08/29/19 08/29/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> it is insane as 16-year-old fest across the atlalantic ocean to make a statand. the climate crisis is a globabal crisis, the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. if we don't manage to work together to cooperate and to work together despite our differences, then we will fail.

amy: after a two weeklong journey across the atlantic, swedish climate activist greta thunberg arrived in new york city wednesday afternoon on an emissions-free yacht. over 1000 people greeted the 16-year-old, who will now begin a months-long trip to the americas to sound the alarm about the climate crisis. we will play highlights of her first speech in new york and news conference. then, a constitutional crisis in the united kingdom, where prime minister boris johnson has suspended parliament in a move to push forward brexit, with or without a deal. thousands took to the streets of london and across britain with cries to "stop the coup." >> sususpend parliament is not except double. that are doioing as smash anandb on our democracycy.

amy: then we remember the legendary peace activist frances crowe, who died at the age of 100 in northampton, massachusetts. >> when people ask me how many times have you been arrested and i say, not enough. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the trump administration is planning to make it easier for oil and gas companies to pollute the atmosphere with methane gas, one of the most powerful greenhouse gases contributing to the global climate crisis. the environmental protection agency is expected to unveil a new rule today to overturn regulations put in place by president obama. a top united nations official on sustainable energy described the trump administration's move as extraordinarily harmful.

methane has more than 80 times the heat-trapping potential of carbonon dioxide.. in other environmental news, president trump is pushing to allow logging in alaska's tongass national forest, the world's largest intact temperate rainforest. trump has order agriculture secretary sonny perdue to exempt the 16.7 million acre forest from restrictions put in place over 20 years ago by president clinton. the group earth justice has described the forest as a major buffer against climate change , stating -- "the tongass stores hundreds of millions, if not over a billion, tons of carbon, keeping the heat-trapping element out of the atmosphere." trump's move to open up logging to the world's largest intact temperate rainforest comes as wildfires continue to burn in the amazon in brazil as well as near the c congo basin forest in africa.

hurricane dorian is continuing to gain strength in the atlantic and threatening the bahamas and florida with what could become a category 3 storm. on wednesday, the storm slammed into the virgin islands but did not directly hit the main island of puerto rico. however, parts of the virgin islands and puerto rico remain without power. while puerto ricans prepared for the storm on wednesday, president trump continued to attack the island describing it on twitter as "one of the most corrupt places on earth." trump went on to describe himself as "the best thing that's ever happened to puerto rico!" the 16-year-old swedish climate justice activist greta thunberg has arrived in new york city after a two-week voyage across the atlantic in a solar-powered 60-foot racing yacht. thunberg came to the united states to attend upcoming u.n. climate talks in new york and

santiago, chile. thunberg does not fly and chose to make the journey by boat. after docking in new york, greta spoke to reporters about the climate crisis. generationshe older are the ones having cause this problem, so i don't think they should be saying to us you should just be a normal kid and do what normal kids do because they are the ones who have caused this. we are just trying to clean up after them. amy: we will hear more from greta thunberg as well as the who greeted her and her father, who took across the ocean with her. in election news, new york senator kirsten gillibrand has dropped out of the presidential race after failing to qualify for the next democratic debate september 12, which required

candidateses to have 130,000 unique donors and at least 2% support in four ofofficial poll. just 10 of the 20 remaining candidates qualified -- former vice president joe biden, senator cory booker, south bend, indiana, mayor pete buttigieg, former housing and urban development secretary julian castro, senator kamala harris, senator amy klobuchar, former congressmember beto o'rourke, senator bernie sanders, senator elizizabeth h warren, and former tech executive andrew yang. nationwide protests took part in -- took place in britain wednesday after prime minister boris johnson suspended parliament, increasing the likelihood of a no-deal brexit. parliament will be closed from mid-september to mid-october, meaning lawmakers who oppose a no-deal exit from the european union would have very limited time to pass legislation supporting any other measures. the u.k. is scheduled to leave the european union on october 31.

some opponents of brexit accused prime minister johnson of waging a coup. on wednesday, thousands of protesters gathered outside the british paparliament to denounce johnson's decision. this is protester marion sharples. >> i think it is incredibly disrespectful that it can be passed off as normal practices. it is absolutely a tactic to limit the amount of time mps have time to debate and pushed through a no deal brexit and take back control. we'll go to london n later r ine broadcast. in other news from europe, italy is on the verge of forming a new government that could leave the far-right, anti-immigrant leader matteo salvini out of power. on wednesday, two rival political parties, the five star movement and the democratic party, reached a deal to form a new coalition government. this comes after salvini attempted a power grab last week by withdrawing his support for the ruling right-wing populist coalition.

it led to the resignation of italy's prime minister. in news from the mediterranean, an italian humanitarian boat rerescued 100 migrants, inclclug 22 children, wednesday off the coast of libya. the migrants were drifting in a rubber dinghy which was already beginning to deflate. the rescue boat was operated by the charity group mediterranea saving humans. italy's outgoing interior minister matteo salvini rerently signed a decree banning the rescue ship from entering italian waters. the rescue came a day after about 40 migrants died when their boat capsized off the coast of libya. about 900 migranants have died this year in the mediterranean en route to europe. fighting is continuing in the yemeni city of aden as separatists and government forces battle for control of yemen's interim capital. on wednesday, backers of yemen's internationally-recognized government claimed to have

seized full control of the city but al jazeera reports separatists have since regained control. on wednesday, the taliban announced it was closing in on a deal with the united states under r ich u.s. t troops wouldd finally wiwithdraw from afghanistatan after nearly 18 years of fighting. one security official put the withdrawal timeline at 14 to 24 months, but the chair of the u.s. joint chiefs of staff general joseph dunford said it is still too premature to talk about withdrawing u.s. troops. >> i think it is premature. i'm not using the "withdrawal" word right now. i'm using we're going to make sure afghanistan is not a sanctuary and we're going to try to have an effortt to bring peae and stability to afghanistan. amy: the chinese military has rotated thousands of new troops intoto hong kong j just days ahd of a major pro-democracy march set for saturday. china has described the troop rotation as routine, but chinese

state media reported the new soldiers had undergone military and legal training specific to hong kong. chinese authorities have denounced the protests in hong kong and have repeatedly threatened to use force to quell the protests since ththe 1997 hanandover from britain, china has stationed as many as 10,000 troops in hong kong. indonesian police have reportedly killed six protesters in west papua amid escalating demonstrations calling for papuan independence. the guardian reports police fired live rounds at protesters taking part in a sit-in outside a government building. indonesia recently deployed 1200 additional troops to west papua and cut off internet access to the region. in colombia, another social leader was shot dead by armed men according to local reports. sunday the victim was identified as danilo olaya perdomo, a well-known social leader who served as president of the communal action board of a rural

area of the department of huila. also in colombia, indigenous organizations denounced monday the murder of 24-year-old social leader ivan mejia in the southern area of colombia. according to the institute for development and peace studies, at least 702 social leaders and human rights defenders have been killed since 2016 in colombia. the trump administration has announced some children born to u.s. service members and government employees stationed overseas will no longer automatically receive u.s. citizenship. the u.s. citizenship and immigration services released the new guidelines wednesday. according to the trump administration, the rule change will primarily impact the children of naturalized u.s. citizens working for the government or military. the president of the american foreign service association eric rubin said the rule change was deeply worrying and a "disservice to people who have

dedicated their lives to serving their country." president trump is continuing his attack on the media, but this wiki is a new target -- the right-wing news outlet fox news. in a twitter message on wednesday, trump wrote -- "@foxnews is letting millions of great people down! we have to start looking for a new news outlet. fox isn't working for us anymore!" fox has long been criticized for its close ties to the trump administration. according to media matters, 18 current or former trump administration officials used to work at fox and at least five trump administration officials work now at fox, including former white house is a great very sarah huckabee sanders, who was hired last week. a denver woman who was forced to deliver a child alone in a dirty

denver county jail cell without any medical care has filed a lawsuit in u.s. district court. in the suit, diana sanchez alleges several nurses and jail staffers knew she had been in labor for hours but provided no assistance, even after she began screaming for help. disturbing jailhouse video was recently released andonfirmed sanchehez's account. the lawsuit charges that t the staff "c"callouslyly made helalr alone for hoururs, and ultimimay giveve birth alonene in a dirtyl cell without any medical care." the suit was filed against the city of denver, the county of denver, denver health medical center, and six individuals. in alabama, an african-american man who spent 36 years in prison for stealing $50 from a bakery will be soon be released.

in 1983, alvin kennard was sentenced to life without parole under alabama's old three strikes law, but a judge on resentenced him to time served. wednesday the computer giant apple has apologized to its users after acknowledging contractors listened to the commands users gave to the voice assistant siri on their i-phones and other apple products. one whistleblower recently told the guardianan they heard siri users having sex, doing drug deals, and discussing sensitive medical details. apple, google, and microsoft have all faced criticism recently for allowing workers to access the voice recordings of users in an attempt to improve their services. africa, humanom rights defenders continue to call for the release of nigerian journalist and activist omoyele sowore. sowore, who publishes the online news site sahara reporters, was

arrested on august 3 after arrested on august 3 after calling for nationwide protests under the banner "revolution now." he ran against president muhammadu buhari earlier this year in an election he said lacked a level playing field. a coalition of press freedom organizations and human rights groups recently petitioned the united nations and the african union, while a group called the african renaissance organization sent a petition to the u.s. department of state asking the u.s. government to apply pressure on president muhammadu buhari for sowore's release. and ththose are some of the headlines. this democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.. i'm amy goodman. after weeks of anticipation, the swedish climate justice activist greta thunberg arrived on the shores of lower manhattan wednesday afternoon after a two-week voyage across the atlantic ocean in an emissions-free yacht. greta thunbergg was welcomed on

land by thousands of supporters at the north cove marina. as her yacht sailed over the horizon and past the statute of liberty, youth climate activists chanted "the sea levels are rising and so are we!" and "we are unstoppable, another world is possible." the 16-year-old began her journey to the u.s. in southwestern england. greta thunberg does not fly. she chose to make the journey from europe to the u.s. aboard the malizia ii, a 60-foot racing yacht covered in solar panels. the young climate activist is starting a month-long tour of the americas. for her first action, she will be joining new york students climate striking outside the u.n. and then take to the streets for a massive climate march in new york city september 20 followed by two u.n. climate summits year. in december, she will attend the cop25 climate conference in santiago, chile.

greta thunberg became an international icon of resistance last year when she began skipping statues -- classes to stand outside the parliament to manning her government take action to confront the, crisis. her weekly protest inspired millions, sparking a global movement of student strikes for climate. this is greta thunberg speaking just minutes after docking in lower manhattan on wednesday. everyone so thank much, everyone who is here and everyone who is involved in this climate fight b because this isa fighght across borders, across continents. it is, as you sasaid, it iss in saint a 16 euros had to cross the atlantic ocean to make a stand and this is not something that i want everyone to do.

the climate crisis is a global crisis, the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. and if we don't manage to work together, to cooperate and to work together dedespite our differences, then we will fail. so we need to stand together and support each other and to take action because othererwise, it might be too late. let's not wait any longer. let's do it now. [applause] amy: after her brief opening remarks, greta thunberg answered questions from reporters. one asked if she had heard about the raging wildfires in the amazon rainforest in brazil and bolivia, causing unprecedented damage and destroying large swaths of land. >> yes, even on a sailboat in

the middle of the atlantic ocean, i heard about the forest in the amazon rain forest. the fires in the amazon rain forest. devastating and it is so horrible. it is hard to imagine. i mean, we need -- this is a clear sign that we need to stop destroying nature and our war against nature must end. is so key to addressisi the climamate crisis. amy: amy goodman from democracy now! how are you? president trump sasays oil a ans are the source of america's wealth. windmilllls causese cancer, h h. what is your answewer to him and to the activisistsho h have come

to greet you here and are looking fofor message fo from you, what do you say to them? course oil and gas has its ups and downs. we need to sort of realize the consequences from m a bigger perspective of what it actually does when we use it the way we use it today. i am pretty sure windmills doesn't cause cancer? [laughter] the second question, my message to the activists, to just keep going. when it may seem

impossssle and hopelesss sometimemes, it always d does, o you jujust have to continue because if you try hard enough and long enough, you will make a difference. stand enough people together, fight for the right thing, then anything can happen. amy: reddit thunberg was welcomed wednesday by hundreds of young climate activists. one of them a asked her how old she was when she became an activist. >> i first heard about -- i found out about this issue when i was maybe 7, 8, or nine years old. then i realized, oh, this is actually very bad. i started to o read about it moe and morere. maybe 11, iecamame became depressed. the climate crisis was a h huge

cause of thahat because i just felt everything is hopeless and there's nothing we can do and no one is doing anything. but then i sort of got out of that depression by promising mymyself that t i'm going to do everything i can to change thinings. and that is whwhat i tried to d. i started to go to mararches and dedemonstrations to join organizations and things like that. but i still thought things were too slow, that n nothing was really changing, so i was desperate in a way to try to do something, anything. and d then this idea of school striking came up. i thought, yeah, i might just as well try that and see if it works. and if it doesn't, then i will try something else. then i did it and it became huge

very quickly. amy: she was then asked ababout her plans through decembmber. >> i am definitely coming to chile as it looks now. i'm going to try to get there without flying. so therere will l be a lot of trtrains buses, and probably evn sailing as well. i will figure thatat out as t te goes by. expect -- i 25, i mean, that must be some kind of breaking point. this united nations time it summit in september now and the cop 25, thesese two have to be e tipping g point. many people wiwith mere coin to try to do o everything we cacano make sure the world leaderss hae all eyes on them duduring these

conferences so that they cannot continue to ignore this. amy: with that, greta thunberg left the stage to rest, she said. again, on friday she will be outside the u.n., joining young climate activists protesting around the climate. and then the major september 20 climate march she will participate in new york, a u.n. youth climate summit on september 21 at the united nations, and a major u.n. climate summit in new york on september 20 third. she will go through the americas and and up at the cop 25, the u.n. climate summit in the summer. democracy now! will be there covering the summit. spoke, wea thunberg were able to catch up with her father, svante thunberg, whom we first met last year in poland at the u.n. climate conference. i asked him about greta's decision to o make this trip by sailboat. >> it is amazing to have arrived

in new york. we made a special journey, a very -- it has been a huge opportunity. since greta decided she wanted to sail, that was the way she wanted to do it. you could not win. all was someone is going to find fault a what i do, but this is my choice. then she decided that there is no stopping her and she feels very completely at ease you can tell. she was completely calm. . was freaking out a little bit amy: explain why she took a boat. to fly.e did not want if she had flown, people would have come down on her for that. amy: because of the carbon footprint. >> she would be called a

hypocrite. the emissions from the freighter shipips are enormous. so she landed on the sailing idea. we tried somebody different sailing boats. they're not easy to find. a lot of them use a lot of diesel fuel, huge amount of diesel fuel. then we were offered this trip so we said, yeah, this is how it is going to be done. amy: why does the boat consume so little energy? >> thehey are very k keen on it. the crew a are very active on te subject. they really fight for the climate and really are involved in the climate movement. with solar the boat panels and hydropower, which is the only one of its kind. there's literally no other boat that can do that. there might be some private

small boats, but it would take probably like three months to cross the atlantic. so they came to us. .hat was also very influencing they believed in what she was doing. once we got going, she was completely at ease. that was amazing to see. then i felt at ease. we had a great time in the sometimes crazy environment, this boat that was incredibly fast. it goes up to 30 knots, which is hard to imagine. and you try to sleep inside of that. we tried to film it. you can't. you just have to do it. town is completely mad. completely mad. as she fell asleep straightaway. she ate, watched the ocean.

and we were just happy. it was a great time. amy: the father of greta thunberg. he made the ocean voyage with her. when they landed, greta was greeted by over 100 american climimate strikers. one.ke to i began by asking her fellow activists 14-year-old alexandria villasenor what can response they have received. >> it has been responsive from greta thunberg and having new yoyork and out and strike and gt more involved and students for friday, we will continue striking. ,he next global climate strike the friday before world leaders come to new york city for the united nations climate summit. we're sendingng a message to wod leaders s that they take bold climate action for our future.

amy: what you have a say to president trump who denies climate change exists? >> i message to any world leader is they have to start taking the mymate crisis seriously or generation will continue demanding that they do. amy: what you have a set of politicians who say, well, you're 14, you're too young to vote, why should we listen to you? >> just like greta thunberg says, you're never too small to make a difference. that is why this movement is so strong because hundreds of students are striking and we're all -- we are striking because we don't have a voice, because we cannot vote. striking is one of the best ways to get our voices heard. >> unite behind the science! >> i'm a 17-year-old climate justice activist. i am originally from mexico. i have been leaving most of the strikes in new york city with fridays for futures. we have been organizing for the

strikes. amy: what does this moment mean to you right now? what are you here at the arena? >> i think this is important moment because america as a whole has been behind climate consciousness. we need somebody who is going to come and really tell everyone to wake up. it is very important we are having the u.n. climate summit because that is the young people speaking to our world leaders about how this is an intergenerational crisis that requires intergenerational cooperation. amy: so tell us where you are originally from. ini'm originally from a town mexico. i was born and raised in mexico. i moved to new york four years ago. in 2015, my town was affected by flooding. that is what moved my family to move out of mexico into new york city. when i got to new york city, i saw the effects hurricane sandy

had had on the community and i realize the climate crisis follows you everywhere. amy: you are leading strikes at beacon high school, one of the public high schools here in new york. how did you get involved in activism, climate activism? toi was invited in 2017 speak in a conference in malaysia. i had never done public speaking before, but i realized that how are my personal story had in comparison to data. that is why when i came back, i started my cause. i really started mobilizing to lobby go to albany politicians and city hall. i testified at city hall so they would declare a climate emergency. all of this happened before the strikes started happening. when i saw students were striking for climate, said, we have to mobilize our school. amy: what message do you have for president trump who denies there is a climate crisis? there are manyy

aspects to the climate crisis. it i is not only about our plant heating up, but it is about air pollution, water pollution, plastic pollution. if you don't believe that we are going through a cycle of warming, then at least clean up our oceans, our forests. amy: what about the significance of greta thunberg? when did you first hear what she was doing in sweden? >> when i first heard about greta, i was inspired by her moral compass which aligns with my beliefs. that yous beliefs are take care of the earth because the earth takes care of you. we need that repepresent all. associate a highgh level of moralityty and sayining you are affecting our future so we have to take action nowow. i think a lot of people look up to her and believe in her because she is really saying my generation is going to be the

most affected in that generation is us and we're calling on you to join us because we cannot vote yet. we strike today and we vote tomorrow and we need you to speak for us in this time of crisis. amy: that was climate youth bastida, a student at beacon high school here in new york. she was among the hundreds of supporters who greeted 16-year-old swedish climate justice activist greta thunberg as she arrived on the shores of lower manhattan wednesday afternoon after a two-week voyage across the atlantic ocean in an emissions-free yacht. when we come back, a constitutional crisis is unfolding in the united kingdom where prime minister boris johnson has thihis been a parliaiament in a move to p push forward d brexit with oror witha deal. stayay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: tiny tim "there'e'll alwas bebe an england." this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. as we go to the united kingdom, where the country is in uproar after prime minister boris johnson announced he is suspending britain's parliament,

increasing the likelihood of a no-deal brexit. the queen consented to johnson's plan wednesday. parliament will be closed from mid-september to mid-october. this means lawmakers who oppose a no-deal exit from the european union would have very limited time to pass legislation supporting any other measures. the u.k. is scheduled to leave the european union on october 31. if parliament fails to agree to a brexit deal by that deadline, the u.k. will crash out of the eu with no deal -- a scenario that would have severe economic and political repercussions. this is boris johnson speaking wedndnesday. >> october 31, for getting on with our plalans to take this country forward. you look at what we're doing, we are bringing forward a new list of program on crime, making sure we have education funding that we need. and there will be ample time on both sides of that crucial october 17 summit. ample time in parliament for mps to debate.

the you to debate brexit and all the other issues. ample time. amy: the announcement has sparked widespread outrage throughout britain. on wednesday, german corbyn says he has written to the ququn to express concerns about plans to suspend parliament. >> suspending p parliament is. acceptabable. whatat the prime minister is d g is this smash and grab on our democracy in order to force through a no deal exit from the european union. what is he so afraid of he needs to suspend parliament to prevent hardeman from discussing these matters? amy: that was britain's main labour opposition party leader jeremy corbyn. meanwhile, thousands around britain are taking to the streets. this is protester marion sharples in london. >> i think it is incredibly disrespectful that boris johnson says it can be passed off as normal practices. it is a tactic to limit the time they have to take back control.

amy: a u.k. petition opposing johnson's move to suspend parliament has gathered nearly 1.5 million signatures. prime minister johnson was sworn in as the new british prime minister in july. his election was the first time that a party's membership directly chose the prime minister. the membership of the conservative party who voted for johnson represents less than 1% of the british population. guardian journalist owen jones wrote in a column wednesday -- "call the suspension of parliament what it is: a coup d'etat by an unelected prime minister." well, for more, we go now to london where we're joined by ash sarker, senior editor at novara media. ash sarker, welcome back to democracy y now! first, your reaction to what just took place? >> my first reaction was to be very grateful that we have got benhs because a want to medically induced into a coma if possible. this represents the most

onmeless and brazen attack the british democratic process that hasas happened for decades. and while suspending parliament has happened before by governments who want to get around a sticky patch and westminster politics, this is the first time it ever occurred in order to circumvent parliamentary scrutiny of an issue of the important and grab it has of brexit. it really is quite an astonishing assault on the conventions of representative democracy. amy: can you explain what johnson gets out of this? again, he had request this as the queen who sent it. >> let me talk you through the queen bit first. in this country, we don't have what you have, which is a

constitution which is written down. instead, what we have is a constitution which works on people generally agreeing to .bide by unspoken rules and when in doubt, look to the past and see what precedent has to offer you. so like i said, parliament has been shut before. there is precedence for this kind of thing. the last time a government did this to get around a sticky bit of parliamentary scrutiny was in 1997. another time was in 1948. so precedent does allow for this kind of thing to happen. with the unspoken rule of the british constitution is that you don't ask the queen to get involved in political matters. the precedent is that she cannot say no to her government, but the unspoken rule is don't ask her to get involved. boris johnson has thrown that unspoken role completely out of the window because this is a

program can in which overrides the wishes of mps who want to scrutinize the process of leaving the european union. it is a way of saying, i'm not going to give you the opportunity to present legislation that can derail a no deal brexit and i also don't want to give you the opportunity to call me to committee to scrutinize government papers or plans. really what a want to do is have a months long steamroller going through mid-september to mid-october,r, which takes it tt closer to october 31, the day which we leave the european union by default. amy: and explain what a no deal brexit would look like compared to a brexit with a deal. >> so every form of brexit has some form of economic disruption .

we are leaving a trading bloc which has been one of the prime sources of u.k. trade since we entered it. so even the softest possible hitexit has a little bit of a to the economy. but a no deal brexit is where every single agreement we have with not just the european union, but the trading partners that we have through the european union, of operates overnight. that means you will have tariffs on our imports. that means the price of food is going to go up list of the pipes

. the other thing is there are political consequences to this as well. leaving the european union without any other form of agreement means that there will be a hard border in ireland. of course the good friday agreement was calibrated so this would not happen because a hard border would risk return of sectarian violence to ireland and northern ireland, so a no deal brexit puts that quite fragile peace at risk in ireland. people have been talking also about shortages of medicine. a lot of our medicine in the k is imported from you countries, even if they are just as close by as the republic of ireland or france. so there will be medical shortages at least for six months. and this is coming from the government's own impact assessment. when pressed on the matter, tory ministers could not guarantee that people would not die

because of a no deal brexit. this is where we are at the minute in the u.k.. we are facing half a million job losses, facing medical shortages which put lives at risk, and for what? educatedeton- millionaire to stay in a job that he is wanted since he was a little boy. amy: we just heard that the conservative party leader in scotland ruth davidson has just resigned. what is the significance of this? >> this is pretty significant because ruth davidson has been credited with keeping that small segment of conservative voters in scotland, many of whom are supporters onside. without ruth davidson, it is likely that the scottish conservatives will face a electoral annihilation at the next general election. she knows that pro--rogue

parliament is a very divisive move. it is also against her own personal political instincts. one of the things to remember is that when boris johnson was campaigning to be the conservative party leader and therefore prime minister, he was going around making assurances to conservatives like ruth davidson that he would not shutting down parliament. yesterday he went back on his word. ruth davidson has decided that is a the trail of trust --betrayel of trust. and there are members of the government who have said we're not putting up with this. however, most of the cabinet ministers who occupy the most , thetant offices of state house secretary, the minister

for work and pensions -- all of them have in the past few weeks said they would not entertain suspending parliament, that they are firmly against a no deal of brexit. however, since boris johnson pulled out leader yesterday, they have been saying nothing. they would much rather preserve ththeir own jobs them protetecte jobs o of ordinary wororking pee up and down the u.k.. amy: boris johnson, the prime minister, claims he is suspending parliament actually to move forward on his domestic legislative agenda. what is that? >> that is a lie, amy. line.traight up a the reason why he is suspending parliament is for one reason and one rereason only. he announced this move, jeremy corbyn organized the leaders of the opposition parties, the liberal democrats,

green party from the scottish national party, welsh national party. and together they had finally agreed a strategy to block a no deal brexit. they would pursuit legislative means. for instance, passing legislation that would force boris johnson to seek a an extension of article 50 from the eu or indeed, to block some of ththe funding that has been n pt aside to create a kind of buffer in the event of a no deal brexit. that had been agreed the day before. so if you imagine it like a game of soccer, you have one team -- which has finally got its defensive line in order -- and boris johnson, instead of trying to play the ball toward the goal again, has picked up the ball, said, up the pitch and let's play again in a few weeks time. amy: 30 five days into boris johnson's prime minister ship, the financial times editorial board has had enough and declared its openness to the previously unthinkable, the

capitalist paper of record entertain the possibility of labour party leader jeremy corbyn as the nutty king of his best head of state -- next head of state rather than keeping boris johnson in power. can you respond to this? you live inen said interesting times. these are times i never thought i would live through. i think what this goes to show is no deal brexit, which is a symptom of the collapse of the conservative parties orthodoxy, is not necessarily in keeping with the interest of the financial establishment because it is such a hit to the economy. and it is such a hit to the economy that you are right, you have got the paper -- the capitalist classes saying, you know what? we will take a socialist who wants to redistribute a little bit of wealth over the guy who was to contract our economy by

8%. amy: we're going to leave it there. , thank yoyou for being with us, senior editor at novara media. rememberome back, we frances crowe, who died at the age of 100 and northampton, massachusetts. that number 100 is probably around the n number of times she was arrested. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: chumbawamba, "always tell the voter what the voter wants to hear." this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. we end today's show remembering the legendary peace activist frances crowe who died on tuesday at the age of 100 in northampton, massachusetts. over the past seven decades, frances has been arrested times protesting war, nuclear weapons, nuclear power. she was a war tax resisters, refusing to pay taxes to support the sprawling pentagonon bududg. she opposed south african apartheid and u.s. intervention in central america in the 1980's and in iraq and afghanistan in the 2000's. shshe climbed fencnces in the senegal army depot and was

arrested for pouring her own blood on a newly built trident nuclear submarine just before it was launched in connecticut. frances crowe was last arrested at the age of 98 protesting the construction of a new pipeline. in 2005, i interviewed frances crowe in front of a live audience in her town of northampton, massachusetts. she described how she became a peace activist on august 6, 1945, the day the u.s. dropped the first nuclear bomb on the japanese city of hiroshima. at a time, her husband tom was a posisition in the ararmy medical corps. >> i was a bride. my husband was in the medical corps and army. -- - had told d me a few weeks before that h he had heard rumorsrs that we were developing this incredible weapon. he was at sea when we dropped

the bomb, but i was alone in our apartment in new orleans. and when i heard it on the radio, i really unplugged the iron, left the placement i was ironing, and went out looking center in the streets of new orleans. amy: and then what happened? , we keptow, slowly moving in the direction of working for change. my husband, when he was discharged, he which of the university of rochester where he -- studying ruddy ali radiology. and there the head of the manhattan project was from the university o of rochester. that was a challenge. eventually we ended up in northampton and it was fertile i found inr organizing

the early 1950's. there were a lot of people very concerned about the atmospheric testing of weapons. so a friend and i set up a women's international league for peace and freedom. my husband worked with the physicians f for social responsibility. we have just continued. amy: frances crowe, how did you move from peace activism to media activism? what is the connection?n? >> after 28 years of trying very hard to organize on issues of peace and justice locally, i finally came to o the realizatin that the only way we were going to bring about change in this country was to have independent community radio. localhad tried to get our in pr station to carry democracy now! they had refused. at the university of

massachusetts station, and they also turned us down. so finally when a friend i heard was broadcasting from the top of a mountain, democracy now!, i got in touch with him and said, you know, the road was about to close and we couould not do it n the wintertime -- although he was on the air every afternoon tried:30 to 5:30 -- so we to get several other venues in northampton where there would be higher spots. so finally we said, we will try my backyard. so i put a pole up and we were on the air. applaususe] know, i have never broken a law that i felt better about. [laughter]

it gave me a large charge every day. amy: by any means necessary. frances crowe speaking in 2005. efforts, democracy now! is now heard daily on wmua at the university of massachusetts. when i spoke to her last week to say goodbye, francis said bringing democracy now! to the pioneer valley was one of her proudest acts. frances crowe was also featured in robbie leppzer's 2019 documentary "power struggle" about the grassroots resistance movement to shut down the vermont yankee nuclear power plant. this excerpt begins with frances crowe heading to engage in civil disobedience at the plant one month after the 2011 nuclear meltdown at fukushima in japan. the clip begins with fellow peace actctivist jean asking frances if she will be bringing her cane to the protest. >> are you going to bring your

stick with you? >> yeah. >> i don't bring mine anymore because they've taken so many of mine away from me. >> oh. >> i had some good ones. id forneed to take my when we are arrested. >> my problem is my balance is not good. >> mine is in either. i follow all the time. i fell in the mud walklking my dogsgs the other day. i was completely covered in mud. >> my problem is when i fall down, i can't get up. >> well, there is that, too. marianne will be the lead car and susan, will be the second carar. if we go through the first set of gates, we reached security. the second set will probably be open and they would be in the process of shutting it as we were walking towards that. thatat could be the gate wee wod chain shut.

we are all going to be arrested. there is no doubt about that. backseat, folks. if you see a policeman, somebody duck b because i'm only supposed to have four. we just want to be stopped. >> i am here because i think this is very dangerous. we are facing the and of life on this planet if we don't do something about nuclear power. when i heard about fukushima, i was devastated. thereght, i've got to get in vermont yankee because it is our potential fukushima.

>> no more. in a. -- enough. > we would like you to leave because you are trespassing. >> i am not leaving. i've done everything i know of to do. and all i have left is my body and to put it in the way to say no. when people ask me how many times have you been arrested and i say not enough. speaking in crowe

2011. the vermont yankee nuclear power three yearsut down later. frances crowe died on tuesday at the age of 100. she was in hospice surrounded by her family and friends, survived by her two sons, a daughter, and a global community of activists in the peaceloving community around the world. and that does it for today's broadcast. to see our interviews with frances crowe and greta thunberg, you can go to democracynow.org. passing the torch. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

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