08/10/18 08/10/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> if the uniteted states rereay wants to stop the exit is from latin america to the united states, ifif it really wants serious relationship based on friendship, it has to beginin by changingng its ownwn drug polic. amy: as colombia swears in a new

hard-line right winger as president, we will speak with gustavo petro, who won 8 million votes in the recent election in his attempt to become colombia's first leftist president. the guerilla-turned politician will talk about the drug war, the assassination of activists in colombia, his fears of a new dirty war in colombia and last weekend's attempted assassination by drone of venezuelan president nicolas maduro. then to the media enabled musketeers. >> for a long time, media has forgotten about people with disabilities or sterereotyped u, which is why we started the media enabled musketeers. we h have taught and equippedd individuals with disabilities how to tell stories about their lives. amy: we will look at how a group of american and russian filmmakers with disabilities collaborated to tell their own stories, and speak with director jon alpert, who was just in

moscow playing hockey with russian president vladimir putin. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. puerto rico's government has acknowledged 1427 died in the aftermath of hurricane maria. the figures cited in the puerto rican government report are from death registry statistics. yet the puerto rican government says it has still not updated the official death toll, which continues to be 64 -- a figure 20 times lower than the number of people the government is now claiming died. a harvard study has estimated as people may have died in the wake of hurricane maria. a federal judge has threatened to hold attorney general jeff sessions and homeland security secretary cures to nelson in kristjenof court --

nielsen in contempt of court after learning immigration authorities had already begun the deportation of a salvadoran mother and her daughter,espite the two being plaintiffs in n a pending aclu lawsuit challenging session our street effort to stop people fleeing gang violence and mystic viviolence from qualifying for asylum. the federal judge sullivan slammed the administration site "this is pretty outrageous that someone seeking justice in u.s. court is spirited away while her attorneys are arguing for justice e for her." judge sullivan has ordered the administration to return the mother and daughter to the united states immediately. they had already been flown to el salvador and navan flown back to houston. the trump administration has admitted it still has not reunited 559 children immigration officials forcibly separated from their parents at the border. the hundreds of children are still in government custody more than two weeks after a

court-imposed deadline requiring the trump administration t to reunite all ofof the separatated famimilies. the separatition of famimilies s sparked massive condemnation and prototest, including an instagrm campaign calalled "dear ivanka," in w which celebrities, includig amy schumer and chelsea handndl, arare calling on the presidede's daughter and senior r white houe adviser to take actition on the ongoing crisis of family separation. an iranian woman with a life-threatening brain disease is being denied entry into the united states for treatment by trump's travel ban. a louisville doctor who is the first in the world to find a cure for the brain disease has offered to treat marzieh taheri, but the trump administration has so far refused to approve her for an exemption waiver from the travel ban. first lady melania trump's parents, viktor and amalija knavs, became united states citizens thursday using a family unification program that spin -- that has been attacked by

president trump as chain migration. trump has repeatedly called for the end of a longstanding u.s. policy allowing citizens to sponsor their parents and siblings for legal residency. fox news anchor laura ingram is facing a backlash after she went on a racist tirade against immigration on wednesday night. >> because in some parts of the country, it does seem like the america that we knknow and love does notot exist anymore. massive demographic changes have been foisted upon the american people, and they are changes that none of us ever voted for and must was do not like. we see stark examples of how radically and s some was the country has changed. much of this is related to both illegal and in some cases legal immigration that progressives love. and a coat david duke expressed his support for laura ingram's

comments. vice president mike pence spoke at the pentagon thursday about president trump's idea to create a new military space force as the sixth branch of the u.s. armed forces. >> just as in the past when we created the air force, establishing the space force is no idea whose time has come. the space environment is fundamentally changed in the last generation. what was once peaceful and andntested is now crowded adversarial. today, other nations are seeking to disrupt our space bae systems and challenge american supremacy in space as never before. amy: vice preresident pence also called on congress to o allocate $8 billionon for military activities i in space ovover the next five years. president trump tweeted thursday -- "space force all the way!" in yemen, new details are emerging about the u.s.-backed saudi-led bombing massacre of school children in yemen's northern saada province thursday. the united nations says the

airstrike hit a bus carrying children from a summer camp, killing and injuring dozens of children. most of the victims were between 10 and 13 years old. this is an eye witness moussa abdullah. >> t this strike cap and in thee middle o of the market and targeted a bus carrying children. our shops were o open and t the shoppers were walking around as usual. all of those who did died work residents, children, and shop owners. amy: the u.n. secretary-general antonio guterres is cacalling fr an independent investigation into the attack. the american psychological association has voted to reject a proposal pushed by the pentagon to reverse its new rules barring its psychologists from participating in interrogations. the apa approved the rules in 2015 after an independent investigation showed howow the a leadership actively colluded with the pentagon and the cia torture programs. the american psychological association is the largest group of psychologists in the world.

in a newly leaked audio recording, house intelligence committee chair devin nunes of california says republicans must keep control of the house in order to protect president trump from special counsel robert mueller's investigation. listen carefully. situation2 [indiscernible] we have to keep misery. if we don't keep missouri, all of this goes away. cosi as chair of the house intelligence committee, which is responsible for conducting the yearar-long investigation into russia's interferenence in trums ties to russia. in new town, north dakota,

hundreds of people marched in honor of olivia lone bear and other missing and murdered indigenous women across the country. the march came days after olivia lone bear's body was found in lake sakakawea, nine months after she went missing. in education news, the common application used by students to apply to college will no longer ask students for their criminal histories. the move is a victory for proponents of "ban the box," a movement to stop employers and universities from asking for criminal records. the national football league's preseason games began thursday night with a number of players protesting during the national anthem -- kneeling, raisising their fists, or staying in the locker room during the anthem. among the protesting players, malcolm jenkins and de'vante bausby of the super bowl-winning team the philadelphia eagles, both raised their fists, while eagles' defensive end michael bennett walked out of the tunnel during the playing of the anthem and headed to the team bench. on the miami dolphins, wide

receivers kenny stills, albert wilson, both took the knee during the anthem, while dolphins defensive end robert quinn and wide receiver kenny stills both raised their fist. colin kaepernick, the player who started the prprotests in 2016, also tweeteted a photo with stills, writing -- "my brother @kstills continued his protest of systemic oppression tonight by taking a knee. stay strong brothers." the two are wearing shirts reading "i know my rights." the nfl says it will not punish the players for protesting, saying it has suspended its newly implemented policy of fining teams with protesting playayers because the league did not consult with the players association before implementing the policy. and this weekend marks the first anniversary of the white supremacist gathering in charlottesville, virginia, which became the biggest and deadliest white supremacist rally in decades in the united states. the violence began on the night of august 11 when hundreds of white men bearing torches

marched on the university of virginia campus and attacked a small group of anti-racist protesters. the following day, up to 1000 white supremacists and neo-nazis gathered in charlottesville, attacking anti-racist counter protesters, killing a young woman -- heather heyer. white supremacists have now planned a series of anniversary rallies this weekend in charlottesville and washington, d.c. anti-racist protesters are mobilizing for counter demonstrations. to see our interview with heather heyer's mother, you can go to democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in colombia, right-wing politician ivan duque has been sworn in as colombia's new president. duque was handpicked by former right-wing president alvaro uribe and has vowed to roll back key parts of colombia's landmark peace deal with farc rebels. u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley met with

duque ahead of his inauguration tuesday to discuss u.s.-colombia relations and the u.s.-backed drug war in latin america. duque opposes drug legalization. protesters gathered across colombia to protest his inauguration and to demand an end to the wave of assassinations of human rights leaders. just before duque's inauguration, i spoke to gustavo petro. he placed second in this year's 8esidential race, receiving million votes. that would have been the largest number of those received by leftist candidate. in the 1980's, petro was jailed and tortured for being a member of the m-19 guerrilla movement. he later went on to lead efforts in colombia's congress to investigate ties between paramilitary death squads and top politicians. petro is the former mayor of bogata and has just rejoined the colombian senate. i began by asking him about news

from venenezuela, colombia's neighboror to the eastst. on saturday, venezuelan president nicolas maduro was uninjured in an apparent assassinatioion attempt whwhen drones loadeded with explolosivs detonated ababove his headad ase gave a natioionally televivised speeeech. maduro blamemed right-wingng opponents anand the colombmbian government f for the attacack. it is the firstst drone attack, attempted assassination, on a sitting headad of state. i asked gustavo petro for his response to what happened. >> in general, i believe that government try to resolve their own internal conflicts, oftentimes their inabilities, by blaming it on external actions or foreign action.

and even though there is no question about it that there is external action that no government o operates absosoluty independent of internationall context anand i interest in f fs thatat are outsidede of a gigivn society, what is s true is thata governmement does not t do veryl by delegatining blameme for any event onon those outsiside forc. there is alwlways an internal possible that makes it -- i believe president maduro has to examine in depth the internal situation of ththe country. there is an absence of a real dialogue. there is an absence of a clear program for transition to a productive economy given that

venezuela can no longer live off of oil. and these plans are not seen either in the opposition or the government.. this a longher called integral crisis. it has to do with the integral crisis seven israel and society is extrinsic. amy: can you talk about what is happening today in colombia, the , theuration of ivan duque menu ran against for president in cololombia, the significancef his victory? a day o of many questions in colombia. the inauguration of , whose campaient

gn was an anthem to presidenent uribe, who represents the far right-wing forces in colombia. and who is being judged and ties to the for his paramilitary groups, which resulted in a genocide in colombia. at the same time in hundreds of communities and cities around and ina, in their plazas more than 40 cities worldwide, there are demonstrations today that are shouting out to the new government, telling it that decision speed to be made about life, about peace, and about colombia. about life because they have assassinated more than 330 grassroots colombia. about leaders. in recent months, they have threatened thousands of

opposition political activists. because of peace, during the campaign, the current president, the new president, announced he would destroy central aspects of the peace agreement reached by president santos and the farc guerrilla movement. and justice because former president uribe has been called to give testimony in a judicial bribeding for having witnesses in an effort to hide his own ties to the paramilitary groups and he has unleashed from the senate, where he is a senator, a campaign to discredit the supreme court. a campaign that he had already waged when he was president. indeed, he illegally wiretapped the key medication's of the justices asked to medications of the justices of the highest court in the lumia.

amy: and you talk about ivan ,uque's relationship with uribe how far back it goes, what they worked on together, and what you are most concerned about, especially for an audience not from inside columbia, but outside who may not be as familiar with colombian politics. >> well, very few of us know duque. i don't know him, eithther. he was really an unknown figure until four or five months ago. it is the power of uribe''s leadership over a part of the right-wing of colombian society that has allowed duque to become president. , withouting a senator popular election, duque was living in washington where h he organized concerts to entertain the staff of the enter america development -- inter-american

development. not much more is known about him. discourse know is the that has brought him to the presidency, which is exactly the same as the discourse of former president alvaro uribe. and it is in this connection there are concerns and fears this is what led 8 million in theto vote for me effort to win the office of president of columbia. there is fear that a little bit of peace and democracy that has been constructed in colombia woululd be destroyed of public liberties, of judicial independence, and respect for differences. example, thee, for resume of the person who was going to be the representative of columbia before the organization of american states,

the resume ofof a person who is an anti-semite, who is a homophobe, and to act on that and whose ideology is fascist. he is the one who is going to be representing us at the organization of american states. if you analyze this, the latest speeeeches of the person who toy becomes the president of colombia regarding anti-drug veryy, you will find on worrisome facts, which you have already noted in your own investigation. colombia is one of the most violent countries in the world. it is one of the most socially unequal countries on earth, the most unequal country in latin america.

those have been the causes of the rise of a very powerful drug trafficking interest around cocaine. policystruction of a that was born in washington of military confrfrontation and repressive approach to put down drug trafficking has made colombia this violent country and has turned a large part of the geography of the americas, including several cities of the united states, among the 50 most violent cities in the world. the crisis is paid for in colombia in the form of hundreds , theousands of deaths destruction of colombia's democracy, as is happening in mexico, guatemala, honduras, central melaleuca, venezuela, america, central

venezuela, brazil. at the price is also paid in the united states with the new statistic of deaths from overdoses from drugs that are much more harmful than cocaine. more than 60,000 deaths. this is the balance sheet of a failure. mexico is moving toward a progressive policy regarding drugs. to stop contract -- confronting drug from thehe military angle. colulumbia has taken steps in tt direction when i was mayor of s stepswe drug took correct showowing and the statistics shw the new strategy was working. president uribe has announced jailingin a fumigation, drug users, stepping up the

military policy following the advice of president trump, and that path could lead our society to even greater violence. today we have new actors in the violence. it is not the farc guerrillas have disarmed. it is not the insurgent guerrillas at the time of the cold war. it is no longer the paramilitary leaders who were extradited to the united states not to be judged for the genocide they carried out in colombia, but merely for drug trafficking. americas-white strategy directed by the cartels with roots in the united states, mexico, central america, and ecuador trying to capture the production of coca leaf and cocaine in colombia that could lead to even greater violence that we have experienced to date. duque does not appear to realize

this. and in that ignorance or lack of knowledge, trying to construct a farc in arms that does not exist today as a way of maintaining political power of colombian society, they may. imitating trumps policy, they may condemn colombia to new era of v violence.nenet is the dange are tatalking about. that is why there habeen a a growthth in the assassininationf grassroots leadeders. itit has been 330 in the last ofmonths. that is why the threats against the judicial system, and for this reason there is an internal struggle within the army and vetin the police to trtry to those forces, trying to clear out those who are allies s of te peace process and trying to lead into the top positions, the

hard-line hawks who might lead colombia to a new dirty war. amy: colombian senator gustavo petro. he placed second in this year's presidential election in colombia. we will be back with him in bogota in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we returned to my interview with colombian senator gustavo in thishe placed second years presidential race in colombia, receiving 8 million votes, more than any left presidential candidate in colombia's history. the inauguration took place on tuesday when we spoke to gustavo petro. the inauguration of the new right-wing president ivan duque. your own aid annamaria cortez was also assassinated in the last weeks of the campaign. can you talk about her? do you think this s was a messae to you? >> not only was one of our activists assassinated, several

of the activists were assassinated. and just one province, more than 30 of the administstrative regis of colombia, 72 activists from our movement have been assassinated. and my brother just received a death threat at his home. my communication with the office of the prosecutor hahas been intercepted for the last year and a half. my family is in e exile. there e are millions of colombis who are fearful today, who are afraid. that is why we are calling them into the streets. in the public plaza, one can overcome fear. and at least not allow oneself to become paralyzed. and that is the reality today in colombia. and that is what the new president ivan duque will have to answer to. amy: while you lost, gustatavo

petro, you also made history with 8 million votes duque to's 10 million. you garnereded more votes than y left politician in colombian history. can you talk about your vision for colombia and why you think that vision did not succeed in ultimately winning? >> i no longer divide politics into left and right. i think that was a relatively logical way and a relatively realistic way to o describe politics in the 20th centurury. but today politics is divided between the politics of lifife d the politics of debt. worldwideange separates us intnto two major sides. on the one side you have e trum, maduro, duque. and on the other side, you have those of us who want to respond

and adapt as quickly as possible to climate change by bringing about changes in colombian society colombian politics -- life or death. what we were preaching in colombia is that. we need to build the movement of life from the standpoint of respect for nature, from the from annt of moving extractive-based coal exportingg economy. we're the fifth leading coal exporter in the world. that is to say we have a lot of responsibility foror climatete change, and we want t to move ta productive economy in agriculture e and industry based on knowledge. so as to be a little live together with nature. we want to move to a zero carbon economy. these are the kinds of proposals that we put forward as the main .genda in our election campaign

that is what we want. amy: it is interesting you put together trump, duque , and maduro. maduro of venezuela. i wanted to go back to this issue of the assasassination attempt. on sunday, the bolivian president evo morales tweeted -- amy: do you feel the u.s. was whatved in some way in looks like an assassination attempt on maduro's s life? reject any type of violence

for resolving social conflicts in latin america. i believe we have experienced 30 inrs of revolutionary wars central america, in colombia. i was a protagoninist myself of ththat effort as a m member of e in 19 movement, which lay down its may -- weapons in 1989. then it became a majority through popular vote and played a very important role in the 1991 institution of colombia, profoundly democratic constitution. we experienced years of military dictatorships, exile. practicallymocracy" vaninished from latin america. it was really just at the beginning of the 21st century that a sort of spring began. progressives, popular elelectorl victories. and we begin to see new pants --paths emerging.

we cannot go back toto the past. that exists,rships for example, in n brazil, as i believe exisist in venezuela ana threat thehereof, nicaragua and honduras, a thread of this in colombia, nor can we go back to the revolutionary wars trying to resolve conflicts through violence. i think we need to preserve and persevere along the nonviolent hats in order to work out our own conflict. m mean there's not a violent attatack against maduro. thatat does not mean that are et intereststs who likike to see vevenezuelan socociety collapsp. whothe e same intnterest brbrought about t the collapsesf the sosociety of libibya, iraq, sysyria, behinind that therere a darkrk and dirty game all around oil interests and thehe world ol

market. i know that the collapse of venezuela would immediately mean the collapse of colombia because millions of colombians who in years past when into economic exile in venezuela would come back. as pope francis says, these kinds of exodus is just create new situations for slavery and violence. hard-linere is also a , racist, xenophobia, imperialistic factor in u.s. society who with her allies in europe, believe they can dominate the world and accommodate the different visisions of hundreds s of human colter's into their exclusive way of thinkining d acting.. but i am totally convinced that it is the people themselves who transform society. the issue i have raised up climate change, i proposed to

the colombian and to colombia that this should be the fundamental line of our international policy. and based on that, we should -- who are ourur allies and who are on the other side. together in a single political party, speaking in general, global terms, someone like maduro and someone like trump are together because the wave inn latin america to begin an early 20th century consolidated its role by greater income distributions and genuine desire to reduce inequality in the most unequal region of thee world based on te ramps that were generated by the rise in international oil prices as well as coal and gas prices. it is an unsustainable way which venezuela.own in

and bolivia partrts of brazil followed that same cast. i thinink this has brought aboua ownis, violating their democratic principles. we see this in venezuela and we now see it in nicaragua. a new progressivism is emerging. traffic lease speaking, we could say there is a new access between mexico and sound paulo.. , then important for us presidency of mexico, we almost did the same thing in colombia with a million votes, and it may happen in brazil if the currrret dictatorship there allows it. that new access should propose to latin america a new role in the international order. reject being assigned, being mere exporters of raw materials,

of fossil fuel raw materials. that alone would bring an end to colombia. and we need to have a new role. production based on knowledge. production without carbon. a d carbon ice reduction. therefore, a new democracy. this is what we propose to the world in this new progressive access with a very powerful itself.humankind it would display its moral and political superiority of arguments based on science. that i believeve is what we are now building in colombia and in latin america. that is the way forward that we are going to be trying to insist on in coming months and coming years. amy: we're speaking to now senator gustavo petro. he ran for president of colombia .

got more votes than any previous opposition left-leaning presidential candidate in colombian history. nikki haley, the u.s. ambassador to colombia, is leading the delegation for ivan duque's inauguration as we speak. ambassador haley wrote in the miami herald -- "the united states stands unequivocally with the people of venezuela and nicaragua against their corrupt governments. colombia presents a model for their democratic aspirations. we look forward to working with the new government in bogota to ensure that the freedom model endures for all of the americas." "the washington post" quotes one onion's official saying -- "now colombia will have the most pro-u.s. president in all of latin america." your thoughts? i think that all of t the

colombian presidents s have been the most pro-u.s. president of latin america, w whatever u.s. policy has been back to the 1950's. fewmbia was one of the countries that joined the u.s. in the korean war. the e same for was in korea came back to kill insururgents in colombia, giving rise to the farc. that was at the orders of the president at the time who hadd -- mussolini and hiller, have been defeated in the second w world war. dustfore having a sort of rather than facing some sort of nuremberg trials, they decided to become the chief allies ofof the united states so long ass they would n not be trieded for genocide. that has been history ofof the president of colombia.

the current conduct of the incoming preresidentnt duque has been tradiditional. at t the ambassador of the unitd states to the united nations makes a mistake when she talks about colombia. first of all, she does not recall the analysis and statements of her own ambassador of years back who said probably government was a government that was an ally of the drug trafficking interests. governmente uribe made peace with the paramimility groups. and rather than having them justice,bjected to instead it was the consolidation with druge traffickers. to the representative coming -- she saysys here we

have l liberty. the liberty one would like to see throughout latin america. ambassador.y him a they have killed over 300 liters in recent months. i don't think that is the liberty the united states wants for latin america. that is not freedom. . myself am threatened isis that the freedom the united states wouldld like to see? but getting into a specific and sundamental issue prpresidential candididate, i ha dialogue with the current ambassador of the united states. and if the united states really wants to s stop the exodus from latin america to the united states, if it really wants sears relationship based on friendship, it has to begin by .hanging its own drug policy

the anti-drug policy of the united states government is bound by its highest expression in military struggle and repression that is direcected agaiainst d drug users and agait those who produce the coca leaf. this is now making all of latin america bleed. it is leading to the violent deaths of latin american socieiy . at the same time, , it is leadig toto the deaths through overdose by not mitigating damages by more scientific-based u.s. society itself. i would invite the ambassador of the united states to the u.n. now that she is coming to bogota, to re-examine with scientists and objectively a drug policy that has b been profoundly c criminal and ineffective throughout the americicas. amy:y: gustavo petro, you said

your own life is threatened. have you received death threats? >> yes. the last one i received was two weeks ago. pamphlet circulating against the main opposition leaders in colombia by a group called the black eagles. they have threatened thousands people throughout colombia in the past couple of monons. the grorotesque content of these well, they always say that we should not be the opposition to duque. not a single member of the black eagles is in prison. there has never been any combat. real is no record of the existence of an organization independent of the state called the black eagles. they carry out threats from the far north to the far south of

.olombia there is no organization that has such a capacity to cover all of colombia's geogography other than the state. the threads are actually made by public officials. officicials of the colomombian e who create internal, clandestine groups. and those who are at the comomnd are struggling to become the top commanders of the pulleys, the army, and the intelligence bodies in the new duque administration. black eaglesthe are. those are the ones who have entering out most of these threats.s. amy: colombian senator gustavo petro. he placed second in this year's presidential race, receiving 8 million votes, more than any left presidential candidate in colombia's history. i spoke with them in bogota on

tuesday just before he left for the inauguration of colombia's new right-wing president ivan duque. we will play the second half of the interview next week on democracy now! come back, the media enableled musketeers. a group of american and russian film makers with disabilities collaborating on tellingng their own stories. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "samba de igor" by igor butman big band. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. while tensions between the u.s. and russia continue to heat up, one group of filmmakers has found a way to strengthen ties between the two countries through a common bond -- their disabilities. a new film premiering tonight in new york follows the media enabled musketeers, american and russian filmmakers with disabilities, as they make original films to tell their stories. this is a clip from the documentary "all for one: media enabled musketeers." >> for a a long timee media has forgotten about people with

us,bilities or stereotyped which isis why we started the media enababled musketeers. we have taught and equipped individuals with disabilitieies how to tell stories about their lives. offera enabled musketeers: one, and one for all. going to russia. we are going to show our films. we're going to make films. we're going to meet our russian friends. amy: people with disabilities are the largest minority in the united states and in russia. still, disabled people continue to be underrepresented or stereotyped in the media. "all for one" tells the story of 35 russians and 13 americans who collaborated to create films about everyday issues to empower themselves, educate the public, and provide more opportunities for people with disabilities. these include films about accessibility, finding love, confronting prejudice, and following dreams. for more, we

it is also where democracy now! used to live. he is the co-director of the media enabled musketeers project. jon novick is a filmmaker with media enabled musketeers. his film "don't look down on me" exposes the prejudice and insensitivity he encounters on a daily basis as a new york resident with achondroplasia, which is the most common type of dwarfism. he is also the outreach manager for the new york city mayor's office for people with disabilities. and ben rosloff is a filmmaker with media enabled musketeers. his film "can i call you" examines the challenges people with autism face as they look for love. welcome to democracy now! this project where we see you at the beginning of the

film preparing your gear to go to moscow, jon novick. >> that in particular or the whole project? amy: the whole project. >> we had two groups of people. one representative from the united states, some from russia, some having disabilities for some passionate about disability specific issues within the community. we were given the opportunity to tell our stories. what does that look like? for me personally, talking about my expenses as a little person with tour for some, achondroplasia for prism, in new kentucky will stopben about history as well. there was a gentleman and russia who basically documents the insensitivity's that he faces as a person who is just trying to park. we have parking permits for people with disabilities. in russia, he found a lot of people did not respect those

permits and proceeded to park anyway. the list goes on and on. amy: i want to go to your film that you make him a clip from your short film "don't look down on me" about living as a little person in new york city. it is featured in "all for one." >> it deals with a thoughtless way that s some people treat me. even taking pictures like i am some tourist attraction. >> how is the weather down there? >> hey, shortstop, smiled for the camera. >> you see e somee whwho is differerent, think about what pt of their day do you want to be. amy: that is john novak in his film "don't look down on me." it is very painful as you are there in a subway people are mocking you. is that typical? >> it varies over day today. over time when i first moved to the city, i was very new and this is something that was very concentrated was focusing -- it

happened basically on a d daily basis. i ththink as time goes on, i've got a little more used to it. a little more hardened to it enabled a wave at all. amy: you are wearing hidden camera? >> yes, for the course of two days. , if you can talk about the overall project and what you did in this period where the tensions between russia and the united states are escalating, russia is encapsulated as a president clinton, the united states president trump. but as you show us, there is a vast population outside of that. leave thingsof fully to our leaders, they might not lead us in the right direction. if citizens -- as citizens, if we have the opportunity to learn about other people, we should take it. if we have the opportunity to empower ourselves, and you know the power of media, if we can use that as a tool to create

opportunities, we should do it. that is the reason why we do this project. amy: the film starts in moscow, but then the filmmakers travel to new york city. i want to turn to aa clip navigating the n new york city subway and speaking to new york city commissioner for people with disabilities victor calise about the subway system. >> the level between the train and the platform is not the same, so it is going to be a little bit difficult for people in wheelchairs. .t is really hard this is not really acceptable. it is really difficult to push, but they did not make a ramp. stations is over

100 years old. we don't have any telephone polls. everythihing is in thehe ground. to get to the infrastructure of ththat is pretty tough. but when we are building new come also o was stations are accessible. >> i it is good that someone wih a disability has authority. he understands the people he represents and their issues. >> w we hope that both russia ad new york will be more accessible for people with disabilities so we will have more chance to have a happy and productive life. amy: that is a clip from "all for one" which is premiering tonight in new york city. she has cerebral palsy. >> she does. she might not have suffered from that, but she was born during a time with turmoil in the

medicine she needed was not available so the doctors could not help her. i want to turn to ben rosloff. youalso want to moscow and major own film as well. i want to turn to a clip from "can i call made you?"" >> i i am makingng this fifilm y to r report the difficult is tht someone like me has searching for someone to "can i i call date. >> have you u ever dated someone with autism? >> no. >> do you ththink you would have to be different with him? >> i don't think so. >> i do know i wanant to get married someday and have a family and a normal life. amy: talk about the experience of making this film, being a part of "all for one" going to moscow. doing a when i was documentary, at that time i did

not know how to do all of these things until when i came to dctv. i had to learn new equipment, like new camera equipment and different ways to edit the video. at that time when i did the video "can i call you?" which was about me trying to go on a relationship with someone who is not disabled, to learn new things like i just can't find people who are just nice to me, but someone who is honest as well. ask some people in aboutdeo, which you saw trying to does how it works, this on a date and if person is right for you or not. amy: what was it like going to moscow? moscow, when we were in

well, it was really nice being there. almost like traveling to new york city, seeing new areas. i mean, areas i have never been to. that time was my first time being in russia. we showed a lot of people at the film festival our films. amy: i want to go to a part of the film which is the two of you, ben and jon, turning to a conversation you had in moscow along with another member of afterenabled musketeers learning about the struggles disabled people face there. >> the things we saw today have been really upsetting. > they allowow disabled peopo go to regugular schools.. as for russia, they don't. ththey just keep them in special schools. saying no disabled

people allowed. it is like no dogs allowowed. n nicest thing to me.. you u look at me and you s saido you think there isis a way i can lift y you up anand maybe someme else can help p put your l legs straightht and movove your l len we can get you back walking again? >> let's just test. can you try to move your leg while in the w wheelchair?r? >> my injury is in my spspinal cocord. you dodo everything youu canan,e mentally, , but nothing is hahappening. >> if someone came up to a and said, ok, today i'm m going to carry autism. how would you convey that? what would you say explaining how hard it is? >> it is not going to be that easy. as a person with autism, i want to speak -- i want to speak -- i want too speak clear -- i'm sorry. it is aa proroblem.

>> you are doing everything you can. i admire that. amy: that was a part of the film "all for one" premiering tonight here in new york city. , you're the d dector, but you are back to russia recently for a very unusual event. you played hockey with russian president vladimir putin in sochi this past may. putin was playing in an annual charity exhibition along with several former nhl stars. national hockey league stars. can you talk about the circumstances in this last-minute we have together? >> well, it was a little emily aiding because president putin stuck to see with all of the greatest hockey players and russian history and the opposition was guys like me. i think we lost 11-5. amy: what was it like meeting [utiputin?

>> before the game, someone skated up to me and said, you know the rules are, don't you? the rules are you don't checkputin. amy: meaning you don't hit him, you don't body block him. >> right. i'm the only american that has ever played hockey against him. i think we've seen that sportrts is a way of bringing people together, ping-pong diplomacy, the first cultural ambassador of u.s. into japan after world war ii was babe ruth. withou can bridge have's sportsts, just as you can with fifilm. amy: your assessment ofputin is a hockey player? >> i have challenged him to a one-on-one game, and i'm waiting for him -- amy: when it comes to the summit with trump? >> anywhere he wantsts. amy: maybebe you can do it on trump's icee rink k in central park. >> that is a good idea. i am going to suggested it to him boast of amy: i want to thank you all for being with us. that does it for the show. jon alpert, jon novick, and ben

rosloff. the film is called "all for one." you can check it out on democracynow.org. democracy now! has a job opening for a broadcast engineer here in our our new york city studio.

oh! man, it's cold.