07/23/21 07/23/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> please stand for the national anthem of japan. the flag will be raised by the representative of the japan self-defense forces. ♪ amy: the opening ceremony of the summer olympics has begun in tokyo despite widespread opposition in japan over holding

the games during yet another pandemic surge. we will go to tokyo where protesters have gathered outside the national stadium. >> i just came out of the protest and there were several hundred people gathered to protest but there are many others around japan. the in reason is covid-19. we are in a full state of emergency and still the olympics are happening. amy: then to two women leaders arrested in the united states. indigenous activist winona laduke was arrested protesting the enbridge line 3 pipeline in minnesota. >> arrested for being a water protector. this is the enbridge way, make sure [indiscernible] while they put a bunch of us in jail. amy: and to reverend liz theoharis of the poor people's

campaign who was arrested with over 100 women in washington, d.c., at the women's moral march. >> were all too aware that the extremist politicians who are suppressing and stealing our ability to vote are the same politicians who deny living wages, refuse to expand health care, exploit immigrants and lgbtqia people, and women, and so we march. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as the opening ceremony for the summer olympics kicks off in tokyo today, in a mostly empty stadium, covid 19 cases linked to the games rose to 110. 13 athletes are among the positive cases.

the majority of tokyo residents opposed the olympics going ahead amid a surge in the coronavirus. we'll have more on this after headlines. italy has introduced a "green pass" which restricts entry to stadiums, museums, theaters, indoor restaurants, and other social gathering places to only vaccinated people. here in the u.s., centers for disease control director dr. rochelle walensky warned the united states is at another pivotal moment in the pandemic, urging unvaccinated people yet again to get inoculated to protect themselves and their communities. hospitals in areas with the largest spikes in cases are warning things are likely to get much worse. this is erik frederick, chief administrative officer at mercy hospital in missouri. >> we are just starting to see this in your community and your vaccination rates are low like ours, you can eect this to go beyond what you saw.

the delta variant is much more contagious, making people sicker. there is a lot less mitigation templates than last year. amy: just three states, missouri, texas, as well as florida, represent 40% of the new infections. meanwhile, in california, los angeles officials said 20% of new cases are now being reported in vaccinated people as the delta variant has taken hold. in sports news, the nfl is ramping up pressure on all players to get vaccinated, saying teams will have to forfeit games and players will go unpaid if there is a covid-19 outbreak among unvaccinated team members. the biden administration has imposed new sanctions on cuba's defense ministernd the interior ministry, with president biden warning, "this is just the beginning." the move comes in response to

recent anti-government protests denouncing the economic crisis during the pandemic and reports of government repression. people have been scrambling to cope amid shortages of medicine, food, and other resources largely due to catastrophic u.s. sanctions. the cuban foreign minister bruno rodriguez denounced the sanctions as unfounded and slanderous and said the u.s. should enforce such measures on itself instead "because of daily acts of police repression and brutality." this comes as over 400 politicians, intellectuals, clergy members, artists, activists, and former heads of state are calling on biden to immediately lift the 243 sanctions the trump administration imposed on cuba. the group, which includes former brazilian president luiz inácio lula da silva, noam chomsky, and cornell west, have printed an ad in "the new york times" headlined "let cuba live." congressmember and congressional

black caucus whip hank johnson was arrested thursday, alongside prominent african-american voting rights advocates, as they protest ongoing attacks on budding rights in front of a senate building. harvard professor and former naacp president cornell william brooks, black voters matter co-founder cliff albright, and color of change president rashad robinson were also among those arrested. before their arrest, the men were joined by other activists and black congressmembers on the steps on the supreme court where they called for abolishing the filibuster and for senators to pass the for the people act. this is rashad robinson speaking yesterday. >> don't come to us and as per our vote by date and stay silent where they take away our power by night. we will not go back. there were no good old days. there is only a path forward. there's only a path forward with all of us enable to be heard,

recognized. amy: in india, over 200 farmers led a protest near the parliament in new delh thursday, marking some eight months of resistance against three agricultural laws enacted by prime minister narendra modi. farmers e continui to pressureodi's government to repeal the laws which deregulate agculturalarkets a rollback key lor and income protections. millions of farms and opponents of the rorms have staged multiple strikes across india since at least last november. agculture the leadi sour of incomeor more an half of india's 1.3 llion population. in south africa, the death toll in recent antigovernment protest has risen to at least 330 seven people. thousands of others have been arrested. the demonstrations erupted after former president jacob zuma began his 15-month jail sentence for refusing to testify in a corruption probe. they've since focused on

grinding poverty and record levels of unemployment, exacerbated by the pandemic. at least 20 refugees are presumed to have drowned off the coast of libya in the mediterranean sea wednesday. this week alone, the libyan coast guard has intercepted seven vessels and apprehended hundreds of refugees, including children, as they attempt to reach europe for safety. amnesty international reports in the first have of this year, over 7000 refugees have been apprehended and forcibly returned to prison camps in libya. meanwhile, the number of n refugees who have died while attempting to reach european soil by c has more than doubled compared to the first six months of 2020. so far this year, over 1100 people have perished. the pentagon said it launched overnight airstrikes against taliban targets in kandahar, afghanistan, thursday. u.s. officials say they will continue to conduct airstrikes until they complete their withdrawal at the end of and

august that most of the recent strikes come from unmanned drones. in related news, the u.s. house overwhelmingly passed a bill thursday to provide 8000 more special visas for afghans who worked as interpreters, contractors, and security personnel for the u.s. during its occupation. the visas will also cover their families. the senate armed services committee voted to increase the pentagon budget by $25 billion above president biden's request, in a move likely to face opposition from progressive democrats who are seeking to cut military spending. activists gathered in front of the cultural attaché office for the united arab emirates in washington, d.c., thursday to protest the planned rendition of former guantánamo detainee ravil mingazov back to russia. he is currently being held in a uae prison after being released from guantanamo bay in 2017.

he was held without charge for over 15 years. advocates say 17 other former guantánamo prisoners are now locked up in the uae under inhumane conditions. this is helen schietinger of witness against torture. >> they have been tortured. this man will live with that for the rest of their lives. we owe them reparations. we need to make sure they are in good situations and continue to follow them and support them in attempting to make the rest of their lives fulfilled. amy: 40 labor, healthcare, and other advocacy groups are calling on president biden to invoke the defense production act to halt the shutdown of the largest u.s. generic drugs plant at the end of this month. 1500 people are on the verge of losing their jobs at viatris' mylan pharmaceuticals plant in west virginia, which will start

outsourcing its manufacturing to india. the groups say the move will leave the u.s. with virtually no domestic production of generic pharmaceuticals, threatening the supply chain for essential drugs. the house committee on financial services held one of its first hearings on public banking this week. new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez, who last year introduced the public banking act with congressmember rashida tlaib, said public banks would help support local economies and infrastructure and help combat inequality and structural racism in the banking industry. but most states and cities have to rely on commercial banks because there is no public option. thiss deyani del rio from the new economy project testifying at wednesday's hearing. >> charter to serve e public good and would remove th profit-seeking shareholders fro the equati and all for other benefits other than maximizing profits. >> and a public bank would not

have billionaire ceos that are paid hundreds or thousands times the lowest employees? >> that is our vision for public banking. amy: and unesco's world heritage committee has decided not to designate australia's great barrier reef as being "in danger." australia has been feverishly lobbying to avoid the label, which would have meant the site is at risk of losing its world heritage status. extreme ocean temperatures due to the climate crisis have caused the reef to degrade, including extensive coral bleaching. unesco's decision will be reconsidered in 2022. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in tokyo, japan, where protesters have gathered outside the opening ceremony of the summer olympics. the international olympic

committee has pushed forward with holding the games during a pandemic, despite widespread opposition in japan. polls show at least 70% of the population wanted the games canceled or postponed as covid cases surge. at least 110 people linked to the games have tested positive for covid so far. the opening ceremony is being held in tokyo's national stadium, but the 80,000 seat arena built for this purpose is largely empty. fewer than 1000 vip guests have been invited to attend. spectators have alsoeen banned from sporting events throughout the games. the 2020 olympic games were originally scheduled to ke place a ar ago butas postponed due to the pandemic. we go now directly to the protests just outside tokyo's national stadium, where we are

joined by satoko itani, associate professor of sports, gender, and sexuality at kansai university. itani, welcome back to democracy now! can you start by setting the scene for us? describe where you are and what these protests are about. >> thank you for having me back. i hope you can hear me. i am outside the olympic stadium . you can hear the protesters. you can feel the energy of the people. [indiscernible] the rising cases of covid. a state of emergency. this is a very scary moment.

amy: we're going to come back to you. we are having trouble hearing you because of the chants and the protests right behind you. as you relocate you, we're going to go right now to jules boykoff , author of four books on the olympics who has played for the u.s. olympic soccer team from 1989-1991. his latest piece for the nation with dave zirin is headlined "the human cost of the pandemic olympics." his "l.a. times" opinion piece this week is headlined "tokyo's olympics have turned nightmarish. l.a., are you watching?" we will talk about the future of games in l.a. what is happening here is truly astounding, jules. you have japan itself, even the leadership, opposed, including the prime minister, to these olympics yet you have what we now understand is this large multinational corporation, the

international olympic committee, that actually can control what prime ministers and governments do and allow to happen. they have required these olympic s continue, even if the stadiums are empty. >> that is right. what we are witnessing right now play out in tokyo is unparalleled in the political history of the olympics. you're pointing the finger in the right direction when we think about the international olympic committee. the saga in tokyo has exposed d international olympic committee that openly disrespects the will of locals, brushes off inconvenient facts from experts like medical experts who say these games are a terrible idea, and the ioc is to prioritize its profits over all else. meanwhile, the olympics tend to need democracy, undercut democracy in ways that y describe with the very prime minister essentially reduced to a contractual supplicant of the international olympic committee

with no power to decide whether to cancel or not, and you are seeing also everything is very vulnerable to things like covid-19 -- and also climate change. when the international olympic committee arrives in the host city, it is this para state type organization. what we have seen time and again is it is also a parasite on the host city. amy: explained all that has taken place. first of all, people might be surprised these are even called politics 2020 when it is 2021, and all the skirmishes until this point -- i mean, this week the head of the tokyo olympics committee set at any moment we can cancel these. but that is not true, right? >> correct. in tokyo 2020, has been a cascade of calamities from the beginning. if we go back to 2013 when tokyo

was initially awarded the international olympic committee, there prime minister shinzo abe student front of the international olympic committee and said in google shema, things were under control. this is part of the double lie that is the foundation of the tokyo olympics. if your self-respecting biologist in fukushima at that time in 2013, new things were very much not under control. after all, the triple amy earthquake-tsunami, nuclear meltdown in 2011 was still playing out. that was the first lie. the second line is they started to call these olympics the "recovery games," arguing by hosting the olympics, it would help fukushima and the other affected regions recover from the triple whammy disaster. we dave zirin and i want to fukushima in july 2019 and we talked to journalists and elected officials and people on the ground in fukushima, they

said that recovery games mantra was annoying and in fact offensive to them. they told us how the cranes and other items that would help them recover in fukushima were being transferred to tokyo. and since then, it is been one debacle after another. the cost of the tokyo olympics have skyrocketed. in the bid documents, it was supposed to cost 7.3 billion dollars. today, it is close to $30 billion. almost four times the original price tag. you also have the militarization of the public sphere. if you look at the olympic stadium, it looks like some sort of demilirized zone with huge fences that prevent everyday people from getting even close to the stadium. what we have seen in tokyo in a lot of ways is a nice example, powerful example -- you know, what happens with the olympics when political elites have them

come to your city. it disrupts everything. there are long-term problems that come with it. amy: we will talk about some of the amazing athletes, some who have pulled up. before we do that, we will try satoko itani again. this is the beauty and power and who knows what happens nature of life television. satoko itani, you are at the protest outside the olympic stadium, built for over 70,000 people but it will be a fraction of that, less than 1000 inside, including the first lady of the united states after jill biden -- dr. jill biden. talk about why so many were you are are outside protesting these olympics. we did not hear what you said the first time, that we did hear the chants. >> i hope you can hear me now. amy: perfectly. >> the people have been frustrated ever since the awarding of the olympics in 2013

because it was only 2.5 years after the disaster. sie then with the neoliberal policy, people'lives are getting harder and harder. when it comes to the olympics, it seems like endless money that can pour into it. in the past year since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been told not to go outside . we are told -- it results in th false positives of the virus. in the end, when you look at the olympics, tens of thousands of delegates are coming to japan and many are not staying in the protocol following the quarantine role. went to hiroshima only three days of the quarantine. they have been angry about this.

[indiscernible] if they're going to test the athletes every day, why they did not provide -- i have not gotten even one in the past year and a half. amy: satoko itani, can you talk about toyota? spent $1 billion to promote the games, now has removed all olympic-related commercials, many commercials that include the olympics that are so often played through the games, because of their embarrassment that this is moving forward and apparently the head of toyota said these games should not be moving forward? >> right. as you mentioned, the vast majority of japanese people don't want the games. people are seriously concerned about their lives. if you look at the sponsors making a lot of money off the games that people's lives might be at risk, it is a damaging

image. this is quite the story. the olympic sponsors pulled their association. amy: what are your biggest concerns with the olympic athletes? at this point, we see something like over 100 have tested positive coming from all over the world, not just athletes but staff. and those numbers only increase. a number of other athletes have whipped saying they cannot dea with the pressure and the isolation. but talk about what people are asking for instead. >> well a lot of people i spoke to hear are asking for the cancellation immediately. the bubble is not working. as you mention, over 100 cases w. athletes and dignitaries are not protected. the public, the people here are

also not protected. what is concerning is the number of new infections is going up quite rapidly. because the on the books are happening, the government is been failed to stop the delta variant from coming into japan. researchers are warning will be over 3000 cases in tokyo alone daily within maybe a few weeks. this is really serious situation in the hospital is already strained. amy: can you talk about the hospitals and also marginalized communities like the lgbtq+ communy and how many people are vaccinated, what percentage of people have access to vaccines? >> so we started to hear reports from the hospitals that their beds are starting to fill up and there are thousands of cases --

thousands of people waiting to be hospitalized. this means their condition is worsening fast and they should be hospitalized but they cannot find a hospital bed to go into. about 43% of japanese people have been fully vaccinated. 80% of people are not. amy: which brings us back to jules boykoff with this mass protest happening even the highest levels of japanese government not wanting this to go forward the basically ioc says a deal is a deal. talk about how much money they make off the olympics and that paid a fortune for running the olympics over the years, they will broadcast -- not clear what they will show of the stadiums since there are very few people outside of the athletes performing? >> that's right. there's a lot of money sloshing through the olympic system. it tends to slish upwards into

pockets that are already filled. nbc gives about 40% of the international olympic committee's revenues. overall in terms of the olympics, 73% of the revenues for the international olympic committee come from broadcaster fees. i think that helps explain why their perfectly content to have a made-for-tv event without all the people in the stands. of course, they prefer to have them in the stands, but even if they don't, the money continues to flow into their coffers. nbc has announced even though these games are hit with the pandemic and people will not be in the seats, this could well be the most profitable olympics ever for nbc because of ad sales and other measures. the corporate sponsors provide another percent of the revenues for the international olympic committee. i think we're seeing an interesting divide between the corporate sponsors right now on one hand, the long-term worldwide partners that fork over the nine figure fees to be

associated with theive rings, they're basically playing the long day with the exception of toyota, which has a strong base in japan. the local sponsors, domestic sponsors -- by the way, they raise more than $3 billion from local corporate sponsors in japan, more than ever before. they are in a much trickier position and i think that is why you're seeing toyota basically say out loud the olympics have become a toxic property inside japan. there is plenty of money to be had, it just has to shovel to the international olympic committee, two broadcasters, to the corporate podcasters, as well as real estate interests in the city. amy: i think nbc has paid something like $7.7 billion to air the olympics through 2032. jules boykoff, you played in the olympics years ago. let's talk about some of the

people who have pulled out. like the two-time u.s. paralympic swimmer becca meyers who has won three gold medals - two silvers, and a bronze, , announced tuesday in an emotional opinion piece for "usa today" that she has withdrawn from the tokyo 2020 paralympics after being denied an essential medical accommodation. meyers was born deaf with progressive sight loss due to usher syndrome. she wrote -- "since 2017, the has approved the use of a personal care assistant whom i know and trust to be with me at international swim meets because of my disabilities. but not this year. what happens if there is an emergency in the middle of the night? what if we need to be moved from one venue to another quickly? masks and distancing have made it incredibly difficult for me to make out what people are

doing or saying. if i don't have someone i can trust, how can i trust that i will be safe?" >> i am heartbroken. i have not been sleeping well, have not been eating. it is stormy apart. swimming is a part of who i am. it is given identity. i have always been known as becca the swimmer. not becca the deaf-blind person. for someone who is trained for five years for this moment, an extra you're the pandemic, it makes it seem like it was all for nothing. amy: that is becca meyers speaking on cnn. she is blind. she cannot hear. she was going with her mother who has been her personal assistant but they said no, that there was personal assistance there, something like a couple dozen people, only one, something that would not be adequate for her. so she has pulled up.

can you tell us more? also the role of the paralympics, they will not be broadcast by nbc live during this time, is that right? >> let me say well i did play soccer, i did not participate in the olympics. i want to be clear abo that. the ioc, the international olympic committee, has been saying over and over again as if we are repeating this mantra to make it true, the games are supposed to be safe and secure. at every turn they said these games will be safe and secure. if there are so safe and secure, why are we seeing all of these cases even inside the olympic bubble yucca it has already been punctured. if the games are so safe and secure, why are athletes being forced to sign a waiver that states if they die of coronavirus for from heatstroke, they cannot hold the olympic organizers liable?

if these games are so safe and secure, why did the new england journal of medicine come out with an editorial that just excoriated the international olympic committee for his preparations for the covid-19 crisis in tokyo? they said they were not putting forth best scientific practices. they don't even provide masks to the people that are going to tokyo. so it is a byom situation, bring your own mask situation. the ioc likes to talk about how athletes are first. that is one of their mantras. same with the international olympic -- paralympic committee. we need sure the case of becca meyers come how poignant that is. it is so heartbreaking. it is hard to take that slogan who put athletes first" when you hear that. an important study came out the compared percentage of revenues that olympians get compared athletes from other sports like

the international basketball association, national football league, english premier league a football over in the u.k.. what they found was with the other leagues, the other professional leagues, the athletes took in between 45% and 60% of the revenues. with the olympics, olympians only take 4.1% of the revenues. 4.1% compared to 45% to 60%. olympians are not even getting a fair share of the money pie. that has to change. one exciting thing we're seeing is athletes around the world begin to come together and organize around these issues and support each other. groups like global athlete and athlete-led groups fighting for justice, groups like the athletic association in track and field, like the newly formed international swimmers alliance. they are realizing if athletes want to get more of a fair shake at the games, they need to come together and organize

independent of the olympic honchos. amy: just to say the paralympics actually take place not right now, but from august 24 until september 5. i want to ask about the spanish swimmer ona carbonell who has criticized the olympic committee for imposing rules that made it nearly impossible for her to continue breastfeeding her child while at the olympics. on wednesday, she released a video expressing her disappointment and disillusionment after she decided she couldn't bring her breastfeeding son to tokyo while she competed. >> so i did take a very tough decision together with my team who has been helping me a lot with my family because the japanese government's impositions are not compatible with my athletic performance and being with my family at the same time. amy: jules boykoff? >> again, another heart wrenching story we're hearing out of the olympic zone.

basically, she was forced to choose between her family and her olympic dream. the international olympic committee did loosen the rules after a lot of pressure from these organized athletes that i was talking about. at the end of june, they said mothers who were nursing could continue to do so during the olympics but under very strict nditions where the baby would be kept in a hotelar away from the olympic zone. the athlete you were just talking about ona carbonell said this would be more dangerous -- if she had to travel to a hotel with a bab would be for 20 days in quarantine and then travel back to the olympic village, that is not the best scientific practices. i thinit points to the fact the fact international olympic committee is making athletes make terrible choices, heart-wrenching choices. i feel for that athlete. amy: finally, jules boykoff, the message for los angeles. explain when the other books are in los angeles and what this

means. >> los angeles is slated to host the 2028 olympics. they were originally awarded the games in 2017. that is unconventional, and1 your leadtime. what we have seen since then is the entire olympics movement here in los angeles where i'm coming to you from, a group called no olympics l.a. they been fighting on the ground 2017 to raise awareness about the downsides of the olympics. people here in los angeles who are going to bring the games it looks like to los angeles have long said costs are not a problem, they're not going to go up. they have already gone up. in the bid, there were $5.3 billion and upgraded to $6.9 billion. but more important for the activists here in los angeles, they're talking about how the olympics are stoking

gentrification, stoking the displacement of working populations in the town. and also militarizing the public's sphere. los angeles hosted the 1984 olympics. if you look back at media coverage at that time, you will hear journalist saying the real sound of the olympics was a helicopter blade above. a lot of the equipment purchased for the 1984 olympics was turned around and used in the racialized drug war here in los angeles because that is what happens with the olympics. because they're such a huge spectacle, they necessitate a massive security infrastructure. they don't put that back in the box and return to sender. that sticks around and becomes part of normal policing. you are seeing a lot of pushback. because they were awarded the games 11 years in advance, a transfer activist to have more time to organize and is typical around the olympics. los angeles should be looking at what is happening in tokyo and

be aware of what could possibly happen here as well. amy: jules boykoff, thank you for being with us, author of four books on the olympics. and satoko itani, associate professor of sports, gender, and sexuality at kansai university. what are the plans for the coming days? >> they will continue protesting. we have to make our voices heard because the olympics have shown even when we are in the global pandemic, and the majority of people opposing can our voices cannot be heard. we have to keep saying no. amy: satoko itani, speaking to us from outside the olympic stadium where major protests are taking place. coming up, indigenous leader will now know laduke --winona laduke and reverend liz

theoharis. first we will go to minnesota where winona laduke is just been released from jail. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "upon this tidal wave of young blood" by clap your hands say yeah. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. we look at the ongoing resistance to theine 3 ta sands peline athe shel river,hich theartially mpleted peline iset to crosin fivplaces. nely 600ater proctors ha beenrrested ring protes agait thpipeline so fa on mday, authorities aested indigeus leadewinona luke and ateast sixtherater otectors sheoinss now afr three nightsn jail. her latest book "to be a water , protector." welcome back to democracy now! why were you arrested?

>> i was arrested because i wanted to stop enbridge's line 3 from crossing the sh -- shell river. enbridge is trying tfinish this line and -- it is now 600 people have been arrested. we stood in front of the police for quite a whi without people d our horses a our children. they arrested seven of us. amy: explain who owns enbridge line 3 and why you want it shut down. >> is owned by the enbridge corporation. it is a risky canadian corporation, 225 subsidiaries with all the money kept in canada, and they're shoving this pipelineown our throat. about a month ago, minnesota dnr, the mostorrupt agency, 5

billion gallons of water to enbridge in the middle of a drought. in december they began -- they do not notify the tribes until may and thessue the permit in june. 5 billion gallons in the worst drought in history. our rivers are down 50%, 75%, get this pipeline is mching at in the middle of this drought. ironically, more more money is being disted from the tar sands. the saudi sovereign fund to vested like $3illion fm the tar sands and chevron in new york pensionund and royal dutch shell, all looking at doing this. it is like the last tar sands pipeline and enbridge was to shove it down our throats. an water protectors have been standing strong. you have to say, who wants to have the last tar sands pipeline? the end of the party. the enbridge way seems to keep

pushing ahead. i think it is called regulatory capture. they take over your regulatory system and your police. as you know, amy, the majority of enbridge has been required by law to pay the police forces in northern minnesota. one has to ask, if it is such a good idea, why do you need to many police? amy: amy: intercept reported they expected the line 3-help boost their budget to fund new weapons. the article reveals that a few weeks before line 3 was approved for construction, aitkin county sheriff's deputy aaron cook bought a new assault rifle that cost $725. in a november 2020 email, cook wrote to the gun seller -- "our budget took a hit last week, so that's all we will be ordering for now. i'm hoping the pipeline will give us an extra boost to next year's budget, which should make it easy for me to propose an

upgrade/trade to your rifles rather than a rebuild of our 8 bushmasters" -- referencing another assault rifle. your response, winona? >> that is exactly right. they have been faithful to the for the police dertment's. at this point, enbridge has been financing these northern police departments. 40 different squads show up throughout the state. press one protect -- arrest water protectors. it is a civil crisis when a canadian multinational controls your police force. canadian multinational has taken our civil rights. myself among many havbeen p in jai that ithe enbrgeay. good tllhe policnd -

corol the police and shove your pipeline through. amy: talk about this related to the climate emergency. we are talking to you as there are some 80 massive wildfires burning, something larger than the city of los angeles, all to the west -- montana, oregon, washington, california. you have salt lake at its lowest level ever. you have the fires -- in china, this massive flooding in central china which forced to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people. how does that relate toour arrest? >> enbridge's line 3 is the equivalent of adding 50 new coal-fired power plants. you don't get it trfor putting this one in. what is happening is every day now you e the haze from the canadian wildfires, yet we see enbridge and the minnesota dnr

guarding hoses as they suck millions of gallons of water out of the river and put in this canadian tar san pipeline in the worst disaster of a drought and these massive fires that are to the north and west of us. it is really a devastating tim for all of us as climate chaos since upon us. yet you see the governor decide to sell us out, sellout the people of minnesota so can get 23 jobs from the canadian multinational. it is so wrong. the biden administration sitting by and watching it happen. i'm watching river to river -- thesere priine rive system i'm watcng thingget deroyed a enbridg ravas thugh o count a i' watchi hundredof peoplget arrestedrying toroct our

ter and op the cmate disaster that bridge's line reesents. it is $9 billi pipelin right nowthe mostxpensiven the rld. as i said,hat isike a great gale at the d of the fossil fuel erathe mostxpenve tar nce peline inhe world it is bral out here. i d not like myhree dayin jail, but that is the enbridge y. amy: talk out at a frackout is and have there been leaks? >> this is a new pipine but they are like 69 rivers and 22 of them with this ing called hdd, a horrible drill system, horizontal directional drill. there drilling like unrneath the rivers and they hit an aquiand shoot out for hit a seam that shoots out into the river on a spring they did not annoy about and all of this and

have all kinds of crazy stuff at the bottom of th river. the thing is the shelliver is a pristiiver, ossed ve mes by enidge, agriculral it hathe largestussel populaon, thisuge and beautilusselopulatn. the army cps of eineersthe dertment o interr -all of these encies aooki aside d bide seems to approve the tar sands pipeline. amy: that is interesting you mentioned the department of interior because it is a native american -- first native american secretary of the department of interior deb haaland. she actually was at the protest in north dakota against dapl. about 200 major activist,

democratic donors, environmentalists sent a letter demanding president biden stop enbridge's pipeline project like he did with keystone xl and firmly establish the principle they said that we will move forward toward real climate solutions. at the biden administration has not done this. not only not done this for enbridge, but not fordapl were deb haaland was protesting. >> sadly, deb haaland has not stepped up and the bide administration certainly has ained her to their position. it is tragic. there is no environmental impact statement on this. it would not pass the climate test. it is bigger than keystone. if keystone would not pass, why with this? let alone the water impact. this is 1/5 of the world's water. enbridge is in the middle of the water well of our territory. the heartland of the water.

the army corps of engineers and department of interior, the agency has stepped up to protect the waters of the people of minnesota, nor any of the waters of this territory. it is so disappointi the biden administration is throwing indigenous people under the bus, water under the bus. there is no new water. that everybody is tolerating more and more arrests as if that is how it goes these days, we just keep arresting people because we think our projects are a great thing. i am sdisappointed in the biden administtion and deb haaland, every agency. i'm so disappointed there destroying our planet so it canadian multinational can make a bukc. amy: winona laduke, longtime indigenous activist who has been organizing for years to block the enbridge line 3 pipeline. executive director of honor the earth. her latest book "to be a water , protector."

we continue with these arrested development, we will go to another woman who was arrested this week in washington, d.c., reverend liz theoharis. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] let amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. on monday, more than 100 women from around the united states were arrested outside the supreme court as they marked the 173rd anniversary of the first

women's rights convention at seneca falls with a protest calling for voting rights and economic justice. among them, reverend liz theoharis, co-chair of the poor people's campaign. she has since been released and joins us now for more as the poor people's campaign prepares to hold a selma to montgomery-style march next week from georgetown to austin, texas, to demand congress protect voting rights. she is executive director of the kairos center at union theological seminar. thank you for being with us, reverend theoharis. why did you get arrested? >> i and nearly 100 other women got arrested and frontf the supremcourt comin front of the senate office building because our democracy is in peril. we are living in a moment when 17 states have passed restrictions since 2020 and since the 2020 -- almost 400

voter suppression kind of legislations have been introduced in states. we see the connection between this attack on voting rights and all of the other issues that impact, especially the 140 million poor and low-income people in this country. we were there demanding four things. one, into the filibuster. and not just for voting rights, but for all of the things that the filibuster is being used to block in the society right now. the second is to pass all the provisions of the for the people act. the john lewis act is not enough. we need the for the people act and restoration of the 1965 voting rights act. in the fourth demand is to raise the minimumage to $15 and our minimum wage immediately because we see this connection beten economic justice and voting rights. we were there making sure our

voices were heard, standing up for democracy because we need to do that at this moment. amy: what a sure reaction to the republican senators filibustering the infrastructure act, as a whole part of the country burns and the others are inhaling as far away as here in york from oregon and washington come these massive fires. the climate crisis is undeniable, part of the infrastructure bill, although they have stripped out as much of the green new deal as i can from the bipartisan infrastructure bill. your response? >> we need to get rid of the filibuster so we can pass a bold and brought infrastructure bill that looks at infrastructure, including climate resilience, including education, including new water systems that does not just put on communities and municipalities the privatization of these resources.

we need a bold infrastructure bill and we need to stop this moral obstructionism. that is what is going on right now when you have a minority of senators blocking the will of the people -- people across the board come across party lines come across geography, race, sexuality, and gender need the very things that are enabled infrastructure bill and need to expand health care and need immigration reform and need so many other things. people are demanding it. right now we have elected officials who are blocking the need and the demands of the people, including with this infrastructure bill. amy: theoharis reverend theoharis, you did protest this week in the wake of your dad dying. our condolences on the death of your father. i wanted to ask you about him. he was remarkable figure, a prominent historian who exposed

fbi misconduct. he wrote several books that detailed how the fbi investigated political opponents, intimidated critics, and illegally eavesdropped on activists. he died july 3 at the age of 84. i wanted to play your dad speaking in 2008. >> history of the fbi races sharply that issue of accountability. and how to be as we deal with different problems ensure the agency does not violate individual rights or if we loo at the essence of the american constitutional system, except the limited role the government as defined by law. d the history of the fbi suggests that this problem has not been addressed. amy: historian theoharis. liz theoharis, you talk about your father? he also co-authored a book with

your sister. >> yes, thank you. thank you for playing that clip. it is so good to hear his voice and his analysis. we need it in this moment when there is an abuse of power going on and when we are rising up to defend democracy like i and 70 people learned from my father stop my father really helped to break open, expose the abuses of the fbi and pave the way for generations of journalists and scholars and activists. to access documents i figure out how f to useoia to look at what the fbi was doing and is still continuing to do and have a sense of how these federal intelligence agencies, the surveillance that has been going on for decades in our society, is being used to suppress activism rather than actually

anything that is about defending democracy or making this country any better. so his work lives on in his students and the activists that continue to defend democracy and stand up for voting rights, that continue to do all the work he was so dedicated to. i do encourage folks to check out his work. the 23 books he wrote and so much of his analysis that still do so present in our society today. amy: interesting you talk about the fbi surveillance. are you concerned about congress putting into place laws after the bloody insurrection that ultimately will be used against, well, people like you, the reverend dr. liz theoharis, against reverend barber -- other

people protesting, but this being done in the name of stopping an insurrection of trump supporters? >> yes, indeed. what we're seeing in states across the country and on a federal level is a wave of anti-protest bills that are about targeting folks that are coming forward, not to tear the society down, but for what we're calling them, amoral resurrection -- a moral resurrection. and right now folks should be very aware of the anti-protest laws and of the way they're being used to deny voting rights, to crackdown on protesters that are calling out things like line 3 -- just a whole host of issues that are on this programoday and any other date are under attack when, actually, what we need is to defend our civil liberties

and democracy and have the right to say what is not right what is going on and to build a movement to do something about it. amy: again, our condolences and thank you for being with