12/21/21 12/21/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i coming years, the future of our country is at stake so i guarantee i will be a president who cares for democracy, listens more than he speaks, seeks unity and attends to the needs of the people daily. amy: chile has become the latest latin american nation to elect a leftist president as the former

student leader gabriel boric defeats his far right opponent after vowing to bury neoliberalism. we will go to santiago for the latest. plus, will lo at how e u. navy hacontamated the water suly for ts of thousands of people in hawaii. >> how many more leaks and are arts a burning skin let take? how many children need to have headhes, voming, diarrhea before it is shuown? the has be too much harm, not enough accountability, not enough healing. amy: but first computer, where an emergency court has sentenced the prominent human rights activist alaa abdel fattah to five years in prison. we will speak to alaa's aunt, the acclaimed egyptian novelist ahdaf soueif. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the world health organization

has warned the omicron coronavirus variant is spreading faster than even the delta variant and is infecting vaccinated people and those -- at a far higher rate than other forms of the virus. who director-general dr. tedros adhanom ghebreyesus called on governments to require more public health measures and said many holiday festivities should be canceled. >> canceled is better than a life canceled. it is better to cancel now and celebrate later than to celebrate now and grieve later. amy: here in the united states, the centers for disease control is warning omicron has overtaken delta as the dominant coronavirus variant, accounting for nearly three-quarters of new infections. the pentagon said it is dispatching teams of naval doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists to wisconsin and indiana as hospitals in those states face shortages of beds and medical workers.

new york state confirmed a record number of daily infections for the fourth straight day monday, with omicron now accounting for 90% of cases. among those testing positive was dr. mary bassett, new york's acting health commissioner. bassett, who is fully vaccinated and received a booster shot, reported no symptoms. new york city mayor bill de blasio said monday the omicron surge could peak within weeks. he said the city will rely on more testing and a vaccine mandate for private businesses, rather than another wide-scale lockdown. >> covid is bad for buness. shutdowns are bad for business. restrictions are bad for business. we can't let that happen again. the mandates we put in place are the way forward. amy: the national hockey league has canceled games for the rest of december, becoming the first major professional sports league in north america to pause during the omicron surge. this comes as the nfl set another single-day record with

47 players testing positive for coronavirus infections on monday alone. president biden addresses the nation on the variant today. the white house will make 500 million at-home covid-19 test kits available for free and is setting up a website for people to request them. the biden administration is also planning to set up 20,000 new testing sites nationwide. on monday, the white house said a staffer who was recently with president biden aboard air force one tested positive for coronavirus. biden reportedly has since tested negative. a new study finds glaciers in the himalayan mountains shed ice 10 times faster over the past four decades than they did over the previous seven centuries. the study, published monday in the journal scientific reports, estimates the glaciers have lost as much as 586 cubic kilometers of ice -- enough to raise global

sea levels by one-twentieth of an inch. nearly 2 billion people in south asia rely on meltwater from the glaciers for drinking water and to irrigate their crops. the biden administration has announced the most stringent tailpipe emissions standards in u.s. history. under the epa's plan, new gas-powered passenger vehicles will have to average at least 55 miles per gallon beginning in 2026. critics note the rule change will effectively restore emissions cuts that were canceled by the trump administration and say the biden administration should do muc more. in a statement, the center for biological diversity said -- "these rules are little more than a speed bump on the road to climate catastrophe when the president needed to make a u-turn." in burma, bbc investigation has revealed the burmese military carried out a series of mass killings of civilians in july. it resulted in the deaths of at least 40 men. several witnesses and survivors

told the bbc burmese soldiers rounded up villagers in the kani township and separated the men and killed them. video footage of the killings appear to show most of the men killed were first tortured. their bodies were buried in shallow graves. kani township is known to be a hub for the opposition. an emergency court in egypt has sentenced human rights activist alaa abdel fattah to an additional five years in prison. the court also handed down four-year sentences to other prominent prisoners -- the human rights lawyer mohamed al-baqer and the blogger mohamed ibrahim, who is known as "mohamed oxygen." all three were charged with "spreading false news undermining national security." alaa abdel fattah was a leading figure in the 2011 uprising that led to the fall of egypt's longtime u.s.-backed dictator hosni mubarak. after headlines, we'll go to egypt for the latest. in immigration news, a group of 11 haitian asylum seekers has

filed a lawsuit against the biden administration, accusing the u.s. government of physical abuse, racial discrimination and other severe rights violations while they were forced to take shelter under a bridge in the borderlands of del rio, texas, in september. the plaintiffs are also demanding the u.s. government allow the return of haitian asylum seekers deported from the del rio encampment. in a statement, guerline jozef, of the haitian bridge alliance, said -- "the stories i heard coming out of the del rio encampment will forever haunt me -- mothers with newborns denied basic necessities such as shelter and medical care, children being fed nothing or only bread. instead -- or only bread." this comes as immigrant justice advocates are condemning the biden administration's ongoing mass deportations of haitian asylum seekers. the haitian bridge alliance has tracked over 120 deportation

flights to port-au-prince since biden took office. the french humanitarian aid group utopia 56 has filed a legal complaint accusing british and french officials of "involuntary manslaughter" and "failure to help people in need" over the drowning of 27 refugees in the english channel in november. according to the only two survivors, refugees made distss calls to french and english rescue services after their boat capsized and started sinking in the waters off the french port city of calais. they were ignored. at least three of the victims were children. this is an attorney for utopia 56. >> percent from the moment the rescue service in bush and french were informed between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m., this boat was in distress most it is a legal obligation to coordinate and intervene. that was not the case. amy: the pentagon has announced new rules aimed at slowing the spread of extremism in the military's ranks. pentagon spokesperson john kirby said monday that, among other rule changes, soldiers may now

be disciplined for liking white nationalist and other extremist content on social media. >> the vast majority of men and women in our armed forces served honorably while extremist activity and the forces is rare come in is this could happen outside effect. amy: the southern poverty law center welcomed the changes, saying in a statement -- "the commitments made today are especially important considering the outsed role people with military experience played in the deadly violence surrounding the january 6 insurrection at the u.s. capitol. more than 80 of the 700 individuals charged by the justice department in connection with the capitol breach have ties to the u.s. military." the house committee investigating the january 6 capitol insurrection has asked republican congressmember scott perry to voluntarily submit to an interview. it's the first time the committee has publicly asked a sitting member of congress to testify about their role in the plot to overturn the results of the 2020 election. investigators say perry met with

trump ahead of the capitol riot, and pushed justice department officials to block the election results. meanwhile, "the new york times" reports the january 6 committee may refer criminal charges against former president trump and his allies to the justice department. that could include wire fraud charges against trump and other republicans who raised millions of dollars off false assertions that the election was stolen and felony obstruction of congress charges against those who tried to stop the certification of electoral votes. in new york, ghislaine maxwell's sex-trafficking trial is now in the hands of the jury. in its closing arguments, the prosecution described the british socialite as a dangerous predator who recruited and groomed economically disadvantaged teenage girls to be sexually abused by convicted predator and sex trafficker jeffrey epstein. maxwell faces up to 70 years in prison if convicted of all counts, including sex trafficking of a minor. actor chris noth has been dropped from the cbs drama "the equalizer" after being accused of sexual assault by at least

three women. noth is best known for portraying the character of "mr. big" in the hbo series "sex and the city" and its sequel "and just like that," which premiered earlier this month. the show's debut triggered two of noth's accusers to come forward in a detailed story published by the hollywood reporter last week. a third accuser then spoke to the daily beast. none of them have revealed their real names. noth has also been dropped by his talent management firm as well as the exercise equipment company peloton, which had pulled his ad. in minnesota, jury deliberation has begun in the manslaughter trial of former brooklyn center police officer kim potter, who fatally shot 20-year-old black father daunte wright during a minor traffic stop in april. during closing arguments, prosecutor erin eldridge rejected potter's claims that she meant to fire her taser, not her pistol. >> manslaughter. that she an officer does not make it ok.

that she was on duty does not make it ok. that she shot him with her service pistol does not make it ok. her actions were rash and reckless and what she did was wrong. amy: kim potter is facing first degree and second degree manslaughter charges. and harvard's admissions office has dropped its requirement that applicants submit sat orct standardized test scores after the pandemic limited students' access to testing sites. the new policy will run through at least 2026. harvard is the latest among a growing number of u.s. sools to drop the standardizedesting requirement, which critics say favors wealthy, white applicants over students of color. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by my co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the

country and around the world. amy: in a moment, we are going to be looking at the chilean elections. but first, an emergency court in egypt has sentenced the leading human activist alaa abdel fattah to an additional five years in prison. the court also handed down four-year sentences to other -- the human rights lawyer mohamed al-baqer and the blogger mohamed ibrahim, who is known as "mohamed oxygen." all three were charged with "spreading false news undermining national security." alaa abdel fattah was a leading figure in the 2011 uprising that led to the fall of egypt's longtime dictator hosni mubarak. alaa has been imprisoned since his arrest in september 2019, just six months after he was released following a five-year prison term. on monday, the u.s. state department criticize the sentences but egypt remains one

of the largest recipients of u.s. military aid. the biden administration had said earlier it would withhold 10% work $130 million in military aid to egypt amid concerns of human rights abuses by president el sisi's government. this means merely $1.2 billion will flow to egypt. we go to cairo now or we are joed by alaa abdel fattah's aunt, the acclaimed egyptian novelist ahdaf soueif. she is the author of several books, including "the map of love" and "cairo: my city, our revolution." she worked with alaa on several initiatives during the egyptian revolution of january 2011 ahdaf soueif, you were in the courtroom on monday. can you talk about the vertex, or reaction, what happened in court? did alaa get to speak, your nephew? >> thank you so much for this. alaa wasn't even in the courtrm. we know he and his codefendants

were transported to the court and they were held cells in the basement, but they never made it into the courtroom. in fact, the judge did not make it to the courtroom. we were sitting there from 9:00 in the morning waiting for the judge to pronounce sentence, but the lawyers and several other options and requests for him. he never came out. conducted all of the other business, the other ces in the docket. this is a misdemeanor court, which usually deals with things like mor tax evasion, petty crimes. so he d all that from chambers. and then there was this good security tng where they tried toet us to leave the courtroom , and we refused because the law that sentencing has to be public. and so they negotiated that the defendant would just cap to members of the family and all

the lawyers. we settled on that. we were waiting for theto bring al and oxygen up and put them in the dock so we could at least see them and talk to them. this did not happen. suddenly, there was a bang of e gavel on the judge's podium and not even the clerk, it was some kind of usher or something, the guy who stands up and shouts to keep order. he was there and he shouted, "court!" and pronounced the sentence. he shouted them out and ran back into chambers and slammed the door behind him and they switched off the lights in the courtroom. we were being ud. some of us did not even know

what we had ard, such was the surprise and such was the strangeness of it. and then we had to leave the courtroom. we left the courthousand stood outside hoping to catch a glimpse of them as they were moved back in transport to the prison so we could shout out their sentences to them because we knew ere would be no official way of telling them. the lawyers then tried to get the writtenocuments from the court of the sentence so they could start their own proceedings after that. they td themhe document has gone to the presidey to be ratified. amazing way to conduct the trial and the ending of a trial. amy: -- juan: he was trite and emergency state security court? what kind

of cases does this court here and how is it different from the broader judicial system in egypt? >> this is what they call exceptional justice. when you have a state of emergency, then you have exceptional procedus subject to different law. for example, under normal law, all pubshing crimes are punishable by a fine. so if you can prove that somebody published material and spread it widely with ill intent, knowing it was going to cause that things to happen and knowing it was false, then if you prove that, you punish them by fining them. in the case of where we are now -- actually, they have lifted the emergency, but they lifted it two days after they referred them to trust so he would still be trite under the emergency

rule. under the emergency laws, where we are now with this case, a publishing crime, which is his charged he retweeted a tweet about 70 dying in prison under rte by the state security officer who is in charge of our land now. basically, alaa tweeted this and the gernment did not issue a denial, but the government's narrative in the media was the man, the prisoner, did notie under torture, he died afterwards in solitary. an amnesty demanded an investigation -- mean, the was lots of talk about this case and what alaa did is he had one retweet. they are punishing him for that with a five-year prison

sentence. that is the difference between normal law, which you have to be proved of illntent and then you are fined, and emergency lower you don't have to be proved up anything and you're put in prison for five years. juan: could you talk, for those were not familiar with what had happened in egypt under general el-sisi, could you talk about the numbers of people who are in prison a political charges in egypt? >> the government will say officially there are no prisoners in a prison under political charges because they don't charge them with political crime. they charge people from a mu of various crimes like longing to a terrist organization, funding a terrorist organization, spreading false views.

so they don't think of these as political crimes. everybody in prison is charged with bits of this menu. there are 60,000 esha course, no way of reay knowing, but also treatment there -- two years in pretrial detention and referred him to court so that the pretrial detention is supposed to be only used in very extreme cases. with a maximum of two years. so when alaa arrived, they referred him to trial so it would be acting legally. but there are other people who have been in prison for much longer, pretrial for much longer than two years. it just depends how high-profile you are. in alaa's case, sometng that is important and needs to come across, since 2013, he has been

in the situation of being in and out of prison. as amy said, he was in prison for five years for protesting, that w until 2019 and he was under surveillance for six months and they took him from the police station where he was doing surveillance and put him on pretrial detention for two years now the sentence into further five. every time, we have moved further away from the law in the sense the procedures themselves -- never mind the burden -- the proceedings are very distant from how the law of any sensible interpretation of the law as we saw and this last trial with theawyers were never allowed a copy of the case against the defendants and never allowed to meet to discuss their sentence, so there was no

defense mounted and then the judge said the usher in to announce five-year sentence. we are now in an ereme place for the pretense of abiding by the law is very, very thin. so we can only think that the state wants to keep alaa abdel fattah in prison for an indeterminate period, because they clearly cannot get a crime that they can prove that he committed,o they're movg further and further away from the galley and atwater to keep them in prison. -- legality to keep him in prison. the question is, why? how will it end? after these five years, what more will there be? that is what they cannot sit back and allow this miscarriage of justice to happen because we don't understand why there is this determination to keep him

in prison and to repeatedly put him back in prison. amy: i went to go to alaa abdel fattah in his own words. we spoke to him in cairo in 2014 when he had been released on nail after nearly four months in is in. >> it is not just me. activists have been sentenced for five years i think or two years -- two years, and confirmed in an appealsrocess. student groups that have been sentenced anything from one year to five. these have been common. also a couple of cases wre students have been sentenced with light 14 years and 17 years and 11 years and so on. they are on a sentencing frenzy. it is not just me. it is almost as if it is a war

on a whole generation. amy: that was your nephew alaa speaking to democracy now! in 2014 in cairo. your sister, his mother, recently wrote a piece for "the new york times" headlined "my son is not alone. millions of young people commit his crime." she wrote -- "the pressure that the united states and europe claim to exert on the egyptian government to clean up its human rights act is meant only to placate certain portions of their constituents. the egyptian authorities respond accordingly. they understand that 'clean up your human rights act' actually means 'we support you, but please try not to embarrass us'." that is the end oflaila's quote. can we end by talking about the u.s. military support, more military support for egypt and on most any country in the world, even though it has

stopped some of that support, what are you calling for? >> well, we need the united states and other friendly powers to back their words with practical commitments. you do understand that i am speaking from cairo and i cannot instigate against the state or against the government, so i really leave it to oths, to experts toalk about what it is that can be done to bring prsure to bear to better the human rights situation here for the many prisoners, not just for alaa. because the verdict was

yesterday and because we are faced with this five-year stretch for alaa, although we are very cognizant of the other people, many of them are friends and the children of our friends who are in similar predicaments, yet for alaa, because the conditions are so harsh because he is not allowed books, because for two years plus he has not been allowed books, not been allowed to exercise, not been allowed sunshine and he is cap in a ell which she only exits from when he comes to this farce of a court, our pressure is for the government and the authorities to live according to their own regulations and give them the rights that are the rights of every prisoner no matter what they have done. in other words, the right to reading materials, the right to listening materials, the right to sunshine and exercise.

and this is really my top concern today, having just left the court yesterday after that horrific scene. amy: finally, the younger sister getting out soon? >> we hope the sentence on the 23rd, day after tomorrow, and we hope today -- they will release her. the lawyers have papers tha say the authorits are preparing for her release. we are very much hoping she will come out because that will also give her brother much heart and just revive the family's spirits quite a bit. amy: ahdaf soueif, thank you for being with us, the author of several books, including "the map of love" and "cairo: my city, our revolution." e is alaa abd el-fatah's aunt and worked with him on several

initiatives during the egyptian revolution of january 2011. speaking to us from cairo, which is very significant. coming up, chile has become the latest latin american nation to elect a leftist president, the former student leader gabriel boric defeats his far right opponent, vowing to bury neoliberalism. he is going to be the youngest president in chilean history. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "los salieris de charly" by argentine folksinger león gieco. it was used by gabriel boric and his eltoral campaign. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to chile, where celebrations are continuing after gabriel boric's presidential victory on sunday.

the 35-year old leftist is a former student leader who is set to become chile's youngest president. he easily defeated the far right-wing candidate josé antonio kast, winning over 55% of the vote. boric has vowed to fight for progressive social reforms and overhaul the neoliberal economic policies left by the u.s.-backed dictatorship of general augusto pinochet. boric's election comes after two years of massive peaceful demonstrations over inequality, high cost of living, and privatization. on sunday, gabriel boric addressed supporters in santiago. >> chileans, receive this made it with humility and a tremendous sense of responsibility. weave an enormous challenge. i know in the coming years, the future of our country is at stake so i guarantee that i will be the president who cares for democracy and does not risk it, listens more than what he speaks, seeks unity, and attends

to the needs of the people daily. i will fight against the privileges of a few and i will work every day for the quality of the chilean family. i will do my best. my best to live up to the trust you placed in me. we do not forget justice, truth, respect. amy: we go now to santiago, chile, where we are joined by two guests. javiera manzi is an activist with chile's largest feminist advocacy group, coordinadora feminista 8m. also with us is pablo abufom, a member of chile's solidaridad movement, an anti-capitalist, and feminist organization. we thank you both for being with us. pablo, talk about the significance of boric's victory. >> thank you for having me. boric's victory on sunday is a huge victory for the social

movement in the chilean people. after two years of social -- october 2019, the middle of a huge political social crisis in ile, we see finally there is an opening for progressive government in chile that we have not had in over almost 50 years. it is very interesting moment for chile, even though boric has always been a brother in his own coalition, this is a truly interesting moment, new political cycle far chile. also, because the first round of the election, boric was second in first place was for josé antonio kast to a candidate that wamostly pandering to a farm

right wing agenda and base, similar to also naro and trump -- bolsonaro and trump also the fact boric won in the second round, met there was part of the electorate that did not vote for him in the first round that mobilized for his campaign in the second round. that is definitely because of sectors both in a popular revolt that were not really happy about his platform in the first round, but seeing the threat of new fascist, of a neofascist government decided to take to the streets and campaign for this victory. juan: plo, i wanted to ask you, the victory of boric happens in the context of an effort for a rewriting of chilean constitution. could you talk about that in the

movement that developearound that and how it spilled over as well into the election? >> yeah, so one of the main demands of the popular revolt in october 2019 was a new constitution it was a way to take all the demands that were being pushed by the social movement in the past0, 30 years into political global change. so we have the referendum for a new constitution in october last year, and the alternative for new constitution won with 80% of the vote. that means a majority, a large majority of the chilean population once a new constitution. in the election for the members the constitution of convention were sworn by majority of anti-neoliberal representatives, both from

leftist political parties such as the communist party that are now going to be the -- also from independent, the social movement but the feminist movement and environmentalist groups but also digitize peoples -- indigenous peoples that representation and that constitutional convention. that confirmation of the constitution of convention is very relevant to this new cycle because it means both the new constitution has to support the progressive government but also this progressive government does not have any excuse to make only minute changes in the political institutions in the context of the drafting of a new anti-leader burrell -- anti-liberal constitution. juan: you mentioned the defeat

of the right wing or pro fascist sectors in chile, 50 years ago there was another legally elected government in chile, all ende, but the military took action tcrush that movement. and bring in the pinochet era. i'm wondering your concerned about how the chilean is reacting or will react in the future to this new government? >> that is very good question. history does not repeat itself exactly most of the first thing ishere is unity in chile, even with the crimes against humanity the violation of human rights in the dictatorship and they' democratic -- in the democratic and during the revolt. we saw the way the military behaved during revolt when the

president declared a state of extension -- two to the street to blockade the revolt. we also saw how they were very worried of the political and criminal retribution's of their behavior. there were threats of another coup during those days but it was outrageous to think they were going to start a coup against a right-wing government. now, of course, we have in our bodies and minds the memory of the coup d'état of 1973 in a 17 year long dictatorship, but there's also the experience of those years, the experience of the resistance, and the belief that the people politically prepared to confront the military as we did in october

2019. but also, it is very important to remember boric is not allende. he is a progressive. his ce is on the left and even in the popular movements to mobilize in octor, but he is not allende and he is talking about makingoderate changes d responsible changes. what we can expect is that government is going be in contradiction or attention between and more moderate efficient following the 1990's and 2000's governance and being pushed by the social movements toward a more radical agenda. i think the contradiction is not going to be between the government and the military, but between the government and those political changes. juan: do you see the trend that has happened here in chile,

similar to what appears to be going on in several other countries in the region -- i am thinking specifically of the election of a barge of in argentina in 2019, bolivia in 2020, peter castille in peru this year, and castro in honduras -- to suit latin america once again shifting in a more progressive and social democratic and radical direction? >> i think it is a moment of huge or too new for going to be a new cycle of progressive government that would have the opportunity to work on regional integration, regional solidarity with a more progressive agenda. but the situation is very different. during and after the pandemic,

experiencing global crisis in the economy. there is huge instability in political in this country. there is also a new far right wing in some governments, but also in neofascist movements. so the scenario is different. he will not be exactly the same, but definitely an opportunity. one thing for the chilean government and people, it is going to be very important, how there is an international campaign by those governments that are already in power to free political prisoners in chile. we still have political prisoners from the revolt, people who are in retrial, into teams for more than a year, will being sentenced with few evidence and a lot of impunity

for agents of the state who have committed violence. today, the first responsibility of the government in terms of international relations is to work for an international -- free prisoners. i want to take the opportunity to call activists and intellectuals in the united states to join us in an international campaign to end political prisoners in chile. i think angela davis and noam chomsky, for example, are very known by the chilean people and latin american people and it would be very interesting to join forces to fight political prisoners just imprisoned in chile. amy: pablo abufom, member of an anti-capitalist and feminist organization. we turn now to javiera manzi, activist with chile's largest feminist advocacy group, coordinadora feminista 8m. can you talk about the

significance of this being a grassroots movement victory and how people organize? >> hi, amy. the first thing to say, it is a popular victory. it is a victory of the people. from the far right agenda in the alternative they were offering us was a demonstration of how the extent -- or the alternatives the agenda continuing -- and necessity for us as women, feminists to put a step forward for alternative for a different life. the first election, the very second day, we made a public

statement that we were going to do a campaign for gabriel boric and as many other grassroots organizations play a protagonist role in this moment. this is very different because we knew it was not enough to say no to a candidate, but we had to make an effective campaign for the victory of gabriel boric. juan: could y talk about why your organization decided to ck boric? what was that about his program that attracted you? >> i would say two things. and at the first place, we knew the threat for our lives, for our rights, for everything we have with the social movement, as women, from the community of lgbt we were seeing in distress.

an is far right agenda that he was presenting as was in absolute -- we knew gabriel boric comes from thetudent mobilization of 2011, could protect nice on the connuity -- the last 30 years. our main purpose now is to keep on with that agenda transformation. we have a feminist program, especially with -- the purposes and the desires of the result of 2019. juan: could you talk about the coalition boric is part of?

what political movements are represented within it and the importance the student movement in propelling volunteers and activists for that coalition? >> yes. it is a very diverse platform that has a progressive agenda. it is important to say it is not only their victories over -- it is a victory people who never went to police for. this is -- it is a victory of people who never went to vote before. we can see the diversity. we can see the extent of the diversity of different social movement even outside.

unity made possible this victory. it is important to say this is a victory of a way of the people and aim of a radical transformation in feminism as well as environment on movement -- environmental movement working toward social justice and social transformation. amy: and demand of feminist particularly now of boric who will take power in march? >> first, he is committed with the constituent process. he is also committed with the agenda of the feminist agenda and the rights of the feminist movement pushing forward, such as abortion rights, sexual

reproduction justice. and of course, an agenda of with a commitment of human rights. truth for the violation of human rights during the government of -- these three things for us are the main goal in the main commitment, and of course, the permanent responsibility with all that those who want to vote -- not only to vote, but mobilize and organize to make this victory possible. amy: javiera manzi is an activist with chile's largest feminist advocacy group, coordinadora feminista 8m. coming out, we look at how the u.s. navy has contaminated the water supply for tens of thousands of people in hai in 30 conds. ♪♪ [muc break

amy: "for the lahui" by the hawaiian musician josh tatofi. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to hawaii, where the u.s. navy is facing growing calls to permanently shut down a massive underound fu storage facili that has coaminated ter suppes in pas of the land of hu. ate heth officials rently found peoleum lels 350 tes the sa limit ia water stem at serveover 90,0 navy famies. the red ll bulk el stoge facili has beeused sin the

194's torovide fl to pea rbor. it canold up t250 milln galls of fue vironmenl activis have longallefor the d hill site to be closed down in part because its located just 100 feet the primary groundwater aquifer for honolulu and the rest of oahu. on monday, the navy defended its response to a recent leak during a 13-hour public hearing. e navy rused cal to remo temparily fu from th facili saying "provid a lae preponrance of the w reservfuel supy for th indoacificheater envinmental tivists and native haiians he held mber of otests irecent eks ov the water cris. >> how many reeaksnd reports burning in willt take? how manyore chilen need experice headaes, vomiing, andiarrhea befe theanks e shut wn? the has be too mucharm, o much damag not enoh countabity or aling. 200,0 galls of fuecannot be unspill.

it is n too latto do th right thing and shut down red hill before an even greater catastrophe is upon us. amy: we are joined now by two guests. camille kalama is a native hawaiian civil rights lawyer and is the executive director of ko'ihonua. kamana beamer is a professor at university of hawaii at manoa. he previously served as commissioner on the hawaii state water resource management commission. camillie, we're talking about the u.s. naval base at pearl harbor. explain what is at stake. 13 hour hearing. >> thank you so much for having us. what is at stake is the future of the drinking water supply for the island of oahu. for not from here, oahu is the most populated island in hawaii. all the things you think about what kiki, dimon had come a lot of the places people come to visit are here on this island.

and what is at stake is the possibility of petroleum getting into our drinking supply. we won't be able to get it out. juan: i wanted to ask you, could you talk about what some of the contaminants of this fuel that is apparently already leaked to some of the water for the residents of the base itself, what are some of these contaminants and what are the impacts? >> there are two types of fuel that were identified. they are jet fuel, like a type of diesel in a type of gasoline. they have made his way to the army's water system -- sorry, the navy's water system that serves both the navy and army housing, for the most part, as well as several elementary schools.

there's been multiple tests done but these substances have caused different reactions in people from nausea and vomiting to heacs to skiirritatis d hospilizaons peopl and becauslet me bringr. kamana beamer into the conversation, professor at university of hawaii and previously the commissioner on the hawaii state water resource management commission for over eight years. how long has this been going on? what has been 80 been saying? what is your answer to them? >> in truth, these things have been leaking since the rebels in the 19 80's but in recent histor 2014 the was a spell of 27,000 gallons that really caused all han on deck and brought our underlings into the midst of this conversation and crisis. what is terrible ishis mome today was completely avoidable. we kw abouthe tential that since 2014.

the navy assured us and promised us are state water resource management commiion thathis wod never happen and yet here we are. juan: i would like to go back to kamil to talk about the influence and power of the navy and military hawaii. clearly, for way functions or has function for the pacific region of the u.s. very much has puerto rico did for so many years for the aantic and the caribbean as a major military bastion. there was a movement 20 years ago to stop military bombing on the island. there was a similar movement in hawaii. yet the military held on to most of its bases in hallway in a way did not in puerto rico. most of the military installations in puerto rico have been removed. >> that's right. there was a movement that started in the 1970's and that

ilan has been returned to the state ofawaii trust f the hawaan peopl wer, it i minal clead. in oerordsit is stl cotaminate theris no fshwater resources onhat isla anymore. the na has continu to take land fm hawaii forore military training. for examplewhen the island was returned to the statethat was about 26,000 acres of land. around the same time, the u.s. took almost 28,000 acres from the state both on oahu and the island ofawaiiso expandts ce. it connues tengage i aining, its mitary readiness re, and at is one the purpes thathe litary clai this r hill bulk

fuel srage facility, stos abou50% for e pacifiegion for the u.s. th is e larst o the dierent comman, of the unified cmand f the uted atesnd it vers thentire pacifiregion. wen hawaii, we uerstand are inhe middlehese differensuperpows arounthe wod and th we are this militaryutpost d contin to be used that way by the u.s. military cost of amy: dr. beamer, even just outside your house, you say you sometimes can feel the live fire testing. your calling for an end to that and do you see this movement going in the same direction as the one in puerto rico? >> yes. it is true.

anyone that lives here on hawaii island, especially in my hometown, feels their home shake . it is egregious. it hurts you deep in your soul as an indigenous person to these islands to feel our island tremble and shake because of bombing and weapons of war and destruction. this issue here is serious that tthe tureivesn any economy on hundor all of hawai this ithe mostredible reat we have er had to our groundter resources in fac this theind of rrorist t and that the mitarys suppos to proct hawaii fro yet theare the cause oit here our islds. is teible a it must stoptop wmusthut downhe tas immediaty. juan: camille, you're part of

the protest against the 30 meter telescope on the summit. did you talk about that as well? >> many of our people -- i would say it was the largest uprising of our people in my generation, at least. i don't know how much longer. but our people are educated. our people are knowledgeable about what is going on in our land and our commitment is really to the protection of this place. that was a struggle against the state of hawaii as well as a multibillion dollar corporation that is backed by many countries. we understand as a people that we don't have military might. we don't have firepower, but we do have a strength in that our

people can come together in peace and nonviolence and we will stand up and we will stand for the protection of these places and of our resources. amy: we have to leave it there. thank you so much, camille kalama and