08/21/18 08/21/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> if ththe vatican was approaching the situation with integrity, the pope would have come here and not just -- but got none his knees and acknowledged the truth of what hass happened 15 years agogo ability to that to happen. this is late. and for any acknowledgment of the abuse issue to be an afterthought is reprehensible.

amy: in a letter to catholics around the world, pope francis condemns the church's cover-up ofecades of sexual abuse by priests. but are the pope's comments too little, too late? as more than catholic 1000 theologians, educators, and lay leaders call for u.s. bishops to submit their resignations to the pope, we speak to sister simone campbell, a vocal critic of the church's male hierarchy. the hehead of network, which has nuns in the bus. then prisoners across the country are set to go on strike today in a mass mobililization demanding improved living conditions, greater access to resources, and the end of what they describe as modern day slavery. >> it is prisoners that have drafted this list of domains and prisoners i continue to communicate wiwith us and relate to us the conditions a face, the retaliation they face when they try to speak out on their own. amy: we will speak with prison striker organizers and the

pulitzer prize winning historian heather ann thompson, author of "blood in the water: the attica prison uprising of 1971 and its legacy." all that and more, coming up. welcome to dememocracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. for the first time in the history of the roman catholic church, the pope has addressed a letter to the entire population of 1.2 billion catholics on the topic of sex abuse by clergy. in the scathing 2000-word letter pope francis wrote -- "we showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them." last week in pennsylvania, a grand jury report revealed how more than 300 catholic priests sexually abused 1000 children anand possibly thousandsds morer more than seven decades, and that the church leadership covered up the abuse. more than catholic theologians, 1000 educators, and parishioners

have called on all catholic -- u.s. catholic bishops to resign. we'll have more on pope francis' letter and the catholic church abuse scandal after headadlines. president trump is heading to chcharleston, west virginia, toy toto hold a campaigngn rally and announce a massive rollback of obama-era environmental regulations for coal-fired power plants. the deregulation will dramatically weaken president obama's signature clean power plan, which aimed to cut carbon dioxide emissions in order to address climimate change. under president trump's planned deregulation, individual states will now be allowed to decide whether to curb emissions. "the washington post" reports the deregulation will mean at least 12 times more carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere over the next decade. the deregulation will also rollback rules aimed at reducing air pollution from the plants. andrew wheeler, the current acting administrator of the environmental protection agency, is a former coal industry lobbyist.

president trump met with federal immigration agents at the white house tuesday where he introduced a hispanic border patrol agent by saying "he speaks perfect english." pres. trump: come here. i want to ask you a question. come here. you are not nervous, right? he speaks perfect english. amy: in afghananistan, police sy the taliban haveve fired rococks at the preresidential palacece e afghan president ashraf ghani was delivering his holiday message for the muslim celebrations of eid al-adha today. one rocket landed near the presidential palace, while a u.s.d hit near the embassy and nato compound. no fatalities have been reported. the afghan military responded with a heavy bombing campaign. the attacks come after the afghan president offered a three-month conditional ceasefire with the taliban, slated to take effect today. in m more news frorom afghanist, up to 2 million people are at

risk of running out of food within the next six months as a historic drought spreads across the majority of afghanistan. at least 80,000 afghans have been forced to leaveve their villages in search of water so far. in more climate change news, the death toll from the historic flooding in n india's southern state of kerala has risen n to 0 peopople. it's the worst flooding in a centurury and has displaced up o one millioion people. this is chandra bose, whose home was swept away by the waters. >> there is not even a shred of evidence that her house once stood here. we are enabled to do anything. eveven the cloththes we are wewg werere given to us by other people. i have left my daughter in an orphanage. we are in situation whwhere we cannot do anything. we do not know what to do next or what is going to happen to us next. amy: french oil giant total has withdrawn from a nearly $5 billion gas project in iran, as a result of the trump administration's reinstatement of u.s. sanctions against

foreign companies doing business with iran. the reinstatement of sanctions come after president trump pulled out of the landmark 2015 iran nuclear deal. earlier this month trump threatened european allies, tweeting -- "anyone doing business with iran will not be doing business with the united states." microsoft says hackers linked to the russian military intelligence unit that allegedly sought to sway the 2016 u.s. election are now targeting conservative u.s. think tanks that have broken with trump and are seeking u.s. sanctions against russia or to expose russia's human rights abuses. microsoft says the hackers have created websites in which users believe they are clicking through links managed by the conservative think tanks the hudson institute or the international republican institute, but that actually secretly redirect users to sites that steal their passwords or other personal information. in michigan state health director nick lyons is facing trial for involuntaryy manslaughter over the deaths of

two men a midst now b bakouts of legionnaires disease after they switched thehe waterer supply te flint t river in an attempt to save money. rankinghe highest official to face charges so far over the water poisoning crisis. he is also being charged with willful neglect of duty and misconduct. 12 people died in an outbreak but recent report has found the death toll from the water crisis in flint may be higher even than michigan officials have acknowledged. 15 michigan officials have been indicted. "the new york times" reports italian actress asia argento recently quietly paid former co-star jimmy bennett $380,000 after he accused her of sexually assaulting him in 2013 when bennett was 17 and argento was 37. the age of consent in the state of california is 18. argento emerged as a leader in the #metoo movement after she was one of the first of more than 100 women to accuse disgraced hollywood mogul harvey

weinstein of rape and sexual harassment. she paid off bennett months after she spoke out publicly against weinstein. on mondaday, tarana burke, the founder of the #metoo movement tweeted -- "sexual violence is about power and privilege. that doesn't change if the perpetrator is your favorite actress, activist or professor of any gender." artists and entertainers took aim at president trump and his policies at the mtv video music awards monday night. >> we are alive coast to coast right now. i am looking at this like it is gameme day, people.. do not worry. it is game, you arellowed to kneel. you never know what t is going happen at the vma's. it is basicalllly like the typil day at the white house. awards, rapper

logic performed along immigrant youths and their parents to protest against the trump administration's separation and detention policy. in chapel hill, north carolina, hundreds of student protesters toppled the "silent sam" confederate statue at the university of north carolina monday night, on eve of the first day of classes. the toppled statue was erected in 1913 to honor confederate soldiers and has been the target of repeated protests in recent years. one student isis facing chargesf property destruction a and possssible expulsion for pouring red ink and her own blood on the statue in a protest last april. "the new york times" is reporting a federal authorities investigating president trump longtime former personal lawyer and fixer michael cohen focusing on $20 million in loans obtained by taxi businesses that he and his family own. "becomes" reports the investigators are looking into whether cohen violated campaign

finance laws by helping to arrange hush money payments to silence women said they had affairs with president trump. the prosecutors are reportedly considering firing -- filing charges but in of this month. and in colorado, immigrant rights leader sandra lopez is leaving sanctuary today after spending 10 months living in the parsonage of the two rivers unitarian universalist church in carbondale, colorado, while she fights her deportation to mexico. she's lived in colorado for 17 years and is the mother of three u.s.-born children -- alex, edwin, and areli. in a statement, sandra lopez said -- "my attorneys have talked with ice, and it confirmed that i am not a priority for removal at this time. we continue to seek a positive resolution to my case through the court system and are awaiting a decision from the board of immigration appeals." this is sandra lopez speaking with democracy now! from inside the parsonage of the two rivers unitarian universalist church in

carbondale, colorado, in january. >> i wasn't willing to be arrested because they are uprooting me from my home, from my children, from my life, from my future. going to wanant to go into such a situation, as if nothining were happening? no. i made the decision to go into sanctuary, to opopt for sanctua. it is not an easy dedecision ani am heree avoiding deportation so i can be with my children. amy: to see our full interview with sandra lopez, go to democracynow.org. and prisoners across the country are set to launch a nationwide strike today to demand improved living conditions, greater access to resources, and the end of what they call modern day slavery. prisoners in at least 17 states are expected to participate in the coordinated sit-ins, hunger strikes, work stoppages and commissary boycotts from today

until september 9, the 47th anniversary of the attica prison uprirising. we'll have more on the nationwide prison strike later in the broadcast. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goododman. for the first time in the history of the roman catholic church, the pope has addressed a letter to the entire population of 1.2 billion catholics on the topic of sex abuse by clergy. in the scathing 2000-word letter, pope francis wrote -- "with shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives. we showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them." pope francis went on to write -- "looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create

a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated." pressure had been growing on the pope to make a statement after sex abuse scandadals continue to mount across the globe. last week a grand jury report in pennsylvania revealeled more thn 300 prpriests in pennsylvania hd abused at least 1000 children over the past seven decades, and perhaps thousands more, even as officials engaged in a systematic cover-up. >> all of the victims were brushed aside in every part of the state by church leaders who preferred to protect the abusers and their institutions above all. priests were raping little boys -- girls, and the men of god

not only did nothing, they hid it all for decades. auxiliarys come bishops, bishops, archbishops,s, cardinals have mostly been protected, many, including some named in this report, have been promoted. one father identified in the report is now bishop. a bishop is now a cardinal. predator priests were allowed to remain in ministry for 1 10, 20, even 40 years after church leaders learned of their crimes. in those yeaears, the list of victims got longer and longer. amy: in response to the pennsylvania grand jury report, more than 1000 catholic theologians, educators, and lay leaders have signed a letter calling for all u.s. bishops to submit their resignations to the pope. earlier this month, former

australian archbishop philip edward wilson was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest. he is the most senior catholic official in the world to be found guguilty of coconcealiline sexual abuse of children. in late july, the former archbishop of washington, d.c., cardinal theodore mccarrick became the highest ranking catholic leader in the united states to resign after he was accused of abusing a number of boys as young as 11 years old. as well as seminarians. meanwhile, authorities in chile raided the headquarters of the catholic church's episcopal conference last week as part of a widespread investigation into sex abuse. later this week, , pope francncs will travel to i ireland, anothr country rock by the sexual abuse scandal inside the church. washington, go to d.c., where we are joined by sister simone campbell, executive director of network, an advocacy group for catholic social justice.

she's the author of "a nun on the bus: how all of us can create hope, change, and community." sister simone, welcome back to democracy now! can you start off by responding to with the pope has just said? >> i think it is a significant step forward that he is publicly acknknowledged to the entire wod that this is not an isolated one off event, but is really anchored in a colter of clericalism that protects the institution without looking at the suffering of our people. his challenge now, however, is to go beyond the words and to actually take action to break clericalismlture of and domination from the top and to really find effective ways to change the path forward. that is the biggest challenge. amy: so you have this letter that essentially has gone viral. when we last looked, it was 140

people signed on and now it is over 1000 theologians, catholic laypeople, academics, calling for all u.s. bishops to resign. do you agree with this, sister simone? >> i think it is that groundswell of we just cannot continue business as usual, and in chile, that is what the bishops were forced by the pope to do is to submit the resignations. he only chose to accept three, but yet i think it is an effective way to begin to change the leadership. but i want to make abundantly clear that the leadership is key for this change, but so is the education of our clergy, as well as the inclusion of laity and especially women in key decision-making roles. i practiced family law for 17 years. i know in allegations of abuse, it is critical, critical, to

have a comprehensive view by eliminating women, by eliminating laymen in the decision-making process, they focused on the wrong piece. they focused on the institution, not on the children who are suffering. so we need a huge change in the church. letterwant to go to a published friday on the websisie daily the allergy, calllling on all u.s. catholic bishops to resign over the scandal followowing the pennsylvania grd jury report which revealed that more than 300 catholic priests had sexually abused 1000 children, and possibly thousands more. as i was saying, the letter signed by more than theologians, 1000 educators, and lay leaders and asks that bishops resign collectively as a public act of repentance and lamentation. the letter states -- "the catastrophic scale and historical magnitude of the abuse makes clear that this is not a case of 'a few bad apples' but rather a radical systemic

injustice manifested at every level of the church. systemic sin cannot be ended through individual goodwill. its wounds are not healed through statements, internal investigations, or public relations campaigns but rather through collective accountability, transparency, and truth-telling. we are responsible for the house we live in, even if we did not build it ourselves." following on this, when you look at, for example, what nuns were faced with, people you represent, sister simone, when -- itre investigating looks like you're investigated more than any of these priest who preyed on children and adults, seminarians as well. >> i think that is accurate. theink one of the dynamics, psychological dynamics in the investigation of catholic sisters was just that, the attempt to deflect.

we know psychological trait on the part of all human beings, including clergy and bishops, is when attacked, let's the flecked it. recently see that in politics right now in our nation. the result of leadership focusing on catholic sisters who at times had been victims of abuse by priests themselves, that we got it all wrong. we got it turned around. finally, what i think pope francis at least talks about, is changing that dynamic. and what this letter from the lay members of our nation is saying, it is time to do more. but i will tell you, it is going to take time to change the culture change, the orientation. our church is old. it is like 2000 years old. it has been a long time building this, the letter said, so we have got to begin the dismantling now. it is inclusion. it is all of us together. where one e community, not the

leaders separated from the followers as many have thought. we have got to come together and say, together we can move forward. and pope francis actually calls us to that, but i think the leadership has some serious change and needs serious change in direction if we are going to be effective in changing how we face the future and stop this of use. amy: you would to the vatican last year. you blasted male power. talk about that trip and talk aboutt the male power, the hierarchy of the catholic church and what you think needs to change now. >> i have to confess, i sort of thought this was guard might stop yet the gate, but they did let me in. i was able in that setting just -- to speakmitation to the limitation of our church fight morning women's leadership. we have all of this talk about how men and women are created

and commentary in all of that, that we leave women out entirely. worshiping, to be a community, we need the whole -- involved and prayer and leadership. that is the point was trying to make. the culture of monarchy, which has dominated the vatican story, the culture of monarchy is what built this entire abuse scandal and the cover-up. if we had dealt with it in the beginning, we would have changed how we behave no. now it is a horrible, painful monument to bad system that needs to be changed. and men need -- the men of our church need to wake up to that. and not only tolerate us, but invite as in for further conversation. you have the catholic church, the hierarchy, going after you, bishops investigating you, and the nuns on the bus

around issues of not speaking -- well, you can tell is about gay marriage, abortion. explain what happened. >> right. they named us, our little organization of network, as being about influence on catholic sisters in the united states because we worked too much on the issues of poverty. andnot on gay marriage abortion. since our mission is to work on the issues of economic justice, i really thought it was a badge of honor that they noticed, but the second part that they missed is they set up this litmus test as beingl orientation the test of how faithful you are. which actually is a sign of the nugget of the problem here, is that when you push away or don't want to look at the abuse issue, to assess their peperspective and they t to assr

perspective and they become the righteteous judge her's. and this is wrong. our effort at network is to stay fafaithful to our missioion, tok on i income and wealalth dispar. revenue trip coming u up about e income will cap that we will go after the tax policy that was passed by the republicans in december, and say this is wrong for our nation. we the people need to be the one people. it is the same message as the pope i is saying, we need to coe together and work for the common good of each other. this is what are bishops have to do and what our government has to do. amy: do you think women should be priests? womente frankly, i think serve many priestly functions, and that should be acknowledged. when i was the head of my religious commununity, i sin, i functions that need to be seen. a formal acceptance, it would be about time. women stepped into those priestly roles. many of our parishes are led by

women. it is about time our leadership woke up to that fact. amy: deep increase should be -- do you think pririests should be able and marry? >> the fact is, it was not until the 1200s that the order of celibacy became required. you know where that happened? because an hair tents was too complicated. if bishops had a wife and they had a cathedral with the wife the bishop died, with a wife and near the cathedral? the answer was to mandate marriage. amy: and gay marriage and abortion? >> oh, glory. i'm so tired of being obsessed with other people sexual expressions or moral choices. it is way more complicated than a simple yes/no, and it is about time that we, the people, the community that pope francis tells us to be, to have the conversation about complexity about how each person is made in the complexities in deciding

tough questions. i am not going to be the one to judge differently when i say our church should not be other judging differently in the same fashion. let's have a conversation. amy: clearly come the church is in a global crisis. i want to turn to juan carlos cruz who was sexuaually abused y a priest in chile while he was a minor. he met with pope francis at the vatican earlier this year. he spoke to cnn on monday about the pope's letter. >> there i is new l lguage noww from the vatatican, whicich is important to consider. they talk about crimes. they talk about a culture o of a andh, a culture of abuse cocover-up. ththose things were e not talked about before.. bebefore they were a sin, whichs terribible to consider those things. pope francisis' is letter earlir in the month, he talks about going to local justice.. you know, how bishops donon't tn

the perpetrators toto local juste because they're not obligated to do so. .nd that is a horrible crime and as you see, those numbers are absolutely staggering. amy: according to reuters, to a law-enforcement is investigating 38 accusations of sexual abuse against 73 bishshops, clelericsd lay workrkers and involving 104 victims in chile. last week the headquarters were raided. at least five chilean bishops have resigned so far this year. meanwhile, pope francis is headed to ireland at the end of the week for the visit to the first country by a pope in nearly 40 years. the credibility of the catholic church's in ireland has been badly damaged by years of revevelations that priests raped and molested children and d that senior members of the church covered up the crimes. many believe that whatever message the pope delivers will

be too little, too late. this is clerical abuse survivor colm o'gorman. >> the fact the vatican has not even indicated it has any intention to address the issue, the fact that the archbishop a week and half ago said he was trying to impress upon them the need to do so mexico the vatican has no real interest. papal view would be this visit is very late, indeed. if the vatican was a approaching this issue with integrity, the pope would have come here and not just kissed the land when he arrived, but acknowledged the 15 years ago when people need of that totoappen. this is late. and fofor any a acknowledgment f the abuse issue to be in your afterthought i think is reprehensible. amy: the recent vote legalizing abortion in ireland, of course, the major effort of women has to

be first credited, but the demise of the catholic church in ireland, which has so opposed to but now wracked by the scandal, really helped to pave the way for that kind of vote, would you say, sister simone campbell? >> yes, i would, amy. i think what is really at the heart of this is the complex roman bureaucracy really committed to this letter or is it only one office who is engaged in this? the vatican is a very complex system. with the last speaker just pointed out, this should be at the heart of all of our work, and i think that is the challenge here. the other piece is that it is not just the perpetrator and the abuser -- abused that are suffering the system, the whole church, all of the people are suffering, and the priests who have been faithful and not abused.

i have so many friends, priest friends, who are afraid to touch anyone nowadays because they have been told by lawyers you could get in trouble. and that whole element of fear, sorrow, division? this is what needs to be addressed systemically by the whole vatican, not just one office. so i hope when the public is to ireland that that gets integrated into the reality that he is witnessing. it is going to be an international meeting that he is going to, but having just issued this letter, an international letter, it is the perfect opportunity to continue that conversation and to really finally. change amy: sister simone, nuns on the best are headed -- nuns on the bus are headed to mar-a-lago? >> yes. we're going out on tax policy, but what we want to do is collect the stories of ordinary people who are so victimized by this tax policy and take it to the icon of who benefits from

this tax policy and say, h hey, this is not who we are as a nation.. let's come together and work for the common good. amy: i want to thank you very much for being with us, sister simone campbell executive , director of network, an advocacacy group for catholic social justice. author of "a nun on the bus: how all of us can create hope, change, and community." when we come back, today is the first day of a nationwide prison strike in the united states. we will speak with some of the organizers. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "song for a raggy boy" by john lenehan. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. prisoners across the country are set to go on strike today in a

mass mobilization demanding improved living conditions, greater access to resources "the calld the end of what they modern-day slavery. prisoners in at least 17 states are expected to participate in the strike, coordinating sit-ins, hunger strikes, work stoppages, and commissary boycotts from today until september 9, the 47th anniversary of the deadly attica prison uprising here in new york. prisoners first called for the ststrike in april afterer a bloody altercacation broke out t lee correctional facility in south carolina, leaving seven prisoners dead and 17 others seriously injured. it was the deadliest prison riot in the united states in a quarteter of a century. six of the seven prisoners killed w were african-n-america. the violence wasas allowed to continue for hours. one saiaid injured prisoners wee "literally stacked on top of each other."

the riot became the rallying cry for a movement. in the weeks after lee, prisoner advocacy network jailhouse lawyers speak issued a list of 10 demands, among them greater sentencing reform, more access to rehabilitation programs, the right to vote, and the e end of prison slave labor. what they called prison slave labor. this is a video made by the incarcerated workers organizing committee with the non-profit plananting justitice, explaininy prisonerers are striking. >> some people will look at me possibly as an ex-felon or parolee.e. i consider m myself to be a survivor of a systetem that wass made to tatarget me and have mee doing g life in pririson. >> i know how to strip floorors, whacacks them, take the gum off floors. i started doing that, and that was $.16 an hour. servingtarted outut su

food, that i became a dishwasherer. andid not pay much, $.13 hour. basicacally, i would make $20 a month. they took k 55% of that outut fr restitutution. > kind of like modern-daday petition situation, specifically targeting poor people, and most especially, the most marginalized community, black and brown and lgbt community. amy: the weeks-long strike begins today, on the 47th anniversary of the killing of black panther george jackson, who was shot and killed by guards during an escape attempt from san quentin prison. the strike is expected to be the largest prprisoner actioion sine the e 2016 prison n strike, whih saw at least 20,0,000 prisoneres partrticipating in collective action across dozens of states. it was the largest prison work strike in u.s. history. well for more, we speak with three guests. in oakland, california cole

, dorsey, former prisoner and activivi who helpeped organize e strike. one of the voices we just heard in the video, explaining it. in detroit, we will speak with heather ann thompson, an american historian, author, and activist. she just won the pulitzer prize for her book "blood in the water: the attica prison uprisising of 1971 and its legacy." now being adapted for a film. she is professor of history at the university of michigan in ann arbor. and in seattle, washington, we will speak with amani sawari, a prison strike orgaganizer workig on behalf of jailhouse lawyers speak, a network of incarcerated -- prisoners organizing the nationwide strike. welcome to democracy now! cole dorsey coming you are part of the video we just saw. lay out what is expected to be a several week strike, what it is about. the prisoners, this is been completely prisoner-led.

due to the brutality and lee correctional facility, it was decided action had to be taken now, and that led to these list of demands, 10 demands, that are really just a human rights declaration of basic demands that we would ask of any human across the world. but especially now that we're going to start using prisons as warehouses for these issues are more and more relevant as overcrowding prison conditions, lack of resources, and for prisoners to gain those resources, and the continued institution of racism that enforces from chattel slavery. so while those things continue, these conditions will only exacerbate into what they were in lee correctional facility in south carolina where nine prisoners were murdered. yes, it was "gang situation,"

but it was initiated by the guard officials. and my involvement in prison, they fed on that division among prisoners, whether it be religious or racial the so that they kept fighting amongst themselves instead of addressing the issues that were core demands for all of us, whether it be the exorbitant rates of commissary or the conditions or the torture were treatment or solitary. so they really feed on those things. that is what is really important about this strike and continuing on what we have learned from the prison hunger strikes is an agreement to end h hostility. while there may be differences on religious and racial boundaries, we can still come together over these core demands like this list of 10 demands that these prisoners have drafted. amy: again, the demands are? >> the demands of you know,

specifically, number one, immediate improvements to all of the conditions of prisons. prison policies that recognize the humanity. again, the whole declaration is really a declaration of humanity. the humidity of imprisonment and women, now almost two point -- 2.5 million people, these are mothers s and sons and dauaughters, neighboron our community, specially most marginalized working class, brown and black people. racist laws like gang enhancements that automatically increase a person's bed by 10 years just because of their last name or where they're from, what part of town, to be completely arbitrary. that points to the issue that it is more about warehousing than it is about rehabilitation or even making money through these

profit thes that do millions. some other demands are pell grant for prisoners. they should be paid for work they do. when a within i got $.13 an hour. i was a disgruntled employee. i chose to find ways to sabotage my lawnmower so i did not have to mow the lawn. i don't want to have to mow the lawn for $.13 an hour. i'm going to run over rocks and bushes. it gets you out of the cell, that is what people take these jobs or they give you incentives to have more freedom, and it are cake during dinner, those kinds of things. the major domains are pell grant's reinstated. the end of prison litigation reform act so prisoners can start to fight some of the conditions in the legal courts and have access to the legal library. where they can really get the material and have assistance. an end to over sentencing, black

and brown people especially,, most marginalized communities,s, and to the -- againin, we beliee no human being should spend the rest of their life in prison. most of these conditions, as some of the other strike leaders had mentioned, especially the lead up to 2016, was that if these jobs are there now giving to prisoners, and the cast -- if they were given and a prevailing way to the same communities those prisoners came from prior, then they would not be in the prison now. the system has recognize that it is easier to control the population while they are inside prisons than it is if they're outside because then they have the right to strike, that federal protections. whereas inside, can just be called an insurrection. automatically the leaders are sent to solitary, automatically transferred, the more family were phone calls. social justice and human

rights aspect, it is really draconian. it is a lost era. the only weather voices are going to be hurt is through us on the outside amplifying their voices and letting it be heard and known as much as we can. amy: i want to bring amani sawari i into the conversation. can you talk about the various actions? this is planned for something like 17 states will step what form these actions will take? >> it really depends on the location and the status of the prisoner. as you mentioned earlier, prisoners have the ability to participate in the strike and a multitude of ways. one being work stoppages. it prisoners do have j jobs in e prisison, they can participate e refusing to go into work, but some prisoners don't have the privilege to have a job so theyy can participate through a sit in, whwhich would just b be prisonerers coming together and tting in a a commonn area, refufusing to move, doing so peacefully.

and some prisoners don't have access to be a part of general population, so they y can participate by boycotting. and this is done through not spending any money in a prison. all of the money that prisoners spent or family sent into the prisoners do support the prisons. prisoners are refusing to talk on the phone. that is a cause. buying clothing, cosmetic products, anything they would be spending money on the prison, their refusing to do so for those two point five weeks. these are for prisoners that don't even have access to spending money, that i have the privilege to do that. they will be participating through hunger strikes. regardless of where a prisoner is or what their status is, they are given food and they can refuse to take that food him and that is a way they can participate in the strike regardless of whwhere they are r what their privileged status is. thecole just mentioned demands. explain what they are. >> racist gang enhancements are

the acts of labeling individuals with different gang associations just based on where they are from or even that t to marketi's on her body. those might be associated with a gang. then prisoners are labeled with that gang. when they get into prison, really being a part of a gang is one of the only forms of insurance that are prisoner might have. so even if they were not associated with the gang purge of being incarcerated, they find themselves in those populations. in one prisoners refuse to be a part of a gang,g, they are subjt to isolation. so that is really miserable being isolated with an isolated private -- within an isolated place. a lot of p prisoners gravitate toward being groups, based on locations where they're from, people they see from high school, the gravitate for those groups. those labelsls are used against prisoners. where they are placed in a prison, the room assignment, that is determined by the g gang they are in.

when stataff officials want to incite violence, they will switch up this room assignments, plays gang members and r rebel groupsps into different assignments, which is what happened in lee county. prisoners, their lockerers were taken away and then they were placed into rival units, which incited the violence and that went on for over seven hours. amy: and that is when how many people died? seven people were killed, prisoners? >> yes, at least seven were killed, but there been numbers at nine and 12. when pririsoners were k killed,a few w were transferred o other prisoners s to lower the statab. but seven is the official number of prisoners that were killed. amy: cole, how you organize? you are now free. how are you helping to organize this strike on the outside? >> so there is a number of ways we have learned to adapt to organize, number one is through correspondence.

we have regular correspondence. a do have members -- i've phone call in my pocket that i keep on me 24 hours a day. i receive phone calls from different facilities across the country, typically on the west coast. i can relay messages from one facility to the same facility, just in different cellblocks, to let know what movement is happening, what is going on. we found a number of different ways. the bayview has been mr. middle and getting the word out, semper bayview, publication -- amy: the newspaper. >> it has really been pivotal in spreading the word of this type of collective action of prisoners have been taking. there are number of ways we found to creatively get the message through to prisoners. and a lot of times it is word-of-mouth. we will send 1000 or 500 newsletters in that just come

you know, innocuous on the front. they describe it is winter. these are the things to stay warm and cool. buried on the ininside in very small text would be the actual important information that we want to get through. they found those out and we anticipate they will, but the number they get through is enough to be able to transfer from prisoner to prisoner. again, our leaders especially are transferred. even the lead up to the strike has been withdrawn his phone privileges, thrown in solitary. at leaders consistently have been retaliated against physically and also tortured through solitary confinement. so it is not to be taken lightly. we found through telephone communication, relationships with families, getting information also direct communication through visits -- a number o of creative ways --

amy: you are in electrical -- cole -- >> the great part is, prisoners should this information. even if it is a lesson to one person, that get shared to another person that goes to another facility so we can get should either through word-of-mouth or directly through piece of paper. we're -- word travels quickly. amy: you are clearly redefining a cell phone. cole dorsey is electrical lineman who is a member r of the iww's incarcerated workers ororganizing committee. amani sawari, prison strike organizer working on behalf of jailhouse lawyers speak, a and we will continue with them and heather ann thompson after break. ♪ [music break]

amy: "george jackson" by bob dylan.

george jackson, 47 years ago, he was killed by guards at san quentin when he attempted to escape. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. prisoners across the country are set to go on strike today in a mass mobilization demanding improved living conditions, andter access to resources, the end of what they call modern-day slavery. prisoners in at least 17 states arare expected to o participaten the strike, coordinating sit-ins, hunger strikes, work stoppages, and commissary boycotts from today until september 9, the 47th anniversary of the deadly attica uprising. in addition to our guests cole dorsey and amani sawari, who are both mr. strike organizers, i want to bring in heather ann thompson, american historian, author, and activist. she just wrote the pulitzer prize-winning book "blood in the water: the attica prison uprising of 1971 and its legacy."

professor thompson, can you talk about the timing of this strike? soon after lee, the prison uprising that led to seven prisoners killed, at least, but , today ofanniversary the killing of george jackson at san quentin, to september 9, the beginning of the attica uprising here in new york. professor thompson? >> as the previous guests have noted, lee was a really serious wake-up calll, not s so much for peoplele on the inside -- they were well aware of how catastrophic conditions were -- bubut certaininly for the outsi. it w was a real wake-up p call t howw bararbaric the conditions e in t the people onon the inside needed to stand together to resist the overcrowding, the terrible mededical c care, the inability to ever getet out because of the dracoconian laws

that p put them there. anand the choice of august 21, whwhich w was the d death of gee jackson, is alalso significantnt becaususe it was really indicate then in 1971 and today that part of being sentencnced to time in prisison in this count is to risk death at the hands of guards, because of the brutal system, the lack of medical care . so i think the choice to begin this nationwide resistance to the conditions inside, being george jackson step was deeply significant, and also tying it to the attica rebellion is so important because the attitica brotothers back 47 years a ago,n though t they were in new york d george j jackson was killeled in california, theyey heard abobout imimmediately y and were moved o stand together to remove du resist the conditions that were

brutal than and have gotten even more so in the subsequent decades. amy: explain more of that history, especially for young people who certainly were not even alive at that time, that it happened on the same day george jackson, his killing at san quentin by guards, and attica in the same year -- a few weeks apart and then rigight after th, attica. >> certainly for the men inside attica who had been, like the men in california's prisons, enduring terrible medical conditions, lack of decent food, abusive guards -- all of the same things we see today -- babk in 1971 1 when george jacksosons killed andnd word travel t to attitica, peoplele went to t ths hall that morning in utter silence, wearing black armbands, to really stand and recognize the significancnce of jackson's death. jackson was significant because he had been writing from prison to the world, telling everyone

what t these condiditions werere and nott too mucuch after ththat too muchch longer afafter that,e atattica men stoodod togogether0 ofof them stooood together, agan like tododay, across differenens ofof r religion, a across racicl lines, and they told the state of new york that they needed to have better coitions iide of the new york state priso.. that, unfortunately, was ended extrtremy rudede by the state of nenework. mamanyeoplee k kild, many ople rtured. wh this rely showss s toda is no tter howevere e e reprsion, pele w wil sta gether ahumans. they wil c ctinueo stand togeth. i thk it is rely significant that in 2016, wewe saw thousands and thousands of prisoners stand up and again today we are seeing more. it will be interesting to see how many we will actually know about right away.

the repression inside is severe. everyone will have to make their own choices as to whether or n t they can be public about what they are doing. but i think behind bars right now in a way we not even aware of, therere is a whole lot of people standing together to let us know that the system is severely broken, and we have got to change. amy: amani sawari, you are on the outside. how did you get involved with organizing this strike and what do you think the blonde the outside can do? >> so the way i got involved was actually through twitter. onone of the jailhouse lawyers reached out to me direct message and asked if they could post a strike, website. i was happy to do so. there is where the demands were posted. after they have put them out on twitter origiginally. and there is also with a list of endorsements, which is businesses and organizations --

there are a little over 200 right now throughout the country that are saying, we are behind us and will do it we can to support. there is also where the news and press releases are collected. so that t how i gotot involved after accepting that crest -- request via twitter, i spoke to one lawyer. they originally had planned to do this in 2019. after it happened, the expedited the day and brought it up to 2018 so they could have a direct response to what happened. then what people can do on the outside is really fine -- with a that arevents happening. just show up at one of the events. we will have marches, protests, picketing front of b businesses prison slave labor. that is another thing people can do is be really intentional about where they are spending their money. our dollar is our vote in the system, and we choose to buy clothing were fast food were get

our insurance or our gas from places that participate in prison slave labor, then we arae fufueling that system m and allg it to persist. when we choose to just make that alternative choice, then we can really suffocate the system. prisoners are doing that. they have to do that when a boycott all of the money they spend goes towards the prison, so they are not allowed to get any of those privileges. we can make a simple choice of making that alternative. they have no alternative. if they can do it, we conduct really support them by doing the same out here. amy: heather ann thompson, in the last minute we have, can you talk about the repression and retaliation prisoners face if they were to participate in this strike? >> it can be severe. i think we shoululd really heed amani sawari's point that support on the house that is critical. eyes on what is happening on the inside is critical to stop one of the things that attica shows

us is it is not just important to support folks when they are protesting on the inside in the moment, but to keep eyes on this throughout. amy: and how do people do thata? >> will likely be folks that will experience severe retaliation from prison management and we have got to watch what is going onon, demand , and makevide lawyers sure that folks on the inside are protected. amy: i want to thank you all very much for being with us. heather ann thompson is a pulitzer prize-winning book "blood in the water: the attica prison uprising of 1971 and its legacy." amani sawari, prison strike spokesperson. and cole dorsey was on the inside, now on the outside, one of the prison strike organizer's. he is speaking to us from oakland, california. we will continue to cover this strike that is expected to go on

until september 9. that does it for our show. we have a job opening for a broadcast engineer. find out more at democracynow.org democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to qeqeqeqeqeqeqe

hello. welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm mick i'm miki yam moept -- yamamoto in tokyo. the outcome is a win for those investigating russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. paul manafort was found guilty of eight