12/05/19 12/05/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from stockholm, sweden, this is democrcracy now! >> we have gone from the united states governments war on whwhtleblowersrs to now a war on journalism with ththe dictment of juliaian assange, , for whatn the e governmement itself admits work relelated to jouournalism. and d i think th is a dangngero,

dangouous thg. amy: world-fams nsa whisebebloweedwardrdnowden warns a growing war on journali at lastight's right liveliod awardin stocklm , swed, morehanix years after aring doments reveing how e unitedtates had buila systst of mass surveiance to collect every ca, text, and email every person on earth. snowden joined thehe awards ceremony via video from moscow, russia, where he has lived in exile since 2013. then we hear from another right livelihood award winner aminatou , haidar. she has resisted the mororoccan occupation of western sahara for more t than three decades. >> let's put an end to this injustice. the sowve a voice to

ari peoplele. let's then choose -- knowing amy: then, as medicare for all and free college have become key issues of the u.s. 2020 presidential race, we'll look at sweden's thriving welfare state -- which is supported by both the country's liberals and conservatives. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from stockholm, sweden. the house judiciary committee held an eight and a half hour televised impeachment hearing wednesday featuring four law experts speaking about the constitutional nature of impeachment. the hehearing opened a second phase of the impeachment inquiry into how president trump withheld military aid from ukraine in order to pressure the ukrainian president to investigate his political rivals, the bidens. on wednesday, legal experts debated whether this conduct met

the constitutional definition of impeachment. three constitutional scholars invited to testify by the democrats said his conduct was a textbook example of an imimpeachable offense. this is university of north carolina law professor michael gerhardt. >> if what we're talking about is not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable. this is precisely the misconduct that the framers created a constitution, including impeachment, to protect against. amy: the one constitutional scholar invited by the republicans disputed that trump's actions were sufficientt grounds for impeachment. this is george washington university law professor jonathan turley. >> i am concerned about lowering impeachment standards to fit a positive evidence and an abundance of anger. i believe this impeachment not only fails to satisfy the standard of past impeachment, but wouould create a dangerous

precedent for future impeachments. amy: house speaker nancy pelosi is slated to give a public statement about the status of of the house impeachment inquiry today at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. telephone republican congress member devin nunes has sued cnn for over $400 million after cnn published a story detailing how nunes, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, traveled to vienna and met with a former ukrainian prosecutor to discuss digging up dirt on the bidens last year. nunes claims this report is false. cnn had repeatedly asked nunes to comment on the story before it was published, but he had refused to do so. the report implicates nunes in the e trump adadministrationon's broader effort to pressure the -- pressure ukraine to investigate trump's political rivals, the bidens, which is the center of the ongoing impeachment inquiry. in london, president donald trump abruptly canceled a

scheduled news conference and left the nato summit early after a video went viral showing other world leaders mocking him. in the video, which has been viewed millions of times, canadian prime minister justin trudeau, french president emmanuel macron, dutch prime minister mark rutte, and others are seen smiling and laughing as they appear to discuss trump's lengthy press conference and how even his closest officials are often surprised by trump's seemingly erratic behavior. the private conversation was caught on a hot mic and then posted online by the canadian broadcasting corporation. a new analysis says global greenhouse gas emissions are projected to hit a record high in 2019. it is the latest study highlighting the world's failure to take the dramatic action needed to avert the most catastrophic impacts of climatee change. the analysis comes amid the opening week of the u.n. climate summit in madrid, spain, known as cop25. among the sponsors for this

year''s summit is endesa, spains biggest corporate greenhouse gas polluter. the electric utility provider emits about 60 million tons of carbon each year. the company has received an exhibition space inside the conference in exchange for $2.2 million in sponsorship money. democracy now! will be broadcasting live from cop25 beginning tomorrow -- that's friday -- and all next week. tune in. in colombia, tens of thousands of people poured into the streets across colombia for a third national strike in just two weeks. the demonstrations began as a protest against corruption, economic inequality, and the killing of indigenous and community leaders. many are now calling for the ouster of president duque's right-wing government. this is cony camelo in the streets of bogota wednesday. >> in my life, i never have seen

a march of this magnitude in colombia from students, indigenous people, trade union organizations, people from the health system, environmentalists. i think there is a national outcry. i think it is evident in this moment and 14 days later to see the square filled with people. amy: in france, workers across the country are on strike today, as a protest against french president emmanuel macron's pension plan. the strikes have paralyzed transport in the capital paris and other major french cities, but residents whose commutes have been disrupted are stilll expressingng support for the strike. >> the strike is really for our pensions. i think we still need to fight for it. even more as i am a civil servant and we're pretty much impacted. amy: in spain, a hand grenade was thrown over the walls of a shelter for migrant children in the capital madrid in the latest attack against the young

unaccompanied migrants. the grenade did not explode until the bomb squad carried out a controlled explosion, and no injuries have been reported. right-wing politicians have repeatedly criticized the shelteter, and a a mob attackede of the shelter's children with clubs last month. in india, a 23-year-old rape survivor was assaulted and set on fire by her alleged rapists while she was on her way to her court hearing in the northern indian s state of uttar prprade. the two alleged rapists and three other men have been arrested on suspicion of setting her on fire. she had filed a lawsuit against the two men in march. she is now the hospitatal in critical condition. the attack comes less than two weeks after india was rockeded y anher r case in the e sohern citytyf hyderabad, in which h a 27-year-old wowoman was raped ad set on fire, sparking widespread protests against violence against women in india. in afghanistan, gunmen killed the head of a japanese aid agency and five other people wednesday in an attack in the easterern city of jalalababad. tetsu nakamura was the head of

the aid agency peace japan medical services. he had recently received honorary afghan citizenship for his decades of humanitarian work in afghanistan. no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. the taliban's spokesperson said the afghan taliban was not involved. attorney general william barr is threatening communities who are critical of police brutality, saying they have to be more deferential to the police or risk losing police presence in their neighborhoods entirely. his comments at a washington, d.c., ceremony for policing sparked immediate criticism. vanita gupta, a former head of the justice department's civil rights division, said -- "the idea that the attorney general of the united states, the nation's chief law enforcement officer, is recommending abandoning communities as retribution for pushing for police reform or criticizing policing practices, is profoundly dangerous and irresponsible."

florida neighborhood watch vigilante george zimmerman has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the family of trayvon martin, the 17-year-old unarmed african-american teenager zimmerman shot and killed in 2012. zimmerman killed martin while the unarmed teenager was returning from a neighborhood store with skittles and a drink. zimmerman was acquitted of homicide charges in 2013. his acquittal sparked nationwide protests against violence against african american teenagers at the hands of police and vigilantes. zimmerman has now sued martin's parents, their lawyer, various members of the p prosecution, ad the florida department of law enforcement for defafamation and "malicious prosecution." in arizona, the tucson city council has voted unanimously to join pima county in taking part in a lawsuit aimed at halting the construction of trump's border wall in three sensitive

environmental areas -- the organ pipe cactutus nationonal monumu, ththe cabeza prieteta national wildlife refuge, and the san pedro riparian national conservation area. the trump administration waived a slew of environmental laws in order to speed up construction in the protected areas, which are also sacred lands to tohono o'odham people and other indigenous communities. and at harvard university, in cambridge, massachusetts, students are calling on the university to reverse its decision to deny tenure to lolorgia garcia pena, who had bn the only latina in a tenure-track position at harvard. on monday, dozens of harvard students held a sit-in at university hall in support of at university hall in support of garcia pena and to demand harvard create a dedicated ethnic studies department. over 3000 students have signed a petition calling on harvard to reverse its decision and offer garcia penena tenure.

and those are some of f the headlines. this is democracy now!,, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from stockholm, sweden. the right livelihood awards celebrated their 40th anniversary last night at the historic cirkus arena in stockholm, sweden, where more than 1000 p people gathered to celebrate this year's four laureates -- swedish climate activist greta thunberg, chinese women's rights lawyer guo jianmei, brazilian indigenous leader davi kopenawa & the yanomami hutukara association, and sahrawi human rights leader aminatou haidar who has challenged the moroccan occupation of wewestern sahara r decades. the right livelihood a award is known as the alternative nobel prize. over t the past four dececades's been given to grassroots leaders and activists around the globe, among them the world famous nsa whistleblower edward snowden, who won the award in 2014. he won the award five years ago. in 2013, edward snowden shared a

trove of secret documents about how the united states revealed the government was pursuing the means s to collect evevery singe message,l him m a text and email. in an unprecedented system of global mass surveillance. after sharing the documents with reporters, snowden was charged in the u.s. for violating the espionage act and o other laws. as he fled hong kong, attempting to get political e exile in latn america, snowden became stranded in transit in a moscow russia airport after the u.s. revoked his passport. he has lived in polilitical exie in moscow, russia, ever since. last night i interviewed edward snowden during t r right lilivehood a ard c cerony hehe in sckholm ifront of live audience of 00. video froa where he has led in moscow sie 2013.

ed, it was somethi l like x yes agago this yog 29-9-ar-old ,omputer geek, nsaontractor decided to change his life. thatououng m wasas you. you were in haii, and n subcontracto explain why yomamade t decision you did deterne what seem like an idyllic lif upside down d lea your country, the united states. not an easy decision. it is one i think anyone would rather avoid. but there is a question that we all face when we come ininto contact with things that call into question our r deepest beliliefs. i i was always very much an aget of goverernment long beforore i worked for t them becaususe i bebelieved everyrything that i d and everything that i read from

official sources because to me assumed they had no reason to lie to us. but through my time in government, as i moved to more and more senior positions and worked more closely with each of the systems, i began to see more truthse that the private are what government was actually dodoing -- thehese things were y differentt t than the publicly presented versisions of it. no where was this more clear than wt t i witneed in th creaon ofhe systeof globa massurveillae. this ia systemhat i wte, entuallyand tha year to a urnalisty the na of laur fortresswho wasotalally indidiscrimite a and f beyd ev the verloose rtriction of arican l, and i think, inteternationall standardsds the have come to accept regarding surveillance.

this was a new system that saw everything that you did and did not care or bear any regard whatsoever to the difference between those suspected of crimes and those who hadone nothing wrong. this is a system -- the first system in history -- that bore witness to everything. every border you crossed, every purchase you may, every call you dial come every cell phone tower you pass, friends you keep, articlcles you write, subjececte you type, was now in the hands of the system m whose rea is unlimimited but w whose safegegs were not. and i felt, despititwith the l w said, that th was something ththe puic ought tononow. am so tonit -- [applause] in: as you nn hear you're -- here in the auditorm in ockhkhol andnd if we could hea that applause ouound t world, would be thunderou

people are dply concerned abou what you revealed to the woworld. two ofhe journists, one pulitzer pzezes fororking on that wh h you,eceieivi the informatioand putting it ou to the world, glenn eeeenwal an laura poitra but now you cannogo back to your ownountry, ough you were haid as aero by s many. ve years ago, the ritt livelihood fndation worked .ard for you to come to sweden until th d day, t a a sile eupean g gernment has come forward to offer y protection against extradition to th unit states. in you explain wt you fa thunited statetes, whayou have been crged wit and wt that mes to you >> there is certainly no question by any legal expert or

even political opinion maker that what i faface in the united states is an extraordinanary prococess of whaii belieieve international l is well-rerecogd as persesecution ratather than prosecutution. the potential sentetence d the lilikely sentence for telling te truth -- which the government does not contest is what happened here -- is that i would die in prison. and yet despite that and despite europeeats that those in who hahave offereded me supportd government have faced when they tried to cross that line and officicial prorotect m me, whici think is something that we all would like to sesee change in te future -- when we look a at that dynamic, when we look at the current status quo, the fear that consumes even the allies of the people and government of the united states when it comes to

standing for protecting people who tell the truth, i think everyone who looks at this realizes t this is ann extraordinary moment in our histstory. onone of the core pillalars of e modern system of the w world, te inststitutional s standards and structures that the united states itself designed, it is now actively working to oppose so long as those institutions .nsulate their critics and i think that is a very dangerous thing. and this is the thing. it is not about me. it doesn't matter what happens to m me. i've done my part and saiaid my piece. i could be the best personon on earth. i could b be the worsrst p persn history. it is not going to m make a didifference to you totomorrow. but whatat will is it people c n tell the truth to ththe public about ththe most mataterial facs and programs and policies th affect our leses every day. [appususe]

amy: ed, you currently have julian assange and a maxum secutyrison in england facing 1 years for espionage in the united states. you ha c chels manning back in jail in the united stetes. you, conrned you won't face fairrial in e united states. can you respond in all of these cases, you are all among the most famous whistleblowers in the world. case andou look at my ththe manning case beforore me d when you look a at the ellsberg case going all the way bacack to the 1 1970's, they are e all ded fromom the same law ununder whih lian assange -- it s should be clear, post no allegiance to the

united states. he is not a u.s. to the simple stuff you simply a publisher working in news. they have been charged under specialionage act, a all that rules out any kind of fair trial going back to the 1970's. when ellsberg tried to tell the jury what he did w what he did, his lawyer asks him, mrmr. ellsberg, why did you copopy the pentagon papers s -- which w waa sesecret history of thee u.s.' e involvement in the vietnam war. the prosecutor for the government said, objection, this is not something the jury is allowed to hear. and the judge agreed with that. he silenced ellsberg and he whynced our ability to hear these things were done. and for the jury to consider not only was this legal, but was it momoral. is the sadnk t this

history of the united states government's rerelationship to e press s in the last dececade. they h have been more e and more concerned with what is legal thth what is moral. is what began with ellsberg an extraordinary case against the lone individual which challenge the government's involvement in the war, which challenged by new generation of whistleblowers like chelsea manning who revealed torture and war crimes committed definite attentioion on the p part of the united states government in places likike iraraq and afafghn and guantatanamo bay and cuba. my own invnvolvement in the revelatition of globabal mass surveillance. and every cacase,e were charged under this same law that forbids the jury to consider if this was something that did more good for the did harm know than it to the government in terms of inconvenience or theoretical risks.

and this is wherere w we get tos cruciaial part of t the stotory. we move from an individual and exexceptional casehahat was not repeatated for d decades and des in the ellsbererg instance, just something ththat under the obama adadministratition he c chargede sources of journalism using this special law than all other presidents in the united states history combined. and now under the trumpet administration, we have taken one more step. we have gone from the united states government were on whisistleblowersrs to now w awan journalism with ththe indictme of julian assange for what even the government itself admits was related to journalism. and i i think this i is a dange, dangerous thing, not just for us, not just for julian assange, but for the world and the future. if we allow developed democracies to imprison their political critics and dissidents

to people who call into question the legality, the proprietyty, e moralityty of t their picies and the prosecution of their wars, we will embolden the most authoritararian regimeses on e . and we will be the ones s who ae childrenen question when they ak how the world that they were inheriting came to be. 2014 righght livelihood laureate and nsa whistleblower edward snowden speaking frorom moscow at last that's right livelihood awards here in n stockholm, swededen. he could not join us because he isis in political exile there as he faces espionage charges in the united states. coming up, we will speak to one of this year's winners, sahrawi human rights leader aminatou haidar who has let a dececade-lg peaceful c campaign to resist te moroccan occupation of western sahara, often called africa's

last colony. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "with the ink of a ghost" by the argentinian-swedish folk singer jose gonzalez playing last night at the right livelihood award ceremony and stocockholm, sweden. to see thehe whole ceremony, you can go to democracynow.org. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. the war and peace report. i am amy goodman. we are broadcasting from stockholm, sweden. we turn now to one of the wiers at this year's ghght liveveliod awawa, the sahrawi human ritsts lear amaminou idar. for overhrhree dadeses, inatouou haidar has l led aeacefufu campaigno o resi thehe moccann occupaonon of sterern hara,, oftecalled aicica's last colony. mocccco haoccucupi westete sahara, a alall reon j jus uth of mocco in rthwest africa, since 7575 in fianance of t u unitenatitions and thth

internioional mmununit thoundnds ha beeeen rtureded impriseded, kied,, and disappead d whilresisistg thee occupation. peacul proteers, led by wome are rounely bean in the streets. deite this violent repressn, aminou haidahas led cotless huer strik and demonstrioions, d unflchchingldocucumeed thehe abuses again t the saharawawi people fororore th 30 0 yes. she is a forr r policall prisonerhoho wasaileled r fourur years a a sect prpris. in granting her the awar t the right liveliod award foundati cited h " "steaastt nonvlent action, deste imprisonmentnd torture, in pursuit ofususticend self-deternanationor t the ople of western hara." i sat do with amatou hair st beforshe w the rig livehood awardnd i beg by king hero explaiwhat is happening in occupieied western sahara. >> i will want to let them know

about the situation of my people, the sahrawi people. it is the peoplele that is sepaparated, one u under moroccn occupapaon, and ththe other in sahrawi camps.. they live inin difficult conditions. and i come from the occupied territory under moroccan occupation. ex-spspanishis an cololony, the lala colony in occupiednce 75 yearars by the k kingdom of morococco. this has been a tragedy for us.. it has led to a loofof suffering from d deprivation o of our rig, torture, disappeararance, ararbitrary detentionthe deprivation of our social and

economic and political rights. i have s spent fouour years of y prison, a secret prison, without having had a trial. nothing. old period, i was cut t from the outside world, no connection with my own family. but my case is not a unique one. it is similar to thousands, hundreds of m my land men and women in western sahara. territory were international observers are not welcome. it is for bitten fofor them to have access to w western sahara. delegatations of cicivil societieies, keptamentarians, they are

from western sahar ago, a parliamentaririan from spain could not get out of the plane and they were sent to the e canary islan. , we arehe same time talking about violation about repressions but t we also must talk about our r ristance, our determination stop p are detetermined to contntinue o our peaceful struggle to make sure that our rights to freedom and independence are fulfilled. amy: can you tell us your personal story? where you are born, where you grew up, and then what happened to you? born in the south of

county that,a unfortunately, i have never seen up to today because i grew up in western sahahara and the occupid in the occupied territories. in aw up under bombs situation of war. amy: t then explaiain what happd you, how you became active, when you were first imprisoned. , iwhen i was 15 years old started to understand there was a war. i started to understand that my people were separated into two territories. i i started to underststand a pt of my famamily was in a refugee camp that t they had to flee for

their lives. , the sense ofon suffering grew up in me. i wowondered what iould do to help my people. when i was 17, i really understood the situation. started to commit myself the struggle for my people. at that time, it wasn't possible to be an activist publicly. was being discreet. i was hiding myself, just like all my compatriots. school.udying inin high when i turned 20, a commission of the u.n.n of the african

was going to visit western sahara. was a referendum that was to be organized. and to me -- and me, tether wiwith other students, made ee cisisiono organize a big monstratn to mak sure that se that our messe would heard, make sure our iceses wld bee heard.d. telell ople we re here westersahaharathat we nted our eedom, tt we wer againsmoroccan occupation and help r parents, our brothers, whhadisappear since 76. before the arrival of this commission, the moroccan government, arbitrary

kidnapping. i was a victim of these crimes against humanity. i was 20 years old. bound..yes were i was in a secret prison, totortured. doing four years not seeing anything, being , psychological and , attempt ofture sexualal violenc attempt against my life. i had no connection whatsoever to the outside world. no contact with my family. .o sentences, no trial nothing. ultimately how are

you freed? 1991, thanks to the peace agreement that was signed by morocco, the occupying power and the polisario front that which is represented from the sahrawi people. in that peace agreement, the cease-fire was included and the liberation of political --ainees and war prisoners an exchange of prisoners. and thanks to that, i was liberated, together with a group , 324 people. and among them, 7474 womomen.

and we know that more than 500 -- well, westill still don't know where they are. they're stillll the victims of disappearance. amy: how long have you been imprisoned and was it for that one time or were you picked up again? i was detained againin in 2005 anand spent seven months can a my activities.of -- well,ere liberated we had left a small prison to find a big prison, and open sky prison in western sahara. so the police went after us.

they would ask us about different questions. we could not travel abroad. personally, i spent years without having traveling documents until 2005. and thanks to the intervention of the state department, the --te department

that is thanks to us sahrawi follow peaceful struggle. demand their rigights without using violence. disturbed the government so we were arrested again because they wanted to scare other sahrawi and they wanted to make sure that there would not

be as many protests as there were at that time. amy: when we were in western sahara, when we were in leon, we like a woman who had her eye gouged out by moroccan police. and a woman who was beaten in a demonstration, along with others. targeted particularly and how are they dealt with? we had video of them being sexually abused in the street by the security forces. >> > as i said earlier,r, my ce is not unique. one woman, a young sahrawi woman, sacrificed one of her eye. and the only crime she committed demanded the right of independence for the people, the safer other women. -- the same for other women.

and today, we h have a young won who hasas two children and she s in prison today. she was senentenced to six x mos inin prisoson because she proted against a a forced trial against her cousin. those sahrawi women are victims of repression. they are courageous women. they are determined. we are an exception in the arabab mususm world b because we arare resescted within our sociy . we are in the struggle. nothing stops us. womean is seen as resistance, the

struggle.force of the she is and has been present in the struggle in t the occupied territories in the refugee camps. and it has a l lot of value. and western countries must acknowledge this. amy: what are you demanding now? upon thealling international community that should apply internationalal law and the united nations should be therent with their values, reason why t they were funded. us happensce against because some international

with complicity. so my message is, let's put an end to our suffering. let's put an end to this injustice. voice to sahrawi people. let them choosose theirr future. message is that the situation is serious. we need to avoid war because young sahrawi today do not believe in a peaceful struggle anymore. m mines arounund them. there are terrorists all around

them. they need to guarantee our rights. we are a people that deserveve o values.because of our we are a courageous people, determined people. we have conducted a peaceful struggle thanks to cease-f-fire. 28 years now. we are people that respect other religions. we are a tolerant people. we believe in coexistence. we believe in democracy, in equality between genders. we have a moderate fororm of islam. think that international law should be applied as soon as

possible. envoy quitn. special his post in may. ,he u.n. has taken a stepp back clearly, in resolving the conflicts. what prospects are therefore a resolution? >> exactly. that is why i am concerned. most.s what worries me the former envoy made sure that things started to go forward. that is also the case of the american ambassasador. they managed to o make sure that negotiations went on, but they did nonot get the support thahas needed. ofy did not have the support

the international community, the united states and france. becauses a big problem they blocked the peace process in western sahara. france does not want -- to get a greater mandate so that they can monitor human rights. i really urge the united nations to nominate, as soon as possible, and special envoy to negotiations again to make sure we find a peaceful solution. amy: the polisario front is holding its 15th congress

december 21, the 19 through the 21st. the first under the new president. the leadership has accused solutionf blocking a to the conflict and says it is reviewing the cease-fire that has been in effect and that all options are on the table. do you think there is a policy polisariolity the will pick up arms, return to war. what would this mean? is s quiteately, it possible. underlisario front is young generations, under the of young people who do in a peacefuful

struggle anymore. and the reason why saying measures should be taken to war. a new amy: we are now in sweden, which was poised to recognize the untilian government morocco blocked the grand opening of the famous swedish company ikea. backed down.en how unusual is this? and how does morocco influence these kinds of decisions? id that mean to you? we have always been supported by the swedish people and by the

swedish government. and the swedish attitude is a friendly one, but i can't hide int i am very disappointed all my compatriots, disappointed because after the decision of the swedish parliament in 2012, decision to recognize the arab sahrawi democratic republic, what happened -- the swedish government did not adopt that decision of the parliament. it never rececognized the sahrai republic after pressures from morocco. and that w was detrimental to te image of sweden.

see a democratic country like sweden given the of an the pressure occupying power. and not supporting the victim, , not caringpeople about the law, not respecting the will of the swedish people because the parliament represents the voice of the swedish people. and that was my message today. amy: that is right livelihood laureate sahrawi human rights leader aminatou haidar. she was celebrated wednesday night for her decades of resistance against thehe moroccn occupation of the western sarah. go to o democracynow.o.org to se our documentary "four days and

occupied western sahara." when we come back, medicare for -- freeprecollege colleg stayitith us ♪ [music break]

amy: norwegian songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist ane brun perforngng "one" at t the right livelihood award ceremony wednesday night here in stockholm. to see all of the performances and the speeches, go to demomocracynow.org. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. are broadcasting from stockholm, sweden, from the open channel. as democratic presidential candidates debate medicare for all and making higher education free, we turn to look at how sweden has built one of the world's most extensive social

welflfare systems. here in swsweden, hehealthcare s are largely subsided by the state. daycare and preschool programs are mostly free. higher education is free. public transportation is subsidized for m many userers. to look at how sweden does it, we are joined by mikael tornwall, swedish author and journalist focusing on economic issues at svenska dagbladet, a stockholm daily. his most recent book is titled "who should pay for welfare?" welcome to democracy now! so we just have a few minutes here to explain a lot of issues that i think are very misunderstood in the united states. you have lived in the u.s. and have lived here in sweden. talk about medicare for all. talk about your health care system. how is it paid for? >> is almost entirely paid for by taxes. i know that scares a lot of you guys, but the things we pay, for me, i pay almost equivalalent in health care taxes then you would pay via your employer for

health insururance. i don't t have any copayments to talk about. it is the maximum copayment in sweden is a few hundred dollars a year. amy: explain your own personal situation. what happened with your daughter? >> it happened a few years ago before w we moveded to the u.s. she got ill and had a brain tumor. deadlytely, not a one. operated on one of the best surgeons in europe. she was 12. she got excellent care afterwards. we stayed as a family with herer at the h hospital for a weweek. she then had follow-up care for several years. she had to go to a dococtor evey few months. we paid nothing for that. amy: nothing. >> she is a c child until 18. you don't papay anything for health care. amy: then you come to the united states and are shocked. >> what she needed -- for some reason, she needed to go to the hospital in an ambulance.

they asked about our health care company. we said we are from sweden. it was not covered and i do pay with a credit card to get her to the hospital. amy: you're watching the presidential debates. every corporate network journalist to hosts one of these debatetes usually ask about heah care and they say, are you going to raise taxes? talk about how the swedish people feel about this. you're talking about something that unites people across the political spectrum. >> not even the most coconservative political parties want to get rid of it. there are a couple of misconceptions in the u.s. one is that it costs a lot of money in taxes.s. yes, it does, we pay way higher taxes in sweden then the u.s. but we are way lower expenses for copayments for health care, health insurance, daycare, saving for children's colleges and someone. we don't need to bother about that. so the higher taxes for most people is more than offset by lower cost for other stuff. amy: you say this makes sweden

far more competitive while the u.s. as it is much too expensive. you say it is too expensive not to do this. >> at least it would make t the country more competitive to make sure everybody who is smart enough has access to the best education and everybody who needs health care gets that because then they would be able to be part of the workforce instead of worrying about health. and you come as everybody else in the w west, need to compete with better better companies in china, in india, and the best way to do that is not with an unhealthy, under educated population. amy: talk about school. yet bernie and others talking about free college. >> we have free college. we don't pay anany tuiuition. that everybody who has the grades to join these universities can do it. obviously, it takes jobs in our

global companies and helps them compete globally. amy: talk about what you think are the greatest misconceptions about sweden. >> sometimes they describe sweden as a paradise. you need t to understand it is not. everything does not work perfectly. but the reason you don't need to worry too much about money. everyone can send their kids to daycare because it is affordablele. nobody needs to worry abobout i will go bankrupt if i get sick because health care is almost free. if you are smart enough and study hard enough and high school, will be able to go to university. amy: how to answerer questions like, why should rich kids go to school for free? >> that is a debate that is not -- some people would say, why should they? ,ut we decided, i guess basically, it is the only way to make it simple. everybody has access to the basic part of welfare, as we see

it, rather than -- that opens up all kinds of cheating. amy: i want to thank mikael tornwall mikael tornwall you for joining us,, swedish author and journalist focusing on economic issues at svenska dagbladet, a ststockholm daily. that does a for our show. if you want to see our three days of coverage frorom here in stockholm, sweden, go to democracynow.org. a special thanks to stockholm's open channel. fourcarry democracy now! times per day. we want to thank our crew here. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [capaptioning made possible by democracy now!]

narrrrator: on thihis episode of "earth focus," two cities-- freetown, sierra leone, and san francisco, california-- continents apart, vastly different culturally and economically, yet facing the same struggle to adapt to rapid urbanization, all set against the backdrop of a dramatitically changing climimate. [film advance clilicking]