10/17/17 10/17/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> what happened yesterday wasas incredible. i've never seen such a thing before. the death toll is uncountatable. corpses were burned and no one could recognize them. amy: rescue operations continue in mogadishu, somalia, after two massive truck bombs exploded saturday, killing at least 300 people in the country's deadliest t attack since the rie of the al-shabaab mililitant grp

a decade a ago. the explosions came after the trump administration stepped up a u.s. campaign against al-shabaab in somalia. we'll speak with somali scholar and writer and with a journalist in nairobi, kenya. we lost a look at the death of quarter u.s. special forces soldiers in n niger. then -- >> he repeated my words back to as it began thruusting his genitatals. again.d to kiss me i i said, dude, you're tripping right now, tempting to make it clear i was not interested. amy: those allegations were not being made against his grace hollywood movie mogul harvey weinststein, but again n now presidenent donald trump. summer zervos is a formerer contestant on "celebrity apprentice." she subpoenanaed trump's presidential campaign for all documents relating to her anand any other women who have accused trump p of unwanted sexual condt

. we will look at how this reignited a conversation about sexualal assault with women usig the #metoo hashtag. we will speak with activist tarana burke who started the campaign about a decade ago. she is. program director at girls gender equity. we will also speak with alicia garza, cofounder of like lives matter. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president donald trump broke his silence monday over the deaths of court or u.s. army green berets who died in an ambush in niger two weeks ago saying he would contact the families of the soldiers while falsely claiming president barack obama did not reach out similarly after u.s. troops were killed in combat. trump's comments came only after he was questioned over his

silence by reporters during aa news conference at the white house senate republican leader mitch mcconnnnell. trump of the traditional way, if you look at president obobama ad other presidents, most of them did not make calls, a lot of them did not make calls. i like to make calls when i think i'm able to dodo it. it made the ultimate sacrifice. it drew outrage from former members of the obama administration, including former deputy national security adviser ben rhodes, who called it " outrageous and disrespectful black" even by trump standards." the green berets were killed by niger troops in october 4 as president trump gave wide latitude to his generals to unilaterally pursue militants across much of africa. ththe four our s staff sergeant brian black, staff sergeant jeremiah johnson, staff sergeant dustin right, and sergeant

ladavid johnson. johnson's body was reportedly left behind for 48 hours before it was recovered. as his body was being returned to dover air force base, president trump was golfing. in somalia, rescue operations are ongoing in mogadishu after two massive trucuck bombsbs expd in quick succession, killing at least 300 peoplele, wounding moe than 30000 others. the disaster is now being referred to as the mogadishu massacre and some are calling at the 9/11 of the somali people. we will have more on the bombings after headlines. back in the united states att fort bragg, north carolina, army sergeant bowe bergdahl pleaded guilty in a military court monday to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. bergdahl spent five years in taliban captivity until the obama administration negotiated his release in 2014 in exchange for five prisoners held at guantanamo.

bergdahlhl has said he walked of his post in an attempt to reach another u.s. base and reportrt wrongdoing in his unit. bergdahl and his lawyeyers have said a fair trial was impossible after donald trump repeatedly called bergdahl a traitor who should be put to death. this is then-candidate donald trump at a las vegas campaign event in 2015. mr. trump: we are tired of sergeant bergdahl, who is a .raitor he is a traitor. a no good traitor. who should have been executed. amy: it's not clear whether bergdahl has negotiated a more lenient sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. the charge of misbehavior before the enemy carries a maximum penalty of l life in prison. republican senator john mccain of arizona condemned what he called "half-baked, spurious nationalism" monday in a clear reference to president trump's foreign policy. mccain made the comment during a speech at the national constitution center in philadelphia. >> to fear thehe world we're

organized 11 three q quarters oa century toto abandon the i ideae have a advanced araround the gl, to refuse e the obligationons of international leadership and our duty to remain the last best hope of earth, for the sake of some half-baked spurious nationalism cookeded up by peope who wowould rather find scapegos than solve problems. amy: president trump declined to say monday whether he'd continue to back his nominee for drug czar, republican congressmember tom marino, after a "washington post"/"60 minutes" investigation -- expose found marino spearheaded a pharmaceutical industry-backed effort to weaken federal government's ability to crack down on the opioid epidemic. the legislation, backed by representative marino and passed in 2016, made it nearly impossible for the drug enforcement administration to intervene in cases where large, suspicious shipments of opioids are delivered to pharmacies bound for the black market.

"the washington post" reports the drug industry lobbied heavily to win passage of the bill, contributing $1.5 million to its 23 congressional co-sponsors. among them, congressman marino, who accepted nearly $100,000 in campaign cash from the industry. drug overdose deaths, primarily from opioid abuse, surged in the u.s. last year to nearly 60,000, becoming the leading cause of death for americans under the age of 50. in syria, fighters with the democratic forces say they have fromd control of raqqa isis. it came as the mostly kurdish mililitia saidid hundreds of r's isis fighters had surrendered under a deal that gives them safe passage to leave the city. the local journalistic group raraqqa is beingng slaughtered silently reports the u.s.s.-bacd assault has killed 1873 civilians and damaged or destroroyed eight hospititals, mosques, and more than 40 29 schools. the fighting displaced some 450,000 raqqa residents.

in iraq, thousands of residedens fled the northern city of crook cook as kurdish fighters withdrew from government buildings and iraqi t tubes, backed by shihia militias, tookk controrol of most of the cit off one million people. the iraqi advance came after a large majority of kurds declared independence from iraq in a referendum held in late september. in malta, investigative journalist daphne caruana galizia was assassinated monday when a powerful bomb planted in her car exploded near her home on the mediterranean island nation. there's been no claim of responsibility for the blast, although local media reported galizia filed a police report in earlrly october toto report deah ththreats. on monday night, aboutut 3000 people gathered in a c candlelit vigil to remember daphne galizia. this is luke frendo, a friend of her family. lifetime, it is

definitelyly the saddest dayay t i have lived. as a multi-citizen, i think daphne was not only a journalist and an absolute fearless human being, b b a pillar r of our democracy. today's heinous crime was not only againstst the human being, against a journalist, but against a pillar of everyone's democracy. amy: daphne galizia operated a popular blog where her reports cast some of malta's most powerful figures in a bad light, including bankers, casino operators, the country's prime minister, and its opposition leader. galizia spent much of her time over the last two years reporting on revelations about malta in the panama papers, a trove of more than 11 million leaked files that reveal how the rich and powerful in several countries use tax havens to hide their wealth. in the spanish region of catalonia, police arrested two leaders of the catalan independence movement monday,

charging them with illegally orchesestrating a a banned independence vote on octobober . the arrests sparked a new round of m mass protests in barcelona and other cities across catalonia. they came as catalan regional president carles puigdemont failed to clarify monday whether he is formally declaring independence from spain, defying a deadline set by spanish prime minister mariano rajoy. puigdemont instead repeated his earlier call for two months of dialogue aimed at overcoming the crisis. ireland, at least three people are dead and hundreds of thousands of homes remain without elecectricity after the remnants of hurricane ophelia swept across the island as a post-tropical storm. ireland's prime minister called it the most powerful storm in over half a century. meanwhile, in n the iberian peninsula, at least 40 people are dead in portugal and northern spain as wildfires raged through bone-dry forests and farmlands. firefighters say dozens of the

145 fires raging in both countries remain dangerous and uncontrolled. in london, the combination of smoke from the spanish fires and moisture from ophelia turned the sun read and a sky deep yellow anand what rididents called d te most ominous weather development in years. the extreme weather events, as pope francis warns of the dangers of climate change, taking a swipe at the trump administration for withdrawing from the paris climate accord. the pope was speaking at a united natioions event in rome. >> thanks to scientific knowledge, we know how to confront these problems and international community has also worked at the legal methods such as the paris accord, which sadly, some have abandoned. however, we are seeing negligence for the delicate equilibrium's of the ecosystems come of manipulating and controlling the limited resources of the p planet for

greed of profit. amy: in new york city, police detectives are probing two credibible allegations of sexual assault against hollywood movie mogul harvey weinstein. the allegations are separate from a 2015 case brought against weinstein after an nypd sting operation caught him on tape confessing he groped italian model ambra battilana gutierrez. at the time, manhattan district attorney cyrus vance jr. declined to prosecute the case against weinstein. one of weinstein's lawyers at the time donated $10,000 to vance's election campaign only days after vance dropped the case. the nenew york city charges come as scotlanand yard is investigating five sexual assault charges by three women in britain. more than 40 women, including some of hollywood's biggest stars, have come forward with allegations of rape, sexual assault, or sexual harassment against weinstein. meanwhile, a flurry of messages have appeared since sunday on twitter, facebook, and instagram

under the hashtag #metoo afterer the actress alyssa milano shared a post in which she revealed she'd been sexually violated. we'll have more on the me too campaign from its founder and sexual assault charges against harvey weinstein and president trump lateter in the broadcast. in privacy news, computer experts have identified d a serious flaw i in the vast majority of wi-fi internet devices that leaves networks in homes and businesses around the world prone to eavesdroppers and hackers. the flaw affects encryption over the wireless security protocol known wpa2, leaving credit card numbers, passwords, emails, photosos, and other persrsonal a exposed to hackers. the security breach also opens the door for third parties to inject ransomware and viruses onto users' computeters. in charlottesville, virginia, police have arrested 23-year-old corey long, a black counterprotester who was photographed keeping white supremacist protesters at bay with an improvised flamethrower during a violent rally by

far-right extremists last august. a photo of the incident that shows long firing three-foot flames from an aerosol can towards the white supremacists wielding confederate flag poles. the incident occurred as white -- long later said he was protecting an elderly percent from attack. the incident occurred as white supremacist protester richard wilson preston aimed a pistol at long's head, and then a single shot into the ground, narrowly missing long. preston was later arrested, but only a after aclu investigators provided video to the fbi. meanwhile, corey long faces charges of assault and battery and disorderly conduct. his arrest came just days after prosecutors issued a warrant for 20-year-old deandre harris, a african-american man who was brutally beaten by white supremacists in a parking garage during the protests. and in pennsnsylvania, 23 protesters were arrested in lancaster county monday on

charges of defiant trespass, as they peacefully blocked construction on n a section of e planned 180-mile-long atlantic sunrise natural gas pipeline. the arrests came as construction crews were set to begin digging along a pipeline easement on a farm owned by an order of catholic nuns who oppose the pipeline and are suing to halt it. their lawsuit charges the pipeline violates their religious freedoms and their rights to property, clean air, and water. among those arrested on was monday melinda clatterbuck of the group lancaster against pipelines. clatterbuck spoke to democracy now! at the people's climate march in washington, d.c., last april. >> it is a proposed pipeline approved that takes fractured gas to export. we think it is a violation of our rights and destruction of the land. we have learned how much damage fracking does to the climate. we have almost 900 people who

have signed pledges to come out and do nonviolent mass action to stop it. and eco- and thosose are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. rescue operations are ongoioingn mogadishu after two massive truck k bombs exploded in quick succesession saturday night, killing at least 300 people and wounding more than 300 others. it was the deadliest attack in somalia since the rise of the al-shabaab militant group a decade ago, and one of the worst bombings by a non-state actor in recent years. the disaster is now being referred to as the mogadishu massacre and some are calling it the 9/11 of the somali people. the somali national army, police and intelligence, as well asas african union forces are searching for survivors. >> we haveve been herere for the

pastst three days and are continuing with the cleanup exercise. yesterday, w we pulled out five people alive from the rubble. we also retrieved several dead bodies. in the nearby buildings, there might be more bodies trapped under some damaged buildings. juan: in the worst of the two bombings, a truck packed with hundreds of pounds of explosives detonated near the safari hotel, collapsing the building and igniting a nearby fuel tanker. the resulting fireball set cars on fire and flattened nearby businesses and homes, trapping people under rubble. on sunday, hundreds of somalis poured into the streets of mogadishu to condemn the attacks. this is rahma abdi ali, one of the protesters. >> it was a massacre that happened yesterday, and i never saw such a thing in the last 27 years. i witnessed a little boy's headline on the ground and his mother and other children with their heads also cut in the explosion. people buried at people's body parts separately.

it was a very shocking event. amy: somalia's president declared three days of national mourning after the attacks. there's been no claim of responsibility, but somalia's government was quick to blame al-shabaab militants, who've been behind past bombibings in momogadishu. the explosions came after the trump administration stepped up a u.s. campaign against al-shabaab in somalia. in march, president trump declared somalia a so-called zone of active hostilities, giving wide latitude to military leaders to launch airstrikes and ground assaults. in may, that led to the first us -- first u.s. combat death in somalia since 1993, when navy seal officer kyle milliken wasas killed in an a assault on an al-shabaab radio station. in august, a raid by u.s. soldiers and somali troops on a village outside mogadishu left 10 civilians dead, including three children. for more, we're joined via democracy now! video stream by the somali scholar and writer abdi ismail samatar. he is a professor of the department of geography, environment & society at the university of minnesota, and the

author of "africa's first democrats: somalia's aden a. osman and abdirazak h. hussen." and joining us from nairobi is amanda sperber, freelance journalist who splits her time between nairobi, kenya, and mogadishu, somalia. her new article for irin news is titled, "shock and revulsion over mogadishu bombing." we welcome you both to democracy now! amanda, let's begin with you. can you explain what you understand took place, the horrific attack that killed more than 300 people and injured roughly that same number? yeah, i mean, it is pretty much what you said. the attacks were horrific. the outtcome has beeeen devastating. to me, what i think i have seen that has been the most upsetting aftereffect is the lack of

capacity that the country has to deal with this. people are still being pulled fromom the rubble. the hospitals are running out of blood. the hospitals don't have enough supplies. i think, to me, what is devastating about this is beyond what happened, is what happens next. i talked to one of the ministers -- therethere are not isn't enough water or enough antibiotics. so i think that is where the real focus needs to be now. of amanda, what you make the fact no one has claimed responsibility for the attack up until now? mean, it is pretty interesting. as far as we know, our shabbbbat is the only legitimate cocontender. i think there are a few different options for what the strategy could be behind that. i have heard speculated, especially from the

international crisis group, is that there has been a conversation, tension between our shabaab about whether or not to stay linked to al qaeda, which they currently are, or whether to join is. and that this more aggressive attack was the result of the hardliners expressing affiliation with is.. another option that has been speculated is that this was honestly a mistake and that the truck was headed for the foreign ministry office and the reason aab has a greater responsibility is they don't want to be affiliated with the attack this deadly. a third option that has been speculated is i it is in some wy more terrorizing to not claim responsibility. "we kind of ominous fear of

can't control what is happening. we can protect ourselves. we don't know who is after us" sort of lingo. i think there are factored -- many factors that could cause the fact that no one has taken responsibility yet. , you'rei ismail samatar a scholar and writer. can you talk about your thoughts on what has taken place, how unusual this is, if you feel it has anything to do with the increased u.s. military push and africa. and we're also going to speak beyond somalia about what is happening in niger with the four u.s. special forces soldiers killed. but first, let's focus on somalia with this horrific death toll. >> is a pleasure to be with you, amy, and democracy now! this is more than a massacre. it is carnage. i have absolutely no doubt that this is the work of al-shabaab.

the truck came on the road that comes from the west part of the city into the heart of the capital. in that area of the country and that area is completely controlled by al-shabaab. there's nobody else. there is no isis or anybody else there. speculations aside, this is a fact. if you look at the geography of the route the truck took. that is the first to note. the second thing is, this is carnage, but the somalis seven bleeding slowly to death in what ovever theilent vials last two have decades oror so. thee concentration of the debt n a small period of time in one place is horrific, but death of this kind has been taking place in among the population by terrorists and by a african unin forces over the last decade or so. so we should not really be surprised at this but take stock of the sober nature of the calamity that is somalia.

the final thing i would like to say is this him a the united states government and european inspirepport forces them a populated by ugandans, europeans, canyons, anand whatn, -- $1.5nt $11 billion billion year on that force. that force is a military force that is placed in locations inside and outside. if they were to spend onee quarter of that amount of money on developining a somali s secuy reals that can engage in tactics and go after al-shabaab, this kind of carnage would have easily been avoided and the people would have been saved. i don't think the international community is serious about this or interested in helping the somali people. i think they're more interested in containing the somali problem as they call it in somalia rather than claiming they are nurturing the development of peace and democracy in that country. , in: abdi ismail samatar

would ask about the african union force, specifically, what -- basically,sts their functioning as a proxy force for the united states and european union that is bankrolling them. what are the interests specifically of ethiopia and kenya in the ongoing military operations in somalia? >> let's start with kenya. kenya invaded somalia in 2011. the claim was that al-shabaab was damaging its economy because of a number of hostage takings along the indian oceanan coast,a high tourist area. , both from thees embassy entegris service -- the cia, demonstrated that kenya had this lust to occupy parts of somalia long before 2010-2011. interested in making sure somalia never really comes bacak

as a state that can challenge them in any way. you have a problem here. why would the african union allow two countries who are neighbors who have conflict of interest to engage in somalia? instance, they took control of much of the southwest part of the country. the somali forces cannot really go there. there dominated by the europeans. the kenyans are nurturing what i consider to be tribal thiefdoms, much like apartheid, such that the central government never gains the full authority across the country so that peace and order can be restored. the united states is an ally of europeans. that is where we use our drones to bomb places in the region. t toenyans are close ally ththe united kiningdom and thehe european union, so the question is really, somalia is not the issue for them to save. it is about sort of making sure kenya is doing what they do in

the region, in order to support the united states and the european union. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion. our guest is abdi ismail samatar a scholar and writer, and then amanda sperber is with us from nairobi, kenya, a freelance journalist who splits her time between nairobi, kenya and mogadishu, somalia. we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this isis democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. in somalia, in august, u.s. soldiers and somali troops carried out a raid in which 10 people were shot dead, including three children, in a village near the capital mogadishu. local lawmakers say the victims were farmers. the most recent attack was the attack that took place on saturday of over 300 people.

the let's go back to this august attack. >> american forces attacked as in our forums and kill these people, including children. those killed were farmers who were innocent and not al-shabaab fighters. amy: we are still joined by abdi ismail samatar, a somali schchor and writer. and amanda sperber, a freelance journalilist who slits her time between nairobi, kenya, and mogadishu, somalia. amanda, can y you talk about the response in somalia when president trump announced that he was activating forces there. explain what those forces were. well,l, i think president trump first made an announcement that he was activating offensive drone strikes, i believe that was back in march. and response then was kind of a mixture of -- obviously, america

is not known f for successful drone strikes necessarily. but at the same time, somalis revilele bush about. there's a sense they want to move forward. there was also really a sense of hope and generally appreciation that they want -- they don't want al-shababaab to be the fore that it is, so i think there was also a level of hope that thisis could turn thingngs around. but all in all, that was mixed with a healthy sense of skepticism given america's reputation in this part of the world. juan: amanda, you have written that you were surprised in your visit to somalia about the extent of the u.s. presence there. could you talk about that? >> sure.

i think when i went to somalia, my understanding was not that the u.s. was leading -- was not that the u.s. was leading the way in the country. my sense was that turkey, the gulf statetes, and the unitedd kingdom were sort of taking the way. upon getting on the ground, it was pretty clear to me and made he ex-patsts that i talklked to as well as the locas that america is kind of at the forefront operations and is invested strategically in somalia security, both in terms -- forncial and financial reasons and security reasons. and you want to ask professor ababdi ismail samata about this question. in april, president trump signing the directive classifying parts of somalia as areas of active hostilities, meaning the pentagon now has more power to carry out

airstrikes and ground raids in the region. the classification also meaning the pentagon will have more permission to kill civilian bystanders. >> well, i mean, the president did sign up. that is what it has meant. but as any suggested, we are not known as americans, particularly, our forces, to do the kind of surgical targets that can take terrorists out. i think president trump and his team were introducing -- interested in introducing the level of journey and terrorism in the country, what they would have done is use the somali security forces to spend maybe a couple of hundred nine dollars on that rather than $1 billion. and developed a mobile force that will act as a sort of counter guerrilla tactic to go after al-shabaab without

involving americans and anybody else. and in that process, helps somalis rebuild the social and the sort of political infrastructure of their country. what you have, what trump and his team are doing, is doing their dirty work as another scholar wrote in a book if years back, and then in a process, not actually helping the somali people take care of al-shabaab. i think amanda is correct that they revile al-shabaab and are capable of taking care of al-shabaab if they get the kind of resources they need to be able to go after them. so that is one issue about that matter. the other issue that needs to be brought to the table is that the somali political class, not so much the current government, but the political class is a corrupt buncnch of people who are less interested in their country and in their own people who are more interested in corruption and lolooting whatever limited resources the country has and is remaining in power. if the political class was on

the same page as the somali people in getting rid of al-shabaab, i'm pretty c certain the somali people can raise enough resources to mobilize sufffficient number of securityy forces that can drive al-shabaab into the sea. unfortunately, you have two forces. the international l community,yo is not i interested in helpining sosomali save themselves, and yu have a local political clalass, who o are almost on the same pa. in between those two, the folkss whwho are called ordinary people who have been paying the price in the latest carnage. professor, the goal of al-shabaab, if you could talk about that. what is the long-term political goal of al-shabaab? also, the spread of the u.s. war on terrorism across sub-saharan africa. we had the reports recently of four u.s. servicemen killed in niger. could you talk about that as well? >> i think the loss of american

lives and want to p place in nir quitete attraractive -- tragic. we as a government and as a country we weren't serious. if we were sears about developingng a mutually beneficl strategy, four americans and for africans, whether they are somalis were nigerians or whatnot, we will do a very different strategy in which local people are mobilized to defend themselves, and we would provide the resources necessary. ofmy thinking is that sort africa is doing the wrong tactics, much like using conventional military resources and strategy to fight out to bob. al-shabaab --. it is the wrong strategy and the american government is more interested in this rather than in helping the local populations as a cost to all of us. if w we come back to al-shabaab,

al-shabaab rentals much of the rural areas of southern somalia. when amazon moves into a town, takes over the town, al-shabaab melts away into the bush, if you like, in somalia. the minute they withdrawal, some come safely back and controls the territory. and you need is a 10000 20,000 military security and police forces that are trained in guerrilla tactics that are highly mobile, and the cost of that will be liberally a fraction of the amamount of mony the european union and the american government is spending on arms, one $.5 million. we can spend less than $200 millioion to get the job dononed out the somalis put humpty dumpty back together in a way that is beneficial to them. but that doesn't seem to be in the gray matter and washington, d.c.. amy: i want to bring a medevac another conversation around this

latest news about what happened in nigiger. president donald trump breaking his silence monday over the deaths of the four u.s. army green beret's who died in an ambush in niger two weeks ago, saying he would contact the families of the soldiers, falselely claim m that president obama did not reach out to u.s. troops killed in combat. trtrump's comments came only afr he was questioned over silence by reporters or news conference at the white house that he held with senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. pres. trump: the traditional way, if you look at president obama another presidents, most calls, aid not make lot of them did not make calls. i like to make calls when it t s appropriatate, what i think i'm able to do it. there may be ultimate sacrifice. injure outrage from former members of the obama administration like ben rose, former deputy national security adviser, who said was outrageous and disrespectful.

the four green berets killed on a joint patrol with nigerian troops on october 4 as president trump gave wide latititude to hs pursues to unilaterally militants across much of africa. the four our staff sergeant brian black, staff sergeant german johnson, just and right, whosent ladavid johnson, body was reportedly left behind for 48 hours before it was recoverered. can you talk about what you understand took place and what they were doing in niger? >> from my understanding, the american special forces were embedded with nigerian troops in a remote, extremely remotote westerern part of niger.. conducting an operationon. my u understanding is that they were ambushed.

and at that point, the four men were killed. tell, i come as a journalist, was based in africa, something i noticed -- i was surprised that there were so many americans surprised about the u.s. presence in west africa. that is something we e have been expanding for some time. we have a drone base set up in niger as well. and the american presence on the continent in general is widely underreported and misunderstood. >> final comment, professor, i niger in somalia and the connection we should see. in the u.s. media, far more attention is been paid to the four u.s. special forces soldiers dead than the more than 300 people dead in somalia. >> i think it is quite tragic that a strategy from washington, d.c. and from the european

headquarters in brussels, over the rentd -- of people are killed and massacred and another 500 people are struggling for their lives. and there's very little support coming from the united states and the european union to help to somali government cleanup how people have been injured or who have lost family. by contrast, the turks thernrnment immediately as explosions took place, since the military plane with doctors and whatnot. even a small country of d djiboi did something like that. the contrast between the bravado abouout fighting terrorism and supporting the local people who have bececome the victimims of h terror, is quite telling about at our agenda and rategy is in that part of the world. amy: we want to thank you both for being with us. abdi ismail samatar is a scholar and writer.

professor of the department of geography, environment & society at the university of minnesota. and amanda sperber joining us from nairobi, kenya, a freelance journalist who splits her time between nairobi and mogadishu, somalia. when we come back, a lot is toog set of the me campaign online. but overall, it is being attributed to the wrong person. we have the originator of that campaign in our studio. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: courtney love said this week her 2005 public warning to women about serial predator harvey weinstein got her blacklisted by the powerful hollywood telling agency creative artist agency, writing "although i was not one of his victims, i was eternally banned by caa for speaking out against harvey weinstein raped."

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as we talk about the latesest ns right now. once all the allegations are not bebeing made againstst disgrace thrusting hisan genitals. he tried t to kiss me agagain wh my hand still on his chest and i said, dude, youou're tripping right now. attending the make it clear i was not interested. those allegations are not being made against harvey weinstein, but against now president donald trump. that is celebrity apprentntice contestant summer zervos describibing her encounter withh trump p and which she said trump kissed h her on the e lips, pred hihis body against hers, and groped her breasts all without her consent. zervos was among a series s of women who accused trump of sexual assault during the 2016

presidential campaign. trump, in return, called her and the other women liars. she has now subpoenaed trump's presidential camampaign for all documents relating to her and in the other women who have accused trump of unwanted sexual contact. on monday, trump was asked about the subpoena at an impromptu white house news conference. this is his r response. pres. trump: all i i can say ist isis tototally fake news. fake. it is made up stuff. it is disgraceful what happens, but that happens in the world of politics. juan: meanwhile, in new york city, police detectives are probing two credible allegations of sexual assault against hollywood movie mogul harvey weinstein. the allegations are separate from a 2015 case brought against weinstein after an nypd sting operation caught him on tape confessing he groped italian model ambra battilana gutierrez. at the time, manhattan district attorney cyrus vance jr. declined to prosecute the case

against weinstein. one of weinstein's lawyers at the time donated $10,000 to vance's election campaign only days after the district attorney dropped the case. the new york city charges come as scotland yard is investigating five sexual assault charges by three women in britain. more than 40 women, including some of hollywood's biggest stars, have come forward with allegations of rape, sexual assault, or sexual harassment against weinstein. weinstein's legal team is continuing to fall apart after learning the extent of the allegations against their former client. this includes entertainment lawyer charles harder, who threatened to sue "the new york times" for their report on weinstein's history of sexual harassment. hardrder has a history of takikg on the media, and successfully filed a $140 million lawsuit against gawker on behalf of hulk hogan that led to the outlet's bankruptcy. harder is the third lawyer to leave weinstein, following lisia bloom and lanny davis. bloom told "good morning america" that not only was weinstein's behavior illegal,

but that there was "misconduct for a period of years." one lawyer to join weinstein's team is one of hollywood's biggest criminal attorneys, blair berk, who has represented actors like mel gibson. amy: well, last week's report that hollywood mogul harvey weinstein was also a sexual predator has reignited a dialogue on sexual assault in many ways. and one of them became a trending topic on twitter this weekend when w women began postg messages on social media to show how commonplace such misconduct is by using the hashtag #metoo. a flurry of messages appeared sunday on twitter, facebook, and instagram after the actress alysyssa milano shared a post in which she revealed she'd been sexually violated and included a screenshot of the idea. that -- "if all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote 'me too' as a status we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem." milano then wrote -- "if you've been sexually harassed or assaulted, write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet."

while many reports suggested milano began the "me too" movement, she didn't. it was actually started in 2004 by our next guesest, activist tarana burkeke. she says she began "me too" as a grassroots m movement to aid sexual assault survivors in underprivileged communities where rape crisis centers and sexual assault workers weren't going. tarana burke is now a program director at girls for gender equity, and washington, d.c.. we are joined by soraya chemaly a journalist who covers the , intersection of gender and politics. she is the director of the women's media center speech project. tarana burke talk about how this is taken off and why you started this in 2007. alyssa never claimed she started it. it is the rest of the media talking about it.

>> it makes sense to me, because that is how media works. i've been working with young people for more than 25 years. i worked in the south. in 2007. as a survivor of sexual violence myself, as a person was struggling trying to figure out what healing looked like for me, i also saw young people particular young women of color in the community i worked with struggling with the same issues. and trying to find assisting way to -- a sustained way to show empathy. we use the term called empowerment through them for the. #metoo is so powerful because some but he set it to me in a change the trajectory of my healing process once i heard that fall. because the rate crisis centers in the community always working did not go out to the schools or do outreach -- i'm an organizer by training. it made sense to me that you have to bring it to people. people are not going to seek it out.

#metoo was not reaching the places that other people would not go, bringing messages and words and encouragement to survivors of sexual violence were other people would not be talking about it. juan: and your response now that we've had almost a secession of one big name after another being acaccused of sexexual assault, l cosby, roger ailes, bill o'reilly, donald trump, now harvey weinstein? >> mark kelly. it is not a surprise. timenk -- i say it all the . i'm never surprised at these allegations. every art kelly were bill cosby or harvey weinstein, there is the owner of the grocery store, the coach, the teacher, the neighbor who are doing the same things. but we don't pay attention until it is a big name. we don't the attention until it is a big celebrity. but this work is ongoing because this is pervasive. amy: i want to bring soraya

chememaly into the conversationf the women's media center speech project. talk about these rolling revelations against harvey weinstein. because of the "new york times" expose followed by "the new yorker" expose, the new yorker expose is only there because the and worked on nbc it for months and then they killed it, which is leading to, say the least got enormous questions within nbc what was their connections to weinstein, putting a lot of pressure on the president of nbc. talk about this. when it is even reported in the level of women who have to make the charges for this to get this kind of attention, these a-list stars. >> i think this is a very good example of the way overlapping systems of fraternity work to silence stories like these.

we know that it takes a tremendous outpouring of really trauma from women working together in a campaign like #metoo to make people pay attention. but what we're really talking about is making people believe what women are talking about, because we have a very deep-seated mistrust of what women say. and when women say it, it is very easy to dismiss and trivialize. part of that process, serotypes -- stereotypes, comes from media. media frames questions, decides which questions to ask, how to report, what language to use. matters, whose voice and whose experience matters. in an instant like this, we see -- clearly that

that experience will difference, which is transformative in terms of producing knowledge, like really understanding what is is missing in these

institutions. it takes this immense amount of energy to just try and get institutions to recognize the harm that is being done by dismissing and trivializing experiences of sexual harassment. sexual harassment, if even think about the term, is a term that reflects the perspective of harassers. women who are being harassed, men who are being harassed, this isn't a sexual experience for them. it is fear and threatened violence and very intimidating. there's always retaliation involved. even a perspective of the framing of the language reflects the problems that we face. amy: i want to bring alicia garza into the conversation co-founder of black lives matter , and special projects director for the national domestic workers alliance. your express about everything that has just been unfolding, now going from the charges, the allegations against harvey weinstein to, you know, both

scotland yard and the new york police department investigating him criminally, and the massive ana's #metootarn movement that started years ago but is picking up steam now like never before. >> have to say a deep thank you to tarana for creating the space for survivors like myself. without that space, i would not be able to telell my storyry and ththousands and thousands s of r people that i know would not be able to tell their stories. and you and i share someone in common. you are a mentor. when she reached out to me yesterday and said, i mentor tarana started this in a what to make sure that black women's work is not erased, i had to agree. my thoughts about this are exactly what she said earlier, that this kind of violence is as

american as apple pie. i am both heartbroken by all of the stotories that i have seen being shared. there are more stories being shared every day. and lots of people that i know that i'm in community with the people that i don't know are asking themselves, what do we do about this epidemic ofof vioiol? violence against womenen, violee guest women color, violence against black women am a queer people, trance peoplee, and even what do we doo about violence against men? of patriarchal violence really functions off of shame and s silence. it is not lost on me that every single person n who told their story abobout harvey weinstein talked about how they were silent, how they were encouraged not to speak u up, how they were embarrassed or a ashamed to spek

up. so the power o of this movementf #metoo, this power of empathy and connection is realally about empowering people to be survivors, to be resilient. and also to make really visible the sexual violence is not about people's individual actions, that this is a systemic problbl. it requires different types of responses to deal with how system of this problem actually is. juan: i would like to ask tarana burke, as the founder of this movement, where do you think it needs to go from here on? >> the work that i'm doing and this movement is really about survivor talking to survivor. #metoo is about using the power of empathy to stomp out change. we need to keep talking about it. it doesn't need -- i appreciate the hash tag and an elevating the conversation, but it is nont

a hashtag [ [captioning made possible by democracy now!] know myon people don't name is people don't think about there unless there's something big happening. what needs to happen is we need -- wep popping up when need to look at the numbers, look at the people, look at the survivors. i think like an organizer. this is an epidemic, pandemic even. if you apply the numbers around sexual violence in a commendable disease, the world health organization would shut it down as an experiment and research around it. amy: do you think of axing to be developed against it? >> if we could get your polio vaccine and stop sexual violence. but in reality, it is that pervasive. we need to stop thinking about it in spurts and think about it is something we need to constantly work on. amy: a want to thank you all for being with us. tarana burke, founder of the #metoo campaign.

soraya chemaly with the women's media speech project, and alicia garza, cofounder of black lives matter. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioningng. e-ma

>> this week on "global 3000," we're off to ivory coast and bonoua carnival, a celebration where gay people don't have to hide. in taiwan, courts say same-sex couples must be allowed to marry. but not everyone is celebrating. but first we go to brazil, where vast areas of rainforest are still being destroyed, with devastating consequences for us all. the world's largest tropical rainforests are found in south east asia, the congo basin, and the amazonian lowlands. these "green lungs" represent