♪ amy: from new york, this is democracy now!. >> the jury has reached a verdict, ms. guyger and your team, would you please stand? we the jury unanimously find the defendant, amber guyger, guilty of murder as charged in the indictment. amy: a white off duty police officer who shot and killed a 26-year-old black man in his own home in dallas has been convicted of murder. the verdict came down tuesday,

more than a year after off duty police officer amber guyger entered botham jean's apartment, mistaking it for her own and shot and killed him. one of his lawyers called the verdict a victory for black people in america. we'll speak with the civil rights attorney benjamin crump, one of the lawyers of the family of botham jean, his memoir " "open season, the lega genocide of colored people." s china holds a prorotest a as police escalate violence by firing live ammunition at demonstrators. >> right now you can see the police and hong kong government trying to suppress our freedom everywhere by beating upp peopl randomly and using the police. i think we need to come out to show to the hong kong government as well at beijing we are not afraid.

amy: we'll speak with kevin lin, how should the u.s. left think about china. then to haiti where protests are calling for the resignation of the u.s.s.-backed president jovenel moise continue to escalate. >> people are fighting and the government isis repressing. they're on the street. need a solution to hunger and murders to the neighborhoods as we see in the cities. being on the street is a political battle. amy: we'll get an update of jacqueline charles. thisis is democracy now!, all that and more coming up. amy: welcome to democracy now!, democracy now!.org, the war and peace report. the president trump pushed for

shooting migrants and for creating, a, quote, water filled trench stocked with snakes or alligators along the u.s.s.-mexico border. "the new york times" also details how trump privately proposed other radical measures to curtail immigration including closing the entire u.s.-mexico border and building an electrified border wall topped with spikes to pierce human flesh. the times revealed trump has repeatedly raised the idea of shooting migrants during staff meetings. the paper reports, quote, after publicly suggesting that soldiers shoot migrants if they threw rocks, the president backed off when his staff told him that was illegal. but later in a meeting, aides recalled he suggested they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down. that's not allowed either, they told him, unquote. "the times" article is based on the new book "border wars, inside trump's assault and immigration by times reporter sheer and davis.

president trump is continuing to lash out at house democrats by opening a impmpeachment inquiry after he pressured the president of ukraine to investigate his rival joe biden. on tuesday trump wrote on twitter, quote, i'm coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it's a coup, trump wrote. this comes as secretary of state mike pompeo is preventing five current and former state officials from being questioion asas part of the house impeachment inquiry. pompeo accused them of attempting to bully and treat improperly state department officials. however, the trump administration special envoy for ukraine, kurt volcker who resigned last week is expected to testify in private thursday. meanwhile the inspector general is headed to capitol hill today to begin what is described as a urgent briefing from staffers from several house and senate committees. in other impeachment related news, the most senior republican in the senate, chuck grassley, is publicly

supporting the anonymous intelligent official who blew the whistle on president trump's interactions with ukraine, grassley wrote, this person appears to have followed the whistleblower protection laws not to be heard out and protected. we should always work to protect whistleblowers grasslsl said. in news frfrom dallas, texasas, white police officicer was convicicted tuesdaday of murder her 26-year-old black neighbor in his own apartment in 2018. the off duty officer, amber guyger, claimed to have accidentally entered botham jean's apartment where he shot and killed him thinking he was an intreeder. t was located one floor below. guyger is the first police officer to be convicted of murder since the 1970's. lee merit a lawyer for botham jean's family welcomed t the conviction. >> we still have the sentencing phase to go but this is a huge victory, not only for the family of botham jean, but a as his mother a allison told me a

moment ago, this is a victory for blalack people in america. it's a signal that the tide i i going change he. police officers are goin tbe held accountable for their actions and we believe that will begin to change culture all over the world. amy: we'll speak with another of the lawyers for the botham jean's family, benjajamin crumple, after the headlines. a lawyer in georgia blocked the state fromom entering one of th most restrictive laws in the country and the law would have banned abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be connected which often occurs six weeks into pregnancy before many women realize they're pregnant. emily nessler for reproductive rights, the law recognized it's blaise antley unconstitutional in an attempt to overturn roe v. wade. north korea is facing allegations it test fired a ballistic missile from sea earlier today. some observers believe the test may have involved a underwater launch missile and came days before north korea and the

united states are expected to reopen nuclear talks. in hong kong, hundreds of protesters staged a sit-in inside the school of an 18-year-old protester shot by police during violent protests tuesday and marked the first time hong kong police used d li ammumunition on p protesters si the demonstrations began weeks ago. the one shot is reported to be in stable condition. hong kong officials defended the use of live ammunition saying the police officer feared for his life. 96 protesters were arrested tuesday on charges. we'll have more on hong kong later in the broadcast. in israel, pretrial hearings have begun in israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's trial accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust and the hearings are taking place as netanyahu is forming a government following last month's deadlocked election and he could face possible arrest if he does not remaiain prime minister. it looks like he's been unsuccessful in forming that unity government.

in news from latin america, peru is facing its biggest political crisis in decades as the nation's president and vice president are both claiming to be the lawful leader of the country. on monday the peruvuvian president invoked a constitutional provision to dissolve congress and call for new parliamentary elections and congress suspended him as president and declaring his vice president to be peru's interim m president. recent public opinion show the pport for vicado to dissolve congress because they've blocked efforts by the administration to fight corruptition. the ununited nations is calling on european nations to do more to help migrants attempting to cross the "neneengland journal ofof medicin s sea. -- the mediterrane s sea. morehan a thousd migrant died at sea attempting toto rea eurorope. liz throsseu is the high commissioner for refugees. >> it t does show we have a a thousand deaths in019 and

that's's the sixth year in a ro we've passesed a thousand death what i can stress of course is the numbers of peoplee attemptiting to cross thehe mediteterranean are much lower and thatat points to t fact the journeys from the south are much more dangngerous.s. amy: a city in mississippi is claiming a man who was shot dead inside his own home by a police officer two years ago has no constitutional rights because he was an undocumented immigrant, not a u.s. citizen. an attorney for the city of south haven, mississippi, made this argument in a recent court filing after theamily of ismael lopez filed a civil lawsuit. lopez was shot dead inside his own home when police shot through his front door. the police were attempting to serve a search warrant to one of lopez's neighbors but went to the wrong house. the city's attorney wrote, quote, ismael lopez may have been a person on american soil but he was not one of the we the people of the united states entitled to the civil rights invoked in this lawsuit, unquote. a lawyer for the lopez family

described the city's position a, quote, the most insane thing i've ever heard, unquote. the attorney said the city is essentially arguing that because lopez is an undocumented immigrant, it's ok for the city of south haven to kill him. in technology news, a federal appeals court has largely upheld the federal communications commission 2017 appeal of net neueutrality protections but the court did rule that individual states can pass their own net neutrality regs. supporters of net neutrality say protections are needed to preserve an open internet and bar internet service providers from stopping or slowing down the delivery of websites. facebook's c.e.o. mark zuckerberg has privately slammed senator elizabeth warren's proposal to break up facebook and other tech giants. on tuesday the technology website the verge published a leaked audio recording saying zuckerberg s say a war on

presidency would suck for the government and would sue the u.s. government if it attempts to break up the company. >> elizabeth warren thinks it's the right answer to break up the companies. if she is elected president, we'll have a legal challenge and i bet we'll win a legal challenge. does that still suck for us? yeah. i don't want a major lawsuit against our own government. that's not where you want to be. we care about our country and want to work with our government to do good things. but at the end of the day if someone is going to try to threaten, you go to bat and fight. amy: the words of mark zuckerberg, senator elizabeth warren responded on twitter, what would really suck is it we don't fix a corrupt system if we let giant companies like facebook engage in protective practices and stomp on consumer rights and repeatedly fumble their responsibility to protect our democracy, she wrote. in other campaign news,

president trump's re-election campaign and the republican national committee raised a record $125 million in the third quarter of the year, far higher than anany democrat. bernie sanders reported t tuesd he raised $25 million.. it's the l largest quarterly su to be reported so far by any democratic candidate but it's just 1/5 of what trurump and th r.n.c. raised. in labor news, tens of thousands of childcare providers in california have gained the right to unionize under a new law signed monday and will impact 40,000 workers at daycare centers that get state subsidies. while the childcare workekers won't be considered state employees they can collectively bargain over wages and other issues. . childcaree providers h have bee organizing a around the issue f 16 years. and a victory for backersrs of affirmative action, a federal judge ruled harvard university's undergraduate admissions office does not discriminate against asian american a applicants and came a ruling for a case brought by

students for fair admissions which has long opposed affirmative action. today marks one year since the saudi born "washington post" columnist came showingy was brutally assassinated inside inistanbul. the master minds of the killings remain at large, last year the c c.i.a. concluded mohammed had ordered cash owingy's killing but the prince we mained a close ally of the u.s. government. earlier kashogi's widow and jeff bezos attended a vigil outside the saudi consulate in istanbul. meanwhile a u.s. based law firm revealed it has filed a petition at the international criminal court to have the saudi crown prince be investigated for crimes against humanity, including the murder of kashogi. this comes as a number of top u.s. executives are planning to head to saudi arabia later this month to participate in an investment conference known as davos in the desert.

democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders criticized the companies participating and wrote on twitter, quote, the greed of goldman sachs, jp morgan, citigroup and black rock is insatiable, who cares if the saudis are starving millions of yemeni civilians or or planet is facing a climate emergency. profiting off the trillions in saudi oil is just too important, sanders wrote. president trump's son-in-law jerod kushner is also expected to attend. those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, "the war and peace report" i'm amy goodman. a white police officer who shot and kikilled a 26-year-old blac man in his own home in dallas in 2018 has been convicted of murder. the verdict came down tuesday. more than a year after off duty police officer amber guyger killed ott am jean. guyger claimed during trial she accidentally entered jean's apartment and shot him thinking he was an intruder.

jean's apartment was located one floor below guyger's in the dallas apartment building.g. this is judge kemp delivering the verdict. >> the jury has reached a verdict, ms. guyger and your team, would you please stand. we the jury unanimously find the defendant amber guyger, guilty of murder as charged in the indictment. amy: family and community members in the courthouse erupted in celebration at the news in the hallways spectators chanted black lives matter. guyger is the first dallas police officer to be convicted of murder since the 1970's, this according to "the dallas morning news." ms. lee merit, one of the lawyers for botham jean's family. >> we have the sentencing phase to go but this is a huge victory not only for the family of botham jean but his mother allison told me moments ago this is a victory for black people in america. it's a signal the tide is going to change here.

police officers are going to be held accountable for their actions and we believe that will begin to change the culture all over the world. amy: amber guyger faces 99 years in prison and this is the family's lawyer, benjamin crumple, speaking tuesday. mr. crump: this verdict is for trayvon martin and michael brown and sandra bland and tamara wright and for eric gardner, it's for antoine rhodes, jamel, for e.j. bradford and stephen clark, for jeffrey dennis, genevieve, for pamela turner, for so many unarmed black and brown human beings all across america. this verdict today is for them! amy: after the jury returned its verdict, prosecutors introduced racist and offensive text messages and social media posts written by guyger in

which she joked about martin luther king jr.'s death and called herseself a racist. for more we go to dallas, texas, to speak with benjamin crump, the attorney for the family botham jean, the author of "open season, legalized genocide of colored promise. welcome to democracy now!, benefit crump, overall respond to the verdict, as we speak the sentence has not been decided. benjamin: correct. it w was a historic verdict in the fact my co-counsels are darrelle washington and lee merit. we believe that this is the first time that a white p polic woman had erer been convicted of murder of a black man in america. so we don't underscore this, our decision by this jury, in any way. it was a huge verdict, not just

for botham jean's family but for so many others who never got justice for the unjustified killers of their loved ones and he one thing i would say, amy, botham jean was a near perfect person of color. and i believe the jury took that into account as s they wer deliberating. ut it shohouldn't t take you a mere perfect person of color for an unarmed person of color to get justice in america. so we are still trying to say that everybody, regardless of your social status or the index of your income should get equal justice under the law. that's what the constitution says. amy: i want to turn to botham jejean's mother, allison,

testifying tuesday after the verdict was delivered. >> my life is not the same. it's just been a roller coaster. i cannot sleep. cannot eat. it's just been the most rrible time for me. i almost -- i'm not able to work, but i just try to busy out of my to get it head, but it's been very, very difficult. amy: that's botham jean's mother, allison. again, the decision on the sentence will be made, we believe, today. ben crump, if you c could give the narrative of exactly what happened for those people who

haven't followed this just unbelievable case. you have amber guyger, she has worked her day on her job and then describe what happens and when it was. ben: certainly. amber guyger, a dallas police officer who lives in the same apartment complex as botham jean, this 26-year-old, highly educated africanan-american man who was a certified public ccount annual -- accountant, working for price waterhouse cooper. she lives on the third floor right above her botham jean lives on the fourth floor. she comes and gets off the wrong floor and she puts her key into botham's apartment. at this apartment complex, they've had some issues apparently with the doors, many witnesses testified. but when she put her key in the

door, the door opens. at that point she says -- understands that she heard somebody moving around in the apartment. now she's a well trained police officer, allegedly. her training tells her if she thinks it's a burglar or somebody doing something in her apartment, at that point, the best thing for her to do is to set up a parameter and call for backup. the police department is less than two miles away, they will be there within 90 seconds, the cavalry, the k-9 unit, everybody give her cover and they can give out verbal commands and de-escalate the situation if it really is a nefarious situation but she doesn't do any of that. she testifies that when she heard that, she said she assumed it was a burglar, a threat, and she was going in to take the threat out and that's exactly what she did. the unfortunate tragedy is that

it was botham jean's apartment and he was in there eating a bowl of ice cream watching the football game and working and doing everything he had the legal right to do and unfortunately because she prejudged him, prejudged the situation, she shot first and askeked questions later. this light has been taken away from us and something his family will never get over. that's why you heard his mother breaking down on the witness stand because he was truly a light for this world that was so desperately needed. and the last thing i will say know, amber guyger, you she tried to say that it was the worst day of her life and that she doesn't think anybody could understand that this is the worst day of her life. the prosecutors when they examined her pointed out the

fact that you didn't treat it like you had made this terrible mistake. you were texting on the phone with your partner/lover. you were not trying to render any aid to this unarmed person you had now realized was innocent and you were in the wrong apartment. so it was these things here that was so unbelieveably outrageous that she did on multiple occasions i believe led the jury to say you do not get the benefit of consideration or mistake based on all the decisions that you made to kill this unarmed black man in his own apartment. amy: i'm looking at a piece in the "new york times" today, ben, and it says talking about now the sentencing phase of the trial, she faces between 5-99 years in prison and it says,

prosecutors sought out the jury that will decide the length of punishment, began hearing the sentencing portion of the trial, prosecutors sought to draw the attorney's attention to past social media posts by ms. guyger, including a post, kill first, die last, that she'd saved to a page for quotes and inspiration. the prosecution also highlighted a text they said ms. guyger sent while working at a parade celebrating the reverend dr. martin luther king jr., when asked if the festivities would end, she wrote when m.l.k. is dead -- oh, wait. ben crump? ben: yeah, it is just shocking, these posts that this police officer was sending to her partner, martin rivera, who she was having an affair with. and reremember, shee was sextin with him 20 minutes before she killed botham jean.

but there are many posts she said i wear black and i have a gun s so don't f with me becaus i'm already dresseded for your fufuneral. so i think these posts kind of give us some perspective of her if lity, and i don't know she is racist. i don't know the woman at all. but these posts certainly suggest that she had an issue with people of color because there was some other posts in there where she suggested what to do with the diverse crowds of people celebrating at the martin luther king parade, how you should just mace them and do these other things that violate their constitutional rights. so i think the jury would have all of these things to consider when they put a verdict forth white sentence of this

police woman amber guyger who killed this unarmed black man in his own apartrtment in dalla texas. amy: i'm wondering your response to activists calling for the resignation of the dallas police union president mike mata over the alleged special treatment he gave amber guyger, prosecutors arguing he instructed a dallas police sergeant to turn off the recording system inside the patrol car that would transport guyger to the station after the shooting. your response? ben: no, it's no question they treated her differently than they would have treated any other suspect who had just killed an unarmed person in their own apartment. they were violating policies when they said southern turn off the video camera instructing her not to say anything because these were all people who she associated with on a regular basis, so it was almost as if they were trying to come up with a justification

for this unjustifiable killing from day one, from moment one they were trying to conspire how to make sure she would walk and not be held accountable for this crime. and when you really think about it, when you listen to the 911 tape, she never once said that she felt threatened by botham jean, that he was charging her or anything like that. she just said that she messed up. she went to the wrong apartment. she's sorry, she's sorry. and this call was about 19 minutes. it was only after she had talked to, and we believe then coached by the union president and others that she came up with this notion to say well, i felt threatened, i thought he was s going to kill me. and remember, the united states supreme court has given the instructions to all police officers when they see unarmed

people of color, all you say is i felt threatened and in fear of my life and normally that means you get a get out of jail pass free card for killing our black and brown people. and i think that's what people are so outraged about this act in the civil rights community that this union president can do this, be caught on tape doing it and have no consequences, just like her and her partner/lover who was married, deleleting text messag from their phones knowing that that was a vital part of the criminal investigation into the death of botham jean. amy: finally, the message you sent -- "you think this sends to the african-american community to the united states of america, every populatation, beben crump. ben: yeah, amy, i think this is a precedent setting case in many ways. we pray that it will decrease the hash tags of unarmed black

and brown people being killed by the people who are supposed to protect and serve us. we hope it sends a message to the police departments that your officers should be following the policies of deescalation so we can have conflict resolution and not this shoot first, ask questions later mentality when it comes to interactions with black and brown peopople. and the last thing for society as a whole, we pray y that it illll be a precedent to reaffim what the uniteted statates constitution has emblazoned on our society that it is equal justice under the law. amy: i want to thank you so much for being with usus. ben crump, civil rights attorney, attorney for the family of botham jean. he's the author of the upcoming memoir, "open season, legalized genocide of colored people." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, the protests

in hong kong and then we'll talk about protests in haiti. tay with us. >> ♪ let the spirit of the lord rise ♪ ♪ ♪ music break] ♪

amy: botham jean singing "let the spirit of the lord rise." he would have been 28 last sunday. he was killed by amber guyger, the dallas police officer. she has been convicted of murder. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. as china holds the largest military parades ever in beijing to mark 70 years of the people's republic of china we turn to hong kong where police escacalated olence by firing live am missssion at p proteste and an 18-year-old prorotester named tony sg g is seen n in a grgroup of peopople chasing a a police officer. they tacackle him to t the grou appear to beat him, and d then another riot officer approaoach wiwith his gun drarawn. the teteen appeaears to try tot himnd the officer fires at hihim at point-blanknk range

shooting him in the chest. police also fired tear gas and water cannons while protesters were seen throwing molotov cocktails. the teen is reportedly in stable condition. the hong kong police commissioner said he has been arrested but they'll decide later whether to press charges. hong kong officials defended the use of live ammunition saying the police officer feared for his life. 96 protesters were arrested tuesday on rioting charges. the hong kong public doctors association spoke out against the police for failing to use less lethal weapons such as beanbag rounds. the principal at the teen's school said he would not be punished and would keep his place in the school. his schoolmates denounced the police actions wednesday during a sit-in of hundreds of protesters outside his school. >> he often said he would rather die than be arrested because those police officers are inhuman. after the arrest, they would beat you for no reason. unfortunately, it happened to him.

he has sacrificed a lot for hong kong but we cannot reach our a aim. as hisis schoolmates and brothe we are very proud of him. but we should think when secondary students fight against unfairness in this society, isn't there a serious problem in this society? amy: protesters vowed wednesday to continue demonstrations. a new focus of the protests have been chinese businesses and pretoastors targeted starbucks after the daughter of the man who operates stores condemned protesters at the u.n. human rights council. 96 protesters were arrested tuesday on rioting charges and comes as routers report there are twice as many when protests began. we go to washington, d.c. joined by kevin lin, from the international labor rights forum and born and raised in beijing and spent years researching the labor movement and civil society in china. his most recipes is headlined four points on the hong kong protest and author of "how should the u.s. left think

about china." welcome to democracy now!. kevin, start off by responding to what's happening now in hong kong, the shooting of the protester and what all this means now on the 70th nniversary of china. kelly f.: kevin: thanks, amy. i think the shooting as you mentioned is the first time the hong kong police used live ammunition against a deadly shooting at a protester foror t first time since the start of these protests back in june and they really would present a huge escalatatn of violence. however, we have seen the lastt several weekeks, the escalation are p pointing ce towards a huhuge increreasin th ususe of force of police.

and there has been a gogood investigation done documenting alarming heighten of arbitrary arrests, beatings, and torture of p protesters in detention centers and we've also seen a really good report by "the new york times" pointing to the fact there are police officers undercover posing as protesters in order to arrest and beat protesters. so we have really begun to see a huge escalation of police violence against the protesters and it's hugely symbolic this happens at a time of the parades that commemorate the 70th anniversary of the people's republic of china. amy: reuters is reporting china recently doubled its true presence in hong kong, the significance of this, kevin.

kevin: i think this is what theme have been fearing there would be a crackdown, even though i think our analysis is thisis is very unlikely because any military crackdown in hong kokong would really lead to hug casualties, c civilian casualti hong kong but also will basically end hong kong as we now it as s a semiautonomous region with relatively political freedom. so even thougugh we do notot th or anticipate a huge military crcrackdown by the chchinese government, the doubling of the troops and also all the threats issusued by the chinese government are hugely concerning. amy: kevin lin, you grew up in in , can you talk about

mainland china, the response to the hong kong protests, you've written a piece, four points on the hong kong protest and talk about how the left should think about what's happening right now. can you expand on that? kevin: sure. i think two things. n the response and the perspective of people in mainland china, what we see over the l last feww months is attempt by the chinese government to control the narrative of what's happening in hong kong, basically independent reporting is almost not possible in mainland china or hong kong. there's only one really major source of news which is the state-owned media. so that means the hong kong protest is portrayed almost exclusively as the senseless mob violence without understanding and providing the

context and understanding of the reasons why there's such a huge my space protest movement ththat at one point involved on million to two million demonstrators on the streets back in july. so the result of that is there's an increase in nationalistic sentiment in china right now and a lot of hostility in mainland china towards the hong kong protest. should be what issued, i think there's a legitimate concern about u.s. or u.k. influence. there's a concern about color revolution, about foreign interference. but i think even though i think that there is a legitimate concern, we cannot ignore the fact this is a huge massive social movement that goes beyond, you know, elements, people in the movements that look to the u.s. or u.k. for

support that the movement as a whole has very legitimate oncerns that are found to be in the political development of hong kong itself. amy: kevin l lin, you've writte has cracked ng down on government corruption. what's the role of hong kong in corruption in mainland china specifically in the banking sector. kevin: i think while the intentions and one of the justificatations that the tradition feel sparked the protest, it was introduced, at least the justification of t th was there will be criminals fleeing mainland china to hong kong and there needs to be a a law that allows -- that enables the chihinese government to extradite criminals, especially

corrupt officials from hong , ng and what we see right now as you pointed out, xi jinping has been a preretty popular leader within china, because of the corruption cam -- anti-corruption campaign, but also because he has been adopting a much more assertive leadership style which on the surface tried to sort of promote nationalism and tried to assert china's influence both in the region and globally and i think that has been an issue that is going to color how mainland chinese public looks at hong kong because they see hong kong as this kind of oublemaker that is being manipulated by the west against china. amy: and can you talk about the

inequality in hong kong and whether that has anything to do with the intensity and the duration of the protests, cogged to oxgene the equality is higher than it's been in 45 years, almost half a century, and what is the reason for that? kevin: absolutely. so hong kong is one of the most equal society anywhere, and this is not a accidental. ng kong, which was a irish colony a hundred years was set up as a trading port and financncial center later on. so inequality is almost built into the system in the sense that the financial capital and property owners are very, very powerful, and as a result ofof that, the population -- there's wealth but a huge amount of

inequality as well. and for example, housing issues, there's almost a housing crisis, especially for young people who really couldn't afford owning their own houses, apartments, and as poor economic job prospects for young people. i think those factors do have a huge influence in creating discontent in hong kong society which fueled this protest. amy: so some have suggested the hong kong protests have been spurred by u.s. support. in protesters have been tearing the u.s. flag, the british union jack, have met with trump administration officials, come to washington. what's your response to that, kevin? kevin: i think there are two points to be made. the first is that we should recognize there are similar

individuals, activists and groups in the e movement w whic again is very massive that look to the u.s. and u.k. for international support. i think in the long term, some progressive p perspectiveves, i not t going to help hong kong i the long term but we can understand the short term that this is kind of driven by desperation when they come from very powerful hong kong chinese authority but we should also recognize the people that come to the u.s. to look for support both the so-called pan democrats, the democratic parties and oppositions in hong kong as well as the youth leadership that came out of the umbrella movement, are no longer the leaders in the protest movement and they themselves recognize and have acknowledged they are no longer the leaders. so even though there could be

support from the u.s. government or u.k. government, they are really the people they are supporting are really noo longer the leaders. amy: so talk about where you see this all headed, kevin lin. and has anything surprised you in your years of work on issues in china and hong kong? kevin: i think there are -- what is not t surprising i i sh start with is the repression and that started -- it escalated since the ascendents of xi jinping, the administration, and have seen a huge increase in state oppression against social movements and that includes labor, feminist, people who work on anti-discrimination, human rights lawyers, religious freedom. it's all across the board, oppression against social movement activists in mainland china.

and so what we see in hong kong is that oppression designed -- kind of coming over ththe borde to hong kong so in essence we're now suppressed. but we are suppressed by the response of the hong kong public because for many years, a lot of people in hong kong believe e the new generation, t younger generation in hong kong are apolitical and don't care about politics but what we've seen the last few months is a very involved, very engaged public that trieses to push bac against illegitimate state actionon. amy: kevin lin, we want to thank so you much for being with us, china program officer at the international labor rights forum, born and raised in beijing and spent years researching labor movement in civil society in china. his recent piece is headlined four points on the hong kong protests. we will link to your piece, how should the u.s. left think

about china. when we come back, we turn to haiti where massive anti-government protests calling for the resignation of u.s. backed president jovenel moise continue to escalate. stay with us. ♪ music break]

amy: anna vas. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show in haiti where massive anti-government protests calling for the resignation of the u.s. backed president jovenel moise continue to escalate. a worsening economic crisis, a shortage of fuel and food and corruption allegations against moise have sent protesters to the streets on and o off for ov a year. hundreds demonstrated in the capital port-au-prince monday and anotheher protest is scheduled today, much of port-au-prince has been on lockdown the past few weeks. at least four people have been killed in recent days after haitian police opened fire on protesters using live ammunition and tear gas.

this is haitian protester charles fanfan. charles: we demand a clean slate to change the system, the potential departure of haitian president jovenel doesn't mean things will just change. we'll continue fighting change in this diabolical system,ant won't kill us all and certain we'll have victory. amy: protesters are demanding a deeper investigation into accusations that president moice and other haitian top officials embezzled billions in proceeds from the venezezuelan subsidized oil plan petrokarib. haiti hasn't had a prime minister since july as the opposition rejected moise's pick. as of last week, a new round of votes was indefinitely postponed after a ruling party senator pulled out a gun and shot at protesters, injuring an a.p. photojournalist and a security guard. as a new round of protests threaten to paralyze

port-au-prince today, moise who was elected in 2017 still refuses to step down. for more, we're joined by jacqueline charles, the haiti and caribbean correspondent at the "miami herald" and she has reported on haiti for over a decade and pulitzer prize finalist for her coverage of the 2010 haiti earthquake. jacqueline, welcome to democracy now!. it's great to have you with us. can you describe what is happening and what's behind fueling these protests and for you a number of deaths in the protests? jason: jacqueline: as you mentioned in the introduction, the economy is freefalling and the inflation right now is about 20%. the country actually has not had aa prime minister since march, although there are two individuals that have the title but neither one has b been confirmed through parliament. i mean, the economy is worsening and haitians are frustrated and there are these chronic fuel shortages. haiti's fuel b bill right now i

about $130 million that they owe. and what we have b been seeing that every couple of weeks you can say there's no fuel or people can't get f fuel. you have these long lines of indidividuals standing witith t yellowow jugs trying g to get f what we saw with the corruption allegations,s, there was a quie time and then on may 31, the superior court of auditors released this 600-34russ -- 600-plus page report where they talked about the embezzlement of what haiti owes, about $2 million and the president moise is among those who have been indicted or implicated, actually, in that report. amy: let's go to haiti's president jovenel moise addressing the country last week at 2:00 in the morning. his speech came one day after a ruling party senator opened fire. he fired a gun to disperse

protesters outside the haitian parliament injuring an a.p. photojournalist and security guard. this is president moise. >> we have vare tied -- verified the senate is not able to fulfill the obligations to give the country a legitimate government, rejecting the ratification in a generaral policy statement by two successive goverernments, ignoring the forms of the laws of the republic and the democratic principles. seven months ago, we registered two rejected sessions. i take notes. i've canceled the trip shy have taken to participate in the u.n. general assembly. i made that decision to address the country's problems. i am talking abobout the political, ecoconomic, and soci situation. haiti has long been facing difficicult situations, situations of misery, unemployment, insecurity and political problems that block the functioning of schools by paralyzing other activities. amy: so that's the haitian

president moise. jacqcqueline, can you tell us where he is right now? jacqueline: welell, i heard tha yesterday he finally did make it to the palace. interesting enough, the speech which was a prerecorded address he provided 2:00 a.m. in the morning on wednenesday of f las weweek. no one had heard from him oror seen him in over a month. the last statementnts he had ma or the lasast public appeaearan was on august 14 when he announced the reestablishment of the haitian armed forces. and then after that address that came in at 2:00 a.m. in the mororning, we'd not heard frfrom him. in fact, this week he called it in and had a cabinet meeting with his government officials and he did it over the telephone. yesterday the miami herald editorial saidid president mois you need to come out of hiding and take a little bit of crcred toto tnk he had written the editororial and decided to go down to the e palace yesterday. amy: in an op-ed publisheded in al jazeera monday, political

columnist, keston k. perry wrote, the crisis started last year and was compounded by natural disasters that have repeatedly devastated the island nation, hurricanes destroyed housing, food production, livelihoods and infrastructure and a severe drought dried up the island's water resources while international media focused on a familiar story of corruption and mismanagement, what lies beneath this debilitating crisis is much more serious. a deadly combination of neocolonialism, neoliberalism and climate injustice. indeed what's happening in haiti is extreme and should scare us all as it foreshadows what could happen to the rest of the planet if we do not take immediate action, he wrote. can you respond, jacacqueline charles? jacqueline: you know, i've seen that editorial and there's a lot of chatter going on about it. but honestly, thehe root of thi is the issue of corruption. similar to what we've seen in hong kong, this new generation of haitians saying listeten,

we're not t going too chile or brazil or the united states, this iss our country and w we n to changnge it. the sysysm put in p place after the fall of the dictatorship in 198787, it's n not working anym they're just basically set up. when this incident happened, the latest round of protest, the same day where you had the senate opening fire e the day before you had parliamentarians who went on the radio and publicly admitted to accepting bribes, you know, to install president jovenel moise's latest choice for prime minister. and yoyou had another parliamentararian, a senator, w in fact says i don't know any government i in this couountry has been confirmed without money passing hand. when peoeople heard t the vote buying and they can't get fuel or put their kids in school, their purchasing popower has fallen over 100% in five years and is s just enragingg the population and we look today and see haiaitians up i in arms over the place. yes, the country has not

recovered from a a 2010 earthquake. it is stitill d dealing with th fallout and is at a higher r ri of c climate change anand dodge huge bullet just a few weeks ago withth dorian and what it d with the bahamas. for haitians when you talk to them or hear them on the streets where they are denouncing impunity and cocorruption that's hapappening. their feeling is that because of mismanagement of the economy, because of the corruption, this is why the social situation is the way that it is. this is y there isn't fuel or these chronic fuel shortages. amy: you mentioned the bahamas and you have since the earthqhquake a decade ago in haiti, thousands of haitians fleeing to countries like the bahamas have now hit extremely hard in the bahamas by that latest hurricane. can you talk about this mass migration, also last night hillary clinton gave a talk in brooklyn and there were haitians protesting outside.

i remember coming to haiti after the e earthquakake and se president bill clinton saying the only two things that matter to me now are my daughter's wedding and the rehabilitation of haiti. the u.s. deeply involved with haiti for so many years and much of that not exactly constructive, jacqueline charles. jacqueline: yes, i was in the bahamas s weeks ago and the haitiansns are concerned about their future and what will happen. we look post earthquake and there's been a huge migration not onlyly to the bahamas but chile where e there are thousan that migigrated, 10% off haiait population andnd we have haitia on the u.s.-mexico border today. haitians havave gone anynywhere they can go in order to try to get some sort of relief. every time we see that the situation turns volatile in haiti, we see haitians trying to get out by boat or trying to get out by plane. and yes, after the earthquake,

what you saw was president clinton and the international community, especially the u.s. saying, youu know,w, we're goin to doo this, we're g going to chanange things. i think there were a lot of promises made, including $13 billion, whichch i've been aski people the last couple weeks, do you think $13 billion came here? and they're telling me no, the $13 billion did not comome here. haitians have veryry mixed v vi what t they find is under president obama, with hillary clinton n as secretary of state the u.s. was really involved especially in terms of the elections. so a lot of them hold the u.s. responsible for what's happening here with president jovenel moise who was the handpicked successor of the former predecessor. but witith every election thehe allegations of fraud and always issues, even today as haitians are fighting f for this chchang inin the back of thehe mind or the forefront of it is where does the u.s. stand on this ququestion? justst recently a few days ago you had members of the opposition who sat down with the u.s. ambassasador, the u.n. representative and others from

the donor community and that meeting did not go very well because e what they're looking for is supportrt in their mission, in their push to get president jovenel moise to resign and he says he's not stepping down. amy: and finally, the haitians in this country who are demanding t.p.s. bee stenledede and president t trump wantingng kick them out. your response? jacqueline: nancy pepelosi will be in miami i and meeting with members s of the haitian community and havingng a roundtable discussion and the u.s. congresswoman frederico wilson who represents t the largrgest conststituency of hai hers are going to be there and hear from them w where clearlyl the issue of temporary status s will come upup. you see what's h happening i in haiti and you see the protests and economic situation andnd you're in ththis country, you hahave temporary protected stat had d which isis supposed to ex in january, albebeit there are five legal cases going through

the courts now. but to live with that uncertainty and hear the trump administration saying everything is well in haiti is very much not true. amy: thanks for being with us, i'm amy goodman, this is democracy now!.