03/25/21 03/25/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> 657 u.s. yen there's, combin wealth go up to $1.3 trillion for combined wealth of $4.2 trillion total. they have benefited from other people suffering. these are the pandemic profiteers. amy: a year of pain for so many has seen massive gains for a select few billionaires.

amazon ceo jeff bezos saw his personal wealth increase by $65 billion -- more than every hour. $7 million we'll look at the top pandemic profiteers. then the house armed services committee holds a hearing on extremism in the armed forces. >> one in five condos arrested in connection with the deadly january 6 capitol insurrection rights has served or is serving in the military. this is a dramatic illustration of the insufficient efforts we have made to inoculate service members against acting upon extremist ideologies. amy: we will speak with lecia brooks of the southern poverty law center who testified at the hearing. then a massive fire at a rohingya refugee camp in cox's bazar, bangladesh, has killed at least 15 people and displaced at least 45,000, with hundreds still missing. >> separated some children still

looking for their parents. a very, very difficult situation. our heart goes out to the thousands of refugees. amy: we will get an update from a rohingya activist. then as the world's worst humanitarian crisis enters its seventh year this week in yemen, we speak with the head of the yemen data project about the massive civilian death toll of u.s.-backed saudi-led air war. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. a group of democratic lawmakers in colorado are considering a new ban on assault style weapons after 10 people died in a mass shooting at a grocery store in boulder on monday. republicans in colorado oppose the ban and are pushing for more money for mental health services. the accused boulder gunman is scheduled to appear in court today for the first time. in a major legal decision, the u.s. court of appeals for the

9th circuit has ruled that states may bar people from openly carrying guns in public. the ruling could impact right to carry laws across the west and hawaii and alaska. meanwhile, nearly 20,000 people died in the united states from gun violence last year -- more than any year in at least two decades. this according to the gun violence archive. gun sales also jumped by 64% in 2020 with some 23 million guns sold in the united states. president biden has tapped vice president kamala harris to oversee an effort to slow the high number of migrants crossing the u.s.-mexican border. there are now over 15,000 unaccompanied migrant children in u.s. custody. harris spoke at the white house on wednesday. vice pres. harris: while we are clear that people should not come to the border now, we also understand we will enforce the law and that we also, because we

can chew gum at the same time as walk, address the root causes that cause people to make the trek as the president has described to come here. amy: president biden will hold his first news conference since taking office today. he is expected to face questions about the border. on wednesday, the pentagon approved a plan to temporarily house unaccompanied migrant children at two texas military bases. the environmental protection agency has faulted the private prison company geo group for using a pesticide as a coronavirus disinfectant up to 50 times a day at adelanto detention center in california. immigrant prisoners reported nosebleeds, fainting, headaches and stomach pain after being exposed to the pesticide. president biden has w deported more haitians over the past two months than president trump did in their previous year, even though the biden administration admits haitians "may face harm" after being deported. haiti is in the midst of a political and economic crisis. at least 1300 haitians,

including hundreds of children and infants, have been deported since february 1. the most recent deportation flight took place on wednesday. the covid-19 death toll in brazil has topped 300,000 -- the second highest in the world after the united states. more than 5000 brazilians have died over the past two days. brazil's hospital system is on the brink of collapse with widespread oxygen shortages. here in the united states, the total number of cases has topped 30 million with the death toll now over 546,000. meanwhile, israel has become the first country to fully vaccinate more than half of its adult population, but few palestinians living in the occupied territories have been vaccinated. on wednesday, doctors without borders urged israel to immediately help slow the spread of covid in the occupied territories where cases are spiking. the senate has held its first hearing on the for the people act, the most sweeping voting

rights bill in decades. the legislation has already been approved by the house. senate democrats say it is needed to counter efforts at the state level by republicans to restrict the right to vote. since the 2020 election, republican state lawmakers have introduced over 250 bills in 43 states to limit voter access. this is senate majority leader chuck schumer. >> instead of doing what you should be doing wn you lose an election i a democracy, attempting to win over those voters in the next election, republicans instead are trying to disenfranchise those voters. shame on them. amy: senate minority leader mitch mcconnell called the effort to protect voting rights a "power grab." >> this is clearly an effort by one party to rewrite the rules of our political system. amy: in other voting news, lawmakers in washington state have passed a bill to automatically restore voting rights for people who are on

parole and probation. the united states and european countries have announced new plans to work together to counter china. on wednesday, secretary of state antony blinken spoke at nato headquarters and claimed china was a threat to other nato nations. >> there is no question that patients course of behavior threatens our collective security and prosperity, and that it is actively working to undercut the rules of the international system and the values we and our allies share. amy: earlier this week, the united states, the european union, britain, and canada imposed new sanctions on chinese officials over the mistreatment of muslim uighurs in xinjiang province. china than accused western nations of having a hypocritical stance on human rights, citing u.s. wars in the middle east, systematic racism in the united states, the french slaughter of algerians during colonial rule, and the holocaust. meanwhile, facebook has removed a group of suspected china-based hackers accused of using the platform to help spy on uighur

exiles, as well as journalists and activists. virginia has become the first state in the south to outlaw capital punishment. democratic governor ralph northam signed legislation wednesday abolishing the death penalty. >> i can say the death penalty is fundamentally flawed. most importantly, we know the system does not always get it right. amy: since 1976 when the supreme court reinstated the death penalty, virginia has carried out 113 executions -- more than any state besides texas. in argentina, thousands marched in buenos aires wednesday to mark the 45th anniversary of the 1976 coup that ushered in a bloody u.s.-backed dictatorship under which as many as 30,000 people were killed and disappeared. the to boitano is president of families of the disappeared and detained for political reasons. >> what i am feeling is that i never felt my children so close

like this year. my children are part of the 30,000 disappeared. they are part of the group that are never named were are barely named. the more than 10,000 political prisoners, the thousands killed by the genocidal dictatorship. amy: meanwhile, the national security archive has revealed new details about how the u.s. government was in direct contact with the coup plotters in argentina prior to the overthrow of isabel peron's government on march 24, 1976. declassified documents show then cia director george h.w. bush briefepresident rald ford on a possible coup most two weeks before it happened. the u.s. government also told the argentine military in advance that it would recognize the new regime. at the time, the state department was privately acknowledging a coup would lead to "military rule for an extended duration and of unprecedented severity." the u.s.-backed dictatorship in argentina would continue until 1983. kim janey has been sworn in as mayor of boston, making her the

first woman and first person of color to hold the office. she replaces marty walsh, the new u.s. labor secretary. janey vowed to fight boston's wealth gap. >> today in the city of boston, we have an enormous wealth gap. the median net worth for black families is just eight dollars. eight dollars is not an accident. it is the product of discriminatory policies that we have all inherited. we need to call it out and we need to implement new policies to address it. amy: while the median net worth of black families in boston is just eight dollars, the median net worth of white families in boston is nearly $250,000 -- nearly 31,000 times as much. a new report has revealed the world's 60 largest banks lent more than $3.8 trillion for fossil fuel projects since 2016 following the signing of the paris climate agreement.

top lenders included jp morgan chase, wells fargo, bank of america, citibank, and the bank of china. nbc new york has revealed the new york police department has issued over 217,000 secret subpoenas to force internet providers and other companies to hand over personal information for tens of thousands of people for so-called internal investigations. targets of the subpoenas include journalists and officers who criticize the nypd. one target was philip insardi who retired from the department in 1993. he was alerted by microsoft after the nypd demanded access to all of his emails citing a provision under the usa patriot act. >> wasn't created to go after a retired cop. that is not the patriot act. absolutely shocking they were abusing or are abusing the patriot act to investigate civilians. amy: one retired police captain

compared the nypd to the gestapo. the senate has confirmed dr. rachel levine to be assistant secretary of health. she becomes the first openly transgender official to be confirmed by the u.s. senate. and president biden signed a proclamation wednesday to mark equal pay day, a day which marks how far women must work into the new year to earn what men made on average in the previous year. this is u.s. soccer star megan rapinoe speaking at a congressional hearing. >> it is unacceptable that we are still fighting for equal pay. i feel like honestly we have done everything. what is stadiums built, we build them. he what role models for your boys and girls and your little trans kids, we have that. you want us to be respectful, perform on the world stage, take the stars and stripes and the red white and blue across the entire globe and represent america and in the best way possible. we have done all of that. there is no reason why we are

underpaid for the exception of gender. amy: soccer star megan rapinoe. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york, th co-host nermeen shaikh. nermeen: welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: it has been a year of pain for many. we begin today's show looking at a new report that names the biggest pandemic profiteers over the past year. as unemployment surged at the start of the lockdowns, the institute for policy studies began working with americans for tax fairness to track the wealth growth of u.s. billionaires. they have just published their findings that show the combined wealth of the 657 billionaires in the country grew more than $1.3 trillion, nearly 45%, since the pandemic began.

this comes as a record number of people in the united states lost their jobs and struggled to put food on the table. food banks reported massive lines and mutual aid groups popped up across the country to help those in need. this is harlem resident ruth crawford speaking from a food bank last thanksgiving. >> you have to try to relax and think of the better thanks because it wasn't always like this. it is just sad. you work all the time and then you can't go to work or you can't work from home. it is not easy. amy: billionaires like elon musk, jeff bezos, and mark zuckerberg all saw their bank accounts sll amid the global crisis. this month, senators elizabeth warren, bernie sanders, and others proposed an ultra-millionaire tax, which would tax fortunes above $50 million. senator sanders last week hosted a hearing on the inequality

crisis. >> asking about how it happens that the top o1/10 of 1% now owns or wealth than the bottom 90%. two individuals, bezos and musk, now owned more wealth than the bottom 40%. meanwhile, we are looking at more hunger in america than at any time in decades. amy: senator sanders is holding another hearing today. for more we're joined by chuck collins, author of the new report "a year of billionaire pandemic gains." he is also the author of "the wealth hoarders: how billionaires pay millions to hide trillions." chuck, welcome back to democracy now! who arthe pandemic profiteers and how dohey do it? >> good morning. you mentioned a couple like jeff

bezos and elon musk, but what we found is there's a whole group of people, must 50 billionaires whose wealth has gone up over 100%. there often leading companies who have benefited from the pandemic conditions by having essentially the competition shut down. they are the online retailers, the online telemedicine, and then think about it, any of the companies that were depending on while brick and mortar economies have been shut down, those are the ones that have seen their wealth surge dramatically. as you said, we're talking about 657 billionaires whose combined wealth is $1.3 trillion increase in the last year, but $4.2 trillion total -- which is almost double the amount of wealth at the bottom half of u.s. households. these folks have reaped enormous

windfalls during this pandemic. nermeen: could you also respond to the ultra-millionaire tax proposal that sanders was just talking about? and also in 2018, you wrote the effective rate of tax on the billionaire class was lower than for most middle income taxpayers. explain what the effective rate of tax is. again, your response to the proposal for an ultra-millionaire tax. >> it really is a good time to be talking about taxing the very wealthy. the effective rate is what is the percentage of your income in wealth you pay in taxes. in the billionaire class is down to about 23%, which is like a 70 year low. that is a level at which many schoolteachers pay their tax rates. a well tax come along the lines

for the ultra-millionaire tax that has been proposed, senator sanders is going to introduce his reform estate tax bill today , because of the kinds of legislation that will raise significant money from that billionaire class. we estimate americans for tax fairness and super policy studies estimated the well tax, half the revenue would come from billionaires over 10 years. almost $1.5 trillion of revenue would come just from billionaires. it would go a long way toward making the tax system more fair and restoring the loss we had -- were 70 we had in the past decade. nermeen: it is clear the u.s. was not the only country that saw billionaires increasing their wealth exponentially during the pandemic. there is another report that tracks global wealth called the

global rich list. it is that in addition to billionaires, creasing their wealth, the world also added 670 billionaires, three billionaires every two days. could you talk about how this happened globally and where this wealth is most concentrated, the u.s., china, and india? >> question. will release an analysis of the one-year mark on global wealth, but let me give you a preview. the global billionaire class, about 2003 to 60 billionaires globally, their wealth increased $4 trillion. that group has $20. if we were to levy a warrant-style wealth tax on the global billionaires, just in one year, that would raise about

$350 billion. it would cost about $140 billion to vaccinate the world according to oxfam. that is the juxtaposition that we are looking at. the commenting that these billionaires have, the ones that are really extracting enormous windfalls, is their main street busiss commerce competition has been shut down. take an example like amazon. the main street bookstore and retailer is shuttered. they are consolidating -- these bigger billionaire owned companies are consolidating their ownership in certain sectors. the things we need but also a diversion. snapchat, gaming -- online gaming. all of those things have also -- there's a huge amount of wealth that has been extracted from these companies that own some of

the online gaming firms. the united states billionaires only account for less than one third of this global wealth. there's a tremendous amount of new wealth in china, on kong -- hong kong. what they all have in common is they benefit from the adversity and the artificial conditions the pandemic has created in the marketplace. amy: i want to go back to jeff bezos. earlier this week, we spoke to stuart appelbaum, president of the retail, wholesale, and department store union. he talked about how amazon treated workers during the pandemic. attempting to unionize the first amazon warehouse in bessemer, alabama. >> amazon cut people's wages in the middle of the pandemic. they eliminated the two dollar hazard pay they had been giving. even though the pandemic continued to rage, even though

the hazards were just as bad if not worse as they had been before. and why did they do it? they did not do it because they needed to. you talked about how much money bezos has made during this period. they did it because they thought they could get away with that. oxfam put out a report that sent if jeff bezos had given every one of his employees a bonus of $105,000, bezos still would have been wealthier at the end of the pandemic that he was at the beginning. amy: let's talk about that, chuck. jeff bezos saw his personal wealth increase by $65 million, more than $7 million every hour. tomorrow will be talking with danny glover, who is going down along with bernie sanders and others for the final push days of the amazon unionization drive effort in bessemer. the significance of them

fighting, spending millions fighting this unionization and yet you look at the massive pandemic profiteering that he has engaged in. >> it is clear that bezos and amazon hired 450,000 new workers to the pandemic globally, 800,000 workers now in the u.s. many were sick into the viral line of fire with inadequate protection. i spoke with many in the warehouses in the north where there are unionize in some cases but they are still being forced to work in unsafe conditions. amazon could have done so much more. they could have kept hazard pay in place. they could allow workers to organize. they could share the wealth with their employees. instead, they hoarded the wealth at the top. the average amazon worker has seen their pay go up less than one dollar over the year but compared to bezos' as you point

out thousands of dollars an hour he is reaping from the situation. so it is really great that people like danny glover and others are standing and organizing, standing with the workers in alabama in their struggle because this is a pivotal moment to push back on these oligarchic owners. same with musk. muska sending his workers back into factories without adequate protection while these billionaires sit in their own protective bubbles. amy: we want to thank you so much, chuck collins, and we will link to your report. chuck collins is the director of the institute for policy studies' program on inequality. that new report, "a year of billionaire pandemic gains." he is the author of "the wealth hoarders: how billionaires pay millions to hide trillions." next up, the house armed services committee holds a hearing on extremism in the armed forces. one in five of those arrested in

connection with the deadly january 6 capitol insurrection have served or are now serving in the military. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "the trapper and the furrier" by regina spektor. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. the armed services of the house held a hearing wednesday on extremism in the u.s. military to look at how i nearly one in five people who faces charges related to the january 6 insurrection at the capitol had some connection to the military, including at least two active duty troops. defense secretary lloyd austin in january ordered a 60-day stand down across the force to address extremism. the first deadline is coming up on april 6. but republicans on the committee used their time to cast doubt on the need for the hearing. this is texas congressman pat fallon. >> let's look at the data we do

have. our office reached out to all four branches of the service and asked one simple question -- how many members of your branch were separated last year due to extremist activities? the record gave us the data of 222,000 credit active-duty reservists and marines, total of four were separated last year for extremist activities. living is once again with an intestinal tiny figure of one out of 55,475. thiss in a hearing about readiness of armed forces, it is nothing more than political theater. amy: that is republican fallon. congress member fallon. he drew this response from committee chair adam smith. >> simple little meth issues, 20% of the people arrested from the capitol riots at history of serving in the military. to say those are the only people in the military that could possibly be involved in

extremism this logically absurd. i'd for the gentleman would recognize that. we don't know for sure how large the problem is. that is why we are having the hearing. amy: one of the experts asked to testify at wednesday's hearing was lecia brooks, chief of staff at the southern poverty law center. she said the military has long failed to adequately address far-right extremism in the ranks. >> let me begin with two distinct points. the vast majority of those who serve in our armed forces have no connection to white supremacy or extremism and strive always to uphold the best traditions of our nation's democratic ideals. second, the military has a growing problem with white supremacy and extremism because our country does. the white nationalist movement in the u.s. is surging and presents a serious danger to our country and its cherished institutions, threatening the morale and good order of those serving in our armed services.

amy: that's lecia brooks, chief of staff at the southern poverty law center, testifying at yesterday's armed services committee hearing on extremism in the armed forces. she joins us now for more. welcome to democracy now! can you talk about this critical issue -- i mean, what in five of those charged have served or are serving and in the military, to mention the police and those intelligence? part of the january 6 insurrection. the significance of this coming issue you have been covering for years. >> that is correct. the southern poverty law center has been looking at this issue dating back to 1986. it is important to note people who are connected with the military are prime targets for extremists. that leadership skills that are valuable. they have intellence that is valuable. they're actively recruited prior to joining the military. th are recruited while in the military.

we take great risk in not looking at their connections to extremism as they separate from the military. nermeen: could you lay out the recommendations that you presented to congress yesterday? >> yes. thank you. we really want to commend chairman smith for holding the hearings. as we understand it, they have held a full hearing ever on this topic. -- they have never held a full hearing ever on this topic. there's a lack of data. data drives policy. there are instances with inconsistent policies across our military forces. we are calling for data selection of additional training, and -- i'm sorry, and support services in terms of building resilience for those who separate in our reentering civilian life. nermeen: out of turn to the

first black secretary of defense lloyd austin speaking to "60 minutes." during an interview about extremism in the ranks. clubs there's probably not a job that i had since i was a lieutenant colonel were some people did not question whether i was qualified to take that job. it is a world i live in and i am sure the other officers that you talk to would probably say the same thing. there's not a day in my life, david, when i did not wake up and think about the fact i was a black man. nermeen: your response to that? also, the steps he has taken so far to address the question of hate and extremism in the military? >> we are very encouraged by secretary austin's ascension to the head of department of defense. one, because -- now sadly

because he is an african-american and he mentioned he has faced racial designation his entire life. also important to note he experienced firsthand white supremacist in the military. he knows it exists and has existed for some time. that "60 minutes" broadcast was so difficult to hear, not only did we hear from secretary austen but we also heard from the head of the air force who talked about similar experiences with racial discrimination. and we know that based on military surveys, they survey active-duty service members. each year for the last three years, it goes up were service members report they have seen and witnessed white nationalists or white supremacy within the ranks. the members yesterday who question the data, who

questioned the prevalence of white supremacy or extremism -- the southern poverty law center was brought to talk about with respect to white nationalist infiltration -- there is a problem with extremism and we need to do a better job in terms of regulations enforcement across operators of the military. amy: i want to go back to yesterday's hearing. let's go to question it to you about confederate symbols from donald norcross. >> speak about removing symbols across the military, particular confederate flag. why is that important? gives the hiorical perspecte. here we are in 2021, why that is a problem. >> as you know, the confederacy stood against the union. in addition to the confederacy was formed to protect and

prolong the inhumane institution of chattel slavery in the united states. we believe it is wrong for a military that embraces all people to hold up as heroes those who fought to continue the enslavement of african americans amy: that is our guest lecia brooks. there is a question the military pours a lot into going after if there were foreign infiltrators in the u.s. military, you know related to al qaeda or whatever. do you see anything like that -- those resources going to route out white supremacists? lily in the reports of the pentag and intelligence, the number one domestic terror threat in this country. clubs that is true. not at all. not at all. we're just getting to the place we can talk about white supremacy and white nationalism. the southern poverty law center,

we presented last year to a subcommittee of the armed services and they could barely say the word "white supremacy" or "white nationalism." your thankful the conversation is moving forward. it is extremely important have secretary austin who recognizes that it exists. we are hopeful and hopeful any terms of this president and the secretary of defense. i was more hopeful prior to yesterday's testimony about the committee, but again, giving credit to chairman smith, i do believe they will do all they can to ensure that we engage in robust data collection, that regulations are uniform across operators of service, that the regulations pertaining to active participationn the tremist groups is tak serious. amy:id you s what happene onanuary 6s an attpt o white supremasts to te over e capital?

gdness, yes most of the southern poverty was after monitors update of extremist groups. what was on january 6 was the coalescing of not only traditional bad actors of white supremacist groups, the conspiracy theorists. we talked about extremists, we are talking about that they are -- their success is dependent upon taking hostile action against an outgroup. what we're seeing is a coming together of people who adopt a true white supremacist ideology along with others who are feeling aggrieved and advanced the balls narrative there is white displacement across the country. we could easily say there are 50 million people who have been exposed to extremist ideology and have bought into a narrative of false information. that is represented in the larger society, so of course it is represented within the luke perry. amy: lecia brooks, thank you for

being with us, chief of staff at the southern poverty law center who is an expert on extremism in the military. when we come back, we get an update on a massive fire in a's bazar bangladesh and then we will look at yemen. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "kong" by neneh cherry. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine port. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we turn to bangladesh, where a massive fire at a rohingya refugee camp in cox's bazar killed at least 15 people and displaced at least 45,000 monday, with hundreds possibly still missing. 17,000 shelters were leveled after the blaze ripped through the crowded camp, leaving behind scenes of utter destruction and despair as people were separated from their loved ones. >> we have lost everything. my husband and two children came out of the fire but one of my children is still missing. amy: bangladeshi authorities are

investigating the cause of the fire. nearly a million rohingya refugees live in southern bangladesh, often in squalid and dangous conditions, after fleeing a brutal military crackdown in burma in 2017. this comes as burma has been gripped for nearly two months after a military coup on february 1 that deposed civilian leader aung san suu kyi and set off mass nationwide protests. the deadly crackdown on demonstrators has killed at least 286 people according to a local rights group. from more, we are joined by tun khin, rohingya activist and president of the burmese rohingya organization u.k. cox's bazar is the world's largest refugee camp. it houses nearly 900,000 rohingya refugees who fled violence and persecution in burma. welcome to democracy now! describe the conditions on the ground now in this refugee camp,

and then we will talk about what this means in the midst of the even further military crackdown from where they fled in burma. >> thank you for having me. it is very, very tragic for the rohingya people. we are receiving very serious conditions that people have in bangladesh so far what we know at least now, at least 20 died during the fire. 45,000 people become displaced. 460 people are injured during the fire. it is a very worrying situation at can happen tomorrow for these people. a rohingya brothers and sisters

fled because of genocidal acts in 2017. now they are having this problem. unbelievable. i have no words to express. i received many videos and many calls from our brothers and sisters. this is really, really tragic moment for us. the international community have to do -- has to take serious action for support, assistance, medical care, helping them psychologically. there is so much that needs to be done. nermeen: tun khin, what was your response to how the bangladeshi government responded to the fire? there was a cap inhabitant who is quoted in "the new york

times" is think if the bangladeshi government had wanted to intervene earlier this out the fire, they could ha. >> theangladesh government giving protection to about a million people, we really appreciate the bangladesh government. but the people of bangladesh have solidarity and hostality with the rohingya people. we will never forget it. at this point, what is the plan? during the fire, the bangladesh government should be done much more to having stop that. unfortunately, there is barb wire that prevent escape. that is very, very important that barb wire should not be there. the bangladesh government --

request they do more and we appreciate and always express our thanks to the people of the bangladesh government for what they are giving the genocidal survivors shelter. nermeen: could you respond to the impact of the coup in burma on the condition of the rohingya who are still there as well as the ones in the camp, and explain specifically who the coup leader was -- is in burma and his role in the persecution of the rohingya? >> in 2017 come he ordered to r ape thousands of rohingya women.

-- children in front of their parents. at least 380 villages were burned down by his order. he is the most wanted. he committed genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity was he committed genocide against rohingya. he is very brutal. many are still pacing genocide. they are not allowed to move from one village to another, no access to medical care. he is the person now -- he is the military coup leader now. we can see cities in burma what brutality military is doing.

i can feel the pain what our brothers and sisters in rohingya in a 2017 face, the same pain i can feel for the people of burma , our brothers and sisters in rincon. we are showing our solidarity with our brothers and sisters -- our country -- solidarity with our brothers a sters. we can feel the pain they are facing. you can imagine how brutality they have done to the rohingya even now in the city -- you know, rangone is the largest city. they're coming into the house and grabbing the people in the

middle of the day and night and raiding houses continually. you can imagine a seven-year-old child was killed by this military terrorist. we are calling them military terrorists. they are not the army. they are military terrorists. nermeen: you mentioned elier what you would like the international community to do. now the u.s. as well as the eu have put sanctions on many of the village are leaders who were involved in the coup. what else do you think needs to be done? also speak about the role of

china. you been very critical of the role china has played. >> definitely. it has been two months almost now and we have lost 270 people so far -- 270 people were killed who were unarmed civilians, peaceful protesters who were killed by the terrorist mitary. we have not seen practical action from the international community yet. how many more lives do we have to lose to take action from the international community? every day people were killed by the terrorist military. every day. yesterday and the day before yesterday. they are enjoying impunity. they did not take much action in

2071 thousands of go were killed and there's no such action we have seen so far from the international community to take, you know, to punish the criminal generals. that emboldens them to move forward with driving impunity. that is very important. the international community, we are appealing to icc -- the situation in burma. military companies need to be sanctioned. international community -- that is the most important thing if you can cut off, they can collect -- the military

institution has a lot of money. the international community stop investing or cutting off military ties and section military companies and diplomatic sanctions needed, the same time the u.n. secretary-general and security council have to visit burma and look at what is happening on the ground. the international community, we appreciate doing the individual -- this is not enough most the military general, they're used to it. they don't care. we need to look at much more to focus -- can take. global embargo is important. u.s. companies, european companies should not invest in burma at all. amy: tun khin, we have to leave

it there but we want to thank you very much for being with us and we will continue to follow this a rohingya activist, president of the burmese u.k. as we move into our last segment on yemen where the world's worst humanitarian crisis enters its seventh year this week, the world food program warned this month that yemen is headed toward the biggest famine in modern history, protecting around 400,000 yemeni children under the age of five could die from acute malnutrition this year as the saudi war and blockade continues. unfortunately backed by the united states. now a new report by the yemen data project summarizes the impact of the past six years of air raids. it found a bombing campaign has on average killed almost 1500 civilians every year, a quarter

of them children. for more we're joined by iona craig, word when journalist who has the yemen data project with colleagues in yemen. it is great to have you with us. can you talk about what is happening on this, to say the least, sad anniversary? >> the data tells us now there have been almost 23,000 air raids, and that is covering almost 66,000 individual airstrikes since the war began in march 2015. you're looking at least 10 areas every day with an average of up to 30 individual airstrikes. although the rate of air raids has fallen around 2018 until 2020, we saw an increase last year for the first time since then and an 83%. although it has continued to be a decline in civilian casualties

, we are still seeing an increase in air raids in 2020 despite the cease-fire. this has been an ongoing campaign. originally in the first years, civilian casualties underrate in the first year of 9004 under 45 casualties was up civilian casualties in the first year. that dropped significantly over the years. 147 last year. but we're silting mass civilian casualty events. one of the most deadly was in 2019. we are still saying a number of airstrikes on residential areas and civilian infrastructure, which has been decimated over the last six years. we have seen strikes -- 86 strikes on medical facilities, for example. 800 air raids on transport infrastructure 150 air raids on water and electricity facilities.

the list goes on. the damage that has been done to civilian infrastructure in the country will go into the hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as impacting the humanitarian crisis the country is now facing. nermeen: saudi arabia has been responsible for the vast majority of these airstrikes. could you talk about also the involvement of other gulf states that the uae, for example, and precisely what kind of support the u.s. has been giving to these airstrikes operations? >> well, we know the united arab emirates has been playing a leading role in the air war in particular. it is one of the main nations in the region involved in the air campaign. but we don't know from the data that we have collected, which individual states are responsible for individual strikes. we do not know that from the data we gather. it i all from open source, so

it is hard to tell which dividual nations, weatherby saudi arabia or the united arab emirates or other countries like georgia that m be responsible for individual strikes on particular targets. but this part of the problem and one of the reasonshy the data is being collected. there's been a severeack of accountability and transparency in the airstrikes that are happening. i like where in syria and iraq you will have western nations of the coalition carrying out airstrikes at least providing some information on the strikes they are carrying out aour state is concerned there's nothing in yemen. information on the targets and something casualties in the conflict. as part of the bombing campaign. saudi arabia has not given up any regular information on airstrikes at al they have done some self policing where there been claims of violations of international community.

law where there have been mass celine casualty events -- civilian casualty events, but those are only a handle of events. the state of the worst in the civilian casualties and the damage being done to the emmons infrastructure. >> billy this week, saudi arabia proposed a cease-fire by the houthis rejected the deal saying offers nothing new. human rights watch came out with the report condemning theho the rebels in have been attacking displaced people scam and you have said both houthis and saudi arabia, the blockade is what has led to yemenis starving. could you talk about the role the houthis have been plagued in recent years and what they have

been responsible for in terms of the destruction of yemen's infrastructure? >> what of the things we have to focus on is the fact when the fighting happens in residential areas, that is where the most civilian casualties occur. for example in the air were, only 10% of air ids are in residential areas but they cost 40% of the civilian casualties. that iimportant at the moment because the houthis have been pushing the offensive on a city. that puts on many peoplin danger. over have beenisplaced to the city and around there. that means you will have displaced camps being targeted both by ground forces and potentially in airstrikes as well. so the concern particularly at the moment is for civilians in that city. we made ac just we may see an increase insulin casualties

because there is increased violence quest by the houthis in the past few weeks because o their uptick in fighting and attempts to take the city marron. but we see time and time again in the cflict when residential areas become focus of the fighting, whether that be in places like -- or aiden, that is when you will see more airstrikes in those areas and more civilian casualties. the second most city hit in the country. for every single air raid there is in residential area, there are at least three civilian casualties. amy: we have a new administration in the u.s., president biden was elected, says he is taking a different approach to saudi arabia. do you see a difference when it comes to yemen? what you think the biden administration should be doing?

>> we will ctainly be looking as far as the data is concerned on whether that does have an effect. it is probably early to tell. there was a 27% month on month reduction in air raids in february of this year, and that is the lowest monthly rate in more than a year of air raids. whether that is indicative of what has been put out by the vita administration, it is probably early to tell. is it will have also any impact on the parties conflict, particularly in the case between saudi arabia and the houthis coming to at least political thoughts and cease-fire. in partial, even of the saudis and else they want to cease-fire, we have still been seeing airstrikes in the first 24 hours. amy: we have to leave it there. we tnk you for being with us and we will continue to cover yemen. iona craig is a journalist to heads of the yemen data project. we will link to your latest

report. nermeen, i want to wish you a very happy pre-birthday. nermeen: another pandemic birthday. amy: it will

announcer: on this episode of "earth focus"... we visit oil-rich communities in california's san joaquin valley and along alaska's arctic slope, where residents are asking tough questions about the consequences of fossil fuel extraction. it's been the bedrock of their economic livelihoods for decades but is now fracturing communities and threatening the planet. [camera's shutter advancing]