04/12/21 04/12/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the importance of this election in bessemer, alabama, transcends the workplace. it even transcends this one company. additionally about the future of work and how workers are going to be treated in our economy going forward. whether or not people are going to be abused or whether or not

they're going to be treated with dignity and respect. amy: workers at an amazon warehouse in alabama have fallen short in their attempt to unionize, but labor groups and workers are now plotting their next move. we will speak to the head of the retail, wholesale and department store union, as well as organizer jane mcalevey about her new piece. then we remember the life of ramsey clark, the former u.s. attorney general who became a leading critic of u.s. militarism. >> the world is the most dangerous place it has ever been now because of what our country has done and is doing. and we have to take it back. we can't wait four more years. there cannot be any more fallujahs. , cope and standing rock sioux

tribal historian ladonna brave bull allard has died at the age of 64. she helped lead the fight against the dakota access pipeline. >> i don't understand why we are expendable in america. i keep telling people, we do our best. we have always been here. this is our land. why should we fight to live on our own land? why should we have to do that over and over again. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. a warning to our audience, our top stories contain descriptions and images of police violence. protests have erupted in minnesota after a police officer shot and killed a 20-year-old black man, dnte wright, during a traffic stop sunday in the minneapolis suburb of brooklyn center. wright's mother said her son called her as he was being pulled over, allegedly because

an air freshener was obscuring his rearview mirror, but the call was disconnected. katie wright recounted the harrowing moment she learned of her son's death. >>, and later i called and the passenger said he had been shot. amy: the minnesota aclu called for an investigation by an independent agency, as well as the release of bodycam footage and the identities of the officers involved. the shooting took place just miles from where the murder trial of former police officer derek chauvin is entering its third week. on friday, the chiefedical examiner who ruled george floyd's may 25, 2020 death a homicide, testified that chauvin and other officers' restraint of floyd was the primary cause of death. >> my opinion remains unchanged. it is what i put on the death certificate last june. >> in terms of maynard webb

death, you found then and do you stand by today that the manner of death of mr. floyd was come as you would,, homicide? >> yes, i would still classify it as a homicide today. amy: a lieutenant in the army medical corps is suing two virginia police officers who pepper-sprayed him, pushed him to the ground and pointed their guns at him during a traffic stop at a gas station last december. video of the attack in the town of windsor circulated over the weekend. >> get out of the car. >> get out now. >> you're not cooperating. you are under arrest. you are being detained. >> i am actively serving this country and this is how you're going to treat me? i did not do anything. all done. all done. -- hold on. hold on.

amy: caron nazario, a black and latino man, was pepper sprayed in the face right after the exchange. nazario says he drove to the gas station to avoid pulling over on a dark road after he noticed a police car flashing its lights at him, so that he could be somewhere public and well-lit while he interacted with the officers. one officer has been fired and virginia governor ralph northam said he is directing virginia state police to conduct an investigation. maryland enacted major police reforms saturday, becoming the first state to repeal the police bill of rights and establishing new standards for use of force and how police are investigated and disciplined. majority democratic lawmakers overrode vetoes by republican governor larry hogan to pass the new measures, which also require officers to use body cameras, restrict no-knock warrants, and allow for public involvement in matters of police discipline and misconduct. in labor news, the months-long campaign to create the first-ever union at a u.s.

amazon warehouse ended with the majority of workers voting no. 738 workers at amazon's bessemer, alabama, warehouse voted to unionize, while more than twice that number against.y but the battle is not over. the retail, wholesale and department store union that le the drive says amazon illegally interfered in the vote, and it plans to file unfair labor practice charges with the national labor relations board. activists and progressive leaders including bernie sanders praised the organizers, who they say will inspire similar actions at workplaces across the country. we'll have moren the amazon union efforts after headlines. coronavirus cases continue to soar across much of the globe. india has overtaken brazil as country with the second-highest number of confirmed infections after reporting a record 169,000 positive tests on monday. india's total cases are now at 13.5 million, second only to the

united states. in brazil, a new report finds 19 million people have gone hungry during the pandemic, with nearly 117 million -- over half the population -- facing some level of food insecurity. hospitals in germany are filling up as germany fights to contain a major surge. elsewhere in europe, the u.k. is further easing restrictions as its aggressive vaccine rollout has helped stall new cases. anwhile,ozens ofoorer natis are lily to fa major delays to their vaccination campaigns after covax, the international effort to provide those countries with vaccines, said deliveries have all but halted. the world health organization again lambasted the shocking imbalance in vaccine access. >> almost one in four people have received the vaccine. in low income countries, it is one in more than 500. amy: here

in the u.s., covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are on the rise for the third straight week according to the centers for disease control and prevention. the upper midwest remains particularly hard hit. michigan hospitals saw a 30% hike in admissions over the past week. health workers say the current surge is marked by a larger proportion of young and seemingly healthy patients. michigan governor etchen whitmer says she will not order new restrictions but urged high schools to move learning online and for residents to voluntarily refrain from group activities and indoor dining. she also called on theederal government to send more vaccines to michigan. in burma, more than 80 people were killed friday wn soldiers opened fire on a crowd of protesters demanding a reversal to the military up that oued bur's demoatically-ected governme. survivors said soldiers used grenades and other heavy weapons to fire at anything that moved. the massacre tooplace in t town of bago, northeast of the

capital ngoon. elsewhere, an alliance of fighters from ethnic minority groups attacked a police station in eastern burma on saturday. at least 10 officers were reportedly killed in the attack. iran says it will take revenge for what it called nuclear terrorism after an attack triggered a blackout at the natanz nuclear facility sunday. iran blamed israel for the attack, which came amid new efforts by iran to speed up its enrichment of uranium. reports appear to support israel's involvement, which israel has not denied. this comes as iran, the u.s., and other parties are negotiating in vienna over a possible re-launch of the 2015 iran nuclear deal, which former president trump unilaterally withdrew from in 2018. in ecuador, conservative ex-banker guillermo lasso has won sunday's presidential election.

leftist economist andrés arauz conceded to lasso sunday night. lasso is backed by the country's business sector, favors neoliberal policies, and has vowed to increase foreign investment in ecuador. arauz had the support of former president rael correa, who led the country from 2007 to 2017 and has been credited with lifting over a million ecuadorians out of poverty. lasso will assume office on may 24. in peru, as the country faced its deadliest week since the pandemic began, people took to the polls to elect a new president and congress in what analysts are calling peru's most fragmented election in history. leftist candidate pedro castillo is leading in the polls followed by liberal economist hernando de soto and conservative keiko fujimori -- the daughter of former president alberto fujimori, convicted in 2009 of crimes against humanity. there were 18 presidential candidates on the ballot. the top two candidates will advance to a runoff election in june.

in the caribbean, a heavy ash fall has bnketed the island of saint ncent and surrounding areas after a long-dormant volcano suddenly began erupting friday. people looked up and there is this huge plume of ash hangi in tky. silent, deadly, dreadful. amy: the eruption sparked outages of water and power across saint vincent, and more than 16,000 people evacuated their homes. there have been no reports of deaths of injuries, but geologists warn the volcano could still trigger deadly pyroclastic flows of lava, ash, and volcanic gasses. back in the united states, president biden released his $1.5 trillion budget request for 2022 friday calling for major increases in spending for education, healthcare, housing, and the climate. biden is requesting $715 billion

for the military -- a much less significant increase than other areas, though progressives have been asking for a cut in pentagon spending. meanwhile, biden is holding bipartisan talks on his separate $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan. president biden has ordered a study into expanding the number of justices on the supreme court. biden's commission will also look into term limits and offer other recommendations for reform. former president trump appointed three justices, giving the court a 6-3 conservative majority. a texas man has been charged with plotting to blow up an amazon data center in virginia. seth aaron pendley said he was aiming to destroy web servers used by federal intelligence agencies. he was arrested after an undercover fbi agent gave him fake explosive devices. authorities tracked pendley down after a visitor on the website mymilitia.com reported alarming comments by pendley. according to a facebook post, pendley was at the january 6 u.s. capitol insurrection.

an off-duty pentagon police officer was charged with murder friday for the fatal shooting of two men in maryland last week. david hall dixon claimed he witnessed a car break-in and shot at the men as they tried to flee, but investigators say his account was inconsistent and he was not facing any danger when he fired his gun. police say dixon will also face charges related to a 2020 incident in which he pointed a shotgun at a woman's face. anti-war activist mark colville was sentenced friday to 21 months in federal prison for his role in a peaceful protest against u.s. nuclear weapons. he was the last of the so-called "kings bay plowshares 7" to be sentenced. in 2018, colville and six other plowshares activists broke into the kings bay naval submarine base in georgia with an indictment charging the u.s. government with crimes against humanity. former top justice department official and anti-imperialist activist ramsey clark has died at the age of 93.

clarke served as attorney general under president lyndon johnson from 1967-1969. during his time at the justice department, he played key roles in drafting the voting rights act of 1965 and civil rights act of 1968. after retiring from public service, clark became a fierce opponent of corporate capitalism and u.s.-led wars overseas. he founded the international action center in 1992, leading campaigns against sanctions on iraq, the u.s.-led bombing of yugoslavia in 1999, and the u.s.-led invasion of iraq in 2003. clark defended not only controversial world leaders like slobodan miloevic, saddam hussein, and charles taylor, but also prominent activists, including lori berenson and father philip berrigan. we'll have more on the life and legacy of ramsey clark later in the broadcast. and in north dakota, standing rock sioux tribal historian ladonna brave bull allard has

died of brain cancer at the age of 64. allard co-founded the sacred stone camp on her land in april 2016 to resist the dakota access pipeline. people from around the world traveled to the standing rock reservatioin what became the one of the largest gatherings of indigenous people in a century. in september of 2016, democracy now! spoke to allard at the sacred stone camp just hours before the dakota access pipeline company unleashed dogs and pepper spray on native land and water defenders seeking to protect a sacred tribal burial site from destruction. >> we see many water of life. every time we drink water, we say "water of life." we cannot live without water. i do not understand why america doesn't undersnd how important water is. we have no choice. we have to stand. no matter what happens, we have

to stand to save the water. amy: we will have more on the life and work of ladonna brave bull allard later in the broadcast. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the largest union drive in the history of amazon ended friday with the company led by the world's richest man, jeff bezos, on top. after a months-long battle, ultimately 738 workers at amazon's bessemer, alabama, warehouse voted to unionize and 1798 voted no. ballots from another 505 workers were challenged mostly by amazon. the retail, wholesale and department store union that led the drive says amazon illegally interfered in the vote, and it plans to file unfair labor practice charges with the national labor relations board. democracy now! co-host juan gonzález tweeted in response to the vote -- "how do more than 2000 workers sign union cards at amazon's alabama plant but only 700 vote yes? and why did only half of workers

vote when 3/4 normally vote in such elections? try examining employer intimidation." indeed, amazon spent millions to defeat the closely watched election and even got a private mailbox install -- u.s. postal mailbox install -- at the warehouse so it could pressure workers to mail their ballots from work and monitor votes. amazon responded to the claim in a statement, saying -- "it's easy to predict the union will say that amazon won this election because we intimidated employees, but that's not true." meanwhile, the david and goliath fight in bessemer has added pressure on senate democrats to follow their peers in the house and pass the pro act, which stands for protecting the right to organize and would ban many of the tactics amazon used to crush the organizing drive. for more, we go to birmingham, alabama, not far from bessemer, to speak with stuart appelbaum, president of the retail, wholesale and department store union.

he recently wrote a piece for "newsweek" headlined "unionizing amazon workers have already won." welcome back to democracy now! stuart appelbaum, can you talk about what happened? your reaction to the vote? you see ultimately what happened as a victory. >> good morning. i think it is important that people do not -- people were not saying they were satisfied with amazon's working conditions in any way. they were saying they were afraid to vote for the union. i also think that although the results are clearly not what we wanted, we still believe that a lot of powerful things have been accomplished and that this election is far, far from over. he had a very exciting meeting last night with the committee,

the organizing committee. what we are going to be filing our objectns this week to devote and we will be looking fo a new election. you have to look at what happened. this is the first time ever that there has been an election at an amazon warehouse any place in the united states, and that is important. i think it opens the door to further organizing. i think we put a stop light on the way amazon treats its workers. and people around the world were astounded to hear about the conditions there. i think that we have become an important argument to the pro act because we exposed what it is that employers like amazon do to try to csh union organizing. i think that this election has received more attention than

elections for a union in decades. and part of the result is a recent poll showed that 77% of americans supported the amazon workers seeking union. as i look at the alliance that have been created, there was a powerful, powerful, powerful community involvement in this campaign. i know -- i believe another one of your guests had not spoken to any of the organizers involved in the campaign. we are proud of the partnership with the black lives matter movement. we saw just as much civil rights struggle as the union struggle. we think that we breathed life

into the labor movement at the same time. i think we also showed an inclusive way of organizing. we see a lot of positive things that came out of this. if i could mention two things quickly. more votes were cast for union this election then all union elections in alabama in the year before. i think that is really important. amy: can you talk about the numbers? 5800 workers at the amazon warehouse, less than half of them voted. 700 plus voted for the union, around 1500 voted against -- according to the certified count. in fact, less than half of the voters voted? >> actually, i think it was about 55% that voted.

i would also say at least 400 of the votes that amazon challenged for ridiculous reasons. they would say that could not read a signature of a union supporter's vote. so i think the numbers really do not reflect how people voted. also, you have to understand the extraordinary turnover at amazon facilities. you have a turnover of over 100% a year, which meant we had no choice but to move fast in this election. it is not like organizing at the nursing home or other places where there is more stability in the work place. but a lot of people were not even working at amazon -- people who are working there in january, a lot of them were no longer there by the time the vote started on february 19.

amy: so you are taking -- you are taking -- your filing complaints with the national labor relations board on what grounds? >> they broke the law in so many ways. unionbusting consultants telling employees that if the union were voted in come amazon may have to shut down. the warehouse. amy: let's talk about that for a minute. the intercept reported the consultant was paid with the ties to the code others $3200 a day to thwart the unionization drive. also required workers to attend these antiunion captive audience meetings. can you talk about them? >> it was many consultants most of they broughin about 200 people to walk the floors. and a lot of people were paid $3200 a day. amazon left no stone unturned in

trying to work this effort. at the captive audience meetings, people would be forced at an hour a time, several times a week, to listen consultants telling them why unions are bad and they did not need to union, they should vote against it and if someone questioned them, photograph would be taken of their employee badge. they would be expelled from the meeting. amy: let me go to one amazon warehouse worker speaking on democracy now! aut the etings. >> at one of the meetings, one the biggest points they were tryi to get as outraged about was, look at this balance sheet of ts union. they snt $140,000 vehicles last year. can you believe it? i raised my hand -- and no one talks because they en it up for questions but who is going to speak out to the company unless you just n't care? i question,et me undetand

your position. you want you to be outged the fact is unions bu$140,000 on qualified as expenses -- business eenses but jeff bezos makes 150 thousand dollars every ngle mine but i'm suppod to boutraged athis? they're like, yes. are you mad? it is crazy. amy: your response? >> i agree with joseph. i would also when you i don't even own a car. i don't have a car from the union. our union representatives whose job it is to travel from workplace to workplace need vehicles. they jt complained about anything they could to make people afraid to vote. they lied. they lied about dues. we explained to people that we

want you to pay dues and we hope you want to pay dues, but it is your choice. ella them is a right to work state. we also know by the time a contract could be negotiated, it would probably be a mostly workforce that we would be doing dues campaign. amazon lied about whether they would be compelled to pay money. hundreds of dollars and that they should spend the money instead on disney -- on debtors or gifts to people. amy: the teamsters also saying that working on organizing. hamilton nolan read a story last month headlined a book teamsters hinted combative national project demos on. the secretary-treasurer of the teamsters local in iowa told

"the new york times" we are cused on building a new type of labor movement where we don't rely on the election process to raise standards. your final response? >> i would say i welcome my sisters and brothers throughout the labor movement to get involved. i think this needs to be a product of the entire labor movement. but i question whether or not you're going to be able to compel amazon to deal with the union other than through an election and achieving majority status because we saw in new york city when we defeated azonn their attempt to build a second headquarters in new york city that we had incredible leverage at that point and yet it made no difference. and we have seen people talking about maybe instead of having

elections we should sign petitions or we should have small walkouts. i think at the end of the day, that is not going to be sufficient. you're going to need to get an expression of majority support in the workforce in order to compel amazon to deal with you. but i welcome -- i welcome unions everywhere to be involved in this effort to organize amazon workers. we have no choice but to challenge amazon's way of treating its employees and doing business. amy: stuart appelbaum, thank you for being with us, president of the retail, wholesale and department store union. next up, we turn to jane mcalevey, longtime activist whose piece is headlined "blowout in bessemer: a postmortem on the amazon campaign." jane, if you can start off by

talking about wt you see happen? close sure. thank you for having me. first i want to salute every single worker the bessemer plant r the bravery and the couge ey exercised in the campaign an i hope they wind up having a union soon. but i want to redirect it to my years asn organize decades, actually. i still do organizing. what i saw were several things from the very beginning. and i outle tm in the article in "the nation." the first is what we call an inaccurate list, between how many workers actually work in the facility and h many workers the union thought work in the facility and then come of urse, the employer perspective. let me also safe i believe they

will get a rerun election in at plan because amazon -- there's no question pro-act, no question amazon and jeff bezos -- he needs to pay a lot of taxes and amazon needs to be unionize and i look forward to it. but we know and really hard elections, which i've had the pleasure of running and helping workers when many times going up against very pfoundly serious union busters, there are a series of stepshat we have to take in order for theork is t stand a chance. and one of them ironically is the one that stuart appelbaum mentionedt the end of the interview, which is developing majority support. was i write about in the article. you can analyze from the period when i service the campaign october 20 straight through they file the election in november, they were informed at that time that they were off by several thousand workers in the

ascension about how many workers worked at the plant. there should be no myery. they shoulbe given list, but they don't. they're not fair. just like they are not fair in georgia. if you deal with that these are outrageously unfair conditions, one of the steps you have to take to try to win. if i was on the grounin amazon, i would have ted set of getting simple majority card ventures between november 20 and the date they were informed there were really off the numbers december 20 the hearing date you would want to be judging right then, could youet a majority of those workers to publicly commit to vote support the union? it is called a structure test. it is our normal thing thathe organizers do in hard campaigns and i'vead to do many of them with wkers. because wenow what's the employer campaign gets off the ground, it is going torode a ton of support. when i was trained to be an organizer when i was young, i

was trained to file witno less than 75% of the workers on membership cards -- not 30%, not 40%, not even 55%. we assume 25% of our vote will be shaved by aggressive union busters. of course they're doing captive audience meetings. i have had workers draed in hotdog campaigns, nurses dragged away from a patient into a captive audience meeting pleading to let the union buster let her finish a procedure during an operation with a patient and been dragged into a captive audience meeting. what is our approach to these meetings? this was 2006 that i'm describing in a right to work state. ours was we pretend outcome, beautiful tiets that looked just like movie tickets, like popcorn, microwave bags of popcorn. every nurse in the hospital had

access to a break room. we said you need to go in. we had a plan to approach thes meetings. go into the captive audience meeting and have 100 nurses chewing popcorn as loudly as you can and then g up and say it is time to go back to your patients. there's a strategy a method for every parof a harcampaign. do we always win? no. do we stand a better chance of winning them? yes stuck one thing i talked about was, working a plant takes strategy. you cannot winith a normal company, let alone o known for surveillce because workers will be too scared to talk to you. a fundamental part of campaigns is building majority support going into the election, knowing the workers are ready to stand up to union busters. you have to do that by house calling. you have to knock on the door and announced for every single worker in the campaign, and they're going to be hard conversations because people are scared.

but there are methods for how we win hard to win union campaigns. i union organizer now at cornell has written for decades about the methods. there are methods and we need to followhem. i wrote my article for the future amazon workers who will try to win their campaign with the hope they stand a better chance because we need amazon organized yesterday. amy: you were saying early on you. the union was going down in flames in bessemer. what were the indications to yo >> the first one, the inaccuracy of the list. the sort of gap between when they fil for the election november on 1500 workers versus when they got to the hearing in december and it was clear the work 5800 workers. did amazon stuff the numbers? probably. when i go to a hearing like that, when i'm at the labor board hearing and we have

workers with us ande are debating with the employer wha is going to hpen, right there there was very big trouble. every organizer i know where immediately i'm yelling each other saying this is big trole and were worried about it. -- emailing each other saying this is big trouble and we are worried about a. early on there were concerns. we wished it had a different outcome. i wish my article was never in of ago the nation" magazine. i wrote it formazon worker i hope to have re in training. i work with and teach people how to win hard campaigns. there are things that we know you have to do. another what i menti which is the whole diussion that just surfaced again about how you talk about dues? the first thing that player does is put food on the table and show workers, radios, things you could buy for the equivalent of thedues.

this is why we need the proactive. as a oanizer i amlso saying we have to give workers the best shot humanly possible in the conditions under which we currently work. stacey abrams made that case beautifully and open of the new york tim" about how they won the two senate races in geora. they went to the doors, masks on. this is very similar. amy: the finalomments on what you think h to happen next. >> i thi a lot of people have to collaborate on this for sure. i do not think trying to win a straight national bor relations board process is the way to go with amazon. whether it is what the teamsters are going to do -- you can do a strike recognition. you can walk out and demand recognition. we used to do more of that but that takes building super

majority support. what i he is amazon workers look at the lessons from bessemer, regroup, that eunice put together a serious plan to take on them, huber, licon valley, and everyone of those companies that is literally destroying the lives of workers in this country desperately need be unionized. we need to give the workers a fair shot we go after amazon. amy: jane mcalevey, thank you for being with us, union organizer, negotiator, and scholar, currently a senior policy fellow at uc berkeley's labor center. her recent piece in "the nation" is "blowout in bessemer: a postmortem on the amazon campaign." next up, we remember the lives of ramsey clark and ladonna brave bull allard. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: solidarity sing along singing "union maid." this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. former u.s. attorney general and longtime human rights lawyer ramsey clark has died at the age of 93. he was the last living member of lyndon johnson's cabinet. clark was credited as being a key architect of the voting rights act of 1965 and the fair housing act of 1968. he served as attorney general from 1967 to 1969 during which time he ordered a moratorium on federal executions and opposed j. edgar hoover's wiretapping of martin luther king, but he was also involved in the prosecution of anti-war activists. after leaving office, ramsey clark became a leading critic of u.s. foreign policy. in 1972 he traveled to north

vietnam in defiance of the u.s. government to document u.s. war crimes -- it was one of many trips ramsey clark would take to meet the victims of u.s. militarism. also in 1972he successfully defended the harrisburg seven, a group of religious anti-war activists led by the former catholic priest philip berrigan and his wife elizabeth mcalister. he would go to defend members of the plowshares, the anti-nuclear arms movement founded by philip and daniel berrigan. in 1989, clark traveled to panama to document the devastation brought by the u.s. invasion, which he called a "physical assault of stunning violence." beginning in the early 1990's, he became a leading opponent to u.s. policy in iraq, speaking out against the first gulf war, the u.s. sanctions and the 2003 invasion. he would later join saddam hussein's defense team. after the septber 11 attacks, ramsey clark helped found the antiwar group answer. he was a longtime defender of palestinian rights and represented the palestine liberation organization. palestinian legislator hanan

ashrawi wrote on twitter that clark "was an indefatigable defender of palestinian and human rights, a lawyer who knew and pursued genuine justice and the rights of the oppressed." ramsey clark was also a longtime critic of the u.s. embargo of cuba. he was born in dallas, texas, in his father tom clark served on 1927. the u.s. supreme court. this is ramsey clark speaking at a protest against the presidential inauguration of george w. bush in washington, d.c., on january 20, 2005. >> do support and defend the constitution of the united states. we have to take the constitution back. back from crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity. the nuremberg tribunal called the war of aggression the suprem international crime, and it is.

george w. bush waged a war of aggression against iraq. he has killed more than 100,000 people. are their lives worth nothing? can we have a moment of silence in memory of all of the people who have died in iraq because of the criminal acts of george w. bush in waging this war of aggression? every moment of their lives is fraught with danger right now because of us. the world is the most dangerous place it has ever been now because of what our country has done and is doing. and we have to take it back. we can't wait four more years. there cannot be any more fallujahs. fallujah is the 21st century equivalent of -- we just went and destroyed that the city,

drove the people out, killed them. we don't know how many. they don't even bother cap how many have been killed. they just keep killing. almost every day we're reading about another checkpoint were some family got white out because they did not do what they were supposed to do according to the military there. abu ghraib is unbelievable in the ends of 1961. we would torture people that way. and on the instructions of the president of the united states and his highest legal advisors, torture is ok, they said. go for it, fellas. if we can't pronounce that and remove it from office, than the constitution does not work

anymore. we have got to do more than take back the constitution. there has to be accountability for what h happened. the constitution says that the president, vice president, and other officials of the united states shall be removed from office. upon impeachment for and conviction of high crimes and misdemeanors. if you care about the constitution, you better start talking to your member of the house of representatives. and the future of the united states. we have had more than 500,000 people sign on ve to impch. we need to get 5 million and we need it quick.

and then congress will react. amy: that is former u.s. attorney general ramsey clark speaking january 2005. seven -- six years later, he appeared on democracy now! and was interviewed by juan gonzalez about president obama's drone war program. clark had just finished defending the hancock 38 -- a group of peace activists arrested at a u.s. drone base your syracuse, new york. >> the day after i testified, "the new york times" had an article, a man had met with the family a day before and -- not the day before -- he left to go back to frontier territories. 11-year-old boy was killed in the crossfire. 20 plus troops, soldiers, pakistan killed by drones.

incredible. the assassination and muer weaps, they create more fear and anger. you don't feel safe any place. you are notafe any place. they will chase you down anyplace. it is a weapon that ought to be prohibited. it is a criminal -- juan: president obama said yesterday he will not apologize for the attk. the issue of these drones and what is happening around the rest of the world as they see the willingness of the united states to basically go to any country they feel necessary to do so with these drone attacks? >> totally disregard the sovereign territory. big country. pakistan. a major country. and basically say, we can kill anybody there we decide to without consultation, so watch

your step. it is a weapon of extreme provation d extreme danger and extreme and accuracy. its abilityo address a single individual is nonexistent. it kills whoever happens to be around and also kills sometimes when there is no one around except a bunch of people in meeting because you have got the ong target. the decision to murder or assassinate anyplace come anybody to send one of these things out is itself a crime. amy: former attorney general ramsey clark speaking in 2011. when we come back, we remember standing rock sioux trouble historian ladonna brave bull allard. ♪♪ [music break]

this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. we end today's show remembering the life of standing rock sioux historian ladonna brave bull allard. she died saturday at the age of 64 from brain cancer. in 2016, she helped start the sacred stone camp on her family's property in south dakota. i first spoke to ladonna at standing rock in september 2016

just hours before the dakota access pipeline at least dogs and pepper spray on native americans seeking to protect a sacred tribal burial site from destruction. >> my name is ladonna brave bull allard. when they told us they were putting this pipeline in but refusing to acknowledge us come if you look at the dota access maps, they do not even acowledge our nation. were not left out like some people make maps and they do the reservation, we're notven in their. they said they do not have to consult with us. that pipeline is 500 feet from our reservation line. when that pipeline breaks -- and

it will break. it will hit early head start children in two seconds. it will take out our elementary in five seconds. in 45 minutes, will take out our major water intake. i do not understand why we are expendable in america. i keep telling people, we do our best. we have always been here. this is our land. why should we fight to live in our own land? why should we have to do that over and over again? we start our lives, do our best to live. why? i would never hurt anybody. i have always done my best to do good things in my community. why can't they just let us live? we love this land. half of the time i feel bad because -- most importantly, we

love the water. every year our people sacrifice. we go auto days without drinking water so it reminds us how important water is. i ask everybody, do you go four days without water? what happens on the third day? your body starts shutting down. so we remind ourselves every day how important. we say, water of life. every time we drink water, we save water of life. we cannot live without water. i do not understand why america does not understand how important water is. so we have no choice. we have to stand. no matter what happens, we have to's and to save the water. amy: that is ladonna brave bull allard. we spoke with her on her property in september, labor day weekend, of 2016. a few weeks later, she visited the democracy now! studios while

she was here in new york to speak at the united nations. one gonzalez and i interviewed her. >> title dakota access, i am standing. they will not build this pipeline. i have personal reasons. my son is buried there. in my mind, i can't conceive of anybody building a pipeline next to my son's grave. like i tell everybody come it is not some grandiose save the world, i am a mom. that is just on my personal side. but did you see where i live? oh, my god, it is so beautiful. every day the buffalo are out there, the eagles are out there. i love my river.

juan: re-surprised by the enormous response that occurred, the encampment from native peoples around the country and around the hemisphere, really? >> overwhelming. shocking. amazing. that tells me@@ that the world needs to change now. that tells me that people are saying no more. how it is to live our lives, we spent a lot of time with peoe saying we are this, we are that. we can't do this, we live in a world of extreme racism where we exist. i think we are at the point now, no more. amy: on september 3 after we interviewed you at your camp on your property come the sacred stone camp, we went over beyond the resistance camps because

hundreds of native americans were going to plant their tribal flags in an area where the pipeline was being built. it was labor day weekend and they did not think it was being built that day, but in a ceremony to take that stand. at one they got there, they saw the bulldozers and action bulldozing the very site that the sacred stone, that the standing rock sioux tribe had designated, had said was burial grounds and sacred sites. i wanted to go to that moment and ask you about what happened after that. the security guards working for the dakota access pipeline company attacking the native americans with pepper spray and with their dogs. >> this guy maced me in the face. it is all over my sunglasses. maced the all over the pace.

>> these people with these dogs and chased that woman over there. amy: the dog has blood in his nose and mouth. >> and they are still threatening. amy: the dog is covered in blood. >> i was walking and without any warning. look at this. look at this. amy: there we see the dogs' nose and mouth dripping with lead and they are attacking the protesters. ladonna brave bull allard, you were there as well. >> yes. let me back up first. just two days before we marked all of those burials and sacred sites and we submitted them to the judge and the judge notified

dakota access, so when they stopped construction 40 miles away and drove up to take out those burial sites, it was absolutely shocking for us. when i got up there, you know, by friend was crying and i could not believe they were doing that. people were hollering and that man had just pepper sprayed everybody. i was like, my god, what is happening here? i remember that big gray-headed dog was on the side and that s woman wasiccing dogs on the side. i was standing in the middle and nose like, what do i do? i close my eyes and very praying. i prayed and i thought where am i? is this america? is this really happening?

i opened my eyes and people were getting in their trucks. i had no idea that time the horses were coming to protect us, from behind us. as i stood there, i think it is still very shocking to me because people were hollering and people were crying and these guys finally started to get their dogs and put them into their vehicles and the dogs tried to bite their owners. it was just chaos. they finally started leaving. i looked at the ground and i was like, oh, my god, who does this? who comes and except those grades -- graves? i can't understand it. juan: it is poured underscore you had already provided to the court the list of the burial sites that you thought were sacred sites that should be preserved and the company before

the judge can even render a ruling, then goes in on the weekend to destroy those very sites. >> yes. that is what i keep on telling people is why are these people out there protesting? it is because of these things. it is because of what is actually happening out on the ground. i tell people that this is not about just this pipeline. it is about the water. it is about the water. it is about having the right to live our lives. it is about being able to make sure my grandchildren have clean water. to me it is common sense. and so we must stop this. amy: how long will these resistant camps continue? >> we are in process of healing.

i do not think it is going to in. we have only just begun. we are fulfilling prophecy now. the prophecies told a hundred years ago are coming to pass. i see them before my eyes. nothing is going to go back. we can only change. my whole idea is to have the world change their worldview that maybe we can live with the earth instead of destroying the earth. and i am hoping that all people can get that message. amy: standing rock sioux lakota historian ladonna brave bull allard. she died saturday at the age of 64 from brain cancer. visit democracynow.org to see more of our interviews with ladonna brave bull allard and former u.s. attorney general ramsey clark, who died friday at the age of 93. and that does it for our show.

very happy birthday to maria taracena and anna ozbek! democracy now! is currently accepting applications for a nior news producer to join our team here in new york city. learn more and apply today at democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedzññññxcçç■çowww;ñ ne

hello and thanks for joining us on nhk world japan. this is nhk "newsline." taiwan says chinese fighter and bomber planes entered its air defense identification zone, on monday. it says the 25 military aircraft made for china's largest incursion since it began collecting such data last year. taiwan's defense ministry says

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