tv Democracy Now LINKTV September 23, 2019 4:00pm-5:01pm PDT
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09/23/19 09/23/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> for twice as long as i have been alive on this planet, we have known about the crisis. for just as long, the wealthy and the powerful have profited off of pollution, have lied to him of people about the science withhave choked democracy their dollars instill in our future. amy: as many as formerly people around the world take part in a
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global climate strike, it was the largest protest ever focused on thelimate c crisis. we w will air highghlights frome new york strtrike. >> we're here to write a new story,y, a story inn whichch o r country is doing everything in its power to address not only the climate crisis, but the systemic injustices at its roots. a story whwhich our c cstitutiol right toto a safafclimate is recogngned to the e highest cous . a story which the most vulnerable people are given the greatest protection. a story with indigigenoupeople are empowered to proctct their homendnds. amy:y: plus, we'll will eaeak to lolongme journalist bill mckibben, cofounder of 350.org. his latest piece, "money is the oxygen on which the fire of global warming burns." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.
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as m many as 4illion people to to thetreets around the world fight in t the largest avenue action focused on the climate crisis. students across the globe participated in a climate strike inspired by the 16-year-old swedish activist greta thunberg, who began her weekly school strike for the climate just over a year ago. this is greta speaking friday. >> we will rise to the challenge. we will hold those who are the most responsible for this crisis accountable. and we will make world leaders act. we can and we will. [cheers] and if you belong to that small group of people who feel threatened by us, then we have some very bad news for you. [cheers]
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because this is only the beginning. [cheers] change is coming whether they like it or not. amy: we will have more voices from the streets of neww york after headlines. meananwhile, thehe u.n. releasen alarming new report warning that the e five-year period from 2014 to 2019 is the hottest on record, markeded by accelerating sea-level rise and soaring carbon emissions. the world meteorological organization released the report ahead of the u.n. climate action summit that kicks off in new york city today. president trumump is not particicipating in the highly anticipated international gathering at the united nations. in related news, nbc recently reported that the trump administration ignored an internal report from one of its
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own agencies, showing that climate change is driving central american, and in particular, guatemalan, migration to the u.s. the report by customs and border protection confirms years of expert findings linking climate -- the climate crisis to migration due to its negative impacts on farming which lead to crop shortages, food and job insecurity, and poverty. i honduran mother and her 21 month old toddler died last week while trying to cross the rio grande into the united states to apply for asylum. they had recently entered the united states to apply for asylum but they were forced to wait in mexico for their immigration hearing as part of trump's contested remain in mexico policy. meanwhile, the u.s. and el salvador signed a new deal friday that would force migrants passing through el salvador to seek asylum there rather than in the united states and could return asylum-seekers back to el salvador once they reach the u.s.
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amnesty international said in a statement -- "el salvador has one of the highest rates of violence in the world, including gender-based violence so rampant that amnesty international declared it one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a woman. it is not safe for its own citizens, much less for asylum-seekers." on sunday, president trump acknowledged discussing joe biden and his son with ukrainian president volodymr zelensky, as democratic calls to investigate trump over the mounting scandal grow. reports emerged last week that trump tried to pressure ukraine president into investigating the former vice presesident and 2020 presidential candidate and his son hunter and that the administration was blocking a whistleblower complaint about the call. trump defended his july phone call to reporters, saying no quid pro quo had taken place. pres. trump: we had a great
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conversation. the conversation i had was largely congratulatory, was largely -- all of the corruption taking place, largely the fact that we don't want our people like vice president biden and his son creatating to the corruption alreaeady in the ukraraine. amy: biden told reporters over the weekend he never spoke to his son about his overseas business. acting director of national intelligence joseph maguire, who has refused to hand over the whistleblower complaint, is set to testify before the house intelligence committee later this week. house speaker nancy pelosi on sunday said the failure to disclose the complaint would lead to "a new chapter of lawlessness," while house intelligence chair adam schiff said in a cnn interview that "we may very well have crossed the rubicon here" and that impeachment would be the only appropriate course of action. alexandria ocasio-cortez
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tweeted, "at this point, the bigger national scandal isn't the presidents lawbreaking behavior, it is the democratic party's refusal to impeach him for it." trump is scheduled to meet with zelensky wednesday, during the u.n. general assembly. iranian president hassan rouhani says he will present a regional security plan dubbed the hormuz peace endeavour during the u.n. general assembly this week, as he called on foreign powers to leave the persian gulf amid escalating tensions between the u.s. and iran. on friday, the trump administration said it would deploy military forces to saudi arabia, as well as impose new sanctions on iran's central bank and other financial institutions. the announcements from d.c. were in r response to last t weeken's dronone attacks onon saudi oil facilities, whicich the u.s. has blamed o on iran. iran has denied any involvememet in the attack, which wasas claid by yemen's houthi movement. in more news about iran, a government spokesperson said
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today that t the british-flagged stena impero oil tanker, which was seseized in the strait of hormuz in july, was free to leleave. in israel, a major coalition of arab parties has endorsed ex-army chief benny gantz in what they say is an effort to prevent another term for benjamin netanyahu and "end his political career" after last week's elections. the group, known as the joint list, says, however, they do not support gantz's policies. the group has not backed a candidate for prime minister since 1992. gantz declared victory last week after his blue and white party gainined two more parliamentary seats than netananyahu's likud party. this is ahmamad tibi, a lawmaker from the joint list. >> it is historical results are so importata. jewsor arabs only, but for and arabs and arabs in the whole
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area. it is also a slap in the face. not only of intimate netanyahu, but president trump who supported benjamin netanyahu, supported the atrocities, and is arranging to present one of the most racist anti-palestinian plans, so the ultimate deal. amy: israeli president reuven rivlin must now designate someone to form a new government. he says he is meeting with g gaz and netanyahu tonight. netanyahu is facing indictments over three corruption cases and is expected to be charged in the coming weeks or months. thousands of egyptians took to the streets of cairo and other major cities friday and saturday to demand president abdel fattah el-sisi step down over allegations of government corruption. the demonstrations were triggered by social media posts accusing sisi and other officials of misusing public money. police and security forces deployed teargas and arrested
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several hundred protesters according to local reports. protests have been effectively banned in egypt since sisi came to power following the 2013 overthrow of former president mohamed morsi and launched a widespread crackdown on dissent. on sunday, egyptian authorities detained noted human rights lawyer mahienour el-massry, who is defending some of those arrested during the demonstrations. she has previously been imprisoned and tried twice for taking part in anti-government protests. the egyptian president is set to address the united nations today as part of the climate action summit in new york. he will also address the u.n. general assembly this week. "the wall street journal" recently reported presesident trump, while waiting for president sisi to arrive for a meeting during last month's g7 summit, called out, "where's my fafavorite dictator?" back in the united states, president trump appeared with nahendra modi at a houston, dubbed" howdy
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modi." they filed a lawsuit against modi for carrying out extrajudicial killings and other crimes and occupied kashmir. on sunday, modi defended his decision to revoke the special status of kashmir while trump praised ththe authoritarian leader. pres. trump: in november, the and inindia will mistreat a a dramatic progress of our defense relationship, holding the first ever tri-service military exercise between our nations. it is called tiger trial. good name. good name. both india, the united states come also understand that to keep our communities safe, we b borders.t our packedout 50,000 people the stadium where modi and trump spoke. outside, thousands protested against modi's human rights violations in kashmir.
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outside the rally. a florida police officer has been suspended and is under investigation after he handcuffed and arrested a six-year-old and an eight-year-old student last week. dennis turner, who was serving as a school resource officer at an orlando charter school, reportedly arrested the six-year-old girl for kicking a staff member during a tantrum. she was then charged with battery. when the girl's grandmother learned of the arrest and explained that the young girl had behavioral issues linked to her sleep apnea, officer turner responded, "well, i have sleep apnea, and i don't behave like that." turner, a retired police officer, was charged with aggravated child abuse against his son 20 years ago, according to local reports. in entertainment news at last night's emmy awards, billy porter became the first openly gay african american man to win an emmy for best actor in a drama series for his role in "pose." meanwhile, jharrel jerome won the award for outstanding lead actor in a limited series for his role as korey wise in ava
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duvernay's "when they see us" about the case of the "central park five." jerome paid tribute to the exonerated -- the five teenagers of color who were wrongfully accused and convicted of raping a white woman i in new york central park in trans activists 1989. laverne cox and indya moore appeared on the red carpet with aclu attorney chase strangio to draw attention to an upcoming supreme court case that could affect the lives of transgender workers in the united states. >> october 8, everyone should be aware the administration is asking the supreme court to make it legal to fire workers just because they are lgbtq. and this is going to transform the lives of lgbtq people and people who are not lgbtq. like all of the fabulous people here, for example. we really need to show up out of her eight and pay attention because our lives are really on the line. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.
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as many as 4 million people took to the streets around the world friday in the largest day of action focused on the climate crisis. students across the globe participated in a climate strike inspired by the 16-year-old swedish activist greta thunberg. just over a year ago, greta began skipping classes to protest in front of the swedish parliament, demanding action to prevent catastrophic climate change. her protest inspired millions around the world. on friday, she joined the climate strike in new york city ahead of today's u.n. climate action summit. later in the show, we will hear greta in her own words. but first, we turn to more voices from friday's protest. we begin with varshini prakash, co-founder and executive director of the sunrise movement and climate activist vic barrett addressing climate strikers in foley square as the march began. is my name.tt my peoplplre in afro indigenouss
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commmmunity from t the island o. vincentt and the caribbean. despite overwhwhelming diversit, we organize our community and emancipated ourselves from colonization. my ancestors did it to protect the children to come. i am one of those children. but the struggles continue for me and my people. we are being pushed on the land that we settled, the man -- the land my family has inhabited for genenerations. that land will be underwater in aa f few decades i if we continn the papath we are e on. i was boborn into a woror in whh my fure is being s stolen from meme. born into o a world inin which y past alreaeady was. fo into world whwhe everytng that i am is slipping into the seaea. born intnto a world w were my pe face extxtinction. iningenous lands all over our planet are being floodeded, poisisoned, and deststroyed. i i ack brothers and sisters are being gunned down by police. migrant children are dying at the border. trans folks are being murdered.
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violence is in the air that we breathe. slow violence ofispossession and disisenfranchisemement on te same commumunities. someme would think t there is no more room m r destruction. but i ththink that allll of us e know thahat for decadedes, our government and governments around the world have consciously put policies in place that have caused the climate crisis that we find ourselves in. an emerging crisis threatening my generation with untold violence. but this is an old story, right? a storyry we are tirered of hea, right? thats why we are here. we're here e w write a new s s, a ststory in whicich our countrs doing g everything i in its powo address not only the climate crisis, but the systemic injuststices at its s roots. a story whicich our constititutl riright to a safe clclate is recogniziz by the hihighest courts. a story in which the most vulnerable people are given the
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greatest protection. a story which indigenous peoples are empowered to protect their homelands. in 2030, the history books will with imimminentd deststruction,eoeople on the f t lines s foht back. thatatoung people e rose up arod the w world to dememand immediae action.. ,t startrtg on this d d septptember 20, 2 2019, everythg began toto changnge. [cheerer the momentntum became ununstopp. alieie of people joed the next glglal climate strike. the unitedtatates sueme courtrt enshrinedd o our constitututionl righght to a ststable climateted polititicians around thehe w wld come the politicalal will to fit for meaningful reform to ensure justice for their people. but let me tell you guys, those history books won't write themselves. so i want you to repeat after me.
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this is our time. >> this is our time. >> this is our future. >> this is our future. do whatever it takes to protect our rights, to protect our planet can enter protect our people. thank you. >> it is a pleasure to be with you here today. when i first learned about the climate crisis as a kid, i would lie awake at night. my heart pounding. when i thought about what this would mean for my people. i could not get the images out of my head. what people would do to each other when they did not have food, when they did not have water, and when they sought sanctuary and were faced with cages and guns instead. and i felt alone and small and powerless. and i know that is the story that so many young people are
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feeling right now. we have grown up seeing the political establishment fail us. and for twice as long as i have been alive on this planet, we have known about the crisis. for just as long, the wealthy and the powerful have profited off of pollution, have lied to liens of people about the science, have choked our democracy with their big oil dollars instill in our future. today, this generation is taking over. [cheers] our days of waiting for justice, our days of waiting for action, our days of waiting to be heard are over. am i right? [cheers] are putting our faith in the streets and we are not stopping until we get it done. feel kids don't have to small and alone and powerless because we have a movement that
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is globally shaking the roots of our society, that is getting millions of people involved in action. and striking is how we can stop the worst of the climate crisis and get a green new deal. and if we want to win, we are going to need tens of millions of americans to join us in the streets. if we are going to win, we have to bring society and our economy to a standstill and make it happen. if we are going to win, politicians are going to have to know that they will win or lose based off of where they stand on this issue. [cheers] and we can do it. we have been here before as a people. in 1970 on the first earth day, 20 many people were in the streets. during the civil rights movement, young students and young people were arrested and took action and took risks by the tens of thousands. and that is what it takes to
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make change in this country. so i need all of you to be with me here in this fight. [cheers] so i want you to imagine striking not just for one day, but day after day, marching and demonstrating incessantly, even shutting down our cities and schools and businesses to stop business as usual unless we get what we want and need as a generation. are you with me in that fight? [cheers] so today is a glorious start. and tomorrow the fight continues and i want to see you there. amy: that was varshini prakash, co-founder and executive director of the sunrise movement. she joined a quarter of a million people in new york alone who marched from foley square to battery park in downtown new york city. democracy now! was there in the streets. when we come back, we'll hear voices from the marchers as well as part of greta thunberg's
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amy: "hungry planet" by the byrds. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we continue our coverage of frfriday's historic global clime strike where as many as 4 million people marched around the globe. it was the largest protest ever focused on the climate crisis. democracy now! was in the stres s of n yorork iday eakingngo climat strers. i am isabella. i am 12 years old. i am here because i believe age doesn't matter. sure, we can't vote, but we still have a voice. the earth is really messed up. we should have fixed it a while ago. it is not fair. trump is lying. stop denying the earth is dying. >> i get worried about our
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future because i keep seeing a bunch of post-s or things that say, like by 2030 the world could be at its peak, that we can't do anything anymore. i keep thinking, why don't people listen when things are right in front of their face? >> i am 21 years old. i was born and raised in new york. the reason i'm here today is because i am tired. i am tired of climate inaction. i'm tired of our world leaders ignoring what is really happening to our earth and profiting off of the extension of our planet, really. prioritizing profit over lives instead of lives over profit. being latina, the hispanic community, they are disproportionally affected by climate change because of the institutions placed in our community. we have fossil fuel plants, garbage waste plans, bus depots
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that pollute our environment. you don't see the same infrastructures and other affluent communities but also being disabled, people with disabilities are really affected by climate change. we don't have the privilege to be able to of and leave with a natural disaster occurs. disasterse natural are getting more unpredictable, we are becoming prisoners to our habitats, our apartments, homes, because we can't predict the damage these drums will bring. we were not the ones who started the climate movement. there many generations before us who veve been fighting for the same changnge. but we will be the ones to end it because enough is enough. i am sonya. i'm one of the executive coordinators a brazilian indigenous peoples articulation. i am here today to participate in the climate march ringing the voices of the indigenous people of brazil to denounce all of the destruction of the environment,
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the instruction of the amazon, and the legalization of an aside indigenous brazilia people. for 519 years, indigenous people in brazil have been resisting. we've been resisting by fighting against the political and economic powers that under the name of development in the name of progress are authorizing more and more exportation of our natural resources. exploiting mines and the rivers and it is directly affecting our way of life. the amazon is burning at this exact moment. territories are on fire.
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we attribute the increase in the fires to the rhetoric of the government of jair bolsonaro that incites attacks, invasions, and deforestation. practices of the bolsonaro government are consolidating this government as the biggest enemy of indigenous people and the environment. think we are in a time of awakening. lots of people are waking up to the urgent need to fight for the environment. and it is necessary for people to political and ecological consciousness, to call out a pressure the government's the countries in order to adopt sustainable policies, not only destructive ones. >> my name is ramon. i am with the sierra club. two years ago in puerto rico, we saw the most devastating hurricane that we have seenn many generations.
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and because of that, there were many people displaced, many people had to move from the island. the economy went even further devastated. a direct effect of climate change. we were one of the many climate victims or climate refugees that we are seeing. we are starting to see that elsewhere. we saw the brothers and sisters from the bahamas suffering basically as much, if not even more that we did in puerto rico where one year after, there were still people without electricity. there were still people feeling the effects. >> i just turned 18 years old and i am here because climate change is an urgent issue. scientists say we have up to 2030. i'm only going to be 29 then, so
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it is my future at stake. >> i am delphian. i am nine years old. i am out here today to protest climate change. i am asking them to pick up their trash more because it is not just kids who make the mess, it is a lot of grown-ups, too. >> i am from the philippines. i am here today because i want to stand in solidarity with all of the young people who are rising up and standing up for the future. i have never seen anything like this before. it is truly amazing. the climate crisis as a matter of life and death for filipinos. quite know the story is simple and classic. those who have the least contribution to this problem are those who feel the brunt of the impacts. that is so unfair. that is unjust. in the philippines, we face typhoons, superstorm's, and massive droughts. this is a matter of life or
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death for .. iss aectingngeal people's livelihoods. when we come into the streets like this and my country, when you defend the environment, you can die. you can be killed. i hope people in america the space to have be able to express our views about the future and about the planet, but not every country in the world has that privilege. the bronx high school science. my sign says exxonmobil knew about climate change about 50 years ago. they did nothing about it. they actually paid money so they could deny it. they spread propaganda against climate change and we need to hold them accountable. >> we are unstoppable! >>, scientist and science
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communicator. scientists are joining the strike today because we have had enough. we've been warning about climate change for decades. politicians have not listened to us. we need a change, transformative change in society right now. we are angry because we serve the community. we serve front-line community's and the youth to try to make a better world. right now researching is not enough. we are leaving the labs and demanding action in the streets with everyone here today. this is what democracy looks like! i am from somalia. think the climate crisis we can see the strike is all about is really happening in countries like somalia, particularly there
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was drought three coececutiv years that we have never had raininfall. atat mea peoeoplhave b bn losing animals. meaning they have lost lererally everything. that means once they lose everything, then they have to be displaced. once there displaced, it means you are forced out of your house. them into the risk of human rights violations happening. >> i am kumi naidoo. amnesty international is in this march because we want to send a message to the world that climate change constitutes a mass death penalty facing all of the people on the planet. that is the reality of how we haveeglelect actininon it. we are running out of time.
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the significance of this particular day, which is already we know the largest number of people have come out on a single day of climate action, is the fact that young people have brougha a mora appealnd prickethe consence of en the most toughest ceos of fossil fuel companies -- i'm not sure we can get through the trump because he is a tougher nut to crack -- but the bottom line is, i feel we are reaching the tipping point now where global public opinion is shifting and directing where it is going to be irresistible for governments to not act. yes, we are not there yet but the momentum is building to send a message that nature does not negotiate. we cannot change the science. and all that we have in the world to change now is political will. and to existing political leaders, they need to understand political will is the new renewable resource. if they don't get that together,
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they wll find themselvesutut of popoweif theh're not willing to wawa listen. amy: voices from the global climate strike in new york. their protest ended at battery park were 16-year-old swedish climate activist greta thunberg addressed the crowd. but first, artemisa barbosa ribeiro, 1 19-ye-oldld indigegeus activist from brazil, tooko ththe age. i am 19 years old and i'm from result. i'm here representing more than 25 million indigenous and traditional committees from the global alliance of territorial communities. this alliance is formed by four organizations. together we protect 600 million
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hectares of forest but i'm also here as a young woman because there's no difference between an indigenous young female activist like myself and a young indigenous female activist like greta. our futures are connected by the same threads of the climate crisis. the amazon is on fire. the amazon agonizes year after year for the responsibility of the government and its destructive policies that intensify deforestation and drought not only in the amazon, but in the other five brazilian biomes. climate change is a result of this and it also helps to make that fires stronger. and be on the amazon, the force of africa north america, suffering in my life and your life. we, the indigenous people come are the children of nature so we fight for our mother earth because the fight for mother earth is the mother of all other fights. we are for your lives fighting for our lives. we are fighting for our sacred territory. we are being persecuted, threatened, murdered come only
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for protecting our own territories. we cannot accept one more drop of indigenous blood spilled. introducey honor to greta thunberg. [cheers] >> greta! >> hello, new york city. [cheers] honor to me to be here with all of you today on this .istorical day people are striking today in over 150 countries. [cheers] on all continents. and when i say all continents, i mean all continents, even antarctica. [cheers]
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and we are not in school today. and this time we are not alone. we have some adults who are not at work today, either. [cheers] and why? because this is an emergency. our house is on fire. and it is not just the young people's house. we all live here. it affects all of us. and we will not just stand aside and watch. we are united behind the science and we will do everything in our power to stop this crisis from getting worse. [cheers] even if that means skipping
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school or work because this is more important. why should we study for a future that is being taken away from us? [cheers] is being stolen for profits? [cheers] say we justple study to become climate scientists or politicians so we in the future can solve the climate crisis. but by then, it will be too late. we need to do this now. and this monday, world leaders are going to be gathered here in new york city for the united nations climate action summit.
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streets sacrificing our education for the adults and politicians to take sophie's with us and tell us they really, really admire what we do. we are doing this to wake the leaders up. we are doing this to get them to act. we deserve a safe future. demand a safe future. is that really too much to ask? right now we are the ones who are making a difference. if no one else will take action, then we will. [cheers] it should not be that way. we should not be the ones who are fighting for the future.
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and yet, here we are. but we are not just some young people skipping school or some adults who are not going to work . we are a wave of change. [cheers] together and united, we are unstoppable. this is what people power looks like. we will rise to the challenge. we will hold those who are the most responsible for this crisis accountable. and we will make the world leaders act. we can and we will. [cheers] >> and if you belong to that
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small group of people who feel threatened by us, then we have some very bad news for you. because this is only the beginning! [cheers] change is coming whether they like it or not. [cheers] amy: 16-year-old swedish climate activist greta thunberg speaking on friday at the global climate strike in new york. u.n. she is addressing the climate action summit. yes, at the united nations she's addressing the u.n. general simile. a special thanks for those in the streets on friday of democracy now! covering these protests.
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amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. world leaders are gathering today here in new york for the one-day u.n. climate action summit. dozens of world leaders are planning to address the summit but president trump is skipping the gathering. instead, he plans to attend a u.n. event focused on religious freedom and religious persecution. meanwhile, the world meteorological organization has just released an alarming new report warning that the five-year period from 2014 to 2019 is the hottest on record marked by accelerating sealevel rise and soaring carbon emissions. today's summit comes three days
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after 4 million people took part in a global climate strike. and the protests are contingent. climate activist and washington, d.c., are tenting right now to block morning rush-hour traffic. as we continue our climate coverage, we turn to bill mckibben, longtime journalist, cofounder of 350.org. bill mckibben's 1989 book "the end of nature" was the first book for a general audience about the climate crisis. his other books include "falter has the human game begun to play has the human game begun to play : itself out?" his latest piece for "the new york or" going viral is headlined "money is the oxygen on which the fire of global warming burns." he also recently had the cover magazine" called "hello from the year 2050. we avoided the worst of climate change -- but everything is different."
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bill mckibben, welcome back to democracy now! it is great to have you with this after your journey to washington and commerce last week for all that was happening there and then in the streets here in new york on friday for the global climate strike. talk about your experience of this. >> i've had the privilege of getting to be a part of every one of the global mobilizations over the last 10 yeaears. and friday was really different. it was a quantum step up in numbers but also spirit. down at the battery and your crew did an amazing job. it was all ages and it looked like new york. it was as diverse as this city in the same was true all over the world. such a privilege to have 350 help out behind the scenes around the planet because we got to look at these pictures as they were flooding in from everywhere. --re were a couple of times
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i'm an old guy and i don't cry easy, but there were a couple of times when there was a picture from couple in afghanistan. a girls school walked out in protest. of course, it is dangerous. there were soldiers front and back of them, but just think about that permanent. it is brave for a girl to go to school in kabul, much less not to go to school and walk out. there were remarkable pictures from bangladesh, from across the south pacific. the earliest pictures were coming in from the solomon islands, from people arriving to strike by canoe, dugout canoe. likedidn't something 300,000 australians protest as the prime minister of australia is meeting with trump and washington, d.c.? >> scott morrison was having state dinner with president trump at there were hundreds of thousands of australians, some
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of the biggest demonstrations down under ever. by the way, this coming friday, parts of the world are going to have -- that did not do it last friday are doing it this friday, so watch for the pictures from new zealand, from spain, and canada. we think there will be threaded thousand to 400,000 people in to 400,000 300,000 people in montreal alone. amy: in new york, so many young people were going out from their classes of the new york public schools administration had to announce they could leave and they would not be marked absent. >> think the city was proud to do it. clearly, for kids all over the place, this was not a day for no education. this was a day when people were learning all kinds of things and teaching all kinds of things. it was education at its best. amy: as i went to boston on friday, coming out of the government center metro, youngnds and thousands --
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people holding signs, the oceans are rising and so are we. marched- and then they to boston common, and that was just one little example all over this country. >> exactly. itit was beautififul. is whatat it demonstrateses is, the w world meteorologicall gaganizationon points out, we ae at a tipping point typically. the plane it really is starting to break in profound ways. we are also at a tipping point may be politically. there is finally enough recognition, enough demand for action that maybe things will start to happen. how that race b between destruction and hope comes out is anybody's guess. it really depends on how quickly we are able to mobilize. amy: i want to ask about washington last week. yet greta thunberg of the 16-year-old d climate actctivist come addressing or you could say dressing down the congress
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memories. i want to turn t to a small clip of greta testifying. name is greta thunberg. i have not come to offer any prepared remarks at this hearing . i am instead attaching my testimony. it is the ipcc special report on global warming of 1.5 degrees released onhich was october 8, 2018. i am submitting this report as my testimony because i don't want you to listen to me. i want you to listen to the scientists. and i want you to unite behind the science. and then i want you to take real action. thank you. amy: rated tumor speaking before
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part of the house foreign relatitions -- greta thunberg speaking before part of the house or an committee. >> as usual, the congressman can't help themselves, guessing on, unable to take a cue from her concise eloquence. when republican come on and on, china does, try to that, why should we do anything. it goes on like this for five minutes and she looks up and i come from a small country called sweden. sometimes people say why should we do anything because the united states is so big and waste so much? just so you know. that was my favorite moment of congressional testimony in a long time. amy: i wanted to go, speaking of schools, to the divestment movement b because there was massive news last week after the university of california voted to divest, writing an "the los
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angeles times" two top university investment officials say it was a long term risk posed by positive fill investments rather than concerns over the environment that led them to pull some $150 million in fossil fuel assets from the endowment. something like $80 billion? ofthe endowmentnt portfolio the p pension f fund is $80 bil. this is the biggest educational divestment ever from the biggest ever education -- public education system on the planet. such a shout out to the students , professors, alumni who for seven years waged and absolutely in your face unrelenting campaign. this is a huge deal. and the way they announced it was actually sort of quite helpful. they said, yeah, they clearly did not want to acknowledge how much work have been done, but they were like, yeah, we're losing our shirt on fossil fuel. we can't keep doing this so we
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are out of here. and that message rings loud and clear. last week we passed the $11 trillion mark on divestment. there's a big gathering for people in new york thursday night at riverside church beginning at 7:00 to talk about -- to sort of hear about all that is going on with the financent and pl movement. has just keeps burgeoning. and as you said, we are ready to go to the next step. not just the fossil fuel companies. it is time to have a head on deal with the banks and insurance companies and asset managers that are providing the lifelinene to the fossil fuel industry. amy: talk about the universities that are still grappling with this. you have uc out, putting enormous pressure -- washe guy who was saddest
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the president of harvard. they and yale have been, oh, none of the biggest universities will do it. the biggest of all has weighed in. not like the university of california some forthright enterprise. they have won 62 nobel prizes. they have tataken seriously what their scientists said. now they are out of climate change stop. amy: you mention the role banks are playing. you cite in your piece is the largest bank in the u.s., j.p. morgan chase. talked about the banks and insurance industry and the role they play. >> reinforced action network and others have done great work over the last -- rain forest action network and others have done great work over the last years. since pears, the four big u.s. banks -- chase, wells fargo, citigroup, b of a, have dramatically increased their lending to the fossil fuel industry.
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chase is number one with a bullet is one of the rain forest action network activist. they have lent over the last three years $196 billion. if the guy who runs exxon is sort of a carbon giant, so is jamie dimon, the guy who runs chase. they are pouring money i into te destruction of the planet. they're doing everything they can to make a profit off that destruction. we have got to figure out how to stop that. and i think we will. amy: and your "time" cover story, wrote -- "let's imagine for a moment we have reached the middle of the century. it is 2050. we have a moment to reflect. the climate fight remains the consuming battle of rh but its most intense phase may be in our rearview mirror. so we can look back to see how we might have managed d to dramamatically change e our socy and economy, we have no other choice." explain this look back. >> time asked me t to try and imimagine a world that actually worked. thatat is not easy because an
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incredible number of things have to go right from this point on. but if we did everything right from this point, if we cut off the supupply of money to the fossil fuel inindustry, if we tk someththing -- pass summit like the green n new deal a and implt it i it fast, if we do everythig necessary to keep fossil fuel in notground, then we are going to stop global warming. that is off the table. but maybe we can limit it to the point where it doesn't cut off our civilizations at the knees. it is a close question. but if we do, if we do those things, not only will the planet survive come our civilization survive, but there is reason to think that they could thrive, too, that the world that we a above all, a world where we hahave escapedede of the incredibly damaging hyper-individualism of the kind of consumer society we live in now. and replaced it necessarily with
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the kind of ethic of solidarity. that is what it is going to take bebecause we are n now in a surl challenge. amy: did nancy pelosi meet with greta thunberg and congress come to house speaker who when mocking the green new deal talked about the green dream or whatever they call it? >> i think they met briefly and chuck schumer had a bunch of young climate activists in. i would not hold my breath for congress next week passing the green new deal. i do think their promising signs out on the campaign trail that the people contesting for the democratic primary have no choice because of the outptpourg of feeling around this to really reevaluateamaticallyly with the democratic party's gogo to d do the f fure. amy: the u.n. climate action summit is taking place today. what is going to happen at the u.n. what about the fact president trump is not attending? >> truthfully, if i were him, i would not have gone, either,
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because he would've heard the s.ngest l,ustiest boo amy: last year he was laughed at. >> the u.n. is not going to solve the climate problem, but it is important that secretary-general is doing his best t to crack the whip. he told countries they were not going to be allowed to talk if they were still opening new coal plants. he told the japanese and others, sorry, you are actually not going to get up and speak. it is a sign even a place as diplomatic as the u.n. has begen to reach the end of the tether. amy: we will be playing on democracy now! greta thunberg's each before that you and general sibley today. she will address them and the u.n. speaker said you can only speak about your solutions. >> that's right. amy: we are going to post online to get your assessment of the presidential candidates and their positions on climate, the
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