12/10/21 12/10/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> there is only one legitime option now. amy: a british court has rolled in favor of the u.s. government's appeal to extradite wikileaks founder julian assange

to face criminal charges in the united states. supporters warn his extradition would be a major blow to press freedom worldwide. we will get an update and look at what is next. then two journalists except the nobel peace prize today. russian reporter and filipino journalist. >> i stand before you representative of every journalist around the world who is forced to sacrifice so much to hold the line, to stay true to our values and mission to bring you the truth and hold power to account. amy: than the forever prisoner. alex gibney a new film by tells the story of how treatment of guantánamo prisoners. >> in 2002, e begotten cia --

abu zubaydah has never been charged with a crime. imprisoned in a secret cia unit called strawberry fields. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a british court has ruled in favor of the u.s. government's appeal to extradite wikileaks founder julian assange to face criminal charges in the united states. a london district judge had previously ruled assange should not be extradited because he would likely die by suicide in a u.s. prison. u.k. judge timothy holroyde said he was satisfied with a pledge from the united states that assange would not be held in a maximum security prison in colorado. outside the court, supporters

rallied for assange's release, warning his extradition would be a major blow to press freedom worldwide. we'll have the latest on assange's case after headlines. we will speak with one of his lawyers as well as his brother. this comes two days after secretary of state antony blinken addressed the white house's virtual summit of democracy, where he announced u.s. efforts to support independent journalism and reporters targeted for their work. on thursday, president joe biden welcomed venezuelan opposition leader juan guaido to the summit rather than venezuelans democratically elected president nicolás maduro. >> we're convinced we can save democracy and therefore save venezuela. something the bad guys are winning but i think it is the opposite. amy: the biden administration continues to recognize guaido as venezuela's leader. that is despite his involvement in failed coup attempt in 2019.

his failed bid in 2022 stormed parliament with a group of lawmakers in order to forcefully swear himself in as the venezuela's leader. guaido was also linked to failed coup plot in 2020 led by venezuelan dissidents and an american mercenary company. a federal appeals court has rejected former president trump's attempts to keep white house documents secret from the house committee investigating the january 6 assault on the capitol by a pro-trump mob. the ruling sets up an emergency review of the supreme court which will weigh whether president biden had the authority to waive trump's claims of executive privilege. on thursday, the january 6 select committee released slights from an internal white house powerpoint recent tatian that argued them president trump should declare a national security emergency in order to delay certification of the results of the 2020 election.

the 38 page presentation concluded open vote trump wins." this comes as attorney general james mehsud subpoenaed trump to testify under oath in a civil fraud investigation. separately, james announced as they she has pulled out of the new york governor's race in order to focus on her investigations which could include a criminal probe -- does include a criminal probe of donald trump. here in the united states, at least four states have called in the national guard to assist overwhelmed doctors and nurses after a post-thanksgiving surge in covid-19 cases led to a 15% jump in hospitalizations in just two weeks. nearly all u.s. cases are linked to the delta coronavirus variant, though health officials warn the omicron variant continues to spread rapidly. on thursday, federal regulators approved booster doses of

pfizer-biontech vacces for 16- and 17-year-olds. the world health organization warned thursday the omicron variant continues to spread rapidly worldwide. in south africa, coronavirus infections are up by more than 250% in a week, nearly all of them omicron cases. and the united kingdom's health security agency said thursday omicron appears to be outcompeting delta and is likely to become the dominant variant in britain. kate o'brien, the head of the who's department of immunization, warned rich countries against hoarding vaccines in response to the new variant. >> into whatever the omicron situation is going to be, there is risk th the global supply is again going to revert to high income countries hoarding vaccines. amy: a warning to our audience, this story contains disturbing footage and descriptions.

in chiapas, mexico, at least 54 people were killed and over 100 injured thursday when a truck carrying migrants overturned. most of the victims were people from central america. witnesses described a horrific scene after the trailer fell on its side, split open, and spilled bodies onto the pavement. the crash came the same week the biden administration restarted and expanded the trump-era "remain in mexico" policy for asylum-seekers and after the u.s. and mexico agreed to crack down on migrant caravans. advocates say the policies have forced migrants to take on more dangerous and clandestine routes to reach the u.s. border. filipino journalist jesus "jess" malabanan was shot dead wednesday by unknown assailants. 58-year-old malabanan reported for a number of outlets, including reuters, where he worked on their coverage of

filipino president rodrigo duterte's deadly war on drugs. the reporting won a 2018 pulitzer prize. rights groups say dangers facing journalists have increased under duterte. the national union of journalists of the philippines found 21 media workers have been killed since he took office. this comes as noted filipina journalist maria ressa accepted the nobel peace prize today. later in the broadcast, we will play part of her acceptance speech. police in daytona beach, florida, say they've thwarted a gunman's plans to carry out a mass shooting at thembry riddle aeronautical university. on thursday, police announced the arrest of 19-year-old john hagins, who was carrying a backpack containing a collapsible semi-automatic rifle, ammunition, and several magazines, including one loaded with 32 bullets. police chief jakari young says

officers were alerted to the plot after two students reported snapchat group messages they received from hagins. >> he referenced columbine. he said once he was done at that firing range, he was going to campus to enact columbine. by the grace of god, those two students came forward and thwarted that plan. amy: in an historic worker victory, employees at a starbucks store in buffalo, new york, have voted to unionize. the elmwood starbucks is the first among the coffee chain's 9000 u.s. locations to form a union. [cheers] amy: workers cheered as the results of their vote were announced. 17 -- employees voted in favor 19 and eight against forming a union. the union drive and starbucks' union-busting attempts garnered nationwide attention and drew

support from labor advocates, including senator bernie sanders. lexi rizzo, a shift supervisor at the newly-unionized shop, spoke at a sanders town hall earlier this week. >> the price of our health insurance go up and coverage go down every single year. i have seen people being denied maternity leave because they were not getting enough hours to be eligible. i do not agree that if we are unhappy with the way starbucks is that we should just leave. i believe when you love something, you fight to make it better. that is what we are trying to do with our unique campaign. amy: a union vote failed at a second buffalo starbucks location and a third election at the buffalo airport starbucks has not yet been confirmed after nearly half of the "yes" votes were challenged. the national labor relations board will now review those votes. a court in texas has ruled against part of the state's near-total ban on abortions but stopped short of issuing an injunction that would block its enforcement.

the law known as s.b. 8 allows private citizens anywhere in the united states to sue healthcare workers and others for facilitating an abortion in texas. those who succeed win a $10,000 bounty. a state judge in austin ruled thursday the law violates the texas constitution but will allow the law to remain in effect while proponents appeal the ruling. meanwhile, reproductive justice advocates hope to make california a sanctuary for people seeking an abortion as the supreme court weighs a major case which could lead to the overturning of roe v. wade. a coalition of over 40 groups are urging california lawmakers to expand reproductive health services ahead of the court's ruling, which is expected by summer 2022. this is jodi hicks of planned parenthood california. >> did report that predicts a 3000% increase in people that will find california surpluses clinic should roe v. wade be

overturned. amy: if the supreme court overturns roe, more than two dozen states are expected to move ahead with abortion bans. in chicago, a jury found actor jussie smollett guilty of falsely reporting a hate crime. smollett was arrested in 2019 and accused of lying to the police about suffering a violent homophobic and racist assault. during smollett's trial, two brothers who were personal acquaintances of the former "empire" actor testified he paid them $3500 for the staged attack and instructed them to place a noose over his neck while shouting lines like, "this is maga country." smollett faces up to three years in prison. he was released on bond and his lawyers vowed to appeal. here in new york city, environmental and human rights lawyer stephen don zager has been sent home to serve the remainder of his six-month

sentence from his apartment. donziger was sentenced in october for contempt of court after a corporate prosecutor tied to the oil and gas industry went after him for successfully taking on chevron on behalf of indigenous groups in the ecuadorian amazon, whose land was contaminated by the oil giant. international rights groups and a number of u.s. lawmakers, including congressmembers alexandria ocasio-cortez and rashida tlaib, have called for his release. donziger, who had already spent over two years under house arrest before his prison sentence, vowed to continue fighting for his freedom and to hold chevron accountable for its crimes. and new zealand proposed new laws to outlaw the sale of cigarettes to upcoming nerationand dramatically curtail the availability of tobacco. new zealand associate health minister expects the also begin rolling out in 2024.

>> we are looking for a smoke-free generion by making it -- sell tobacco products those aged 40 when the law comes into effect. as they age, future generations will never legally be able to purchase tobacco because the truth is, there is no safe age to start smoking y: more than 11% of new zealanders over the age of 15 smoke, but that rate reaches nearly 30% among the indigenous maori population. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. wikileaks founder julian assange could soon face criminal charges in the united states after a u.k. court ruled this morning in favor of the u.s. government's appeal to extradite him. assange faces up to 175 years in prison in the united states under the espionage act for publishing classified documents

exposing u.s. war crimes in iraq and afghanistan. assange has been jailed in england for 2.5 years. before that, he spent over sen years in exile in the ecuadorian embassy in london. there he had been granted political asylum. a london district judge had ruled in january that assange should not be extradited because it would be oppressive due to his mental health and that he would likely die by suicide in a u.s. prison. but in a ruling issued this morning, british judge timothy holroyde said he was satisfied with a pledge from the united states that assange would not be held in a so-called "adx" maximum security prison in colorado. according to court documents, the u.s. won its appeal to extradite assange due to four -- "four assurances" sent in a diplomatic note in february, which include the condition that "the united states retains the power to designate mr. assange to adx in the event that after

entry of this assurance, he was to commit any future act that then meant he met the test for such designation." outside the court, supporters rallied for assange's release. this is christophe deloire, secretary general of reporters without borders. >> we do defend julian assange because he is proseted for hi contribution for journalists extrition would clearly have long-standing implications regarding press freedom all over the world, and it is country, in the u.s., and beyond. and that is why there is only one legitateption now, which is that the case is closed and that julian is immediately released. take the opportunity to cal

on journalists everywhere to be totally conscious of at happens now, what is now considered. it is a crucial moment for all journalists everywhere to defend journali, to defend julian in this case. act now. act before it is too late. amy: the british court's ruling comes as the biden administration is hosting a global summit for democracy, or secretary of state antony blinken said efforts t support independent journalism and reporters targetedor their work. >> strengthen free, independent media. diverse challenges they face. increase in protection f the free press here at home. in july, the department of stice anp-to-date new policy to stop using subpoenas,

warrants, and other investigative powers to obtai notes, work products, or other information journalists engaged in newsgathering activities. amy: for more, we are joined by gabriel shipton, who is julian assange's half-brother and a filmmaker. and ben wizner, director of the aclu's speech, privacy, and technology project, and also the legal adviser to nsa whistleblower edward snowden. welcome you both back to democracy now! jeff, -- then, let's begin with you step your response to the ruling by the high court in britain? >> i was the, anything that brings julian assange one step closer to a courtroom in the united states is a terrible step, but it is important to note only one issue was at stake in the appeal today. that was the judge's earlier ruling that julian assange should not be extradited because of the oppressive conditions he would be exposed to that would present a suicide risk. what was not at stake in this

appeal is the much more significant legal issue for global press freedom, and that is can charges under the u.s. espionage act result in the extradition of a foreign publisher proposing truthful information? this is the issue that journalists around the world should be watching more closely and journalists in the united states in particular should be a lot louder about. because whatever they may think about wikileaks and however they may want to choose to define themselves in contrast to wikileaks, this is a precedent that will affect every investigative journalist in the united states. amy: let me get the response of gabriel shipton, julian assange 'srother, filmmaker. we have had ui before with your father. your response to this breaking news that julian assange could now be sent to united states, though there are still a few other little steps that have to happen? >> i don't think we can ignore

any longer that we can rely on the british courts to stop this extradition. the charges against julian need to be dropped by the biden administration and then merrick garland doj here in the u.s. it has been 11 years since julian was first arrested in the u.k. this will be his third christmas in belmarsh maximum security prison. he is only being held in belmarsh at the request of the u.s. doj. he is not serving a sentence. the doj, they are requesting bail is not given to julian. really, what needs to happen now is the biden administration needs to drop these charges and let julian go. amy: can you talk about the five appeal points that were heard in this case?

how julian is right now in britain and what you think would happen if you work brought to the united states? >> the appeal was approved based on the assurances given by u.s. these assurances are being found -- amnesty international i said they are not worth the paper they are printed on. if he's extradited here, i am sure he would -- they can't guarantee his safety in the u.s. prison system. he will likely die here if not beforehand. we live in fear of that happening to julian. as i said, it is his third christmas in belmarsh prison now. the conditions there, they're not good there, either. he should be at home with his fami. he is being crushed, basically.

it is hard -- it is hard to put into words, really, what we are seeing happening to julian. he is so strong and resilient, but this whole process has really taken a toll on him. the next stage, julian has two weeks to appeal this decision. the high court has ordered the magistrate court to approve the extradition and send it to patel to approve. julian has two weeks to appeal this decision. we will keep fighting. there is across cross-appeal in the works which we will appeal all the substantive press freedom issues as well. y: i am looking at the amnesty statement, gabriel. is says, they say we guarantee he won't be held and a maximum security

facility and he will not be subjected to special administrative measures and he will get health care. but if he does something we don't like, we reserve the right to not guarantee him. we reserve the right to put him in a maximum security facility. gabriel? >> that's right. the person who makes these decisions is the director of the cia. in september, we saw an expose by yahoo! news investigative journalists that found there were plots within the cia to kidnap, to murder julian. really, his health and well-being, it is being put in the hands of the people who had plots to murder and kidnapping him. so these assurances, like i said, they're not worth the paper they are on. they are not assurances at all. i think you can see what is happening with whistleblower daniel hale. he is being put in what is called cmu, communication management unit.

it is almost worse than adx. there are these options that they have that the prison system has at their disposal to restrict julian's communication, to restrict his ability to communicate with other people in the prison, and just really to grind him down to dust, basically. amy: ben wizner, we are about to play the nobel peace prize except since speech of maria ressa. she and the russian journalist got their awards today as the nobel committee in oslo talked about celebrating freedom of expression. you are deeply concerned about this issue with julian assange. is he the first publisher to face espionage charges like this in the united states? and what are the plans? what are the campaigns planned right now as this process moves

forward? and if you could specifically address what julian released, this whole issue of the afghan were logs, the correct were logs, indicates of state department communiqués and memos, what this information has meant for journalism in the united states for the united states and the world talking about what happens on the ground in war. >> that is a lot but i will do my best. first of all, yes, this was the first time in the 100 year history of u.s. espionage act, which was passed during an earlier red scare, that someone has been prosecuted with felony charges per publishin truthful information. we have never seen a case like this. this was a rubicon we did not want to see crosspost of the obama administration considered making julian assange the first person charge, convened a

criminal grand jury but at the end, cooler heads prevailed and they realized there was simply no way to distinguish the conduct they would have to charge in this case from investigative journalists do on a daily basis. let's remember, this case involves disclosures from 2010, 2011 that chelsea manning was convicted for providing to wikileaks. this was not something wikileaks published on its own. wikileaks partnered with open with the new york times" with your spiegel, the guardian those newspapers published award-winning journalism covering war crimes the u.s. and u.k. military had committed in iraq and afghanistan, diplomatic cables that shed light on our support for oppressive regimes and torture in future booted to the arab spring so this was vital information the public around the world had a right and

need to know. here's our concern. at the u.s. level, this indictment criminalizes investigative journalism. the justice department wants to cite this isn't journalism, this is a criminal conspiracy. he conspired with chelsea manning, trying to control her to turn over u.s. government secrets. that precisely describes what our best investigative journalist do. you could describe everything they do is a criminal conspiracy because they are trying to persuade people with access with important information to volley the law to turn it over to journalists in the public interest. this proceeded, if there is a connection here, will chill journalists. it does not mean "the new york times" will be prosecuted the next day, but lawyers will tell them they cannot publish due to threat of prosecution. it is ironic it is happening on the same day this nobel prize is

being awarded. that is the u.s. is taking the position that our secrecy laws apply criminally to foreign publishers. that someone who has no ties to the u.s., who is publishing overseas making his own determinations of public interest considerations can be hauled into -- extradited and hauled into a u.s. court and prosecuted. think of what that will mean around the world if every regime can point to us and say, "we want to extradite these journalists too hungry because they published. secrets." "the chinese want to extradite new york times journalists." the threat is not the u.s. will have to send is journalists to china, he would never do that, but we are now embracing and blessing and setting this precedent that is going to power the worst authoritarian

forces around the world. look, i take what gabriel says, i think we are still hoping the u.k. courts will find a way to resolve this case without setting the precedents that a form publisher can be extradited to the united states. if that does not happen, he will be all hands on deck at the u.s. we will be appealing again to the merrick garland justice department to find some kind of safe haven resolution that does not involve setting this kind of precedent that will smear their own reputations. if that doesn't happen, all of these groups will be in court as friends of the court, arguing this is an intolerable prosecution under the first amendment. amy: ben wizner, thank you for being with us director of the , aclu's speech, privacy, and technology project. we also want to thank gabriel shipton, julian assange's

brother and film maker. to see all of our conversations with julian assange including when he was in political exile performing said to the belmarsh maximum-security prison, go to democracynow.org. except, two journalists have received the nobel peace prize in oslo. you will hear the speech of maria ressa. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> accept the nobel prize for peace at a moment when 22 million new grows of the united states are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice. accept this award on behalf of the civil rights movement, which is moving with determination and the majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice.

amy: that is dr. martin luther king accepting the nobel peace prize. today the 2021 nobel peace prize laureates, filipina journalist maria ressa and russian reporter dmitry muratov accepted their words in oslo for their efforts to "freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace." the other 2021 laureates in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, and economics presence in their home countries and gave their speeches online. this is maria ressa's speech. >> more majesties, your royal highness is, distinguish members of the norwegian nobel committee, your excellencies, distinction guests, ladies and gentlemen, i stand before you representative of every

journalist around the world who is forced to sacrifice so much to hold the line, to stay true to our values and mission to bring you the truth and hold power to account. i remember the brutal dismemberment of jamal khashoggi. the assassination in malta. my friend in venezuela, belarus whose plane was literally hijacked so he could be arrested. jimmy lied languishing and a hong kong prison. sunday, after getting out of more than seven years in joe, started another newsgroup and is now forced to flee myanmar. and in my own country, 23-year-old still in prison after getting -- nearly two years and just 36 hours ago, the

news that my former colleague jess malabanan was killed with a bullet to his head. there are so many to thank for keeping us safer and working. the hold the line coalition of more than a global groups and that human rights groups that help us shine a light. there are costs for you as well. at least 63 lawyers, more lawyers have been killed that journalists in the philippines. at least 63 compared to the 22 journalists murdered after president duterte took office in 2016. since then, member of our current on human rights coalition has had 16 people killed and senator my love because she demanded accountability, is serving her fifth year in jail.

or a religious broadcaster, a news crew i once led, which last year lost its franchise to operate. i helped create a startup turning 10 years old in january -- we're getting old -- our attempt to put together two sides of the same coin that shows everything wrong with our world today. the absence of law and democratic vision for the 21st century. that kueng represents our information ecosystem which determines everything else about our world. journalists, that is one site. the old gatekeepers. the other, is technology with the godlike powers, the new gatekeepers. it is allowed the virus of lies to infect each of us, pitting us against each other, bringing out our fears, anger, hate, and setting the stage for the rise of authoritarians and dictators

around the world. our greatest need to date is to transform that hate and violence. the toxic sludge that is forcing through our information ecosystem, prioritized by american internet companies that make more money by spreading that hate and triggering the worst in us. ok, well, that just means we have to work harder. you know, in order to be the good, we have to believe there is good in the world. right? mangled t-shirt from rattler from 2014. i've been a journalist for more than 35 years. i have worked in conflict zones and war zones in asia, reported on hundreds of disasters. while i have seen so much bad, i've also documented so much good.

when people who have nothing offer you what they have, part of how we have survived the last fiveears have government attacks is because of the kindness of strangers. and the reason they help despite the danger is because they want to with little expectation of anything in return. this is the best of we are. the part of our humanity that makes miracles happen. this is what we lose in a world of fear and violence. you have heard the last time a working journalist was given this award was in 1936, awarded in 1935. he was supposed to come and get it in 1936. he never made it to oslo because he languished in a nazi concentration camp. so we are here, hopefully little

bit ahead -- we are both here. by giving this to journalists today, thank you. the nobel committee is signaling a similar historical moment. another existential point for democracy. dmitry and i are lucky because we can speak to you now. yay for court approvals. but there are so many more journalists persecuted in the shadows with neither exposure nor support, and governments are doubling down with impunity. the accelerant is technology. when creative destruction takes new meaning. you have heard from david, we are standing on the rubble of the world that was an we must have the foresight and courage to imagine what might happen if we don't act now, and instead, please create the world as it

should be -- more compassionate, more equal, or sustainable. to do that, please ask yourself the same russian we at rappler had to confront five years ago, what are you willing to sacrifice for the truth? i will tell you how i lived my way into the answer entry points. first, my context on how these attacks shaped me. second, but the problem we all face. and finally, finding the solution because we must. in less than two years, the philippine government filed to arrest warrants against me. i had to post built-in times just to do my job. last year i and the former colleague were convicted of cyber level for a story we published eight years earlier at a time below we allegedly violated did not even exist. all told, the charges i faced could sydney to jail for about

100 years. but the more i was attacked for my journalism, the more resolute i became. i have first-hand evidence of abuse of power. what was meant to intimidate me and rappler only strengthen us. at the core journalism is a code of honor. mine is layered a different world from how i grew up come the golden rule, what is right and wrong, from college on code i learned in my time as a reporter in the code of ethics i learned and helped write. catch a that the filipino idea of literally the debt from within and at its best is a system of paying it forward. truth and ethical honor intersected like an arrow into this moment where hate lies and divisiveness thrives. as only the 18th woman to

receive this prize, i need to tell you how gender disinformation is a new threat and is taking a significant toll on the mental health and physical safety of women, girls, trance, and lgbtq people all around the world. women's journalists are the epicenter of risk. this pandemic of misogyny and hatred needs to be tackled now. even there, though, we can find strength. after all, you don't really know who you are until you are forced to fight for it. let me pull out so we are clear about the problem we face and how we got here. the attacks against us in rappler again five years ago we demanded an end to impunity on two fronts, rodrigo duterte's drug war and mark zuckerberg's facebook. it is only gotten worse and silicon valley's came home to roost in the united states on

january 6 with mob violence on capitol hill. what happens on social media doesn't stay on social media. online violence is real-world violence. social media is a deadly game for power and money. what is called surveillance capitalism. extracting our private lives for outsized corporate gain. our personal experiences sucked into a database, organized by ai, then sold to the highest bidder. highly profitable micro-targeting operations are engineered to structurally undermine human will. i have repeatedly called it a behavior modification system in which we are all pavlov's dogs experimented on any real time with disastrous consequences in countries like mine, myanmar, india, sri lanka, and so many

more. these destructive corporations have siphoned money away from news organizations and now they pose a foundational threat to markets and elections. facebook is the world's largest distributor of the news and yet studies have shown lies laced with anger and hate spread faster and further than fax. these american companies controlling our global information ecosystem are biased against fax, biased against journalists. they are by design dividing us and radicalizing us. i have said this repeatedly over the last five years, without fax, you cannot have truth. without truth, cannot have trust. without trust we have no shared reality, no democracy, and it becomes impossible to deal with the existential problems of our times.

climate, coronavirus, now the battle for truth. when i first was arrested in 2019, the officer said, "ma'am, i'm only doing my job." then he lowered his voice to almost a whisper as he read my rights. he was really uncomfortable. i almost felt sorry for him except he was arresting me because i am a journalist. this officer was a tool of power and an example of how a good man can turn people and how great atrocities happen. hannah wrote about the banality of evil when describing the men who carried out the orders of hitler's. how career-oriented bureaucrats can act without conscience because they justify what they're doing because they're only following orders. this is how a nation and world loses its soul.

you have to know what values you're fighting for, have to draw the lines early. but if you have not done so, these do it now. we're on the side you are good, decide you are evil. some governments may be lost causes. and if you're working in tech, i'm talking to you. how can you have election integrity if you don't have ingrity of facts? that is the problem facing countries -- that is the problem of countries facing elections next year for hungary, france, united states, my philippines where we are in a do or die moment with presidential elections on may 9. 35 years after the people power revolt ousted ferdinand marcos and forced his family into exile, his son is the front runner for president. he has built an extensive

disinformation network on social media rappler, which exposed in 2019. it is literally changing history in front of our eyes. to show how disinformation is both a local and global problem, take the chinese information operation taken down by facebook in september 2020, a year ago. it was creating fake accounts using ai generated photos for the u.s. elections, polishing the image of the marcos in the philippines, campaigning for the daughter of duterte, and attacking me rappler. and so what are we going to do

information ecosystem. ? to stop that requires a multilateral approach that all of us must be part of. it begins by restoring facts. we need information ecosystems that live and die by facts. we do this by shifting social priorities to rebuild journalism for the 21st century while regulating an outline the surveillance economics that profit from hate and lies. we need to help independent journalism survive. first, by giving greater protection to journalists and standing up against states which target journalists. then we need to address the upper testing model of journalism. this is part of the reason why i agreed to cochair the

international fund for public interest media which is trying to raise money from overseas development assistance funds right now while journalists are under attack on every front, only 0.3% of oda funds is spent on journalism. if we move that to 1%, we can raise $1 billion year for news organizations. that will be crucial for the global south. journalists must embrace technology. that is why with the help of google news initiative, rappler rolled out a new platform two weeks ago designed to build communities of action. it won't be as powerful as with the tech platform or's bills, but the north star is not profit alone. it is facts. truth. and trust. never legislation. thanks to the e.u. for taking leadership with the democracy

plan. the u.s., reform revolt section, the law that trts social dia platforms like utilities. it is not a conference of solution but he gets the ball rolling. these platforms put their thumbs on the scale of distribution. so while the public debate is here, john here on content moderation downstream, the real sleight-of-hand happens further upstream where algorithms of amplification, algorithms of distribution have been programmed by humans with coded bias. their agenda is profit having driven, carried out by machine. the impact is global with social media rolling back democracy, tearing it down in 81 countries around the world. that impunity must stop. democracy has become a woman to woman, man-to-man defense of our

values. we are at a sliding door moment where we can continue down the path we are on and ascend further into fascism, or we can choose to fight for a better world. to do that, please, ask yourself, what are you willing to sacrifice for the truth? i did not know if i was going to be here today. every day i live with the real threat of spending the rest of my life in jail because i am a journalist. when i go home, i have no idea what the future holds. but it is worth the risk. the destruction has already happened. now it is time to build, to create the world we want. please, with me, just close your

eyes for just a moment and imagine the world as it should be. world of peace, trust, and empathy. bringing out the best that we can be. open your eyes. now go. we have to make it happen. please, let's hold the line together. thank you. [applause] amy: that is filipino journalist maria ressa accepting the nobel peace prize today in oslo, norway, along with russian reporter dmitry muratov. next up." ." , "the forever prisoner we will speak with director alex gibney in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. we end today's show looking at one of the last 39 people still detained in guantánamo nearly two decades after the so-called war on terror. this week the senate judiciary committee held a hearing on the closing of guantánamo, the first in eight years. the biden administration declined to send a witness to testify and has so far refused

to outline a clear plan and timeline for guantánamo's closure. since it opened in 2002, guantánamo prisoners have detailed rampant torture and other horrific treatment while in u.s. custody. conditions many say amount rights violations and workone o> abu zubaydah has never been charged with a crime. he was imprisoned in the secret cia unit called strawberry fields, as an forever. or 9/11, the cia never captured or detained any prisoner. they were not prepared. people start looking for who to interrogate and there weren't any. psychologist mitchell was the only candidate considered.

>> they knew what th were doing. >> the cia officers were hding back because was in tongue them what they wanted to hear. >> something more progressive had to be done. looks the lawyer's philophy is, tell me what you want to do, boss, and i will make it legal. we asked them to draw what was done to him. >> of w's debate is put in isolation. >> everything that was happening -- nudity, sleep deprivation, noise has been approved. same song again and again. >> 11 days in a cough and chickenpox. this is -- coffin shaped box. this is crazy. >> would never lead to accusations. >> it would make the cia look bad. >> impossible story to tell.

>> i sued to get material. >> we saw constant manipulation by cia, misleading bush and obama. >> if the president approved it, i'm not going to get into what some journalist thinks about a. >> in america, we have something called innocent until proven guilty. >> we were the leaders of the effort against cruel and unusual punishment. after 9/11, that is out the window. >> are we prepared to abandon our principles in order to defend them? amy: "the forever prisoner" directed by alex gibney, who joins us now. his other films include "the crime of the century" and the miniseries "the looming tower." he is also the director of the oscar-winning "taxi to the dark side," which focuses on an innocent taxi driver in afghanistan who was tortured and killed at bagram air force base in 2002. welcome back to democracy now! lay why you made your latest

film about you call the forever prisoner. >> he was captured in pakistan in march 2002. the most important thing about abu zubayda's he was patient zero for the cia's torture program, the first one put through ere program, so-called enhanced interrogation techniques oreit's which included radical sleep deprivation and also wateoarding. when most of the world knows as torture. amy: this is the story also of the internal fight between the fbi and the cia -- i mean, the chilling detainment and torture of abu zubayda. first he's being questioned by the fbi, then moved into ca because they lead by a psychologist. explain. >> when he was first captured, was interrogated by two fbi agents.

immediately, they were getting good, actionable intelligence. so potent that the cia director george tenet was thrilled. until he found out there were fbi agent doing the interrogation instead of cia agents, which you would think, what difference does it make so long as you're getting the information? the george tenet moved quickly to try to put cia operatives on the ground to do something different, more brutal interrogation program which was initially experimented on and then over time was codified into law. by bush administration officials. that is what happened. amy: let me go to a clip from "the forever prisoner" where we hear james mitchell, the retired air force psychologist and chief architect of the cia's torture ogram. >> is at his rl name? >>o.

cannotalk abou h and i cannot en mentionis real na. >>'s real name, james mitchell. amy: james mitchell is the person who is on the image on the screen. the significance of psychologists being involved in what they call enhanced interrogation technique, which is so clearly outright torture? >> that's right. he was a psychologist who worked for something called the air force cere school that was designed to prepare some of our own soldiers the deprivations of authority resumes. he tried to retrofit those resistance techniques into interrogation techniques, which was both a nonsensical thing but also an offensive, in my view, against the psychological

profession. amy: we're going to do part two of this conversation at democrynow.org. alex gibney, academy award-winning film maker. his new film "the forever prisoner" is now on hbo. that does