07/18/19 07/18/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, thiss democry y now! >> these days and weeks, two inings he bebeenemonststted. first, ricardo rossello doesn't have the ability to vern. amy: thousands opuerto ricans ke to the streets lling fo the resignioion ofovererno ricardo rosslolo after the leak of nearly 900 pages of

sosogyniic, , hophobicicand violent text messages twtween rosslolo andembebersf hiss staff that also incleded jok abouvictctimof hururcane maria. in one exchange,hehe govnorr callededormer new york city ununcil eakeker lissaa mark-viverito a "whore." >> we're in a difficult moment for puerto rico. we have a leader showing his to face, his immoral character. so for the benefit of ererto rico, he ought to resign. amy: wwill speak with melissa mark-viverito and go to puerto rico for an update. then to syria. as protests against the regime of president bashar al-assad began in 2011, a young economics student began filming on aelell phone in her native city o aleppo. for veve years, waad al-kaab documenteded herife andnd the lives of those around h to make an award-wiing dodomentary entitled "for sama."

you you i know ununderstand whahat is happenin. i can e it in yourur eyes. you never cry like a normal baby wod. that is what breaks my heart. amy: filmmaker waad al-kateab and her husband hamza al-kateab joined us in the studio. all that and more, coming up. welcome to dememocracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the house of representatives voted 332 to 95 on wednesday to table a resolution to impeach donald trump as democrats continued to fracture over whether to seek the removal of the president ahead of the 2020 election. house speaker nancy pelosi has

resisted impeachment calls, focusing instead on congressssional investigations. wednesday's vote came after texas congressmember al green introduced articles of impeachment against president trump -- green's third attempt . ahead of wednesday's vote, green said his latest effort came after trump launched a racist attack against four progressive congresswomen of color -- freshman representatives alexandria ocasio-cortez, ayanna pressley, rashida tlaib, and ilhan omar. >> this president has demonstrated that he is willing to yell fire in a crowded theater. and we have seen what can happen to people when bigotry is allowed to have free reign. look at what happened in charlottesville. blood and soil, they screamed. they screamed that jews will not replace us. and one of them took a person's life. as we wait, we risk having the blood of somebody on our hands and it could be a member of congress. amy: on wednesday, president trump doubled down in his racist attacks on the four progressive

congresswomen of color, calling them hate filled extremists who are constantly tryrying to t ter our country down. speaking at a campaign rally in greenville, north carolina, trump singled out each of the four for verbal abuse, including minnesota democrat ilhan omar. pres. trump: omar blamed the united states for the crisis in venezuela. think of that onone. and she looks down with contempt on the hard-working americans saying that ignonorance is persrsuasive -- pervasive in may parts of this country. and obviously and importantly, omar has a histotory of launchig vicious anti-semitic screams. amy: president trump paused as the crowd around him chanted "send her back!" before he continued his attack on

congressmember omar. trump's remarks came one day after the house of representatives voted to condemn his racist tweet telling the four congress members to "go back to the crime-infested places from which they came." trump's tweet appepeared to viviolate federal woworkplace discrimination law. according toto the equal employment opportunity commission -- "examples of potentially unlawful conduct include insults, taunting, or ethnic epithets, such as making fun of a person's foreign accent or comments like, 'go back to where you came from.'" congressmember ilhan omar responded to trump's attack on twitter, quoting the late poet maya angelou -- "you may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, i'll rise." meanwhile, congressmember omar introduced a b bill wednesday tt would protect the right of people to use boycotts to effect social change. house resolution 496 reads in part -- "boycotts have been effectively used in the united states by

advocates for equal rights since the boston tea party and include boycotts led by civil rights activists during the 1950's and 1960's in order to advocate for racial equality, such as the montgomery bus boycott, and promote workers' rights, such as the united farm workers-led boycott of table grapes." the bill is co-sponsored by georgia congressmember john lewis and michigan democrat rashida tlaib, another of the four congresswomen cited by trump in recent racist attacks. this comes as congress members of both major parties have pledged support to a nonbinding resolution that would condemn the boycott, divest and sanctions, or bds, movement against israel over its human rights abuses and its occupation of palestinian lands. the house of representatives voted wednesday to block president trump's move to sidestep congress by allowing u.s. weapons sales to saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. house democrats voted to send three resolutions of disapproval of the sales to the white house, where president trump has promised a veto. just four republicans supported the measures, which would bar

the sale of more than $8 billion of raytheon precision-guided weapons syststems. critics say such weapons have been used to target civilians in the saudi-led war on yemen, which has sparked the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. meanwhile, the white house said wednesday it will deploy 500 u.s. troops to the prince sultan air base in saudi arabia as president trump continues to ratchet up tensions with the kingdom's main regional rival, iran. this comes as iranian state television said today its revolutionary guard forces have seized a foreign oil tanker in the strait of hormuz, with 12 crew members on board. iran accuses the sailors of illegally smuggling hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel to foreign customers. sudan's military rulers have agagreed to share power with civilian opposition groups, capping weeks of tense negotiations following the massacre of nonviolent protesters last month by sudanese soldiers. the agreement will establish an

11-member governing body to rule sudan for the next three years, ahead of elections scheduled for 2022. the agreement was welcomed by sudan's ruling generals, as well asas sudanese protest leader ibrahim al-amin. >> today we look forward to a new phase, one where we c can me away from the divisiveness. sudan is for all the sudanese people. those who signed here today are part of the revololution and are part of the sudanese people. the services and support wilbur reflecting in the coming government. amy: last month, soldiers with the ruling transitional military council opened fire on sit-in protesters demanding democratic reforms, killing more than 100 people and wounding more than 500 others. the world health organization has declared a global health emergency, as medical workers struggle to keep an ebola outbreak from spreading beyond the democratic republic of congo. since last summer, the outbreak has infected over 2500 people, killing nearly 1700 of them.

in recent days, the virus was found in goma -- a city of nearly 2 million people and a regional crossroads onon the d's border with rwanda. thousands of puerto ricans took to the streets wednesday calling for the resignation of governor ricardo rossello following the leleak of a series osexixist and olent text messas s betwn rossello a m membe of f hi cabinet atat alsinclclud jokeses about victims of hurrinene ria.a. whilththe preststs we largrgy peaceful, police teargassed demotrtratorfor r thsecondnd straight night and madmumultip arsts. prests also took pcece in w york where hundreds gather in uniosqsquareark.k. this i iformer new york citit council member governor rossello called awhore. >> we also have the moral character, the governor, who is appealed to the trust that only from his own party but also from the puerto rican people so he can be an effective leader. rico,e benefit of puerto

he ought to resign. amy: after headlines, we will be joined by melissa mark-viverito and go to san juan for the latest on the protests. the house of representatives voted wednesday to hold attorney general william barr and commerce secretary wilbur ross in contempt of congress for refusing to turn over documents related to their work on the 2020 census. democrats are seeking information on how trump administration officials sought to add a citizenship question to upcoming census forms. in may, "the new york times" reported that a senior republican strategist who specialized in gerrymandering was secretly behind the efforts, arguing privately y that adding the question would benefit republblicans and hurt democrat. republican senator rand paul on wednesday blocked passage of a bill to fund health care for first responders to the 9/11 attacks. the september 11th victim compensation fund, which serves those who became sick as a result of their work following the 2001 terror attack, is set to run out of funding next year without congressional intervention.

senator paul's move came less than a week after the house approved a bill reauthorizing the fund on a vote of 402-to-12. a federal judge in new york city has sentenced the notorious mexican drug kingpin joaquin "el chapo" guzman to life in prisonn plus 30 years after he was convicted on a host of charges including money laundering, international narcotrafficking, and weapons charges. reading from a prepared statement wednesday at his sentencing hearing in a federal court in brooklyn, guzman complained about his solitary confinement in u.s. custody, calling it "psychological, emotional and mental torture 24 hours a day." guzman expected to be imprisoned at a notorious supermax prison in colorado known as the alcatraz of the rockies, where he'll likely be granted minimal interaction with other people for the rest of his life. newly surfaced video shows donald trump laughing and gesturing at women during a 1992 party with jeffrey epstein,

who's since pleaded guilty to serial sexual assault of children. the video, aired by nbc news on wednesday, shows trump and epstein eyeing nfl cheerleaders invited to a soiree at trump's mar-a-lago resort in florida. trtrump is seen gesturing at a woman and telling epstein, "she's hot." at another point, trump whispers something in epstein's ear, causing him to double over laughing. a federaral judge in manhattan t to rule today on whether epstein will r remain in jail while he awaits trial on fresh charges of sex trafficking of children or be granted bail and allowed to remainin under house arrest in s $77 million new york mansion. epstein has reportedly been held three cells away from mexican drug kingpin el chapo in a federal jail in manhattan. in massachusetts, prosecutors have dropped charges against actor kevin spacey after his accuser refused to testify about a missing cell phone that allegedly held evidence of a sexual assault. kevin spacey denies groping the teenager in n a bar in nantutuct in 2016. spacey was fired from the hit

netflix show "house of cards" in 2017 after more than a dozen men accused him of sexually harassing or assaulting them. house lawmakers have ordered an investigation into how the u.s. military experimented with ticks -- experimented with parasites as weapons of war. an amendment to the recently-approved 2020 defensese authorization bill requires the defense department's inspector general to investigate how the u.s. secretly tested disease-carrying ticks and fleas as biological weapons between 1950 and 1975.5. this follows the publication of the book "bitten" by author kris newby, which tells the story of bioweapons researcher willy burgdorfer, who studied weaponized parasites at u.s. government labs. newby contends lyme disease escape from a u.s. government lab at plum island near long island, new york, although that conclusion is widely disputed by medical professionals. in new york city, hundreds of protesters gathered near city hall wednesday to mark the five year anniversary of the death of

eric garner, the staten island man who was choked to death by nypd officer daniel pantaleo as ped, "i can'tas breathe" 11 times. wednesday's youth-led protest and march came a day after the u.s. justice department announced it will not file federal charges against pantaleo, who remains on the nypd force. this is gwen carr, eric garner's mother. >> my son was killed five years ago today. and i am still feeling that same pain. we have to get those officers fired. the ones who were on the scene that day who murdered my son. so we're calling on the de blasio administration, fire those cops! you have the power. essential power. amy: officer daniel pantaleo has remained on the police force but could lose his job and pension if found guilty of violating

new york police department procedures. a disciplinary hearing for pantaleo wrapped up in june and a decision is expected next month. ahead of wednesday's protest, new york city mayor bill de blasio refused to commit to firing pantaleo. the mayor was questioned by darden of the radio station hot 97. >> arere you going to fire offir pantaleo? >> i w will be real with you. there is a law that determines -- first come everyone gets due process. everyone gets it. second, by state law, that is a complete -- police commissioner's decision. i have faith he is a person has worked h hard to make this a ciy that is fair. >> but you are his boss. >> i am following the law. i amam not prejudging or assssu. there will be a decision next month. amy: and on hawaii's big island, police arrested 33 people wednesday, most of them hawaiian elders, as they blocked a road to prevent construction crews from reaching the site of a massive telescope being planned atop the mauna kea volcano.

>> we have a right to worship in the environment of our beliefs. respect it. amy: the site is considered sacr b by nave h hawians w w say the constructionf f the ththir metererelescope was apapoved without consulting ththeicommununies. just hrsrs aft wededneay's arres,s, hawi'democrcric goveoror, dad igige gned a a emerncncy orr grgranng polole more power to eaear thway for constrtition eipmement and the e are me o of e heheadline this idedemocry nonow, democracow.org, e war an peace port. 'm amgoodman. nermeen:nd i'm nermeeshaikh. weome to a of our lieners and views from aund the countrand arou the wor. tens of ousands puerto ricansook to t streets wednesdacalling r the resignatn of govnor ricao ssello flowing t leak of seri of sexi and viont text messas betweea govern and mbers of his tt also

includedokes abo victimsf hurricane maria. this is feminist activist zo davi. >> this is the seventh coconsecivee days that the peope man ricardoe, the rossello resign immediately. these days and weeks, two things ha b been monsnstred. rst, t tt ricardo rossello doesn't t havehe c capity toto govern, nor the nsnsibily toto govern puerto rico. and sendnd, the isis atrongg claim from the people starting with the women to demand his resignation now. nermeen: some of puerto rico's most famous performers, many who were targeted in the leaked messages, joined protesters in the streets. singers ricky martin and bad bunny we in san n juan to address the momonstrion,n, ang th grammwinning artist residee.e. >> we have to defd d oursves.s.

the only idea present tonight i the ststrust and that we wantoto resespeed as a country. isis govnmenent needs to begin respectinghehe country, and this couny y has ver r be rereected. this is historic. we're making hiorory. tonight we are makg g histy. puerto rico does not stand up becauswewe have always bee stanngng. rmrmeen:hilele t protestwere largely peaceful, for second straight night police in san , juan teargassed demonstrators and made multiple arrests. protests also took place here in new york city where hundreds gathered in union square park. that includes "hamilton" creator lin-manuel miranda. >> it should be about the people, transition of power. world here to let the know warare wi youou. amamy:he neaeay 900 pages of

misogynistst, homophobic and violent text messages exananged betweerorossel andnd gernmenen officis s wereeakeked the puerto ro o cent foror investigivive jonalilism in onexcxchang thehe gernorr jokes ouout shtingng s juann mayor caenen yul cruruz d called fmemer neyorkrk cy counl l spear memelia mark-vivero,o, whos anan ay of yulin cr, , a "wre."." markiviveritalsoso ske in n w yor's ion n square on wednesy callinfofor roellolo to regngn. >> we are in a difficult moment for puerto rico. we have in administration, a leader showing his true face, his immoral character. it is coming out in chat, which is worrisome. regarding the investigations from the likes of the ei and puerto rico, so there are accusations of corruption. we have the moral character of the governor who is a feel for the trust not only from his own party but from the puerto rican people so he can be an effective leader. for the benefit of puerto rico, he ought to resign.

two top officials have resigned amy:two top officials have resigned since the scandal broke -- which is being called ricky leaks --but rossello, who is up for reelection next year, is resisting calls to step down, saying the messages were "done on people's personal time" and a result of working long, stressful days. on monday, a member of the puerto rican independence party introduced formal complaints against the governor and called for his impeachment. all of this comes as former education secretary julia keleher and five others have been arrested on charges of steering federal money to unqualified, politically connected contractors. governor rossello has also faced backlash against austerity and privatization measures imposed after hurricane maria devastated the island. well, for more, we're joined by melissa mark-viverito, interim president of the latino victory project and former speaker of the new york city council. she was the first person of color and the first puerto rican to lead the new york city council. and with us from san juan,

puerto rico, is juan carlos davila, democracy now!'s correspondent in puerto rico. welcome to democracy now! , i know therevila is a big delay between our studio and yours, but if you could lay out what has been taking place in the streets of san juan were you have been over the past days? >> yes, so over the last days, ever since thursday, there has been a series of protests happening in san want to call for the resignation of governor ricacardo rossello. the protests began last thursday when rossello arrived to puerto rico after his vacation in europe. delivered a press conference

about the first pages of the chat that were filtered. thursday, some activist groups called for a protest in front of the governor's mansion protestinge started and i would say the first protest was around a dozen people, maybe 100 people. escalat asinued to more pages of the chat were releed by the center for investigate journalism th they received the leak of a domement ctaininina chat of around t m monthof coersasati of thth governor with hisxexecuti team. most a 900 page document -- alalmost a 900 page document. whwhen tt bebegato be e leased,

more people went to th streets. tookweekend, more protests place. on monday, a huge protest happened ifrfront of the governor's maion.n. it was the protestf f peop prestingngn front of the govern''mansion at came togeer with anoth one of peop m marchg frfromhe capapal puerto rico. in the outcome of th p prote resued i in the first clash o vience here isan juan. -- weday, we sa a second sellhehe fir onene omondayaynd yesterday we saw the second event violence where the people -- i'm sorr w were e gasce violently fired tear to the protests that a t there demanding the regngnatioof gornororicardo rsello. canou talka,

about ur respoe when y learneof these chats tt you yourse were taeted? >> listen, this is an incredibly .ifficult moment for us i see a lot of similarities with what is happening under t the trumump administration. what i see very differently is the response from the people. we're literally 100,000 people in puerto rico yesterday. that would be equivalent of 300 thousand people marching in new york city. this is massive. probably the largest -- some initial reports saying maybe the largest mobilization of people in puerto rican history. the attacks against me, i don't take them personally. they were against every woman, against puertoicico, tse of us whwho lievee in eqlity and juste and inclusion were literally attacked on that day.

what was expressed in that chat -- thank y, amy, f saying it. people -- it is homophobic language, misogynistic. is ver -- these people are leading g the island, making sue policies are being implemented, budgets are being passed, issues are being addressed, and they are talking in such violence, violatwhich. people he rebuil peop are sayg this is n not representative of who we a and we reject this. yeererday s a a clr indidition that will stop e e goveor has stilill other option but to resigngn. that is in the best interest of puerto rico. if he truly does care, and he says he cares about the people of puerto rico and his island, then he needs to resign in the best interest of all puerto ricans. amy: and what would happen next? yet a situation whwhere a pepern was supposed to follow him also

is gone. explain what that is about. >> there is no special election clause in puerto rico. usually, what would happen next is the of secession would be the secretary of state -- who has resigned. there is a vacancy. there are some internal conversation, i'm sure, and crisisis happening within the party that he represents that is figuring out what to do. if the governor does not resign -- again, his staff reiterated he refuses to resign -- what was going to happen was probably the pressure will fall on the legislature to start the process of impeachment. i believe the pressure -- i am hoping, the expectation is the pressure will be so overwhelming and the legislature would rather not have to deal with this -- it is dominated both houses by the party of the governor -- that they will probably be pressure on him to resign. amy: we're going t to go to brek

and come back to this discussion. melissa mark-viverito the first puerto rican new york city council leader, one of the targets of what is called ricky leaks, which is the text messages on the messaging app telegram, being released of the governor of puerto rico and his aides where among others, melissa mark-viverito was attacked. they joked about shooting the mayor of san juan, carmen yulin cruz, and other attacks on everyone from ricky martin to lin-manuel miranda, who brought "hamilton" to puerto rico to raise money for hurricane maria survivors. this is democracy now! we will l go back to san juan ad stay with melissa mark-viverito in a ment. ♪ [musisic break]

amy: "afilando los cuchillos" or "shararpening the knives," released wednesday by residente, ile & bad bunny, in protest of puerto rico governor ricardo rossello and his administration. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. as tens of thoanands opuererto ricaca took to the streets wednesday and before that tutuesda calalli for t t resignation of goverr r rosslo fulln n the ak o of a series of sexist, violent,omophobi messages betenen theovernor anand meers s ofis cababet that included jeses abo vicicti of rricananmaria. ptester. >>hehe lev of corruption a misbavioior e governor had with a group of corruptsndnd vultures gets trsfsferreto t the mananagent of f e department of education alongde the secrety, so th demand his resignatn n untitimeme f the guilty and corptpt. we w wanjail time. it is not reasonab f for us she

reachea a negoatioion with anyo.. we wt her to do jailimime. all of t corruption scheme and misuse of funds must result in jail time. amy: we're going to stay in the streets in san juan with juan carlos davila who has been filming everything that he is saying, has been there for years covering the protests in puerto rico. juan carlos, if you can talk about this movement now, to calling for the resignation of governor rossello is feeding on frustrioion th hasas bn ilding for quite some time? also, lklk abo the behavior of ee police in respoining to ththesmass protest of thousas.s. we have a big delay here. >> yeah, so really, this is

happeninnonow against ricardo rossello and calling for his reresignion.n. it is really a catysyst moment and a tatalystomenent puertrt history was the teleamam messages and thehats that wee released actuaually mae that calyst haenen because you n n see the hypocrisy othe governor, particularly how he the hypocrisy that membss of his home party really showing two f faces of the governor ricardoossello. ptestuld ask why the did no happen beforewhy righ andwhen all of t thi d deb austeryy measuresnd the lack ofesponse after hurricane

maria? li i said, this has be a an manyumution of dissatfafactio of f thpuertoto rican ople. i think what is different this protestricky roelello, e anger was ableo o be directedt him spifically. csolidates the couption of puertricoco, consolidates yearofof years of neoliberal policies that have been implenteted puertrt ricico, consnsidates also and shows the most puertoect that ricans, politicians, have for people. when the chat was released, it firstwing all of these rations that for many years the puerto ricans have felt. but this is something that hahas been built up for years. the legagacy of colonialism and

ricangacy of -- in puerto territory. the legacy of many years of neoliberal policies implemented in puerto rico. this is also the lack of response in regards to hurranane maria and hurricane irma. the, we need to recognize word -- the sociamovement organizations veve bee doing for yes, that they have been ableo puput t theeessagege there about the corruption, abou the illegality of puert rica debt, and also put out ther the problem the puerto rica have with colonlilism oflll stop i think righ now those proems came togetheanand people can seehem throh tangible with the chats in the legram chat that waseleased,

thatat dument.t. b behavr,o police asar as me covering protests in puerto rico, this is the mos part ofactions on the the police i have seen here. just last night, i got a police pointed at me to my chest with a teargassedused canisters. i got really scared because they have shot the canisters directly to people here, not necessarily just in the air like they are supposed to -- i mean, they're not supposed to do that first of all because it is a residential area. there is an abusive e excess of fororce beieingsed hereuertro ricoco it is important s say, rst t of all,l, ts area where the protes are taking place in

front of t g goverr' mansion in sanuauan is also a resintntial ea.. so peoeoe live tre. that tear s is not only in the rereets,t isis getti intnto peopop's houses, affectinher alalth. nnmanylder p peoplare e the d san ju. mini i miliesivive- and manyny filies s live in old san juan. protesters have been protesting peacefully. what they want to make clear is they're not going to leave old san juan and they are not going to leave protesting from the governor's mansion but then what has been happening, the police have been using an excessive use oppress theactually protesters that are really just exercising their right of freedom of speech and actually there democracy of being satisfied and the democratic right of being satisfied with the governor. and as for his resident -- and asking for his resignation.

what i've s seen is h heartbrea. i have seen how the e police is rereally, really shooting so muh teargassed other protesters that are committed to be there to reclaim the freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and to use -- make use of the democratic right of protest. nermeen: melissa, can you respond to what one carlo said and what do think it will take for them to leave? >> these are important points. in the chat t was also the boldt government resources, one or being used against opponents -- some familiar? going after the press for negative coverage. separately or? the other one revealed was they were going up to the federal monitor pulse of the police department has a federal monitor in place because of has practices of -- past practices of the beast. they were attacking and undermining the work of the federal monitor, which shall demonstrate some i believe, now

the police department is closing ranks with the governor. this is serious in terms of what has been revealed in the chat. also, pay to play. sound familiar? using government resources to benefit those who supported your campaign. a lot of what we're witnessing -- what is very different is the fact people on the streets, people protesting and saying we do not accept this, we did as governor to resign. the pressure i think is going to get overwhelming. that is critically important. say, thoseing i will of us in the diaspora, the leaders that are working to raise support and build coalitions to support for puerto rico, our job has gotten a lot tougher. but we have to close ranks and make sure we continue to support puerto rico because there is a real conversation -- the trump administration has been hostile to puerto rico. has used in the opportunity to try to withdraw and take away funds that have been designated for puerto rico.

there is already conversations within the republicans to figure out how they can fit more barriers to the receiving of these funds. those of us working to mobilize community's to come out and vote, we need our democratic leadership to step up and support and speak for the puerto rican people. this is a historic moment. we want to mobilize supporters can community in florida, if we want to mobilize supporters can community that votes in primaries onon the island, we do solidaritypport and of the democrats and democratic leadership. i think that is something that definitely we would like to see. amy: we will continue to follow this study and will be speaking with those who broke the story wide open. , thank youk-viverito for being here interim president , of the latino victory project and former speaker of the new york city council. and thank you juan carlos

, davila, democracy now!'s correspondent in san juan, puerto rico. when we come back, for five al-kateab documented her life to make the community called "for sama." she and her husband joined us. stay with us. ♪ [ [music break]

amy: johnny clegg in frankfurt, germany, in 1999 where he was joined onstage by nelson mandela.a. johnny clegg died d tuesday in of 66.me at the age he was a british-born south african musician who bought againsnst apartheid. his music was banned on the radio. this is democracy y now!, demomocracynow.org, the war r ad peace report. i'm m amy goodman with n nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we turn now to syria, where reuters reports airstrikes killed 12 and injured dozens more tuesday at a market in the

northwest province of idlib. this is the latest in a russian-backed offensive by syria's military in northwestern syria that has killed more than 600 people and at least 157 children in the past three months according to the syrian network for human rights. the attacks have reportedly targeted schools and hospitals. more than half a million people have died in syria since the al-assadagainst bashar began in 2011. as protests broke out young economics student began , a filming on a cell phone in her native city of aleppo. for five years, waad al-kateab documented her own lifanand the lives of those arounher r ashe assasad regime intntensified its brututal response e to the upri. shshe eventually gathered huhuns of hoursrs of footage.e. in thehe course of her astoundig award-d-winning docucumentary feature titled "for sama w waad falls s in love withth one of te last r remaining dococtors in

aleppo, gets marriried and has a babyby girl, sama,a, to whom the film is dedicated.d. this is the film's trailer. >> our w whole lives w would be chchanged forevever.

amy: that's the trailer of the critically acclaimed, award-winning feature documentary "for sama," directed by waad al-kateab and edward watts. the film will be released in the united states next thursday, screening first in new york, los angeles, and san francisco. to talk more about the film and the war it documents, we're joined here in new york by the director waad al-kateab. also with us is hamza al-kateab, a doctor and the co-founder and former director of the al quds hospital in aleppo. he is waad's husband and features prominentntly in the film. we welcome both of you to democracy now! i know you just flew in from london here to new york. it is great to have you with us. go back to your time as a student of economics and your decision to go to aleppo to start to document what was

happening there. >> thank you for having us, first. it is very heartbreaking and sad to go back because there were great moments when the uprising started in syria. life am ahanged our but the world. the dream of the freedom of all of these great principles we grow up with so that we would have it in syria. at that it was important for us. it was also important there's a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding because of the regime,da by the assad so it was important to document this moment and save it to the history of our lives for the next generation. amy: where were you born?

>> [indiscernible] amy: talk about what happened. start with a protest in 2011. >> it was normal life. i was a student. when a woodue finish i would graduate from economics and it would go maybe to germany to have my masters and start a new live outside and then i would be back later. not have that feeling of belonging to syria as a country. i did not feel -- we were not proud. momomentlt we are in the where we can make the country that we want, builild our own le and the way we e respect oursels and reect the peopople, respect the government it should be for us. atjust started protesting the same time everyone who was an activist was trying to make -- that is why i felt i

could film costst of i love filming. i really believeve in the pictu. that is why i started document the moment. no one had any idea what the future -- amy: and never stopped. you seemed to have the camera on all the time. >> you get to the moment where you don't think about what you're trying to do or why you're doing this, it is more savingiving the life and these moments because you feel at any moment, it could be ended. you could be killed by bombings, by shelling, by anyone arresting you because you're just opposition. this was very important. nermeen: the film is extraordinary on many levels but also it is quite visceral. the audience feels as though there literarally immersed in te war. it is told from a perspective that is very unusual for so-called war film.

you are not on the front lines, you're in a hospital, in the room in which you are living with your husband and your little girl. at one of the screenings in england, channel 4 host john snow set in fact you captured a female perspective of a masculine war. do you agree with that? >> it was more -- everything was very normal. i had no idea of would make a difference. i believed in the picture that this was important to be saved more than anything -- i would speak in the perspective of women or a female or mother or whatever, i was just try to live my life normally. it was a life mixed between a journalist in one moment and a mother in a moment. it was mixed between these two feelings about normal life and the war.

as i was amazed with the life there, how the sadness, happinesess, everything i was seeing in my own eyes, i just felt this is -- people outside should know about this. it is not just war. it is life. people deserve to be alive. you are a doctor when the protest began but you are based in western aleppo. when rebels took control -- the opposition took control of eastern a level, you made the decision to move. why? >> we've seen a lot of areas were opposition was taking control in syria, and the regime immediately started shelling with different types of weapons. announced parts of aleppo was controlled by the fromition, the image i had

the previous y years, children being attacked, i decided to go there. and i amtivist protesting and i'm a doctor, so that is the place i needed to be. amy: dr. al-kateab, you are not married at the -- you fell in love i think through the lens of the camera. can you describe the setting up of the al quds hospital and who you were treating? -- the firstpart time i moved, it was a characteristic situation. a lot of people fled the city to the countryside and a western parts of aleppo because they did not know what was going to happen. after two months, lots of civilians came back to aleppo. the pollution reached -- in 2013, it reached 4.5 million

people. i and a group of doctors decided we should set up a hospital, a non-trauma hospital. because most of the focus of the ngo's was about trauma and surgeries, while there are so many other diseases that people might have. that is when we decided to start a quds hospital. it was previously a private hospital. it was abandoned. nobody was there. there were two midwives, five nurses, and a few volunteers. we started to remove the dust and everything. it started with one clinic and eight bed-ward.d. by the end of 2016, we had and the staff was 110 people. the main idea was to have a

nontrauma hospital but ended as the last hospital in aleppo. nermeen: when you go to the hospital, of course the assad regime targeted hospitals and schools, and eight out of the nine hospitals in aleppo had been destroyed. was that the case when you started this hospital and the fact that you recounteted this joke in aleppppo, if you want to be safe, you should go to the front line. that is the safest place in aleppo. could you explain that and exactly what the situation was with medical care when you started al quds? >> we startedal quds at the end of 2012, b beginning of 2020. at that time, there was maybe five hospitals in aleppo. the number increase with more ngo's tried to provide health. witnessedtime we had a hospital attack was in a hospital. that was -- also the beginning

of 2012.r the end a nurse and doctor were killed in the attack. regimeout the years, the has become more aggressive. it was starting with mortar then aircraft attack and in the rushan interfered and that was the most brutal thing -- and then the russians interfered and that was the most brutal thing. in the middle of 2013, the regime is not trying to attack the maliciousus or the oppositin fighters. he is try to break the will of the people. there is no way you can live out of my control. they targeted the hospitals, supplies,power schools. we know that people who were the frontline,

there is no bullets. nothing happened. we s started to o notice, if you want to have rest, go to the frontline. amy: let''s go to o another clip from the film "for sama."

amy: that is a clip from "for sama." sama, your baby that was born in the midst of this. from the moment you see your pregnancy test to telling hamza to raising your child in aleppo. was the hope of our small life. thinking about all of the children that were born in that area in that space, which is for a long, long time, many, many people had children and trying just to live normal life under this bad circumstances. it was syrian people wanting to live in syria in a normal way as most they can and all of this shelling and bombardment -- you know, just about how the violence was, how the assad

regime and then later the russians, were trying to kill the people's will and feeling about life, more about -- more than fighting against the fighters who were there. you said the regime did not target the rebels. can yoyou talk about how the composition of the opposition to assad changed and that some areas in aleppo were in fact and al-nusra? did you go into those areas? and what was responsible for those people coming in, as you say, trying to hijack the revolution? >> it is more about -- it was between assad and opposition against assad. the main things about how the regime was trying not just to have -- attacking these areas,

he was trying to increase having al-nusra and isis groups in the area. we are syrian. that is a fact. -- clearr centers about this issue. in 2012, the regime released all of the people who were in their prisons, which later they became a;-nusra andn -- pound is isis groups. like haveople more the bad reaction against what is going on. so people don't have the right way to do their own defense against what is happening. in 2015.isis many people who we know were arrested.

my cousin was kidnapped by isis and we don't know anything about him until now. isis, on his rough, and --al-nusra, and assad were against the activist who had a dream of democracy. need until we still it is more about controlling the violence of what is happening. just the idea about we left syria three years ago. we were displaced out of aleppo. we have had all of the experience about the shelling and bombing and every bad situation, the siege. death and displays. and now three years later, the same scenario happenining againn the last few days in idlib, which is unbelievable how the world is still watching this and just speak about isis -- which really did nothing comparing with the regime of violence.

center,e to go to any which they document all of the and crimes post of amy: we will do part 2 and put it online at democra

we visit oil-rich communities in california's san joaquiuin vally and along alaska's arctic slope, where residents are asking tough questions about the consequences of fossil fuel extxtraction. it's bebeen the bedrock of ththr econonomic livelihoods foror des but is now fracturing communities and threatening the planet. [camera's shutter advancing]