03/22/19 03/22/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! history and recognizing israel's sovereignty in golan heighghts and d did soa time when iran is trtrying to ue syria as a platform to attack and destroy israel. in the message that president trump has given the world is that america stands by israel.

amy: just weeks before major elections in israel that could determine the future of embattled prime minister benjamin netanyahu, president trump declares the u.s. is ready to recognize israeli sovereignty over the occupied golan heights. in defiance of international law and decades of u.s. policy. we will get reaction from palestinian human rights attorney noura erakat. then, the worst weather disaster in the history of the southern hemisphere. cyclone idai causes extensive flooding, leaving tens ofof thouousands homelessss, more thn 400 0 dead i in mozambique,e, zimbababwe, and mullllally. >> all my life, i've never seen anything like this before. it is the first time. amy: we will get it update from friends ofagar with the earth international. and finally, as nebraska and the u.s. midwest recover from

devastating climate change -fueled floods, we will speak with historian nick estes on how two centuries of resistance created d the movement proclaimg water is life. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump declared thursday the u.s. is ready to recognize israeli sovereignty over t the occupupied golan hei, which it seized from syria in 1967. trump announced the move via twitter, writing -- "after 52 years it is time for the united states to fully recognize israel's sovereignty over the golan heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the state of israel and regional stability!" after a meeting with secretary of state mike pompeo, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu hailed t trump's announcement. has just maderump

history. i called him. i thanked him on behalf of the people of israel. he did it again. amy: israel annexed the golan heights in 1981, though the international community does not recognize its sovereignty. the syrian state news agency responded to trump's vow to overturn decades of u.s. policy by saying it showed the blind -- "the blind bias" of the u.s. towards israel, and that his comments had shown contempt for international law. trump's announcement came just days before he is set to host netanyahu at the white house during the annual conference of aipac, the american israel public affairs committee. the aipac event will include speeches from vice president mike pence, house speaker nancy pelosi, and senanate minorityy leaderer chuck schumer, amamong others. but a growing number of democrats, including at least eight presidential candidates, have said they will be skipping the summit. in a statement, the campaign of vermont senator bernie sanders wrote -- "senator sanders is concerned about the platform aipac is providing for leaders who have expressed bigotry and oppose a two-state solution."

we'll have more on aipac and president trump's recognition of israeli sovereignty over the golan heights after headlines. the chair of the house oversight committee has revealed that ivanka trump and jared kushner illegally used private email accounts and messaging apps to carry out official white house business. in a letter to the white house thursday, maryland congressmember elijah cummings said kushner, president trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, used whatsapp to communicate with foreign contacts, including saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman. while both kushner and his wife ivanka trump used private email accounts in a way that appeared to violate federal records laws. cummings also revealed that white house offialals, incluludg stephen bannon, , used personall emailsls to discuss transferring sensitive nuclear technology to saudi arabia. during the 2016 campaign, donald trump repeatedly led chants of "lock her up!" as he blasted hillllary clinton for her use oa private email server as secretary of state. meanwhile, "the new york timese"

is reporting jared kushner's brother, josh kushner, traveled to saudi arabia in october 2017 seeking investors for his venture capital firm just days before jared kushner also travel to saudi arabia to meet with crown prince mohammed bin salman on white house business. government ethics lawyers say josh kushner's visit posed a potential conflict of interest. it came just one week before the crown prince ordered saudi police to arrest about 200 prominent businessmen and former officials, holding them captive in riyahdh's ritz-carlton hotel where many later said they weree tortured. new zealand broadcast the islamic callll to prayer nanationwide a and observed twto minutes s of silence as the natn marked one week since a whitite supremacist terrorist attacked two mosqueues inhristchurcrch, killing 50 people. prime minister jacinda ardern, dressed in black and wearing a

hijab, addressed mourners at a public park adjacent to the al noor mosque where mostst of the victims of last week's massacre were attacked during friday prayers on march 15. 42 killed. areompassion and sympathy body.ike one when any part of the body suffers, the whole body feels pain. new zealand mourns with you. wewe are one. amy: the new zealand memorial was held as unknown assailants used sledgehammers to vandalize five mosques in the british city of birmingham. muslim groups say far-right extremists likely carried out the attacks. florida resident cesar sayoc pleaded guilty thursday to 65 felony counts for sending pipe bombs last year to prominent

democrats, cnn, and other critics of president trump. when sayoc was arrested last october, he was living in a van covered in pro-trump and pence stickers, as well as images of prominent democrats with crosshairs over their faces. "the new york times" reports boeing airplanes that recently crashed in indonesia and ethiopia both lacked optional safety features that could have saved the lives of 346 people. both lion air flight 610 in ethiopian flight 302 lacked in anangle of attack indicator andn angle ofof attack disagree ligi, indidicators that boeing offers onlyly at additional cost. this comes as families of victims of last october's lion air crash say they were pressured by the airline to sign a pledge not to pursue legal action against the company in exchange for aboutut $90,000 in compensation. the amount was the minimum the

families were entitled to under indonesian law. in mosul, iraq, at least 92 people were killed thursday after a ferry capsized and sank in the tigris river. many of the dead were children. the ferry was overloaded with people celebrating the kurdish new year marking the start of spring. in eastern china, an explosion at a pesticide plant in the city of yancheng thursday killed at least 47 people and left scores more seriously injured. a government inspection of the plant last year showed more than a dozen violations, including a lack of safety training for managers. it's the worst industrial disaster in china since a 2015 explosion in tianjin k killed re than 170 people. back in the ununited states, residents of the city of deer park outside houston, texas, have been ordered to shelter in place e due to dangerous levelsf toxic benzene kickcked up by a massive e fire at a petrocheheml plant. the fire began on sundnday and s since continued d to spew acrid smoke across the region. a recently filed federal lawsuit

charges the company behind the explosion, intercontinental terminals company, with illegally dumping more than one million game -- gallons of hazardous waste the floodwaters during hurriricane harvey in a n effort to save money. a new analysisis by the environmental working group finds 70% of fresh produce sold across the united states is contaminated with pesticide. topping the list of contaminated produce are strawberries and spinach, while more than 9 out of 10 samples of kale were found to contain residues of pesticides, with some leaves containing up to 18 different chemical compounds. facebook admitted thursday that hundreds of millions of f user'' passwords were stored in a database that was accessible by more than 20,000 employees at the social media giant. the latest privacy breach at facebook comes as massachusetts senator and 2020 presidential hopeful elizabeth warren has unveiled a plan to break up tech

giants including facebook, google, and amazon. european union officials have offered the u.k. a short extension for its plans to leave the european union. european council president donald tusk said thursday he'd roll back the deadline for brexit from march 29 to april 12 but only if british lawmakers approve a brexit plan they've already rejected twice. >> government has a choice of a extension, or revoking article 50. date2th of april is a key in terms of the u.k. deciding whether to hold european parliament elections. if it is not decided to do so by then, the option of along extension will automatically become an possible. amamy: in wisconsin, a state j e hahas blocked legislation passed by lame-duduck republicans seekg

to strip the incoming democratic administration of power while protecting policies enacted by former governor scott walker. a dane county circuit court judge sided with civil rights groups who challenged the power-grab as a legislative coup that violated wisconsin's constitution. republicans in michigan and north carolina passed similar bills after losses in recent november elections. advisers to former vice president joe biden are reportedly considering georgia democrat stacey abrams as an out-of-the-gate vice presidential running mate when biden announces his candidacy for the 2020 presidency next month. abrams narrowly lost georgia's gubernatorial race last year to republican secretary of state brian kemp, who was widely accused of supprpressing the vo. in new york, six women have accused billionaire donor michael steinhardt of carrying out sexual harassment over the course of decades. in interviews with propublica and "the new york times," the women say steinhardt regularly propositions sex and threesomes,

while making unwelcome comments about women's bodies. steinhardt has denied many of the allegations. steinhardt co-founded birthright israel and has donated about $25 million to the nonprofit. the group provides free trips to israel to young jewish-americans, promoting israeli government policies while avoiding discussion of israel's west bank settlements and its occupation of palestinian landnds. and in alabama, officials at holman prison have cut off water to the cells of eight prisoners on hunger strike as they protest conditions in solitary confinement. officials say prisoners will instead be offered bottled water every half hour so they can monitor the prisoners liquid intake. the prisoners were placed in solitary housing units in without warning. february 28 they say they committed no infraction or violation of prison rules. instead, they were told in a letter from prison officials -- "you will remain in restrictive housing in preventative status for peace and tranquility of the institution." the southern poverty law center

has sued holman prison, saying its heavy reliance on solitary confinement violates the constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. just weeks before major elections in israel that could determine the future of the embattled prime minister benjamin netanyahu, president trump has bowed to his pressure by declaring u.s. will recognize israeli sovereignty over the occupied golan heights. that is in defines of international law and decades of u.s. policy. trump announced the move via twitter, writing -- "after 52 years it is time for the united states to fully recognize israel's sovereignty over the golan heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the state of israel and regional stability!" netanyahu responded to the news during a joint press conference with secretary of state mike pompeo.

>> president trump has just made history. i called him i think him on behalf of the people of israel. he did it again. first, he recognized jerusalem as israel's capital and moved the u.s. embassysy here. then he e pulled out of the trereaty andan reimposed sanctions. but now he did something o of equal historic importance, recognize israel's sovereignty over the golan heights. and he did so at a time when iranan is trying to use syria aa platform to attack and destroy israel. in the mesessage that presididet trump has given the world is that america stands by israel. amy: the golan heights area covers less s than 500 square miles along israel's northeastern border with syria. israel annexed the golan heights 1981 afteter capturing the

territory from syria during the 1967 war, but the international community does not recognize its sovereignty. in november, the u.s. said it planned to vote against a u.n. resolution calling for israel to end its occupation of the golan heights. the syrian state news agency responded to trump's vow to overturn decades of u.s. policy by saying it showed the "blind bias" of the u.s. towards israel, and that his comments had shown contempt for international law and that they would not change "the reality that the golan was and will remain syrian, arab." chief palestinian negotiator saeb erekat, tweeted thursday -- "yesterday president trump recognized jerusalem as israel's capital. today for regional stability he wants to make sure that the occupied syrian golan heights be under israel's sovereignty. what shall tomorrow bring? certain destabilization and bloodshed in our region." trump's annonocement comes as

he is set to host netanyahu at the white house next week amid the aipac conference where vice president mike pence with speak, along with house speaker nancy pelolosi, sesenate minority lear chuck schumer, and others. this comes as a growing number of democrats, including at least eight presidential candidates, have said they will be skipping the summit, including bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, kamala harris, beto o'rourke, and pete buttigieg. for more, we go to d.c., where we are joined by noura erakat, a palestinian human rights attorney and legal scholar. she is an assistant professor at george mason university. her new book "justice for some: , law and the question of palestine." professor, welcome back to democracy now! can you respspond to trump'ss tweet? >> i think we netanyahu says from did itt again, he is right. trump has been moving in am atep of imperial policy u.s. impmperial policy in the middle east which seeks to underminehegemony,

governance, , and certain thee cocontinued the systematic violations of human rights. isisrael i is not interested ine gola h heights security. if it t were, then it would note sesettling civilians t there. it is 34 settlements, 20 4000 settttlers. to put civiliaians into a place that is knknown as a militararye is, one, e eher to belie there isis a military threreat or, too be using isrsraelis p position. it discounts the fact that there is no military threat to israeal from that boborder. syria, last t launched the military attack on israel in october 1973. egypt and jordan have established permanent peace with israel. iraq has been completely gutted and destabilized. .here has been no threat even has a lot from the south of lebanon were israel withdrew forces in 2000 a and have not launched war a against israeael. it was israel that lauaunched wr

against lebanon in 2006. this framework of security isis cover anand of a near for israrl as an aggressssor. it is not the david, it is the goliath. israel is continuing warfare which is destabilizing the region. mike pompeoto go to who spoke at thursday's news conference with the israeli prime e minister netanyahu. vice pres. pence: tonight president trump made the decision to recognize that that hard-fought real estate, that important place is proper to be a sovereign part of the state of isisrael. president trump made a bold decision to recognize an important decision for the people of isisrael bullets realy be historic and ththe people of israel should knknow the battles they fought allies they lost on a very ground were worthy. can youra erakat,, respond to secretary o of state pompeo? >> i think it is so reresponsibe for them to be describing

occupied territory recogninize d are internatioional law includig un security council resolution 242, and 338, as hard-fought real estate. this violates a long-held principle that the cries acquisition of territory by force. i would say to pompeo, you're doing an incredible disservice to your job. you are an embarrassment to your cell. this is not the message we should be sending. the principle e is not j just relevant to the middle east, but the world. if we're going to say that in n the middle east, thatn the middle east, then n might won thel russia, you real estate in crimea a warfare. this is an embarrassment. amy: and what exactly does it mean?? trump tweeted this, that he plans to do this. whwhat would have to happen to make it real? right to absolutely

question. what is the value of the tweet? this is about the u.s. come a wiwithin the presidedential auauthority cocome to recognizie territoryy as sovereign, even if it violates international law. what would be consequential is how the international community response. the u.n. and turkey have decried egypt, so if we see the international community stand in opposition and the u.s. declaration will be merely that come a declalaration where the loneis alone figure -- a figure the wororld. consider when it moved its states to jerusalem, 128 at the u.n. voted against the u.s. and there been very few countries that have followed suit. what this demonstrates is the weakness of the united states and its waning influence. and d it says more about domestc concerns in the u.s. and israel than it does for the region. this is a.net yahoo! deflecting from corruption charges thrhree

weeks ahead of elections -- - ts isis about n netanyahu deflectig from corruption charges t three weeks s ahead of elections. more concernrned with being isrl establishing itself as a hegemon depositions israel as the easternmost front of the u.s. war on terror. amy: so this clearly is sosothing t that the emembattled prime minister netanyahu has been pushing trump very hard for. the israeli attorney general has said he is about to indict netanyahu for corruption. the election is just weeks away in israel. can you talk about what it will mean for the israeli elections? >> one can only speculate what itit is going g to mean but whae know about israeli society iss that i it has a position in

regards to the g golan heieights that signifies the gololan heigs part o of israel. similar to the mythologies createted. they havave a slogan "the golan heights army." this is begin to a base that would b be more concerned with establishing israel's expansionist policies than it is of a corruption of a deflection tactic. pompeo is the first u.s. officicial to visit the westernn wall in occupied east jerusalem him a similar bid to establish that if you work with netanyahu, you will be in lockstep with imperial power where might makes right in the middle east were there is no credibility and were israel will be able to travel palestinian human rights -- trample palestinian human rights and continue to benefit from the u.s. unequivocal financial military and diplomatic support that frames that aggression is

self-defense. amy: what does this mean, if you can call it the israel-palestine peace prize, if there even is one? what does this mean for any kind of pursuit for peace? >> i think if we had to judge what israeli leaders have told us, the do not want a two state solution. their o offering situation a permanent subjugation and derivative sovereignty were they do notot c ctrol jerusalem, cant access their water, cannot access free movemement, were the is no human rights, and now palestinians who are stateless people had any chance of achieving some sort of equitable resolution with the u.s. as a broker, we can see the fact the u.s. is willing to declare israel sovereignty o over syrian territory, which is not - -- and palestine, the west bank and gaza have been subject to really indefensibleically legal argument that says there is no palestinian sovereign, so

the territories are disputed. but there is the dispute over the golan heights. that is syrian sovereign territory. if the us is willing to s standy israelel and declarere that sosovereign territory as the longng occupied by decree, then what chance to palestinians have of achieving any kind of equitable resolulution for themselves? this just adds more impaired of to a grassroots campaigngn in te form of boycott, divestment, sanctions, in the form of legal cases come in the form of grassroots movement aligning and anantiracist globabal movement d anti-fascist movovement in order to ovevercome d diplomatic -- te factor governmnment do not represent them, this is more fuelel to the e fire for peopl's movements. as we have seen, people do overcome. amy: earlier this month, senator lindsey graham visited the golan heights with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and the u.s. ambassador to israel david friedman. he said he would lobby the trump administration to recognize the occupied golan heights israeli territory.

>> there is no construct i can imagine now or anytime in the future for the state of israel to give the golan up. the golan is not in dispute. it is in the hands of israel and always remains in the hands of israel. >> i agree. >> so we will be talking a president trump when i get back about the necessity of is part of the golan israel, that it is inconceivable that israel could ever give it to anyone given the threats israel faces. amy: lindsey graham standing next to david friedman, the u.s. ambassador to israel. he has noo diplomatic experienc, worked as a bankruptcy lawyer for 15 years,mp longtime supporter of illegal jewish settlements in the occupied west bank who has called president barack obama and anti-semite. friedman also compared liberal

american jews to nazi collaborators,s, noura erakat. >> i mean, i think what was the in the middle east is we might be saying the trump administration does not know what it isis doing and appointig these alall qualified officialso represent them, but i think that is precisely the plan. it is a plan of recklessness. it is a plan of destroying what they can as they go in order to shrink government and the united states, bubut also establish u.. hegemony through mililitary for. what we see between the u.s. and israel in terms of supporting israel at all costs is not uniqueue just to israel,utut alo in a alignment with u.s. policyo other r authoritariaian regimesn the middle east, including its cc inonship - -- excuse me, egypt, including two mbs and saudi arabia and the u uae. this is not just about the u.s.

relationship to israel. this is about a imperial policy in the middle east, establishing itself as a hegemon, destabilizing the region, undermining democratic rule, about being able to control accessss to naturaral resourcese gas and petrol. it is about being able to proliferate u.s. military bases in the region that will have access and control to the rest of the world. and we do that under the veneer of libereration and democracy ad peacemaking. it is imimperative upopon a cril audience to understand in less war in the middle east cannot possibly b be for the sake of stability oror democracy of a bt is actually in pursuit of u.s. national burial interest. amy: i want to ask about the elections in israel and a campaign. a member of parliament seeking reelection in april 9 is underr fire o over a mpmpaign adadvertisement pickiking him shootingng andilling a palestinian lleaeague. hazan, dedepicted

as a character in the clint eastwood film "the good, the bad and the ugly." his face is superimpmposed overa charteter whuseses aevolveveto shooanand ki jamamalahalkaka- a paststiniacititizeof isrsrl and mberer oisraele's knesset. zahaa has caeded forolicice arre h hazanver r th ad. this comes after anotherer proment t israeli politician, x general angagantz, relead a campaign video -- ex-general benny gantz, released a campgn deo showg a counter rking a sing deatholl superimposed over a a video of a a palestinin funeral.l. a second campaign ad promisesed ththat, if electcted, gantz wowd bombmb gaza "back k to the stone age." your response? >> yeah, welcome to israel. welcome to palestinian lives of being literally dehumanized, killed, ridiculed, accused and

blamed for their own death for the sake of domestic politics, international polititics, while the rest of f the world watches. when israel massacred 58 palestinians on may 15 last year when the embmbassy was moved and when palalestinians c continued their gaza great march of return, you know what u.s. headlines ran? they said come how dare hamas ruin and spoil israeli celebrations. the level of f dehumanization tt .s at t play is aststounding absolulutely astounding. it is what should make a support more forcefully brave lawmakers like congress woman ilhan omar, rashida tlaib, whoho are using dish who have written into power on the power of the people who brought the congress, on campaigns to support human rights and complete antiracist platform, who are actually calling out the u.s. politics for what it t is. it should not be surprising the

u.s.s., whichch is a settleler y and also maintains a a racial caste system, would also from what israel is doing a somehow forgivabable. there's someththing to be sasaid about media that fails to let israel speak for themselves and take them if a site. campaign ads where they are promoting the murder in the killing and the death o of palestinians, even elected lawmakers, in order to get more votes. can you imagine how precarious palestinian life is? andd when hazan was called out, hazan literally saiaid, this is not anti-aiair racism, you terrorist. we're talking about a doublespeak. if you did not see it, you would not believe it. the only thing i would encourage us for more people to pay attention, more people to see it, for more people to take israeli seriously when they use this racist discourse, and to understand the people who pay the highest price are palestinians. amy: noura erakat, thank you for being with us palestinian human

, rights attorney and legal scholar. she is an assistant professor at george mason university. her new book "justice for some: , law and the question of palestine." coming up, it has been called the worst weather event in the southern hemisphere. we are going to talk about what is happening right now in mozambique and zimbabwe and other places. then to nebraska. and finally, the lakota historian nick estes on "our history is the future." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to the deadly cyclone idai that hit southeastern africa and has left extensive flooding that looks like in the ocean since it made landfall last thursday, battering mozambique, zimbabwe, and allowing.

the world meteorological organization has called d the storm the soututhern hemispher's worst tropical cyclone onn record. officials say ththe death toll s over 400 andnd the number is expected t to rise. momore than 400,000 peopople cod be displaced in mozambique, and president filipe nyusi said as many as 1000 people may have been killeled. the woworld food prorogramme wae of a "major humamanitarian emergency that is getting g bigr by the hour." this is wfp emergencies director margot vanan der velden. clclose sesevere flooding anand cyclone affects, 600,000 people affected,, posossibly whwhen th7 and d more millions affectcted y cyclonanand flooding. commmmunication is c completely broken. infrastructuture severely damag. all of the roads to beira have been cut off. amy: rescue workers in the flooded city of beira struggled to reach survivors who clung to trees or pleaded for help fromom rooftops after 90% of the coastal city, which is home to a half-million people, was destroyed.

this is a survivor of the cyclone in beira. >> there is someone up there. there's a big tree there. this person is sitttting on that tree from friday until today without food or anything. how are they supposed to livive? so i'm going toto help willll sp therere other people who neeeed help. i our n-rescued mymy family. always using this canoe. amy: cyclone idai dropped more than two feet of rain in parts of southeastern africa -- nearly a year's worth of rain in just a few days -- an extreme weather event that climate scientists say is consistent with models of climate change. for more, we're joined via democracy now! video stream by dipti bhatnagar, who is usually based in maputo, mozambique, where she is climate justice and energy coordinator at friends of the earth international. she joins us now from penang, malaysia. welcome back to democracy now! can you explain the extent of the damage? thanks,s, amy. itit is really heaeartbreaking e away from home at a time lilike

ththis. interestingly enough, we e have bebeen at a imimate ststice .eeting hehere in malaysia back homome, our c communititier people are gettingng batteteredm all sides by this disaster. so of course, as y you said rigt now, t c cyclone idaii hasas hit ththe coast and hass got inlnlad into some bob way and malawi - - zimbmbabwe a and malawi, wipingt 90% of the city of beira. i live in the south in the capital and that area has not been hit, but we are in touch with people beira in, family, friends, colleagues who have been hit. we're still waiting for information from a lot of people that we have not heard from. of course, this is a huge disaster to hit mozambique. and already, about two weeks ago when i was home, we heard of a lot of flooding happening in

this nbc river basin. basically, two river basins have been affected by floododing peoe sort of trapped intoo -- trapped in between. some is from the rain upstream and the dems letting go of water. that has also affected a lot of people. as you just heard, heartbreaking, you have people stuck on rooftops, people stuck without water and food. a lot of organizations from ,ozambique, including mine environmental justice from the capital, friends of the art mozambique, has been trying to do whatever we can to support the relief effort because of the most thing that needs it right now is to be able to get emergency relief to people just have a chance to survive. amy: hundreds of thousands have been displaced over r the elastc

because of idai.i. residents are describing the devastation. >> i thought we would all be dead. my home collapspsed. >> i was with my children inside our home talking because it was raining, then we heard the mountain exploding and then the water started flowing through the reets anand arrived at our house and we had to run awaway. >> here e we do not hahave anytg to eat. no food, nothing. it is a problem. at night we do not eat. we do not even have a blankeketo cover ourselves with. we only have the clothes w we ae wearing. suffer.toto live, b but we we have been suffering until today.y. , can youpti bhatnagar talk about the link between climate e change and this cyclo? >> absolutelely.

there alwaways have been cyclons in t the indian ocean, but thehy are getting g much strger. i wearing a t t-srt that shshows you the mama o of mozambique. you u see madagascar, which actually protects mozazambique fromom these types of events in the indian ocean. as the intensity has increased due to warming oceans and the ofmate crisis, this type extreme weather event is impacting and hitting with so much more intensity. so we in mozambique, we have always known we are going to be really impacted by climate change. we're downstream country. we are a very, very flat country. we have faced floods before. we knew this was going to be our fate. warm and asoceans the atmosphere warms, this is going to have direct impacts on our people. that is what you see happening

right now. amy: kenyan author shailja patel called out exxonmobil over its involvement in mozambique amid the climate disaster, writing -- "exxonmobil, which is developing giant gas deposits off northern mozambique, said it would donate $300,000 to relief efforts." author and activist naomi klein, retweeted patel's tweet, adding -- "tell exxon to play its climimae -- to pay its climate debts, starting right now!" diptpti bhatnagar, your respons? >> i i agree with that a analys. not create this climate crisis. our people have contributed almost nothing to the climate crisis butut thiisis the ironynf

the climate crisisis that it affectss those who did not do anything to create it and it affects those the most. so the poorest and the most vulnerable people on the planet will be affected most, and that is what is happening in mozambique right now. we really want to call out those who are responsible. so this is about the rich countries, amy, where you're are sitting at the moment, the united states. this is about europe and australia and japan. your societies have guilt up, dust built up using the fossil fuels, and now we know this is what is causing the atmosphere. so we call out the rich countries, even the u.k. government has promised some amount of money, but the u.k. government, just a few days ago, coal few -- approved a new mine in their territory. this is an absolute affront. we need to deal with the climate crisis. dirty energyop durin

everywhere. it needs to happen in the northern countries first to stop fossil fuels, to stop dirty and harmful energies, then as you said, we don't want this in our country either. so our organization [indiscernible] of mozambique.th , and exxonmobil involved anadarko, another u.s. corporation. we have been working with a group of allies from all over the world because there is a huge rush for this gas field in mozambique. we're going to fight because we don't want dirty energy in our country, either. 70% of the people in mozambique do not have access to electricity. obviously, the situation is going to get much worse after this disaster because of how many power lines have been

knocked off and how many villages have disappeared. at this is not the way to get energy. we do nonot have any more e spao keep e emitting thehese redoes s emissions and have this horrible 30 energy, which is affecting pepeople on ththe ground. we arere pushing for repayment f the climate debt, which means we did not create the crisis so those who did, give us the finance to be able to actually dealith this on n the ground. and we want to fight for people -centerered renewablble energygr our people. that is the future wewe want to see. this disaster has shshowed us tt we need to be able to build up the resilience of our peoplple. we need to have susuival ststrategiesor people. the ocean is coming into people's houses. agriculture is g going to o stat fafailing. we are seeeeing impacts intensifying all over the world. and how are the popoorest and de most vulnerable people who don't hahave the strategies of s surv,

how are e they goingng to live? fightinghat we are for, repayment of the climate debt, stop the dirty and harmful let's have an energy transformation towards people-centered renewable energy. that is what we're fighting for. i was wondering if you could end up talking about the significance of the climate school strike led by richard berg and -- greta th urnberg, the swedish climate activist, and also what is happening in the united states with this new congress, the most diverse congress in u.s. history with alexandria ocasio-cortez pushing for the green new deal. what this looks like from your vantage point in mozambique and right now in malaysia where you are at a climate summit, the same country that historically

is the biggest greenhouse gas emitter and where president trump has pulled the united states out of the u.n. climate summit and theyaris peace accord -- wellll, not the summi, they go toto push fossssil fuel, but the paris climate accord? absbsolutely. that is a wowonderful question. we h havbeenen meeting with h se of the malaysian activist who orgaganid d the strike last t wk on f friday. i think it is wonderful what is happening across the world in sweden,rom greta who are team preference of the earth were with her and allies were with her in the poll and u.n., negotiations last december. i think it is wonderful. what she is saying about change whatitical because that is it is going to take.

that level of transformation is what we need to be able to stop the climate crisis. but also to serve the people who the current system never served, those who do not have electricity, those who struggle to have food on the table. we're talking about a world of increasing inequality. we as friends of the earth, we are really pushing for this transformational agendnda. talkinghay to see grereta about it. however, i do not think these school strikers and some of the other countries are making those links. i think that is where we want to offer a connection, those of uss from the south, from the southern countries, , we would love to talalk to you. we wouldld love to talk to t the school s strikers. we wouldove e to talk toto those inin the pararament in t the u.r pushing this green new deal to say this is absolutely wonderful what you are doing. let's not forget about equity. let's not forget about the south. let's not forget about

historical response ability. i think the work is wonderful. i think we want to make sure they realize we're also in the boat with them, as in the south, and there is responsibility they have not just to stopping climate change, but doing it in an e equitable way. i'm offering myself. i'm availalable anytime to s spk to school stririkers, just big wiwith people inin the wasas cos ---- to speak witith people in e u.s. congress. we really want to reach out. we really need to strengthen the narrative of equity and historical responsibility within the climate debts within the green new deal host of a wonderful opportunity. amy: i want to o thank you veryy much, , as you talk about remembering the south, dipti bhatnagar with friends of the earth international climate , justice and energy coordinator. usually based in maputo, nowmbique, but joins us

from a climate conference in penang, malaysia. when we come back, historian nick estes on his new book "our history is thehe future." stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. while the southern hemisphere faces its worst tropical cyclone

on record, statates across the midwestern united states are continuing to recover from unprecedented flooding this week that devastated communities in missouri, iowa, kansas and particularly nebraska. warming temperatures, snow melt and heavy rainfall led to a flash flood that overwhelmed the missouri river. the rising waters breached levees, killing at least three people and assuring or damaging thousands of homes. much of the news about the flooding has focused its impact on farmers. but the climate-changed fueled weather has also hit native american communities hard, with four t tribal nations s in nebra declaring a state of emergency. this is larry wright jr., chair of the ponca tribebe of nebraska speaking last week. >> today i declared a state of emergency for the punk a tribe in nebraska in our territory as it relates to our homeland as well as our communities inin

norfork and sioux city and we will continue to monitor the situation as we move forward with the flooooding. amy: scientists warn that more flooding is on the way as climate change fuels more extreme weather patterns around the planet. santee sioux chairman roger trudell, whose tribe faced unprecedented flooding in nebraska, told earther -- "i'm just sorry that our national leaders, the people with the power to do something about it, just put their head in the sand and pretend that there's no such thing as climate change or global warming or anything when it's so evident. they should be ashamed of themselves." for more, we go to santa fe, new mexico, where we're joined by whose new book is "our history is the future."

use assistant professor of american studies at university of new mexico, cofounder of the indigenous resistance group the red nation and a citizen of the lower paroles who pride -- lower brule sioux tribe. welcome to democracy now! can you respond to what is happening in the midwest from nebraska on an particular talk about the effects of native americans. >> so this history of flooding actually goes back to the 1930's when the missouri river flooded and flooded a lot of towns .ownriver the united states government, under the auspices of the and green deal -- excuse me, the new deal, proposed a series of on damsain stem -- series of on the main stem to prevent flooding. damlaces like lower brule and a from there, another dam to

have sort of flood control for downriver states. what we're seeing right now is a continuation of the mismanagement of that river and the flooding that is being caused specifically by the army corps of engineers. these dams dislocated and forcefully removed about one third of a river reservation populalations, including my owon burkle,y in places like about 80% of the tribal population was removed. what we're experiencing right now is a continuation of the legacy of the dams that were built to run event this kind of disaster. in many ways, we have a compounding of issues with the unusual weather cycles, the torrential rain, and then couple that with the fact the government shutdown for 35 days, preventing a lot of tribal communities that are now

affected by this flood from getting heating assistance during the wintertime. it is a combination of things that are at work here. at the end of the day, we have to remember that while it is related to climate change in the present, it is also related to the environment, specifically, the annihilation of the river ecosystem to provide sort of flood control in the first place. amy: nick estes, you are talking about the new deal. back in fdr's time. you say the green new deal. what was really born out of the standoff at standing rock. explain. alexandria ocasio-cortez, before she became a congresswoman, she was also -- she was a water protector. she was at standing rock. she has even said this in her interviews where she began her campaign in the resistance camps in the prayer camps at standing rock specifically -- so when

people are asking, where is the inspiration of the green new deal? we can really located at you sort ofk, were had a transition from one administration -- the obama administration -- to the trump administration. and i believe alexandria ocasio-cortez was at standing rock after november 8 in 2016 when the election of trump really caught a lot of people by surprise. and the irony of that was, there was a massive resistance movement against the construction, the expansion of carbon infrastructure led by indigenous people at standing rock. but in reality, that pipeline was an extension of obama-europe energy policies -- obama-era energy policies. if we go back and look at the north american oil boom, that happened around the time of the great recession. in many ways, the united states,

along with countries like canada , drilled their way out of the great recession largely at the expense of indigenous lands. what i mean by that, if we look at the oilsands in a alberta, c canada got and we thihink pipeline, which are people call the black snake, the alberta tar sands is the snake bit where a lot of these oil pipelines are snaking out across the country. traversing and trespassing through indigenous commununities and putting them t risk. when we think about things such as the green new deal and their impact on indigenous communities, we have to remember the inspiration for that and really thehe frontline communits that inspired thihis work communities like standing rock and indigenous communities. just in the u.s., but throughout north america or what we call turtle island.

when we talk about what is happening, the flooding, the massive flooding happening in places like eastern africa, we can connect it to the oil production in the united states and north america in general. because the united states has no surpassed countries like russia and saudi arabia -- has now surpassed countries like russia and saudi arabia when it comes to oil production. ascan look at the bakkan being the ground zero for this new sort of climate deal that needs to take place because it affects indigenous communities first and foremost. amy: explain your title "our history is the future." meanings.s two the first is sort of a negative one in the sense that the greatsioux nation is undergone several apocalypses will stop going back to the for trade and the annihilation of furbearing

animals in our region, going back to the annihilation of the buffalo to take the land and to starve us into surrender, going back to the mid-20th century damming of the missouri river and now the north american oil boom, these are different rounds see inossession that we a long continuum. while history does not necessarily repeat itself, there are echoes the u.s. has billed itself out largely at the expense of the indigenous peoples and indigenous lands. in many ways, what we're trying to prevent is that history in the future, but the other more sort of positive and generative aspect of that is, our history is a future in a sense that we have a long tradition of resistance to these sort of u.s.-imposed climate catastrophes on her own community. and we draw from the resistance movement going back to the first

the trespass of lewis and clark through our territories and said, no, we are a sovereign nation. we are the protectors of the missouri river. way back to the 19th century indian wars and then my grandparents were water protectors in their own right because they fought for and try to defend the missouri river by preventing the construction of anddams in the 1950's 1960's. in many ways, i'm a product of my ancestors resistance. they were water protectors before. we have a new generation of water protectors now. the great thing about that, it is not just in indigenous fight. as w we size standing rock, as e see with the green new deal,l, that it is being taken up by nonindigenous relatives and allies. we are living in a moment where indigenous issssues, or the indn proboblem as it has been d defid in t the pasast, is no l longern as just an i indian problem. now because of climate change,

it is all of our problems. in many ways, our history is the future because we led that first resistance against the destruction of the environment, and we will continue to lead it as the green new deal takes effect. we are demanding, as part of the green new deal program, that a lot of these politicians take seriously what indigenous environmental movements have been demanding for the last decades and to keep it in the ground policy. the way we stop climate change is by stopping it at the source, meaning we need to keep oil and gas in the ground. amy: we're going to continue this discussion and put it online at democracynow.org. nick estes assistant professor , of american studies at the university of new mexico and author of the new book "our history is the future." and that does it for our broadcast. i will be speaking at suny purchase this weekend was sunday at 1:30. check democracynow.org.

happy birthday miriam barnard! democracy now! has an immediate job opening for a full-time junior systems administrator here in our new york city studio. details are available 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 democracy now! p.o. box 693

>> this is al jajazeera. hello. this is the newshshour live from london. comingng up, cases are reportedn mozambique. rescuers join the desperate effort for those stranded by a cyclone. despite the rain, algerians tell the streets, keeping up their demand for the president to go. isil noe house says longer holds