democracynow.org [captioning made possible by democracy now!] 10/27/21 10/27/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> those rates will haunt me for the rest of my left. i will never forget what it was like to watch nazis march on the campus that i called home. amy: after the unite the right rally for years ago in charlottesville, virginia, jury selection is underway in a federal civil trial where organizers are charged with an

unlawful conspiracy to commit violent acts. we will get the latest. then we look at a pair of hunger strikes in new york, group of taxi drivers have begun their second week without food demanding debt relief. >> mayor de blasio, we do not want to be here. we do not want to do this, but we will do this for as long as we have to because a city back guarantee is not negotiable america then we go to washington, d.c. where five climate activist are on day eight of a hunger strike outside the wte hse. >> not in the shadows of closed doors, but with all of us in front of your home and millions of us ready to build back t people's agenda you promised us. amy: we speak to steven donziger , the environmental lawyer who

was targeted by chevron after he successfully sued the oil giant ecological devastation in the ecuadorian amazon. today he must report to prison after over 800 days under house arrest -- for misdemeanor. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. u.n. secretary-general issued yet another stark warning just days ahead of the cop 26 global climate summit. >> less than one week befe cop 26 in class cow, the are still on track for climate catastrophe even with the last announcement. the 2021 missions cap report shows with the present

contributions andith that firm commitments from countries around the world, we are on track r a catastrophic global temperature rise of around 2.7 degrees celsius. now, even if the announcements of the last few days wi matealize, we would still be on track to fairly more than two degrees celsius. amy: some encouraging news, new report highlights the power of the grassroots divestment movement as some 1500 institutions and other investors have committed to divesting $40 trillion in assets from fossil fuels over the past decade. in brazil, a senate committee has approved a report calling for criminal charges, including crimes against humanity, against far-right president jair bolsonaro over his deadly mishandling of the pandemic. the senate report also accuses dozens of other officials and two companies of committing crimes. brazil has reported over 600,000 covid falities, the second highest official death toll

after the u.s. in related news, facebook and youtube have removed a video by bolsonaro in which he falsely claims covid vaccines are linked to aids. meanwhile, in the united states, dr. deborah birx, former president trump's coronavirus coordinator, told lawmakers over 130,000 lives could have been saved in the u.s. if the trump administration had quickly implemented effective public health measures. birx said the white house was too distracted by the election and ignored recommendations to slow down the pandemic. in vaccine news, an fda panel voted to recommended the use of the pfizer-biontech covid vaccine for children five to 11 years old, bringing it one step closer to becoming available for 28 million more kids as early as next week. moderna said it would sell up to 110 million doses of its covid-19 vaccine to african nations after coming under fire for only distributing its highly

effective shot in wealthy countries. pakistan's information minister warned afghanistan is on the brink of collapse and urged the international community to engage with the taliban and unfreeze billions of dollars of afghan assets overseas in order to prevent a humanitarian disaster. the u.n. warned over half the afghan population is likely to face acute food insecurity this winter. 45% of the population, nearly 19 million afghans, are already experiencing high levels of food insecurity. the economic crisis following the taliban takeover in august has compounded an already dire situation, marked by massive displacement from the conflict and a severe drought in a majority-rural nation. afghanistan's fragile health system is also facing critical shortages of medicine, food for malnourished children, and staff. this is a supervisor in the nursery ward of kabul's main children's hospital.

>> our request for the current government is to increase the number of our staff because every nurse is usually responsible for about four children. and now due to a lack of staff, every nurse is taking care of 24 children. amy: in related news, a pentagon official told congress tuesday the islamic state in afghanistan could be capable of attacking the u.s. within six months. four people, three of them children, died tuesday as they attempted to cross the aegean sea in an overcrowded dinghy. 22 others were rescued. the boat was traveling from turkey to greece, a common route into the european union for refugees. in ecuador, thousands of people took to the streets around the country for another round of indigenous-led protests against a hike in fuel prices and other economic policies pushed by the right-wing government of president guillermo lasso. some three dozen people were arrested as protesters blocked roads. >> we do not agree with the economic measures implemented,

which passes the crisis onto the shoulders of the workers in the middle classes at the country. amy: in colombia, another indigenous misak leader has been assassinated in the region of cauca. 34-year-old nazaria calambás was former mayor and community organizer. she was reportedly gunned down by three unknown assailants. misak indigenous women are denouncing the killing and are demanding the colombian government for protection as -- over skyrocketing violence. over 100 indigenous leaders and other human rights defenders have been assassinated in colombia this year alone. the african union suspended sedan over its military coup. it will remain in place until the sibling-the transitional government is reese ward. meanwhile, the deposed prime minister was allowed to return home according to his office after being detained by the coup forces sparking widespread protest. in kenosha, wisconsin, the judge overseeing the murder trial of

kyle rittenhouse has ruled the three protesters shot by the white teenager during racial justice protests last year cannot be labeled "victims" during the trial, but can be called "rioters," "looters," or "arsonists" if the defense can provide evidence to justify such terms. two of the protesters, anthony huber and joseph rosenbaum, were killed by rittenhouse. the trial will start next week on november 1. senate democrats have unveiled a new plan centered around capital gains taxes on billionaires as lawmakers seek workarounds to help pay for the reconciliation package that is being obstructed by conservate democrats kyrsten sinema and joe manchin. the tax would apply to just the 700 wealthiest people in the united states. in new york city, amazon warehouse workers and labor organizers in staten island filed a petition with the national labor relations board to hold a union election. it's the second time this year amazon workers are attempting to form the company's first ever u.s. union.

the new york effort was led by christian smalls, who was fired by amazon last year for organizing a strike demanding better worker protections amid the pandemic. smalls was met by cheers after filing the petition with the nlrb. >> it is officially done. notices will be sent out in the matter of a week. the petition has been filed. [cheers] amy: in chicago, tortilla manufacturer el milagro is facing city and state investigations into its labor conditions following worker walk-outs and protests denouncing low pay, staff shortages, and workplace abuse, including intimidation and sexual harassment. you can go to democracynow.org to see our interviews around that subject. a senate committee held a hearing tuesday on the mounting threats to election workers. arizona secretary of state katie hobbs testified before

lawmakers. >> two weeks after the election, armed protesters gathered outside my home and chanted " katie, come out and play. we are watching you." i never expected holding this office would result in threatening my children, my husband's employment at a children's hospital, or calling my office saying i deserve to die and asking what what is she wearing today so she will be easy to get." these threats have continued to gets me another's but what concerns me more is the near constant harassment of those who run our elections. amy: earlier this year, the justice department launched a new task force to tackle the rise in threats against election officials. former weather underground member david gilbert has been granted parole after spending 40

years in prison. he is scheduled for release on november 30. 77-year-old gilbert was incarcerated for his role in the robbery of an armored truck in 1981 that left a security guard and two police officers dead. release aging people in prison campaign said -- "mr. gilbert spent decades in prison creating rehabilitative programs and has been an unparalleled positive influence on the lives of countless incarcerated people. there is no doubt that he will be an asset to his community." david gilbert's son is chesa boudin, who's serving as the district attorney of san francisco. and after nearly 50 years behind bars, former black panther russell maroon shoatz is now free after a judge granted his compassionate release. shoatz was sentenced to life without parole.

he attempted to escape prison twice. he is not entering hospice care. he has stage 4 colorectal cancer and must receive nutrition through an iv. this is his son speaking monday. >> what are in the transcript are the evidence that the prisons d't have the capability to take care of not just healthy prisoners, they definitely don't have the ability to take care of their geriatric prisoners and they have effectively killed my father. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. four years after the deadly white-supremacist "unite the right" rally in charlottesville, virginia, jury selection is

-- has begun in a federal civil trial that charges the organizers with an unlawful conspiracy to commit violent acts. on august 11, 2017, in what was billed as a climax to "the summer of hate," several hundred white supremacists marched with tiki torches across the university of virginia, surrounding a statue of thomas jefferson, chanting, "you will not replace us" and "white lives matter." at the next day's "unite the right" rally in downtown charlottesville, more than 1000 white supremacists marched to a statue of confederate general robert e. lee. thousands of counter-protesters also descended on the city, including clergy, students, black lives matter activists, and protesters with the anti-fascist movement known as "antifa." even as fights broke out, witnesses report police did little to intervene. i run 145 in the afternoon --

around 1:45 in the afternoon that day, self-described neo-nazi james alex fields slammed his car into a crowd of anti-racist counter-protesters, killing heather heyer and injuring at leas35 others. fields was later sentenced to life in prison. those now charged in this civil trial for the violence in charlottesville include jason kessler, the main organizer and white supremacist richard spencer, who spoke at the event. the civil lawsuit cites an 1871 law known as the ku klux klan act, which allows private citizens to sue other citizens for civil rights violations. this is elizabeth sines, one of the plaintiffs in the case, speaking about what she witnessed. >> the memories from those days will junta be forhe rest ofy life. i will never forget what it was like to watch nazis marched on the campus i called home. own forg watching the aack my fellow students or the feeling of running for my life.

i don't think anything can er really prepare you to witss thing so horrific. watching your home be ovrun by people who wish cause as much harm and wreak as much havoc as possible. amy: the lawsuit was filed by the civil rights group, integrity first for america. much of the case is based on extensive paper trail left behind by organizers of the "unite the right rally" in online chat rooms. one of the plaintiff's lawyers, karen dunn, told cnn what most stood out to her in the documents. >> and image that has stuck with me since the beginning of the case was one of the pictures that showed a tractor running people over and it is called the protester digester. there many, many post about running over people with cars prior to the car attack on august 12, but that one to me was, i can't get it out of my head.

amy: for more, we're joined by dahlia lithwick, slate.com's senior editor and senior legal correspondent. longtime resident of charlottesville for 18 years and was living there at the time of the unite the rally riot in 2017. welcome back to democracy now! this is a highly unusual court case as the jury selection continues. can you explain more about what it is all about? >> eentially, think the way to think about it, amy, is if the trump justice department had been doing their job at the time, they would have brought some kd of civil rights action in the wake of charlottesville to hold to account the organizers of this rally who, as you just said, were clearly planning, thinking about, anticipating violence and harm and mhem and terrorizing the local community.

nobody did that at the justice department. president trump at the time said there were very fine people on both sides of the protest. this is the lawsuit that karen dunn, robbie kaplan, and their associates brought in to the vacuum and essentially said, fine, we will test off the kkk act of 1871. it has not been used recently at all stop but it does give a sort of template for what rights are violated, how you can bring a civil suit, and essentially hold to account the people who came to yorktown to terrorize you on the basis of -- yorktown to terrorize you on the basis of race. it is a very sweeping lawsuit. we have seen lawsuits -- criminal lawsuits against some of the folks who have been involved but this is really an effort to bring a big expansive sprawling suit against all 24 of the organizations and organizers

and to say, if the government is not going to do this, we are going to do it. and all nine of the plaintiffs who were harmed are saying, we want money damages. we want to know who your funding sources are. we want to understand how these networks have hate groups work together. it is kind of an attempt to shake up the entire day and display to the public what happened and how do we hold people accountable. amy: explain who is on trial. to be clear, if found guilty, they don't go to prison. >> right. there is not even a finding of guilt because it is a civil trial, so there is a dollar amount that has not been named amount. the judge at some point can set the damages amount. but the groups at are involved are some of the wh's who of the alt right movement. richard spencer, who famously

said "heil trump" after the election. jason kessler come the local point person in the trial. this can't welcome the so-called crying nazi. a bunch of different klan groups who showed up that day. some of these descendants have -- defendants have already had a judgment against them for refusing to participate in the trial. some have not shown up. both spencer and kris cantwell are defending themselves. theyo not have attorneys. you have this kind of motley crew of dependents who are involved at various levels. then as you said, there is this 5.3 terabytes of digital evidence that shows for weeks in advance, they were planning what to wear, what kinds of things to bring that they could use as weapons, chatting about what it

involves to hit someone with a car and what the law says to protect you. i think this is an effort to get all of them lined up to tell the entire pixelated story of what was done, and the judge will find money damages. i think the long-term hope is to bankrupt the group as well. amy: how do you answer what these white supremacist like richard spencer, who is representing himself, are saying that this is anttac on freem of speech? >> that has always been their defense. they essentially have two claims. one is this was just a peaceful march. they came to protest, this is core first amendment right to assemble and the core first a minute right to protest. -- first amendment right to protest. he stopped being a protest minute you clear they were coming in full body armor with

flaming torches and other weapons of war. and they never intended have a peaceful rally. in some sense, i thi the argument is as soon as people were bringing guns into the mix, bringing spears into the mix, they lost the right to say this was simply a peaceful march. richard spencer and his colleagues are saying that is the fault of the police. they are citing a report that came out after august 12 saying the police presence was in fact lackluster, that both the state of virginia and the city of charlottesville were not well organized, so they are going to say it was free speech, the police's fault, and blame antifa as she said in the introduction. they are saying all of the violence was instigated by antifa, the peaceful clergy who were protesting that day, and the other counter protesters who

showed up to try to claim the space and town. amy: can you talk about who is bringing this case? for example, roberta kaplan, or call the attorney general for the resistance, and integrity first for america. close integrity first for america was a group created to help find the trial. i should note karen dead and robbie kaplan i think -- you had karen in the intro. the two lead lawyers. and there is a team around them. again, they felt they had to stand up and do this when nothing else was being done. what they're doing essentially is saying if this can be done here, we can see this done -- for instance, we are seeing the kkk act has been invoked against some of the january 26 riders from 2021. so they feel this is an old

statute that is really on point in this moment of rising white supremacy, anti-black hate, anti-semitism. i think what they're trying to do is create a roadmap through how we hold very violent, racist "protesters" who intend to bring mayhem, how we hold them to account. amy: you have this going on in charlottville. and in washington, d.c., yet the congressional select committee that is investigating whether it is conspiracy of high-level trump people, including president trump, congress members, lawyers like rudy giuliani and eastman, gathering of giuliani and others at the willard hotel nearby to coordinate what ultimately became this white supremacist

pilot attack on the capitol. can you talk about how these two relate? >> it is interesting. all of the folks who are on the hook for these conspiracies keep invoking there were just speaking, just floating ideas. but any conspiracy at some level involves speaking, right? if there is a conspiracy to rob a bank, you can't say, "oh, i was just exercising my free speech right to ask someone to bring a getaway car." in a sense, i think the lie is any speech is protected. john boozman's -- thes men's memo on cut into a coup is free-floating played around with constitutional ideas. no. if you are in agreement with a bunch of people to break the law, that is a conspiracy and that is not protected speech. it is not protest.

i think what you're going to see in all of these cases is attempts to say each of the players in both situations, charlottesville and on january 6, were not intending to have people come and kill people, hurt people, carry weapons of war, there were just trying to have a protest and it got out of hand and maybe we should blame the police or blame the catcher protesters. but in both cases, i think it puts the lie to the notion that any and all speech that is done in order to further a conspiracy to hurt people is protected speech. i think in some sense the conspiracy claim helps get you over the argument that this is just one of idle chatter and puts you squarely into the realm of once you are plotting to do violence, to have a coup in one case, to have a violent anti-semitic, anti-black mob riot and hurt people, you're out

of the world of "this is a peaceful protest" and in the world of "conspiracy to do harm." amy: it is amazing to see all of these issues at various levels in congress. i want to go to kenosha, wisconsin, where the judge overseeing the murder trial of kyle rittenhouse has ruled the three protesters that this white teenager shot, two of them killed, during racial justice protests last year cannot be called "victims" in the trial chamoli "rioters" and "looters" if the judge can prove -- if the defense can prove such terms. can you explain? >> to be fair, the judge in that case, this is an ongoing policy,

he has a long-standing policy and says you can't call someone a victim until the crime has been proven. but you're quite right in that it goes exactly to the language of what is neutrality. the judge in that case has the word "victim" is too inflammatory, we don't want to inflame the jury. apparently, "arson"nd "looter" and "writer" are not. we are on day three of selection of jury and charlottesville. the language of having an even playing field, having an open mind, means potential jurors who say things like "i thought they were evil," that is not neutral language. in some sense what it tells me about of these instances is the framing of the open-minded and neutral in one case at about somebody who armed himself with

a gun and went to kill antiracist protesters and in another case people who came to a town with the intention up burning a synagogue down, the appropriate way to judge them is with this neutral language of both sides. it is chilly that is what the legal system requires, that that is viewed as a neutral objective setting. amy: dahlia lithwick, thank you for being with us, slate.com senior editor and senior legal correspondent. longtime resident of charlottesville for 18 years and lived there at the time of the unite the rally riot in august 2017. coming up, we look at a pair of hunger strikes being held by taxi drivers in new york and climate activists in washington, d.c. then we speak to steve donziger, the environmental attorney who is headed to jail today.

stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "diya hai" by arooj aaftab. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a group of new york city taxi drivers and allies have entered their second week on hunger strike to demand new york city enact debt relief for thousands of drivers. many taxi drivers are facing economic devastation after buying taxi medallions from the city at artificially inflated costs. in 2014, the price of medallions soared to around $1 million. today there work may be $100,000, leaving drivers in massive debt and financial ruin. at least nine drivers have died by suicide. to compound the problem, taxi ridership has also plummeted in new york due to the pandemic and the rise of ridesharing apps including uber and lyft. we are joined now by two people who are on hunger strike. zohran mamdani is a new york state assemblymember. he is on day eight of a hunger

strike in solidarity with new york city taxi drivers. with us also is taxi driver augustine tang, who has been on a hunger strike for six days. augustine, let's begin with you. as youit in your cap, can you talk about why you went on hunger strike and the kind of devastation you have faced? >> first of all, been on hunger strike -- these men and women have invested 30, 40 years of their lives just have the retirement taken away from them and also having about to lose their homes and job as well, too. amy: zohran mamdani, you are a state legislator in new york. why are you participating in this hunger strike? >> i am participating in

solidarity with the taxi workers alliance and to try and bring to light what the consequences are of this city's inaction for many years and now there is sufficient plan for debt relief. we started this hunger strike last wednesday and we have completed seven full days of being without food, one of the most basic elements of dignity. the consequences we have seen in our own bodies, an inability to sleep, unrelenting hunger, moments of blurred vision, stress, headaches -- these are the same consequences i have heard drivers talk about when they say what the physical realities are of being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, unable to take care of their family, and saying no way out. it is important process legislators to bring to light what it is that people are suffering from a bring it front and center in front of city hall. amy: and what has mayor bill de

blasio said? >> as of now, we have not had any direct contact from the mayor. that is despite my many, many requests personally to his step at city hall, as well as the very public request from myself and from the union. but we do hear his sponses to questions from the media. thus far, his stance has been one of defending a plan which no other elected official will publicly admit. amy: augustine tang, if you can talk about the deaths by suicide of taxi drivers as you sit there in your car on day six of your hunger strike. also, talk about how you got this taxicab you're sitting in. >> of course. well, i started -- when i first started driving, i inherited the medallion from my father who

passed away in 2015 and also a $530,000 debt, unfortunately. i had to make a decision to take care of my grandmother, is mother, and i made the decision to admit that with her and try to carry on his legacy. when i first started, i met a fellow taxi driver and medallion owner need kenny chow and unfortunately was one of the nine drivers and died by suicide. for me, ever since then, i've been actively trying to speak out about this issue and trying to do as much as i can because i don't like any driver should feel that way ever again. it is incredibly sad. the longer i do this, the sadder the stories have become about these medallion drivers, medallion owners that have went into financial ruin and really

there is no way out. amy: zohran mamdani, explain how the system worked. how medallion work a few years ago supposedly $1 million is now worth maybe $100,000, and the role of the apps uber and lyft. >> the medallion for decades has been worth between let's say $130,000 to $200,000. the medallion system is the licensing by which cabs are allowed to pick up passengers from across the five boroughs. this was created in the early 20th century. the medallion prices started to increase when the bloomberg administration came into power in 2001 and saw the city had a $3.1 billion deficit. they pinpointed medallions as a means by making up that revenue.

over the next decade and some change, made 855 million dollars off the sale of new medallions, as well as the processing fee they added 5%. if you bought a medallion for $1 million, that was an additional $50,000 you would have to pay to new york city. as the price increase because of the need to seek revenue from it, they artificially inflated it and did so knowingly because there was a memo within city agencies that said the price of the medallion was outstripping its actual worth because we went from about $200,000 to $1 million and nothing about the market was fundamentally changing. so the city knew these driver simply could not afford the loan terms they were agreeing to when they put $1 million down to dre a yellow cab stop as we got into 2012, 2013, 2014 and the de blasio administration, we had the male rally allow for ridesharing companies to flood

the market when so much of the work of the medallion and the ability of these drivers to make a decent living was predicated on the fact they had an exclive license to operate as taxis. then he had 100,000 additional cars operating in that same market studi have shown that taxi drivers have lost north of 40% of their income with inflation accounted for because of that. that is where the city's culpability comes from, theact they artificially inflated these medallions, they let lyft and uber come into the market, and welcomed lenders that have been baed from operating the housing market post 2008, trapping immigrant drivers in debt. amy: augustine, can you lay out your day before the hunger strike? how long had to work in your car. the example -- you're one example of so many in new york city, and what this means.

>> to be honest, driving the city is not easy, especially with the influx of tax. many of us have to drive 10 to 12 hours a day six days a week to manage the medallion. my loan itself is 2800 $51 before the pandemic. operating cost of a taxi, talking about maintenance, gas, just credit card fees and surcharges. it amounts to a lot and it is difficult to make the ends meet. even having a second driver, will have things like workers comp and insurance. it is incredibly tough driving in the city, new york city. i have to say, i give it to the people who have been doing it for 20, 30, 40 years. it is incredibly hard on the body. it is a very unhealthy job most of -- job.

amy: and during vid, particularly dangerous. >> especially for senior drivers. covid changed a lot of things. senior drivers did not want to take that risk and bring it back to the family or get covid themselves. amy: what are your final words to the mayor today? >> to the mayor, i tell him to come down to city hall. for many of us, we have been out here for 39 days straight stop 24/7. there has always been a taxi here, someone sleeping in their car. for many of us, we are tired but we understand the fight. it is more important than just a good nights rest or food in my belly. we understand this is worth it because of our futures.

and because i want to thank you both for being with us. augustine tang, taxi driver who is on day six of his hunger strike. and zohran mamdani is a new york state assemblymember. on day eight of his hunger strike. we thank you both for being with us. we turn now to another hunger strike hundreds of miles south in washington, d.c., where a group of five climate activists have entered their eighth day without food, demanding president biden do more to address the climate emergency. the activists have spent most of the past week outside the white house calling for passage of the full $3.5 trillion build back better plan to combat the climate crisis and expand the nation's social safety net. the size of the bill has been slashed in half in part due to opposition from democratic senator joe manchin, who has

made millions of dollars in coal companies in his home state of west virginia and is the recipient of the most oil, gas, and cold money in the senate. on tuesday, one of the hunger strikers, abby leedy, confronted manchin after he spoke at the economic club of d.c. listen closely. >> [indiscernibl] >> if united states does not cut our emissions -- amy: abby leedy is confronting senator manchin from a wheelchair after he spoke at the economic club of d.c.

several members of congress have visited the climate hunger strikers outside the white house and congressmember rashida tlaib posted this video on twitter on tuesday. >> i just want to thank them from somebody that represents the third course congressional district, one of the most polluted zip codes in the state of michigan is in my district. i am here in solidarity and help other members of congress come and show solidarity with 70 of these courageous leaders -- so many of these courageous leaders. this is how we make sure that we stop bernie, how there is a future for my kids and yours. join me and showing solidarity and support for so many that are on the front lines right here in front of the white house demanding justice for climate. amy: that is congress member rashida tlaib standing and find of the hunger strikers. we are joined by one of them now kidus girma, who is on his , eighth day on hunger strike in washington and was hospitalized

on saturday but decided to continue with the hunger strike. a climate activist from texas. he has lived since coming to the united states as a child from ethiopia in texas. welcome to democracy now! you are endangering your health. your hospitazed but you are still on hunger strike. why? >> i am on a hunger strike for my family and my future and the promises the president made to young people who put him in office. i am on hunger strike after having a dangerously low blood sugar amount. the president promises when he was running for office and even while the deal is being negotiated, he would deliver the climate mandate that he was elected on. i am on a hunger strike because this is what the world needs. the world needs the president of the united states to fight for it. we need to predent to put the children of the future come the children of today at the center

of his agenda and not exxon officials and those representatives that fight for oil and gas billionaires. amy: according to report from axios, the white house is privately telling lawmakers the climate portion abides roughly $2 trillion social spending plan is mostly settled and will likely cost more than half $1 trlion, $500 billion. do you think this is enough? >> it is not enough. president biden has so much power in so many different things he could be fighting for but he simply won't stop our president only knows how to fight in the shadows. he only knows how to cut smaller and smaller deals and brought out politicians like senator manchin and sinema. the president of the united states today in the stomach could end my 3, and offshore drilling. he has dozens of executive

actions you could execute that he promised and right now the president is too much of a coward to fight for people that put him in office. y: what message do you have a president biden as the heads to the u.n. climate summit? he announced it last week he was going with a number of members of his cabinet come to glasgow, at a time that hundreds of people, mainly indigenous protesters, were getting arrested outside in washington, d.c. >> i am asking my president to fight for me, to fight for me and my friends were starving outside his home. i am asking the president to fight for the people who put them in office and not the special interests that keep him fighting his own agenda. i am asking the president of the united states to be the president of the united states

and fight for climate, to fight to make sure the next wildfire, hurricanes, next possibility of famine is not as extreme as it has to be. i feel like the president is fighting for superstorm and not for kids. i need the president to start fighting for me. amy: kidus girma, thank you for being with us. how long do you plan on this hunger strike? >> and a definite hunger strike into the president of united states delivers the promises of 50% emission cuts by 2030. amy: part of the sunrise movement, on day eight of the hunger strike. when we come back, we continue on the issue of climate, the environment. we will speak with an attorney who is going to prison today, steven donziger, who successfully sued chevron for its devastation of the ecuadoran rain forest. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "mujer indígena" by sara curruchich. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

the environmental human rights lawyer steven donziger is reporting to jail today after a federal appellate court rejected his request for bail pending his appeal. earlier this month, steve donziger was sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court -- a misdemeanor. donziger has already spent over two years under house arrest after being targeted by the oil giant chevron. the case stems from steve's role in suing chevron on behalf of 30,000 amazonian indigenous people for dumping 16 billion gallons of oil into their ancestral land in the ecuadorian amazon. 10 years ago, ecuador's supreme court ordered chevron to pay $18 billion. the landmark ruling was seen as a major victory for the environment and corporate accountability. but chevron refused to pay or clean up the land. instead, it launched a legal

attack targeting donziger. in july, a federal judge found him guilty of six counts of criminal contempt of court after he refused to turn over his computer and cellphone. in an unusual legal twist, the judge appointed a private law firm with ties to chevron to prosecute donziger after federal prosecutors declined to bring charges. amnesty international recently called for his immediate release saying he was being arbitrarily detained. the u.n.'s working group on arbitrary detention has also called for his release. well, as he prepares to report to prison later today, steve donziger joins us now from his home in new york where he has been under house arrest for 813 days. meanwhile, in washington, d.c., there will be a major news conference held today outside the capitol. steve donziger, welcome back to democracy now! where are you headed to prison today?

we are talking about a misdemeanor. you have already been under house arrest for nearly 1000 ys. >> it is just extraordinary, amy. thank you for the introduction. it pretty much captured it. i have to report to prison by 4:48 p.m. today, which is itself highly unusual. i don't believe i am guilty. newly her has ever spent more than 90 days in home confinement, maximum sentence ever given to a lawyer convicted by charge which is his demeanor contempt. i have already spent over -- on top of that, the jge tried to put me in prison for six months. another unusual feature, she is making me report within 24 hours after this latest court ruling that came got yesterday rather than allowing me time to report normal course to prison. there's so much about this --

amy: which prison are you going to be held at? >> i don't know yet. by forcing me in so quickly, judge prescott trying to force me to local federal jail that i think is very unsafe. i have no secuty risk at all, never convicted. lowest level offense. normally, i would go to federal prison cap. we nee time for the bureau to designate me to an appropriate facility and instead she is trying to force me quick i think into a local jail which concerns me greatly, frankly. i think that is oneeason why amnesty or national put out a call to stop this case. the other crazy thing about this that is so disturng, amy, was not prosecuted by the u.s. government. i was prosecuted by private law firm, appointed by federal judge after he government declined to prosecute me. and the judge never disclosed

the w firm had chevron as a client. essentially, i'm being prosecuted by chevron law firm, a partner in a shove on law firm -- chevron law firm, who deprive me of liberty. i'm the only person ever charged with his of intel pretrial at home or in prison. never happened before for even a day. is is the first corporate prosecution in u.s. history. i have never seen a case like this. we just think to restore the rule of law as regards to steve donziger in e people of ecuador, this case has to be stopped and taken over by the department of justice. they could do what they want with it. if they went to prosecute me, prosecute me, but it needs to be a neutral prosecutor not chevron. amy: i want to talk about some of the people you're supposed to be the news conference in washington. we just interviewed a climate

striker on hunnger strike and washington, d.c., and we heard from rashida tlaib. she will be at were news conference. also you have she garcia, covers member from chicago, covers member jim mcgovern of massachusetts, as well as a number of people from amnesty international, law students for climate accountability. talk about the significance -- you have so many supporters at this point at high levels, yet talk about what is at stake. what it is you exposed in ecuador. >> i think the stakes are high. he goes way beyond me personally. on a personal level, it hurts. i have a wife and a 15-year-old son. we are hurting. but what is really happening here is chevron and these two judges and allies of the fossil fuel industry are trying to use me as a weapon to intimidate

activists and lawyers who do this front-line work of defending the planet. what is at stake, not only my freedom, but what is at stake is the ability to advocate for human rights in our society. the things i was charged with -- i was a lawyer litigating various court orders for years, ethnically. i am proud -- ethically. i'm proud of my work. this judge went after me. the only lawyer to be charged with contempt of court for challenging a discovery order on appeal. i am calling on judges people in congress member representatives who stepped up for me to continue speaking out, to enlist more people. we need people in the senate and ultimately we need the biden administration -- i heard your

previous guest. the biden administration is essentially letting a climate change lawyer, mean, an environmental justice lawyer, indigenous rights lawyer, earth defender, water protector be locked up on american soil and it is getting really embarrassing for our country. it is not every day amnesty international issues an urgent action for an american citizen. probably the second time in 20 years this has happened. at every day the united nations working group arbitrary detention issues an order that someone in the uted states whoscase is violation of multiple provisions of international law shows an appalling degree of lack of impartiality by judges. so our country needs to deal with this. he goes to what kind of society we want to live in and relates to the climate issue because, again, i believe this whole thing is being first chris traded -- orchestrated by

chevron. they don't want people speaking out. they don't want successful litigation to hold them to account for their pollution and was that will help save the planet. i think ultimately that is what this is about. people need to pay serious attention -- amy: steven donziger, have called the devastation in ecuador the amazon chernobyl. explain why. explain the original lawsuit that resulted in an $18 billion judgment against chevron. >> basically, chevron and at the rm of texaco, its predecessor company, went into the amazon of ecuador and decided to create an operational system of literally hundreds of wells with a deliberately dumped toxic waste into waters, rivers, streams that indigenous groups relied on for drinking water bathing, and fishing -- creating a massive industrial poisoning of a 1500 square mile area stop literally, hundreds of not thounds of people die.

i had been there over 250 times. the affected communities went to court and in court the chevron wanted it to happen in ecuador. they won the case. chevron has attacked me and attacked them for 10 years with the help of these federal judges. in the meantime, people were suffering. the degree of contamination is appalling. it is the amazon chernobyl, the very definition ofecocide. deliberate decision in order to save money to dump eckstein gleam goads of cancer-causing waste onto indigenous ancestral lands. the problem is still there. the case has been going on 28 years. no matter what happens to me -- i hope i will get through this -- the communities in ecuador are suffering tremendouslynd they need help. chevron needs to step up and pay the judgement to the people of ecuador. amy: thank you for being with us.

clearly come the fight against oil extraction continues. a lawsuit was filed last week. you tweeted yesterday around breaking news, "after 100 pages of legal briefing, the appellate court today deny my release and 10 words. this is not due process of law nor is it justice." in these last 30 seconds, is a definite you will be jailed tonight? >> nothing is ever definite. we're going to make one final attempt to go back to my trial judge and ask for more time so i can get properly designated to an appropriate federal prison. i don't know if you will grant it. we will do that shortly. i am fully prepared and expect around 2:00 today tleave my home on the upper west side of manhattan and report to prison where i will spend the next six months most of amy: after serving over two years under

house arrest for a misdemeanor. steven donziger, environmental lawyer targeted by chevron after he successfully sued the oil giant. democracy now! is currently accepting applications for two ■x?x■x■x■ñ■o

(sophie fouron) we hear the fog horn in the background. two minutes ago, it was completely clear. they say that in newfoundland, you can have the four seasons in a day. i think you can have the four seasons in an hour here. it's a big island. it's a huge island. you can't go around newfoundland in a couple of days. we're at the easternmost point in canada. cod has been at the heart of newfoundland's economy and culture for more than 500 years. it hasn't been always easy. but even with the cod