01/24/20 01/24/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the constitution is not a suicide pact. it does not leave us stuck with president to abuse their powers and unforeseen ways that threaten our security and democracy. amy: democrats are continuing to make their case for removing president trump from office. in just the third impeachment trial in u.s. democratic house managers conclude their opening arguments today.

the president's legal team begigins its defefense saturday. we will get the latest. then in a major ruling, the u.n. international court of justice at the hague has ordered burma to take all measures within its poweweto protectct rohingygya muslims from genocide. >> for along time, the government of myanmar tortured our rohihingya people. they tortured too mumuch. brothers and sisters, killed our men. amy: thahan moms4housing. we go back to open, california, where a months long struggle for a group of unhousedd mothers occupying a vacant home in the real estate firm that owned it ends with an unexpxpected victoy -- an offer to purchase the property. this comes a week after police commissioner's deputies come and a swat team with the military robot and a battering ram laid siege to the house and arrested

and evicteththe moers.s. that house th magniaia street, we will not opop orgizining d fighting until all unhoused folks who want shelter have shelter. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. democratic lawmakers contitinueo lay out their case thursday for removing the president of the united states from office in the second of three days of opening arguments in the senate trial of donald j. trump. republican senators criticized the democratic house managers, calling their arguments repetitive. democratic senator mazie hirono of hawaii called the republicans' claims "hypocritical." said weepublicans have are being repetitive. well, they spit all of tuesday

fighting back our efforts to present new evidence and new documents. there being totally critical. amy: today marks the final day of opening arguments by the democrats. republicans begin their opening arguments on saturday. after headlines, we will air highlights at the impeachment trial and get the latest from law professor marjorie cohen, the former president of the national lawyers guild. in china, authorities have expanded the number of cities on lockdown to 10, affecting some 33 million people as medical workers struggggle to slow the spread the novel strain of the coronavirus. at l least 26 people e have die, which causes flulike symptomss and is most t dangerous toto the young children and the elderly. most o ochina's movie theaeater, some those -- 70,000 in all, have been n closed. a small number of cases have been reporteted in japan, singapore, south korea, tataiwa, thailaland, the united states,sd vietnam.

in iraq, hundreds of thousands called on u.s. troops to permanently withdraw from their country. the protest came after president trump refused in order for u.s. troop withdrawal by rex parliament, which followed the u.s. assassination of iranian general custom soleimani on january 3 near baghdad's airport. came asmassive protest amnesty international reported security forces have shot and killed more than 600 people since antigovernment protests erupted in october with at least 12 killings this week alone. amnesty reports iraqi authorities have routinely used live fire, tear gas grenades, , intimidation, arrests and torture against largely peaceful protesters in baghdad and cities across southern iraq. there demanding democratic reforms and the appointment of an independent prime minister. president trump has invited israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and israeli opposition

politician benny gantz to thee white e house next week for the unveiling of trump's so-calledd middle east peace plan. palestinian leaders say they have not been consulted about the planan and were not invitedo the white hohouse. they have consistently rejected u.s. overtures since may of 2018, when president trump declared jerusalem as the capitatal of israel anand movede u.s. embassy there. in mexico, soldiers in riot gear used batons and pepper spray thursday to beat back a caravan of hundreds of central american migrants and asylum seekers after they crossed into the southern state of chiapas from guatemala. among the injured was a pregnant woman who was left unconscious by the assault. mexican officials say about 800 people were rounded up and bussed to a nearby immigration jail. mexixican president andres manul lopez obrador -- known as amlo -- has bowed to intense pressure by president trump to crack down on central american migrants heading towaward the u u.s.-mexo

border as theyey seek asylum frm rampant gang violence, grinding poverty, and crop failures driven by climate change.. last week, amlo pledged to provide jobs to thousands of the migrants as long as they applied for asylum in mexico and not the united states. but many of those arrested in another immigration roundup earlier this week say they were lied to. this is jose henriquez, one of over 400 asylum-seekers deported to northern honduras on thursday. >> over at the mexican border, they tricked us. they told us in mexico thehey we going to give us jobs, that there was employment for 4500 people. it was a lie. that there were three states ready to receive all of the hundreds who wanted to work there, but they only deceived us. amy: the u.s. state department says it will send an ambassador to bolivia for the first time in more than 11 years. it's the trump administration's latest show of support for the right-wing government that took power after president evo morales was deposed in a military coup last november.

undeder secretary y of state dad hale said in a video statetement thursdsday that ththe u.s. is looking to restorere what he called a normal relationship between the u.s. and bolivia. hale traveled to the presidential p palace in la paz thisis week, where h he met with jeanine añez, who o declared hersrself interim prpresident in november. añez has a history of using racist, anti-indigenous language and has vowed to bring the bible back to the bolivian presidency. the last u.s. ambassador, philip goldberg, was expelled in 2008 by then-president evo morales, who accused the george w. bush administration of working to destabilize his government. at least 32 anti-coup protesters have been killed by security forces since president morales's ouster last november, most of them indigenous people. in puerto rico, hundreds of people joined a protest outside the governor's mansion thursday, demanding the ouster of governor wanda vazquez. some protesters carried

full-sized guillotine to the governor's mansion. public anger is rising after a video posted online last weekend showed undistributed emergency sulies meantor hurrica maria victims sitting unused in a warehouse in the city of ponce. vernor vazazquez is alalso under fire over heher handling of the recent 6.4 magnitude earthquake, which killed one person and left thousands homeless. vermont senator and 2020 presidential h hopeful bernie sanders tweeted a atatement in solidadarity with ththe protest, writing -- "after a decade of austerity, hurricanes and earthquakes, puerto ricans have a right to a responsive government and full federal support to put an end to this crisis." in south carolina, a prominent african-american lawmaker has switched her endorsement in the 2020 presidential primary from joe biden to senator bernie sanders. richland county councilmember dalhi myers told the associated press --

"i like the fact that sanders is willing to fight for a better america -- for the least, the fallen, the left behind." a new wbur poll shows sanders has widened his lead to double digits among likely new hampshire democratic voters ahead of next month's primary election. this comes as "the new york times" reports california senator kamala harris -- who suspended her campaign last december -- is weighing an endorsement of joe biden. meanwhile, billionaire former new york city mayor michael bloomberg has surged to fourth place nationally, with about 9% in a recent monmouth university poll after spending $250 million on pololitical ads since joining the race -- far more than all other democratic candidates. bloomberg has said he'll spend up to $2 billion of his own money to defeat trump, no matter who the democratic nominee is. even if it is senator bernie sanders. the national archives and

records administration has replaced a doctored photograph of the 2017 women's march with the original days after it apologized for altering the photo to remove criticisms of president trump. in an exhibit called "rightfully hers: american women and the vote," the national archives had displayed a large image of the first women's march. but at least four signs referencing trump had been blurred to remove his name, including a poster reading "god hates trump." instead it read "god hates." here in manhattan, actor anabella sciorra told a packed courtroom thursday that disgraced hollywood mogul harvey weinstein forced his way into her new york city apartment one night in the early 1990's, where he held her down and raped her. the experience, sciorra testified, left her so scarred she fell into a deep depression, started cutting herself, and began drinking heavily.

it was the first time one of weinstein's accusers has confronted him directly in court since his arrest in may of 2018 on charges of rape and criminal sexual acts. five more of weinstein's accusers are expected to testify during the trial, though the statute of limitations has expired for all but two of their claims. harvey weinstein faces life in prison on the new york charges and up to 28 years in a separate criminal case in los angeles county. over 100 women have accused weinstein of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and professional retaliation. in arkansas, new evidence has emerged bolstetering the claimsf ledell lee, a condemned prisoner who was put to death in april 2017 even as he professed his innocence. a freedom-of-information lawsuit filed on behalf of lee's sister by the american civil liberties union and the innocence project argues no physical evidence

directly tied lee to the 1993 murder for which he was convicted, and casts serious doubts on the claims of forensics experts who testified at the trial. meanwhile, an attorney assigned to lee's defense has since admitted in anan affidavit thate wawas struggling w with drug addiction at the time and unable to provide effective counsel. lee's sister is seeking the release of crime scene materials for new dna and fingerprint testing. the bulletin of the atomic scientntists has advanced the doomsday clock 20 seconds closer to midnight. the clock is a symbolic titimekeeper thahat tracks the lilikelihohood of nucleaear ward other exexistential l threats.s. it n now stands clcloser to catastrophphe than at anany time since itits creaeation in 1947. this is mary robinson, former irish prident and former u.n. human rights chief, speakiking thursday as the clock was set to 100 seconds to midnight. >> the doomsday clock is a globally recognized indicator of

the vulnerability of our existence. it is a striking metaphor that the precarious state of the world, but most frighteningly, as we have just heard, it is a metaphor backed by rigorous scieific scrcrutin this is no m me analogy.y. wewe are now 1 100 secondsds to midnight and the world needs t o wakeke up. twor planet faces simultananeous existential thres ---- the climate crisis and nuclear weapons. amy: the bulletin of the atomic scientists blasted president trump for withdrawing the u.s. from the cold war-era intermediate-range nuclear forces agreement and is calling on the u.s. to renew the new start treaty before it expires in 2021. new start limits the number of nuclear weapons deployed by the u.s. and russia. u.s. treasury secretary steven mnuchin mocked 17-year-old climate activist greta thunberg on after she called on investors thursday to pull their funds

from fossil fuel companies. speaking to reporters at the world economic forum in davos, switzerland, mnuchin said of thunberg -- "after she goes and studies economics in college she can go back and explain that to us." mnuchin's comments sparked a torrent of replies across social media from economists who rushed to thunberg's defense. greta thunberg responded on twitter writing -- "my gap year ends in august, but it doesn't take a college degree in economics to realize that our remaining degree carbon budget 1.5 and ongoing fossil fuel subsidies and investments don't add up." and in canada, police arrested 12 indigenous youth activists early wednesday morning, ending their day-long sit-in occupation of the offices of the ministry of energy, mines and petroleum resources in british columbia. their protest was the latest among dozens of solidarity actions taken in support of the wet'suwet'en first nation, which is resisting the $6.6 billion coastal gaslink fracked gas

pipeline. earlier th m monthwet't'suwet'en leaders evicd d consuctition rkers fr the territory a set up aoaoad blkadede tt cut off acce t to a astal gainkk work site. the royal nadian mntnted police h havsince seup a a checkpointeaearby,aisisingears of aaiaid. this ififirst tionons tivistst ta'kaa blaney, onone of the 12 arrested on wednesday. >> because what indigenous people rememember and canana has forgot, we have a sacredd obligatition to this land. as human beieings, we all have a rereonsibility t to that whihich gives us life. as indigenous peoples who have safeguarded in stewarded these territories, it is crucial that our sovereignty be respected for our collective climate future. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

we turn now to the historic impeachment trial of president donald j. trump. democratic lawmakers are continuing to lay out their case for removing the president from office. today marks the final day of a 24-hour opening argument by the democrats. republicans will begin their opening arguments on saturday. the senate impeachment trial comes a month after the house impeached trump for withholding congressionally approved military aid to ukraine as part of an effort to pressure the ukrainian president to investigate trump's political rival democratic presidential candidate joe biden. on thursday, house impeachment manager jerrold nadler made the case that a president can be impeached for non-criminal activity. >> no one anticipated a president would stoop to this misconduct and congress has passed no specific law to make his behavior a crime. yet this is precisely the kind of abuse the framers had in mind

when they wrote the impeachment clause. and when they charged congress with the -- determining when the president conduct was so clearly wrong, so definitely beyond the pale, so threaeatening to the consnstitutional order as requie his removal. amy: during his presentation, jerrold nadler relied in part on past statements made by key supporters of president trump. >> i'm i say the same thing at that house manager lindsey graham who when president clinton's trial, flatly rejected the notion that impeachable offenses are limited to violations of established law. here's wh h he sa. >> was a hh crime? how abouout an important person hurt somebody ofowow means? schcharly, but i think its s the uth.h. i thk that iwhat the mnt byigh cmes.

doesn't haveo be a cme. attorney general barr's view has expressed about 18 months ago, presidents cannot be indicted or criminally investigated, but bet is ok because they can impeached. that is the safeguard. he added, "the president is answerable or any abuses of discretion and may be held accountable under law for his misdeeds." in office." ." amy: senator lindsey graham reportedly left the senate chamber shortly before nadler from bill clip of him clinton's impeachment trial in 1999. during another part of thursday's proceedings, house impeachment manager congresswoman sylvia garcia relied on polls by fox news to make the case that president trump decided to target joe biden afteter polls showed the former vice president could beat trump in 2020. biden began until beating him in the polls that he

called for the investigation. the president asked ukraine for this investigation for one reason and one reason only, because he knew he -- it would be damaging to an opponent who was consistently beating him in the polls, and therefore, it could help him get reelected in 2020. president trump had the motive, he had the opportunity and the means to commit this abuse of power. if we allow this gross abuse of power to continue, this president would have free reign -- free reign to abuse his control of u.s. foreign policy for personal interest. and so would any other future president. and in this president and all law.dents become above the

amy: house intelligence chair house manager adam schiff, the lead house impeachment manager, ended the long day of oral arguments. >> doesn't matter how good the constitution is. it doesn't matter how brilliant the framers work. it doesn't matter how good or is.were advocacy this trial it doesn't matter how well-written written the oath of impartiality is. if right doesn't matter, we are lost. if the truth doesn't matter, we are lost. the framers could not protect us from ourselves if right and truth don't matter. and you know what he did was not right. amy: to talk more about the impeachment trial of president

trump, we go to san diego, california, where we are joined by marjorie cohn, professor emerita at thomas jefferson school of law. she is the former president of the national lawyers guild. her most recent book "drones and , targeted killing: legal, moral, and geopolitical issues." welcome to democracy now! assessing the democrats case so far for the removal of president trump. amy, theyes, democratic managers, the house managers have laid out a meticulous case for abuse of power and obstruction of congress, and many o of thesee republican senators who are listening who have to sit in for eight hours a day without talking, without using cell phones, are a captive auaudience. anand many of them have never heard this before. they did not follow the case that was made in the house.

this case is soo powerful and so at theat schiff said end, adam schiff said at the end, you know he is guilty. the question is, will you remove him? the republicans have walked in lockstep with donald trump. they are what frank rich would ischi republicans, those who were doing hitler's bidding in france. they walked in lockstep with him and there's some snow chance they're not going to acquit him -- there is almost no chance they're not going to acquit him. what adam schiff was trying to get a was is there going to be on the wrong side of history because what donald trump does -- and he does this consistently -- is to put his own personal interest ahead of the national interest. and that is something that they all have to grapple with. now, one of the things that they focused on yesterday was to

refute the allegations thahat te bidens did something wrong, therefore, there was merit in trump's basicic demand thahat zelensky, the president of ukraine, investigate what they did with the burisma company. and what the democrats were trying to do is take the wind out of the sails of the republican case by bringing it up first. anand what the republicans have said now -- this is the defense team, donald trump defense team -- well, now that they have opened the door, now that the managers have opened the door, we are going to make that probably a focus of their defense. was they did in the house to focus mainly on process, whereas the managers, the democrats, focused on the facts and laid out this roadmap to prove abuse of power and obstruction of congress.

what the republicans did was focus on process. donald trump was denied due process -- which he wasn't. he was invited to come and did not participate. many process arguments -- it is unclear to me, amy, how the defense -- donald trump's defense, is going to take up two or three days -- now they have said it will probably be two days -- in addition to meeting the bidens, talking about the biden issue because they're going to really harp on that. it is not clear what they're going to do. they're going to harp on process, but the thing that is really important about this is not so much that -- he is not going to be found guilty, no doubt about that. the american people are watching. they are following this. and just like during watergate when people were riveted to the television, that is going to be reflected, i believe, in the election. the polls are already showing the majority of american people

think he should be removed. a huge majority think you did something unethical. a sizable believe he did something illegal. this is really, really important, even though ultimately he won't be removed. amy: if he is found guilty, is he automatically removed? providesnstitution that the senate is to determine his guilt and removal. so it is really part of the same thing. therefore -- this is whatat adam schiff was trying to get at -- the though all or most of republicans know in their heart of hearts that he is guilty,y, they don't think hehe should be removed. therefofore, they will probably come in all probability, vote not guilty. yes, conviction means removal. that is not going to happen. amy: you said the senators have to sit there for eight hours. that is not what is happening. is that right? to be very clear, the republicans are controlling the

frame of the tv image. it is no longer c-span on the floor of the senate or the house , so you can't see what is actually happening behind the scenes. but you have tennessee republican senator blackburn, reading.ooks she is yet tom tellis, i believe he got up and went into the press gallery to hang out there for a while. in lindsey graham, when congressmember nadler played the clip of him saying exactly the opposite of what he is saying now, that it has to be a crime that president trump has committed according to the criminal code, saying the opposite during clinton's trial. he reportedly was not in the senate chamber. >> yes, , that is true. there are a handndful of senatos who were coming and going. but the bulk of them are listening to it, if f not all of

it, most of it. they just can't get away from it. they're not allowed to have cell phones, which is probably really difficult for them. and yet they do get up and leave and come back. most of them are hearing most of this airtight case, really. about exactlyalk what president trump has been impeached for? these two articles of impeachment? and if you think -- i mean, just look at the title of your book "drones and targeted killing: legal, moral, and geopolitical issues." you have long focused on the issue of war crimes and u.s. presidents g guilty of them. the narrow framing of this impeachment? >> yes, well, nancy pelosi resisted for many, many m months cocommit mounting impeachment in the house and there are many different grounds t that he coud have been n impeached for cash

violations of the emoluments clause, corruption, and war crimes -- most recently, killing soleimani and violation of the u.n. charter and the war powers resolution. up when the whistleblower complaints came out and became so clear what trump had done with strong-arming zelensky timeout -- not to mount investigations necessarily, but to announce he was mounting investigations into trump's political rival joe biden and this discredited theory thatt ukrainee had meddled in the 2016 election, nancy pelosi understood that this was an airtight case, it was narrow, it was clear. people could get their brains around it. so we have these two articles of impeachment abuse of power and quid pro quo -- this for that, dirt for dollars i think is one

of the phrases that we hear - -- that trump really believed that because we have been s so good o ukraine, ukraine owewes us. he really doesn't understand how foreign policy works. it is all about making the business deal, making himself look good. this dirt for dollars, in other words, if zelensky, the president of ukraine, announced an investigation against the bidens, thatat would tarnish biden, who was leading him in the polls at the time, and help trump's reelection. patently illegal, a patent abuse of power. the second article of impeachment is obstruction of congress. in an unprecedented move -- no president ever before has done this, even judges facing impeachmenent habit totally stonewalled -- habit totally stonewalled the house of representatives, not producing one document in response to subpoenas, forbidding all officials of the executive

branch from testifying. and this is a direct violation of the constitution's command that the house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment. that means it is not up to the president to decide whether he's going to cooperate with it. and now we move to the senate trial. in the first day of the trial was filled with pretrial motions, 11 motions by the house managers for the testimony of four witnesses and the production of documents from a number of government agencies. two of those witnesses are john bolton andnd mick mulvaney. verymulvaney said incriminating things about the president, emitting the quid pro quo. and john bolton, who left on bad terms, left the white house on bad terms, says he is prepared to testify if he is subpoenaed. trump is very, very threatened by bolton's testimony.

what trump things comes right out in his t tweets. therere is no guessing what he s thinking. most recently, he said he does not want bolton to testify because "bolton knows how i feel about these matters" and it is a national security threat. he is terrified about what bolton will say. in the pretrial motions, the republicans walked in lockstep with trump in tabling the whole issue of whether or not witnesses s would be allowed, these four wititnesses or any witnesses, and whether documents could be subpoenaed. until after six days of arguments, opening arguments, by the two parties, by the house managers and the defense, and 16 hours of questioning b by the senators. it is like and allison wonders lane -- alice in wonderland. we have the opening statements and then we have the questions by senators, and then are we

going to have evidence?e? it looks like we may not. lookss lilike they may prevent witnesss from testifying. although, they have made noises about wanting one of the binds to testify to bolster this theory that they did something wrong. the bidens have been completely exonerated by every body who has examined what happened during this time in ukraine when joe biden was acting as the vice president consistent with american policy. very, very different from what trump is accused of. amy: let me stick with the bidens for a moment. i want to read from today's "new york times," the front page. he just a heckler as it idiot. he commanded the news media to focus on president trump instead of the overseas business dealings of his son hunter biden

, demanding of one reporter, ask the right question. for mr. biden, the stream of russians about his son touches on a vulnerability for his candidacy and presents a fine line for him to navigate. at issue is instantiated theory pushed by mr. trump that mr. biden took action in order to help his son who at the time held a lucrative position on burisma holdings. let's talk about this for a moment. some have speculated this is a real crisis, the impeachment because fours time senators can't be out on the campaign trail, the leading senators in the senate, senator sanders and elizabeth warren, so biden is out there along with buttigieg in iowa at this key moment. but it could also be a liability for biden as he is now open to questions from both islands and andrters -- iowans

reporters, not necessarily about what vice president biden did, but what about his son hunter biden on the board of burisma? if you can talk about the accusations are and also significantly, this whole issue of reciprocal witnesses, the idea republicans could call hunter biden to testify? clearly, biden is getting very nervous about this, too. >> he is, amy. yes, this could cut both ways. people will be very defensive bibiden and say he is being unfairly attacked, he has been cleared, he did not do o anythig wrong. on the other hand, some people will think, well, where there is smoke there is fire and this does not look good by joeoe bidn wass the vice president at the same time hunter biden was on the board of bereavement, a very, very lucrative position -- board of marie's mother, a very, very lucrative position. biden, consistent with the obaba

administratition's policy, he ws pressuring ukraine to get rid of a corrupt prosecutor because the u.s. policy was to oppose corruption in ukraine. context,ally in that biden did not do anything wrong. however, that doesn't mean that the fact that he is in this position, was in this position, and his son was on the board of burisma is going to raise some questions. there will be people who will not support biden for that reason. on the other hand, he may well benefit from being on the defensive by donald trump. now, if there are witnesses allowed atat all -- and i i higy doubt it -- i can't imagine republicans would not push to subpoena one or both of the bidens. and then it is going to become a trial within a

trial, where he will focus on what biden did or did not do, did you do somethingng improper, was trump justified in asking zelensky to mount an investigation of joe biden? so i think this is going to be very interesting. and certainly, the republicans come in trump's defense, are going to go deeply into thee appearancece of impropriety with biden and his son. it remains to be seen whether one or both of the bidens will actually be called to testify and whether any witnesses for that matter will be called to testify. amy: and this whole issue that republicans are raising if the witness issue is going to be -- this impeachment trial could go on for months because it will go to court. justiceingly, the chief of the supreme court john roberts is right in the room. he is presiding over the trial. so where does he weigh in on this? and is this true?

>> i don't see this being hung up in the court. i think it will be resolved in the senate. chief justice john roberts is in a very, very delicate position. i am sure he would rather be anywhere than where he is presiding over this senate trial -- which the constitution provides for. he really doesn't have much power of one of the amendments that the house managers proposed in the pretrial motions was to allow chief justice john roberts to determine whether any perspective witnesses testimony would be relevant to the issue. and republicans voted that down. now even if they had allowed that to happen and he had served that function, any ruling that john roberts makes could be overruled by 51 senators. so it is really kind of a ceremonial role that he plays. he is not going to take an

active role. he is going to follow what chief justice rehnquist did during the clinton impeachment trial, and really call balls and strikes for the first time, which is what roberts promised to do during his confirmation hearings as suprememe court justice. and of course, that is not the case at all. marjorie cohn professor , emerita at thomas jefferson school of law, former president of the national lawyers guild, deputy secretary general of the international association of democratic lawyers, and member of the advisory board of veterans for peace. her most recent book "drones and , targeted killing: legal, moral, and geopolitical issues." when we come back, with the international court of justice at about the rohingya. majoren moms4housing, a victory in oakland, california. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "innocent when you dream" by tom waits. in a major ruling, the u.n. international court of justice at the hague has ordered burma to "take all measures within its power" to protect rohingya muslims from genocide. the court issued the ruling thursday, calling the 600,000 rohingya remaining in myanmar,

also known as buburma, "extrtrey vulnlnerable" to m military violencece. the coururt ordered buburma to report rulularly to ththe ibunul about its progress. the ruling is a sharp rebuke of burma's de facto leader aung san suu kyi, who last month asked the court to drop the genocide case against burma. aung san suu kyi is a nobel prize laureate who spent over a decade fighting against the burmese military that she is now dedefending. gambia brought the genocide case to the international court, accusing burma of trying to "destroy the rohingya as a group, in whole or in part, by the use of mass murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence." the burmese military killed and raped thousands of rohingya and forced more than 700,000 to flee into neighboring bangladesh in a brutal army crackdown in 2017. this is rohingya refugee enamul hassan reacting to the court's ruling from bangladesh. >> for a long time, the

government of mymyanmar tortrtud our rohingya people. they tortured d too much. raped our mothers and sisters, killed our man. after a long time, gambia filed a case on behalf of the rohingya people in the icj court. i the grace of allah, got a ruling on behalf of the rohingya people. for r that, we are very grateful to the gambian government. now we wait to go back to our country with our rights. amy: well, for more we go to alicante, spain where we're joined by reed brody via democracy now! video stream. can you talk a about the signgnificance of the ruling of the international court of justice? >> this is the most important coururt in the world intervening - --e of the worst atrocity mass atrtrocity situations of or are while the atrocities still happening. it doesn't really get more significant in that. as youou mentioned, there are

700,000 0 rohingyas who have ben displaced into bangladesh, hundreds of thousands and camams inin myanmnmar. their situation always the just us -- doesn't just change overnight. poetthe y young rohingyan said, "m"my brothers and sister, the door to justice has opened today. decision and it is a huge rebuke to aung san suu kyi and to the military and burma. amy: can you explain aung san suu kyi's position? she is a nobel peace laureate and long defended the burmese military and its genocide against the rohingya muslims and actually went to the hague to testify on the military's behalf. the military, which imprisoned her anand she fought against for decades. >> obvioly, she e has thrown her

lot in with the military. i think she is showing d domestc public opinion that she hates the rohingya as many others do. let's remember, this is one of the most hated percuted miminorities in thee world. i was reminded by this decision of genocide conviction in guguatemala against rios mont in mayanh the highland indians, among the most marginalizized people in america -- not as marginalized as the rohihingya -- were recognized aa group and their righghts were protected as victims of genocide. i think the same thing is happening today. aung san suu kyi nevever mentiod and the government of myanmar, the response to yesteterday's ruling, never uses even the word "rohingya," but the

international court of justice, the highest court in the world, said the rohingya are a groupup anand they are entitled to protection from genocide. that is a major moment, not just for the rohingya, but international -- amy: what is thehe enforcementnt mechchanism? the i international orderer jus, a part of the u.n., what does this mean? >> theoretically, thee decisions are bindining and they traransmd to the security coununcil. we know the security council -- china has a veto, so the security council will not enforce e the judgment. at the c court -- first of all, the court established a recording requirement. it said the fifirst informants, the government of burma has two account for what it is doing and every six months thereafter. it is a must like a court supepervision of what is going . the general assembmbly can taket up.

the human rightstsouncil inn geneva can t take it up. myanmar apppplies -- whether myanmar applies this decision i is very much going to depend on the e internationanal pressure that will comome. they werere told not to destroy evevidence. well, we have seen in the pasast through aerial photos whehere ty are destroying evidence. it iss going to be -- obviously going toto take a l l, but there is an enforcement possibility and a mechanism that is going to depend on international pressure. gamaman you talk about bringing t this case, the speed with which the icj ruled, and what about other cases in the world where so many have died -- for example, in syria, what is happening with the uighurs in of these cases been brought or even what u.s. is doing in the middle east a and e iraqaqar, centerer, and the killing g of qassem soleleiman? >> welcome of course, in terms

of gambia, as you knonow, i working gambia and i work closely with the attorney general there.e. gambia took k this case on b bef of of the organization of islamic cooperation t to protect the muslims rohingya. the attorney general of the gambia happened toto have been a prosecutor of the rwanda genocide and he felt he was seeing the same thing happen. he took the leads a wonderful back story that reaeally legitimizes this very rare instance of south-south solidarity. little gambia speakaking up fora minorityty all across the world. it is inteteresting you mention china in the uighurs. the organanization o of islslac

cooperation, o oic, which shouod be standing up as well for the minorityty in china, instead, because of chinina's nott only military might b but also china has the unprecedented campaignn by china to silence international l critics -- it ws the topic of human rights watch's world report last week. the oic, muslim countrieses in e world, actualllly adopted a a rd statement praising china for how they care for the muslim miminority. soso in many ways, this is aa questition of political balalanf power. in this case, burma's power is not the sameme internationally s china's. again,e of syria, there's s veto -- syria has not ratifieded these c conventions. russia can veto andd china can

veto any accountability mechanism at that level. now, there are a lot of cases around the world where individual couountries in franc, german and otherer places have arrested and are prosesecuting people -- syrian officials who have engaged in repression. of course, it is not the same as going to t the state and going o the top. amy: we e want to thank you f fr being with us. reed brody is a counsel for human rights watch. when we come back, we look at a major victory for moms4housing in oakland, california. ♪ [music break]

amy: "offering" by ravi shankar and philip glass. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. we end today's show in oakland, california, where a months-long struggle between a group of unhoused moms occupying a vacant home and the real estate firm that owned it ended with an unexpected victory earlier this week -- an offer to purchase the property. the major win in the mothers' fight against homelessness and real estate speculation comes just a week after wedgewood properties forcibly evicted the families, known as moms4housing, from the home they had been occupying for more than two months. the housead been cant for two arars. one of the moms was live on democracnonow!rom stud in rkeley. the avavily litatarid action sparked wispspreadutraragend condemnati, , and ft t the mothths and their families

memelessnce e agn. but omartin lher king jr. monday, day, under grongng public preurure, wgewowood annonoced it would sell the propoperty at a fafair price thh the oakland community land trust. the moms will then be able to purchase the house through the trust. this is carroll fife, director of the oakland office for alalliance of cacalifornians for community empopowerment, celebrating g the news.. >> it is important to understand the history of civil disobedience in this cntntry cacause every single right at by peopleday was won gagagingnd pushing on what w legal. so it is imptatanto not criminalize women who are trying toriring aention a jususti anan hanity to the masses for everyo. they are not the criminals here. the criminal system is one that allows homelessness. amy: well, for more, carroll fife joins us in berkeley, california, alongside misty

cross, one of the members of moms4housing. we had them on just last week following the eviction. welcome back to democracy now! misty, explain what happened. agreement?the make a guess. if you could explain -- i mean, you were evicted from the house, battering ram, swat team, arrested. and nowowedgewood p properties, which owns the house, is saying you can buy it through the land trust? skeptical -- we are still in negotiations with that, even though we are glad thatat wedgegewood wants to come forth and do the right thing, we are still skeptical on how this whole agreement came into play. it went on with our mayor libby schaaf behind closed doors. we still don't understand what the agreement was that brought

them to the table being as that we had city council representative rebecca kaplan and nikki bass to help negotiate agreements through the land trust from the beginning. so we are still skeptical of what wedgewood really wants to agree on an why are e they now trying to settle things after all of this trauma has been caused to us. amy: carroll fife, or the dashboard organizer, educator, mother, have lived in the open community for more than 20 years. can you explain exactly what has been offered and what this land trust is? >> sure. hadone demand that the moms was to negotiate with the open community land trust -- oakland community land trust since day one. position was that the organization, wedgewood, that purchased this home in a

foreclosure sale, sit down and negotiate for the sale of the house to the land trust so it would be permanently affordable. after the pressure -- and i think it was the militarized response by alameda county sheriff's. it was too much to bear, not only for wedgewood, but also our mayor who had been silent on this issue up until then. we feel like it was all of that combined, the political pressure, the visible media, that made the parties want to come to the table. and also the moms calling out the governor for doing homeless tour, bringing in trailers to address the crisis. 13 to 20 trailers to deal with a crisis that really caused them to want to come to the table and negotiate. but we are getting word wedgewood may be getting cold feet on the offer and they may be trying to d do improvements o the property so they can sell

into the land trust for market moms which is not what the are wking to negotiate. th w want -- they wanto make sure that wedgewood sells it to the la t trust for no more than whwhat ty pupurcsed it r. and so if they are engaging in doing any repairs, we are concerned they may y wanto ineaease t salale price, an that is just t tenabl am very quickly, misty, describe what happeded on at morning. a fact, we had carroll o the ra wt down, the robot, theam, the atat team. yowere inside? >> y, i was side. ofwas a mixed- a bunc xed feelgs goingn at tha time. u reallyould notut itll

in one etion. it was aot ofixed feengs. ared,fraid, d't ow if they a just gog to com straht in wiuns. weere upstairs not downstairs where thfrfront or was so we did not wanant to comrurunnin down and run into gunfir just a lot of things ran throug our ndnd at at time. but our main thing w was to remn calm and keep addressing that we were not going to be violent and that this was a civil disobedience act and that we were not going to be aggressors in this particular moment. amy: and you are aware -- youu arare where now? talk about you, where you and the other moms and kids are living now. >> me and the other moms are all working toward permanent housing . we should all be good and settled before the beginning of february. we are all working toward that

goal. our main thing is to be able to at stable so we can be mobile little bit more in this movement so that we can get on the ground and realally do the footworkrk t needs to be done and hoho people accoununtable for sending in the aggressive force on the mom and children at that time. amy: carroll fife, as we wrap up the show, can you talk about what this possible agreement could mean for the issue of homelessness, not only an open -- we were just there during a special, at least 90 encampments growing every single day, san francisco, los angeles, ground zero for homelessness in this country. what this could mean for unhoused people and for the issue of homelessness in the united states. do you see this as a model? >> absolutely. absolutely. but it will be a fight.

i have s seen on sociall media o the privileged, equity feels like oppression. so because this country has coconditioned people to believe that property rights are more important than human rights, it is definitely going to be a fight. but i think this step toward a victory with mom's house is an example that can be duplicated, not only inn the bay area, but across the country -- which is why we are fighting to expand the right to housing throughout the state of california with an amendment to the constitution. so it will take all hands on deck come all grassroots people powered organizations to get on board and help us with this fight. the and what about companies that are driving up and san francisco real estate prices saying they are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars to help people around housing? how is it you still have this growing homelessness problem?

and do you think that is helpful or the state has to be completely involved here? >> the state definitely has to be involved. the money pouring into these programs are for homeless sustenance programs, not transitioning into permanent talani andsty and dominiquque are examples of 2 21 and all these different programs not working. wages have not kept pace with inflation. people are invested in a system that is broken. it is incumbent upon our legislators to listen to the moms, to listen to people who have been a a part of these prprograms that t are just rogao we can do something different. if we do not address the entirety of the problem, then it will only persist. we have to address the fact that income in it is growing but read keeps going up, the price of homes keep rising, keeps rising.

if we are not addressing the entire issue, then we just putting band-aids on bullet wounds. amy: i want to thank you for being with us, carroll fife director of the oakland office , for alliance of californians for community empowerment. misty cross of moms4housing. you c

[music plplaying] yaffa: foror some, this island is a paradise. for others, it's hell. the ancestors of its people were forcefully brought over a few centuries ago. the journey across the sea was long and treacherous. the slaves who were shackled in the galleys brought with them their only possession--music. the music that survived the journey stayed alive. it moved into different forms of expression and can still be heard around the world today. welcome to jamaic