07/18/18 07/18/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> the violence has lefeft an estimated 280 people dead and 1830 injured, has been overwhelmingly perpetrated by the state and d by pro-governmet elements. in those killed also include at least 19 police officers. amy: to you in high commissioner for human rights has the death ment from anti-govern

protesters is approaching 300. forces are accused of violence, including kidnappings and killings. we will host a debate with julio martinez ellsberg adviser to one of the main student movements opposing the nicaraguan government, and camilo mejia, a well-known iraq war resistor and son of the same sandinista singer who is active in the struggle to overthrow the dictatorship in the 1970's but no longer supports the sandinista government. , his son, wrote an open letter to amnesty international condemning the organization for its role in nicaragua. he supports the sandinista government today. obama marksresident of mandela'sl birth with a speech full of thinly veiled criticisms of president trump. pres. obama: the utter loss of shame among political leaders

where they are caught in a lie and they just doubled out and they lie some more. amy: we will get response from -- mandela'severie rev. jessee jackson and talk about the protest over the police killing of yet another african-american man. this year marks for your since eric garner was killed when a white new york city police officer wrestled him to the ground and applied a fatal said "id while garner cannot breathe" 11 times. the officer continues to work for the new york police department and garner's mother is demanding justice. >> all of those officers that day, they need to stand accountable for what they did to my son. they killed him. he was unarmed. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. under a barrage of bipartisan criticism, president trump said tuesday he misspoke in the news

conference in helsinki after his summit with russian president vladimimir putin. this was trump's original statement about alleged russian interference in the 2016 election. pres. trump: people came to me. dan coats could to me and some others. they said they think it is russia. , he justesident putin said it is not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. amy: that was trump speaking monday in helsinki alongside russian president vladimir putin. but t tuesday after news anchor, lawmakers, and members of the intelligence community decried his comments as treasonous, trump said he'd misspoken, mistakenly sayinin"would" when he meant t to say "wouldn't." pres. trump: just to repeat it, i said the word "would" ininsted of "wouolldn't." i thought it would be unclear on the actual video or transcript,

it should have been "i don't see any reason why it wouldn't be russia." sort of a double negative. so you can put that in. and i think that probably clarifies things pretty good by itself. they may come in rep former president barack obama issued a thinly-veiled criticism of president trump, denouncing the rise of strongman politics, while obama was speaking in johannesburg, south africa, at an event marking the centennial of nelson mandndela's birth. pres. obama: i'm not being an alarmist, i'm simply stating the facts. look around. .trongman politics in someelections pretense of democracy are maintained, the form of it, but those in power seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning.

amy: that was former u.s. president barack obama speaking at the centennial commemoration of the birth of nelson mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years in apartheid south africa before being released and becoming south africa's first black president. he would have turned 100 years old today. we'll have more on mandela's life later in the broadcast with the reverend jesse jackson. in more news on trump's comments about russia, a new york times photographer took a photo of his prepared remarks showing a sharp he was used to cross out the phrase "anyone involved in that meddling to justice" in .eference to those prosecuting the prepared remarks also showed the words "there was no collusion" scrawled in sharpie in the margins of the paper. after delivering his statement yesterday, trump launched a tweet from at attempt to defend his comments in helsinki, tweeting last night -- "the meeting between president

putin myself was a great success, except in the fake news media." trump also tweeted this morning -- "so many people at the higher ins of intelligence love my press conference in helsinki. putin and i discussed many important subjects at our earlier meeting. we got along well, which truly boththered many haters who wantd is he a boboxing match. big results will come." on capitol hill, senate committees are holding hearings today and tomorrow on president trump's proposal to reorganize the federal government, which includes merging the labor department with the education department, privatizing the u.s. postal service, and radically transform the interior department. in response to trump's proposal, the american federation of government employees says -- "there's little reason to believe this reorganization plan is anything more than a scheme to eliminate essential programs and public-service jobs, reward or punish political appointees

, and privatize government programs to reward political donors." the european union and japan signeded one of the world's largest free-trade agreements during a meeting of leaders in tokyo tuesday. the trade deal will cover a quarter of the global economy. it comes as the trump administration has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from the european union, threatened to incite a trade war with china, and pulled out of sweeping trade deals like the proposed trans pacific partnership. in east africa, the first direct flights between ethiopia and eritrea in 20 years have taken off from addis ababa, headed to eritrea's capital asmara this morning. al jazeera reports that the majority of the flights' passengers were members of families separated by the long-running state of war between the neighboring countries. the resumed flights come as part of a historic peace effort to and the 20 year conflict. in spain, a ththe-day stririke y amazon w workers c continues,

despite repression by spanish police, who attacked striking workers tuesday and arrested at least two people. the attack in spain came as thousands of amazon workers in germany and poland also went on strike. this is spanish union leader douglas harper, speaking about the international strike action. >> the local management, which is handling the negotiations here, have told us s managementt headquarters in the united states have placed a glass ceiling, which they can operate, so we hope witith these mobilizations, the glass ceiling expands and comes closer to what we're demanding.. amy: and activists and educators have successfully raised enough money to erect a monument to honor famed journalist, abolitionist, and sufuffragist a b. wells.. the fundraising effort was first launched over a decade ago by ida b. wells' great-granddaughter, michelle duster. the $300,000 monument will be designed and built by celebrated african american sculptor richard hunt and installed near ida b. wells' former home in bronzeville, chicago.

and those 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. we begin today's show in nicaragua, where the associated press reports three people were killed and dozens were wounded when pro-government forces regained control of the monimbo neighborhood of masaya tuesday. the organization of american states says the death toll from mounting anti-government protests has risen to at leastst 273 people. demonstrations to oust nicaraguan president daniel ortega began in mid-april, when his government announced plans to overhaul socicial security. both opposition groups and pro-government forces have been accused of violence, including kidnappings and killings. the nicaraguanan government says the official death toll is 51 and accuses opposition protests of using violence to overthrow the elected leftist government.

on sunday, nicaragua's national police accused the opposition of kidnapping, torturing, and incinerating a police officer. amy: on monday, hundreds marched in the streets of managua to demand justice for students killed friday during an hours-long standoff at the national autonomous university of nicaragua between pro-government forces and opposition protesters who had seized control of the university campus. tuesday, u.n. spokesman farhan condedemned it. thet is essential to in violence in nicaragua and revitalize t the national dialoe or for political solutions. he noted the human rights and affirmed the governmnment's responsibilityo o protectt cicitizens from a principle that should not be forgotten at a time when we import shall have a death toll that is absolutely shocking. amy: danielle -- daniel ortega has served as president of nicaragua since 2007. in the late 1970's, as the leader of the sandinista

national liberation front, he helped overthrow the u.s.-backed nicaraguan dictator anastasio somoza. ortega then n led nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, before being elected again in 2007, and then again in 2016 for his third consecutive term with more than 72% of the vote. but the current crisis has pitted ortega against some of his former sandinista allies. thursday marks the 39th anniversary of liberation day, which commemorates the overthrow of the somoza regime in 1979 by the sandinistas. today for more, we are hosting a , debate. in new york city, we are joined , an julio martinez ellsberg adviser to the coordinadora universitaria por la justicia y la democracia or cudj, one of the main student movements opposing the nicaraguan government of daniel ortega. he's also part of the platform for social movements, a group of diverse nicaraguan civil society organizations which organized after the crisis began. and in pittsburgh, we are joined

by camilo mejia, ththe well-knon erect were resistor. he is the former chair of iraq veterans against the war and an active member of veterans for peace. he ihe is the son of sandinistas no longer supports the ortega government and has released a proposition album titled "heroes of april." camilo mejia is the author of an open letter to amnesty international, condemning the organization for its role in nicaragua. we welcome you both to democracy now! we're going to begin with h camo mejia. talk about what you believe is happening in nicaragua today. >> good morning, amy. thank you for having me on the julio. what is happening is if you take

a couple of steps back. where you have a number of instances in which the united states government, along with the central intelligence agency and some so-called pro-democracy groups like the national doma for democracy, the national democratic institute, and the u.s. agency for international development, has funded and directed that only media organizations, but so-called civil society groups and human rights groups to basically undermined the sandinista government and then before that, to support the u.s. -- supported the used and to tater ship. -- supported the dictatorship. we of the clean face represented by students and civil society organizations that as i mentioned are supported by the united states and a very violent group of people who have been m

anning these roadblocks that are basically kept entire cities besieged and kept them in a state of terror to basically undermined support for the sandinista government and also to keep them from speaking out and to also hurt the economy. what is happening right now in nicaragua is nothing short of a coup with the entire support of the united states, civil society unit organizations that are operating in nicaragua, mrs as well as the international corporate media -- the same international corporate media that has also worked with the united states to create a of weapons-- mirage mushroomistraction and

clouds in iraq, for example, that led to a very bloody occupation that killed over one million iraqi citizens and then turned out to be based on false claims. something very similar is happening in nicaragua. .he war drums are beating they have the entire support of western media and human rights organizations to create this image, to basically undermine support for the sandinista revolution not only nationally, but internationally. the coup is failing. have been removed. the people are out celebrating. is the international media not reporting it that way because they are aiming to more strongly in were directly intervene in our affairs. juan: let me bring in julio martinez ellsberg. you are having a different viewpoint of what is happening in nicaragua. >> thank you for having me.

the revolution began many years ago. everyone that you know from the have alreadye -- turned against him because they can see he is not a progressive, not left-wing. right now he is gone full on dictator, the same way somoza was. the same that fought against him in the 1970's and 1980's are now in the social movements fighting against ortega. he does not represent anything progressive. in the murder he has done in , has everyone furious and really there is no question on the ground as to who is responsible for the deaths. this debate, these talking points about the cia and the united states being behind it, this is something he is using with former allies from the 1980's, people on our side, aggressive's in europe and the u.s., who think it might be plausible.

however, this is the reason from the beginning we have asked for human rights organizations, first many people to be on the ground to see it for themselves so it is not just as having a debate, but everyone can see and it is unanimous. their ownas seen with eyes during daylight, people are shooting protesters for the sole reason of exercising the right to protest. and for speaking freely against the government. he is a dictator. he is a murderer. there is no doubt. juan: when you say he is a dictator a murderer, and people have been raising these issues for a while, he was elected in 2016 with 72% of the vote in the country. that is rapidly happened in the last year and a half or -- if it was happening earlier, why did so many people vote for him? >> for the past 10 years, he is completely undone democracy in nicaragua. he has taken every single power -- everything is consolidated.

he has been threatening people from the opposition for the past 10 years. that is why so many progressives left him behind. there has been election rigging starting in 2008 that only receives a slap on the wrist from the international community. his absolute power was brought together with the nicaraguan capitalists, the right-wing. from the very beginning, he made a deal where he w would not ask for them for any taxes in exchange for people that traditionally have power in nicaragua would not say anything about his popower grass, leavina small amount to march. every single march -- this is been a reality for the last 10 years. the only thing that is new is the level of murder and brutality we have seen in the past three months. when these elections have an happening in the last three years, there is no opportunity. anyone that speaks out has been neutralized. if you have a job that has links

to the goverernment, you arere fired. if used beak out and you're from a local community, then you have no right to any kind of social programs. he has completely neutralized the opposition with the private sector -- with the help of the private sector. monthere with him about a in. they turned back on him about five weeks after the protests started saying he had gone too far. they thought he was going to be toppled, so they were looking to leave. he depended on them fully for the past 10 years. that he did not request taxes from them, the only reason he was able to have social programs was with venezuelan oil money that he funneled to private companies. he did not do it through the normal public sector. he did not use parliament. yes no oversight. $5 billion of venezuelan cooperation.

we have no registry of what he is done with it, only leaked documents that show two thirds were used to buy for-profit companies which are now used to provide the money for the repression. amy: camilo mejia, your response? is right. julio you should not listen to him or myself, but listen to what representatives of usaid have been saying to the u.s. congress, telling them, bragging inut laying the foundations nicaragua, bragging about doing the work in the past that was done by the cia. all you need to do is look at the support this movement has in the likes of representatives and senators. these are some of the most conservative politicians in the u.s. the trump administration, the us representative of the organization of american faith, julioe oligarchy that speaks about is 100% behind this

petition. in fact, they are the ones that originally called for the protest. it is all right there. you don't have to listen to us. i have sent you some articles about who is behind a lot of this organizations. don't listen to us, just look at the document that is available for everyone. in terms of this being a progressive government, i think that 74% of people who voted for can give 2016, that you a pretty clear idea of who the people are behind. if you look at the programs that we have, nicaragua, before april 18, was one of the safest countries in latin america. it had one of the fastest growing economies. it was not dependent on the u.s. joint in fact, it was completely clear from loans and debt to the united states and the imf. 70% of the jobs in nicaragua are created through the popular market economy, which means we are not dependent on transnational money or big

capital. that is one of the big reasons this is happening now. another reason is we signed a treaty with china to build a canal, which has been basically at the heart of bribery between nicaragua and the united states since the mid-1900s when the united states basically set its sights on nicaragua because of the canal. once they can now was built in panama, it kept interest in nicaragua to prevent nicaragua from building a canal that would stand in opposition and competition to the u.s. canal in panama all. wherereally hard to see julio is coming from when you ine 74% of the electorate nicaragua voting for ortega and you have all of the social programs and the safety of his economic growth that is even recognized by the imf and the world bank. the nicaraguan people are not unsatisfied with the ortega administration.

they are very happy with the ortega administration. i think the elections are a testament to that. i think that what is happening friends andio's political opposition in nicaragua, they are hungry for power and they do not have a popular base. the last time they run in 2006, they had approximately 1.3% of the vote. ever since, what they have done rather than build a progressive people's agenda or platform, a progressive platform upon which to become popular and gain more support from the nicaraguan people, what they've done is ally themselves with the right. they have run elections alongside some of the more oligarchic right-wing conservative parties and they've slowly gravitated towards the nonprofit world, which is what we are seeing right now in the form of the so-called civil

society organizations, leading the charge against ortega and the government, that offers universal health care to all of its people, including medication and treatment for chronic disease, a government that has for education at the primary, secondary, and university level. a government that has supported over 4000 cooperatives led by indigenous women that have supported over 3000 small businesses and 100,000 self-employed families that have lifted up the economy and have created food sovereignty, which is pretty radical concept. the peoplehe wins support. you about can ask some of the stuff julio raised because since ortega has now been -- he is in his third term, in this issue of his consolidating power to the point

thatat he is claiming ortega has consolidated power to the point where the elections really are not that meaningful in terms of an expression of democracy. if you could talk to that point in particular. also, about the issue of all of the people that have been killed. ,ho is doing the killing whether it is 60 or 80 or 200 or 300, that is a significant number of people that have died in the past few months in nicaragua. >> sure. to the election question, i think that every government has issues. i'm not going to say the sandinista government is perfect. they have made alliances with the business sector and the church. they have made alliances with big national money. they did that because in order to govern, you have to make alliances. the sandinista government runs on a platform of consensus and reconciliation. the economic model they have created includes building

consensus not only with the employers, but also the employees. so big business sector. in the syndicate or the labor unions, this model has been so successful that it is now being adopted by the rest of central american countries. this is something that the sandinistas have to do out of necessity to be able to govern. in terms of like all of these other constitutional or electoral issues, i'm not going to say the sandinista government is perfect. they have made mistake like any government aches mistakes. but to put things in perspective, in the time that i have lived in the u.s., we have elected to presidents without the popular vote. that has not happened since the sandinistas have been running as a political party. they always won with the majority of the popular vote. we do not have primary elections superdelegates overriding the

popular vote to decide who is going to run for the party. we also don't have an electoral college that overwrites the will of the majority of the people. yes, we do have some issues, but nowhere near the level that would throw people into the streets to kill one another. in terms of the deaths, it is really hard to come up with a definitive number of how many people have been killed because a lot of the deaths that have been claimed by the opposition are people who we know from media reports have been basically taken out of media reports, who have died of -- for various reasons, including suicide, including armed robbery . people have died of heart attacks. some of them are repeated -- their names are repeated. there is an entire report on this. so it is really difficult to say who has been killed and how and by whom. the i want to turn to mother of one of the students

who has been killed during nonviolent protest in nicaragua. moroni lopez was killed by police in managua in april. he was linking arms with other demonstrators to form a human chain when he was shot and killed by the police. a series of videos captured the final moments of his life. he joined the protests after watching video of police hurting elderly protesters. i interviewed his mother alba garcia to respond to government claims that they are not using live ammmmunition. >> i would ask daniel, how is it my son is dead? how is it the sons of other moms are dead? how did those bullets come through his chest? how did those three shots into the bodies of the other two kids? there were thrhree shots righthn target. two in ththe chesest, one of the neck. one in the head. going to dodo that with hdmadade mortarars.

that is false. how is it that more kids are dying? and how is it that the people who disappear return dead with signs of being tortured, without eyes, without teeth, with their bones broken? who is doing that t then? i would like nicaragagua, the country, to explain t to me whwy ththis is h happening. me how is it possible that my son left alive and now he is dead. >amy: that is alba garcia, the brodie lopez.y your response to camilo mejia saying it is not clear who is doing the killing when you're coming up to the stem of 300. yet the government saying around 50 and the united nations saying

around 300 people have been killed. points that he mentioned, one, who is on our side? it is the student movement, the peasant movement, -- all of these are traditional sandinista bastions. these people have always been on the side against dictators from the 1970's and now the idea that right now the government is touting, celebrating they have killed that many people is absolulutely outrageous. that are all people consider themselves sandinista. there just not with ortega. who else? you keep talking about marco rubio. pepa?out he asked him to step down. the socialist party in chile. many are 100% sure about who is doing the killing and they say

without mincing words, there is no doubt about who is doing the killing. they're not talking about let's make a violent style. there talking by the government is using paramilitary troops to people and sing clearly people and sing clearly it is the government that needs to stop. we can keep asking for more and more eyewitnesses to come from the outside as m much as we wan. the u.n. high commissioner for human rights is already on thehe ground. every other human rights commissioner is on the ground to see the exact same thing. with a brutal government -- we have a brutal government that is killing its own people for protesting. there is no doubt. government talking points about there being some sort of fogginess and no one knows where the bullets are coming from is absolutely absurd and based on no reality. o, you don't live there. we see this every day because they do it in broad daylight. we see it by camera phones and when you and your article say,

no, those camera phones, maybe they're fixing the videos. we see it from every angle. everybody is filming every single step. sincee been seeing it april 18. there is no doubt in anyone's mind. sending the national observers and we will keep wanting the same things. the protesters are completely agaiainst ortega. they know there is no minister in charge of police. ortega change the constitution so the police respond directly to him, the same way somoza did. everything will thing the police and paramilitary troops do, whether it is at midnight or they do it during the day, is completely ordered from the presidential house. everybody knows this. let's see. did i miss any topic? the: you w were talking about question of violence. the government is claiming there had been 10 policemen killed. are you saying they killed her own policeman or is the entire

movement peaceful or sections already involved in violence against the government -- there have been charges of taking over police stations. can you talk about that as well? beene movement itself has nonviolent from the beginning. you can see this from april 18 on. about two weeks and when the violence did not stop, the peasant movement took over these roadblocks. they set of about 150 roadblocks. set up about 150 roadblocks. in major cities is set up barricades in their neighborhoods. the government has been attacking them head on using high weapons, ak-47's. when they go into neighborhoods, some people are armed in their houses. can we guarantee not a single person in this entire country that is against him doesn't have

-- i can't guarantee that. the police are going into their houses and we have everything on tape because they do it in broad daylight. so some people may have been doing it. the movement is nonviolent. we have been promoting this. we had the first that was the and then one even larger. 100%icaraguan society's behind this protest. other people behind us? .nyone you can think of all of these leaders that any american progressive will remember from the 1980's -- amy: camilo mejia, we have an interesting debate just between the two of you. camilo, your parents are well-known sandinistas. her father is an artist, poet, sandinista. positions onerent

this. he just came to the united states and has put out a cd to celebrate the opposition to support the opposition. and interestingly am a julio martinez ellsberg, you're the grandfather of daniel ellsberg. dan ellsberg, who worked with the u.s. government, with the pentagon, and it ended up becoming the most famous whistleblower in america around the vietnam war, releasing the pentagon papers. , respond to what julio is saying about the killings, the overwhelming number of killings that he believes there is no question that ortega has masterminded these killings. and also, the conversations you have with your father, leading sandinista, who now is a leading opponent of ortega, the man that he supported for so long. amy, let me start by saying every death is regrettable. my heart goes out to that mother

and every time summit he gets killed in nicaragua, it is a all of the nicaraguan people. what julio is a is inaccurate. the amnesty international report, which i have said is highly partial lysed, recognizes on the first day of the big march on april 19, only three people were killed and one of them was a police officer. all of them died by gunshot wounds, so that right there tells you from the very beginning the police have encountered a very violent, armed opposition. this has continued throughout the entire conflict. police officers do not go into the neighborhoods where they a peacefulmeet resistance. what they have met with this highly armed people. a lot of them have been imported from el salvador and honduras. thereare were please -- are police reports with video evidence of who these people are. a lot of the people who are from

nicaragua who are roadblocks are people who have criminal records. they have found weapons caches at universities and at churches. to the point that julio is making about having video evidence, i have seen all of the evidence. i watch opposition channels all of the time. i look at the evidence. it is very out of context. when you look at police officers fighting in one direction, you never see what is on the other side. you never see what they're hiding from, what they're taking cover from because they don't want you to see the whole picture. what we have evidence of is police officers being killed and burned publicly. s being seen sandinista burned and mocked publicly. these images keep coming out. they are undeniable. the level of brutality we have seen coming from the opposition has never been seen in

nicaragua. if you look at the way these gangs operate in the rest of central america where they have been working basically as part of the organized crimes of the drug cartels, you see some of the same tactics are playing out in nicaragua. amy: julio martinez ellsberg, if you can respond to what he is saying, people at blockades are brought in from other countries involved in the drug cartels? >> no. no. that is absurd. camilo, a highly doubt you have seen all of the evidence. it is thousands of hours of footage. the video people are taking from their phones every single day. you could not possibly have seen that all. teams ofn them are about 30 people came in to interview all of the evidence, interview people, go to the roadblocks. they tried to provide an eyewitness account that was neutral and the rest of the international community could see.

after having done their extensive investigation, they found without a shred of doubt, this was a nicaraguan government shooting its unarmed population. -- the same thing has been seen over and over by every other group that goes there in a neutral way. as i said, again, you are not there. i don't know when the last time you were there -- you have never lived there as far as i know. exactly how you became an authority on this topic beyond -- i have no idea how this happened. these are strictly nicaraguan government talking points. and with this normal authoritarian intent of trying to say that no one knows what the truth is an their stone you can trust except the government, which is absolutely absurd. let's talk about the three people that were croaked -- were killed on the first day. one was a 15-year-old. to goid left high school

take water to his friends that were already in college. high school students have immobilized. they want to help other young people. the people leading this were 17 year old and 18-year-olds. he was handing out water to these people without any kind of weapons in his hands when he was shot in the neck. ok? these are the kind of images that galvanize the nicaraguan population. about three years old about three weeks later, i house was burned down in the early morning i parallel a terry troops. and people tried to save them, there were shot at by the paramilitary troops and police. this is the reason never protest right now. there has to be justice. we are furious about what they -- what is going on. amy: we have to leave it there but we will continue to follow what is happening. julio martinez ellsberg, thank you for being with us, as well

as camilo mejia. camilo mejia, well-known for having resisted the iraq war and was imprisoned as a result of that. , advisortinez ellsberg to student groups in one of the inn student groups cudj nicaragua, opposing the nicaraguan government from also part of the platform for social movements, a group of diverse nicaraguan civil society organizations which organized after the crisis began. this is democracy now! back, well, if president nelson mandela were alive, he would be 100 today. we will speak with his friend rev. jessee jackson. then we will talk about eric garner. this week marks four years after he was killed in a string pulled by new york police. what is happening to the police officer? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "nelson mandela" by youssou n'dour. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peacace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: today marks the 100th birthday of nelson mandela, perhaps the world's most famous former political prisoner. he was imprisoned 27 years in south africa before he was released in 1990. he was elected the country's first black k president four yes lateter. on tueuesday, former p president barack obama spoke in johannesburg at an event marking the centennial and used his first major address since stepping down as president to issue thinly veiled criticism of president trump. pres. obama: the other was a shame among political leaders where they are caught in a life and they just double down and they lie some more. you have to believe in facts. facts, there is no basis for cooperation.

if i say this is a podium and you say this is an elephant, it is one to be hard for us to to beatee -- it is going hard for us to cooperate. any that is president obama speaking at a stadium packed with south africans. for more, we are joined by reverend jesse jackson, civil rights leader and the founder and president of the rainbow/push coalition. i want to go back to 1984 when you gave your presidential campaign speech at the democratic national convention, speaking against apartheid in south africa. >> a partnership with south .frica that is a moral disgrace it is a moral disgrace. it is a moral disgrace. and because that is reverend jackson in 1984 joining us now from chicago. welcome back to democracy now! talk about the significance of this day, the centennial of nelson mandela's birth and the

significanance of president obaa being there and talking about a strong man, unveiled reference clearly to president trump. >> the kinship with south africa as military and economic partner. in the movement arose here to fight that relationship in the u.s. and south africa. the good news is mandela represents a kind of breath of across the continent of africa. he represented a vision of multiracial, nondemocratic, nonracist democratic state. he could have been elected until he died. you chose to build a democracy, political demurrer -- democracy. statute in thehe world of great leaders. the: south africa today, anc after mandela has major

problems in terms of dealing with corruption within its ranks. how do you see the state of the south african people today. freedomined political and economic justice. black african, yet 10% controlled all of the land and resources. they are free but not equal. that is the next age of development. that is the next stage of development. they don't control the universities, banks, media. it is a black island, a black ocean with a white island, 10%. most of the business goes and to the 10%. the 90%, i think maybe there is a plant there. dealerships them all-white, none of them are black. the next phase -- real fast. now that have gained political

freedom, they need economic justice. that will happen. of apartheid and its ugliness has been n broken. amy: w what do think nelson mandela would be saying about president trump today? i was wondering if you could, to both on the summit -- if you think it shohould have happened- and president obama not often heard on these issues, basically, talking about authoritarianism? president mandela was very clear as a nobel prize winner to speak to world issues, clearly i'm mr. trump has an affinity with mr. putin that is an exportable. the leader of canada and mexico. in the eu and nato. he nullifies the kinship with russia. the leaders of germany and

britain, not the leader 10 in beside -- not standing side-by-side. among other things, his tax return. ties to russia. we just do not know. it has created a very ugly climate in the country of distrust and racial polarization. i hope you're able to survive and in november regain our move toward positive relations. juan: and the little time we have left, you're off to korea this weekend. could you talk about that? >> even though we had this otherwn in helsinki the day, we must give encouraging the north-south dialogue in korea. we must hope the dmz will become a piece is own one day. we must keep discouraging the middle -- military buildup in the peninsula again and fight

for family reunification. we must not go backwards. i think mr. trump when he met with the north korean leader, it was a blow in the right direction. --must not go back because you need trust and verification. but i do think we must encourage the north-south rina vacation in korea. amy: you're speaking to us from chicago. this week is the fifth anniversary of black lives matter. five years ago george zimmerman acquitted for the acquitting -- for the killing of f trayvon martin. and just this past week, the police killing in chicago of a well-known and popular barber, father of two harith augustus. >> it seems it is open season on shooting blacks. two things happen. one, when people are unarmed and killed, should be a federal

crime. two, we must make lynching a federal crime. shooting unarmed people must be a federal crime. , it is trayvon martin, new york. the idea of using blacks is the object of anger and venom is too pervasive. we should not feel the impact of it. i hope it would not exclude it was that distract us from the agenda of fairness for all. amy: reverend jackson, we want to thank you for being with us. when we come back, we will talk about eric garner. eric garner was killed quite so years ago this week in a new york police chokehold as he breathe" 11n't times. ♪ [music break]

amy: "garner poem" by mourning a black star. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: this tuesday marked fourur yeyears since eric garner,r, an afrirican-american father of si, was killed when a white new york city police officer wrwrestled m to the ground, pinned him down and applied a fatal chokehold while garner said "i can't breathe" 11 times.

the incident was captured on a cell phone video and his spurred -- and his killing spurred mass protests. this week the nypd announced it plans to move forward with long-delayed internal disciplinary proceedings against the officers involved if the department of justice does not announce criminal charges by august 31. amy: officer daniel pantaleo, who applied the fatal chokehold, continues to work for the new york police department on paid desk duty and has received multiple raises since garner's death. on tuesday, garner's mother gwen carr called for justice at a news conference on the steps of city hall with elected officials and activists. >> it has been four years and my anyly has not seen responsibility taken by the de blasio administration for the police misconduct. all of those officers that day, they need to stand accountable for what they did to my son. they killed him. he was unarmed. my son was doing nothing but

trying to help the community, and they took his life. this has two stop. in the black and brown community, they have to treat us with dignity as they do in other communities. and until this happens, we are not going to stop. ever. amy: that is eric garner's mother gwen carr who is joining us in studio. she is organizing an event this week to bring together mothers from around the country whose loved ones were killed by police. she is a forthcocoming memoir "this stops today: eric garner's mother seeks justice after losing her son." welcome back to democracy now! so the new york police department announced if the justice department does not come down with findings were investigation results by the end of august, they will start these internal proceedingsgs against officers involved wiwith your son's s death. talk about your response. there talking both about daniel thealaleo as well as

wasrvisor on the scene who one of the first supervisors at the scene, kizzy adonis. >> there talking about the two of them, but they are not talking about the other four that was involved. i would like to see all of the officers involved in my son's death that day be accountable -- transparent, and that they are the ones that is responsible for my son's death. there were other officers on the side that no one ever saw that they filed for reports before anyone saw the video. they should stand accountable also. juan: we were just discussing with reverend jackson the recent killing in chicago and the

across thencidents country of police shooting aremed african-americans folks not posing any immediate threat to them. i'm wondering your thoughts on that? >> it is like an epidemic. he keeps happening over and over again. and it is always in our communities. i am n not saying people d don't killed i in other cocommunitiest it is a vast amount, the vast majority get killed in the african-american and a black and brown communities. and this is what we need to stop. and the only way it is going to stop is if we step up and speak about it andnd be about it. amy: what has caused the new york police department to make a statement right now? have you been communicating with mayor de blasio? that they are saying they will bring some kind of disciplinary hearings. what will those hearings be? >> i have not been communicating with the mayor.

what has happened is it seems so ironic that they would announce of my sons anniversary that they are going to move forward when in fact they could have moved forward way before now because the doj gave them the go-ahead back in april, that they did not have to wait for them to go forward with their charges. so they could have done this, so why not in may, june, or early july? juan: a and the whole issue of w long it has taken the justice department? >> four years. why take so long? it is like political procrarastination. that is whwhat it is. it should not take as long. the whole world seen what happened to my son. it was on video. so what else do they need? i mean, all i am seeking is justice, closure. there is no justice for my son

because he is gone. needor us, the family, we closure. amy: we do not want to show the image over and over of your son being killed, but we are showing it right now because you see how many officers are involved in this. first you have pantaleo and other officers bringing him dodown, and then more join in ts as there holding him down as he is saying "i can't breathe." >> they were paying no attention to him at all when he was saying that. amy: what is your explanation? what is the city and the justice department tell you about why these officers are not held accountable? >> because this is what they do. if the higher-ups do not hold them accountable, they feel like it is ok for them to do this. which it is not. we are all american citizens and we all deserve the same type of treatment. and they come into the african-american neighborhoods and they just terrorize, kill

us. most of the time we are unarmed. breaking up a fight that day. he was trying to help someone, and they came and targeted him. they took him down and they killed him for no i. amy: and the explanation, why the justice department has not moved on this in four years? >> they're saying they are turning over every stone, that they are making sure before they make a decision. how many stones are there? how many couples of sand do they have to turn o over? amy: we want to o thank you for being with us, gwen carr, , motr of eric garner killed by police for years ago this week as they took him down, killingng him ana fatal chokehold as he gasped "i can't breathe" 11 times. she is grandmother of erica garner, who also fought so hard for justice for her father's death. that does it for our show. we have job openings, full-time news producer here in new york.

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welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm kanako sachno. we begin in the u.s. president donald trump continues to make confusing remarks about russian meddling and whether he believes the country continues to pose a threat. >> is russia still targeting the u.s.? >> thank you very much, no. >> three hours later, a white house spokesperson tried to clarify what the