10/31/18 10/31/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] could amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! pres. trump: we the only country in the world whehere a personn comes in, has a baby, and the babyby is essentially a citizenf the united states for 85 years with all of those benefits. it is ridiculous.. and it has to end. >> have you talked about that with counsel? pres. trump: i have. it will happen. amy: as president trump claims can override the constitution

and end birthright citizenship, we speak to historian martha jones, author of "birthright citizens: a history of race and rights in antebellum america." >> the story begins in the 1820's with african-american activists who local courthouses and highcourt argumuments and legislatures of political convention ain and aga make the argumenthat they are citize o of thunitited states, agaiand agaimake the argument by virt of earth ght and litary svice and by vire of their contributio t t enomicc prosperity of the nation, they should be citizens. amy: then to brazil. could the election of far-right former army captain jair bolsonaro bring a return to brazil's dictatorship? we will speak with historian james green and brazilian media activist bruno torturra. we will speak with him in sao paulo. alall that and morore, coming u.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. thousands of people marched in pittsburgh tuesday to protest president trump's visit to the city and the tree of life synagogue, where 11 jewish worshipers were gunned down saturday in what has been described as the deadliest anti-semitic attack in u.s. history. ♪ amy: president trump was accompanied by his wife melania, his daughter ivanka, his son-in-law jared kushner, treasury secretary steve mnuchin, and senior policy adviser stephen miller. they were greeted by the synagogue's rabbi jeffrey myers in the is really ambassador to the u.s. rhonda armor. trump's visit came despite many local leaders publicly opposing it, including pittsburgh mayor

bill peduto, the former leader of the synagogue and group of local jewish leaders who told the president he is not welcome in pittsburgh until he fully denounces white nationalism. this is stephen miller's uncle, dr. david glosser, speaking on democracy now! earlier this week. >> mr. trump has made it his dehumanizeilify and hispanics, muslims, nonwhites, calling them subhuman animals who are infesting our country like so many insects or rats. make no mistake about it, this is the same kind of propaganda that is identical to the racist rants of nazi party rallies in germany in the 1930's. amy: as the trump's visited the synagogue, protesters marched in the synagogue's squirrel hill neighborhood. as trump's motorcade left t the area, some turned their backs and took a knee in protest. this is pittsburgh protester jim

skiff speaeaking tuesday. >> we would d like to a ask president trump to please stop with all of the hate speech will stop and i think the people of this country are really weary of the wholole dialect. we wantt people toto come togetr in love and peace andnd truly me america kind again. that is what we would like. amy: the first three funerals for victims of the shooting took place tuesday for brothers cecil and david rosenthal and dr. jerry rabinowitz. he was a celebrated doctor who treated many agent hiv patients at the height of the epidemic in the 1980's and 1990's. more funerals in pittsburgh are planned for today. democratic leaders, civil rights groups, and legal experts are blasting president trump for saying he'll sign an executive order ending the constitutionally protected birthright citizenship for children of non-citizens born on u.s. soil. trump's statements came with the

midterms just one week away and amid an onslaught of anti-immigrant rhetoric from the president. in the interview with reporters from the new series "axios on hbo," trump falsely claims that the u.s. is the only country withth birthright lawsws. in fact, a at least 3030 other countries have similar laws, including mostst nations i in nh and south america. the aclu tweeted tuesday -- "this is a blatantly unconstitutional attempt to fan the flames of anti-immigrant hatred in the days ahead of the midterms. the 14th amendment's citizenship guarantee is clear. you can't erase the constitution with an executive order, @realdonaldtrump." on tuesday, republican senator lindsey graham said he would introduce a bill to support trump's citizenship plan. however, other republicans have criticized it. this is house speaker paul ryan speaking to kentucky radio station wvlk. >> obviously, he cannot do that. you cannot end birthright citizenship with a consecutive

order. i believe in following the plaintext of the constitution. i think the 14th amendment is pretty clear. amy: we'll have more on trump's attempts to circumvent the 14th amendment's birthright citizenship clause after headlines with historian and -- historian martha jones. the head of the national republican congressional committee, representative steve stivers, blasted iowa congressmember steve king on twitter tuesday, saying -- "congressman steve king's recent comments, actions, and retweets are completely inappropriate. we must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms, and i strongly condemn this behavior." the tweet came as corporate supporters of steteve king, including landnd o' lakes and purina petcare, said they would no longer fund king's campaigns. congressmember king recently endorsed far-right canadian faith goldy for toronto mayor and has amplified racist and anti-immigrant posts on social media, including publishing a racist tweet in support of far-right dutch politician geert

wilders last year. last week, it was reported that king met with a neo-nazi austrian group during an august trip that was funded by a holocaust memorial non-profit. king later told "the washington post" -- "if they were in america pushing the platform that they push, they would be republicans." until last year, congressman king displayed a confederate battle flag on his desk in his capitol hill office. king is up for re-election and is polling just one point ahead of his democratic challenger j.d. scholten in a district that trump won n in 2016 by a 27% margin. meanwhile, attorneys representing three kansas men convicted of a 2016 plot to bomb a mosque and murder somali muslim refugees are arguing that trp's te-filled rhetoric shou be taken to account and result in a more lenient sentence. the lawyers say that their clients, who face life sentences, were supporters of then candidate-trump. in a court filing, they write --

"the court cannot ignore the circumstances of one of the most rhetorically mold-breaking, violent, awful, hateful and contentious presidential elections in modern history, driven in large measure by the rhetorical china shop bull who is now our president." in boston, attorney general jeff sessions was interrupted by two religious leaders at a federalist society event monday where sessions was speaking about religious freedom. united methodist pastor will green stood up and recited biblical verse before appealing to sessions directly. >> as a fellow united methodist, i call upon you to repent. care for those in need. to remember when you do not care for others, you are wounding the body of christ. amy: jeff sessions responded to the pastor by saying, "thank you for those remarks and attack." a second pastor, darrell hamilton of the first baptist church in boston, then stood up

to speak but was b booed by the other attendees and quickly removed by security. and in brazil, far right leader and president-elect jair bolsonaro has announced he was the judge to convicted former president lula da silva of corruption to join his government as justice minister when bolsonaro takes office new year's day. bolsonaro also accused a sao paulo daily newspaper of publishing fake news. all of the fake news that was set about making from the daily newspaper, including the last story where they said i had hired companies outside of brazil to create a campaign of lies a against the workers part. that is a big lie. once again, fake news from the sao paulo newspaper, sadly. amy: this comes as witnesses are sharing accounts of violence in the immediate aftermath of including an attack of workers' party supporters in the city of bahia, minutes after bolsonaro's victory was

announced. later in the broadcast, we will go to sao paulo to speak with journalist bruno torturra about the rise of bolsonaro. humans have annihilated wildlife over the past half-century, threatening life on earth as we know it. that is according to a dimming the report of the world wildlife fund. the report finds human activity since 1970 is responsible for wiping out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles, with the remaining animals threatened by a degraded, over-exploited environment, and the effects of climate change. this is mike bennett, execucutie director of science and conservation at world wildlife fund. >> what we need now is for heads of state to step up, take ownenership of this problem, and show real leadership. ththe lyrically, 2020 is one e e an absolute crucial year. politically, 20 20 is going

to be an absolute crucial year. we are going and he to ramp up our efforts if we are going to avoid dangerous climate change around the world. amy: the u.s.-backed saudi-uae-led coalition in yemen has sent more than 10,000 additional troops towards the hodeidah. according to yemeni i government officials, a new milititary offensive in the region is expected to start within dayays. the u.n. warned 14 million people in yemen face possible famine. this comes as defense secretary jamemes mattis and secretary of state mike pompeo have called for a yemen ceasefire. the u.s. is the largest supplier of arms to the saudi-uae military coalition in yemen. in august, a bomb that appeared to be manufactured by u.s. company lockheed martin killed over 40 schoolchildrdren in an airsrstrike. inin sri lanka, ovover 10,000 protesters took to the streets in the capital colombo tuesday amid an unfolding constitutional crisis. the unrest b began friday when i lanka's president ousted prime

minister ranil wickremesinghe, then immediately replaced him with the former president mahinda rajapaksa, who has been accused of human rights abuses and corruption. the ousted premier called the move unconstitutional and illegal, resulting i in the temporary suspension of sri lankan parliament. human rights advocates fear the return of sri lankanan's s formr this sri lanka's former president could put an end to ongoing investigations, including into crimes committed during his rule. at least one man was killed sunday when a a dyguard opopened fire on a crowd of protesters. in japan, the newly elected governor of okinawa, denny tamaki, called tokyo's continued construction of a new u.s. military on okinawa "disrespectful to our democracy." tamaki was elected on a platform of opposition to u.s. bases last month. many residents of the small island have opposed the u.s. military's presence for decades. special counsel robert mueller has referred allegations of a plot to mount false accusations of sexual misconduct against him

to the fbi. several women reportedly were approached to make accusations of sexual harassment against mueller in exchange for money. the allegations, which many media outlets are now calling a hoax, possibly involving false identities, appears to stem from a scheme by social media personality and fervent trump-supporter jacob wohl and conservative conspiracy theorist jack burkman. mueller is expected to deliver key findings stemming from his probe investigating possible russia meddling in the 2016 elections soon after the november midterms.s. in washington, the interior department has referred interior secretary ryan zinke to the justice department for possible criminal investigation. details of the probe are not known. it comes as federal officials have launched at least 18 formal ethics investigations into zinke's conduct at the interior department. earlier this month, the interior department's independent watchdog concluded that zinke had violated department travel policies.

and notorious south boston mobster "whitey" bulger was beaten to death by fellow prisoners tuesday in a west virginia prison. whitey bulger was convicted in 2013 of a host of crimes, including 11 murders and sentenced to life in prison. bulger served as an fbi informant, and the agency helped enable his reign of terror in the 1970's and 1980's. he fled from public view in the mid-1990's following a tip from an fbi agent about an upcoming indictment. in 2011, authorities found bulger in santa monica, california, where he had more than $800,000 in cash stashed in the walllls of his apartment. whitey bulger was the brother of billy bulger, a powerful massachusetts democrat who was the longest-serving president of the massachusetts state senate. bulger was beaten to day after he was moved to a west virginia prison. 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 with president trump's claims that he will end constitutionally protected birthright citizenship in the united states. in an interview released tuesday, trump told the news outlet axios that he planned to sign an executive order ending citizenship for children of non-citizens born n on u.s. soi. cicivil rights groups, legal experts, and politicians on both sides of the aisle are blasting trump for his comments, including the false claim that the u.s. is the only country with birththright laws. in fact, at least 30 other countries have similarar laws, inincluding canada, mexico, and cuba. this is trump speaking with reporter jonathan swan. pres. trump: we're the only country in the world where a person comes in, h has a baby, d the baby is essentially a

citizen of the united states for 85 years with all of those benefitsts. it is ridiculous. it has to end. >> have you talked about that with counsel? pres. trump: i have. it is in the process. it will happen. amy: trump's executive order would violate the 14th amendment of the u.s. constitution, which states -- "all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside." the 14th amendment turned 150 years old in july. the american civil liberties union has lambasted trump's plan, tweeting -- "this is a blatantly unconstitutional attempt to fan the flames of anti-immigrant hatred in the days ahead of the midterms." juan: on tuesday, republican senator lindsey graham said he would introduce a bill to support trump's citizenship plan. but house speaker paul ryan criticized trump's comments while speaking to kentucky radio station wvlk.

>> obviously, you cannot do that. you cannot end birthright consent of with the order. i believe in following the plaintext of the constitution. i think the four to the memo is pretty clear. amy: -- well, for more, we go now to baltimore, maryland where we're joined by martha jones, the author of the new book "birthright citizens: a history of race and rights in antebellum america." she is the society of black alumni presidential professor and professor of history at johns hopkins university. she is a also the co-president f the berkshire conference of women historians. professor jones, welcome to democracy now! whether or not this is a ploy leading into the midterms to just galvanize more support for president trump from his anti-immigrant base, what is very interesting is where birthright law comes from, where the 14th amendment to the

constitution, how it developed. and that is what you document in your book "birthright citizens." tell us its origin. , thee u u. constitution 1780 constitution, was largely silent on the question of citizensnship. and so the i issue arises when e have thehemergence o of freemunitiess off african-americans. these are peopople, former slavs who by the early 19 centutury he created f families,s, communini, haveve will win themselveses ino the everyday fabrics of the nation, , but they occupupy an ambiguguous status before the constitution. there wewere those who argue tht race is s a bar, that blackness foribits citizenship african-americans. and there are others who begin to make this argument that, no, citizenship is not rooted in

race. citizenship is rooted in birth. and african-americans seize on this and went to campaign in the years preceding the civil war, advocating for their status a as permananent members ofof theodoy polilitic, as f full membmbers e body politic, by y for two o of birthrigight. the: and then of course dred scott decision, the infamous red scott decision theng the battles over future of slavery in amemerica. could you tatalk aboutut the imt of that? dred scott himselelf is inn enslaved m man who w was suing r his freedom. he is doing so in a federal court. the question arises, does he have standing or the capacity to sue in a federeral courtrt becae only c citizens can bring cases the? concludes, certainly, the dred scott himself is not a citizen. he is a slave. it then goes further to declare

that no black person to maybe they enslaved or f fe, can evevr be a citizen o of the united states. this is a devevastating blow, as you can n imagine,e, the freree rican-amamericans whwho ha l log remote of the vieiew they are birthrigight citizens. but what is important to remember about dred scott is int its impact on the g ground the daily y lives of african-amamericans s is very limitete very few couourts are willing go enforce the libeberal termrms of dred scott in ththe cases that they heaear. state legislatures are not prepared to defer to the couou's reasoning.g. and african-amamericans, even in the faface of the devavastating rhetoric in dred scott, continued to wage a campaign for citizenship into what then becomes the era of the civil war. amy: i am sure you have found is historian teaching at university, how little knowledge there is of history. when you refer to dred scott -- explain who he is and his

crusading attempt to challenge this and how the amendment comes out of what this perhaps most recent decision of the supreme court. they came out of activism. it came out of dred scott's bravery. who was he? >> he isis in enslaved man in te city of st. lolouis, missouri. his case arises s becausee in te company of his owner, scott troubles to free territory -- travelels to free territory. among ththis places, minnesota. the claim had long been that persons s who were held asas sls but resided in free soil became free themselves. now, scott lives in these minnesota territory. he meets his wife harriet. they begin to have a family. they marry. st.lly, they return to louis where they are stillll hed as slaves. and by the early 1850's, i think they are concerned that theyy

might t be sold, that their famy might be separated. ass are always atatisk enenslavedeoeople. and they begin what is, asas you explaiained, a s series ofof frm suits, a a tirelesess effort to secure the freedom for themselves and for their two daughterers. these e ses make t their way ththrough the missououri state cocourts. and d when they fail therere, wd up befefore the u.s.s. supreme coururt. there to o justice robert t taw, now notoriouslyly pens an opinin that e enterprisise the s scotty of pursuing their freedom claims in a fedederal court. sures importantly, makes that no african-american, enslaved or free, can bring claims before these same high court venues. juan: could you take us then through what happens after -- subsequent to the civil war when

the 14th amendment is adopted and the intention of congress and with the passage of the 14th amendment? >> absolutely. african-americans are going to be among the first to attempt to volunteer in the civil war era to serve and to support the union army. their view is this is an extension of their long quest for citizenship, that military service, service to the n nation in this capacity, might further open the door or make their case for their status asas citizenen. in 1865 willdment abolish slavery, but the 13th amenendment does not comment on the status of african-americans before t the law,, beforore the constitutution. this is ststill an unresolved question. and the campaign to the 14th amendment is precisely designed

to respond to that long campaign ththat african-ameriricans have waged. the kinds o ofe imagage you at ease kinds of dangerers, the k kinds of secucy that former slaves face without resort to the status, their status as citizens. congresess haser promomulgated d a 14th amendmen, the states will ratify it and for ththe first time, the u.s. constitution will provide that all persons for an in the united states are citizens of the united statates. it is s a radicacal remedydy tog millions of formrmer slaves s io the body politic, but it is written in a way that gives it a lasting and enduring the fact, which is to make every person, regardless of race, and i might say regardless of religion, regardless of dissent, regardless of popolitical affiliations, make every person born in the united states a citizen of the united states.

juan: during that debate over the 14th amendment, because there are relatively small number of scholars who support this viewpoint of trump's that birthright citizenship has been incorrectly interpreted, but you and then in the debate, wasn't there a debate as to whether this amendment would extend to people who were the children born here of immigrants? >> immigrarants are notot what troubles congress s during the 14th amendment debate. what congrgress is concerneded t whenen it carvrves out a an excn for peopleeamendment not subject toto the jurisdictin of t the united states, w what congress is concerned about are three things. one, the children ofof foreigngn diplomats who might incidentally be born n in the united states, the 14th amendment does not make them birthright citizens.

congress anticipates the possibility that the u.s. would be occupied by a a foreigngn ar. and in that case, the children of soldiers of a foreign armrm wowould not be birthright citizens, even if they were born in the uniteted states. the third cacategory of persons who congress is mindndful of o r native americans. whererere we are e in an era nativeve community's, n native nationss c continue e to exert o enjoy the independent doeseignty, a and conongress not interfere or imposose on tht sovereignty by whoholesale d deg natitive people u.s. c citizens. that will happen later in the 20 century. but it is to say, no, congress is not thinking about what today we might term an authorized or illegal immigrants, but it does carve out an exception for persons who are said to be not subject to the jurisdiction of the united states and this is

the language that president trump and others have seized upon as they have looked to constrain or curtail the effect of the 14th amendment. amy: when we were covering the protests around the killing of michael brown a few years ago in ferguson, missouri, just a few miles down that same road is the calvary cemetery where dred scott was buried. but i want to go beyond dred scott and talk about other cases you look at in "birthright citizens." i want to ask you about wong kim ark, a chinese american cook who was born in san francisco in 1873. he was at the center of a major but often overlooked supreme court decision regarding birthright citizenship. tell us what this court case is about, who wong kim ark was, and white matters today.

ark i is essenential for undersrstanding g where wewe ary because e is a a son of chinene immigrants born in the city of san franancisco. he appeaears to bebe a birthrigt citizen. i think regardrds himsf as such, even a as his parents e not eligible to nataturalize e y what bececome the terms o of the chinese exclclusion a act. k does business in san n franciscsco, business bebn san francicisco andd china. he leaves the country in the early y 1890's.s. and when he attempts to return at the port of san francisisco, he, likeke many other peoeople f chinese descent comeme is detaid at the port and is charged with being a noncitizen of the united states. why? because of this curious language in the 14th amendment about being subject to the jurisdiction of the united states. ththe argument on behalf of

customs officials goes, a chinese americacan born in the u.s. to noncitizen parents is, like his parents, still holding and allegiance to the emperor of china, still foreign eveven as e is born on u.s. s soil, and wong kim ark must take his c claim to u.s. citizenship all the way to the u.s. supreme court. in 1898, the court will examine the facts, will return to the 14th amendment, and conclude unequivocally that wong despite the fact to scatter not eligible f for u.s.. citizenship, he himself by virtue o of his birth in s san francisco, i is a citizizen ands the rigight, among other things, to comome and go a at will.

amy: let's go to vice president mike pence speaking to politico on tuesday. vice pres. pence: i think what the president has made clear is we are looking at action that would reconsider birthright citizenship. we all know with the 14th amendment saysys. we all cherish the language of the 14th amendment.. the supreme court of the united states has never ruled on whether or not the language of the e 14th of mimic, subject to the jurisdiction treof, applies specifically to people who are in the country illegally. amy: that is vice president of the united states. prprofessorr jones, can you resd to what he is saying? .> i can i think with the word of caution, amy. vivice president pence is, i think, attempting to distinguish the facts in our present day of a family of unauthorized immigrants who give birth to a child in the u united states. with the case of wong kim ark in which his parents, while not eligible for citizenship, were

what we call authorized or legal residence in the united states. i do think this is where the question may turn for as going forward. that the, i it appears president is prepared to split hairs in this way. peperhaps the s senate is willio dodo so as w well. thisamately, ththe meanining of not vevery often visited provisn of the 14th amendment will be decided by the u.s. supreme court. juan: but there have been cases subsequently in which the court ruled as to whether the children of undocumented or unauthorized citizens had rights to equal protection or education or other issues a as well. >> of course. to a you are r right to poinint long more than century long

clear law, practice, custom that has regararded the e children of unauthorized immigrarants and citizens of the u united states. i would say this is impmportant for everythingg from the securig of a path to travevel to thehe receipt of public benefits. and so you are absolutely right that to pose this question in 2018 is to go against morore thn a century of our understanding of the 14th h amendment, its pupurpose, and its function for americans. amy: what is your assessment right now? i mean, the midterm elections are a few days away. you have these horrific white supremacist, racist, anti-semitic attacks that have all taken place within a week. from the letter bomber to the attacks on african-americans in kentucky to the 11 jewish worshipers who were gunned down in pittsburgh. president trump once to pivot

away from this, the alleged so hers, the attackers, throws this out. many say this will not stand after the election. he is just revving it up to go along with invaders from the south, as he puts it. but there are others who are deeply concerned that he is signaling now what he will do after the midterms. your lindsey graham saying he will introduce a bill. your thoughts as a historian of u.s. history, where this goes, professor jones? >> absolutely.y. i amam a studedent, if y you wie of birthright citizenship, so i have followed the prpresident's rhetoric, the chatter, if you will, of his b base, butut i hae also follolowed the workrk of se schololars -- s schols s from sosome of ouour most eminent institututions o of higher l leg who, for a very long time, have

been critics o of an aiming forr the 14t4th amendment and its birtrthright provision. certainlnly, therere is somethig seemingly opportunistic in presidentt trump's announcement or revelatation, rigight, his it in this particular week. but i wantnt to remind your viewers that t this rhetotoric extends back to at least 201015 when candidate trurump made cler ,is intention of challengingng troubling, undoing, curtrtailing the effect of the 14th amendment 's birthright provision. i don't think this is a casual or off-the-cuff or improvisational gesture by the president. this has been on his agenda for many years, and now we are seeing that begin to get traction. amy: it is interesting, he said he consulted his white house lawyer.

it is a real question who exactly he has consulted. martha jones, author of the new book "birthright citizens: a history of race and rights in antebellum america." she is the society of black alumni presidential professor and professor of history at johns hopkins university. she is also the co-president of the berkshire conference of women historians. when we come back, we had south to brazil. what does the election of the far right army captain bolsonaro , who braces the military mean for brazil, latin america, for the united states, and the world? stay for us. ♪ [music break]

amy: protesters singing in the streets during president trump's visit at the tree of life synagogue. it is believed all elected officials boycotted his visit

yesterday and thousands protested in the streets. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: we turn now to brazil to look at the implications of the election of jair bolsonaro, the far-right former army captain who won 55% of the vote in sunday's election, easily defeating fernando haddad of the leftist workers party in a runoff. many fear brazil's young democracy is now at risk. bolsonaro has often praised brazil's former military dictatorship, which ended just 33 years ago. he has also spoken in favor of torture and threatened to destroy, imprison, or banish his political opponents. bolsonaro has vowed to fill his cabinet with many military officers once he takes office on january 1. his vice president, antonio hamilton mourao, is a four star general who just retired from active duty in february. former general augusto heleno is expected to become bolsonaro's minister of defense.

there is also fear growing that brazil could move militarily against nicolas maduro's government in venezuela. on monday, a n newspaper in bral quoted an unnamed high-ranking official from the colombian government saying that if bolsonaro "wants to topple maduro with a military intervention, he will have colombia's support." amy: bolsonaro has announced he wants the new justice minister, the judge who convicted the former brazilian president lula da silva in a controversial corruption case that prevented lula from running for president. the when he was running, before he went to prison, he was the most popular candidate. has tapped an economist who was taught at the university of chicago to oversee his economic plan, which includes slashing pensions and the mass privatization of many state run companies. an economist once taught at the university of chile during t the reign ofof general augustine

commission. meanwhile, bolsonaro has alarmed environmentalists by vowing to merge the ministries of agriculture and the environment as part of his move to industrialize the amazon and open it more to agribusiness and mining. amazon watch has described bolsonaro's plan as reckless say y it will bring untold destruction to the planet's largest rainforest and the communities who call it home, and spell disaster for the global climate. human rights groups are also alarmed over bolsonaro's past comments about women and the lgbt community. he once told a female lawmaker she was too ugly to rape. he also said he would rather hear that his son had died in a car crash than learn that his son is gay. for more, we are joined by two guests. bruno torturra is a journalist and photographer. he's the founder and editor of studio fluxo, an independent media outlet based in sao paulo. he also foununded the brazilian digital collective media ninja. james green is a professor of brazilian history and culture at brown university and past president of the brazilian studies association. he is the author of several

books, including "we cannot remain silent: opposition to the brazilian military dictatorship in the united states." we welcome you both to democracy now! bruno torturra, your response to the election of bolsonaro, who won a quite a margin. why and what do you think? >> well, it is hard to overstate, amy, the significance of his election to such a young and fragile democracy such as ours. i think he won for several reasons. pinpointy difficult to just a single one. but i think it is the result of many, many years of criminalization of the political class in brazil. this is a longtime coming. it starteded with a big operatis

for the policice, the federal police and the judiciary. but the fact is, many saw this coming. but the political establishment could not believe it was possible. theonaro also represents military dictatorship nostalgia in the country, which is pretty strong. but i often have to -- but i also have to say something not many people put on the table,e, a masss there is psychology thing happening here in brarazil. the fact t that the left in bral is being criminalized and demonized f quite a while. so bolsonaro i is the reresult f

many, many things. it is hard to pinpoint just one reason. juan: professor james green, i would like to ask you in terms of the impact of the brazil elections, which did not get a whole lot of coverage here in the united states, on latin america, and really democracy across the world because people forget brazil is the fifth-largest country in the world in population. it is more people than russia or japan. and so what happens in brazil ,eally has a big impact certainly across latin america because it represents about half of all of south america's population. >> i think that the election of brazil reflects an international trend that we have been following in russia, in philippines, in poland, in hungary and in the united states, and conservative government set of come to power inin chile and argentina and paraguay. and the bolsonaro government,

which i would consider worse than the trump administration, is probably going to be implementing a series of extremely reactionary changes to the country which will see a decline in the standard of living for ordinary people, the working class people. in addition to attacking the environment, tearing up international agreements, d forcing the amazon region, and challenging the democratic rights of the dbt community, the wwomen, the black movemement in brazil, all of which have been fightingng for the last 30 years for full democratic rights in the country. amy: here in this country, i report says something like 75% of the brazilian x patriots, around three quarters of the resilient expatriates, voted for bolsonaro. this former army captain who attacks gays, attacks women, and

then talks about the issues -- explain this, professor green. >> there's no question it is popular support for bolsonaro, who seems to be the savior for the country who is going to offer simple solutions to very complex problems. violence isincrease m all citizens. eliminate any investigations of police when they go into the community and shoot to kill. in this regard, i think immigrants, people who have left the country and other moments, fault into the category of those in brazil who are listening to these ideas that bolsonaro has an hoping they will solve very complex problems with his simple solutions. diverse inty is very this country. i think there are large number of brazilians who have been very consistently supporting the

fight for democracy in brazil and have been very vocal, but they do remain a minority of the community in the united states. juan: bruno torturra, in terms of the racial and class implications of this election, clearly, under the workers party for the first time, indigenous people and afro brazilians started to have more rights and more attention, affirmative action from the government. what do you envision happening under bolsonaro? >> he is not the president yet, but if you follow the last couple of days here in brazil, there is already violent attacks on indigenous peoples in the

amazon. and the fact is that this man made his political career inciting a very strong aspect of the brazilian history, which is that i'm sorry that i am stuttering a lot. of the minorities in the country. and he unleashed this the uprising military police in brazil, which is very if he isal to act even not given the proper order. it is going to be hard. it is going to be hard. it was not something that wasn't clear. in this dark aspect of the

n thelian experience wo election. it is going to take a lot of organization and a lot of support from the international community. amy: how are people organizing? he has threatened to criminalize all activism in brazil? >> yes. he is saying this. he has been saying it for quite a while. he said he will put in prison, kill, or sent to exile his opposition. he said he will put a final stop on all kind of activism. some people are starting to reorganize. we don't know yet what our response will be.

yesterday, there was the first peaceful protest to say that we won't stand this. and those a lot of police brutality here in sao paulo. there were people who were arrested, people who were beaten by the police -- which i think will be the main problem here in brazil. the military police have become an ideological -- an ideological militia and gave a lot of support through his election. it is going to be hard times. it t more thahan ever. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion. a journalistara is and photographer. he's the founder and editor of studio fluxo, an independent media outlet based in sao paulo. james green with us from rhode island, professor of brazilian history and culture at brown university and past president of the brazilian studies association. among his books "we cannot , remain silent: opposition to

the brazilian military dictatorship in the united states." we will be back with them in 30 seconds. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we are talking about the election of the far right army captain in brazil right now, jair bolsonaro. our guest in san -- sao paulo brazil am a bruno torturra, journalist and photographer, founder and editor of studio fluxo, an independent media outlet based in sao paulo.

he also founded the brazilian digital collective media ninja. and james green is with us from rhode island, professor of brazilian history and culture at brown university and past president of the brazilian studies association. juan: professor green, you are in a bird on history of brazil, specially the period of the military dictatorship that most young people in america today have no knowledge of and clearly, this past election, not talking aboutaro bringing many military into his cabinet, there were about 20 military officers that were elected to the brazilian congress as well? could you talk about the role of the military in rizzuto in the past -- in brazil in the past, especially in the light of the fact many right-wing governments begin at elected governments, and we have seen that whether it was hitler's in germany, was helena in italy, they were elected to office initially, then seized power using thehe

strength of ththmilitary a as well? >> so if we have in this country and around the world holocaust deniers who deny the existence of the holocaust, bolsonaro is a dictatorship denier. he denies that was a military dictatorship in the country. he denies it was censorship. when he admits there have been torture, he argues that insteted of torturing people during the military regime that was in power from 1964 to 1985, they should have killed all opponents of the government. he defends the use of torture today. and if you could do so, i would assume he would try to implement the practice as a constant pattern against political opposition. we have to keep in mind the police have consistently used torture and violent means against p poor people, especialy people of color in brazil, as part of their pololice enforcement. the military can to power in 1964, overthrowing popularly elected government who was china

carry out a series of minor reforms, moderate reforms. in promise to clean house and leave office within six months to a year and they ended up ststaying in p power for 21 yea. severe the gross violations of human rights which were documented and clearly pointed out by the inter-american commission on human rights and other international organizations. so we are facing a person who believes in the military, was a captain in the military -- although he was retired forcibly from the military for being insubordinate, who believes in authoritarian policies. and we are expecting him districtct inn the role of the military in the country. one of the concerns -- juan: wasn't one of the requirements of the return to democracy that the military insisted that there would be no attempt to seek justice for those who participated in the

tortures and the killings during the dictatorship? >> so in 1979, as part of a negotiated kind of agreement between sectors of the opposition and the military law wasand amnesty passed which released some political prisoners and allowed some exiles to r return. but it also barred any prosecution of anyone involved by the state in gross violation of human rights. now the inter-american human rights commissioion and court he declared you cannot grant an amnesty for people who committed crimes against humanity were gross violations of human rights. butmportantlyly, the brazilian supreme coururt has a clear the amnesty law invalid. basically, we have a dictatorship of 21 years in which hundreds of people were killed and thousands of people were torture, including former president dilma rousseff, and the military has never been punished for the crimes that have committed. so this has given them a notion of superiority and

invulnerability and the possibility of coming into the government with impunity. amy: i want to read a quote of jair bolsonaro from 1999, speaking numbers are in television news said -- "through the vote you will not change anything in this country, nothing, absolutely nothing! it will only change, unfortunately, when, one day, we start a civil war here and do the work that the military regime did not do. killing some 30,000, starting with fhc, not kicking them out, killing! if some innocent people are going to die, fine, in any war innocents die." which brings us back to bruno. most people after election, when your side loses, you just organize for the next election and try to lay the groundwork. are you actually afraid and other journalists and activists afraid for your life right now? how are you preparing? is hard to say, amy.

we are talking a lot about this. there are meetings happening all over the country right now. i think the people you really in danger in brazil, it is not people like me. it is people who live on the middle of the country, people the elites that have the support of the military police, and on the outskirts of , which isnd favelas where the police actctually stil are brutalizing people. it is important t to say that en during our workers party government here in brazil, it is very hard to be an activist year. it is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be an

activist. especially if you live in the middle of the country where there is no press, there is no journalism, and the police are very interlinked with the economic interests of the elites. i think we have to talk a lot. we have to protect ourselves. and we have to call for the support of the whole world, actually. i think the only way to stop this man to become a dictator, which is his only intention, clearly, is that the world put economic and journalistic political pressure here in brazil. we have very weak institutions. we have media -- it is not well spread. it is going to be very h hard fr the fragile and very discredited

institutions here in brazil to hold this man and is very broad political base that he built around himself. juan: i want to ask james green, meteorologist eric holthauaus issusued a dire warning g on twr sunday after bolsonaro's election win. he wrote -- "this is worth repeating over and over. the most horrific thing brazil's new president, jair bolsonaro, has planned is privatization of the amazon rainforest. with just 12 years remaining to remake the global economy and prevent catastrophic climate change, this is planetary suicide." i am wondering your comments about the impact of bolsonaro on brazil's ecology and also the impact on the battle over climate change? >> this is a very serious issue. bolsonaro build a coalition become the power that included lalarge agribusiness, which what

to not only expand the deforestation of the amazon to allow soybean and cattle production, but also to eliminate the protection of indigenous people living in the amazon by s stopping the guaranteeing of borders, of terrrritories rereserved foror indigegenous people. i must s say scholars, not just environmentalists, around the world are very alarmed. there is a movement in the united states where thousands of academics -- for thousands of academics to s sign a statement alerting the brazilian government that academics in this country and europe and arouound the world are going toe watching very closely t the attacks on academic freedom, which is another important point to make out. because the government is already clamping down on universities, which tend to be voices of clarity and warning about the dangers in the country. there is -- there is been immediate threat to academic freedom and the universities in the country.

we are extremely alarmed. amy: james green, thank you for being with us, professor of brazilian history. and bruno torturra for journalist and photographer in sao paulo. that does it for our broadcast. check out our coverage at democracynow.org