04/04/19 04/04/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this isis democracy y w! >> they are modest people. won this, so be modest. from nowow on, we work to ensure everybody willll get upset from now on. we will work to overcome every shortcoming. amy: turkish voters deal a major defeat to president recep tayyip his party lososes local

elections in turkey's largest cities, istanbul and ankara. now he is disputing the results. we'll speak with turkish professor koray caliskan. then to alalgeria, where after o decades in power, 82-year-old president abdelaziz bouteflika resigned tuesday after weeks of mass protests. >> i went out to celebrate the resignation of bouteflika. god willing we will have 100% democratic transition, which is very important. amy: now algerians are continuing their protests, demanding an overhaul of the entire political system. we will get an update. then to france, where yellow vest protesters took to the streets saturday for the 20th straight week of demonstrations in spite of a government clampdown. >> macron must give into our demands. everyone needs to live better with a month's salary so we are always here. we will always be here until he gives in. amy: there protesting macron's

economic policies demanding fair wages for working and middle class citizens and heavier taxation on the wealthy. we will go to paris. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. senate republican majority leader mitch mcconnell has invoked the so-called nuclear option, speeding up the confirmation of president trump's nominees. after just 33 minutes of debate, senators voted wednesday along party lines in favor of the new rules, which will limit the senate to just two hours to debate on whether to confirm nominees to u.s. district courts. the move rolls back a more-than two-century-old senate tradition of unlimited debate for federal court nominees. under mcconnell's senate leadership, president trump has already succeeded in appointing federal judges at a record pace, in a move toward far-right judges that will reshape the judiciary for decades to come. members of a house committee

have cleared the way for congress to subpoena special counsel l robert mueller's full report on russian interference in the 2016 election. wednesday's 24 to 17 vote by the house judiciary committee along party lines came one day after attorney general william barr missed a deadline imposed by lawmakers to turn over the full mueller report. this is committee chair jerrold nadler. >> the trump administration has an idea. they want to redux be mueller report before they provide it to congress. the department of justice says the proposal is an instructor to sensitive information that would not ordinarily be made part of the record. but we reason to suspect this adadministration's titives. the mueller report probably isn't the "total exoneration" the president claims it to be. amy: this comes as "the new york times" reported investigigatorsn special counsel robert mueller's team believe attorney general barr failed to adequately portray the findings of their inquiry and that they were more troubling for president trump than barr indicated.

the chair of the house ways and means committee on wednesday formally requested the irs give congress copies of president trump's tax returns over the past six years. trump is the only major-party presidential nominee in 40 years not to release tax information to the public. president trump repeated his claim wednesday he is withholding his tax returns from public view because he's being audited. but terms former personal attorney michael: refuted that claim in congressional testimony thatchael cohen refututed claim in congrgressional testimony. democrat dan kildee, a member of the house ways and means committee, said -- "the president is the only person who can sign bills into law, and the public deserves to know whether the president's personal financial interests affect his public decision making." in florida, u.s. immigration and customs enforcement agent have deported an undocumented argentine immigrant rights activist who was arrested last month shortly before a film showcasing his activism

premiered at the miami film festival. claudio rojas was featured in the film "the infiltrators," which tells the story of undocumented activists who went undercover to expose abuses at a broward county immigration detention center. rojas has lived in the us for 19 years and is a father and grandfather of u.s. citizens. his attorney called the deportation a travesty of justice, telling the miami herald, "it's clear that this is retaliation." to see our interview from the sundance film festival with the director of "the infiltrators" and two of the activists who appear in the film, visit our website democracynow.org. in new zealand, police say the man accused of opening fire with an assault rifle at two mosques in christchurch on will face 50 march 15 murder charges and 39 counts of attempted-murder when he appears in court on friday. the 28-year-old australian man is an avowed white supremacist who you meld a -- emailed a

racist manifesto minutes before the attacks began. meanwhile, australia's senate has formally censured a lawmaker who blamed the killings on immigration policies that allowed muslims to move to new zealand. far-right senator fraser anning's comments came on the day of the christchurch massacre. his senate colleagues on wednesday denounced the remarks as shameful and appalling. this is australia's fit female muslim senator, mehreen faruqi. >> sadly, what senator anning said after the christchurch massacre, however shocking it is, it is not out of character. just a week before i joined this place come he gave a speech calling for a ban on people like me coming to this country and for a white australia policy. even invoked the despicable final sosolution in his speech. amy: in tennessee, the jefferson county sheriff's office is investigating whether white supremacist graffiti found in the parking lot of the highlander center is linked to a fire last week that destroyed

one of the civil rights institute's buildings. on march 29, the fire tore through the main office of the highlander research and education center, the famed social justice organization that once hosted dr. martin luther king, jr. and trained rosa parks in nonviolent civil disobedience. this is highlander co-director ashlhley woodard hendersonon. physically ok. everyone on our staff is physically ok. no one was physically harmed. we did lose, obviously, some really important historirical documents. it was not powerful archives. amy: -- it was not powerful archives. amy: authorities are investigating the incident as a possible arson and hate crime, after a white power symbol was found spray painted in the center's parking lot. the symbol is frequently used by white power group and was painted on one of his guns used by the alleged mosque shooter in christchurch, new zealand, last month. in a statement, the highlander center said -- "while we do not know the names of the culprits, we know that the white power movement has

been increasing and consolidating power across the south, across this nation, and globally." in texas, police have dropped a felony arrest warrant for an african american woman who was threatened w with a gun and brutally beaten by a white man in a dallas parking lot on march 21. 24-year-old l'dai jonique lee says what should have been a minor traffic dispute quickly escalated to violence when 30-year-old austin shuffield followed her, brandished an unlicensed handgun, and slapped lee's cell phone out of her hands as she tried to callll 9-1-1. after lee fought back, shuffield repeatedly punched her in the head while allegedly shouting racial slurs. lee was the first to be charged in the case, on felony criminal mischief charges, for allegedly smashingng the windows of herr assailant's truck afr r she s saulted him. but when a bystander's s video f the incicident went t viral on social m media, promompting strt protests, prosecutors dropped charges against lee on wednesday.

her attacker, austin shuffield, now faces multiple charges. elsewhere in texas, one person was killed and two others were hospitalized after a blast tore through a chemical plant outside of houston on tuesday. the fire at the plant in crosby, which produces a highly flammable gas used in the prproduction o of jet fuel, wase second such fire a at a houston-area c chemical plplantn lessss than three weeks.s. on march 17, a massive fire at a petrochemical plant in deer creek sent a cloud of toxic smoke over houston and as far away as austin, 150 miles to the west. president trump is under fire for falsely claiming that windmills cause cancer. trump made the remark in a speech to the national republican congressional committee tuesday, where he touted u.s. oil and gas drilling while e mocking renewawable ene. pres. t trump: if you have a windmill in your new your house, congngratulations, your house jt went down 75% in v value and thy said the noise cses cancer.

amy: on wednesday, iowa rerepublican senator chuck grassley called trump's remark idiotic, adding -- "i wish his staff would tell him i'm the father and now the grandfather of wind energy tax credits." on capitol hill, democratic lawmakers grilled labor secretary alexander acosta wednesday over his role in securing a plea deal for billionaire serial sex abuser jeffrey epstein that allowed epstein to avoid a federal trial and possible life in prison. in february, federal judge kenneth marra ruled acosta broke the law in 2008, while working as a federal prosecutor, after he concealed the plea agreement in violation of the crime victims' rights act. acosta's move effectively ended an fbi probe into the case alleging epstein sexually abused and trafficked more than 30 underage girls. secretary acosta was called before a house appropriations subcommittee hearing on wednesday, where he was confronted by congressmember katherine clark and other democrats. clark noted that under federal sentencing guidelines, epstein

should have faced a minimum prison sentence of 360 years. >> that is not what happened because there was a power dynamic here, wasn't there? we had teenage girls with no sexualho were rape and assault victims, and we of mr. epstein and his friends. extremely powerful, wealthy, and connected people. and in a ruling on february 21, 21 in 19, the judge found you illegally entered a nonprosecution agreement that allowed mr. epstein to serve just 13 months in county jail. amy: jeffrey epstein was known to socialize with many prominent figures from bill clinton the donald trump. former vice president joe bidenn says he'll be more mindful of people's personal spacece, after two women stepped forward to accucuse the likely 2020 presidential candidate of inappropriate touching.

earlier this week, former congressional aide amy lappos said biden approached her during a democratic fundraiser in connecticut in 2009, pulled her head toward his face and rubbed noses with her. her allegation came days after former nevada assemblyly member lucy flolores said biden smelled her r hair and planted a a kissn the backck of her headad at an t in 2014. this is joe biden speaking in a video poposted to twitter r on wednesday.y. >> social norms have shifted in the boundaries protecting personal space h have been rese. and i get it. i get it. i hear what they are saying. i understand it. and it will be much more mindful . that is my responsibility. amy: many democrats said biden's statement fell short. lucy flores said in a statement -- "given the work he has done on behalf of women, vice president biden should be aware of how important it is to take personal responsibility for inappropriate behavior, and yet he hasn't apologized to the women he made uncomfortable."

new mexico's governor has signed a bill abolishing columbus day and replacing it with indigenous people's day on the second monday in october. new mexico joins alaska, minnesota, verermont, oregon, south dakota, and hawaii in honoring indigenous people with a holiday. meanwhile, more than 50 cities acroross the u.s. have also votd to stop honoriring columbus, an italian explorer who massacrcred and enslaved arawawak indigenons people and opened d the door to the european colonization of the americas. and in the philippines, the nation's highest court has ordered the government to release documents about thousands of deaths linked too president t rodrigo duterte's wr on drugs. human rights groups say the release will shed light on extrajudicial killings that opposition lawmakers say have left 20,000 dead since duterte took office in 2016. this comes as award-winning journalist maria ressa pleaded not guilty wednesday to charges of tax evasion, following her second arrest on what she says

are bogus, politically motivated charges. ressa is the founder of the independent news site rappler and a vocal critic of president duterte. she spoke to reporters just after her not guilty plea. >> i still say these cases are all politically motivated. i mean, where in the world you come home on a friday, get arrested, post bail, and on a monday get another arrest warrant and post them again? i had been arrested twice and a little over a month. will fightear but we every single one and hope for the integrity of the men and women who will handle these cases. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin in turkey, where president erdogan's ak party

suffered major setbacks in local elections this weekend after dominating the country's political system since 2003. the ak party lost control in both of turkey's largest cities, istanbul and ankara, and is now disputing the results. voteters expressed frustraration with erdrdogan's autocratic rule and are also facing soaring inflation and rising unemployment. ththis is erdogan speaking a afr the elelection. >> everything three and every loss is the e will of our natio, anand we have to accept this fat as a necessity of democracy. we will admit we want people'ss heartsts in cities we won, but e were not successful enough for the city's we lost and we will act accordingly. nermeen: erdogan's ak party has filed appeals to contest the results from all of istanbul's 39 districts, saying there were irregularities that needed to be corrected and demanding a vote recount. there have also been allegations of voter suppression in kurdish majority regions in the east of

the country. amy: a party chairman called the election "one of the most stained in our democratic history." but other government officials have insisted the electionon was fair. a state-run news agency has said recounts are underway in 18 districts in istanbul, and 11 districts in ankara. for more, we are joined by koray caliskan, faculty fellow at the heilbroner center for capitalism studies at the new school here in new york. he has previously joined us from istanbul, where he was an associate professor of political science at bogazici university in istanbul. welcome back to democracy now! >> thank you very much. amy: talk about the significance of what has taken place in turkey. is this a real earthquake, political earthquake for erdogan ? onit is a small earthquake the richter scale, but it is the beginning of the fall of erdogan 's authoritarianism.

75% of turkish gdp is produced by five cities that erdogan lost. two others.e plus siri interrupting us. confirmed me these are the top five cities in turkey. this is unbelievable. i thought i turned it off. digitalization is dangerous, amy. so i think it is a great moment for democracy now, that the program, but the world, because people have been seeing now authoritarian leaders who swing their competitive authoritarian regimes to full authoritarianism can actually lose with three things happen. which are the reasons of his loss. if the democratic forces do not buy into the

polarization of the authoritarian leader, they win. they focused on their own agenda. they forgot erdogan and just said, this is what we are going to do. this is why we have to come to power, polarization. second, they did not take social media very seriously. social media works to polarize. your social democrat, social media wants you to be established. your right-wing social media wants you to be a fascist. -- they build coalitions with other sectors of the society, including right-wing democrats, plus the economic recession that was the product of erdogan's mismanagement of the economy. nermeen: i want to go to the economic conditions in turkey,

which are really s striking. in august 2018, the value of the turkish lira plummeted, losing 20% of its value against the dollar. inflation at 20%. the federal minimum wage has fallen by about 1010%, etc. first, can you talk about what led to these conditions -- because he was in power for 16 years but the economy began collapsing only recently -- and -- obviously, you referred to him as authoritarian, what were the principal features of his rule? 16 years? >> first, what triggered the economic recession. it is difficult for people to invest in turkey right now because they don't know what is going to happen. the rule of collapsed. i was indicted for trying to change the government of turkey. amy: when were you indicted? >> i have been indicted 25 times. i got two jail times, until of three years, and i have another

court case. but i'm not alone. wherever you are, whoever is criticizing erdogan right now is held accountable. i have three years now and probably i'm going to get to more him a but they are all different. this is how he is silencing dissent. this is what happened. when rule of law collapses, when people, dogin to ask you really want to change the government? when they say yes, this is a democracy, my job as the opposition is to change, right? they became so relaxed that they began to indict people for trying to change the government. like -- changing by terroristic means. it is a social movement of 71 cities in 73 cities of turkey which is like 95% of the cities.

so the economic crisis happened when people began to pull back from investments as a result of collapse of rule of law. what would be the consequence? imagine when i was on your show many times from is simple my salary was around $2000 as a university associate professor in the public sector. now it is around $1000. so this means recession for middle-class people like us. think about the working class. who are not even dreaming -- amy: $1000 a -- >> a month. not a week. potatoes oneto buy by one instead of kilogram, which is two times more than pound. so one potato, one onion. what did erdogan do? he said, look, people are trying to play with our economy and

this is terrorism, related to the united states of america and other foreign forces -- it is always the foreign forces. egghe put the blame on the sim which made it kind of difficult for the general people. and he said people who criticize me are terrorist -- nermeen: what does that mean come eggplant terrorism? >> it is so expensive, they are trying to correlate terrorism with the price of eggplants. amy: explained, though, he recently extended his term, so whatat does it mean of these regional elections to have him lose in his kind of hometown of his symbol and ankara, the significance of this, and will this mean his term could decrease? >> it may happen and it may not happen. he still won more people's

votes. but in this election, the grassroots activity made it possible for people to look at ballot boxes. elections are determined not by voters, but vote counters. you don't have a problem during vote count, you may believe in democracy. verye other second significant consequence of this election, amy, is the following. it was an unlevel playing field. imagine the super bowl and wanting does not have helmets and padding. and then they're trying to stop the other team. the team without a helmets and the padding or social democrats, and they stopped ak party steam with huge helmets and referees were helping them and they had padding. so this is a great message to the world. stay with from polarization of the autocratic leader, believe in democracy, believe in

grassroots activity. , carry yourr message, and then keep an eye on the ballot box. things may change in the next general election. this is the local election. but this is how authoritarian parties feed their electorate. they use local city sources to send cash support to their electorate. losing his symbol and ankara is a big blow. nermeen: erdogan said it himself, whoever wins is to bowl wins turkey. and he was previously the mayor of istanbul himself. could you talk about what has been happening in terms of the economic crisis in turkey, also the relationship with the u.s., turkey's relationship with the u.s., which has taken a turn for the worst after turkey has bought or isis negotiating an as deal with russia. done and theeal is

missiles seem to be coming to turkey. they did not back down from it, which is a big blow to the nato allies. you do not want to buy guns from a dictator, right? you want to strengthen your army .eing loyal but it becomes very difficult for turkey to be loyal to its coalition because president wherecreated a context world leaders and citizens around the world do not understand what the united states is trying to do. some people do not trust in the united states and its leadership right now. on top of this, we h had a blooy coup attempt, organized in part by -- who lives in america right now. and a lot of people in turkeyy know he was bebehind us. nermeen: if you could explain who he is. whoe is a clear, an imam

used to help people play and n empire.uilt a problem -- this as a not amy: they were once close? >> they were very close. they were working together. go on left turkey and has been living here in exile. amy: in the poconos. >> yes. and what happened was his followers in the army organized a factionalism coup and failed in turkey because everyone was against him -- democrats, liberals, secular's, is lummis. erdogan once and it recent to turkey for reasons that are legitimate and the u.s. government says no. everyone in turkey wants him back. thegan is a part of

legitimate political world in turkey. secular people are not afraid of erdogan but they would be afraid of golan. stayed away, try to affect it with other sources like thee military bureaucracy. amy: when we last interviewed you, tens of thousands of turkish people have been arrested by erdogan -- dissidents, teachers, professors from all source of people. this issue of global geopolitics week, viceust this president pence, warning turkey against going ahead with its plan purchase of the russian-made s 400 missile system hours after the turkish foreign minister said the acquisition was a done deal, pence saying this would be a threat to nato. as we wrap up, were turkey stands now, saying like many countries they don't know how to deal with an extremely unpredictable u.s. president,

but where it stands now in alliances in the world? amy: the united states leadership is doing worse. says everyone has to listen or we going to teach a lesson, no one is .2 -- diplomacy is different than policy. of americanen part politics radar right now. what you use this to alienate erdogan? just tell him what can be done and then move on. the u.s. recognizes jerusalem as the capital and tries to say, ok, syrian's golan heights can be is really property and everyone is looking at it, this is coffeehouse talk. this is. diplomacy and politics. pence made it difficult for erdogan to step back bubut erdon is known to change his position very rapidly if he thinks he is and he canragmatist

change his position because the last time when he tried to blackmail american government with a -- sending a pastor to jail and then home arrest, he lost it and had to send it back leduse american sanctions to a deepening of the recession and crumbling of the dollar, against the dollar. amy: we will continue to follow turkish politics. a faculty fellow at the heilbroner center for capitalism studies at the new school here in new york. when we come back, massive algerian protests toppled president. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we turn now to algeria, where after two decades in power, longtime president abdelaziz bouteflika resigned on tuesday. the move came shortly after military leaders called for him to step down.. the 82-year-old president has been in power for two decades and has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013. algerians have gathered in mass

protests for weeks demanding he resign as well as an overhaul of the current political system. on tuesday, algeria's army chief of staff demanded the president's removal. hours, if you were shown handing is resignation letetter. republicesident of the mr. bouteflika officially announces today the decision to end his role as president of the republic to the constitutional council effective today. nermeen: on tuesday night, algerians took to the streets of the capital algiers to celebrate bouteflika's departure. >> i went out to celebrate the resignation of bouteflika. god willing, we will have a 100% democratic transition, which is very important. we need to remove the whole previous regime, and that is the

hardest thing. it is hard to do it peacefully, but i've trust in the algerian people to keep it peaceful, to move to a institutions and not gangs and everything will be good, god willing. amy: protest began in february after he announced he would not run for a fifth term.. he then with true his candidaday under immense pressure but postponed the election, sparking fear he would seek to remain in power through 2019 or beyond. student groups are calling for new protest friday to demand an overhaul of algiers political system and an end to the ruling class which has been in power for decades. for more, we're joined by sihem , an algerian-born activist who moved to the us in 2010 after winning the visa lottery. she founded the group sandbyme to promote algerian and north african culture. she's in close touch with her family members and protest leaders in algeria. it is great to have you with us. talk about the significance of what has just taken place. top protests in the streets

out the long-standing president. >> the biggest thing i think about the protest was the resignation of the president was a first step, not really whether protester did out to be and the goal of the protest. this has been going on -- this is about a party that is been in power since 1962 from independence of the french colonization. this has been a close circle of 'sople where while bouteflika is a good first step -- resignation is a good first up, it is more than that. the people don't want just him to resign, but revamp the entire government and the entire constitution and make sure this never happens again. nermeen: i want to go back to some of the thousands of protesters who gathered in central algiers to pressure

the president to resign. >> we came out today to show all of the people in the 48 su these reject this regime. i say to the regime that we came out here peacefully and in a civilized democratic way. 20 years enough, so get out. algeria has many candidates who are confident to stay on the job. confident to stay on the job. algeria does not deserve this. we deserve to live in peace. nermeen: that is one of the many thousands of protesters demanding bouteflika's resignation. you say the protests were not just about that or even principally about that. can you explain. hasn't beendent seen since 2013 when he e had a stroke. the entire -- wey: hasn't been seen, yo are talking about many years.

>> he has that made any public appearances since 2014 and barely -- the loophole of pictures from the 1990's and the early 2000's when they wanted have -- nermeen: he is p paralyzeded? > he is paralyzed and he is been and will chair amy: we're seeing videos of him in the wheelchair. >> he's been going back and forth to different countries to make sure that he has a follow-up with his medical condition. he hasn't really been in power. i think the algerian people understand that. we know the power is not really him. he might be the face because he used to be popular in the early term, and ms. had the will of the people, but right now he is just the face of a corrupt government, of something beyond him, and that isis why the algegerian peoplple are not aboo

accept the resignation -- amy: would you call what started in february a new arab spring?g? is it true protest is illegal in algiers, the capital? >> yes. the protest are illegal in algiers. amy: is protest illegal throughout algeria? >> no, just the capital. this new era of protest, the main thing most people have shared with on social media and everywhere with the organizers and the algerian people, was that the main thing needs to be peaceful, not another arab spring, not to show any kind of pictures or any footage of people destroying property. the main thing was peaceful throughout the entire protest everywhere. it is not just in algiers, but solidarity between the entire --

throughout the entire country with algiers, iran, multiple cities has been out in the streets since the end of february. think is awhy i little bit different than the arabab spring is it is not jusu- there is no end of just one person. they are trying to have an entire revamp of the constitution, a change of the power not just by having one person resign or even one party resign, it is a first step in the firstera for much longer process that the people are asking for. amy: elections are due to be held in 90 days. many in algeria have been talking about the black decade that followed the 1991 election, theh islamist parties won

military canceled their victory and then there were several years, almost a decade, of civil war. so if you could talk about -- diedlmost 200,000 people in that violence. first of all, could you talk about whether people are concerned that the upcoming election will not be fair or may result in a similar outcome? role wasbouteflika's during the civil war? >> this is exactly why the protest -- the people are demanding for more than just the resignation of bouteflika. the main thing is bouteflika's popularity was the highest -- there was the war and then the people inar with the these protests, which is why they want to have a complete different kind of outcome, which is right now after president bouteflika resigned, the

president of the senate will take power. that is for the next 90 days until there is a new election. right handflika's and had been in power about the same time as the som and also seen as one of the major players 's stroke.eflika the main thing is, as i said, after bouteflika's after the civil war was he came out -- he was nice to people. you change the perception about algeria. he started a lot of good things. the irony is if he came out after his two terms and did not change the constitution, the running as much as he wants to get more power to the president and the senate, this -- the protest would have been completely different. it w would have been about the n

party, more than just one president. which is w why the algerian peoe are not stopping here. there's another protest organized for friday. the current until president resigns. it is not just one person. -- in theto have constitution, it says when the --sident resigns from resigns from the interim presidency, there is a clause that mentions the committee needs to vote in a new person by majority to kind of oversee the 90 days and make sure there is a fair election in a democratic process. that is the first up the protesters are asking for. because the system has been -- there is been so much corruption. since the 1960's.

these people are mainly organized by younger generations. algeria itself is 70% of the population is under 35. even know the first steps to ask for the rest of the senate to decide for a new president to receive a new election in 90 days, , it is far more than tha. it is the first step to have an entire change. nermeen: you said the younger generation, 75% of the population is below 35, what are the demographics of the protesters? where are they from? what kind of work do they do? are they principally students? how did they come together, social media? of the is the beauty protest and why it is been so successful is their giving an example of civic engagement, of peaceful protest and join with the power of the people is. it might have started out with younger generations on social media and everything, but it kind of now became an overall protest for all of the different

generations because the younger generations do not remember the 1960's and remember mostly the civil war of the 1990's and do not have this admiration for the party and bouteflika himself. but the older generation now is in solidarity with the younger generation, not because they forgot what happened or the fln party got them to the independence from french, but mainly because they see people 80 years old and over do not have the same idea as ember people. they want a different economy, have different ideologies, what freedom, and technology. mostly, they are doctors, transcends between different people. the good thing about that is you can see there is been a lot of integration throughout the years -- immigration throughout the years to france of people trying

to travel through the seas. there's a lot of debt. since the start of the protest, there's been no attempt to which showsalgeria, wit it is beyond these protests, but trying to start a whole new life. amy: sihem mellah-sliker, they can for being with us, algerian born activist who moved to the promoted the0 and group -- founded the group sandbyme to promote algerian and north african culture. she's in close touch with her family members and protest leaders in algeria. she is currently an adviser to new york state senator andrew gounardes and serves on the board of nypan, or new york progressive action network. when we come back, yellow vest protesters take to the streets for the 20th straight week in france. ♪ [music break]

this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh.

nermeen: we end the show in france, where yellow vest protesters took to the streets saturday for the 20th straight week of anti-government demonstrations, in spite of the french authorities' clampdown on the movement. last month, the french government deployed military forces and banned protesters from marching on the champs elysees and other areas after clashes with the police, nearly 200 arrests, and damage to businesses by some protesters. police used tear gas and water cannons on crowds in paris. activists, who are now fewer in their march in paris on the place du trocadero. this is yellow vest organizer sophie tissier. looks we're simply getting organized. we're facing a government crushing us in the media. we do not have the same media strength as the government to highlight our ideas. they're are discrediting us. they are lying about us. french interior minister is lying when he says we do not

have any demand. he is a liar. i think it is unacceptable in aa democracy that a government can be as deceiving and can bear such irresponsible words. the government keep some lighting fires. do they want a round of protest similar to march 16? is that what they want? to they want people to turn to violence and insurgency because of their scorn? amy: more than 33,000 demonstrators nationwide joined the demonstrations saturday, down from nearly 300,000 in november, according to government estimates. the weekly protests began last year when france announced plans to hike gas taxes, with demonstratators across france taking to the streets to protest french president emanuel macron's government. the demonstrators gained their name by wearing the yellow safety vests that french drivers are required to keep in their cars in case of emergency. since ththen, in protests thatat have now lasted five months, the yellow vests have e called out macrono's pro-o-business economc policies, demanding fair wages for working and middle class people and heavier taxation on the wealthy.

we are going to paparis where we are joined by journalist alexis poulin. he is co-founder of the news website le monde moderne. welcome to democracy now! when this first started happening at the end of last year and it were protesting the gas tax, and world media they were sort of thing described as anti-environmentalists. but if you can explain the fundamental protest movement that this has become and the challenge to the french leadership? >> as you said, it started with the tax asked in the middle class saying enough is enough. it was starting with a live.e. the government said the tax was to find ecological -- fund ecological reforms, which was not the case. it was just a bit more money to the government budget. within the five months that have passed, small protest on roundabouts become a raging crisis and sort of -- one of

occupyevolutions like wall street, for example. now people are marching for macron to stop his pro-business, ideology. is it is still on five months and going on to six months. despite the violence of the police and the government trying to stop the movement. nermeen: france has a long and andst history of protests demonstrations against the government, but many commentators say the yellow vest movement has no precedent in french history. do you agree? , often when you

refer to france, there is the inolution in 89 and then 1968. this is different in the sense that it has been going on for five months. there have been different weekends, but every saturday there is a different color to it. it is yeyeow, but itit can be vo let or not. what is different is we have people marching from very different backgrounds. now is to be heard. their claims are for more democracy, more tax justice, and a future for their kids. a lot of the people in the streets are in retirement age, and they are saying, i think my grandson or grandchildren won't have a better future than what i lived. french defense of the

wealthy estate has to be taken into account. what is different from the past of may 1968 or the other manifestation we had, is the unions are far beyond the popular movement of the yellow vest. they are not clearly supporting it in their trying to defend themselves from the yellow vest protesters to nermeen: could you talk about the state response to these protests. you alluded earlier to the violence that has been inflicted on the protesters but also the fact the french state following the protests in some of the damage that was done last month that they have deployed the operation's internal forces. can you explain what that operation was and the significance of these armed to soldiers with automatic weapons patrolling the streets of paris? >> yes. in france, since the terror

2016, we have a central operation. they are people from the army patrolling the streets and public buildings to prevent any terror attack's. during the past yellow vest march, they were there and they are protecting public monuments. there's not supposed to be confronting the protester. what was not clear is when the government said they would theire more army forces for 20th. there were a lot of questions about why are you using army? this is not a democracy that should be doing that. there have been some clarifications saying the be as everrces will only looking after the monuments and the buildings and public places, but certainly not confronting the protester. but what it says about this government is that it is

eterlating and violence d people to go marching in the streets. there have been over 2000 people who have been injured by the flash fall weapon -- flash ball weapon and people have lost limbs and all of this without any coverage by the french media . onee journalist monitored all of these police violence so talk about government violence. amy: many have commented on the lack of racial diversity of the protests. immigrants, minorities suffering the disproportionate rates of unemployment a and party, yet ty are not leading these protests. talk about who is being represented here. beginning and the roundabout, there was more diversity. women and people from

communities. right now you could say the people marching every week and are more the sort of small-town france or the people that are on the fringe. they are the invisible people for the elite, the people who govern. there is something similar to what you have in the u.s. were you have the cities against a rural country. the trump america, to some extent, but also protesters coming from the left wings. all political colors are there. but clearly, the people left behind globalization and we can see what is the deal for them in this march toward a global market. amy: and the comments that if black french people who were protesting, there were be many more injuries, that they would be attacked or could be

killed. and also, what about the charges of racism a and anti-semitism? >> yes, i mean, the government has tried everything to stop the movement. police violence, we talk about it. the other thing was also too pretend the moveve meant was anti-semitic, racist, to prevent people from joining the movement. .t is not of course, you have some people with the believes, but certainly not the vast majority of people in the yellow vest movement. and they key about police violence, as you state, mainly going on for years in french suburbs and talk about -- this is now where the people that are mostly white people from rural regions, it is interesting what is the violence in france. nermeen: could you also talk about the way in which macron

has responded to the protests? hehe is disliked intentionally - intensely for the outright contempt that he has demonstrated towards the poor in france, telling for instance, labor activist who he was in a dispute with while he was economic minister, who pointed out the labor activist pointed out that macron's suit was worth 1600 euros, and a crime responded by saying, well, the best way to afford a suit is to work. and there are several examples of comments like this that macron has made. >> yeah, macron is very famous for his little comments. the first two months, he was in denial. he did not even want to talk or mention the movement. it was just as if it did not exist. after that, he tried to give out

some money and make some measures to answer the claims of the protesters. and what we see after that, he did not work to stop the movement so came in, the violence of the police forces. now what we have is macron touring france with -- supposed at french people talking to each other in finding solutions to get out of this crisis. but the big debate has so far been a stand up for macron talking to mayors, talkative people, talking to kids, talking to required -- retired people and exposing his policy. we're coming into a phase where europeanan elections are coming and this is a staged campaign for a p party. clearlynswer has been for the yellow vest rather than a dialogue. what we have now are two camps that are certainly not talking toto each other and dodo not wao stop this fight going on.

amy: where do you see the yellow vest protest going? 300,000 months ago, now are around 30,000, what is g going o happen next? questions the big mark. spring is coming so people who come back to the roundabouts having more meet ups and start again, the movement with more power. right now, clearly, there are less and less people in the streets because of the violence, because of the weather, because of the timing -- it is been six months. but it could be because of the inclusion of the big debate -- conclusion of the big debate, and then will start again a bigger protest. whatever happens, people might stop or take out the yellow vest , the anger in the french society is still there and it will be going on for a few years without political solutions. amy: alexis poulin, thank you

for being with us journalist , based in paris. he is co-founder of the news website le monde moderne. that does it for our show. you can sign up for our daily digest them our news

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