04/22/19 04/22/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> i heard the explosion and then the roof fell. i took the children and ran from the door. hospital, somehe a family on the ground. amy: nearly 300 dead and 500 injured in eight blasts in sri lanka in one of the largest terrorist attacks ever to hit asia. we wilill go to the capital of i

lanka, london, and a washington, d.c., for the latest. then millions celebrate earth day today following a week of enormous climate activism here in the u.s. and abroad with more than 950 people arrested in the u.k. after a week of actions with the group extinction rebellion. we will speak with indigenous environmentalist dallas goldtooth. >> when it comes to trump and these cronies part of the fossil fuel regime, we're dealing with nothing short of the ideological descendents of custer, whose hubris and shortsightedness is leading us closer and closer to the brinink of c climate chaos d destructction. -- we happen to be leading the charge to push back against that. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

in sri lanka, nearly 300 people were killed and more than 500 injured after a series of bomb attacks tore through churches and luxury hotels across the island nation on sunday. a first round of deadly attacks hit busy easter services at catholic churches s in the heart of sri lanka's minority christian community y in and around the capital colombo, as well as in t the eastern city of batticaloa. bombs also exploded in three luxury hotels in colombo, with another blast striking a hotel near a zoo south of the capital, and a final blast at a private home believed to be tied to the attackers. sri lankan government officials blamed a local islamist extremist group called the national thowheed jamaath for the attacks, prompting a nationwide curfew for more than 21 million people. auththorities also shut down all social media sites in the wake of the attack, including

facebook, whatsapp, and instagram. meanwhile, sri lanka's telecommunications minister sasd a government memo circulated by sri lanka's top police official 10 days earlier warned of a possible attack but that the warning was ignored. after headlines, we'll go to colombo, london, and washington, d.c., for the latest. on capitol hill, house judiciary committee chair jerrold nadler has subpoenaed the justice department to turn over an unredacted version of the mueller report, along with all evidence obtained by mueller's investigators about russian meddling in the 2016 election. the subpoena came as president trump p and his media surrogates continued to insist the report showed no evidence that trump obstructed justice and that no one on the trump campaign committed a crime in 2016 when donald trump jr., jared kushner, paul manafort, and others met a russian lawyer promising dirt on

hillary clinton. this is president trump's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, speaking on cnn on sunday. >> any candidate in the whole world in america would take information -- >> from a hostile foreign sosource? > who says it is even a lega? amy: on friday, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren became the first 2020 democratic presidential hopeful to call for impeachment proceedings against president trump over what she called his repeated efforts to obstruct the mueller investigation. >> i tookan oath to the constitution of the united states. the consnstitution is clclear te accountability for the president -- that is the impeachment process. amy: mueller left whether president trump should be indicted or found guilty of obstruction of justice to congress. another democratic presidential secretary,former hud

said it would be perfectly reasonable f for congress to ben impeachment hearings. house progressives, including prominent russian lawmakers alexandria ocasio-cortez and rashida tlaib, are also calling for trump's impeachment. that contrasts with senior democrats, including house majority leader steny hoyer, who said last week impeachment is "not worthwhile at this point." in afghanistan, suicide attackers stormed the ministry of communications in the capital kabul on saturday, trapping thousands of people inside the building for hours while security forces battled the assailants. at least 10 people died in the fighting. the self-proclaimed islamic fore group claimed credit the attack, which came a day after the peace talks between taliban and afghan leaders broke down in qatar, with no immediate plans to reschedule negotiations. in libya, the death toll from fighting around tripoli has

risen to at least 22227, with me than 1100 injured since a libyan warlord launched an assault on the capital l city on april 5. the world health organizatioion said sunday the fighting has displaced d more than 30,000 people. the fighting pits the u.n.-backed d government of national accord against a militia led by former libyan american general khalifa haftar, who allegedly controls much of eastern libya. he has dual u.s.-libyan citizenship and is a former cia asset. on friday, the white house revealed that president trump spoke by phone with haftar on april 15. according to a statement, trump "recognized field marshal haftar's significant role in fighting terrorism and securing libya's oil resources, and the two discussed a shared vision for libya's transition to a stable, democratic political system." news of trump's support for haftar drew thousands of

protesters into tripoli's martyrs' square on friday. >> we, the libyan people, are against trump. we want civilian rule. we want to live as other people do. amy: in algeria, hundreds of thousands of people returned to the streets of the capital algiers after friday prayers, calling on leaders of an interim government to resign and for sweeping democratic reforms. the protests come less than three weeks after longtime president abdelaziz bouteflika resigned amid a popular uprising. algeria's military has promised national elections on july 4. protesters are demanding an overthrow of algeria's entire ruling elite, who have been in power since the country gained independence in 1962. in morocco, thousands marched on the parliament in the capital city rabat on sunday, demanding

the release of 42 activists jailed for organizing nonviolent protests that call for social and economic reforms. the demonstration came two weeks after an appeals court in casablanca upheld prison sentences of up to 20 years against the acactivists, who've since launched a hunger strike to protest their confinement. in sudan, protest leaders say they've cut off talks with the ruling military council that replaced long-time leader omar al-bashir earlier this month. sit-in protesters continue to hold the space outside the military's headquarters in the capital khartoum. protest leader mohamed al-amin said sunday the military could not be trusted to oversee a transition to democracy and civilian rule. >> to the masses of f our peopl, the role of f the armed forces s rule, but to protect the

borders of the country. there's no recognition for any anysitional authority or coup d''etat authority. any such authority will be metet with complete rejection by us or any military power, and all of this will be considered unlawful. amy: the african union has given sudan until the end of april to install a civilian government or face possible removal from the africacan union. on saturday, prosecutors saiaid omar al-bashir wilill face chars of money l laundering after a search of his home turned up cash totaling more thahan $130 million. al-bashir r has been heleld in a mamaximum-securi p prison sincne last wk.k. that follows his ouster by the military on april 11. it is a notorious prison where he had so many people imprisoned and assassinated. in ukraine, a political novice who played a president on television won a landslide national election sunday over incumbent president petro poroshenko.

41-year-old comedian volodymyr zelensky leveraged his celebrity in a campaign that saw him promise to root out corruption and to end the war against pro-russian sepaparatists in eastern ukukraine. the u.n. says the conflict h h killed 13,000 peoplele, a quartr of them civilians, since fighting broke out in 2014. inin his hit comedy "servant of the people," zelelensky portraya president who resigns after facing d down the international moneryry fund. but as a candidate, zelensky promised to cooperate with the imf as it doles out multibillion-dollar loloans to ukraine in exchange for unpopular austerity programs. in france, riot policece fired tear gas and water cannons saturday to disperse thousands of yellow vest protesters, who took to the streets of paris and other cities for the 23rd straight weekend. the weekly protests began last year to call out president

macron's pro-business economic policies, with demands for fair wages and higher taxes on the wealthy. many of the protesters are resentful that wealthy donors funding the reconstruction of paris's notre dame cathedral will get huge tax breaks. after so much of the cathedral was damaged. this is a 62-yeaear-old retiree who joined saturday's protests. >> the moment i saw the notre-dame burning, i was overcome with emotion. but when i saw such large donations of money to save notre dame, my long-held thoughts were proven absolutely true that these billionaires donating this money will get tax breaks as large as if they had donatat nothing. will this put more pressure on memeo be here e today and to continue defending the little people of whom i am part. amy: elsewhere, more than 2000, activists held a nonviolent blockade of france's environment

ministry just outside of paris on friday, calling out government complicity with fossil fuel companies and the banks that fund them. climate activists are calling it one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in french history. the blocockade also successfully targeteded french oil giant totl societe e generarale, an investt , , bank that funds dirty y eney projects, and a state-run electric utility that relies heavily on nuclear power. in london, police have cleared parliament square and the the oxford circus shopping district of sit-in protesters with the group extinction rebellion, as they continue a week of actions demanding urgent action on climate change. since mid april, london police arrested nearly 1000 people as protesters stopped trains, blocked roads, and superglued themselves to buildings in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. on sunday, 16-year-old swedish climate activist greta thunberg

joined the protests. >> we are now facing an existential crisisis, , the clie crisis and ecological crisis, which have nevever been treateds crisis before. they have been ignored for decacas. way too long, the politicians and the people in power have gotten away with not doing anynything at all to fight andclimate crisis ecological crisis, but we will make sure they will not get away with it any longer. amy: last week she was welcomed to the vatican by pope francis or she urged the pontiff to join her international climate strike. back in the unit states, the fbi has arrested the head d of a vigilante militia group that has repeatedly filmed itself holding migrant border-crossers at gunpoint in new mexico.

69-year-old larry mitchell hopkins is the leader of the far-right, pro-trump group calling itself united constitutional patriots, which the aclu described a as an "armd fascist militia a organization." his arrerest saturday on f fires charges s comes 12 years a aftee was arrested in n oregon for unlawfully imperersonating a police officer. lalast week, videos posted on social media showed members ofof hopkins' mililitia pursuing migrants in new mexico's desert west of el paso, texas, holding them at gunpoint and coordinating their arrests with u.s. border patrolol agents. in washington state, an investigation by the guardian reveals a prominent republican lawmaker held private discussions with far-right figures ababout spying on political opponents and even targeting them with violence. records from the private chat room show state representative matt shea discussed disrupting a

planned demonstration by antifascist protesters in spokane with jack robertson, host of the far-right show "radio free redoubt." and also with anthony bosworth, a veteran of the 2016 occupation of the malheur national wildlife refuge by an anti-government militia. the chat logs show shea agreed to carry out background checks on the protesters and did not object when robertson proposed attacking a woman activist with the threat, "fist full of hair, and face slam, to a jersey barrier. treat them like communist revolutionaries. then shave her bald with a k-bar u.s. marine corps field knife." after the guardian published its expose washington's lieutenant , governor called on republicans to eject representative shea from their caucus. in massachusetts, commerce ltin has become

the 19th democrat enter the 2020 presidential race. he is a 40-year-old veteran of the u.s.s. marines who touted hs military service in a campaign video announcing his candidacy. yes promised to grow the u.s. economy while battling climate change and enhancing u.s. cyber security. and some 31,000 grocery workers at hundreds of stop & shop stores across new england have entered a 10 day strike after reaching a tentative contract with the supermarket chain. the workers are claiming victory after the company met their demands for pay increases, a better health insurance plan, and other benefits. the ststrike has ended.. and d those are some of thee headlines. this is democrcracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in sri lanka, where government officials say a local islamist extremist group called the national thowheed jamaath carried out a series of eight bombings on easter sunday at catholic churches and luxury

hotels throughout sri lanknka. the attackcks killed at least 20 peopople, injured more thahan 50 and left behind scenes of carnage and chaos. sri lankan police have arrested 24 people in connection with the attacks. today,y, monday, another bomb exploded in a van near a church where scores were killed the previous day as bombmb squad officials were trying to defuse it. this comes as many residents are still searching for their loved ones from sunday's attacks. >> she went to church yesterday. we kept calling her but there was no response. we did not hear from her, even in the night. that is why we came here first thing in the morning. amy: the round of attacks on sunday hit busy easter services at churches in the heart of sri lanka's minority christian community in the cities of colombo, negombo, and

batticaloa. bombs also exploded in three luxury hotels in the capital city of colombo -- the shangri la, cinnamon grand, and kingsbury. another blast hit a hotel near the zoo and a final blast struck house in dematagoda, during a raid in connection with the attacks, officials said. three police officers were killed. sri lanka's president said in a statement that "international organizations" were behind what he called "acts of local terrorists." the statemement alsoso said thae government would implement anti-terrorism measures that give a additional powers to police. sri lanka's health minister spoke momonday about the death toll. >> nearly 300 people have died from over 500 have been injured. some arere disabled. so we are very, very sorry as a government and we have to

apologize to the families aboutt this i incident. amy: the government's apology comes amid questions about whether more preventative measures could have been taken. sri lanka's minister of telecommunications said a warning of a possible attack, but the warning was ignored. after the eight explosions on sunday, sri lankan officials forced the country of 21 million to go on a dawn to dusk curfew. officials also blocked several social media networks in the wake of terrorist attacks, including facebook and whatsapp, as well as youtube, instagram, snapchat, and -- sunday's violence comes after a decade of relative peace in sri lanka following the end of its 25-year civil war in 2009. we hope to be going first to the

cap p of sri lanka. we're trying to reach bhavani fonseka, senior researcher with the centre for policy alternatives in colombo. the phone lines have been difficult. thank you so much for joining us. can you describe what is happening in the capital? me.hank you for having as we speak, there seems to have been another explosion in colombo today near where one of the explosions happened yesterday. there continues to be security risks and uncertainty in colombo and across sri lanka. what happened yesterday, the attacks, is also unprecedented. it comes 10 years after the end of the war. it is a very novel situation for many. coordinated attacks at the same nearly 300w caused

lives, possibly more. we don't know at the moment. had a high casualty number as well as many others injured. so the s situation in colombo is very uncertain. and with securitity situation ns we speak, explosions happening, we really don't know where things stand at the moment. amy: so explain exactly what you understand has happened and who this local group is that many, including the government, say could not possibly have carried out this massive level of , eight different explosions now, almost 300 people dead? it is being called one of the worst terrorist attacks in south asia. >> so what happened yesterday on easter sunday, these eight and majorhurches

, and this actually created a lot of fear because people really had no idea. and it came at a time where there was no i information in terms of security threats. since the attacks have happened, the prime minister h has gone on record and given a press conference and today there were several in the government who spoke to the media. and what has transpired is the intelligence had actually informed security threats a few days ago but according to the prime minister and some of the ministers, they were not informed. so there is a huge issue of lapse in security as to why measures were not taken. according to the government, they now claim there's a particular group that seems to

be associated -- this is going on with the government has said. i think we need to be a bit more careful in terms of what really the real situation is. but several arrests have taken place. what we are seeing now is more surveillance, more questioning happening. an explosion today was also, i n terms of suspicious vehicle, and they actually found no explosives. again, as i said, a very new situation in sri lanka. we haven't seen this kind of violence in over a decade. but the coordinated nature of it and from the statements made by the government, they seem to indicate it is a local group but with possible foreign links. this is something we will have to see how it plays out and what more information comes to the public. amy: last year, there were

attacks on mosques and muslim .ommunities that was last year. what happened? and now talk about this targeting, which looks like -- i mean, the three churches were catholic. >> yes. last year, not just last year, but in the recent past, we have ofn several incidents violence. religious minorities have come under attack. this is not the first time a church has been attacked, but this is the largest attack. so there has been other incidents where places of worship have come under attack. whatat happened in marchh 2018 s outside of colombo, different areas, muslim communities -- came under attack.

happened with those incidents but today, we have not seen anyone being prosecuted for the violence that was unleashed over a year ago. so there is a concern in terms of accountability and whether investigations really led to justice. even as recent as a couple of days ago, there is a place of religious worship, a methodist prayer center, that came under by nationalist forces. it is reported it is linked to a political group. so these incidents are not new. it is that isolated. it is the scale and coordinated nature that is new. there is a history. we've had a nearly three decade war, but the conflicts have

remained. what we're seeing postwar since 2009 is more increased attacks on religious lines. there is a serious concern as to what the reasons -- recent state of attacks mean. the terrorist angle and the lack ofs so far, or thee it. these are the main concerns at the moment. amy: if you can explain, bhavani fonseka, there''s been a long history of violence. teh twoence between groups largely came to an end. can you give us that history? >> sri lanka has decades of tension of discrimination violence. this predates the conflict of the war, which convinced in 1983 -- commenced in 1983.

in 2009, the working to improve brutal end. but the discrimination, the targeting, and the of intentions have been there for decades. this was most ident during the war, but it has continued. the n neck lines for several decades, but now we see tetensio, threats, violencnce on the reliligious lines as well. releligiousgest miminorities coming und severe atattack. there has been several businesses a also attacked.d. but unfortunately, as i said, the violencnce, t impunity has continued because there is been

veryry limiteded actions to hole perpetrators to account. in successivive governments, not just the president government, but successive governments have promised action, promised to politicalromised solution, accountability, truth, but nothing has really materialized. so the more recent spate of questioneally begs the whether these incidents can be resolved. i feel it is a new stage we're entering because of the nature of the attack we have seen in the last t 36 hours. many, many more questions than answers at the present moment. amy: can you talk about the shutting down of social media? the history of the youth? the government shutdown whatsapp and facebook and a number of other platforms.

why? government 2018, the fordown certain platforms those living in sri lanka. and the rationale being there were trying to contain the violence, the misinformation being spread. we saw the block on certain social media platforms happening for a couple of days. in sri lanka, the violence 5 yesterday 8:4 morning on easter sunday. commenced a few hours later and is still ongoing. there e is no word whenen this k will be lifted. the rationale from the government is that they need to

monitor, they need to contain the violence. they don't want to spread hate and misinformation. so we will have to see how this will play out. but a worrying announcement today the government is going to bring a state of emergency in sri lanka. and we have a history of emergency during the war. even last year we saw few days where emergency was imposed.d. this could lead to further restrictions in communications in terms of movement. again, something we would have to see as how this plays out. amy: we were going to have you in a live shot in colombo. you had gotten in your car. it just explain the scene in colombo right now. you ultimately could not make your way there in downtown colombo. >> unfortunately, i was going to meet with some of your colleagues at a location near one of the sites which was

attacked yesterday, just outside of colombo, saint anthony's church. your colleagues are there and i was on myy w w when the e second explosion happened. access to that area has been restricted and no one can actually go in. , locacaln local tv media, shows there was ann explicit device they found -- explosive device they found. as i said at the outset, it is a very dynamic s situation on the ground. curfew was enforced yesterday. it was lifted in the mororning. they n now have announced curfew will be imposed again in a a few hours time. so between curfew and emergegeny captures somein, of the security concerns. but the large issue, concerns as to how those would be handled

and whether it would be a measured response or whether this would lead to fururther pac and confusion. amy: bhavani fonseka, thank you for being with us, senior researcher, , centre for policy alternatives in colombo, sri lanka. stay safe. this is democracy now! when we come back, we speak with a former tamil political prisoner in the well-known international human rights researcher t. kumar, as well as alan keenan with the international crisis group. stay with us. ♪ [mumuc break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. we continue to look at the situation in sri lanka where a local islamic extremist group called thowheed jamaath carried out a series of eight bombings on easter sunday at church as an ledger hotels throughout sri lanka. the attacks killed nearly 300

pepeople and injururing more thn 500, leaving behind carnage and chaos. sri lankan police have now arrested about 24 people in connection with the attatack. pope francncis condedemned the attacks during his traditional easter sunday message at the vatican. >> dear brothers and sistersrs,i lelearned what sadness the newsf the serious attacks that today, ander day, brought mourning pain. i wish to express my affection and closeness to the christian community hit while it was gathered in prayer and to all of the victims of such cruel violence. and trust inin the lord those wo have tragically died and i pray for r the wounded and for all of those who are suffering as a result of this dramatic event. amy: after the explosions, sri lankan officials forced the country of 21 million to go on a dawn to dusk curfew. officials also blocked social media networks in the wake of

the terrorist attacks. these terrorist attacks, the .orst south asia has seen for more, where joint in london by alan keenan, sri lanka project director at t the international crisis group. thank you for being witith us. can you put this in the global context? were you shocked by what took place? yes, i think everyone was shocked. these are horrific attacks. they rightfully have been condemned by everybody all over the world. i think they really caught sri lanka by surprise. as my friend bhavani fonseka before me was saying, they are unprecedented, even by sri lanka's long history, even relative to its history of political violence. these are atrocious attacks. i think your question is a good are notuse i think theyy only unprecedented in their scale and number of attacks in a single day in the level of organization, but for those

reasons i think -- they are unprecedented in the fact the muslim community has never struck at any other community in sri lanka. the last five or six years of sort of a sustained attack on the community by militants who say they're defending buddhism from the threat of islamic extremism. until yesterday, there was really no tangible evidence of any threat of violence extremism. i think there are a lot of questions to what extent, assuming the police investigations are uncovering the real facts and what have uncovered so far is true, they are wondering -- i think a lot of people are wondering whether the sri lankans who have been arrested were actually acting on their own or to what degree, as the government has suggested, they were working with some other kind of international organization or network. that is one of the big questions

i think that is still to be sorted out. amy: have you heard of this local group? >> not by name. national thowheed jamaath is not an organization of think anyone had really heard of the than perhaps s the police, apparentl, 10 d days ago heard of them. there isis another organization called sri lanka thowheed jajamaathh that has been in the news, known for its violent rhetoric. very aggressive anti-buddhist and antiti-christian rhetoric at times. not known f for its physical viviolence. is group nameded nows national thowowheed jamaath appears to be sortrted part of the same or an aspect or a name for a groupup that a attacked some buddhist statues in decber of last year in thehe centralown. that was really the first act of any viololence whatsoever againt m muslims, to my

knowledge, and sri lanka. it seemed like a l local an isolatated event. police investigations a few weeks later linked that group of young men, who were apparel a responsible for those attacks on buddhist statues, linked them to the discovery of an arms cache in the northwest of the island. that was the first inkling perhaps there was some kind of a local islamist, jihadi type organization at work. but even then it seems relatively modest by sri lankan standards, the threat. so i think what emerged yesterday is really shocking in its scale and has caughtt everyone by surprise. amy: we're also joined by t. kumar, forormer international advocacy director for amnesty international usa. kumar was a political prisoner for over five years in his native sri lanka. he was adopted as a prisoner of conscious and initiated worldwide campaign, amnesty did,

for his release. he began his legal studies there and became a lawyer, devoted his entire praractice to defending popolitical prisononers. t. kumarar, it is great to have you back on democracy now! can you respond what is happening in your native land in sri lanka? asalanan said, the scalele and the e way thingsgs have happenet is new and caught all of us by surprise. there are two aspects to it. thats the ethnic cleansing lasted for 3 30 years and came o an end about 10 yearars ago, totally different from whatt happened yesterdayay, easter sunday. what happened yesterday was allegedly a muslim extremist --roup t tgeted chriristian prominent christian churches on ththe holiesest day, to launch n attack.

we never heard of conflict between muslims and christians to t this extent. there mimight be some low-levevl --sion in parts of the world both are minorities, by the way. theims are about 10% of population, christians are about 6%. so this is a target of christians is more than the local angle. if there's a localal issue, then definitely this group would have attacked buddhist temples. but theyey attacked catholic and christian churcrches. it shows it is more than the local issue. it is more about international. soso that is something i am sure the sri lankan officials are looking into. that is why i think sri lankan authorities are saying this has an international angle to it.

amy: what are you concerned andt right now, t. kumar, how this plays out? you have the sri lankan government apologizing. apparently, this memo came out, warnings at the beginning of april, then mid april, then apparently 10 minutes before the attack. the government has apologized for not heeding the warnings. now they shut down social media, much of social media. and if you can also talk about the role of sosocial media. >> the role of social media, like anywhere else in the world, it is a double-edged swoword. the attack against muslims about a year ago, social media played a major role. basically, created more tension. so the sri lankan government shutdown social media at that titime. standard routinine security procedure thahat the sri lankan

security forces are doing when they see the nature of the attack. there is also another reason, the most important one. if you allow social media and people started posting pictures and statements, then that could create more interreligious violence, physical violence -- christianssts and muslims. that is important to prevent it from taking place. amy: you were imprisoned in sri lanka for five years, a renowned prisoner of conscience, were you begin your legal studies. and now you're represented political prisoners for years. you begin the international advocacy director for amnesty usa tamil about as a what has happened since the confnflicts haveve ended in 200?

>> since the cononflict ended in an issue thats became one of the main issues. it went all the way to the human rights council, , and the councl dodo much urged thehe sri lanka government to initiate some justice process -- which still did not happen. the other aspects are the disappearance of thousands of tamils, others who disappeared. tamil women who are mostly widows. hassituation between tamils turned into a political issue and more of an international justice issue. but ththe muslim issue started about five y years after the war ended. it s started betweween muslims d

buddhistss. bubuddhist natationaliststs stat going after muslims and eruptptd in violence in two different places in sri lanka. earlier, last december, a group of muslims attacked some buddhist statues in the single use areas. were not arrested. .veryone was surprised now it turns out the muslim youth are pretty much organizing themselves a and you're seeining thisis yesterday. amy: what do you think arare the most important questions to ask that the media should be asking about what is happening in sri lanka right now?

of course, it is for important not to jump to any c conclusion. we don't know exactly who is responsible for this attack, which is consider one of the largest teterrorist attacks in south asia. issue thet important media should be focusing on is, number one, the government got intelligence report 10 dayays ao about this specific target. according to the report, ththe intelligence identified churches were going to be a attacked by embassy.bombers and the so they have thehe intelligence, but ththey did not act. either they did not take it seriously or for r whatever rean they did not act. so the question is, why didn't they act? that is the number one question people should ask, the media should ask. number two is, what steps the

sri lankan government is taking to prevent any ethnic religioios angles, violence between muslims and -- both christians and buddhists. there are reports of certain attacks against mususlim shops in c certain part of f sri l la. that also should be raised. and most important, the final ,ne, ensure civivil liberties torture, disappearance are not takiking place in ththe contextf anti-terror operations the governmentnt will be inititiatig now. , asasngerer we are seeieing now jijim f the conflict and the wa, out.ngled

they're going to be the suspects. leaves -- war, single i'm sorry, sri lankan security forces as well as the muslims had a cordial relationship. most of them were recruited as intelligence operatives because the muslims live among tamils. it ispeak the language so easy to be intelligence officers and get information. number two, sri lanka also as aited muslims paramilitary force against tamil - --s, the net armed group the f and armed group. the relationship to the muslimss in the military establishment was very, very close. there are so many senior muslim

ofofficers in the intelligence community, sri lankan .ntelligence community amy: i want to thank you, t. kumar, for joinining us, former international advocacy director for amnesty international usa. was a political prisoner for over five years in his native sri lanka. and alan keenan, sri lanka project director at the international crisis group. earthe come back, it is day. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. millions around the world are celebrating earth day around the world following activism. in the united kingdom, nearly 1000 people have been arrested after a week of actions as demonstrators with a group extinction rebellion shutdown bridges and streets, occupy public landmarks, superglued themselves to trtrains and the shell oil headquartrters, and relative across london to demand radical action on, change. on sunday, greta thunberg addressed a crowd of thousands at londodon's marble arch. >> we are now facing an existential crisis, climate crisis and ecological c crisis, which h have never been treateds crisis before. they have been ignored f for decades.

and for way too long, the politicians and the people in power have gotten away with not doing anynything at all to fight the climate crisis and the ecological crisis, but we will make sure that they will not get away with it any longer. amy: last week she met with the pope. in the u.s., hundreds of protesters rallied at new york city home and marsh across the brooklyn bridge to demand a halt to the proposed william pipeline project which would carry fact gas from pennsylvania shell field under new york harbor for the president trump signed two executive orders earlier this montnth to facilitate the approl of pipeline projects. limiting states ability to write like such projects, the move is intended in part to clear the way for permitting on the northeastern constitution pipeline which is -- was -- has stalled after new york invoked the clean water act to reject the project on of our mental grounds as, activists have filed a federal lawsuit with the aclu challenging three south dakota laws they say violate the first amendment rights of anti-pipeline organizers. earlier this month, nermeen

shaikh and i sat down with organizer with indigenous environmental network dallas goldtooth, who is also one of the plaintiffs i in the e aclu lawsuit. i starteted by asking him to respond to trump's executive orders. >> what we're seeing right now with these executive orders is nothing but an act of aggression against the authority for states to protect their homelands, protect the residents of their state,e, and the land within the borders of the states. mainly targeting the clean water act. really what trump wants to do is take a with the state's ability to enforce environmental regulation against pipeline projects or other infrastructure, fossil fuel projects, and give that power solely to the federal government. trump beingf absurd a representative, figurehead of the republican party, is wholeheartedly addressing and ideologiy the government has to say what happens in the state has little recourse to address

these issues. there are two executive orders. the second one really specifically focuses on the cross-border -- the border crossingngf the pipepelines. in this regard we're talking about keystone xl, enbridge line 3 was one of those pipelines that had to do with crossing the border from canada to transport tar sands oioil. what the president is trtrying o do, and he didid this a cocouplf weeks ago by approving keystone xl a second time, is saying he as the presisident has the sole power to approve these projects and is encouraging the state department to say -- to be only -- to act only as advisors to the president to sign these projects. there is something assiduous and dangerous about this that is a continuing part of trump's legacy for overr a reaeaching gs executive power, the president

he isated that because the president, he is done a federal agency, therefore he is not a holder to any environmental regulations that federal agencies have to follow. in particular, the national environment protection act am ma parts of t the clean waterer ac. he is saying as a president, i don't have to follow those because i'm not a federal agents he. and that is very, very dangerous precedent to start here, especially as we look toward a rapid expansion of fossil fuel development in this country at this current moment and what we're trying to fight against in the protection of mother earth. nermeen: could you talk about some of the efforts that states ,ave been making to resist block these pipelines? in pennsylvania, for example, and elsewhere? >> over the past decade, we have seen a lot of states become more

aware about the dangers of fossil fuel infrastructure projects and the risk they pose to drinking water and clean air. in the big picture, we're seeing a greater understanding about and to therojects climate chaos we are seeing with the increase of greenhouse gas emissions. you are seeing some states like pennsylvania or even new york who are taking steps to address frackingutting more development -- moratoriums on fracking development, more stringent evaluation of pipeline projects and their impacts, whetether it is specific or qloc impacts on climate overall. thene of those examples president has referenced specifically is how new york state has used the clean water of to halt the continuation the constitution pipeline in the ararea. on the flipside, we're also seeing states who are trying their very hardest to increase

fofoil fuel develelopment in thr areas. one way they're doing that is to suppress the ability for common, everyday citizens to publicly protest against them or use the first amendment right to speak out against these projects impacts on their communities. amy: last m month the rainfnfort action network alongng with a coalition of environmental groups, including your group the indigenous environmental network, released its annual fossil fuel finance report card called banking on climate change. the report showed 33 of the woworld's largest banks hahave fifinanced $1.9 trillion into fossil fuel since the paris agreement was signed in 2016. michigan democratic congressmember rashida to leave referenced the report as she questioned ceos from the nation's largest banks wednesday at a congressional hearing called holding megabanks accountable. >> report released two weeks ago

showed fossil fuel lending and underwriting is dominated by big u.s. banks, four which are sitting in front of us -- chase, wells fargo, citi, as well as bank of america. our top four banks in the world financing fossil fuel industry. your bank alone has provided more than $195 billion in fossil fuel lending and underwriting over r the past the years since signing of the paris climate agreement, making your bank the number one funder of fossil fuels in the world. than your provided more 120 $9 billion in foster feel funding over the past three years, number three in a world. america has bank of provided more than $106 billion in fossil fuel funding in the past three years, making it number four in the world. -- don't say you're committed to clean a sustainable

financing becacause your compa's words are not consistent with yo a actions. i will c call this gas lighting. but for the sake of this hearing, i will say your greenwashing your own track record in duping the american people believing you're helping address climate change. on the record, will any of your banks make a commitment to phase out your investments and fossil fuels and dirty energy and a line your selves with the goal of the paris climate agreement to help protect our planet and communities i grew up in? that goes to all of you, if you could answer that. mr. corbett? >> we are in the business of supporting fossil fuel companies, many of which are u.s.-based companies. amy: that is michael corbat, ceo of citigroup responding to that question from michigigan commere memember rashida tlaib. dallas goldtooth, overall, your response to what she is raising?

>> you could hear a penny drop in that room when she asked that question. she raised a great point based on a report, the fossil fuel financial report that was put out. at the top of the list, i mean, that report lists the top banks who are financing fossil fuel .xpansion across the globe j.p. morgan chase is at the top of that, welells fargo is a cloe second. top leading banks in thehe u.s. are all heavily invested in fossssil fuels. that is why we are leading a major divestment campaign to make sure we're holding these banks accountable. ,my: thahat is dallas gololooth activist and organizer with the indigenous environmental network . to hear the whole conversation with alice, you can go to democracynow.org. democracy now! has an immediate opening for our paid, full-time digital fellowship here in our new york city studio. we are accepting applications for paid six-month internships. learn more at democracynow.org.

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