05/10/21 05/10/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> dozens of people who were injured -- it is amazing. amy: over palestinians have been 300 injured after israeli security forces attacked the al-aqsa mosque today with rubber-coated bullets, tear gas, and sound bombs.

this comes as palestinns continue to protest israeli efforts to evict dozens of palestinians in the sheikh jarrah neighborhood of occupied east jerusalem to give their homes to jewish settlers. >> i didn't do this. >> you are stealing my house. >> and i defy don't steal it, somebody else will. amy: we will speak to a palestinian poet who is organizing to save his family's home in sheikh jarrar. then to afghanistan. at least 85 people have died, mostly schoolgirls, after an attack outside their school on saturday. >> when school time was over and we were coming out when a car exploded in front of us. amy: we will go to kabul for the latest. then we speak to ari berman on the latest republican attack on voting rights. >> all across the country and a state like texas and florida,

republicans are weaponizing and institutionalizing trump's big lie that the election was stolen in order to make it harder for democratic constituencies to be able to vote. 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 images of violence. israeli forces stormed the al-aqsa mosque in occupied east jerusalem this morning amid mounting violence in recent days. soldiers deployed rubber bullets, tear gas, and sound bombs at palestinians, injuring hundreds. over the weekend, israeli forces wounded hundreds more worshippers and protesters at al aqsa, including on one of the holiest nights of ramadan. protests have beenrowing against the expulsion of palestinian families from sheikh jarrah, a neighborhood in occupied east jerusalem.

>> the plate is to occupy all of jerusalem and turn it into a jewish city that lacks an arab presence. and this allows them to occupy the palestinian capital, it allows them to get all the homes like they did in 1948 1967. amy: on sunday, israel's supreme court postponed a hearing, set for today, on the planned evictions from sheikh jarrah. the court will schedule a new date within 30 days. meanwhile, the nationalist israeli holiday, jerusalem day and its annual flag march is going ahead today, prompting fears of further violence. we'll have more on this after headlines with writer and poet mohammed el-kurd, who is organizing to save his family's home in sheikh jarrah. in afghanistan, at least 85 people, mostly young girls, were killed after several bomb blasts outside a school in the capital kabul saturday. devastated families buried their loved ones amid mounting despair

and anger. >> message to the government his to ensure security and to the enemy is that there are some incidents in kabul, they should stop the violence. amy: the blasts occurred in a neighborhood mostly populated by the minority hazara shia community. the afghan government blamed the taliban, though the group denied responsibility. the massacre came one week after u.s. and nato forces started their military withdrawal from afghanistan and as violent attacks are surging. elsewhere in the country, at least 11 people were killed and dozens, including women and children, were injured in a bus bombing in southern zabul province late sunday. we will have more from afghanistan later in the broadcast. india's government faces growing

calls for a nationwide lockdown as its health ministry reported 366,000 new coronavirus infections and nearly 3800 deaths today. those figures are down only slightly from world records set by india last week and fail to account for widespread under-reporting. health officials say recent super-spreader events have combined with a more transmissible coronavirus variant to drive a massive surge in cases. >> this new strain has high infected ability compared to last time, more than five times the people i getting infected in the second way. u.k. strength and the strain. amy: the world health organization warns india is driving surges elsewhere in asia, with cases rising in nepal, sri lanka, thailand, cambodia, indonesia, and elsewhere. in pakistan, officials have

ordered a nine-day partial lockdown ahead of the eid holiday marking the end of the muslim holy month of ramadan. tunisia has begun a week of coronavirus restrictions, including during the eid holiday, with the prime minister warning tunisia faces the worst health crisis in its history. meanwhile, brazil's official covid-19 caseload has topped 15 million -- the third-highest in the world after india and the united states. infectious disease experts say far-right president jair bolsonaro is largely to blame for the pandemic's devastating toll. >> all of this covid pandemic is the disastrous policy from the federal government, of an anti-scientific policy of denial. amy: in vaccine news, the world health organization approved china's sinopharm's vaccine for emergency use friday. this is who director general tedros adhanom ghebreyesus.

>> this expunged -- gives countries confidence to expedite revelatory approval andmport and administer a vaccine. amy: sinopharm is the sixth vaccine to receive emergency use approval by the who. here in the united states, pfizer is requesting full approval from the food and drug administration for its vaccine for people 16 and older. all three covid vaccines currently in use in the united states have emergency use authorization. if successful, the pfizer-biontech vacce would be the rst to be fully approved. in iraq, unidentified gunmen assassinated prominent journalist and activist ehab al-wazni near his home in the city of kerbala. his killing follows the murders and kidnappings of dozens of other activists who joined an

october 2019 anti-government uprising to demand jobs, better services, and an end to corruption. hundreds of people were killed during those protests. local activists blame armed militias backed by iran for the continuing violence and protests have erupted in kerbala. this is a journalist speaking from al-wazni's funeral sunday. >> this killing operation can happen to any civil society activist. you can see them be killed easily and the government does not do anything. why hasn't it disclosed to kill the protesters? and he got back in the united states in colorado, a gunman shot dead six people early sunday at a birthday party in colorado springs. the gunman, who was reportedly in a relationship with one of the female victims, also shot and killed himself. there were children present but none of them were killed or injured. the colorado massacre comes after a rash of gun violence on saturday. in baltimore, four people, including the gunman, were killed during a shooting and two-alarm fire.

in new york city's times square, two women and a fourear-old girl were injured after a shooting. and in south florida, multiple people were wounded after a shooting at a shopping mall. according to the gun violence archive,here have been nearly 200 mass shootings since the start of 2021. in related news, the justice department proposed a new rule friday to crack down on so-called ghost guns -- home-assembled, unregulated firearms that account for about a third of guns recovered at crime scenes. the rule says retailers would have to run background checks before selling ghost gun kits, and components would need to include serial numbers. 3d-printed guns would also need to start carrying serial numbers. the justice department has filed federal criminal charges against derek chauvin and the three other former minneapolis police officers involved in the murder of george floyd last may. the indictment charges chauvin, who was convicted of murdering floyd, of using unreasonable force. the three others -- thomas lane,

alexander kueng, and tou thao -- are accused of failing to provide floyd with medical care and two of the men with failing to intervene and stop chauvin from killing floyd. the three former officers are also still facing state charges of aiding and abetting in the murder and manslaughter of george floyd. in a separate case, former police officer derek chauvin also faces a federal indictment for violating the civil rights of a 14-year-old boy from minneapolis, whom he grabbed by the throat, hit multiple times with a flashlight, and held his knee on his neck during a 2017 arrest. in north carolina, a judge ruled the family of andrew brown, jr. will only be allowed to see a fraction of the body camera footage of his killing. brown was a 42-year-old black father who was shot five times by police officers last month, including a fatal shot to the back of the head. the family, which has so far only seen 20 seconds of bodycam video, will be shown less than

20 minutes of the two hours of tape that was recorded. the footage will not be available to the public. faith leaders, loved ones, and community members marched in elizabeth city saturday to demand transparency and justice for andrew brown. this is his aunt lillie brown clark. >> we need to see the bodycam. 20 seconds. not enough. 20 minutes. not enough. we want to see the whole tape. stop showing us what you want to show us. amy: the colonial pipeline company halted shipments of fuel across the eastern united states over the weekend after suffering what executives said was a ransomware attack on friday. the cyberattack idled a pipeline network that transports nearly half of the east coast's fuel supply from texas to new jersey. in response, the biden

administration enacted emergency powers, lifting limits on the transport of fuels by road to compensate for any shortages. u.s. officials blamed the criminal gang darkside, which mostly operates out of russia. it was the colonial pipeline company's worst crisis since last summer when a pipeline rupture in north carolina spilled 1.2 million gallons of gasoline, the largest spill in the state's history. and senator bernie sanders, congressmember ilhan omar, and other democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill to make all school meals free for every student. congressmember omar noted 75% of school districts have school meal debt and the new bill would "eliminate school meal debt and strengthen local economies by incentivizing local food procurement." some 13 million children in the u.s. live in food insecure homes. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report.

i'm amy goodman. hundreds of palestinians have been wounded after israeli forces raided the al-aqsa mosque this morning for the second time in four days. al jazeera reports israelis fired rubber-coated bullets, tear gas, and sound bombs at palestinian worshippers. video posted online shows explosives -- possibly stun grenades -- being fired inside the mosque, which is the third holiest site in islam. a warning to our audience, this segment contains disturbing video. al jazeera reports medical personnel were initially barred from reaching the injured palestinians. eyewitnesses described a scene of terror when israeli forces began opening fire while people prayed. >> we were praying.

the soldiers without any alert, they started to shoot the bombs. there are dozens injured. dozens of people who were injured from the bombs and bullets. it is amazing. amy: al jazeera reports 305 palestinians were wounded. 228 have been hospitalized with seven in critical condition. israeli forces also attacked the al-aqsa mosque on friday on a night when at least 205 palestinians were injured. today's raid came hours before israeli nationalists were scheduled to begin an annual march through occupied east jerusalem to mark israel's 1967 capture of the area along with the west bank and gaza. tension has been escalating in jerusalem for weeks.

on april 22, a group of right-wing israelis marched through the old city chanting "death to arabs" and "may your village burn." video from the night shows israeli mobs attacking and harassing palestinian families and throwing rocks at palestinian buses and homes. meanwhile, palestinians have been staging weeks of protests to block israel from evicting dozens of palestinians in the sheikh jarrah neighborhood of jerusalem to give their homes to jewish settlers. a court hearing on the evictions scheduled for today was postponed on sunday. the united nations has described the planned eviction as a possible war crime. u.n. rights office spokesman rupert colville said last week -- "the occupying power cannot confiscate private property in occupied territory." this come as the biden administration is coming under increasing pressure to directly condemn israel's actions. last week, the governments of france, germany, italy, spain, and britain issued a joint call

for israel to stop all settlement expansion in the occupied territories. we go now to jerusalem where we are joined by mohammed el-kurd, a palestinian writer and poet who is organizing to save his family's home in the sheikh jarrah neighborhood of jerusalem. first give us the overall picture, mohammed, of what has been happening. describe what has been happening at the al-aqsa mosque and all around the area and then we will talk about sheikh jarrah. >> thank you. it is a pleasure to be here with you. what has been happening in al-aqsa mosque, collusion. it is clearly the isrli occupati forces are working to terrorize an assault palestinian worshipers. palestinians have been met with rubber coated bullets in the face and upper body, tear gas

inside the mosque with the women and children praying. in addition to other forms of brute force. the same thing in sheikh jarrah and this becomes more stark when compared i how the israeli occupation forces are treating the settlers. today in is really seller read over a palestinian --israel settler ran over palestinian roots. the police raised his gun at the palestinians protesting the acts of terrorism. we are seeing clear state settler violence and collusion in jerusalem, occupy jerusalem. amy: we are just about to see this next march. can you explain what "jerusalem day" is in the significance of this mch? >> it is infamous march witnessed every single year of my life whereby israeli settlers come from all over and racial

chance against palestinians, destroyed property. one time a few years ago i came home from school and found the settlers sitting on my couch stop this is the extent by which they behave because they know they have impunity, because they know they will suffer zero consequences from the fascist state. amy: how old are you? >> 22 years old. amy: i want to go to a video that is gone viral that shows your twin sister confronting an egg is really settler who is been living --israeli seter who has been living inside your house for 12 years. >> you know this is not your house. >> but if i go, are now going back. i did not do this. you yell at me but i did not do this.

>> you are stealing my house. >> if i don't steal it, somebody else's. >> no one is allowed to steal it. amy: can you explain this and talk more specifically about what is happening in sheikh jarrah right now? >> absolutely. what you saw is the scene of colonialism. people think it is a colonial concept, but it is alive and well. this is a colonizer who happens to be from brooklyn who decided to find home in my backyard. this happens because we as a community of refugees in sheikh jarrah have been battling billionaire back, often u.s.-registered settler organizations that employ these people to come and live in our homes and harass us and intimidate us. these people are not employed. they are not families. they come to terrorize us.

yesterday our next-door neighbor's family, they were invaded. what is happening is nothing short of ethnic cleansing. amy: just to understand, i mean, this man who is in your yard who you say is from brooklyn, explain how your family, your house got half occupied in 2009? you are living with them? >> yeah. yes, in 2009 we were coming home from school and found the entire neighborhood was on lockdown. there were more occupation forces and settlers than there were residents of the neighborhood. they used tear gas and some grenades and sound bombs to take over our home. these thieves have brought into our home since then and obviously, cannot resist them or otherwise you will be shot and killed. we know how the israeli occupation forces behave around

palestinians, how they target palestinians. but i want to add this is just a microcosm. i know it sounds bizarre an israeli settler is taking over half my home and likely they will be taking over the entirety of the neighborhood should know international action be taken, but it is not as absurd when you put it in context how the state of israel, about. it came about by to strengthen burning hundreds of villages and taking over palestinians homes. today all over historic palestine, settlers are living in homes that were once palestinian. amy: the response to the violent crackdown of palestinian protesters in jerusalem, congressmember rashida tlaib, whose parents are palestinian immigrants, tweeted this weekend -- "too many are silent or dismissive as our u.s. tax dollars continue to be used for this kind of inhumanity. i am tired of people functioning from a place of fear rather than

doing what's right because of the bullying by pro-israel lobbyists. this is apartheid, plain and simple." meanwhile, new york congressmember alexandria ocasio cortez tweeted on saturday -- "we stand in solidarity with the palestinian residents of sheikh jarrah in east jerusalem. israeli forces are forcing families from their homes during ramadan and inflicting violence. it is inhumane and the u.s. must show leadership in safeguarding the human rights of palestinians." she also condemned u.s. aid to israeli forces and other repressive governments around

in colombia and sheikh jarrah, to the detention of children on our own border and the militarization of u.s. police departments, the united states police departments, the united states must seriously assess its role in state violence and condition aid." so talk abouthis place that is your home, your family's home. this is a flashpoint for so much of what is happening come as you say, a microsm. explain whathe judges ruling has been. court was supposed to go into session today but they have canceled the hearing because of the level of violence right now. >> absolutely. we think this is a stolen on the judicial system's part. i want to make clear to all people watching, although we go to these course, we do not believe in their jurisdiction over us. we are simply buying time. at the end of the day, these are colonial courts that were built by and for israeli settlers? jewish supremacy. they are explicit in maintaining jewish dominance in jerusalem over the indigenous palestinians. we are waiting but not expecting much of a settler judge and jury to be completely honest with you, i am glad on congressional level people are speaking out against this and on a grassroots

level international people are speaking against this every single year israel receives military aid. biden has been consistent in refusing aid to israel. i don't want him to -- i wanted to end it altogether and military aid to any country that has of police brutality problem like colombia. this necessitates the united states acknowledging it has an imperial problem to begin with. we do call on the biden administration to take action against the evictions that are work crimes, but will not forget my home -- half of my home and my neighbors homes were taken under the obama administration with biden as a vice president. amy: so let's talk about what the biden administration has said. yet the national security advisor jake sullivan saying the

united states has serious concerns about the violent clashes between palestinians and jerusalem. he told israeli national security advisor they will press for steps to ensure calm, de-escalate tensions, and announced violence. adding the launching of rocket attacks from gaza toward israel is unacceptable, must be condemned. that the israeli national security advisor. if you can respond to this. he has expressed "serious concerns." last of the governments of several countries issued a joint call for israel to stop all settlement expansion in the occupied territories. >> we welcome all of the international condemnation that we are saying from countries be it united states or otherwise, that we want more than condemnation. we want israel to be held accountable for its crimes against palestinians. the biden administration and the

language continues to uphold the occupation. i think you can de-escalate the situation and the tension in the violence by ending the occupation. that is the only solution. it is insane for palestinians to continue to live to this occupation for over 70 years. there is palestinian people, grassroots individuals without any kind of leadership who are finally saying no and continually saying no to ethnic cleansing and there is an occupying entity that is using brute force and fascism and apartheid to suppress any kind of peaceful protest or any kind of protest altogether. in the past two weeks, our neighbors homes and our own homes have been sprayed with water that i can smell from a few blocks. we have so much stunned grenades and teargas, my own brother, not

that he is different from others, but my brother has been arrested. many people have been arrested. a person lost his eyes in al-aqsa mosque. we are seeing the israeli government terrorize palestinians, literally doing everything it can to terrorize palestinians. whereas israeli sellers can just walk around or neighborhoods, steal our homes, build their guns. no questions asked they can invade our homes. no consequences. there is clear asymmetry here. i think apartheid is an understatement but a good starting point. this must stop because it is killing all of us. amy: human rights using the word "apartheid." i want to turn to a who witnessed the israeli assault on the al-aqsa mosque saturday. >> they fight every day.

ndiscernible] why are they doing this to us? it is crazy. they are firing at us. what is this? look at how they are standing around. they are throwing bombs at us. amy: mohammed, as we begin to wrap up, you live between here and sheikh jarrah where you went back to with all that is happening there to protect your family home. can you talk about what you see happening? is it conceivable by the end of the week the israeli prime minister who himself has been dead for corruption, benjamin netanyahu, might not even be the prime minister anymore i does that make a difference with wh is the leadership in the israeli government? >> i think as long as the

leadership is spearheaded by settlers, settlemes will prevail in our country. i do not want to be living under israel rule to begin with and i don't rely on the israeli i commission forces to protect me. although there mandated to do so under international law. i think it is pointless for us to expect a person who is beating us up, assaulting us, terrorizing us to be told to stop and then have them stop. there must be international tervention. there must be sanctions against the israeli government. it is also important to note what has been happening in sheikh jarrah is not unique and has not started or ended with the israeli prime minister. it is happening elsewhere where villages a being declared military zones a green zone zones come happening all across palestine. the israeli colonialism that

started in 1948 and continues to do so. the only difference is it has replaced weapons and artillery with unusual system that is -- judicial system that is inherently colonial. i call on free people in the will to take action against it, to end the israeli occupation of palestinians altogether. it is not just about sheikh jarrah. it is about palestine that is being devoured. amy: mohammed el-kurd, thank you for being with us writer and , poet from jerusalem in occupied palestine. organizing to save his family some in the sheikh jarrah river hood. -- neighborhood. his debut book "rifqa" will be released by haymarket books later this year. next up, we go to afghanistan, where 85 people, mainly schoolgirls, have died in an attack outside their school. we will go to al-aqsa -- kabul for the latest. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. you can sign up for our daily news digest email by texting democracynow -- one word, no space -- to 66866. that's democracynow -- one word, no space -- to 66866. we go now to afghanistan. at least 85 people, mostly young girls, were killed after several bombs exploded outside a school and at the capital kabul saturday. survivors said the bombs were timed to go off as the girls left school. >> school time was over and we were coming out when a car exploded in front of us. amy: devastated families buried their loved ones amid mounting despair and anger. >> she was 15 years old and in eighth grade. she was very intelligent and had not missed a day of school. yesterday her mother told her to

not go to school. she said i will go today but not tomorrow. we buried her. amy: the blasts occurred in a neighborhood of kabul mostly populated by the minority hazara shia community. the afghan government blamed the taliban, but the group denie responsility. the massacre came one week after u.s. and nato forces began their military withdrawal from afghanistan and amid a surge in violence. elsewhere and in the country, at least people were killed and dozens, incling women and children, were injuredn a bus bombing in southern zabul province late sunday. meanwhile a new report has found 40% of all civilian casualties from airstrikes and afghanistan in the last five years were children. the organization action on armed violence estimates u.s. and afghan airstrikes have killed 785 children and injured 813 since 2016. we go first to kabul, afghanistan, where we are joined by basir bita, a mentor with afghan youth peace volunteers

whose brother is a teacher at -- who survived the bombing outside his school saturday. welcome to democracy now! can you describe what happened and tell us about the girls? can you hear me? >> yes, i can your you. amy: can you tell us about what happened? describe the school for girls in kabul, the death toll staggering at least 85 right now. >> it happened two days ago. [indiscernible]

i tried to reach my brother over the phone and he did not pick up . after a while i managed to reach my brother. [indiscernible] yesterday my wife and i went to where the incident lays. we saw people crying. [indiscernible] amy: we are having a little trouble hearing you. we're going to try to clear up the line. we are also on with zaher wahab, afghan-american professor who taught for four decades at lewis & clark graduate school of

education and for seven years at the american university of afghanistan in kabul. professor, thank you for rejoining us. your professor of education. if you can talk about this school, horrifying to say this target, and what this means and what girls were doing at the school? >> yes. good morning, amy. thank you for having me. i went to commend you for your wonderful journalism. this w actually not the first time in school had been attacked. the school is located in what is called -- in the western part of kabul, sort of the suburbs. in the populated -- mainly pulated about one third of the afghan population. all of them being shiites. this particular school was a

mixed school and operates three shifts per day for boys and girls and it is a high school. [indiscernible] at 1:00 p.m. when the students were out at 4:30 pm, somehow word got around through security organization distribute in some goods and so forth. hundreds of girls gathered around at the entrance. at that point, the car bomb explodes. i knew few minutes in aew minutes, an ied.

this is what happened. of course, you said some 83 girls were killed and more than 150 were injured. apparently, the explosion was so strong, some of the students completely evaporated. they dispeared. they could not be found. other than that, people were maimed and dismembered. you found heads without bodies and bodies without heads, limbs, so forth. the people rushed and aarently this was a mile from the police station. it took the police station about an hour to respond to the explosion. so people were very, very angry. when the police arrived, some people actually begin attacking the police in the ambulances and

cursed the government and blamed the government for indifference. this was at least the third time i messed him or her had occurred in the very -- mass murder had occurred in the very same area. there was an attack exactly a year ago by maternity hospital, killing a lot of people. there was an attack on a judo club where a lot of people were killed. there was an attack last year on a main tutoring center where people were killed. we should also point out just in the last few months, was a major attack on a kabul university, the city itself, the law school that killed at least 24 students. on april 1, there was an attack,

a car bomb attack on husker graduates who had gathered not far from kabul and they were getting ready to take the entrance examination. so such mass murders or massacres are sort of the usual thing, unfortunately. other than a tarted assassination all over the country of judges, lawyers, professors, journalists, civil society people will stop and also the war that is currently raging in 13 state i will stop there but i also want to point out one glimmer of hope seems to be just last night , but the taliban and the government announced a three day cease-fire. amy: one of the early justifications, professor, for

the invasion of afghanistan was protecting women and girls from taliban misogyny. i remember laura bush would often come out to talk about this. your highly critical of this pretext. what is your message to those who say -- the u.s. has to state in afghanistan once again to protect girls? >> i think this is wrong and not exactly true because if you look at the statistics in the last 20 years, a lot of women and a lot of children have been killed. but also right now, there is no safety or security anywhere. it is very interesting to read the united stes state department device re--- advisory that advises and there can still

leave afghanistan but also advises others to not go to afghanistan. the advisory lists specifically all kinds of places- schools, universities, restaurants, mosques, sports events, etc. -- all over the country and say people should not go to afghanistan. but also we should remember the initial assault on october 7, 2001, by the united states was really a retaliation. it was not a planned action or an invasion. it was simply a reflexive response to the crime of 9/11. later, of course, e american government had the justification in the liberation -- so-lled liberation of women. but we have to point out that women continue -- women and

children continue to be the main victims of this occupation and invasion and the mayhem. if you look, for example, 85% of the women in the country are still illiterate. child marriage is very common. polygamy is very common. poverty amongst women is very, very common. altogether, 70% of the people are poor. whether it was the so-called liberation of women or ending the narcotics or bringing peace, prosperity, democracy to afghanistan, all of these i think were sort of for television, for the american audience. because the facts on the ground are entirely different. it is very questionable in being said by observers what happened $135 billion aid package by the united states and where is the

development? because right now most of the people -- women in particular -- live in the middle ages. they are poor, widowed, you know, brutalized. and it is not really true. a few women we should point out -- a few women in the major cities are going to schools and university and have jobs and travel. but most women, most afghan people live in pain and suffering. amy: i want to see if we have a clearer line with basir bita mentor with afghan youth peace , volunteers. your brother just barely surviving the attack on the girl school in kabul. the taliban have not claimed responsibility, though they have been blamed for this. who do you think is responsible?

an overall, the significance of the u.s. leaving? >> you know, there are different stories. i am hearing different stories from different sources. some claim the taliban are responsible for the incident, but some other people claim responsibility goes to the central government. almost two or three weeks ago, i remember clearly an incident took place along with one or two other schools in the area. the students and teachers ran to the streets and shouted "we need more resources. we need textbooks. we need teachers." and you would see another two or

three weeks of it incident takes place on the very school with the students and teachers rallied on the streets. it is unclear who is responsible for this incident. amy: human rights watch has put out the statement warning that groups should not be abandoning support, financial support for women, warning afghan women's access to health care is at risk to to cuts in international aid. the group said -- "donors are locked in a waiting game to see whether the withdrawal of foreign troops will result in the taliban gaining greater control of the country. but this is no excuse for cutting funds for essential services that aid groups have managed to deliver in insecure and taliban-controlled areas." so often these nonprofits will

link up with military. and when a military leaves, the nonprofits also leave. they find it harder to get funding. your final comment? >> this is -- since he was invasion in 2001. how long are we going to need aid in afghanistan? there was no development plan. there was no clear action plan for afghanistan when the u.s. played to invade. the final solution would be -- afghan people, afghan government, activists, along

with the taliban and other insurgent groups to come up with a very clear and applicable plan for the future of afghanistan. amy: basir bita, that you for being with us, mentor with afghan youth peace volunteers. his brother is a teacher in any high school in kabul, afghanistan who survived saturday's attack. thank you for joining us. and zaher wahab, afghan-america professor full stuff when we come back, we speak to ari berman. voter suppression los being passed in state after state in this country. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show looking at the extreme voting restrictions advancing in several republican-led states. on thursday, florida's republican governor ron desantis

signed a sweeping voter suppression bill that will make it harder to vote by mail, limit ballot drop boxes, impose new voter id requirements, and criminalize giving food and water to voters waiting in line at polling places. governor desantis signed the bill in a private ceremony broadcast on "fox & friends" after his spokesperson barred other reporters, telling one the event was a fox news exclusive. desantis was surrounded by a group of republican lawmakers, none of them african american. >> i have what we think is the strongest election integrity measures in the country. i'm going to sign it right here. it will take effect. there you go. the bill is signed. amy: this comes as the texas house of representatives passed a republican-backed voter suppression bill around 3:00 a.m. friday morning after an all-night session.

republicanovernor greg abbot is expected to sign the measure after it is reconciled with a texas senate suppression bill. meanwhile, republicans in ohio have introduced a bill to put severe restrictions on ballot drop boxes and absentee voting. at the federal level, the sweeping voting rights and election overhaul bill known as the for the people act goes before the senate's democratic-controlled rules committee tuesday, where it faces changes aimed at winning support from the lone democratic holdout, senator joe manchin, and republicans. for more, we're joined by mother jones reporter ari berman, whose article in the march/april issue of the magazine is headlined "the insurrection was put down. the gop plan for minority rule marches on." welcome back to democracy now! first describe what happened in florida, then go to texas come and talk about what these voter suppression los have at their core in theetails. looks good morning. thank you for having me back.

first off, the florida liza, kate of the georgia voter suppression law. it does a lot of things the georgia law did. it makes it a crime to ge people food and water commitments it harder to get absentee ballots, and expense access for partisan poll watchers to observe ballot counting. it was signed as a fox news exclusive what i have nev seen before. an example of democracy dine in the dark in the so-called sunshine state. you go to texas, another state were democracy is dying in the dark because they literally pass the voter bill at 3:00 a.m. that will criminalize efforts to make it easier to vote while legalizing voter intimidation. i say that lcause it criminalizes efforts to make it easier to vote because election officials will send out absentee ballot request forms to voters who do not request them, which is a standard and lots of

states. theyould be charged with a criminal offense. at the same time the election officials tried to remove partisan poll watchers who might be trying to intimidate voters. they themselves could be charged with a criminal offense. basically what it is trying to do is legalize voter suppression. i think at the core of the florida drill, the texas bill, all of these bills are trying to weaponize the big lie that trump told the election was stolen, trying to make it harder for democratic constituencies to be able to vote in future elections, and trying to institutionalize voter suppression in where they could not do in 2020. they were unable to overturn the election through litigation and intimidation in 2020, so they're trying to change the rules to get the same outcome in 2022 2024. amy: ari berman, can you talk about the texas bill statement of purpose, initially stating the measures design to preserve the purity of the ballot box?

talk about the significance of that phrase. >> that language about the purity of the ballot box is straight from the jim crow era. it was literally used to defend like all primaries to disenfranchise black and mexican american voters in texas and other states. i texas democratic rep as the bill sponsor about it. he said, did you know the phrase "purity at the ballobox was quote was used to disenfranchise african-american and mexican americans in texas to justify jim crow? the bill sponsor, who travel to pennsylvania after the election, try to overturn the election results, said he was not aware that it had been used to justify jim crow. that was either shocking during or knowingly obtuse. either way the fact texas republicans put language into their bill that was ripped straight from jim crow gives you

90 of what they're trying to do with these voter suppression rules. amy: you said the fact gop voter suppression efforts are still being described as partisan battle rather than an all-out assault on democracy is unconscionable. talk about that. and also, if people are not following what is happening in arizona, the fourth counting by this ninja private company that is being paid a fortune by arizona, some of those counting participated in the insurrection? >> well, the point i was trying to make is that every single day you see in headlines that basically say republicans try to protect election integrity and democrats call it voter suppression, you still try to do falls in terms ofow the covered voter suppression. the issue is not democrats versus republicans. the issue is republicans versus democracy. they're making it harder for

everybody to vote. yes,, this might fall harder on democratic leading constituencies, but these are changes in georgia, florida, texas that will affect millions of voters. this is not about partisan politics. this is about one party having an all-out assault on democracy, on the democratic process. i think that is how i think that is how it should be covered. if you look at arizona, this is not a fourth counting of the votes. this is a come the conspiratorial witchhunt where they are trying to manufacture claims of fraud in order to build support for overturning future elections. remember, the americana -- maricopa county boarof supervisors idominateby republicans. every single member is a republican except for one democrat. they were republicans who signed off on the election results. it was a republican governor. the republican attorney general. republican head of the supreme

court. all the people who signed off on the election results and arizona were republicans but that is not enough. they're basically trying to weaponize the insurrection to this audit which is not really an audit, it is a witchhunt. i think it willave detrimental effects not just in arizona but other states. there try to export this audit other states and being ledy someone that was a team member of the stop the steal member. it is very disturbing what is happening. my worry is in 70 different ways the big lie is being weaponize, whether it is the audit in arizona, a new voter suppression law, the attempt to take out liz cheney -- i think this is all connected to the republican party waging an all-out war on democracy. amy: we have less than a minute. the whole issue of the federal law, the for the people act, hr1. explain its significance and

where it stands. >> on tuesday, then we'll go to the senate floor. sweeping democracy reform it would put in place measures like automatic registration, election day registration, early voting commit expanded male voting in all 50 states. it is more important than ever. it will be hard to challenge all of these laws through the courts. i think it makes federal legislation all the more important. it is clear democrats are either going to pass legislation to protect democracy or the republican party is going to undermine the democratic process the next decade and beyond. amy: ari berman, thank you for being with us most of for mother jones, author of "give us the ballot: the modern struggle for voting rights in america." that does it for our broadcast. if you want to sign up for our daily digest, you can send the word democracynow, text it to

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