02/12/21 02/12/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. if you don't find this a high crime and misdemeanor today, you have set a new terrible standard for presidential misconduct in the united states of america. amy: democratic house impeachment managers urge senators to convict donald trump as they wrap up their opening

arguments in the historic impeachment trial. but are democrats making a major mistake by rushing the trial? >> they don't seem to be willing to call witnesses and have a longer trial. they want to get it over with, which is exactly what the republicans want. amy: where are the witnesses? we speak to longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate ralph nader. then this sunday, february 14, is v-day -- a global day to end violence against women. we will speak to the activist and playwright v, who was formerly known as eve ensler, as well as the poet aja monet. >> dear black women. you have a story to tell? we a the poetic philosophers of an unseen world, the very langua of differce and magi this timtoend ouactive liening and e critical

storytelling we want to see. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. house impeachment managers have concluded their case against former president donald trump, linking his campaign to undermine the election results with the statements of insurrectionists who attacked the u.s. capitol on january 6. in closing arguments, colorado congressmember joe neguse pleaded with senators to vote to convict trump. >> because if you don't, if we pretend it didn't happen -- or worse, if we let it go unanswered -- who is to say it won't happen again?

amy: trump's legal team begins its defense today. lawyer david schoen predicted it would take just three to four hours to present trump's case, with the trial set to wrap up on saturday. on thursday evening, three republican senators -- ted cruz, lindsey graham, and mike lee -- met with trump's legal team in the capitol, raising fresh doubts over their ability to serve as impartial jurors. after headlines, we'll air extended excerpts from trump's second senate impeachment trial and get reaction from longtime consum advocate lph nader. the united states reported nearly 3900 new deaths from covid-19 thursday,ushing the u.s. death toll past 475,000, by far the highest in the world. here in new york, the top aide to governor andrew cuomo apologized to democratic lawmakers this week for not initially reporting close to

half of the 15,000 deaths at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. meanwhile, california has surpassed new york as the state with the highest death toll with over 46,000 covid deaths reported. health officials in los angeles temporarily closed five vaccination centers thursday, including a massive site at dodger stadium, after the city ran out of vaccine doses. in bethesda, maryland, president biden sited the national institutes of health where he slammed donald trump's failure to prepare for mass vaccinations. mr. biden: he did not order an effect seems. he did not mobilize enough people to administer the shots. he did not set up the vaccine centers were eligible people could go and get their shots. amy: president biden says his administration has secured the 200 million vaccine doses fr pfizer and moderna he announced last month -- meaning there will be enough shots to inoculate 300

million u.s. residents by the end of july. meanwhile, stat news reports u.s. covid-19 vaccination rates osely track with wealth, with the richest gaining access to vaccines at a faster pace than low-income people. the vaccine wealth gap has exacerbated racial discrepancies, with black and latinx people receiving fewer vaccines proportionately than white people. this comes amid warnings over growing global inequity in vaccine distribution. duke university health researcher andrea taylor told "the washington post" -- "it remains to a large degree a zero-sum game, which means that every dose that goes to the u.s. or the u.k. or an e.u. country is a dose that's off the shelves. and the shelves aren't going to be restocked for a while." "the new york times" reports former president trump was far sicker with covid-19 last

october than previously reported, with extremely depressed blood oxygen levels and compromised lungs due to viral pneumonia. "the times" reports trump was taken to walter reed national military medical center after officials believed he would need to be put on a ventilator. trump ultimately recovered after an aggressive treatment that included a monoclonal antibody cocktail which at the time was unavailable to members of the general public. in afghanistan, gunmen attacked a united nations convoy on the outskirts of kabul, killing five afghan security force escorts. a government official said the taliban was suspected, but they denied involvement. around the country, there were multiple other reports of deadly violence in afghanistan thursday, as well as the non-fatal shooting of journalist qutbuddin kohi. intra-afghan peace talks have largely stalled according to officials. over two dozen lawmakers are

calling on president biden to consider the devastating impacts of harsh u.s. sanctions on countries around the world, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic. the lawmakers write sanctions have "harmed civilian populations, caused authoritarian governments to further constrict civil spaces and repress civil and political rights, squeezed the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide support during crises and disasters, and made basic staples prohibitively expensive." in his first week in office, biden said his administration would review all u.s. sanctions currently in place. in related news, the justice department said this week the u.s. has sold over a million barrels of iranian fuel seized by civil forfeiture as part of its sanctions campaign. u.s. officials say they seized the oil from tankers headed from iran to venezuela. the money will be transferred to

the u.s. vtims of state onsored terrorism fund according to the justice department spokesperson. china has banned the bbc's world news channel after british authorities revoked the license of the state-run chinese broadcaster cgtn. the move was largely symbolic because the bbc was already unavailable to the vast majority of china's population. in immigration news, buzzfeed reports asylum seekers forced to stay in mexico by the trump administration will soon be allowed to start entering the u.s. efforts to phase out trump's remain in mexico program are expected to begin within the next two weeks. immigrant rights activists are calling for president biden to abolish the policy. the program s forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to wait in dangerous conditions in crowded and squalid refugee camps across northern mexico while their cases make their way through u.s. courts. in related news, the biden administration has canceled a trump-era national emergency order to allocate government funding for the construction of

the u.s.-mexico border wall. this comes as immigrant justice advocates continue to denounce president biden's interest in ramping up surveillance technology at the southern border, which opponents refer to as a virtual wall. a warning to our viewers, the following stories contain disturbing footage and descriptions of violence. in texas, authorities are searching for a tanker truck in the san antonio area where some 80 migrants may be trapped. in a chilling 911 call monday, a man speaking in spanish told the dispatcher they were struggling to breathe. "we can't see anything. god, we have no oxygen," the man said. other people are heard scrming for help in the background. a recent court filing in the 2010 case of anastasio hernández rohas -- a mexican man who was beaten and shocked to death by border agents -- reveals the current head of border patrol, chief rodney scott, was involved -- was part of the agents

involved and interfere with the criminal investigation. rohas laid on the ground handcuffed at the san ysidro port of entry in san diego as agents beat him with batons and shocked him with a stun gun. he died at the hospital several days later. the case is currently under review by the inter-american commission on human rights, and is the first time the commission looks into an extra-judicial killing at the hands of a u.s. law enforcement agency. a grand jury in buffalo, new york, has cleared two police officers who assaulted the 75-year-old racial justice protester last june named martin gugino. a longtime peace activist, suffered a brain injury, a fractured skull and spent a month in the hospital after being shoved to the ground by police. a video of the incident quickly went viral. in rochester, new york, disturbing new video has been released of the moments after police handcuffed and

pepper sprayed a nine-year-old black girl last month. >> officer, please. don't do this to me. >> you did it yourself. >> it is burning my eyes. >> that is the point of pepper spray. an ambulance is on the way to clear your eyes. amy: "the rochester democrat and chronicle" newspaper reports it took about 15 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, and the nine-year-old girl was left handcuffed for 23 minutes. the officers involved were suspended pending an investigation. one of the things a little girl said to the officers when they said "you're acting like a child" is "i am a child." in aurora, colorado, a police officer was fired thursday for use of excessive force during an arrest last august. officer robert rosen punched and tased a trespassing suspect multiple times inside a supermarket as the man lay on

the floor. in los angeles, the family of dijon kizzee, a 29-year-old black bicyclist who was shot to death by sheriff's deputies last summer, has filed a $35 million claim for damages. kizzee was shot 16 times after being pulled over for an alleged bike violation. his family says the sheriff's department failed to properly train its deputies and the officers used unreasonable deadly force. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. name a goodman in new york. as return to what is happening right now in washington, d.c., we are talking about this historic second impeachment of a president of united states. that's right, we are talking about democratic house impeachment manager's having

wrapped up their case against donald trump saying the former president remains a threat and should be convicted of inciting the deadly january 6 insurrection at the capitol. trump's legal team begins their defense today. on thursday, lead house impeachment manager jamie raskin laid out trump's long history of inciting violence prior to january 6. >> beginning in march, trump leveled attacks against gretchen whitmer for the coronavirus policies in her state. then on october 8, the precise consequences of the president incitement to violence were revealed to the whole world. look at this. 13 men were arrested by the fbi for plotting to storm the michigan state capitol building, launch a civil war, kidnap governor whitmer, transport her to wisconsin, and then try and execute her. he did it again october 27

during a pre-election rally speech in lansing, michigan. trump openly joked with the crowd about critics saying his words had provoked the violent plight against governor whitmer. it is telling. >> lock her up! lock her up! ," every time i make even a little bit of a nod, they say "the president led them on." it was are people who helped her out with her problem. people are entitled to say -- close president trump offer them a winking inside joke about his constant incitement of the mob and how much can actually be communicated by him with just a little nod.

just a little nod. he presided over another pounding, rhythmic rendition of his trademark chant "lock her up," then referring to the fbi's falling of the kidnapping conspiracy which was deadly serious, he said he helped her out with a problem. maybe was a problem, maybe it wasn't. the president of the united states of america. he could not bring himself to publicly oppose the kidnapping and potential assassination conspiracy plot against a sitting governor of one of our 50 states? trump knew exactly what he was doing in inciting january 6 mob. exactly. he had just seen how easily his words and actions inspired violence in michigan. my dear colleagues, is any political leader in this room who believes if you several out by the senate to get back into

the oval office donald trump would stop inciting violence? to get his way? would you but the lives of more police officers on that? would you but the safety of your family on that? would you but the future of your democracy on that? president trump declared his conduct totally appropriate. so he gets back into office and it happens again, we will have no one to blame but ourselves. amy: that was lead house impeachment manager jame raskin. democrats also focused on the statements of rioters who took part in the january 6 insurrection. this is house impeachment manager diana degette of colorado. >> i want to step back from the horrors of the attack itself and look at january 6 from a totally different perspective. the perspective of the insurrectionists themselves.

their own statements before, during, and after the attack make clear the attack was done for donald trump at his instructions and to fulfill his wishes. donald trump had sent them there. they truly believed that the whole intrusion was at the president's borders. even after the attack, the insurrectionists make clear the law enforcement there were just following president trump's orders. they did not shy away from their crimes because they thought they were following order from the commander-in-chief, so they would not be punished. they were wrong. amy: house impeachment manager david cicilline accused donald trump of trying to become a king. >> president trump incited a lawless mob to attack our process, he was attacking our democracy.

he was trying to become king and rule over us against the will of the people and the valid results of the election. for the first time ever and our history, a sitting president actively instigated his supporters, devoutly disruptive process that provides for the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next. think about that for a moment. what if president had been successful? what if he had succeeded in overturning the will of the people in our constitutional processes? who among us is willing to risk that outcome by letting trump's constitutional go unanswered? amy: the also talked about the many victims of the january 6 riot from the capitol hill police officers to workers at the capital. >> for many of the black and brown staff, the trauma was made

worse by the many painful symbols of hate that were on full display that day. insurrectionist weight confederate flags and hurled the most disgusting racial slurs at workers. and after all of that come the same workers, many of them people of color, or forced to clean up the mess left by mobs of white nationalist. one member of the janitorial staff reflected how terrible he felt when he had to clean up feces that had been smeared on the wall, blood of a rioter who had died, broken glass and other objects strewn all over the floor. he said, "i felt bad. i felt degraded." amy: that is house impeachment manager david cicilline speaking on thursday. trump's legal team begins its defense today. where david chung predicted it would take just -- david schoen predicted it would take just three to four hours to present trump's case.

on thursday evening, three republican senators -- ted cruz, lindsey graham and mike lee -- met with trump's legal team in the capitol, raising fresh doubts over their ability to serve as impartial jurors. when we come back, we will be joined by longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate ralph nader. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "it is ok to cry." sophie died at the age of 34 january 30. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. as we continue our look at the historic senate impeachment trial of donald trump for inciting the january 6 insurrection at the capitol, we are joined by ralph nader, the longtime consumer advocate,

corporate critic, and former presidential candidate. he ran for president four times. he is the author of many books, including his latest written with mark green, "wrecking america: how trump's lawbreaking and lies betray all." he is joining us from winsted, connecticut. we welcome you to democracy now! thank you for being with us. the democrats have finished their case against donald trump under the senate impeachment trial, this historic number two for one president. your assessment of their arguments? >> well, amy, it is important to know they were operating as a civil proceeding attorneys. this is not a criminal proceeding. it is controlled completely by the u.s. senate. the supreme court ruled in nixon versus the u.s. years ago that the judiciary has no role

whatsoever, no appeal, no protracted delays. it is all up to the senate and the senate rules. number two, the purpose of this impeachment effort is prophylactic. it is designed not just to hold trump accountable under the constitution, but to prevent future one of the trumps from behaving in same way. therefore the only really way -- result of a guilty verdict would be disqualifying trump from running for federal office anymore. with that background, i think people need to know the house managers were being managed by speaker nancy pelosi. she was running the show. she has two approaches which she used in the first impeachment. one is she likes to rush the trial. the second is the reason why she likes to rush the trial without

witnesses and subpoenas is that she has prejudged the result. she basically says these republicans are never going to change their mind, our duty is to impeach in the house, send it over to the senate. that is a prescription for defeat, period. as a result, the narrow approach of the articles of impeachment keep the democrats from having a full hand. they have like 10 euros in their quiver and they are using one or two. what they should do is call witnesses. the witnesses they should call are not surprising -- donald trump, mike pence, georgia's secretary of state brad raffensperger, acting attorney general jeffrey rosen, some of the families of the victims, garrett miller and others who said they went down to congress

on orders of the commander-in-chief who spoke to them, and john bolton who said that obstruction of justice was a way of life in the white house. he is national security advisor before he resigned. otherwise, what the republicans will do is simply say, this is a video show trial. a lot of the material was taken out of context. and the protagonists were entirely members of the house democratic party. if you have witnesses, you have the pontial of breakthrgh testimony. mike pce, for examp, j rose, brad raffensperger. they might be required to testify about our deeper crimes than simply a telephone call to the justice department by trump or to the georgia's secretary of state twisting thereabouts to chai to change the course of the

election. that is the unfortunate aspt of it, amy, that they had an opportunity. because here you have a president who has ceased congressional power day after day in four years. he spent money without authorization. he has violated congressional mandate and health, safety, regulations. yes to fight over 130 subpoenas and dozens of formal demands by congressional committees to testify in terms of his subordinate, cabinet and sub cabinet level. there are two lawyers. history crime attack -- history crime attack, which was well argued by the house democrats, but then the institutional separation of powers attack that was far more fundamental in terms of long-range impact, terms of his current impact on hundreds of millions of the

american stage of american people. they did not go the full hand. had they gone with a full hand, they could have shown the intrinsic republicans exactly what price they're going to pay if they vote to acquit donald trump. amy: talk about what pence would've had to say, and li always the president trump, defender almost to the end until he decided to be there to ensure the account of the -- the final count of the electoral college. one of the things the house managers showed was the timeline. maybe you can argue trump in his speech that day when he said fight, that does not mean physically kill police officers, but they show the time when having to do with pence, that president trump called senator tuberville at the moment when pence was just taken out, that you would.

tuberville said, "i ca't ta to" tohe predent, " nce hajust bee evacued." it was thenhat trump issued another eet ainst pennd the riots -- would you call them terrorists? >> impeachable statement by 2019. no other president has dared say what trump said. he said "with article 2, i can do whatever i want as president." and he spent four years proving that was the case, with vice president pence. u basically haveence, w does n like to be seen as a lawless executivbranch vice president, comment on all that you have just described in terms

of élan order framework. -- a law and order framework. he cemented to trump every data that last day when he said, "i'm sorry, mr. president, i have to obey the constitution and go down to the senate and normally supervise the counting of the electoral college votes as accurate for president-elect biden. so he broke with them. trump attacked him. that is powerful testimony. you cannot reproduce that testimony with videotapes. you cannot reproduce the testimony raffensperger and others -- situation in georgia was thunderously detailed. it was not just a phone call. npr had a good exposé on that. he had his people threatened various officials in fulton county, not just a phone call and threatening raffensperger with criminal prosecution.

amy: and u.s. attorney forced out. >> pardon? amy: a u.s. attorney forced out in georgia. >> yes. there is a lot to uncover. you cannot do that by videotape. he had to do it by like testimony. trial lawyers say a trial without witnesses, are you kidding? why didn't they call the witnesses? because nancy pelosi wants to get this over with and she does not believe anything will change the minds of enough republican senators. i disagree. first of all, it not just for the republican senators. you have a full trial with a full hand of impeachable offenses, it is for american people, for public education, for the historic record, and for whatever use subsequent, prosecutions of trump that are pending in new york, georgia, and the district of columbia may be able to apply. it is a very narrow approach. unfortunately, the capability of

the lead manager jamie raskin was not fully displayed because he did not have a full hand stop amy: so you have the prosecution possibly of trump by the fulton county da. she is now speaking out, impaling a grand jury. i also want to ask about an argument in of the nation" and trump should be charged with incitement of criminal acts at the very least, if it can be proven he stayed on the national guard, should be charged with sedition as well. he is dead a defeated politician, criminal on the loose and must be treated as such. >> and you will be. he is an ordinary citizen now, as they say. you will be subject to criminal prosecution. all the things were pretrade by the house democrats in the last few days, an an -- in an ornate court of law, be crimes. he is going to face at least three jurisdictions.

georgia, district of columbia, new york state for financial misconduct with his businesses under prosecutor cyrus may. it is important, amy, to realize how decayed republican party has become. when nixon was accused of obstructing justice in the burglary of the watergate complex that housed the democratic national committee and he was subct to impeachment proceedings by e use, ty had not tone to the forger formallimpeach hi senator barry goldwater and senator scott and other leading senate republicans went er to the white house and had a private meeting with richard nixon. they basically said, your time is up. you have lost your base. you're going to be impeached and convicted. compare that with the spineless

senate republicans where trump' cres are n just stitutiol against the separati of powers and seizing congressional power by his white house, his crimes were street crimes, violent street crimes endangering the very lives of the republican senators shouting "hang mike pence" and pushing all the members of congress playing for the lives who the hallways underground the capital complex, with all kinds of mayhem, fatalities, and injuries. and still none of the republican leaders will go to the white house figuratively and basically say, "it's over." amy: what kind of affect you think it would've had, for example, if eugene goodman was brought in, the capitol police officer who clearly saved mitt romney, who led the rioters in the other direction to give pence and congressman was a

chance to escape? also talking about repeatedly hearing -- and this is true of african-american capitol police -- the n word? >> that is why the testimony would be so powerful. that is why the witnesses are so important. otherwise, the house managers -- the house managers have one last chance. they have to make a direct appeal to the republican senators. bell 7, 8, 9 of them are going to vote to convict. they need 17. the appeal has to be -- you know what is going to happen if you let this guy run again? if you let trump offer the prospect of running again in 2024? he controls your party. he controls the state republican committees. he is going to basically demand 100% submission as he did with william barr and vice president pence or he is going to turn on

you. is that the kind of future political career you want -- amy: just to be clear, you need two votes. one is to convict, 67 senators needed, and the others to stop him from running for federal office and you just do the majority -- which they already have with the democrats. >> that's right. that's right. so what is the rush? the rush partly is due to a routine most americans don't know about. the congress works, to most, three days a week when they are not in long recesses. three days a week. a lot of them fly in tuesday morning and fly back thursday afternoon or evening. that is one reason they don't have congressional hearings and oversight of executive branch. they don't work monday or friday. they treasure their short work week. it has become a habit. there is no reason why they can't work five, even six days. this is one of the most important trials in american history. this is a trial for the future of our constitution, for whether

we are going have a monarch, for whether we are going to have more of the sordid, cruel, violent type of electoral politics going on with voter suppression and voter intimidation. and they are worried about saving a few days? they can work half time on the trial, say in the afternoon, do the morning. but nancy pelosi needs to be held accountable for their strategy that she put forward, the defeatist strategy in the first impeachment when there were at least 11 other proven impeachable offenses by trump and she just went with the ukraine issue and we put all of these in the congressional record of december 18 -- anybody who wants to look at them. and she is going with the same limited strategy here. and nobody is talking about it. amy: mitch mcconnell, do you think it is possible he and

others could vote against president trump? do you think it is an absolute done deal, no way they will get 67 votes? one republican commentator said, if it was a secret ballot, 90% would go against trump but not if it is not. >> which mcconnell made a speech on the senate floor directly asserting that trump was responsible for the riots, for the mayhem, for the storming of the capital. he is the leader. he has a lot of leverage. he is the key to getting those 17 funds. and for the first time in his life, he is going to face a struggle inside his brain where he cannot just say, no, no, no to key legislation protect the american people. he has called himself the guardian of gridlock, his words, and yes to face up to history. he is the key to getting the rest of the republican senators. all they have to do is look at the prospect. if trump is acquitted, he is

unleashed on them. he will demand total submission. key controls the party structure. there is nobody like him that can attract more money and more crowns. it will be miserable for them. if they think they can avoid some primary challenges -- there are enormous arguments to defeat them. never mind the role in history. never mind the example of senator goldwater and senator q scott telling nixon he better resign, his time is up. amy: what about what president biden is doing, the one-point point nightly in dollars he is pushing for the covid relief bill? your evaluation of that and what he is done so far as president? >> he's got to keep the $50 minimum wage, which is staggered over four years, by the way. bernie sanders is pleading with

him the senate democrats to keep it in. it has state and local aid. it has a for children, aid for education and health and vaccine and all the rest of that in the covid crisis. it is very important. it is got to be managed in a way so corporations who don't deserve it or professional sports teams who don't deserve it don't get the money. that is what happened last time. hundreds of billions of dollars of unspent money from the trump administration that needs to be applied to the current state of the economy. in the regulatory area, he s to do several things. one, us to roll the dismantling and illegal shutting down of enforcement agencies such as the workplace safety agency osha environment agency epa, food and

drug administration, the auto safety agency, the faa. he has to rollback those executive orders, rollback those criminal nonenforcement rules that trump actually put in place overtly earlier in 2020. he then has to appoint something to people and back them up. he already appointed some good people to the security exchange commission and a very good appointee to the consumer financial protection bureau, but he has more to appoint and he has to back them up. third, he has to expand the rogatory budget -- which is so tiny, it is absurd. $500 million for osha, which we have spent every year to pay for the embassy in baghdad in iraq after the criminal war by bush and cheney. four, he has got to make sure

that congress elevates corporate crime reform to the highest visibility. we are in a corporate crime wave in this country environmentally, economically, consumer reviews, worker abuw. there has to be a revision and updating of the federal corporate criminal war -- criminal law, which are absurdly antiquated. he finds are absurd for occupational workplace casualties. a few thousand dollars applied to an employee -- employer for the loss of life in the workplace from criminal negligence. i would advise mr. biden to retain professor of law john coffey of columbia university who has just threatened an excellent book called "the corporate crime and under enforcement." he is the man to draft a federal

corporate criminal law code. amy: finally, ralph nader, speaking about corporate crime, i would ask about boeing. in january, the coming agreed to pay more than $2.5 billion to settle a nearly two-year federal criminal investigation into the company's role in two fatal crashes in ethiopia and indonesia that killed all 346 on board 737 max airplanes. the justice department had accused boeing of having concealed information about the aircraft. one of the victims was your 24 year old great-niece, samya rose stumo, who i had the privilege of meeting and he winced at where you are now and at the tort museum. what is happening in these cases? >> this is a slap on the wrist. just before midnight settlement between the trump justice department and the boeing

lawyers. it was really nothing. there is about a $250 million fine. there was over $1 million paid to the airlines and $500 million to the scores of families who lost their loved ones in the two crashes in indonesia and ethiopia. that settlement has not yet been approved by the federal district judge in texas. there may be an intervention by the families. i hope the new justice department reopens it under biden and merrick garland, the new attorney general, because this is just another example of giant companies getting away with their corporate criminality. a shocking sweetheart deal, an insult to the memories of the lost ones. and further endangering the

safety of air travelers in the future. you have to enforce the law to deter future criminality, and this would not deter boeing in the least. also, a lot of it is deductible under our tax system. i think people have to realize that systematic corporatism causes a lot of problems. systematic corporatism feeds systematic racism and systematic workplace abuses. it feeds systematic ignoring of environmental health. it feeds systematic corruption of the political process. we have to start using phrases like "corporate crime enforcement" and "systematic corporatism." amy: ralph nader, thank you so much for being with us. condolences to you and your whole family. i know the pain never goes away. we will continue to follow the boeing case. thank you so much for being with

us. longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic, four time presidential candidate. author of many books, including his latest written with mark green, "wrecking america: how trump's lawbreaking and lies betray all." coming up, sunday, fruary 14, is valentine's day. it also marks v-day. we will speak with the activist and playwright v, formally known as eve ensler, as well as poet aja monet. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. in what's being called the pandemic within the pandemic, domestic violence has soared across the globe over the past year. "time magazine" recently reported domestic violence increased 300% in hubei, china, 25% in argentina, 30% in cyprus,

33% in singapore, and 50% in brazil. "the american journal of emergency medicine" reports domestic violence has also spiked across the u.s. it is up 22% in portland, oregon, 18% in san antonio, over 10% in new york. as people can be trapped with her batterers at home. this sunday marks valentine's day, as well as v day -- a global day of action to fight violence against women. we are joined now by two guests. the playwright v, formerly known as eve ensler, is the founder of v-day. she is the author of "the vagina monologues" and many other works. we are also joined by the poet aja monet, v-day's new artistic creative director. we welcome you both to democracy now! as i read out those figures,v, about domestic violence soaring in the world as people are alone

in homes, sometimes with their batterers, can you fit that into what is happening this sunday around the world? >> yes. obviously, we are here -- it is so funny because i've been doing a lot of online rising this year because people cannot be in the streets because of covid. we're hearing about these incredible numbers of domestic violence and all cans of other violences. the violences of front line workers, mainly women of color being exposed all kinds of things without protection. endless violence. i just want to say i am so moved to see our grassroots women movements around the world finding ways to rise in spite of people been locked in and shut in and in spite of covid. i think what i'm excited to be talking with you about this morning and happy v-day to everybody, is this new program we are doing in this new

campaign that aja monet is leading up. i want to briefly talk about that for a second because it directly feeds into the statistics you were talking about. i think during this last year in america and across the world, we have seen some of the most hideous murders of black men and women and trans women by the police, an escalation of white supremacy and most recently, the horrific order of breonna taylor. -- horrific murder of breonna taylor. the injustice that followed it. i have been doing a lot of reflection in v-day, as has our whole team. supported, initiated, and driven by the the china monologues. i think this year we all decided we needed to go further, needed to go deeper, something more is being called for. i have been doing deep reflection about my life. i'm fully aware of the depth of

my privilege and the resources that have helped me with my work. i believe this is a moment where we need to be in deepest solidarity with black women, trans woman, non-binary people across the african continent and africa diaspora. we need to share our resources that will bring them into the center of our movement. i am thrilled that we have invited and joined with the forces of the powerhouse the visionary that is aja monet, someone who really understands the connection between art and activism, who is a brilliant poet ending her own right, and has been curating this piece filled with the stories of black women throughout the world. amy: aja, i want to turn you next. because giving a little background, you're the youngest et to have ever become the new year he pose cap a grand slam champion at the age of 19 in

2007. that is just way back then. you're doing remarkable things. i was wondering if you could describe the voice project. close also know for every black woman reports rate, at least 15 black women do not. one of four black girls are sexually abused before the age of 18. we can go down the list and see the impact of sexual violence and harm and abuse has had on black wom primarily, but on women across the world. voices is a project that for us we are deeply invested in how we interrogate the interior landscapes of people and their relationship, not just to violence, but deliberation and freedom. how does art become critical in the ways we imagine the world we want to see and to srt to practice can't actually engage people beyond just speaking and telling the truth, but also

showing and demonstrating what active listening looks like, how we show up for those who are speaking, how we engage in how we show compassion and collective care in this moment. i want to say the biggest thing that really impacted me last year while there was any uprising around george floyd and breonna taylor was a story about a tallahassee activist, a black crow, nigerian black american woman, who was assaulted and murdered seeking protection and seeking shelter in a moment where she was actively engaging in our movement to fight for us and to fight for our trans brothers and sisters. so to note this was a story that was kind of left out of the narrative of this moment -- i would not say intentional, but it is something that begs of us to pay attention to listen deeper, to go into our communities and see how are we

internalizing the harm and violence of this country and had we show up better in our movements for one another. amy: as you say her name, talk about the "say her name" movement. i think "say her name" was born out of a necessity in a moment where media was hyper focused on the violence in the way police violence was showing up in our communities around black men and the stories of black men. "say her name" as i campaign that was created to support the voices of black women all over the country, particularly around state violence in the way state violence is also impacting us. not just policing, but through reproductive rights and issues we are facing in our maternal mortality, right? also in the ways we suffer from housing inequality, to the way

climate change impacts our communities -- that we recognize that saying her name is not an effort to combat the names or resist the notion that our brothers names need to be stated, but also our black women are on the front lines of often most of the violence that our communies see. therefore, we must lift up the memories and the stories of those directly impacted by this violence. amy: aja, on the issue of art and resistance. if you could talk as an artist how your art has changed the pandemic and what you're hoping for most of all on sunday with billions rising? >> yeah. we believe part -- art is for the people, by the people come d about presence, about attention,bout expression of one's psychic terrain, the interior world come the last frontier. i think a big part of what we see this project being, voices

is an othering. we create because we have no other choice. we want to create out of a space of what we want to see, not just so much what we are against and what we are fighting. i think we create because we are possessed by our question. we are not creating because we believe we have the answers. we create because we know art has the capacity to get the people to be challenged, to be intrigued, and to be transformed by their expressions of their presence. for me during this moment, we found ways for art with homemade poetry online series we started, for art to be heing us think through solutions come how art can help us practice the world we want to see come how art can provide the remedy for the moment. what are the limitations of art? how does art become strategy for

our freedom, not just an accessory to our movement? those are the things i've seen happen in this,, the way artists are being engaged critically around the cultural shifts we need for our society to be where it needs to go. abolition is on the tongues of everyone's mouths because of culture, because of cultural workers, because of the folks on the front lines organizing for that change and for the relationships built between artists and organizers during this moment. i was organizers are artist. we are actively practicing our creative imaginations and pushing the conversation and pushing the nation forward with the healers of this moment. i want to lift up all of the organizers who are doing more to end violence against women and girls but also to and it against those were most marginalized across the globe. amy: february 14, 1990 eight, that is when you began v-day. we are talking more than 20

years. you feel there has been major progress and where are you headed in that work? folks i think everything with patriotichy, it is two steps forward it was that bad. i think there has been change. about this year, our theme is one billion rising gardens. it is incredible to see how it is amplifying the intersectional issues of women ali impact on food insecurity, land ownership, and lack of access to health care -- as well as the long-term effects of extractive industries on the destruction of mother earth and other basic right for frontline and marginalized community's. i want to urge everybody to go to onebillionrising.org. there are incredible things going on. across the globe, a 60 -- going

out across the globe. they're digging deep into their communities. india and congo and the philippines. last night i was on the phone with organizers and it the philippines with indigenous women who are rising to take back their lands from the plunderers and the people pillaging and the corporate destroying it. our cake and horrible anti-dust archaic and horrible laws. similarly arresting people without any charges. sing people do artistic creations in bangladesh. film festivals in south asia. artistic rising all over africa, nigeria, zimbabwe, mexico, italy. amy: we have 10 seconds. they can arise, fight your gardens to this country. join v is for voices.

amy: thank you v and aja monet. remember, wearing a mask is an act of love. [captioning made possible