02/11/21 02/11/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> on january 6, president trump left everyone in this capitol forget. he never once said the one thing everyone around him was begging him to say, "stop the attack." amy: on the second day of former

presidt trump's impeachment trial,emocratic house impeachment nagers relsed shking videorom insidehe capitol during the january 6 insurrection and audio of capitol hill police officers seeking backup help. >> in this video, you can see the mob attacking officers with the crutch, hockey stick, bullhorn, and trump fly. amy: we will speak with "the nation's" john nichols. then to india, where farmworkers continue to protest new agricultural laws. we will also speak with p.

sainath. >> condemnation ems too weak in word. shameless attempt on the intonation of journalists and journalism. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. democratic house impeachment managers have released shocking video from inside the capitol during the january 6 insurrection showing violent from supporters were just yards away. democrats describe trumps the insigh -- incitor-in-chief.

th is stacey plaskett at the virgin islands speaking at the senate trial. >> donald trump, over many months, called dutch cultivated violence. praised it, and then when he saw the violence his supporters were capable of, he channeled it to this big, wild, historic event. he organized january 6 with the same people that had just organize the rally resulting in substantial violence and made absolutely sure this time these violent rallygoers would not just remain in place. he made sure that violent people would literally march right her to our steps. amy: house impeachnt managers also revled that on january 6 trump sent out tweet aacking

vice president pence just minutes after senator tommy tuberville of alabama talked to the president on the phone and told him that pence had to be evacuated from the capitol due to the riots. democrats also revealed protest organizers did not initially have a permit to march from the rally site on january 6, but the white house intervene to make sure people could march to the capitol. we will have more on the impeachment trial after headlines and speak with journalist john nichols. in georgia, the district attorney of fulton cnty has opened a criminal investigation into donald trump's "attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 georgia general election." district attorney fani willis has asked state authorities to preserve all records tied to the effort to overturn joe biden's victory in the state. on january 2, trump asked georgia's secretary of state, the republican brad

raffensperger, to "find 11,780 votes" -- the exact number of votes he needed to win. in another call trump urged an investigator in raffensperger's office to "find the fraud." georgia's secretary of state's office has launched its own probe into trump's calls to state officials. the biden administration has announced plans to partner with new york and texas to build five new large covid-19 vaccination sites in communities of color hit hardest by the pandemic. dr. marcella nunez-smith is chair of biden's covid-19 equity task force. >> this is a perfect example of our equity work coming to life and this is a model for the potential we have to do as well across the country. we are taking the response directly to the communities that need it most. amy: this comes as the u.s. death toll has topped 471,000 --

by far the highest in the world. more than half of all u.s. covid deaths have occurred since november 1. a new report in the lance medicajournal finds 4 of all u.s. covid deaths could have been prevented. meanwhile, the centers for disease control and prevention is now recommending people wear two masks, such as surgical mask with a cloth mask on top, to reduce exposure. the world health organization is recommending the use of the oxford/astrazeneca vaccine for all adults. some european countries have objected to giving the vaccine to people over 65. "the guardian" reports the decision opens the way for t united nations-backed covax program to start shipping doses to lower-income countries across the world. saudi women's right activist loujain al-hathloul has been released after being locked up for nearly three years in a saudi prison. her sister posted a photo of her

wednesday with a caption reading, "loujain hathloul at home after 1001 days in prison." under the terms of her release, she is barred from leaving saudi arabia and prohibited from discussing her time in prison where she was reportedly subjected to electric shock, waterboarding, flogging, and sexual assault. loujain hathloul was arrested in may 2018 after leading a movement to lift a ban on women drivers and to overhaul the male guardianship system in saudi arabia. president biden spoke with chinese president xi jinping wednesday for the first time since taking office. the call came on the same day biden visited the pentagon, which has just launched a new military task force focused on china. pres. biden: we need to take on the dangers of emerging

technologies, enhanced our capabilities in cyberspace, ensure we are positioned to lead a new era of competition from the deep sea to outer space, and we need to meet the growing challenges posed by china to keep peace and defend our interest in the indo pacific. amy: earlier this week, china criticized the biden administration for deploying two aircraft carriers to the disputed south china sea to carry out military drills. protests are continuing in burma for a sixth day to condemn the military coup that ousted burma's civilian leadership including aung san suu kyi. this comes as burma's military junta has unveiled plans for a sweeping cybersecurity law in a move to crack down on free speech online. on wednesday, president biden imposed sanctions on burma's military leaders. pres. biden: the military must really gush power seized demonstrate respect for the world -- all the people of our map as expressed in their november 8 election.

in mexico in news from tel aviv, the israeli cabinet has approved a nearly $3 llion arms deal with the united states to buy f-35 and f-16 warplanes, chinook helicopters, refueling planes, and thousands of bombs and advanced armaments. meanwhile, in the west bank, israeli forces have demolished the palestinian bedouin village of khirbet humsah al-foqa for a third time this month. on monday, israel confiscated nine tents that housed 61 people, including 33 children. israel also demolished five livestock enclosures. palestinian activist abdallah abu ramah condemned israel's demolition policy. >> it has been completely ra zed to dislocate the students -- the residents from their lands. amy: in media news, a columnist

with "the guardian" newspaper says he was fired after writing a sarcastic tweet criticizing u.s. military aid to israel. nathan robinson, who edits the journal current affairs, had written for "the guardian" since 2017. but his column was discontinued after the editor-in-chief of "the guardian u.s." criticized a twitter post of robinson's that mockingly claimed all u.s. spending bills must include money to buying weapons for israel. "the guardian" has denied robinson was fired, saying it regularly reviews its lineup of columnists. the u.s. on average gives israel 3.8 billion dollars in military aid every year, larger than any other country. immigrant rights advocates are criticizing the biden administration after it announced plans to continue to turn away asylum applicants at the u.s.-mexico border keeping in place -- at least for now -- a policy implemented by donald trump. white house press secretary jen psaki spoke on wednesday. >> do the pandemic and the fact we have not had that time as an

administration to put in place a humane, comprehensive process for processing individuals coming to the border, now is not the time to come. the vast majority of people will be turned away. hassan processes athe border will not occur immediately. it will take time to implement. amy: in haiti, police fired tear gas at protesters and attacked journalists as thousands of haitians took to the streets again wednesday to demand president jovenel moïse leave office, accusing him of illegally extending his term. >> we have announced [indiscernible] clean slate. amy: protesters also criticized the u.s. ambassador to haiti after the biden administration sided with moïse's claim that he can serve for another year. protesters say the head of the haitian supreme court should serve as a transitional president until elections are

held. but earlier this week, moïse forced the retirement of three supreme court judges who were next in line of succession. in news from honduras, amnesty international is calling for an investigation into the death of 26-year-old nursing student keyla martinez. she died in police custody on saturday night after being arrested for breaking a covid-19 curfew. police claimed she died by suicide but federal authorities are now investigating her death as a murder. the associated press reports federal prosecutors have requested seven police officers be turned over to investigators. in labor news, amazon workers in alabama are continuing to vote on whether to become the first unionized amazon warehouse in the united states. "the intercept" is reporting amazon is paying a consultant with ties to the koch others $3200 a day to thwart the unionization drive. the consultant, russell brown, is the president of the koch-backed center for independent employees and the head of rwp labor, which claims

it helps companies with "maintaining a union free workplace." amazon is headed by jeff bezos, one of the world's two richest men. anti-nuclear activist clare grady reported to prison on wednesday. in 2018, she and six other plowshares activists broke into the kings bay naval submarine base in georgia to protest u.s. nuclear weapons programs. grady was sentenced to a year in prison. four of her co-defendants are also locked up -- father steve kelly, carmen trotta, patrick o'neill, and martha hennessy, the granddaughter of dorothy day. and president biden's nominee to head the office of management and budget, neera tanden, faced intense questioning on wednesday over her past comments attacking progressives as well as her ties to big business. tanden has served as president of the center for american progress since 2011. this is senator bernie sanders, chair of the senate budget committee. >> your attacks were not made just against republicans, there

were vicio attacks made against progressives, people who i have worked with personally. can you reflect a little bit about some of your decisions and the personal statements that you have made in recent years? >> yes, senator. i appreciate the question. i recognize my language in my expressions a social media has hurt people and i feel badly about that. amy: senator sanders also grilled neera tanden about the center for american progress past -- american progress' on corporate donations. >> the center for american progress has received roughly $5.5 million from walmart, a company that pays its workers starvation workers, $900,000 from the bank of america, 550 thousand dollars from j.p. rgan chase, $550,000 from amazon, 200 thousand dollars

from wells fargo, $800,000 from facebook, up to $1.4 million from google. in other words, received money from some of the most powerful special interest in our country. how will your relationship with those very powerful special interests impact your decision-making if you are appointed to be the head of omb? >> senator, i think you cannot question. it will have zero impact on decision-making. amy: and those are some of t headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. on the second at the second impeachment trial of president trump come this one fork inciting an insurrection, house impeachment managers presented detailed documentation of the events leading up to january 6. wednesday was dominated by the presentation of dramatic footage

-- some of it never seen before -- of the violence that enfolded during the insurrection. footage from security cameras shows the pro-trump mob searching the capitol building for lawmakers, and coming within about 100 feet sometimes r ss, of theoom wher vice present mike pce was shtering withis family hoe impeachment managers also played audio of capitol hill police officers seeking backup help desperately. the chilling footage played in the senate chamber, it was narrated by house impeachment managers stacey plaskett of the virgin islands and congressman eric swalwell of california. this is askett. r a radio listeners, you'll hear some short silence when the closed circuit video plays. >> is a mop approaches from outside and beats the windows

and doors. you can see the riotors perspective window with a wooden beam and a long police officer inside response. begins to spray the first man who enters but is quickly overwhelmed. i want you to pay attention to the first group of assailants as they break into the building. the second man through the window is wearing full tactical body armor and is carrying a baseball bat. others are carrying riot shields. you can see vice president pence and his family quickly moved down the stairs. the vice president turns around briefly as he is headed down. as you can see here, the staff moves from the offices, through the halls, and then enters a

door on the right-hand side. that is the outer door of a conference room, which also has an inner door that they barricaded with furniture. the staff and hid under a conference room table in that inner room. in the security of video, pay attention to the door we saw those staffers leading the two and going into. one riot riot of theers -- one of the rioters does his body agait the door three times until he breaks open the outer door. luckily when faced with the inner door, he moves on. >> this security video shows ashli babbitt, followed by others in the mob, turning the corner to the house lobby doors where the members were leaving. this security video, you can see

them exiting post any members are storing gas masks. they walked to speed away from work capitol police are holding an insurrectionist at gunpoint. moments earlier, that person had tried to open a gallery door and thankfully was stopped by a tactical team. this security video from 2:56 p.m. shows the mob the second floor of the capitol. insurrectionists still inside are fighting with police were overwhelmed and trying to get them out. this security video, you can see how the capitol police blocked the hallways with their bodies to prevent rioters at the end of the hall from reaching you and your staff. >> officer goodman passes senator mitt romney and directs

him to turn around in order to get to safety. >> using leader schumer walking up a ramp. he will soon go out of view. seconds later, they return and run back down the hallway and officers immediately shut the door and use their bodies to keep them safe. let's focus now on the attack and what it was like for the officers defending the capitol that day. i want to warn you come the following audio and videos are graphic and are unsettling. but it is important we understand the extent of what occurred. here is an audio recording from the radio traffic of the d.c. metropolitan police department describing the violent.

>> the crowd is using munitions against us. >> hours after members of the house and senate had left this area, on the west front of the building the mob continued to grow, continued to beat the officers as they tried to get in. in this security video, can see the mob attacking officers with a crutch, a hockey stick, a bullhorn, and a trump flag. amy: that is just some of the dramatic footage from january 6 that was shown wednesday by house managers as they built their case in the senate chamber to impeach former president donald trump for inciting an insurrection. republican senator mitt romney said he spoke to u.s. capitol police officer eugene goodman to thank him for coming to his aid

after watching the new footage that showed the officer protecting him from the mob. telling him he needed to go in the other direction. house impeachment managers also revealed that on january 6, trump sent out a tweet attacking vice president mike pence just minutes after senator tommy tuberville of alabama told the president that pence had to be evacuated from the capitol due to the riots. democrats also revealed protesters organizers did not initially permit to march from the january 6 rally site at the ellipse to the capitol but the white house intervened for protesters to be allowed to march. the impeachment trial resumes today at noon. we are streaming it at [applause] -- we are streaming it at democracynow.org. when we come back, we'll discuss the historic events with "the

nation's" john nichols. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: anne feeney, the legendary pittsburgh folk singer-songwriter and self-described rabble-rouser, has died of covid at age 69. we will be talking about her later in the broadcast. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. i in new york, joined remotely am by my co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: good morning, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world.

amy: democratic house impeachment managers laid out their case against former president donald trump wednesday as the trial entered day two, and they released shocking video from inside the capitol during the january 6 insurrection showing violt trump suorters were just 58 sps away fr the -- from lawmakers. democrats outlined how trump spent months inciting his supporter by spreading the big lie that the election was stolen. this is house impeachment lead manager, congressman jamie raskin of maryland. >> the evidence will show you that ex-president trump was no innocent bystander. the evidence will show the clearly incited the january 6 insurrection. it will show that donald trump surrendered his role as commander-in-chief and became

the riot -- inciter in chief. the greatest betrayal of the presidential oath in the history of the united states. amy: for more, we're joined by john nichols, "the nation's" national-affairs correspondent. his most recent book is "the fight for the soul of the democratic party." also the author of "the genius of impeachment: the founders' cure for royalism." john, welcome back to democracy now! thank you for joining us from wisconsin. why don't we start out by you responding to what was revealed yesterday. much of this footage we have -- we have not seen before coming from the capitol's closed-circuit tv when they would show it was silent and they would narrate it. >> thank you for having me. i think the best way to understand it is tuesday was the

procedural day. they explain why this trial was both legitimate and necessary and wednesday was the evidentiary hearing day where they explained why this is so important. the evidence confirming that. the evidence you saw come as you suggest, in many cases, new footage and new material but it was also a timeline. what the various impeachment managers sought to do -- and i think quite brilliantly -- was to establish that donald trump had a constant interaction with this run-up to january 6 and what happened on january 6. and was that was established, obviously you're talking about the impeachment, then you show what happened and why it was so jarring, so horrifying, and so significant.

in fact, what they're saying to the jurors is, a, this trial should be occurring. b, this trial is targeted at the right individual, donald drawn trump. c, this trial is of enormous because it was because the incidents were in fact a genuine threat as jamie raskin suggested to the transition of power in the united states, one of the most vital constitutional constructs. nermeen: jamie raskin has asked trump to testify in the trial, but of course, his senior advisor jason miller said he will not testify in what he considers an unconstitutional proceeding. now, the house had the option of issuing a subpoena to trump to get him to testify, but they did not do that. what do you think is going to happen? trump has no intention of

testifying. >> trump has no intention of testifying, and it is still an open question whether there will be any testimony or witnesses. this is a fast-moving trial. i think the managers have focused a lot of their attention on what th described accurately as facts, as what you can show people. the president's tweets, the video from the capitol, video of the president speeches. all of these pieces. once they have done that, then there will be the question of whether you might call a witness. i am inclined to suggest they probably won't attempt to subpoena donald trump. he says he does not want to testify. frankly, his testimony i think would probably add little to the process. but there is still the possibility you will see witnesses. the fascinating part of this, some of the most compelling witnesses are jurors in the

trial. it is notable that, for instance, senator lindsey graham from south carolina was on the phone to the white house and has in interviews said frankly some quite damning things about donald trump's enthusiasm for the people that were involved and lack of engagement and lack of willingness to intervene to try and stop the violence. so we have some fascinating questions as regard to witnesses. but at the end of the day, i still think the most compelling part of this trial is the presentation, the opening argument from the impeachment managers. nermeen: john, could you also talk about where republican stand on the impeachment trial? republican senator bill cassidy has joinedcgrath in voting against ending the impeachment trial, though said that does not mean he would vote in favor

of convicting trump. he is among only six republicans who have set the trial should not end. we have written a piece. and you talk about that and where you think other republicans will go on this? >> certainly. to establish upfront, ed 67 votes if all senators are voting in order to convict. right now they have five or six republicans who have seemingly indicated some openness to conviction vote. as you will point out, it is not sure all of them will. but if you had that group, have roughly 55, 56 votes for conviction -- that is a large boat, significant positive

remember, no president has ever been convicted. however, it is insufficient. the question in the senate is whether mitch mcconnell, who really is the key force -- and i think communist -- whether they might at some point decide to lead a group of senators either to not vote or to vote for conviction. i think that is an outside prospect but it certainly is one that jamie raskin and the impeachment managers are aiming at. what we do know, what would to be very short of is there are number of members of the senate who absolutely will not vote convict donald trump because they are actually part of the conspiracy or part of the problem. i would point especially to josh hawley from missouri whose own home state senator, newspaper said should be expelled from the senator, ted cruz from texas whose home state newspapers have said should resign but because

of the actions on january 6 composite people like ron johnson from wisconsin. the fact is, we don't have enough time this program detail all of the intersection between the statements and actions folks like josh hawley, ted cruz, ron johnson, and others in this run-up to january 6 and what happened on january 6. it is a bizarre situation where you have jurors who actually are , as i suggested, i believe, as guilty in the case of josh hawley, maybe more guilty than donald trump. amy: i want to go to house impeachment manager congressman joaquin castro of texas. >> using the evidence so far and this is clear, on january 6, president trump left every wind in this capitol for dead. when he wanted to incite his supporters to show up on january

6, president trump tweeted 16 times between midnight on january 5 and his new rally speech the next day. 16 times to get them to do something he wanted. and his message in those 16 times was clear -- fight, stay strong, be strong. but when the violence started, you never once said the one thing everyone around him was begging him to say, "stop the attack." he refused to stop it. donald trump did not send help to these officers who were badly outnumbered, overwhelmed, and being beaten down. two hours into the insurrection,

by 3:00 p.m., president trump had not deployed the national guard or any other law enforcement to help, despite multiple please to do so. amy: so that is joaquin castro. now i want to go to house impeachment manager rhode island congressman david cicilline who laid out what donald trump was tweeting as the mob attacked the capitol. >> nearly an hour after the riot ers reached the capitol, donald trump released a propaganda real of his "save america" speech he had given an hour before. let me be clear, the events i just described, the rioters are reaching the capital, attacking law enforcement, the violence is being broadcast all over the television for the whole world to see, including the president of the united states, and i want to show you, this is what is happening right before donald trump sends that video out and

as he does it. pres. trump: our country has had enough. we will not take it anymore. that is what this is all about. and to use a favorite term that all of youde people really camep with, we will stop the steal because you'll never take back our country with weakness. you have to show strength and you have to be strong. amy: john nichols, this is absolutely key. showing the times of what president trump was doing and what the mob was doing since he was watching it on tv, and apparently getting repeated calls from republicans pleading with him to do something. the news we had earlier of senator tuberville admitting that trump called him and said to him, i can't talk rightli no. pence has just been evacuated

because of the rioters. it was after that a trump attacked pence once again in a tweet and you see the rioters inside and outside saying hang mike pence, hang mike pence come actually setting up a noose. this issue after the speech because some of these senators will say trump has a right to say about fight likehell" and that has a mean he met people to be violent, but as this was happening, explain the significance of rubbing them up then telling them he loves them and they were patriots as he learned how many police officers were down, were being attacked. >> you're going to the heart of the matter because in this prosecution of donald trump, obviously, there are two core arguments. what is that donald trump set this thing up, that he called it into being.

but a second argument, which i think will get more and more attention as the days go on, is is dear lujan of duty once things occurred. -- dereliction of duty once things occurred. he is the most informed person. he is getting direct appeals as well as to his aid saying something horrible is happening, just blocks away for me. you have the ability to intervene, the ability to call for both your supporters, or allies to stand out, but also call for additional help for those at the capitol. instead of that, what we see is evidence upon evidence upon evidence that donald trump is, eight, fascinated by even perhaps in some reports excited by what is happening at the capital, and, b, not acting in a manner of president would be expected to do in such a

circumstance. that goes to the heart of why you would impeach, try, convict a president. it is one of the reasons i suggest to you this is the most important impeachment trial in american history. the reason for that is a goes to the heart of why the impeachment power was created in 1787. it is to hold presidents to account when the at in a manner that might be of a monarch or king, when they take action to perpetuate their ownower that are dangerous to the republic. d here, by putting together thimages of e violence as well as the evidence of donald trump's enthusiasm for the protests in january 6 and his failure to respond to them, tie the threads together for a classic -- frankly, i think difficult to argue with -- vote for conviction of a president who has violated his oath of office. nermeen: john, have written

extensively on the lead impeachment manager congressman jamie raskin, who we heard from earlier. you have also been talking to him. could you say a little about your conversations with him and also about his father marcus raskin them you he also written about? >> certainly. jamie raskin is remarkable historical figure in and of himself. i think certainly his speech at the close of tuesday's presentation where he spoke about his personal experience was so powerful that my sense is it will go down in history as one of the great speeches -- not merely in impeachment trial, but in the history of congress. jamie raskin is a congressman from maryland. before that, was a longtime constitutional law professor. you of this remarkable circumstance of a constitutional law professor actually at the center of a great constitutional

moment. beyond that, jamie raskin, as people who followed the trial no, had a horrible tragedy of the suicide of his and on new year's eve. he spoke about that and connected his own personal story, bringing his daughter and his son-in-law on january 6 to the capital, being separated from them, in his comments. he has a remarkable ability to weave the personal and the political. i think that does loop back to his father, remarkable figure in american life, marcus raskin, an aid in the kennedy white house, left the committee white house to become a co-founder of the institute for policy studies and emerged as one of the great intellectual thinkers the left in america for the 1960's into the 2000's. i believe he died in 2017. marcus raskin was a brilliant

figure about democracy and how it worked and how the structures of government needed to defend it. it was not surprising has signed jamie raskin quoted marcus raskin in the opening of wednesday's remarks -- i will say it right "democracy needs ground to stand upon and that ground is the truth." denny raskin on wednesday in many of his remarks around the scum that i do that truth and fact are the tools by which you hold a leader to account, particularly a leader who has done the damage to a country that jamie raskin and the other impeachment managers assert, i think, correctly that donald trump has done. amy: as we wrap up, i want to ask you about anne feeney, the legendary pittsburgh folk singer, songwriter, self-described rabble-rouser who died of covid 19 at age 69 month surrounded by family and friends. you written about her in written about her -- this is a clip of

her singing. >> ♪ amy: what we're are listening to and watching is anne feeney singing in the wisconsin state capitol building during the wisconsin uprising 10 years ago most of john, we just have about 30 seconds was a bit he could talk about the significance of anne feeney's life, music, art. >> i think was summed up in the clip. 10 years ago today on february

11, 2011, you were there for much of it, amy, and anne feeney was the great passionate labor songwriter, came as quickly as she could at the capital and to lead the crowds in singing what really was the theme song of that uprising, solidarity forever. she was a remarkable figure. set her favorite place to sing was on a picket line. i will remind you, two great figures from the wisconsin uprising, anne feeney and karen lewis, ahead of the chicago teachers union, both passed away in the last few days. we remember them because wisconsin uprising soft so much trillion solidarity and i believe both and and karen were embodiments of that. amy: people can go to our website at democracynow.org to see our interviews with kare lewis come the late, great head of the chicago teachers union. john nichols, thank you for

being with us, "the nation's" national-affairs correspondent and host of the podcast "next left." next, authorities have raided the offices of the progressive news site newsclick. stay with us. ♪♪ [music brk]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we turn now to india, where farmworkers are continuing to take to the streets to demand prime minister narendra modi repeal three highly contested agricultural laws. farmworkers say the laws, which seek to deregulate markets and allow large corporations to set prices, threaten their livelihoods. on saturday, tractors, trucks, and tents blocked traffic around

india for several hours and a four-hour railway blockade is planned for next week as protests show no sign of slowing down. on january 26, india's republic da a protest in delhi, turned deadly after some people broke off from the main action and breached the historic red fort complex. e person was killed and hundredsnjured. last week farmers held a vigil on the border of new delhi for the deceased. >> we are holding this can t vigil as aribute tall those th lost thei lives and in the moment, presting against baicading metal spis supporters and for solidarity with journalists who were arrested by police. we're fighting for everyone and demanding the modi government to listen to us. amy: dozens have died since the start of the protests -- many deaths caused by the harsh winter as tens of thousands of farmers have camped out in the cold on the outskirts of new delhi and other parts of the country. the u.n. and rights groups are calling for authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly and stop its crackdown

on the protesters, including internet shut downs and censoring critics. twitter has just come under fire after it blocked hundreds of accounts at the behest of modi's government, which twitter says threatened to lock up its local employees if it did not comply. meanwhile, earlier this week, authorities raided the offices of progressive news site newsclick, which had been closely covering the historic farmworkers' uprising. furthermore, we go to india or we will come back p. sainath, award-winning indian journalist and founder of people's archive of rural india, or pari. his latest, published in "the wire," is "rich farmers, global plots, local stupidity." p. sainath, thank you for joining us. if you can talk about the crackdown on the very media that is giving voice to the mass epic protests around india right now? >> lit has been on

interrogations, detaing people. i think it has been on for more than 50 hours. the raids conducted on newsclick, which described as a progressive media organization, independent media organization, not corporate -- i mean, this is now being done by the enforcement directorate, which is not police, but bringing in economic offenses, charges which they have not made public but plan in the journals of the ruling fraternity, and knew it has explicitly said what the charge is. but laptops, servers -- i mean, laptops, hard disks, phones have been confiscated. at least five people are without their phones or their laptops, which have been taken over. but the main idea of doing this

is to send a warning and a message to the rest of us from independent media, to say we're going to crack this way because -- it is going to malign your reputation in public. so i call you a money laundering or something like that. none of that will stand up in court, but remember there backed the greatest army in the world, payroll of the ruling government. last night there was a view after great delay, youtube and twitter took down, which named 10 independent media groups, including the people's archive, as having deep extremely dangerous people who should be jailed immediately, failing the

maker of the video feared for his life. yet the connivers of the corporate media come independent media is having it as hard as it gets. nermeen: you pointed out the mainstream media coverage has been critical of and use of the mainstream media strange term -- systematically exclude 70% of the population as it does in india also talked about how the mainstream media has been covering these historic protests . >> well, the newspapers are slightly more sophisticated. i do pretty much what -- i mean, some of them can make fox news look moderate. this is a completely hostile corporate media, completely with the government. you can look at the editorials

on the latest budget of the government. one of the more liberal supposedly newspaper says the most historic budget in decades. it is a terrible budget. even at the best of times, coverage of indian farmers, a brutal india as a whole let alone farmers come in .67% of the front page in average -- in any daily. these newspapers, the inside pages, crime and entertainment get more space than all the social sector beats from environment for housing, poverty, development, farming, agriculture, climate change put together most of don't make the kind of space that crime and entertainment make. the same media has should were

then 1500 journalist for using the pandemic as an excuse. you can guess which type get drafted. since april last year, using a pandemic as miscues, some -- most cash rich media companies in asia and perhaps the world more than 1500 journalist. thousands of non-journalist you workers with thinker extremely important in the entire process of information generally. so you have that on the one hand. since april last year, government the police have arrested journalist under extraordinary provisions, you're familiar with -- charges of sedition. found reports on charges under

the disastrous act, spreading demoralization, blah, blah, bl ah. the message is clear, between 70 and 81st information report filed against journalists. they have spent a month in jail without meeting their lawyers because they are being arrested under extraordinary laws like the unlawful activities prevention act, and you name it. mean, this government is just completely gone berserk in its treatment of media. those elements in the corporate media, the journalists themselves are intimidated and facing action, but now they have decided newsclick, in particular, incredible traction of leadership in viewership because of i coverage of the farm protests.

i know from our own experience of the people's archive of india, our numbers have doubled and tripled because of farmers. we have published more than 50 stories unjust the surrounding areas since november. no newsclick, which -has had something like 40 million views on its youtube channel and a single month. since the corporate media are not giving them any information, those who need something are going there. the corporate media's approach to the farmers was, these are all rich farmers -- by the way, i put out the figures of what these farmers -- the richest farmers of the country their monthly household -- and a household has more than five people -- the monthly household income is 18,050 net rupees,

which is about $250. that is for five people. which means per capita for each farmer, around $50. look at who drifters of the imf, etc., these are rich farmers. as our writing on twitter -- i mean, these guys are renting on twitter and facebook these guys are more in an hour than an entire family household of farmers earns in a month and they are trashing the farmers -- casting the farmers as rich farmers. in newsclick, it has really angered and with its coverage of

the farm prosts. this is the media's scenario. the main media or the big media cozied up to the government. either way, should know the richest indian in the wld, the richest media owner is ao one of the -- those media does not own,e is often the biggest advertiser. so what you expectetter? nermeen: talk about where negotiations about these laws stand now. the supreme court appointed in a committee to negotiate with the farmers. what has happened? >> the committee could not negotiate with itself. when fourth of the committee, meeting one member resigned because his own farm group -- at

the end of two months, it is to month to mandate solutions. -- it has two months to mandate a sotion. the maximum lispan of pollinated insects, ok? this group cannot talk to the farmers. nothing much is going to happen by way of the commtee. as i said to you the last time, the tactic is what i call death by committee. i declined when my ne came up to be part of this process. the negotiation -- look, they have tried and tried and tried to break these protests. amy: we have 10 seconds. >> the protests are spreading wider. they're not stepping back. amy: p. sainath, thank you for being with us, award-winning

indian journalist and founder of people's archive of rural india, or pari. we will link to your article. that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by

narrator: on this episode of "earth focus," climate change is forcing traditional dairy producers to look for more sustainable methods. in central california, farmers have found ways to reduce and even reuse methane gas, while in eastern africa, drought is creating a market for an unexpected source of milk.