from discrimination, enjoying of human rights. it is very necessary that we are treated equal with others, enjoying the wealth of the nation. if you really look at the conditions of dalits, it is so precarious -- precarious existence. "n a book called "the uncertain they say in india, every country faces inequality but india it is like cocktails of inequality. one side is disparity, inequality of economics and the other side is social discrimination. i think the dalits want to be free from all these kinds of torture, humiliation, undignified manner in which they are treated when it comes to

rape, itxual abuses, is multiple in its form. you can't explain how they suffer. but they have to keep quiet. even if they go to the police station or the court of law, everyone says, it's all right, this is happening everywhere in india. the impunity in which the human rights violations are continuing, we are against. we really look for purposeful and dignified existence free from inequality. when i say inequality, it is not the big term, inequality and all since, in education, economics, employment -- in all sectors, in all walks of life we people really want freedom. we want inclusion. we want equality exercised. this is what we're looking for. amy: we will have to continue this on another show, but of course we will. ruth manorama is a dalit activist from india who also

works on women's rights. in 2006, she was awarded the right livelihood award. that does it for our broadcast. 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!]

>> it's invisible to most of us, but there is a crime wave going on unprecedented in human history. it's everywhere, in every country, on every continent, and it affects virtually everything. the goods we buy, the kind of jobs people do and where they do them, the safety of our homes and families. it's theft on a colossal scale. >> you could say that it's the crime of the century because you'd always be foolish to try any other kind of crime. if you're organized and you know what you're doing, it is so profitable and it's so easy to get away with. it's just grown maybe a hundredfold in the last 25 years.