[captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica radio, this is democracy now! amy: 25 years ago in 1996 democracy now! went on the air. today we take a free wheeling journey through the years. >> chevron just like shell uses the military to protect its oil and they drill and they kill. >> you listen to me. you ask the questions and i'm going to answer.

you have asked questions in a hostile, combative and disrespectful tone and never been able to combat the facts. >> are you telling the dogs to bite them? # why are you letting those dogs bite them? >> we are in occupied western sahara in laayoune the gallon of what many call africa's last colony. >> outside the john f. contend can airport terminal 4 where thousands have gathered to protest the trump administration executive order. amy: 25 years ago democracy now!

started on nine stations. it is noon offense 1500 around globe. all that and more coming up. amy: this is democracy now! democracy now! org, the war and peace report. today a democracy now! special celebrating 25 years on the air. on february 19, 1996, on the eve of the new hampshire presidential primary democracy now! aired for the first time on nine community radio stations. this is democracy now!. from pacifica radio, this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman in washington. live free or die. a look at the milan scape in new hampshire where the republican revolution has taken its toll.

if you want a taste of the country after the revolution you might as well new hampshire we've the post regressive taxes, no mandatory kindergarten and doesn't invest in infrastructure. >> politics of race and money talks who are the millionaires having their way in washington. >> you need to go up to bob dole now that he is on the corporate well fair line that is great that you have taken up this plank. whose corporate jet can you fly up on dwayne andreas or carl linder the number four on mother jones list. you need to expose them. >> all coming up on democracy now!. amy: today is presidents day and tomorrow is the new hampshire primary. welcome to the maiden voyage of democracy now! pacific can't's daily national looks show.

greetings to our audience in california, texas, new york, passionate d.c. washington state. kansas city and colorado we are embarking on a journey to pick up community radio stations in more states as we give voice to the grassroots. that project will begin a quarter of a century ago. democracy now! went on the air on nine community radio stations in 1996. it now airs in over 1500 tv and radio stations around the globe and online at democracynow.org. in 1998 democracy now! documented chevron's role in the killing of two protesters who occupied a chevron own oil platform in the oil rich niger delta. democracy now!'s jeremy scahill and i traveled there to investigate and produced this special documentary drilling and killing

chevron and nigeria's oil dictatorship. this is an excerpt. >> until now chevron claimed its only action against the occupation was call the federal authorities and tell them what was happening. but in startling admission chevron's spokesperson sole omole admitted they flew in the soldiers who did the killing and he further admitted those men were from the notorious nigerian navy. >> we did. chevron did took them there. >> helicopters. >> who authorized the call? >> chevron. >> here we have may 28, 1998 chevron flying in the nigerian navy and mobile police

to confront a group of villagers who thought they were in the midst of a negotiation with the oil giant which brings us to another admission by sole omole. >> were any of these harmed? >> i don't know. i don't know. i don't know. i cannot say that [inaudible] that is is neither here nor there. >> it is very clear that chevron, just like shell, uses the military to protect its oil activities. they drill and they kill. >> >> they are shooting our people for demanding their right. >> in 1998 democracy now! was in the streets of seattle

when tens of thousands of activists gathered to shut down a ministerial meeting of the w.t.o. and we spoke with vandana shiva and lori wallach of public citizen. >> the w.t.o. constrained every country's government about literally the level of food safety it can provide its public or whether or not poor farmers can have access to seeds. whether or not workers can be safe from asbestos. >> the shooting si through which w.t.o. was boston is apparent in the fact most parliaments had no idea what is the accountant of the treaty until months after it had been ratified and signed. the w.t.o. wrote the rules, it sits in judgment about implementation of the rules

and it writes the inquisition. you are listening to pacific radioia democracy now! now broadcasting from seattle. it grew into a television show in 2001 but one of our first broadcasts took place in august, 2000, at the republican national convention in philadelphia. from pacifica radio, this is democracy now!. >> breaking with convention power protests and the presidency. george bush accepts the republican nomination for president. we will get reaction from barbara gonzalez and we will look at the conduct of the philadelphia police and tour through the independent media center all that and more coming up on pacific radio's condemn democracy now!.

>> you are listening to pacifica radio on public access tv stations around the country on the internet both live streaming and video casting and ww w democracynow.org in an unprecedented community media collaborative. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez as we continue the reaction of the none nation speech of the acceptance speech of george w. bush for nomination by the republican party at their presidential candidate. >> as i said an amazing speech by bush. he actually attempted basically to portray himself as a caring sensitive compassionate conservative, but the reality of the message that he was bringing of increased military spending,

privatization of portions of social security accounts, charter schools that would begin to tear apart the public school system rather than raise the level of the public school system throughout i think was one that was clearly at the right fringe of american confidence today. >> on election day in 2000 then president bill clinton called pacifica radio station wbai in an attempt to get out the vote for hillary for senate and al gore for president. while he may have intended to spend about two minutes on the phone wbai host gonzalo aburto and i kept him on the line for about a half hour asking him about topics that were not being discussed in the presidential race. >> mr. president are you there. >> i am. can you hear me? >> yes you are calling radio stations to get out vote. what do you say to people who.

that the two parties with bought by corporations and they are at this point feel that their vote doesn't make a difference? >> there's not a shred of evidence to support that. >> u.n. figures show up to 5,000 children a month die in iraq because of the sanctions. >> that is not true. and that is not what they show. >> the past two u.n. heads of the program in iraq have quit calling the u.s. policy, u.s., u.n. policy genocidal what is your response? >> they are wrong. they think we should -- saddam hussein says i'm going to starve my kids unless you let me buy weapons. if you let me do everything i want so i can be in a position to kill and intimidate people i will stop starving my kids. >> since it is rare to get you on the phone let me ask you another question.

what is your position on granting leonard peltier the native activist clemency? >> i don't have a position i can announce yet. i believe there's a new application for him in there and when i have time after the election is over i will review all the remaining executive clemency applications and see what the merits dictate. i will try to do what the right thinking is based on the evidence. >> many say ralph nader is at the high personal point because you have been responsible for taking the democratic party to the right. >> what is the measure of taking the democratic party to the right? we cut welfare roles in half and poverty is at a 20-year lee and child poverty cut by a third in our administration appear schools in this country the test scores since we required all of them to have bake standard test scores among african-americans and others minorities have gone up steadily. let me finish.

you started this and every question you have ask has been so you learn to my answer will do you that. >> they have been critical. >> you listen to me. you asked the questions and i will answer. you have asked questions in a hostile combative and disrespectful tone and never been able to combat the facts i have given to you. >> that was president clinton in a surprise call to wbai on election day 2000. the white house would later call me and say they were thinking of banning me from the white house. i said but he called me. i didn't call him. as for native american leader leonard peltier, he remains in prison to this day. i had a chance to speak to him on a phone from prison in florida in 2012 during the obama administration. >> leonard, this is amy goodman from democracy now!. i was wondering -- how are you? >> i'm good. i was wondering if you have a message for president barack obama.

>> i just hope he can you know, stop the wars that are going on in the world and killing all the people. you have backed my people and turn me loose. amy: can you share with people the news conference and president barack obama your case for why you should be, your sentence should be commuted, why you want clemency? >> well, i never got a fair trial for one and wouldn't allow me to put up a defense. and manufactured evidence, manufactured witnesses. forged witnesses. the list goes on. i think i'm a very good candidate after 37 years for clemency or house arrest at least.

amy: that was leonard peltier. one guest who appeared multiple times over the years is the imprisoned former black panther and journalist mumia abu jabal. >> we just got a call from mumia abu jabal from pitcher in pennsylvania. speaking to us no longer on death row. >> the subject monitoring it. >> you probably heard me refer to life as slow death row. it sound a little dramatic but it is really more truth to it than hyperbole. that is because in pennsylvania it has the highest population or one of the highest of lifers. in fact juveniles with life sentences and in pennsylvania there's no gradation.

it is slow death row. when you see as i have seen going to chow or a meal and seeing what i call the million man wheelchair march it makes an impact. you look up in the morning and there are 30 or 40 guys in wheelchairs and although some are young most are quite old. amy: the words of mumia abu jabal. after a break we will continue our look back at the past 25 years of democracy now!.

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amy: on the evening of december 7, tuesday, 8:00 p.m. leela downs will join noam chomsky, angela davis, arundhati roy and winona laduke and others as we celebrate online 25 years of democracy now!. we hope you will join us. visit democracynow.orgor details. this is democracy now! democracy now! org, i'm amy goodman as we return to our look back at excerpts of democracy now! over the past quarter century. on the morning of september 11, 2001, democracy now! was on the air when the world trade center was attacked. broadcasting on radio for over six hours democracy now! covered the attacks just blocks from ground zero. >> the latest news we have is that there's been widespread attacks that include at lst three commercial jet crashes we believe now four perhaps three into significant buildings.

in the first attack a plane hit the north tower of the world trade center in manhattan shortly before 9:00 followed by another plane into the second tower about 20 minutes later. both towers later collapsed. about an hour later a plan crashed into pentagon part of which later collapsed. amy: democracy now! closely followed the fallout from the 9/11 attacks at home and abroad. in december of 2001, masuda sultan an afghan american woman reported on democracy now! from afghanistan about a u.s. air raid that killed 19 members of her family. >> they descri the scene where they are running with their kids in their arms dodging bullets left and right while they had all the fire falling down to the earth. there were women and children running for their lives being shot at by a helicopter hovering off their homes.

and these people were not taliban supporters. were not al qaeda. there were simple afghans trying to exist in their own country. amy: after masuda sultan came back to new york, she came on democracy now! along with rita lagar who lost her brother at the world trade center. >> i was on the 15th floor and ran to my neighbor's house and she has a clear view of downtown manhattan and i looked out her window and saw the second plane hit the second building. and it dawned on me my brother works there. i went down to the hospitals to see if his name was on the list.

and then i realized he had died. and because he had stayed behind to save this quadriplegic friend who couldn't get out although he was on the 27th floor and he could have save himself he died. and then president bush mentioned him in the nationanal cathedral speh as being a hero, and i realized that my government was going to use my brother as justification for killing other people. and that had a tremendous impact on me. i didn't want that to happen, not in my brother's name. >> first of all, i want to give my condolences to rita.

i did before but i think your brother is a hero and you are a hero for continuing his legacy. it is amazing to me that someone who has lost so much isn't as revenge hungry as some of the other people that seem to want to go start bombing whoever, wherever. >> mass magazines and rita lagar. rita died in 2017. as we continue our it democracy now! journey through the decades we turn to may 20, 2002, when east timor game an independent country after decades of occupation by indonesia. i have been reporting on them for years. on november is it, 1991 journalist alan nairn

and i were there when indonesia troops armed with u.s. m16's owned fire on thousands of civilians who gathered at a santa cruz cemetery. >> i lost one sister and two brothers. >> the army feels shooting people and they would die at oufeet but you couldn't stop to help them. >> i know families that were totally wiped out. two american news men badly beat en. the indonesian arm converged in two places. >> hundreds of troops coming straight at the timorese. >> when they came, they opened fire on the people.

>> we pride ourselves and properly so for standing up for human rights. amy: at least 271 timorese were killed that day. the army fractured their skull. it later became an independent country. alan nairn and i returned to the capital for the celebration. alan questioned former question bill clinton. >> in 19899 in april, the new nation military and militia a massacred 50 people in the reactry with somewhat schett. two days later admiral blair your commander met with the indonesia commander and offered to help him in lobbying the u.s. congress to get training restored and made no mention of the massacre. during that time the militia rampaged down town and attacked the house and massacred the refugees

yet you continued with aid to the indonesian military. why do you continue with aid to the indonesian military. >> i can't answer the question about the admiral because i'm not aware of that. >> he was working for you. why did you continue -- >> i understand that. first of all i don't believe america or the other countries a honor time before noon 99 back to the 1970's for e suffering of east timor. i don't think we can do but we did. >> that was east timor in 2002 almost a year later on february 15, 2003, millions of people around the globe rallied to say no to the iraq war. democracy now! broadcast live from massive protests in new york. this is actor and activist harry bellefonte. >> this is not the first time we the people have been misled

by the leadership or those created the bay of tonkin which also led us into a war in vietnam. a war that we could not and did not win. we lied to the american people about grenada and what was going on in that tiny island. lied to the american people about nicaragua, salvador, cuba, many places in the world. we stand here today to let those pele and others know america is a vast and diverse country and we are part of the greatest truth of what makes our nation. dr. king once said if there is if mankind

doesn't put an end to war, war will put an end to mankind. >> then the news of ouster of jean-bertrand astide in a u.s. backed coup. >> this is a democracy now! focus. >> he was kidnapped. he said was forced to leave haiti. >> did u.s. security forces kidnap haitian president air ed. we will speak with congressmember maxine waters and close friend randall robinson. >> he said tell the world it is a coup. it is a coup. it is a coup. >> representative waters is claiming on pacifica that aristide was led away in happened coughs and marines were part of a coup. would you comment on that comment or claim?

>> i'm trying to hit the right words. if you're asking me did that happen, the answer is no. >> any embellishment? >> i think not today. >> weeks later democracy now! reported on president aristide's return to the caribbean the >> it has been an historic 48 hours. haitian president jean-bertrand aristide has returned to caribbean. laps night a return to new york after a trip that began saturday when i accompanied a delegation of u.s. and jamaican officials that set off from miami to escort president aristide and his wife mildred back to the caribbean. on the plane i asked president aristide why he believes the u.s. wants him gone.

>> those who want to have bloodshed, they don't accept you as an elected president. >> we move forward in this democracy now! 25-year special to 2005 when democracy now! went down to new orleans and community of algiers shortly after hurricane katrina hit. i spoke with the co-founder of the common ground collective. malik showed us how a corpse still remained on the street unattended two weeks after the storm. >> this body has been here for almost two weeks, two weeks tomorrow. that this body been laying here and there's no reason for it. that is totally disrespect. i mean two weeks. every day we ask them about come and become it up

and they refuse to come pick it up and you can see it is literally decomposing right here. right out in the sun. every day we ask them about it. this is closest you could get to tropical climate in america and they won't do anything with it. amy: malik, do you know who this person is? >> no. but regardless of who it is, i wouldn't care if it is sadam hussein or bin laden. no one deserves to be left here. and the kid pass by and see it. elderly. that is what frightened a lot of people into leaving. we don't know if he is a victim of vigilanties or what but his body has been allowed to remain out here for over two weeks. amy: in september 2005 democracy now! spoke toen president hugo chavez in his first sit down interview in the united states.

amy: your assessment of president bush, of the invasion an occupation of iraq and do you think if it were not iraq it would have been venezuela? >> it feels like u.s. government wants the oil. first they try to get the venezuelan oil and through a coup. that is what it is an oil motivated coup. they want to have the control of the oil before going toward iraq. they failed in venezuela. so they went to attack iraq. amy: in 2007 juan gonzalez and i interviewed then lou dobbs on democracy now!.

>> the question is that there's a huge disparity between the economic levels in mexico and chick levels of the united states and i have properly said many times on year show that american companies are creating the problems rather than helping to alleviate the problems. all that would be needed to do is raise economic level in mexico and the immigration problems with decline. not only that but the country if it had a higher immigration -- >> are you giving me instruction or what we agreed on? >> we two agree because you are demonizing illegal immigration as a separate issue. >> how can you use my name and anti-immigrant in same comments. >> when we hear comments? >> comments. >> from you. a third of prisoners are illegal immigrants, not true.

7,000 cases in the last three years because of illegal immigrantsment >> we said that and that is as straightforward. >> you made an announcement on your show and you said it is not true illegal immigrants are not responsible for 7,000 cases of leprosy. >> fox business trapped his show after they were sued for spreading lies about the 2020 election. september 1, 2008. democracy now! producer shariff abdel kouddous, nicole salazar and i were among the journalists arrested in a pa crackdown at the republican national convention in st. paul. as the riot police came nicole shouting on your face, press, press. >> press, press, press. >> on your face, on your face.

>> ow! amy: that was nicole salazar screaming as the riot police took her down bloodying her face. shariff abdel kouddous told them to calm down they kicked him in the chest, threw him against the wall an arrested him. when i got the call on the convention floor i raced outside the riot police had formed a lane containing the area. i asked to speak with the commanding over to get them released. >> stay right there. back up. back up. >> you will be under arrest so don't do it.

>> we would successfully the st. paul and maps police and secret service for our arrest. when we come back we will have more on our 25th anniversary special. \m \m

amy: democracy now! on evening of tuesday december 7, 8:00 p.m. tom will join noam chomsky, angela davis, arundhati roy and winona laduke and others as we celebrate 25 years of democracy now!. join us for the online celebration. you can check out democracynow.org for more information. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace reporter. i'm amy goodman. as we return now to our look back at excerpts of democracy now! over the past quarter century. let's go to 2010 when the whistle blowing website wickileaks released footage of u.s. soldiers firing from the military helicopter on iraqi civilians

including two dead of reuters agency. >> let me know when you gather what you -- >> fire. >> roger. [gunfire] >> we need to move now. amy: julian assange, tell us how you got this footage? >> we got this footage some time last year. we don't disclose the source for source protection. when we first got it we were told that it was important and it showed the killing of journalists. we didn't have any other context.

we spent quite some mont after breaking t encryption looking and the more we looked the more disturbing it became. this is a sequence which has a lot of detail and i think in some ways can covers most of the bad aspects of the area war in iraq and what we must be be able to infer what is going on in afghanistan. amy: as we look at 25 years of democracy we turn to the egyptian revolution that ousted mubarak. >> there are many roxann stones that have littered the ground here. army tanks are stationed and they stood by as mubarak's thugs came in on horseback an attacked crowds. there are many wounded in slings, bandaged. a child here five or six is fed by his mother.

he is bruised on the side of his face. i asked her what happened and she said he is a revolutionary. he is fighting for his future. amy: that report aired friday february 4, 2011. he resigned two weeks later. then occupy wall street democracy now! was own of the only national news outlets to report on the first day of action. >> on saturday thousands of protesters took to the streets of downtown manhattan for what was described as an action to occupy wall street. inspired by the uprising offish spring and european antiausterity movements. a vancouver based culture jamming magazine put out a call for the protest on wall street in july. the goals were various from looting corporate cbs

to political campaigns to auditing the federal reserve to challenging all of global capitalism. they included 71-year-old mary ellenen moreno. the bailout of wall street didn't help the people holding mortgages. it all went it wall street and none went to main street. we just learned that geithner was asked to split up the citi bank and didn't do it and obama didn't do anything about it t. >> it was a plan for an ongoing occupation of the financial district. >> the idea was to have appear encontaminant. we are hoping people come prepared to stay as long as they can and we will support eother. >> but saturday after hundreds arrived nypd shut wall street down. barricading activists off from wall street and forcing a move to the nearby park.

despite tense standoffs hundreds slept in the park and have maintained they will stay until their demands are met. amy: september 21, 2011. democracy now! broadcast live six hours from the grounds of a prison in georgia where troy anthony davis was executed. we were the only one to continuously broadcast live. amy: from georgia death row prison in jackson, this is a democracy now! special broadcast. we are just an hour from the scheduled execution of troy anthony davis, an execution the whole world is watching. >> you would like to say that i have been battling cancer for 10 years and i don't have cancer but [inaudible]. several months ago i couldn't -- i was doing fine an after

that i couldn't get up out of the chair. but i'm going to tell you that i'm going to stand here for my son today. [applause] >> we are troy davis. we are troy davis. >> the court ordered execution of troy anthony davis has been carried out. the time of date is 11:08 p.m. at the time thwitnesses will come out to give their firsthand account. amy: again prison official sharing the news that troy anthony davis was executed at 11:08. that was the time of death. i'm standing with -- >> wesley boyd. this has been a transfer si of justice and america

ought to be ashamed with yourself and god help america. if you and i are in america, please don't come to georgia. don't buy think georgia pecans or peaches or any trading with georgia. the whole world, don't buy anything with georgia. god bless america and god bless troy davis. amy: in july 2014 israel launched a massive all the on gaza ultimately killing more than 2200 palestinians. the majority civilians including more than 500 children. appear izzie gun boat killed children on a beach. democracy now!'s shariff abdel kouddous was in gaza where he spoke with the boys' families. >> i met with the mother of muhammad the 11 yearly who was killed. she said he loved the sea and has seven sisters

and his father ruined his back about 10 years ago fishing and they were waiting for him to grow to be the bread winner and there was a deep tragedy and sorrow. amy: august 9, 2014, if ferguson, missouri darren wilson a white police officer fatally shot unarmed african- american teenager michael brown. it became a key moment in the braves movement. in the aftermath democracy now traveled to ferguson. >> tell me your name and what your sign says. >> i'm rhona and it is negro spring the same as the arabs fought to oust their corrupt government we are fighting for our civil rights and human rights. we would like one of under results for there to be a law. police officers shouldn't be allowed to hide behind a badge.

they should have penalties. it is not fair. there should not be treated like extra special humans. amy: in july 2015 democracy now! interviewed all three co-founders of the black lives matter movement patrisse cullors, opal tometti and alicia garza. >> it has to by its nature be intersectional because of the complexity of who black people are in this country and throughout the world. there's nothing separate about wages from black life and the survival of black people than police violence and pa terrorism. even still have a situation where we've black workers who are not covered by labor protections lake domestic workers and farm works so we can't just look at police violence. police violence is the timm of the iceberg when it relates to conditions

overall of block people across the globe. amy: in 2015 democracy now!'s nermeen shaikh and i were in paris for the climate summit. while there we traveled north to calais site of the largest refuse jae camp in france. 6,000 to 7,000 were camped out in makeshift tents in what was known as jungle. >> i'm here like everyone a refugee who came from the war. everyone is fighting in my country. so i escaped from the world. i don't want to be there for nothing. >> we are back from his tent where he lives with two or men and we are on the street of makeshift restaurants, a barber ship. this is the kabul cafe. right here as we are going in is a map of whole camp.

>> the map of this camp, it is like a map of the world for a part of the world it is a map of where refugees are from. most of these countries have been bombed by the united states. >> i didn't think about it. the map of the jungle it a map of world. >> sudan. iraq. >> i didn't think about it but that is true. 'm from office. >> what do you think the u.s. should be doing now? >> the u.s. just increasing the war. as for the u.s. don't want to finish the war. it is the game of george w. bush, obama and others don't want to finish it.

amy: in september of 2016 democracy now! traveled to the standing rock sioux reservation to document the uprising against the dakota access partnership line. >> criminals. get your money somewhere else. >> we are standing at the construction site of the dakota access pipeline. it looks like there are at least three bulldozers that are to people's surprise at this moment actually bulldozing the land. there's a helicopter above. there is security and hundreds of people have been marching when they heard that the construction site is actually active right now. people have gone through the fence, men, women and children, the bulldozers are still going

and they are yelling at the men in hard hats. one threw one of the protesters down. and they are marching over the dirt mound. some of the security have dogs. >> amy goodman, this guy hit me in the face. it is all over my sunglasses. he maced me in the face. all over me. >> that dog, i was walking and even without think warning look at this. >> man, your dog just bit a protester. he just bit that protester. are you telling the dogs to bite the protesters? the dog has blood in its nose appear mouth.

why are you letting that dog do that? >> stop! amy: only a few hours before the attack we sat down withstanding rock historian. >> i don't understand why we are expendable in the outcome. i keep telling people we do our best, we have always been here. this is our land. why should we have to leave our land but we have this choice. we have to stand. no matter what happe we have to stand to save the water. amy: north dakota issued an arrest warrant for me after the film of the dogs attacking the indigenous water protectors. we returned for the arraignment but they would ultimately drop the chargers. in late 2016 democracy now! became the first foreign television news group

to get into occupied western sahara in years. >> we are in occupied western sahara, in laayoune in what many call africa's last colonel think. morocco occupied it more than 40 years ago in 1975. western sahara where peaceful protesters led by women are beaten in the streets. thousands have been tortured, imprisoned. killed and disappear while resisting the moroccan occupation. >> he jabbed me with his baton. i said hey you moroccan you pulled out my eye. amy: where natural resources are plundered from phosphate to fish. >> i say that our nation comes from the natural resources. if not morocco would not have invaded western sahara.

amy: where a master wall divides the native population denied the vote for self-termination. >> if we don't speak out specially us as victims that suffered if we don't defend our cause this problem will remain. amy: in the taste after president trump's inauguration in 2017 democracy now! cover the growing protest movement fr the women's march to protest over his muslim ban. >> we are outside at the john f. kane airport near terminal four where thousands have gathered to protest the trump administration executive order that has prevented many from seven muslim majority countries

from entering the united states. more than 10 of them here detained at terminal four. thousands of people hear chanting let them in. this is what democracy looks like and refugees welcome here. let's talk to some of the people. >> i'm here today because i'm a muslim woman i find this and extremely personal to me because i have family members are are on visa and they are at risk of not being able to leave or enter the country. >> what are your concerns for muslims here already in the united states? >> i would say all my must little brothers and sisters there's nothing it fear. your actions will be rewarded. keep doing what you're doing.

we are not going to do anything wrong. we are unapologetic muslims. amy: in 2018 the democracy now! team reported from the u.s. mexico border in texas. amy: we are broad can'ting from brownsville along the u.s.-mexico border behind me the border wall that stretches in sections all the way through california. this rio grande valley is the incenter of the trumps zero tolerance that led to the forcible celebration of more than 2,000 children from their parents. people are asked it keep families together rally here have walked forward to enter the federal courthouse in brownsville where so many migrants have been taken. so many migrants separate interested their children. they are demanding to go inside. police are hear the department of homeland security. we will see what happens. >> we are here to request access to the court hearings

that are taking place. that is the main reason. we want to be in the hearings. [chanting] >> we are about to enter federal courthouse to see the freedom of the children and see trump said the parents won't be separated but he said they should not have court or lawyers or judges. amy: on looks night 2018 alexandria ocasio cortez gave democracy now! one of her first interviews when she was elected to congress. >> i believe that our president has abdicated his responsibility as leader of all people and clearly drawn lines to which americans he champions appear which he doesn't. that is why i feel like we have a very important duty

to not only fight against anti-semitism. racism. xenophobia but champion the causes of these communities and neighbors because it is a very dangerous time in our democracy and this is a very administration that we cannot attacker granted. we need to maksure we are shoring up support in these communities in tangible ways. amy: weeks later, december 2018, democracy now traveled to poland for u.n. climate summit where i spoke with then the 15-year-old activist in her first broadcast in the united states. >> what we do now each generation comes we are decided now what we want our future to look like. >> when did you decide climate change was the issue you wanted to devote your life to?

>> i mean, i have read a lot about it and one thing that i found very scary sticking point that once we reach the tipping point there's to going back and the chain reaction is beyond or console and that is very scary. so i, instead of worrying about how the future might turn out you can try to change it while you still can so that's way wanted to do. amy: we end our 25 anniversary special with the word of angela davis speaking in june 2020 welcomes after minneapolis police murdered george floyd sparking remarkable justice protests across the country and around the world. >> this is an extraordinary moment. i have never experienced anything like the conditions

we are currently experiencing. the juncture created by the covid-19 pandemic and the recognition of the systemic racism that has been rendered visible under these conditions because of the disproportionate difference between black and latinx communities. this is a moment i don't know if i ever expected to experience. amy: those areust some of the highlights from the first 25 years of democracy now!. we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary online hopefully with you on e evening of december 7 at 8:00 p.m. eastern with a virtual event with angela davis. noam chomsky, angela davis, arundhati roy and winona laduke with others and musical performances. visit democracynow.org for details. we want to thank the thousands of people who have helped us over these 25 years,

what an honor it has been to work with all of you and how many years more we look forward to. with my colleagues juan gonzalez and nermeen shaikh we thank you all for being with us for these 25 years. i'm amy goodman.

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